The Power of Easter

 

Text: Romans 5:12-19 The Message

Focus: atonement

Function: to help people see the theology of atonement

^12-14You know the story of how Adam landed us in the dilemma we’re in—first sin, then death, and no one exempt from either sin or death. That sin disturbed relations with God in everything and everyone, but the extent of the disturbance was not clear until God spelled it out in detail to Moses. So death, this huge abyss separating us from God, dominated the landscape from Adam to Moses. Even those who didn’t sin precisely as Adam did by disobeying a specific command of God still had to experience this termination of life, this separation from God. But Adam, who got us into this, also points ahead to the One who will get us out of it.

^15-17Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death-dealing sin. If one man’s sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what God’s gift poured through one man, Jesus Christ, will do! There’s no comparison between that death-dealing sin and this generous, life-giving gift. The verdict on that one sin was the death sentence; the verdict on the many sins that followed was this wonderful life sentence. If death got the upper hand through one man’s wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, absolute life, in those who grasp with both hands this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand setting-everything-right, that the one man Jesus Christ provides?

^18-19Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right.

Good morning. Today is the first Sunday of Lent. Lent is a time where we might set aside our physical desires in one from or another in order to focus on the meaning, or the power of Easter.

(point to cross on shirt) Somehow, I lost the crucifix I used to wear and I have replaced it with this cross from the Kairos Ministry to prisoners. It reminds me of the suffering they experience on the inside, most of them are incarcerated because of mental illness and they could be cured.

But a crucifix used to cause some concern among my Protestant brothers and sisters. Someone once asked me if I “had no hope” since I still had Jesus on the cross.

On Easter we celebrate the resurrection from the dead and the fact that death, and the fear of death, no longer has dominion over our psyches and our spiritual condition.

And, I think the debate between whether or not we wear a crucifix or an empty cross is us merely being tribal and trying to prove that we have the better faith. The fact is, God is Lord of both camps.

And I choose to wear the crucifix to remind myself of the suffering of Christ, for us, including me.

Right at the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry, He went into the desert and fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. At the end of that time, Satan appeared to Him and tempted Him when Satan thought He was vulnerable because He was weak.

But God gives us power through the Spirit and God promises to sustain us in the midst of temptation.

So, many practice Lent as our their own form of a 40 day fast by giving up something for the season.

We are all familiar with the story of Easter. Jesus the innocent one, who proclaimed a message of universal love and equality, was killed for preaching His message. And beyond that, according to prophecy, Jesus performed the work of salvation for us. Theology teaches us that through His death, Jesus atoned for our sins and reconciled us to God

In simple terms: Jesus was unjustly murdered by the State but God had deeper plans to save us all.

Jesus died on Friday afternoon. The third day after that, Sunday, Jesus rose from the dead.

Practicing Lent and taking time to remember this, although we already know it, helps us to be transformed by the power of Easter

I used a big word. Atonement. My theology professor did a play on words and told us that the atonement was our moment of “at one-ment” with God. We are reconciled to God.

The book of Romans does a good job of explaining Paul’s version of the atonement.

I don’t know if I can make it any simpler that what our text for today says, but I can shorten it a little bit.

Adam sinned and the penalty for his sin was death. And since then, we too die.

And Jesus saved us. It happened one of two ways: 1 Perhaps it means that God covered our sins through Jesus or 2 Jesus proclaimed that God was covering our sins in the new Kingdom.

So, because of Adam we have death and because of Jesus we have abundant life.

The hope, though, is in the resurrection.

In the resurrection, I believe we will be reconciled with those we have loved here on earth.

In the resurrection, we will have perfect bodies that will never wear out, similar to those of the angels. I wonder. Will we be able to fly?

In the resurrection, that is where we will gain our reward for living for God here on earth.

And that is worth focusing on. Jesus went to the cross to prove to us that we can trust God with even our very lives. And because of the resurrection, even when something unthinkable happened to Jesus, He rose from the dead.

