GOOD NEWS BROADCAST

July 12, 2022

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE REFERENCE:

“Seek the Lord, Yahweh Elohim, while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.” (Isaiah 55.6)

“All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to me. [That being said, I now say:] Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations of peoples, immersing them in the truth in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Further, teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28.18-20a)

TODAY’S REFLECTION:

Our call, purpose, mission, task, business and charge as people of faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God having accepted Him and Him alone as Lord, Savior, brother and friend is clear. There is no ambiguity in the command of Jesus to enact the premise and promise of the authentic love of God by being disciple makers. Jesus came into the world to make disciples of God, students of the Word of God made visible and tangible in the embodiment of truth known as Jesus of Nazareth who is the only Christ of God. We tend to get so busy with our own agendas (now you can see why reflecting on the Garden Prayer is so pivotal in our identity as Christ followers when He prayed “Not my will but God’s be done”) that we forget the true agenda of our lives. Our residence “inside or outside” the Garden of Eden or Gethsemane did not, has not nor will not change our true agenda. We were created for a singular purpose: seek the wisest counsel to understand the greatest call and the means of fulfilling it all the days of our lives. Regardless of our place as saint, a redeemed sinner, or sinner, a person who has not made the choice to accept the will and identity of belonging to God, we have been blessed with a singular calling. In the epistle to the community of faith in Ephesus before John became the Lead Elder, the author, assumed to be the apostle Paul, said this “Live a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” The poetic description found in Ephesians 4 of discipleship is truly on target. I invite you to read it for yourselves (out loud so you can truly “hear” it).

I offer it as our reflection today as for those who seek God while He may be found and who call on Him while He is near (having drawn near to us in the Holy Spirit as Jesus did to the disciples before His ascension.) Shalom.

OUR CALL TO PRAYER:

Father, thank You for making us and giving us meaning and purpose. We are set within the full scope of Your creation. We exist because of Your desire to be God full of love, full of hope and full of faith. We pray to live “not my will but Yours be done.” May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to You and heard by those we will meet today on the road of life. We ask this through Jesus our Christ in whose name we live, serve and pray. AMEN.