Simply Grace

Theology Thursday 4 March 2021

Thank you: Dianne, Ingrid, Jim, June, Loretta, Mark, Sandy R. and Pastors Thom and Wesley

We studied the texts for the Third Sunday in Lent:

Exodus 20: The Big 10 commandments, don’t make or worship idols. Only God saves!

Psalm 19: We are humbled by God’s power to reveal love and word through nature and humble believers

1 Corinthians: God’s weakness and foolishness is greater than our strength and wisdom

John 2: 13-22: Jesus disrupts the goings on of the outer portions of the temple!

John us Thursdays at 10:30am

Verbo de Dios 03 marzo 2021

Estudio bíblico para el tercero domingo de la cuaresma, 7 de marzo de 2021

Una presentación de pastor Misael de cuatro perspectivas para estudiar la Biblia: devocional, historia, literaria, y teológica. Estudiamos los diez mandamientos, 1 Corintios, y San Juan cuando Jesus quita a los comerciantes del templo.

Estamos en vivo a la 1:00 tiempo pacifico por Facebook live con la pagina https://www.facebook.com/pacificasynod/

Peter doesn’t like what Jesus is saying. He does not want his friend and teacher to suffer. He tries to change the mind of Jesus. Later in the garden hours before the crucification of Jesus, Peter was going to try to fight with the sword to prevent the suffering of Jesus. I think we are like Peter. We want to focus on our relationship with Jesus, and forget about the rest of the world. The problem is not that Peter does not understand that Jesus is divine. This is good. The problem is Peter wants to be entangled with Jesus. He thinks that Jesus’ purpose is to satisfy his emotional needs. Peter prefers that Jesus does not save the world but offers a limited salvation to the preferred and exclusive people. Recognizing that Jesus is God is nothing. Even that the devil and the demons recognize that he is God. That is why Jesus rebuked Peter saying, “Get behind me, Satan!” 

Get Behind Me Emotional Enmeshment

One day everyone will have emotional maturity. One day you can be happy and have a peace that passes all understanding. One day you will have peace and feel safe with yourself even though people are angry at you. Let the day come when we enjoy nothing else in doing the will of God. These days all human beings are going to relate to each other in a dynamic way. When we reach this reality we will have faith. And our children are going to number like the stars in the sky. Come out of us kings and queens, states and nations.

God makes us humans

Thank you Ingrid, Loretta, Mark, and Sandy for joining Pastor Wesley. Second Sunday in Lent.

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 God makes Sarai and Abraam more fully human by adding the “ha”

Psalm 22:23-31 God acts and brings justice, and we focus on the future

Romans 4:13-25 I reckon God makes us righteous

Mark 8:31-38 God help Peter be a person by not enmeshing with Jesus emotionally

A video of some humans God made

La tribu

“Verb of God” is a Bible Study in Spanish Wednesdays at 1:00pm PT live via Zoom. This week’s episode is available on the following platforms:

Segundo Domingo de Cuaresma, 28 de Febrero de 2021

Pastores: María Rendon, Misael Fajardo-Perez, Nathan Allen, Samuel Nieva, Wesley Menke 

Génesis 17:1-7, 15-16: La jornada nueva y el pacto extravagante que Dios dió a Abraham y Sarah

Salmo 22: La tribu, la fe, y la cruz, sustantivos “femeninas” en el idioma español pero dones universales

Romanos 4:13-25: Los gentiles pueden participar en el pacto de Dios a través de la fe. 

Marcos 8:31-38: Jesús ayuda a Pedro formar su humanidad. La clave es enfocarse en la misión de Dios.

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Pacifica Synod’s YouTube channel

Believe in Rainbows

Genesis 9: 8-17

God promises never to cause a flood to destroy the world. The bow or rainbow is the symbol of this promise from God. The bow placed in the sky is a symbol of peace. The bow is a weapon used to shoot arrows. Then the bow set as a rainbow communicates that God is no longer angry, he will not shoot arrows like lightning and punishments to the earth. God will never flood the earth again.

