Words and Water

A Refreshing Glass

of Ice Water

What a difference our words can make, for good or for bad, and that led me to think about how water can be an analogy to words. Words can be, like water, either a blessing or a curse. When you are hot, tired and thirsty, a cool glass of water can truly be a blessing that cools and refreshes. It’s essential to life and it can be harnessed for work to provide power for operating grist mills and hydroelectric power plants.

Too much water, too fast, can be destructive and contaminated water, deadly. We are in the middle of this historically bad Atlantic hurricane season and have seen hurricanes named Harvey, Irma and Maria. They have brought death, sorrow, destruction, and despair to many people. The storm surge is often as dangerous as the wind and pressure canges.

Like water, our words can be harnessed for good or they can be a

destructive force. A friend recently told me how a meaningful friendship had been torn apart with words. That relationship looks to be permanently broken. I could hear the heartache in my friend’s voice as she shared her pain.

This week’s Bible study is titled, “Warning and Judgement.”* Scripture is a resource God provides to warn us of various spiritual dangers and avoid common pitfalls. Like a good parent, God tries to prepare us ahead of time for what we can expect in life.

A warning verse from James 1:26 (ESV) says,

“those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.”

Later in James 3:10 (NIV) we’re warned,

“Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.”

I expect that we have all said things we shouldn’t and been convicted to seek repentance and forgiveness.

Our words reveal our inner selves, even when we don’t mean for them to. Jesus speaks in Matthew 12:34b (NIV),

“For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”

This is why we are encouraged to think about things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable, anything that is excellent or praiseworthy. When we choose to focus on growing closer to God and making his priorities our own, our attitudes and words will show it.

We have been talking about regular spoken words, regular language…but John1:1 (NIV) tells us, somewhat cryptically,

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Here, he’s talking about Jesus. Jesus as the Word, who was also God, and who spoke creation into existence. Now that’s a powerful word! We can begin to see that as we are being transformed by scripture and the Holy Spirit at work in us, we can tap into that power. When we invite others to Bible study, or share words of the Gospel message, or we uplift and encourage others, when we speak words of confession and repentance, when we ask God to help us deal with our anger and selfishness in ways that are pleasing to Him, then we are using our words in ways that are a blessing to us and that bring glory to God.

May it be so in each of our lives this week.

Camille Wheeler

Originally presented to Leadership Council

9/27/17

CBS - Rutherfordton Day Class

* Return to Jerusalem, Lesson 3

J O Y

As I look at the Almond Joy mini candy bar I handed out, I think of an acronym using the letters J…. O…. Y.  “Jesus, Our Yahweh.” Since Yahweh, a noun, is a form of the Hebrew name of God, the acronym means: “Jesus, our God.” As Christian believers, we claim this to be true.

In our family, we are eagerly anticipating the safe, healthy birth of two grandchildren in the next year. The anticipation reminds me of Jesus’ mother, Mary, and a bit of what she may have been feeling before the birth of her son.  No doubt she was excited, but also apprehensive and unsure about how God was using her in his holy plan.

I was reminded these last two weeks of how much work it is to care for a helpless little one.  In my case, it’s been our little dog who needed unexpected spinal surgery.  He’s needed many resources: our time, attention, medicines, personal care, love, and reassurance since the surgery.  For the first week, it included care in the middle of the night, similar to a baby. Fortunately, he’s gotten on his feet though he still has weeks ahead for further healing.

A baby is a wonderful, wonderful miracle, but also needs lots of support.  They can bring us much joy, but it’s not purely joy. It’s mixed with work and worry.

Mary and Baby Jesus

Joy is usually mixed with other emotions. It is rarely just joy.  Even the joy of Christmas is often mingled with other less welcome emotions. I’ve certainly had years marred by illness, stress related to school, jobs, family issues, finances, and various kinds of losses. All take a toll on our joy at Christmas and at other times throughout the year, and yet, I am encouraged by what the Bible says about joy:

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Psalm 98:4 NIV

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:8-9 NIV

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. James 1: 2-3  ESV

In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 2 Corinthians 8:2 NIV

And my favorite, especially during the Christmas season:

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Luke 2:10 KJV

These verses say to me, and I hope to you, that joy is not only possible when times are good and things are going our way, but even when we have seasons of sadness, of turmoil, of feeling like we are in the wilderness.  As believers, we have these verses to hold onto, to claim, to stand on as reminders. Reminders that we have a God who loves us and sends us joy in the form of his son, Jesus, who was born to bring us the way to salvation and forever-and-ever, eternal joy.

The Almond Joy candy bar on your seat is a reminder of God’s desire for us to experience the eternal joy he offers us.  My prayer for you is that you are reminded, during this season, of God’s constant love and that you feel much joy as a precious child of God.

Camille Wheeler, Core Leader

Originally presented to the CBS Leadership 12-14-16

Can God Use Me if I’m Broken?

John Mark and Becca Gary

          Oftentimes, God has used children to teach and inspire me. This time He used Becca Gary. Becca, now 11 years old, was adopted as an infant a few months after her brother, John Mark, was adopted. She and John Mark were constantly together. Becca had never been separated from John Mark until his death last year. To help her through the grieving process, Becca was able to attend a weekend camp designed for grieving children. While she was there, she participated in activities designed to provide coping skills for dealing with the loss of her brother.

         

          Becca’s mother, Rita, shared with me that Becca did many things while at camp: smashed pumpkins to relieve her anger; wrote John Mark a love letter and released it toward heaven; planted forget-me-not flowers in a clay pot. Rita said that the pot was broken and pieced back together. Puzzled, she asked Becca what had happened. Becca replied, “Mama, this pot is me. I’ve been broken since John Mark left me, but God is busy putting me back together.”

