Lent is the sometimes difficult, but always rewarding journey of faith that calls us to look at ourselves in light of the end of the journey- the Cross. The death and resurrection of Christ.
Lent is the time of year to realize that our faith results in more than, “I go to church” or “I am a nice/better version of myself”. The Cross has accomplished much more than that
2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Colossians 1:13-14 (ESV) He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Today our Lent Journey of Faith (Water for the Way) we are confronted with Division The seemly every present reality that things are separated into parts, that there is so often disagreement between two or more groups, typically producing tension or hostility
A result of the Garden
Can you recognize the people and places you experience division in your own life?
Division is the complete antithesis of what the Kingdom of God has come to accomplish. And this is why we need to confront division in our own lives.
Ephesians 1:9-10 (NLT) God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth.
Let’s look at the way that living our lives in view of the cross and the Kingdom of God causes us to confront Division. We will look at it in the sense of our own lives and how we live them, but the larger context has to do with God’s purposes. The gospel is for
1)The Kingdom of God confronts The Way we
Jesus doesn’t look at her through the eyes of division but through the eyes of the spirit of God. Doesn’t look on the outside or label.
Galatians 3:27-28 (ESV) For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
2)The Kingdom of God confronts The Way we view
Jesus doesn’t seem to take sides and rather reinterprets the question to bring out not who was right or wrong, but what God is doing- God’s
3)The Kingdom of God confronts The Way we respond to Division
Philippians 2:6-7 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
Jesus operated on earth as a human and relied on the Father. OPffers the woman a Word of
Are you open and willing to God using us in this way? Do we limit who it is for? Is it just for us on a Sunday?
If we are willing, we will see God do amazing things through us via his Holy Spirit. Remember “The meat is in the Street“.