He showed us how to live, loving, forgiving, accepting, and not retaliating for the harms done to Him.

So, the practice of Lent is here to keep on reminding us that Jesus suffered on our behalf to redeem us.

It is important for us to remember what God has done. Both before we were born when Jesus was on the cross, and what God has done in our lives since God sent the Spirit into us.

I would love to stop the sermon right here and ask people what they experience to bring them closer to God and let the Holy Spirit use you to share the joy and hope of your own faith in order to encourage others and to be encouraged by the hope and faith of others.

However, I am afraid of uncomfortable silences and I personally hate being put on the spot. I like to be warned in advance so that I can say what I wish I would have said.

And anyway, you are going to get a chance to share part of your own story next week.

It is important to me to hear from all of you because we have held the belief that the Spirit of God reveals to us the scripture in community.

So, let us understand what Paul is saying here about the power of Easter. Because God rose Jesus from the dead, we do not have to be afraid of death and the penalty of sin anymore.

Jesus died to save the world entire. That is an hopeful message. It is important for us to consider the problem with shame. When I think that God died and rose again for me to cover my sins, God left the throne of heaven to become a man and show us how to live. They abused Him and ultimately murdered Him because He contradicted society and told them it is no longer okay to harden your hearts against others. The crucified the Lord of Glory to silence Him.

When we remember these things; when we bring them to mind as we do every year for Lent and Easter, Jesus is no longer silenced. We too, give Him a voice by the way that we refuse to hold on to hatred and bitterness and let love forgive those who have harmed us.

The power of Easter is the Resurrection. It gives us the hope to live for Jesus here on earth instead of selfish lives.

Can we be perfect?

Text: Matthew 5:38-48

Focus: “Just” righteousness

Function: to help people love sacrificially as Jesus wants us to love.

³⁸“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ ³⁹But I say to you: Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also, ⁴⁰and if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, give your coat as well, ⁴¹and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. ⁴²Give to the one who asks of you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.

⁴³“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. ⁴⁶For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the gentiles do the same? ⁴⁸Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

This is a passage about personal justice and grievance in the face of attack or oppression. You hear me refer in many ways to the way that Jesus died and the way that He forgave His enemies on the cross and the example for living that this should be for us.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus lays out practical examples of what was meant in the law when it said to love our neighbor as ourselves.

We saw last week how our righteousness must exceed that of the Religious professionals and then we saw how righteousness ties in to our actions of doing justice.

Today we are faced with the question of how can we be perfect? Or more importantly, can we be perfect?

And of course, behind that is what is meant by the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives to transform us into the people of peace that Jesus has called us to be.

So, again, if you don’t mind, let us break down the passage into its component parts.

He starts out with the concept of turning the other cheek.

This is a radical concept. It means that we hand over the justice deserved to us to God who will in the end give to each man and woman rewards according to the way they have lived their lives here on earth.

But it isn’t a sign of weakness for two reasons.

The first one is that restraint during provocation takes great internal discipline. And, again, I believe that this happens in the power of the Holy Spirit who promises to give us what we need in time of crisis.

Simply stated, God tells us to “be the bigger man or woman” in the conflict situation.

Remember, the goal of the Holy Spirit in the world is to bring reconciliation between God and humanity and human beings with each other.

But the second reason why it isn’t weakness is profound. It is the meekness of passive resistance as compared to weakness. The purpose of turning the other cheek is to shame the abuser into doing the right thing.

It might help to know that for sanitary reasons, people had the “mud hand” and the clean hand. The left hand was the mud hand and it was used primarily when filthy tasks were required. One didn’t shake with the left hand because, again, it wasn’t clean.

The slap that is indicated here is a reprimand from an authority figure to a subordinate. It isn’t a conflict, but a condemnation by a boss or a slave owner, or a person of authority.

It happened often to the Jewish people by those in power because they were subjugated to the Roman authorities and their collaborators.

