Tag: forgiveness

Morning Reading: Luke 15:1-2, 11-31 (NLT) – welcome home

Reading: Luke 15:1-2, 11-31 (NLT)

Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!…

To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.

“A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.

The Return of the Prodigal SonRembrandt,
The Return of the Prodigal Son
Rembrandt, 1661-1669

“When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’“So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’

“But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.

“Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, and he asked one of the servants what was going on. ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’

“The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’

“His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”

Prayer: Heavenly Father – I have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed… in things I have done, and things I have left undone. Have mercy on me, I am not worthy to be received into your family… but only say the Word and my soul shall be healed.

1 John 1:8-9 NLT – If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

Spiritual Song: “Come just as you are” – Joseph Sabolick

Morning Reading: Luke 13:1-5 NLT – repent

Reading: Luke 13:1-5 NLT

About this time Jesus was informed that Pilate had murdered some people from Galilee as they were offering sacrifices at the Temple.

Repent, Slab City, Niland, CA © 2010 Mark Indig
Repent, Slab City, Niland, CA © 2010 Mark Indig

“Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?” Jesus asked. “Is that why they suffered? Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God.”

“And what about the eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem? No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too.”

Prayer: “Merciful God, we have sinned in what we have thought and said, in the wrong we have done and in the good we have not done. We have sinned in ignorance: we have sinned in weakness: we have sinned through our own deliberate fault. We are truly sorry. We repent and turn to you. Forgive us, for our Saviour Christ’s sake, and renew our lives to the glory of your name.” (Source: A New Zealand Prayer Book, The Sanctuary)

“If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” (1 John 1.8-9 NLT)

Friends: Believe the Good News of the Gospel. In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven!

Spiritual Song:

I’m forgiven because You were forsaken / I’m accepted, You were condemned / I’m alive and well, Your Spirit is within me / Because You died and rose again

Amazing love, how can it be / That You, my King, should die for me / Amazing love, I know it’s true / It’s my joy to honor You / In all I do, to honor You

I’m forgiven because You were forsaken / I’m accepted, You were condemned / I’m alive and well, Your Spirit is within me / Because You died and rose again

You are my King / You are my King / Jesus, You are my King / You are my King

Morning Reading: Luke 11.37-54 (NLT) – six sorrows

Reading: Luke 11.37-54 (NLT)

As Jesus was speaking, one of the Pharisees invited him home for a meal. So he went in and took his place at the table. His host was amazed to see that he sat down to eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony required by Jewish custom. Then the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy — full of greed and wickedness! Fools! Didn’t God make the inside as well as the outside? So clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over.

“What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.

papal-conclave-005“What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you love to sit in the seats of honor in the synagogues and receive respectful greetings as you walk in the marketplaces. Yes, what sorrow awaits you! For you are like hidden graves in a field. People walk over them without knowing the corruption they are stepping on.”

“Teacher,” said an expert in religious law, “you have insulted us, too, in what you just said.”

“Yes,” said Jesus, “what sorrow also awaits you experts in religious law! For you crush people with unbearable religious demands, and you never lift a finger to ease the burden. What sorrow awaits you! For you build monuments for the prophets your own ancestors killed long ago. But in fact, you stand as witnesses who agree with what your ancestors did. They killed the prophets, and you join in their crime by building the monuments! This is what God in his wisdom said about you: ‘I will send prophets and apostles to them, but they will kill some and persecute the others.’

“As a result, this generation will be held responsible for the murder of all God’s prophets from the creation of the world — from the murder of Abel to the murder of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, it will certainly be charged against this generation.

“What sorrow awaits you experts in religious law! For you remove the key to knowledge from the people. You don’t enter the Kingdom yourselves, and you prevent others from entering.”

As Jesus was leaving, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees became hostile and tried to provoke him with many questions. They wanted to trap him into saying something they could use against him.

Prayer: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” (Psalm 139.23-24) I ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Spiritual Song: “Search me, O God” – J. Edwin Orr (1936)

Search me, O God, and know my heart today; Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray. See if there be some wicked way in me; Cleanse me from ev’ry sin and set me free.

I praise You, Lord, for cleansing me from sin; Fulfill Your Word and make me pure within. Fill me with fire where once I burned with shame; Grant my desire to magnify Your name.

Lord, take my life, for I would live for You; Fill my poor heart with Your great love so true. Take all my will, my passion, self, and pride; I now surrender; Lord, in me abide.

O Holy Spirit, revival comes from You; Send a revival, my own heart renew. Your Word declares You will supply our need; For blessings now, O Lord, I humbly plead.

Morning Reading: Luke 11:29-32 NLT – turn or burn

Reading: Luke 11:29-32 NLT

image
Jonah waiting for Nineveh’s Destruction

As the crowd pressed in on Jesus, he said, “This evil generation keeps asking me to show them a miraculous sign. But the only sign I will give them is the sign of Jonah. What happened to him was a sign to the people of Nineveh that God had sent him. What happens to the Son of Man will be a sign to these people that he was sent by God.

“The queen of Sheba will stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Now someone greater than Solomon is here—but you refuse to listen.

“The people of Nineveh will also stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for they repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah. Now someone greater than Jonah is here—but you refuse to repent.”

Prayer: Heavenly Father – you made us a little lower than the angels and gave us freedom to love you – totally, completely, with abandon. But we have gone our own way – looking for love in all the wrong places. Still, you haven’t abandoned us, and desire that none should perish – no, not one. Lord Jesus –  sent from the Father to show us true Love – you suffered cruel torture and death so that we might be set free from our captivity to sin and death – once again, to live and love you with abandon. Holy Spirit – you set before us today life and death, heaven and hell – and, once again, you call us to cry out to Jesus and “choose life.” Forgive us and set us free – truly free – to love you with all our heart soul mind and strength. In Jesus’ name I ask it. Amen.

Spiritual Song: “There is No Other Name” – Robin Mark (YouTube)

There is no other name / By which man can be saved / There is no other Name under Heaven / There is rest for my soul And the wounded made whole / And the captives set free and Forgiven

There is no other name / By which man can be saved / There is no other Name
Under Heaven / There is rest for my soul And the wounded made whole / And the captives set free and Forgiven

Such love as I’ve never known / I’ve found in the grace that Flowed to me / In my unrighteousness / This is why my heart and soul / And tongue confess

Morning Reading: Luke 7:1-10 ESV – authority

Reading: Luke 7:1-10 ESV

After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum.

Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.” And Jesus went with them.

unworthyWhen he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”  And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.

Prayer: Lord Jesus – I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But say the word, and let the ones I love be healed. Look into their hearts – you know their names – and speak your word of forgiveness and healing. Amen.

Spiritual Song: “Come just as you are” (YouTube)

Come just as you are. Hear the spirit call. Come just as you are. Come and see; come receive; come and live forever. Life everlasting. Strength for today. Taste the living water and never thirst again.