Prayer
For this Lovely Day by Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie
Refresh, oh God.
Remind me of the loveliness found in today.
Surprise me with the details Ihave lost the eyes to see.
Blessed are we, awakening from the boredom of routine,
Desiring to drink in from the beauty around us once again,
Full of the love you have given us,
The joy that is hidden among the reeds of the ordinary.
Blessed are we who desire to feel our hearts soar with the glory set in the heavens, the moon and the stars,
With awe at the people right in front of us
With the beauty of the lily in its elegant purity,
And the mystery and power of the tiniest seed, bursting to life as it was always destined to do.
This world you made. It is irreducibly sublime.
Blessed are we who ask,
For hearts that are soft, for eyes that are awake,
For ears that are open, for hands to hold
The wonder that is here, now.
SERMON
Week 1: We find God in unexpected places through unexpected people.
Week 2: In Him we live and move and have our being.
Week 3: We are always learning and growing in our understanding of God.
Paul’s Journey Take-Aways:
TAKE AWAY #1: We learn from the Patterns of Paul
Acts 17:2: As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue,
Acts 16:13: On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer
**We learn from Paul to meet people where they are, including ourselves.
TAKE AWAY #2: We learn from the signs and wonders seen through Paul
Acts 16: Paul casting out a demon from a slave girl,
Acts 14: In Lystra, Paul healed a man who couldn’t walk
Acts 19: if a handkerchief touched them, people would carry it away to heal the sick
**We learn that God is working through and among those who love him.
TAKE AWAY #3: We learn from the disruptions to society:
Example 1: Acts 16:16–24
Acts 16:16 One day as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a female slave who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. 17 While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” 18 She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
19 But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. 20 When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, “These men, these Jews, are disturbing our city 21 and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us, being Romans, to adopt or observe.” 22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. 23 After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. 24 Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
Example 2: Acts 19:23-27
19:23 About that time no little disturbance broke out concerning the Way. 24 A man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the artisans. 25 These he gathered together, with the workers of the same trade, and said, “Men, you know that we get our wealth from this business. 26 You also see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost the whole of Asia this Paul has persuaded and drawn away a considerable number of people by saying that gods made with hands are not gods. 27 And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be scorned, and she will be deprived of her majesty that brought all Asia and the world to worship her.”
Point: When believed and taken to heart, the gospel message causes
Take Away #4: We learn from Paul’s faithfulness to the gospel message: we learn that faithfulness is rooted in our core beliefs.
Are we really opposed to resurrection and new life? Are we really opposed to justice and love and peace? We would say no. But the reality of living out these things and the change they have to bring is another story.
You have to decide if it’s worth it. You have to decide if this way of Christ is the better way.
“And this is it. This is the life we get here on earth. We get to give away what we receive. We get to believe in each other. We get to forgive and be forgiven. We get to love imperfectly. And we never know what effect it will have for years to come. And all of it…all of it is completely worth it.” —Nadia Bolz-Weber, Accidental Saints: Finding God in All the Wrong People