It was a symbol of oppression.

Walter Wink pointed out that if one turned the other cheek, it forced the person to slap them again with the left hand, the mud hand, and that was a shame to the person doing the slapping.

The same with the extra mile. A Roman soldier on a journey could compel anyone they wanted to to carry their luggage for one mile to help them on their journey. Imagine a farmer plowing his fields with his livestock and along the road he is forced to give up his labor to aid the journeys of the ones who are making them so poor with their extreme taxation. Going the extra mile kept the oppressor from gloating over his position.

Giving the second garment when sued left the person naked. And again forcing a poor person to be naked by taking their clothes shamed the oppressor as well.

Jesus explained to them how to take the power away from the oppressor by serving them. It shamed the oppressor into stopping the behavior. Martin Luther King Jr taught Jesus’ principles passive resistance, resistance without violence, as a way to gain justice. He was following the work of Jesus which is to break down the barriers between the races.

And he did it with a just peace. During the civil rights era I heard the phrase: “If they just knew their place…” and I realized something. Those who said that wanted peace, but not justice.

As long as racism exists, Christ has called us to be different than racists and love our enemies. Jesus shows us how to sometimes make them into friends.

As we have seen, to follow Christ who was murdered for His stand on justice is to stand against injustice ourselves.

Then the passage shifts gears to comparisons between unbelievers and those who claim to follow God. Jesus calls the others the tax collectors and gentiles.

We are all gentiles here and Jesus isn’t condemning a race of people simply because of their race. He is speaking of people who are not enlightened by the just requirements of the law which is to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves.

And He is telling us to go beyond what unloving people do and love others despite the way they treat you.

If we are simply living with an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth retaliation, then we are not living as the people of the Kingdom of God.

And finally, we get to the last verse, where He commands us to be perfect as God is perfect.

I really wrestled with this when I was a teenager.

I didn’t understand how the word perfect should be interpreted. I thought that if Jesus commanded it, then it must be possible. And if it was possible, then any failure was a sure enough ticket to hell.

But the word for perfect here is telios. It literally means: “At the end.” It is probably better translated as complete or mature. Finished.

And remember, the point of the sermon on the mount is to give us examples of what Godly living looks like so that we can be complete in the Kingdom of God.

You cannot be perfect, only Jesus is. But we can let the Spirit guide us into maturity in our faith and learn the ways of peace so that people can see the love of God inside of us for them.

Beyond the Rules

Text: Matthew 5:13-20

Focus: Righteousness

Function: To help people live by the law of love

¹³“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

¹⁴“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. ¹⁵People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

¹⁷“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. ¹⁸For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. ¹⁹Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

I guess today is more of a teaching than a preaching of the passage.

For some reason we keep hitting on texts that have been “Journey passages” to me as they have changed my perspective on religion in light of the teachings of Jesus.

This passage discusses who is the least and who is the greatest in the kingdom of God.

I have to tell you that this is another one of those passages that I got wrong for a few years at the beginning of my ministry.

I believed for a while that perhaps the most Christian celebrations we could experience would be recreations of the Ancient Jewish festivals since they were the only ones proscribed in the scriptures.

Now, we, as Brethren, take as our only creed the entire New Testament. And we distinctly leave out the Old Testament since it actually refers to the Old Covenant and we are now living in the New Testament, or the New Covenant that Jesus came to establish.

And I got it wrong from this perspective, I was trying to apply biblical literalism to something that Jesus was speaking about metaphorically.

One of the first things the Holy does is tell Peter that the OT law about clean and unclean foods is no longer valid and therefore, he should interpret that to mean that union with Gentiles, eliminating our evolutionary tendency toward the fear that has lead to racism, was a major part of the reconciliation that Jesus brought when He fulfilled the law, and finished it, on the cross.

On the cross, Jesus destroyed the law and the passage, not one jot or tittle until all is fulfilled was accomplished on the cross of Christ.

