Tierra Nueva

Bob examines our identity, as discussed by Paul writes to a group of aliens.

2 Peter 1:10-11 (NASB)

10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; 11 for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.

1 Peter 1:1 (NASB)

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia…

1 Peter 2:9-11 (NASB)

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.

2 Peter 1:5-8 (NASB)

5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Alvin looks to our having been saved and resurrected, and what we do because of it.

Ephesians 2:1-3 (ESV): By Grace Through Faith

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Mike re-aligns in the midst so much disaster.

Romans 8:31-39 (ESV): God's Everlasting Love

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;    

we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The morning Gospels group gathers in prayer, starting the day with leaning into God’s love.

John 3:16-21 (ESV): For God So Loved the World

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Danielle opens the day asking for more renewal and strength.

Psalm 37:7-10

Be still before the Lord : and wait patiently for him.

Do not fret yourself over the one who prospers : the one who succeeds in evil schemes.

Refrain from anger, leave rage alone : do not fret yourself; it leads only to evil.

For evildoers shall be cut off : but those who wait upon the Lord shall possess the land.

Mike further examines our repentance and complete sickness. Luke 5:27-32 (ESV): Jesus Calls Levi

27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

29 And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

White Awake. Daniel HillDaniel 9:8-11 (ESV)

8 To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. 9 To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him 10 and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. 11 All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him.

Alvin examines our self-destruction and the way out of it.

Amos 5 (NIV): A Lament and Call to Repentance

1 Hear this word, Israel, this lament I take up concerning you:

2 “Fallen is Virgin Israel,    

never to rise again,

deserted in her own land,    

with no one to lift her up.”

3 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Israel:

“Your city that marches out a thousand strong    

will have only a hundred left;

your town that marches out a hundred strong    

will have only ten left.”

4 This is what the Lord says to Israel:

“Seek me and live;

5 do not seek Bethel,do not go to Gilgal,    

do not journey to Beersheba.

For Gilgal will surely go into exile,    

and Bethel will be reduced to nothing.”

6 Seek the Lord and live,    

or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire;

it will devour them,    

and Bethel will have no one to quench it.

7 There are those who turn justice into bitterness    

and cast righteousness to the ground.

8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion,    

who turns midnight into dawn    

and darkens day into night,

who calls for the waters of the sea    

and pours them out over the face of the land—    

the Lord is his name.

9 With a blinding flash he destroys the stronghold    

and brings the fortified city to ruin.

10 There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court    

and detest the one who tells the truth.

11 You levy a straw tax on the poor    

and impose a tax on their grain.

Therefore, though you have built stone mansions,    

you will not live in them;

though you have planted lush vineyards,    

you will not drink their wine.

12 For I know how many are your offenses   

 and how great your sins.

There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes    

and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.

13 Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times,    

for the times are evil.

14 Seek good, not evil,    

that you may live.

Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you,    

just as you say he is.

15 Hate evil, love good;    

maintain justice in the courts.

Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy    

on the remnant of Joseph.

16 Therefore this is what the Lord, the Lord God Almighty, says:

“There will be wailing in all the streets    

and cries of anguish in every public square.

The farmers will be summoned to weep    

and the mourners to wail.

17 There will be wailing in all the vineyards,    

for I will pass through your midst,”

says the Lord.

The Day of the Lord

18 Woe to you who long   

for the day of the Lord!

Why do you long for the day of the Lord?    

That day will be darkness, not light.

19 It will be as though a man fled from a lion    

only to meet a bear,

as though he entered his house    

and rested his hand on the wall    

only to have a snake bite him.

20 Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light—    

pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?

21 “I hate, I despise your religious festivals;    

your assemblies are a stench to me.

22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,    

I will not accept them.

Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,    

I will have no regard for them.

23 Away with the noise of your songs!    

I will not listen to the music of your harps.

24 But let justice roll on like a river,    

righteousness like a never-failing stream!

25 “Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings    

forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?

26 You have lifted up the shrine of your king,    

the pedestal of your idols,    

the star of your god—    

which you made for yourselves.

27 Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,”    

says the Lord, whose name is God Almighty.

On July 4, Bob examines allegiance and devastation.

Psalm 74:1-11 (NASB): An Appeal against the Devastation of the Land by the Enemy

A Maskil of Asaph.

1 O God, why have You rejected us forever?

Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?

2 Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old,

Which You have redeemed to be the tribe of Your inheritance;

And this Mount Zion, where You have dwelt.

3 Turn Your footsteps toward the perpetual ruins;

The enemy has damaged everything within the sanctuary.

4 Your adversaries have roared in the midst of Your meeting place;

They have set up their own standards for signs.

5 It seems as if one had lifted up His axe in a forest of trees.

6 And now all its carved workThey smash with hatchet and hammers.

7 They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground;

They have defiled the dwelling place of Your name.

8 They said in their heart, “Let us completely subdue them.”

They have burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

9 We do not see our signs;

There is no longer any prophet,

Nor is there any among us who knows how long.

10 How long, O God, will the adversary revile,

And the enemy spurn Your name forever?

11 Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand?

From within Your bosom, destroy them!

Kevin examines empty gestures and true change.

Amos 5:21-24 (ESV)

21 “I hate, I despise your feasts,    

and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,    

I will not accept them;

and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,    

I will not look upon them.

23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;    

to the melody of your harps I will not listen.

24 But let justice roll down like waters,    

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Amos 5:21-24 (MSG)

21-24 “I can’t stand your religious meetings.    

I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions.

I want nothing to do with your religion projects,    

your pretentious slogans and goals.

I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes,    

your public relations and image making.

I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music.    

When was the last time you sang to me?

Do you know what I want?    

I want justice—oceans of it.

I want fairness—rivers of it.    

That’s what I want. That’s all I want.

Mike asks: What do you do when what you believe about how God works in the world doesn’t connect with what you see happening?

Psalm 73 (ESV): God Is My Strength and Portion Forever

A Psalm of Asaph.

1 Truly God is good to Israel,    

to those who are pure in heart.

2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,    

my steps had nearly slipped.

3 For I was envious of the arrogant    

when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

Deuteronomy 28:1, 15 (ESV)

Blessings for Obedience

1 “And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

Curses for Disobedience

15 “But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.