on the body and the spirit‏

^{Mark 7: 14} Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone,  ¹⁵ Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a man defiles him.^16] [f]
17 After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. ¹⁸ “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? ¹⁹ For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)
²⁰ He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. ²¹ For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²² adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. ²³ All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

If you touch a turtle and then eat a piece of cheese you might get “salmonella poisoning."

Keep your turtle out of your mouth. And remember to wash your hands

Did Jesus understand the risk of infection by bacteria entering the body?

The creator of the body must understand how it works and it’s limits. But Jesus is speaking about something more than the body. He is concerned about you as a person with eternity in the equation. In this equation what you say and think and your emotions are of more importance than what you eat. If you die with your heart at peace with God you live forever, even if your life in the body is cut short by disease. But if you have a healthy body and don’t thank God , your life in the body may be long but it comes to nothing in the end.

If we are good stewards we will feed and care for the body as a gift, but we are more concerned about our actions and attitudes. We ought to have a healthy mind and spirit with a capacity to give and receive the love of God. Then you are truly fit to live.

Amen.

a gift with no strings‏

2 Corinthians 8:. ⁷ But since you excel in everything —in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you^[a]—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

⁸ I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. ⁹ For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. 

Read 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 to get a feeling for what Paul was commending and praising in the congregation at Corinth. This is not a fund raising campaign. It is an opportunity to see what God can do in a community of faith. He showers them with grace and watches them grow. It begins with an offering to God: “first they gave of themselves to the Lord then they gave for the offering for the church in Jerusalem." The marks of this collection are joy and freedom not drudgery and guilt. And it all is made possible because of the gift of Jesus. He became poor so we could be rich. He exchanged his glory for the cross so that we might have life.
We have heard about the life of Jesus and we want to have what he had. Have fullness of joy. Have open communication with the Father. Ask for whatever you need and believe that he will give it to you.
And now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God: be honor and glory and blessing forever. 
Amen.

Psalm 30

^{Psalm 30:} I will exalt you, Lord,
    for you lifted me out of the depths
    and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
² Lord my God, I called to you for help,
    and you healed me.
³ You, Lord, brought me up from the realm of the dead;
    you spared me from going down to the pit.

⁴ Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people;
    praise his holy name.
⁵ For his anger lasts only a moment,
    but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may stay for the night,
    but rejoicing comes in the morning.

I hope none of you were lifted out of a soggy pit this morning. The rain lasted all night but it appears to be abating. David knew the glories of kingship included favor from many but threats of death by others. He could feel the gloating of his enemies so he called out to the Lord. He was almost dead but the Lord saved and restored him.

There is no guarantee of perpetual safety in the Kingdom. There will be times of danger and we will call out to the Lord for healng. We will sense his anger at times followed by his favor. We may weep at the misfortunes of this night but awaken to joy in the morning. So praise God for his wondrous works in your life. You have come through the time of trial and you trust God to bring you home.  Pray for the homeless and those who have lost power and phones in the rainstorm. Amen.

Make ready the way.‏

Psalm 92

A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath day.

¹ It is good to praise the Lord
    and make music to your name, O Most High,
² proclaiming your love in the morning
    and your faithfulness at night,
³ to the music of the ten-stringed lyre
    and the melody of the harp.

⁴ For you make me glad by your deeds, Lord;
    I sing for joy at what your hands have done.
⁵ How great are your works, Lord,
    how profound your thoughts!

What did you accomplish on the Sabbath that clears the way for you to accomplish your best this week? Did you worship and sing praises to the Lord? Was God highly exalted so that your vision is clear to see what God wills for your week? ”God is highly exalted." That means he is above all other’s to contend for your loyalty. You owe him first. He has demonstrated his faithfulness and so you trust those first steps out the door this morning. Wherever you go it becomes the way of the Lord.  