And here I was, in my zeal for God, trying to rebuild what Jesus destroyed on the cross.

So, She, the Holy Spirit delivered me from fundamentalism and legalism into the freedom that Jesus wants us to live in.

And it is defined in the last verse of our text.

Jesus said, Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees and Sadducees, then you cannot enter the Kingdom of God.

That sounds like a full and tall bill to fill. How do we reconcile that statement with the promise from Jesus that His yoke is easy and His burden is light?

Well we have to because the same author of this verse is the same author who quoted Jesus saying that the yoke is easy.

Well, first off. Theologically, as I mentioned, the law was fulfilled on the cross. For us believers who follow Jesus by the way we live our lives, the law no longer applies to us. At least, that is what Brother Paul says in the first letter to Timothy.

And here the Holy Spirit was, faithful to me to give up the pride of trying to be self righteous, so that I could truly follow Christ.

Secondly, is the way we translate righteous. It shows up in verse 20. And sadly, Brian McLaren points out that this is a phenomena in English Translations only, the Greek word Diakonos, the word for justice, is translated almost exclusively as righteous in English translations.

If you look up the verse in Bible Hub, you find a very interesting, and most accurate according to the translations in other languages, where from the Original Arabic, which is what Matthew was written in, the word is translated as justice.

And that is what Jesus meant. Unless your justice exceeds that of the Pharisees and Sadducees… He is telling them that they need to rise above a salvation that merely justifies itself by law or creed and is done by the works involved.

Many times Jesus points out the hypocrisy of the wealthy religious folks who justify taking away the houses of widows and orphans because on the outside they have followed what they interpret to be the letter of the law.

And the difference between translating it Justice as opposed to righteous is that one is a state of being. A righteous person is a person who believes. A just person is one who performs.

The way we use righteous to mean “a believer” has been used to excuse a failure to love our neighbor as ourselves. Believing does not ensure just actions. And Jesus is saying that unless you are truly just in your actions, you cannot be saved.

I remember a Cable New Analyst decrying the Pope’s message when he visited. The Pope preached Matthew 25 and that the righteous are the just people who clothe the poor, feed the hungry, visit the prisoner, as opposed to those who refuse the least of these. The Pope prophetically proclaimed the message and told them that those who denied the least of these were denied the kingdom of God.

And against credibility, using anger as a prop so that people wouldn’t actually hear the message the news caster was proclaiming said something like, “He should not preach justice, he should tell us how to be saved.”

It was incredulous because the Pope was quoting Jesus on how to be saved when Jesus said, I was hungry and your fed me, I was naked and your clothed me, I was sick and in prison and you visited me, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, as much as you have done this for the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you have done it to me.”

Jesus Himself told us how to be saved, DO THE WORKS OF JUSTICE.

The Greek Word Diakonos, justice, has its roots in the name of the Greek God of Justice, Dike. And the preponderance of literature from those early years translated the word as justice and as I mentioned, nearly every other language in current translations use justice.

The missed translation, I believe, comes from the King James Version, I love the poetry of it, but the version uses the term to mean “professors of Jesus” rather than followers of the Christ who died because He denied the very political systems that divide us today.

And it is a sin to say that all we have to do is merely believe. Jesus expects our righteousness to go beyond the rule that all we have to do is say the right thing and we are considered righteous in spite of our actions.

Our actions prove that we are just people and we embrace as the gospel of Christ the term Justice.

Like the Prophet Amos said, God isn’t so concerned about singing songs to Him as much as us ensuring that Justice flows down like a river, especially Social Justice.

There is a difference between Justice and Social Justice. It was the worldly “Justice” of the State of Rome over Israel that executed the Lord of Glory. And they killed Him for His message of social justice.

Don’t confuse Social Justice with Socialism. There is only a similarity in the way they sound.

Social justice is continuing the mission that Jesus set out on in the power of the Holy Spirit so that the world can be transformed into a place where the least of these can have a chance to survive.

