Relationships with Others begins at Home

The last six commandments relates to how we treat others. It starts with the family.

Exodus 12:12-17

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      ¹² “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

 13 “You shall not murder.

 14 “You shall not commit adultery.

 15 “You shall not steal.

 16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

• What does Honor mean?   How does a child honor an abusive parent or parents?

 

• Notice the promise that God applies to honoring our parents…   how can longer life be related to our relationship with our parents?

 

Hopefully (if we are not canceled due to an ice storm) we will be hearing about Orange (Families and Church working together.)

What are some of the good and bad memories of your childhood?

Love the Lord your God

When we were looking at Salt and Light we saw this statement… “love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus said that the “entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:40)

 Looking at the Ten Commandments – they are broken down into two sections – The first four concerns our relationship with God. The following six deal with our relationship to others. Let’s take a closer look at the first four –

Exodus 20:2-11

 2 “I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. 3 “You must not have any other god but me. 4 “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. 5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. 6 But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those[b] who love me and obey my commands. 7 “You must not misuse the name of the LORD your God. The LORD will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name. 8 “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 You have six days each week for your ordinary work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the LORD your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

Let’s hear your thoughts to these questions…

1) If you saw God do amazing things like the Israelites’ did leaving Egypt – Why would they turn to other Gods in less than 40 years?

2) I could ask what kind of idols do we have today – but that is too easy…. Think about this… How does love and obedience help prevent idol worship today?

3) How do we misuse God’s name without saying anything?

4) How do you keep a single day during the week holy?

5) If you think you have all the answers to above – How are you doing keeping them?

Amazing Grace – How Sweet the Sound

 

It’s been a great week – thanks for your comments -

It’s snowing outside  – I love to watch fresh white snow fall (Being the florida boy that I am – I’m like a kid and always enjoy snow!!)

I was thinking about the song that Kurt lead us in last week – Amazing Grace – My chains are gone!!

Over this weekend think and thank God for His Amazing Grace!

Amazing Grace

What Would I Have Done?

Pastor Mike shared a piece of scripture that hammers the point about being salt and light to those around us… Let’s take a deeper look – We will start at verse 25 to see who Jesus was talking to…

 Luke 10:25-37 NLT

 ²⁵ One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?”  ²⁶ Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?”

 ²⁷ The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”^[c]

 ²⁸ “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”  ²⁹ The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

 ³⁰ Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling on a trip from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.  ³¹ “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. ³² A Temple assistant (Levite) walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.

 ³³ “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. ³⁴ Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins,^[e] telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’

 ³⁶ “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.  ³⁷ The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.”   Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”

Here are a couple of things to notice –

First – The person robbed and beaten was a Jew

Second – notice what the “jewish” priest and Levite did… They saw and then made an effort to cross on the other side of the road…. The ole – “I do not want to get involved” attitude.  It is easy to look down on these guys, but how would you have reacted?

What are your thoughts and actions when you see people on the side of the street in need?

Is it easier to give money and assistance to those in Haiti than to folks near to home? Why or Why not?

Look closely to the third person – The New Living Testament describes the Samaritan just like the jewish lawyer would have thought of this person.   Samaritans were half breeds and despised.  Jews would normally not associate with these folks.

But this person stopped – showed compassion –and gave his time and money to help the Jewish man in need.

Pastor Mike asked us to watch out.. God just might put “Person X” (a person we do not know) in our path this week – Have you met your “Person X” yet?  If so, what happened?

Why Salt and Light?

Great comments from the last post…  God uses certain words for a reason… Why salt and light? What is the difference between each word?

Salt and Light

Welcome to our group – over at least the next 16 weeks, we will be exploring deeper the message God has given us from Sunday’s service @ Lucia. This is new and I’m looking forward to seeing how God will use this online discussion… There is no curriculum for this group.. This will be a week-long discussion on different topics – I’ll start with a question and allow each to respond as you like. You are also welcome to ask other questions and thoughts during the week. The next week we will focus on new topics based from the Sunday’s message..

Let’s get started…. Over the past several weeks – We have been hearing God talk to us about being salt and light to the world – The key verse is found in Matthew 5:13-16… Re-read these verses using the Message version…

13″Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.
14-16″Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.”

Did you catch the wording… “God’s favors” – “God’s colors” – Like salt and light – there are various ways to bring out God’s favor and light to the world…

What are some ways you or someone you know has demonstrated salt or light in the world around you?