         

          Since hearing this I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tossed Becca’s words over in my mind. Oddly, it made me think of the reoccurring theme we’ve seen through our study of Isaiah. God has been and continues to be “busy putting all of humanity, all ages, from age to age, back together”. The focus is not the brokenness, but rather the fact that God’s love for all of us can be seen through the brokenness. God’s main concern is to love and restore all that is broken. He does this through His Son, Jesus, the Promised Messiah, Immanuel, Our Lord and Savior.

         

Clay Pot

We all begin like this. Everyone is born into a world flawed by sin. We look whole but we actually have a few fragile hairline cracks with the potential of larger breaks.

         

Eventually our lives are affected by circumstances that

The pieces of a

broken life.

are directly a result of sin, some from our own sinfulness, and some from the extended effects of others who have sinned. The result is the same, brokenness brought on by living in a broken world.

         

All the while God is busy putting us back together. He is the glue. You can be sure that with every crisis, there is The Cross.  Jesus is making Himself available. He beckons for those who are broken and hurting to receive Him as their personal Lord and Savior. Some hear and respond. Some hear and refuse. Some don’t hear Him at all and remain like this pot: broken, cracked, and dark.

         

The glue of God's love

holds us together and His love

shines through the cracks.

Those who do chose to respond to his invitation look like this pot. The cracks remain but the Light of Jesus shines inside and out through the cracks. There is beauty found in the brokenness. The beauty is the love of God found in the restoration of a cracked, but not destroyed life. The focus moves from the cracks to His Light and Love.

          This was His plan from the beginning. He desires that His Light be in us and that His light in us will show a broken world that He is seriously in love with us. So in love, in fact, that just as Becca has learned, “He is quite busy putting them back together.” Mostly, He wants to have the Light of His Son shine through our cracks so that others may know His love, too. 

         

Sharon Lorber

Originally presented to the Leadership Counsel

CBS-Rutherfordton Day Class

12/02/2015

O Glorius Day!

I feel like, at my age, I should know much more than I do about the Bible. Often I allow this to discourage me. As I struggled and prayed about what God wanted me to share with you today, I began to think, Where are you God? I need an answer, now. But he didn’t answer right away. Days later as I continued to think about a topic, the Lord led me to my journal. Looking back through it, I came upon the words I had written on October 21, 2013. I had gotten up that morning with a weary soul for some unknown reason. God gave these words to me:

“Living he loved me, Dying he saved me; Buried, he carried my sins far away; Rising, he justified, freely, forever. One day he’s coming, Oh glorious day!” You probably recognize these words from the song Glorious Day by Casting Crowns. As I re-read these familiar words from one of my favorite songs, God began to speak to me. These words formed a link between the words of the song and those we are studying in the Gospel of Luke.

Living He loved us.    In Luke 4, Jesus withstood the test of great temptation and answered satan in verse 8: “It is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. As he lived and faced temptation, rejection, mocking and great cruelty in the end, he loved us and directed us to love one another also.

Dying He saved us. He performed miracles and ministered to many people during his life on earth, yet he faced death in the most horrific way so we could have eternal life. In Luke 9:22, he foretold his death: “The son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”

Buried, He carried our sins far away. When Jesus hung on that cruel cross and died there and was buried in the tomb, he carried our sins with him, giving us the opportunity for eternal life with him in heaven. Oh, What a Glorious Day is coming!

Rising, He justified, freely, forever.   Luke 24:44 tells us: “These are my words that I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled. Verse 46-48 adds: “Thus, it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance and forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” 



One day He’s coming again! Oh, what a glorious day! I pray you are as encouraged by these words as I am every time I hear them. As we think about the love Jesus has for us and the price he paid for us so that we could know him and have life eternal. 

Prayer: “Father, I praise you just now for all you have done for us. You paid the ultimate price for our freedom and I thank you for words that can remind us of your love for us. I pray that our love for others would reflect your love for us as you have commanded us. In Jesus name I pray. Amen”

Brenda Conner

Originally presented to CBS Leadership, April, 2015

Footprints of God

        It's funny how we can miss God's presence in our lives by simply not looking. He is always there, whether we notice him or not. A few years ago, I participated in Beth Moore's Believing God Bible study. As a part of it, we made a timeline of our lives and divided it into fifths. We then added in details of our life during each period including our family situation as well as significant milestones. As I reflected back thru each period, I could see the footprints of God all over my life. He was there.  I often wasn't looking.   

I could see God's work in my early life as I remembered being surrounded by a loving Christian family, being raised in church and accepting Christ as my Savior at age seven. I still remember His clear voice from that day. Later on, I could see God's presence even when I was paying Him no attention at all as I exercised my

independence in college and young adulthood. I made circles in a wilderness of my own choice for 20 years, making lots of mistakes doing it my way. God was there.  I just wasn't very interested. God remained faithful to our relationship even while I did not. 

When I chose to return to Him in 2000, I began to see God everywhere. He wasn't hiding. He wants to be seen. He has always wanted to be seen and remembered. He has been posting signs in the heavens, performing miracles, burning bushes, sending prophets and He even sent His own son so that we can see Him for who He really is and love Him back.   

Today I choose to look for Him every day. He is up to something and I don't want to miss it. He's even got His own series on primetime television! I can't wait to see what He does next. I challenge you to make a timeline of your life. Like me, I’ll bet you find God's footprints all over your life, too.  

Hebrews 11:6 says, “God promises that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." And in Jeremiah 29:13, God says, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." 

 

   God has been faithful to me in keeping these promises. I see Him today in the smiles and love from each of you and in your dedication to the women who come here every week looking for God. 

Karen Long-Moore, Core Leader

Originally presented to the CBS Leadership Team