And if our righteousness is to qualify, then it needs to be exemplified by the just acts that we do.

And we do them here at Painter Creek. For those that don’t know, we support the prisoners in a very real way through your support of me in Kairos.

So let us finish with the thought that the Holy Spirit is with us in order to make us thrive. Maybe we can spend the next hour discussing ways to impact our own community with the needs that they have.

Worshipping God

Text: Micah 6:1-8

Focus: Worship

Function: to help people see that acts of kindness are worship

6:^1-2Listen now, listen to God:

“Take your stand in court.
    If you have a complaint, tell the mountains;
    make your case to the hills.
And now, Mountains, hear God’s case;
    listen, Jury Earth—
For I am bringing charges against my people.
    I am building a case against Israel.

^3-5“Dear people, how have I done you wrong?
    Have I burdened you, worn you out? Answer!
I delivered you from a bad life in Egypt;
    I paid a good price to get you out of slavery.
I sent Moses to lead you—
    and Aaron and Miriam to boot!
Remember what Balak king of Moab tried to pull,
    and how Balaam son of Beor turned the tables on him.
Remember all those stories about Shittim and Gilgal.
    Keep all God’s salvation stories fresh and present.”

^6-7How can I stand up before God
    and show proper respect to the high God?
Should I bring an armload of offerings
    topped off with yearling calves?
Would God be impressed with thousands of rams,
    with buckets and barrels of olive oil?
Would he be moved if I sacrificed my firstborn child,
    my precious baby, to cancel my sin?

⁸But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do,
    what God is looking for in men and women.
It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,
    be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don’t take yourself too seriously—
    take God seriously.

I have to confess that this is one of my favorite passages in the entire bible. As a matter of fact, this verse, along with Luke 4:18 are my life verses.

Well, actually it is the last verse from our text and I have it memorized like this: “He has shown you, mortal man, what you must do and what the Lord requires of you, but to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God.”

Instead of preaching, I would like to tell you a story about how the Holy Spirit used scripture to change the direction of my life.

As I mentioned, I have two life verses and both of these verses happened to get my attention in supernatural ways.

The first verse, what I call “My calling verse” is Luke 4:18. In the story, Jesus is reading the scroll from Isaiah 61:1 and he quotes the passage: ¹⁸“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed,

Now I told the story how on May 30, 1979, I was in the woods praying and I heard inside my head, very clearly, the words “Luke 4:18.”

I happened to have my bible with me and I need impress upon you that I had no idea what that verse said.

When I read it, I felt chills up and down my spine.

God called me with this verse and God called me to join Jesus in the mission of transforming the principals of this world into something more loving and just through the power of His Holy Spirit living inside of me.

It was pretty exciting.

My life changed after that. I few months later I found myself working in Atlantic City, New Jersey with a man who was my mentor and we were planting a church in the ghetto of Atlantic City.

Some exciting things happened to us there where we saw the hand of God working.

I remember that ministry, it was on a street corner playground filled with broken glass and cigarette butts and God began building a community of hope among a group of people who were desperately poor.

After a few years helping my mentor plant a church, God called me to go to Bible College and get more education to prepare me for my life as a pastor.

The 3^rd year of my 5 year journey there, God led the administration to choose Micah 6:8 as the “year verse.”

Now I have to tell you that this choice for a year verse caused some controversy in this very conservative Bible College where I attended.

I actually heard, and even repeated the saying, when we were talking about missionary work that met the physical needs of the poor (like being a medical missionary) wasn’t as important as sending preachers who could inform the people that without Jesus in their lives, they were lost and on the way to hell.

The saying that I repeated, that I disavow today was “what good is it if we feed them meals until they die and they still go to hell? We need to convert them to Christ to save their souls if we really want to be faithful.”

And that might sound plausible on the surface. It seemed that way to me at the time to me.

But remember how the Holy Spirit works inside of us?

