Recovered from Windows Live Spaces: The Breaking of Bread , and How to get"leftovers"...

The Breaking of Bread, and How to get "leftovers"...

10/4/2009 10:04:53 PM

Today is World Communion Day. I knew today's service would be special as we would take communion in Remembrance of what Christ did for us; however the message that the Spirit brought to me was even more than that.

The scripture was found in I Corinthians 11:23 that speaks of Jesus receiving the bread, giving thanks for the bread, and then breaking the bread. So, in that we see that Jesus received the bread as a gift, and it is a gift from God. He then thanked God for the gift as God is the giver of all gifts, and sometimes is forgotten as such. Jesus then broke the bread to share it with His disciples.

In this message we learn that we all have a gift to receive, and it is from God. In receiving this gift, we need to always remember to give thanks to the one who gave it to us- God. And, as much as WE received this gift, we must generously SHARE this gift with others. Most messages I have heard on Communion is more on the Bread symbolizing Christ's body and the drink, His Blood.  This morning was a new perspective that made me realize that those of us that have this gift which is given to us by God which is Jesus; we need to give thanks OFTEN to the Gift Giver- God Himself. We should not be hoarders, but should generously share whatever we have been blessed with to others, including the gift of Life that has been given to us through Jesus Christ.

Another part of the message that I heard today, was found in Mark 8:1-21. This was the story of Jesus feeding the 4,000. Feeding that many with only seven loaves of bread and a few pieces of fish. The story goes on to say that after He fed them, there were seven baskets of pieces left over. After this, Jesus and His disciples got in a boat and set sail. While on the boat, the disciples began to argue and grumble because they had only brought one of the loaves of bread. Jesus then began to ask them why they were arguing, as if to say "Are you kidding me?? Am I not in the boat with you?? Did you not just see me feed over 4,000 people with only seven loaves?? Do you still not get it??"

I know I sometimes (actually a lot of times) know that Jesus is in the boat with me, yet I worry, and I question, and put myself in situations when He is right there to take care of my every need. It is a matter of if I will just open my heart to Him. Jesus is MORE than enough of what we need in our lives. God promises that if we will make HIS priorities, OUR priorities that He will rain Manna down from the heavens on us - enough to have LEFTOVERS! Those are the kind of leftovers we need.

Thank you God for your Son who is in the boat with us... Remind us to remember to be thankful to you, the giver of all gifts and to others who give to us from their hearts. Make my priorities, YOUR priorities and rain your love down on me and let me overflow into others lives who need You.

Amen

Recovered from Windows Live Spaces: He loves us and there's nothing we can do about it...

He loves us and there's nothing we can do about it...

9/27/2009 8:00:12 PM

The message I heard today was from more than one “Messenger”.  I heard it a second time when I got home from church by Joyce Meyer who was speaking on the same topic - Love.

The series that we are on is the Christian Mysteries of Why? Today was "Why Christian Living?" The scripture that was read was I John 5:1-3 that speaks of Loving God and if we Love God we will love His children as well. It goes on to say that love for God is to obey His commands, and His commands are not burdensome.

Mark 12:28 says that a teacher of the Law asked Jesus "of all of the commandments, which one is the most important?" I did not know until today that the Torah, which made up the first 5 books of the bible, consisted of 613 laws that the people lived by. There was always great debate among the teachers and priests of which laws were more important than others. When Jesus was asked this by this teacher, He quoted the familiar law from Deuteronomy 6:4 that says to Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. But then Jesus added the Leviticus law that said to Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.

In short- God commands us to Love... That is the whole concept and meaning of the Bible as it stands anyway, but it brought a new meaning to me today.

The way it was explained is that:

1. God loves us. He has from the beginning and there is nothing we can do about it. We need to just receive His love.

2. Once we receive His love for us, we then will begin to learn how to love Him with all that we have and all that we are.

3. We need to love ourselves- do what is best for us and take care of ourselves to be able to do what is needed to live and love on this earth.

4. In being loved by God, and loving Him with all we are, we in turn can begin loving ourselves. Then we can love His children and reach out and show love that He has shown us. Many may not or possibly will not, get this kind of love from anyone other THAN us that have been blessed with this type of love.

Receiving God's Love is sometimes hard- we don't think we deserve it; there could be a catch to it.

God's love is called Agape love, love that is without condition.

To be a Disciple of Christ, you must love and be loved.

When we become His followers, we cannot help but love Him, ourselves, and others if our Heart has truly made a transformation.

A statement the Pastor made near the end made an impact on the rest of my day. She said "God cannot love you anymore than He loves you in this moment."

Friends, that means every moment…. of every minute… of every day.

No matter what...