The environment

But is it really not possible for us to experience floods? Scientists say that the world’s temperature is rising and that is why the ice is melting in the Arctic and Antarctic. The ocean levels are rising. 

But what does the Bible say? 

The bible says that God will not cause a flood, this is the covenant between God and Noah. However, the Bible does not say that we cannot cause catastrophe like a flood. It is possible that the actions of human beings can cause tremendous problems in the world. 

But isn’t God going to save us? 

Spiritually we know that we are saved by God’s grace through faith and not by our good deeds. Physically human beings still get sick and die. The world is the same. Although God loves and cares for the world, the world can get sick, change and suffer. 

Twenty-fifth Psalm

The twenty-fifth psalm is a prayer for God’s help. It says, “ To you oh Lord I lift up my soul and I trust in you.” God has the power to save us from our enemies. The enemies are not necessarily other human beings but our sins. Sins are actions that harm God and ourselves. Once upon a time someone said, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” 

God saves us, then, by helping us improve our behavior. Psalm twenty-five says that God teaches his ways and his straight paths for us. If it is our conduct that has resulted in dangerous threats to the environment, then it is our conduct that must improve the situation. God is going to teach us the ways we should follow and act better. 

1 Peter 3:18-22

Holy baptism is a sacrament of God that saves us from our sins. Peter says that baptism is like the ark that saved Noah and his family during the great flood. Baptism saves us from death, sin, and the devil. Baptism is water and the Word of God. Baptism works through faith. And we must practice baptism not just once, but daily. Every time we wash our hands, bathe, or drink water, we must remember and renew our faith in God. 

The changing climate in the world means that there is more water in liquid form: more floods, more big storms, and more rain on the face of the earth. The presence of more water is an opportunity to remember our baptism. Perhaps the purpose of all these changes is to remember and increase our faith. If we had more faith in God we would cause less destruction in our lives and in the world. It is our obsession to prove our worth that causes us to exploit the world and damage our lives. I tell you that

In order for a team to be successful it has got to tolerate differences. A team is strong when different people work together to share their gifts. However, a team is weak when it’s members attack those who are different. This is called the scape-goat phenomenon. When a team suffers loss and hardship it is tempted to blame the problem on someone who is perceived to be different and a problem maker. But when somebody is made to be the scapegoat and mobbed, the team preserves unity and conformity at the expense of losing a greater set of strengths. The team experiences only a temporary cohesion in its rejection of the scapegoat. In the long run the team is weakened, because it cannot overcome existing or new challenges without a broad array of capabilities. 

Treasures in Heaven

The only way out of the scapegoat phenomenon is to change the behavior of the group. Instead of looking for someone that is the problem, who is different, who nobody likes, each person in the team must learn to stop and look in the mirror. That is what Ash Wednesday is all about. You are invited to consider the uncomfortable reality that perhaps all of your problems are not somebody else’s fault, but your own. As Jimmy Buffet sings, “It’s my own damn fault.” 

So let me show you how this works. As your pastor I have failed you. I have not set an example as I should have. I have tried too hard to depend on my own righteousness and not enough on God’s righteousness. Today I publicly repent. I confess that I am a sinner. I am 100% dependent on God’s mercy and forgiveness. 

When I was an intern pastor in Sierra Vista, Arizona I was under the supervision of Pastor Mark Perry. Pastor Perry was a great pastor who taught me so much. But of all the things he did, I have to say that he really excelled at Lent! I remember him sharing a resource with different ideas of Lenten disciplines. It wasn’t the regular list of giving up chocolate or gum. There were things I had never heard before. The one that captured my attention was secret keeping. Keeping a secret as a Lenten disci pline was something I had never thought of before. The idea comes right out of the gospel reading from Matthew chapter 6.

