Refreshing Our Spirits With Scripture

 6.5- Beautiful Unity                         Ephesians 4:1-6                        Marvin Williams     Seeing three large predatory animals cuddle and play together is extremely unusual. Yet this is precisely what happens daily in an animal sanctuary in Georgia. In 2001, after months of neglect and abuse, a lion, a Bengal tiger, and a black bear were rescued by Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary. “We could have separated them,” said the assistant director. “But since they came as a kind of family, we decided to keep them together.” The trio had found comfort in each other during their time of mistreatment, and despite their differences, they live peacefully together.     Unity is a beautiful thing. But the unity Paul wrote about in his letter to the believers in Ephesus is unique. Paul encouraged the Ephesians to live up to their calling as members of one body in Christ (Ephesians 4:4-5). By the power of the Holy Spirit they would be able to live in unity as they developed humility, gen

 6.4- Our Covering                               Romans 3:21-26                                      Anne Cetas     When talking about faith in Jesus, we sometimes use words without understanding or explaining them.   One of those is righteous. We say that God has righteousness and that He makes people righteous , but this can be a tough concept to grasp.     The way the word righteousness is pictured in the Chinese language is helpful. It is a combination of two characters. The top word is lamb . The bottom word is me . The lamb covers or is above the person.     When Jesus came to this world, John the Baptist called Him “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). We need our sin taken care of because it separates us from God whose character and way are always perfect and right. Because His love for us is great, God made His Son Jesus “who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (II Corinthians 5:21). Jesu

 6.3- Who Do You Say He Is?                       Matthew 16:13-20                          Bill Crowder     In a 1929 Saturday Evening Post interview, Albert Einstein said, “As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene . . . No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life.”            The New Testament Scriptures give us other examples of Jesus’ countrymen who sensed there was something special about Him. When Jesus asked His followers, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” they replied that some said He was John the Baptist, or one of the prophets (Matthew 16:14). To be named with the great prophets of Israel was certainly a compliment, but Jesus wasn’t seeking compliments. He was searching their understanding and looking for faith. So He asked a second question: “But what about you?

 6.2- Going First                                        I John 4:7-21                             Kristen Holmberg     We worked patiently to help our son heal and adjust to his new life with our family. Trauma from his early days in an orphanage was fueling some negative behaviors. While I had enormous compassion for the hardships he experienced in his early days, I felt myself begin to withdraw from him emotionally because of those behaviors. Ashamed, I shared my struggle with his therapist. Her gentle reply hit home: “He needs you to go first . . . to show him he’s worthy of love before he’ll be able to act like it.”     John pushes the recipients of his letter to an incredible depth of love, citing God’s love as both the source and the reason for loving one other, whether stranger, friends or our own children. Yet, John’s words spark in me renewed desire and ability to do so: God went first . He sent His Son to demonstrate the fullness of His love for each of us. I’m so than

 6.1- The Greater Glory                      John 17:1-5, 20-24                                   Mart Dehaan     Caesar Augustus is remembered as the first and greatest of the Roman emperors. By political skill and military power he eliminated his enemies, expanded the empire, and lifted Rome from the clutter of rundown neighborhoods into a city of marble statues and temples.   Adoring Roman citizens referred to Augustus as the divine father and savior of the human race. As his forty-year reign came to an end, his official last words were, “I found Rome a city of clay but left it a city of marble.” According to his wife, however, his last words were actually, “Have I played the part well? Then applaud as I exit.”     What Augustus didn’t know is that he’d been given a supporting role in a bigger story. In the shadow of his reign, the son of a carpenter was born to reveal something far greater than any Roman military victory, temple, stadium or palace (Luke 2:1).     But who coul

 5.31- Remember                       Matthew 27:46, Psalm 23                            Ken Davidson, Jr.     Where do we go and what do we do when trouble consumes us? I mean real trouble. Trouble so bad that it feels like God has deserted us. This kind of trouble prompts book titles, like Philip Yancey’s Where Is God When It Hurts? We have all experienced trouble, and sometimes it shakes our faith. The Psalmist gives us direction, hope and comfort.     When trouble strikes: Remember the deeds of the Lord. Review them, relive them, meditate on them and find strength.     In so doing, as a seeker of God, we are reminded that God is holy, God is great and God is strong. His holiness is our hiding place. His strength is our support. His greatness is greater than all the troubles of all the people in all the world. He is greater than nature. He has been and always will be the redeemer of His people.     Remember, Jesus felt deserted by God; then came the resurrection. Trouble is