Author: pastor.gerooney@gmail.com

What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for His soul? Matthew 16:26

Jesus begins to prepare His disciples for the end. Peter professes the deity of Jesus. He is the Son of God, the Messiah. Jesus shares that He must return to Jerusalem to face persecution and death, then Peter rebukes Him and Jesus acknowledges Satan’s attempt to stop His sacrifice. Finally, Jesus tells these closest friends, comrades, the cost of following Him will be their lives, from their everyday comings and goings to possible martyrdom. 

There is a constant push and pull between surviving life and keeping earthly gains in proper place. I am honor bound to pay my electric bill, so I must go to work.  My natural competitive instinct drives me to achieve, thus gaining the faith and trust of my employer, who in turn, depends more heavily on my ethic. I have done right, and now I am pulled from the very hearth I work to keep warm.  Where does maintaining life on earth become gaining the world? Adoration and power are great temptations, but they are of this world. 

It is a matter of heart. What on earth do you love more than you love God, who sends us to love our neighbor? 

Love,

Gretchen

Through Him and for His name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. Romans 1:5

Paul was called to bring the message of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles.  He wrote the letter we know as Romans three years before he would actually go to Rome. From Corinth, Paul was traveling to Jerusalem with benevolent funds for persecuted Jewish Christians. His personal safety was uncertain and he wanted the true, untainted Gospel, to reach the faithful of Rome.  

Christians were being viciously persecuted by unbelievers, but compounding this injustice was the insistence of converted Jews that non Jewish believers adopt the orthodox traditions of circumcision and dietary restrictions. Paul preached salvation by faith and Holiness by obedience only.  

Opinions are the reflex of our knowledge and environment.  It is impossible to exist without the perspective at the end of our own noses.  The early church dealt constantly with these issues too. Paul was relentless in his mission to bring unity to all believers through a faith that accepts mercy and grace and in love, returns it to one another other.

Have a Lovely Saturday,

Gretchen

Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His Holy name. Psalm 103:1

An inmost being?….The darkest, hidden places of my heart and mind no one knows about?….The empty place left when my soul mate left?….The secret fears of failing? ….Listing details of a soul can go on forever. Do all those place’s really need to take part in worship?

This Psalm, by David, is a reflection of God’s enduring, infinite love across a life less than perfect.

David could out sin us all……still, grace and mercy were unlimited and sufficient. What God did for him He will do for all. Let praise come from every place in your heart, mind and soul and may it express the miracle of who you are, all because God loves you.

Have a Wonderful Week’s end,

Gretchen 

“You are the light of the world, a city on a hill cannot be hidden.” Matthew 5:14

Sitting on a hillside, the Son of God begins to teach the things His followers must know if they are to remain His disciples. Be transformed and be like the One you know. Jesus’ words are found in Matthew chapters 5-7. 

Jesus is the Light of the World. Outer darkness is the space where God does not dwell. Light is life giving and sustaining. A glow gives determination and hope to the sojourner. Illumination provides clarity and truth. It is irritable because it dispels obscurity. 

God’s Glory radiates His character, predominantly, enduring love and overcoming power. We must become like Him, both radiating and reflecting the things of Heaven so a world of shadows has a hope of resplendent enlightenment. 

Simply said, “Be someone’s flashlight in the storm.”

Love,

Gretchen 

At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. John 20:14

Mary Magdalene is the only woman that all three gospels place at the crucifixion. While Jesus’ friends, even those who witnessed His love and power, were fleeing in fear, Mary stood faithful.  

Miraculously healed, Mary personally experienced Jesus’ life transforming ministry.  She became part of a group of followers that traveled beside Jesus and His disciples taking care of their personal needs and contributing their financial resources. After accompanying Joseph of Arimathea to the tomb to bury Jesus, grief stricken Mary returned home to prepare perfumes, oils and spices, to give Her friend and healer the honor in death He was worthy of. So, she arose on the first day of the week and arrived at His tomb before anyone else did, finding it empty.

The theology of the resurrection was lost on those who walked with the LORD. They were willing listeners and learners, but they had no reference point of understanding, UNTIL that day.  John saw the burial cloths and instantly understood. Mary, devastated by the removal of Christ’s body, lingered near by, sobbing. She looked into the tomb again and saw two angels (verse 13). While speaking with these celestial beings she turns and sees Jesus, but does not recognize Him. He spoke. Still she wept, AND THEN HE CALLED HER NAME!

Mary’s encounter changed our world….I mean your world and mine!  Jesus chose her, she who did not know how she would survive the day without Him, to go and share the news of the risen Friend, Savior, Messiah, Healer, LORD! 

Jesus called her by name and things changed.  We often call out to Jesus, but today, invite Him to call you by name. It will change somebody’s world!

