The Fellowship of Joy

Mark 8 27 - 9 1 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition   In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them, “I have compassion for the crowd because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way—and some of them have come from a great distance.” His disciples replied, “How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?” He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground, and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute, and they distributed them to the crowd. They had also a few small fish, and after blessing them he ordered that these, too, should be distributed. They ate and were filled, and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. Now there were about fou...

     Worship The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called th earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.  - Psalm 50:10   The call to worship that resounds throughout history is the call of an evangel, a bearer of good news. It is a summons to recognize that God is Sovereign over all things and is worthy of our worship.   But that message also recognizes and publishes the truth that fallen man can bring no offering that God can need or accept except as he or she has been cleansed by the loving, gracious, and merciful redemptive act of God in reconciliation.   God's love compels the worshipper to propagate the message of grace.  God's passion for people to come into a loving and worshipping whole-life relationship is the driving force of the mission of Christ and of the early church.   God will not be contained in temples made with hands but has chosen to make sanctuaries of the human heart and declare tha...

What are we saying when we say, God bless America?" Who are we blessing? What do we mean?

Photo by Putz Adrian on Unsplash Mark 7:31-37 Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went by way of Sidon toward the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one, but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, "He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak." Psalm 146 A Model for Leadership that Lasts In contrast to trust, dependence, reliance and subjugation to human leadership that always dies, even our own leadershi...

James 1:17-27. Psalm 15, and Deuteronomy 4 amplify the teachings of Jesus in Mark 7. Ritual & Religious Rubber Meet The Rough, Rugged, Righteous Road of Life Tom Sims www.linktr.ee/tomsims Psalm 15 Abiding on God's holy hill Psalm 15:1 - Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? The grand question introduces the next set of lessons from the psalms and sparks the imagination of all earnest seekers. As believers in Christ, we have the answer in the gospel, but the very asking of the question is a matter of opening to God for all that He desires to teach us. Do not take truth for granted or treat it as if it were not ever new and renewing. Allow the question to move you to the next level of seeking as you go before the Father in prayer today. Psalm 15:2 - … He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart… Here we have an answer to the question posed yesterday, “Who may dwell in your sanctuary and live on y...