Your brother, Christ, has cleared the way. He has defeated your adversary, Satan. All of his tricks and accusations are disarmed. You are a son or daughter of the great King. It’s amazing how one hour of worship can set your feet on the path that leads to everlasting joy! So make sure you have reserved a place in God’s House this Sabbath day. It is a good thing to give thanks and to sing praises to our God.

We pray for Joseph and for Bonnie. 

Amen.

there's love at the core‏

^{John 3: 4} Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,¹⁵ that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 

A drilling project might try to find out what is at the very center of our earth. So far we have only scratched the surface going down a couple of miles when the center is another four thousand miles to go. What we know about God is that small: we have only scratched the surface. But, what we know about him from his Son, Jesus, gives us a confident estimate of what the Father is really like. Jesus is not just another visitor to the earth, he is the only begotten Son. He is not taking and giving, but only giving of himself. His life is love poured out for people to enjoy and to find real life.  His love is both strong and tender as we see on the cross tough enough to take the punishment and tender in forgiving his executioners. His love is the one thing that will save and redeem us and the entire world. At the core of our being there is a "God shaped vacuum" that only God can fill. Listen! I hear him knocking now! 

 Amen.

Something strange is happening here?‏

Acts 2 :1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. ² And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³ And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. ⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

⁵ Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. ⁶ And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 

1- The day of Pentecost was a harvest festival , fifty days after the Passover. We celebrate 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus. There were about 120 followers of Jesus in a room., including the twelve disciples, and Mary and some of the women. They had been instructed by Jesus to wait in Jerusalem until they were filled with power from on high. 

2- Although they were in a room with closed doors they heard the sound of a rushing wind from heaven. The wind was the breath of God. It was God speaking to his people. The wind was telling them that God was in the room. It also said that God was speaking his creative word that brings life and purpose into the world. God was about to do something decisive! As the cloud of God glorious presence filled the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle, this wind from God filled the entire room.

3- Above the heads of each of them there was a holy flame that indicated the blessing of God upon each person. This was not one general fire for the entire room but one for each occupant.

4- They were all possessed with the indwelling Spirit of God..The external means of identifying this one Spirit resting upon 120 individuals was the manifestation of speaking and praying in an unknown language. Their speech was not guided by their own will or intellect but by the Spirit of God that dwelt in them. The transformation of their life and witness was starting to happen. So they spoke as God gave them utterance.

5-Jerusalem was the center of Jewish life and worship for people of that faith around the world. It was the place they came to visit in order to come close to God. Their native language might be Latin, Greek, Arabic or Coptic but their worship was done in Hebrew.

6- And a crowd of those people came to the place where the disciples were meeting because they heard their own native language spoken . It was a worship and praise in their native dialect. How surprised they must have been to hear it in Jerusalem!    

  If this happened that day in Jerusalem, what might happen in our congregation in Winter Haven

Life in the Spirit‏

Psalm 104: 24 How many are your works, Lord!
    In wisdom you made them all;
    the earth is full of your creatures. 
²⁵ There is the sea, vast and spacious,
    teeming with creatures beyond number—
    living things both large and small. 
²⁶ There the ships go to and fro,
    and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

²⁷ All creatures look to you
    to give them their food at the proper time.
²⁸ When you give it to them,
    they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
    they are satisfied with good things.
²⁹ When you hide your face, 
    they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
    they die and return to the dust. 
³⁰ When you send your Spirit, 
    they are created,
    and you renew the face of the ground.

³¹ May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
    may the Lord rejoice in his works —

Take in these words and marvel at the miracle of your life. You are who you are because God has placed in you his Holy Spirit. He feeds and tends and guards your life from danger. He feeds you with feelings about his holy Kingdom, with ideas about the meaning of life and the purpose we are coming to see. Think of the playfulness of the Leviathan and know that God delights to see you play . It is not the work of your hands that keeps you alive. It is his holy will to bless you. And he keep our hearts tuned into the music of heaven. We sing "There is a balm in Gilead" and we know that he anoints us with healing. Let us praise this marvelous God with hearts and hands and voices. 

 Amen.