That year verse that answered the question, what does God want from humanity had nothing to do with heaven and hell theology. It had everything to do with the attitude and perspective of my own heart as I lived and walked among people here on planet earth.

So. The verse caused controversy among the student body as those who lived to see the justice of God change the hearts of mankind and society into a place where we can care for each other and those who were more concerned about what they believed to be the fiery nature of hell and God’s judgment.

The passage speaks of loving mercy. It is consistent with the teachings of Jesus. You see Jesus chiding the religious hypocrites who hated the mercy Jesus gave to people.

Loving mercy, is loving the idea of forgiving our debts as we have forgiven our debtors. Forgive the debt. Forgive it. Forgiving the debt is a powerful and hard task.

The verse. That verse, DO JUSTICE seemed to me to become the opposite of my passion to save their souls and leave their physical state alone. Jesus came to transform society into a place whereby everyone gets a fair and equal chance to survive. And I learned an answer to the question what good is it if we prolong their lives and they still end up in hell?

Well, I wouldn’t even ask the question today because God is Love and Jesus said that He did not come into the world to judge the world but that the world would be saved through Him.

But I started answering the question to those who actually asked it with this: Because Jesus commanded it.

Jesus said, I was hungry and you fed me when you fed the poor. And He said you denied me succor when you deny others succor and have the means to help.

So the answer to the question “What good is feeding them if they are still going to hell?” is because Jesus commands us to.

And it was a pivotal year for my faith and the direction of my ministry. I was using this time at college for spiritual formation and direction

So the impact of this verse and its meaning came at a critical time in my own spiritual journey.

During that time, I remember having another one of those days where I was distracted from the world around me and I was deep in prayer. I was asking God what God wanted from me and more importantly, what God wanted from the church and my ministry.

And in that year, because of my focus on this verse, and the work of the Holy Spirit on that campus and in my heart, my passion changed to reflect the true nature of the verse that God spoke into my ears on May 30, 1979 when God called me to serve the poor.

Can I take a moment to tell the story behind that change?

I was deep in prayer while driving my car downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana. And I was sort of trying to understand about the importance of doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with Him as opposed to going out and preaching the word so that souls could be saved. I remember praying simply that day: “What do you want from me? What do you want us to do?

Now maybe you see the irony that was going on in my head. I was asking God what God wanted from me while I was focusing on the verse that starts with: He has shown you, mortal man, what the Lord requires...”

And as I was praying and watching traffic, and again, I was in distress in my prayer and distress is not an exaggeration. I was really upset because it meant that I had been wrong about my conclusions. And nobody wants to admit they are wrong.

So, while I was praying, and this has only happened a few times, May 30, 1979 and this day, I heard in my ears very strongly, not a verse this time, but the words “Look Up!”

And I looked up beyond the traffic and I saw a sign, “Matthew 25 clinic.”

It was an Epiphany to me. And again, I am not exaggerating. It was life changing. And I realized what God meant and why the Holy Spirit was leading me in such an deep time of prayer..

Now if you live in Fort Wayne, the sign “Matthew 25 Clinic” might mean more to you.

There are two big Catholic churches downtown Fort Wayne. There is an Alabaster cathedral that serves the wealthy. And then there is St. Mary’s Parish that operates the Matthew 25 clinic. They served over 1,000 meals a week, operated free dental and medical care for local residents and it was all paid for by the local congregation which was primarily made up of the poor folks in town. They were continuing the work of Jesus.

And I remember saying to God, after that revelation that God must be wrong, forgive me, because they were Roman Catholics and in my faith tradition, Roman Catholicism was a no-no.

I can’t believe I actually argued with the Holy Spirit, but I was deeply entrenched in my beliefs and God had a lot of work to do to free me.

And at that moment the Holy Spirit filled my with our verse for today, Do justice, Love Mercy and walk humbly with God.

This is what God wants from us and this is how we truly worship God.