Jesus encourages his disciples to practice their piety in secret. If you give money, do it in secret. If you pray, pray in secret. If you fast, keep it a secret, cover it up, so that nobody knows what you are doing. Jesus compares all of these good works to saving money or storing up treasure. If we do good deeds so that other people see us, then we will be disappointed when those people we were trying to impress are no longer with us. People often fall from prominence and importance. It can leave you feeling disappointed and let down. They key is to not perform your good works for other people, who are bound to disappoint, but to God who can always be counted on. In other words don’t do good deeds to gain social status, do it only for God.

When you dedicate your life to God you will never be disappointed.

2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10

So, be reconciled to

Thank you Ingrid, June, Loretta, Mark, Sandy for joining Pastor Wesley. We studied the readings for the First Sunday in Lent.

Genesis 9:8-17 reminds us of God’s covenant of peace shown through the rainbow.

Psalm 25:1-10 encourages us to remember that God can lift up our soul.

1 Peter 3:18-22 connects the waters of the flood to the promise of baptism. The eight people in the ark remind us of the eight days of creation, and the eight steps of baptism!

Mark 1:9-15 is the brief account of Jesus being driven into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. God provided for Jesus with the company of beasts, and the care of angels!

This is the story of Elijah’s passion

Gilgal is where Elijah’s passion with Elisha begins. Elijah told Elisha that it was not necessary for Elisha, the student to continue with Elijah his teacher. But Elisha wanted to stay faithfully with his teacher. That is why she went with him. But before we go to the two prophets, why don’t we consider the significance of this location: Gilgal?

Passion of Elijah Sermon

Gilgal is the place where the people of Israel camped after crossing the Jordan River. They crossed over after forty years living in the desert under the human leadership of Moses. They have received the law during this time and learned how to live obedient to God’s commandments. But Moses died before crossing the Jordan River. The people were under the new leadership of Joshua. Immediately after crossing the river, Josué told the people something very important. You have to decide who they are going to serve. Will they serve the gods beyond the Euphrates River, the gods of Egypt, or the God of Israel? Joshua and the other leaders placed huge standing stones, an “Ebenezer,” as symbols of their faithfulness to God.

We can reflect on this question. Who do we worship? To the gods of our pasts or to the only God who is present with us today? Each of us has a past. We have had people and things in life that we loved. Although they were slaves in Egypt, the Hebrews had many good years with abundance and connection to the most impressive empire in all of history. Don’t you think there were people who missed the Egyptian way of life? 

Very soon Elías is going to leave the world in a whirlwind and leave Elisha alone. That’s what the sons of the prophets at Bethel said when Elijah and Elisha arrived. The sons of the prophets were mocking Elisha as a faithful disciple. Remind yourself that Elijah was not popular with all the prophets. Several of them always made beards to the king and didn’t really care much about the true word of the Lord. 

Do you know that recently “Christian prophets” have been very fashionable? These people make a lot of money selling their books and appearing as special preachers. But many of his predictions have had false results. His false predictions were things that people wanted to hear, but they were not based on any reality. Elijah was not like that. He told the truth that sometimes he was against the king and against false prophets. That’s why their sons were mocking Elisha as a threat, and all of this happened at Bethel, stop two of Elijah’s passion.

Bethel is quite an interesting location. “Bethel” means “the house of God.” It is where Abraham praised the Lord and built a holy site. Abraham is the godfather of every believer because God chose him to be a blessing to the whole world. Abraham was great but he was not perfect. He made very big mistakes. Abraham pretended that his wife

Theology Thursday 11 February 2021

Thank you Bob, Loretta, Mark, and Sandy for studying with Pastor Wesley the Bible readings. 

2 Kings 2:1-12 the departure of Elijah with chariots of fire and the Spirit anointing Elisha

Psalm 50:1-6 God’s call to faithfulness 

2 Corinthians 4:3-6 The light of Chris illuminating each heart and not veiling or sealing off the light from others

Mark 9:2-9 Jesus’ transfiguration and the presence of great ancestors like Moses and Elijah

https://youtu.be/5g_JO_UZBHE