God is on a Mission

As I read the Exodus story I am reminded just how determined God is to complete His mission. There is nothing Pharaoh (hardening his heart, his realization that God is powerful and should be feared) or Moses (thinking he lacks talent, his record of murder in Egypt, no standing in the community) can do to stop God from freeing His people. A brother in Christ reminded me that as Christ was approaching the Cross, Pilate also attempted to stop Christ from freeing us from the power of sin. When Pilate was asking Jesus to defend himself, Pilate wasn't giving Jesus away out, he was attempting to stop Him from completing what God was determined to do. Praise God, Jesus did not allow the weakness of our flesh to stop the conflict or the victory.

What are you called to do? Love God. Love your family, friends, and neighbors. What ways are you being hindered in completing that mission? Is it someone or something offering you a false escape? Is it your love of another god? Praying that the Holy Spirit will choose today and get you fired up to Love Him and others. Rejoicing that God will never stop working to remind me he has freed me from slavery to sin and empowered me to follow my Savior.

Why all the names?

Two of today's readings (Genesis 46 and Romans 16) contain lists of names. These "lists" drive me crazy. While I recognize some of the names, most mean nothing to me and I often wonder why they are included in the Bible. What is the Holy Spirit trying to tell me? After some thought, I came up with the following responses:

• It is important to remember those in our Christian family
• In listing the names of folks, we often remember acts of God
• It reminds us that Gods works are not limited to our understanding of the law or man's best practices
  

In Genesis 46, we see that the nation of Israel was started by people from many different races. What made them Hebrew was their believe in Yahweh and their understood public expressions of their beliefs (circumcision of the male, the worship of the One True God - not described in Genesis). That helps us understand where Paul gets the "unequally yoked in marriage" (1 Corinthians 6:14).

The list of names in Romans 16 is a great testimony of the Holy Spirit filling and using, men, women, young, old, wealthy, poor, Jew and Gentile to share the Gospel with the world and build the kingdom of God. Hope you are looking forward to joining those saints in worship tomorrow!