Love,

Gretchen 

Who is wise? Let them realize these things. Who is discerning? Let them understand. The ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them. Hosea 13:14

200 years before the time of Hosea, the Ten Tribes of Israel seceded and established a second kingdom separate from Judah, then chose the Golden Calf as their god.  The One True God sent Elijah, Elisha, Jonah, Amos, and finally Hosea to tell the people to put away their false gods. The people, led by wicked kings, refused and by the end, Israel added the worship of Baal to their Golden Calf. Israel was wiped off the face of the earth by the Assyrians. Notice Baal and the Golden Calf were worthless help before, during and after this calamity.

Wisdom is not aptitude. It is a choice! Discernment is wisdom in action. Israel reaped what it sowed. The great news is, their actions, while bringing judgement, did not cause God’s love to waver. 

God’s love knows no end. You cannot make it go away!  Read all of Hosea 14. Walk righteously or stumble continuously. God will reach down, but you’ve got to take the love extended, then trust and obey.   

Love,

Gretchen 

And the ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will over take them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. Isaiah 35:10

God’s creative power is also His saving power. Chapter 35 is a poem telling of the end of time as we know it and the beginning of total and complete freedom from sin and grief. This passage speaks of old things becoming new, dead things coming to life. Such is our state when we are saved by grace. 

Ransom, the noun, is the price demanded for return of a possession.  Ransom, the verb, is the act of rescuing and redeeming. God does both.  The price to pay for everlasting life is a sacrifice that can face down death and LIVE to tell about it.  Jesus did.  Nothing in Satan’s arsenal had the strength to pull God and His Son from their objective, to save mankind from eternal darkness and death. 

Man has no reference point to an existence without sorrow, temptation or fear. Isaiah saw it! God sent word to a people in bondage. There will come a day when suffering will end.  God is at work, THE BEST IS YET TO COME! 

Happy Monday, 

Gretchen

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

The nations of Israel and Judah have fallen and Jerusalem is in ruins.  The Jewish/Judean people are taken into captivity by Babylon. All because idolatry and pagan gods were too attractive. They worshiped the One True God with rituals that meant nothing in substance and gave their hearts to worldly pleasures that robbed them of their freedom. God put a limit on their punishment, 70 years. In the mean time, there was hope, lots of it, and they had work to do. 

This verse is from a letter Jeremiah sent to the elders, exiles, priests and prophets that were taken from Jerusalem. The opening words show that God, not Babylon is in charge (v. 4). Babylon does not escape without its punishment in the years to come. These people, torn from the comforts of their home are told to rest in hope, build a new life and seek peace and prosperity. Most of all, guard against false prophets hoping to gain from man’s general discontent. Trust the LORD, He is good.

I know this passage is a very popular phrase of encouragement and hope, captioning beautiful pictures on greeting cards, but it must remain in context and content. To seek and find God’s Holiness is peace. Prosperity is NOT earthly comfort, but an exhilaration of the soul that knows it will always have enough because God will provide.

God will not share space, He WILL FILL the space, in your heart. Your only hope is His plan, full of goodness and peace. 

Love,

Gretchen

“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. Jeremiah 18:6

There is very little left of God’s covenant nation Israel.  The homelands, Judah and Israel have been obliterated and Jerusalem is falling into the hands of Babylon, a consequence of disobedience. (Later Babylon was wiped off the face of the earth as punishment for its sins against the Jews.)

Jeremiah is called to the house of a potter where God gave him a message.  He finds a potter struggling with clay that is marred and will not become what it was intended to be. Without discarding the clay, the potter successfully reshapes the vessel. Wickedness and idolatry are the people’s choice, but God can change their destiny if they will allow Him the right to shape and direct their future.

Our choices determine our destiny. Free will is a gift from God. Our ultimate gift, and faith in action, is the return of our will to God. 

Complete submission verses personal autonomy seems like an incredibly difficult choice until you consider the outcome. It brings the concept of, “Make good choices” to a whole new level!

Happy Mid-January!

Gretchen  

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the Father. Matthew 10:29

Jesus called twelve disciples, all Jewish men, yet diverse in many ways. They knew a Messiah was coming and they believed Jesus was probably Him, but they expected a governmental coup and an earthly reign and justice. So, Jesus begins training these men who have stepped out in ‘faith’ believing they knew what they signed up for. It will be their mission to carry His message, while He is on earth, but more importantly, when He leaves.

A map of what to expect is laid out.  There will be much injustice, including in the synagogue. Be discerning  and watchful, but also be gentle and compassionate. Fear the one that destroys the soul, not those who can kill the body. In this training session, discipleship 101, the greatest lesson is God’s loving provision and care. Even the sparrow is sheltered and fed. 

Man grants quality to everything and extends emotions accordingly. God does NOT! The sparrow’s value in the order of things on earth is irrelevant to the standard of God’s loving care. On this earth there will be trials and sorrows. They are not proportionate too, nor do they reflect, our value to God.  Our worth is a given. He gave His son so that we may have life everlasting. God sees our tears and hears our cries. He has already prepared a way to overcome. Rest and know peace in His love and care.

Love,

Gretchen