Worship service premieres at 10:30 a.m. EST (-500 GMT) on Sunday, April 25, 2021 on YouTube.
Welcome to our Sunday Worship Service for May 16, 2021. Today we will be discovering that, while we are diverse, Christians are called to seek unity under ONE vision…that of Jesus Christ. In fact, diversity actually strengthens our carrying out that vision. Let us discover how this can bring us hope, healing, and wholeness to others as well as ourselves.
Please support us by giving online: https://tithe.ly/give?c=1377216 or https://paypal.me/newtonumc Your support is vital, especially during this COVID-19 pandemic. You can also write and mail a check to First UMC of Newton, 111 Ryerson Ave., Newton, NJ 07860.
If you are from another church that is not able to host online worship, we would strongly encourage you give to YOUR church and support them. They no doubt need that support as much as we do. God bless you all for your generosity.
RECLAIM premieres on YouTube every Saturday at 9:00 a.m. EST (GMT -400).
In this brand new video series, Pastor Todd of First United Methodist Church of Newton, NJ brings passionate awareness and helpful tips on various transformational Christian practices and theology. Each episode will inspire and motivate spiritual growth through time-tested practices and and wisdom.
This week’s episode invites you to RECLAIM unity as a God-given requirement. Pastor Todd discusses what unity is and why it is so important.
Worship service premieres at 10:30 a.m. EST (-500 GMT) on Sunday, April 25, 2021 on YouTube.
Welcome to our Sunday Worship Service for May 9, 2021. Happy Mother’s Day!!! Today we will be discovering that showing respect and hospitality toward the stranger is a requirement for Christians. Let us discover how this can bring us hope, healing, and wholeness to others as well as ourselves.
Please support us by giving online: https://tithe.ly/give?c=1377216 or https://paypal.me/newtonumc Your support is vital, especially during this COVID-19 pandemic. You can also write and mail a check to First UMC of Newton, 111 Ryerson Ave., Newton, NJ 07860.
If you are from another church that is not able to host online worship, we would strongly encourage you give to YOUR church and support them. They no doubt need that support as much as we do. God bless you all for your generosity.
RECLAIM premieres on YouTube every Saturday at 9:00 a.m. EST (GMT -400).
In this brand new video series, Pastor Todd of First United Methodist Church of Newton, NJ brings passionate awareness and helpful tips on various transformational Christian practices and theology. Each episode will inspire and motivate spiritual growth through time-tested practices and and wisdom.
This week’s episode invites you to RECLAIM hospitality as a God-given requirement. Pastor Todd discusses what hospitality is and why it is so important..
Worship service premieres at 10:30 a.m. EST (-500 GMT) on Sunday, April 25, 2021 on YouTube.
Welcome to our Sunday Worship Service for May 2, 2021. Today we will be discovering the importance of listening to God and leveling the playing field for others. Let us discover how this can bring us hope, healing, and wholeness.
Please support us by giving online: https://tithe.ly/give?c=1377216 or https://paypal.me/newtonumc Your support is vital, especially during this COVID-19 pandemic. You can also write and mail a check to First UMC of Newton, 111 Ryerson Ave., Newton, NJ 07860.
If you are from another church that is not able to host online worship, we would strongly encourage you give to YOUR church and support them. They no doubt need that support as much as we do. God bless you all for your generosity.
RECLAIM premieres on YouTube every Saturday at 9:00 a.m. EST (GMT -400).
In this brand new video series, Pastor Todd of First United Methodist Church of Newton, NJ brings passionate awareness and helpful tips on various transformational Christian practices and theology. Each episode will inspire and motivate spiritual growth through time-tested practices and and wisdom.
This week’s episode invites you to RECLAIM seeking after justice as a God-given requirement. Pastor Todd discusses what justice is and what it means to seek it out.
ALSO IN SCRIPTURE “So Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. And his skin became as healthy as the skin of a young child, and he was healed!” (2 Kings 5:14, NLT)
When we think of God’s people, we tend to think one of two things. We might think of the Israelites who were God’s “chosen people”, or we might think of specific characters in the Bible. Either way, we tend to idealize the people we are thinking about. For instance, we may think that God’s people are super faithful, holy, perform miracles and live wholly devout and righteous lives. Unfortunately, this idealism enables us to distance ourselves from being God’s people, because we feel that we fall short of those ideals. As such, I have decided to write a devotion series on specific characters in the Bible in order to show you how much these Biblical people are truly like us, and how much we are truly called to be God’s people.
Part 217: Ten Lepers. The account of Jesus’ healing the ten men with leprosy is a powerful one for sure, and it is also an account that has multiple layers to it. So often, we read these accounts like we would read a simplistic children’s account, word for word, line for line, without ever looking deeper in between the words and the lines on the page. This is, partly, not our fault as we are far removed from Jesus’ time and place and certainly the context is missing. Still, we often gloss over details that are quite revealing of the larger picture.
The first layer I would like to peel back is the location of the ten lepers. Luke tells us that Jesus was heading from Galilee toward Jerusalem. It is important to recall that there were only two ways from Galilee to Jerusalem. One way was a wilderness road that went around Galilee; however, that road, though well traveled, was treacherous because bandits would hide in the cliffs and rocks and ambush travelers. The other way was to go through Samaria; however, the Jews often avoided this because they believed the Samaritans to be wicked and believed that they would be defiled by them if they even so much as crossed paths.
Clearly, Luke indicates that Jesus was perfectly fine traveling through Samaria and, actually, other Gospels such as John corroborate that fact. When Jesus reached the border of Galilee and Samaria, he came to a village and came across ten men with leprosy standing at a distance from him. We are not sure what “village” this was as Luke never names it; however, it is more than likely that it was a leper colony outside of a larger village on the border of Samaria.
The next layer is that when the men call out for mercy, they may or may not have been calling out for healing; rather, they may have been calling out for alms. In fact, when most people in Jesus’ day called out for mercy, they were looking for almsgiving. Still, it is possible, that they had heard of Jesus’ healing and that they were asking for Jesus to heal them. Whatever the case may be, Jesus saw them and responded, “‘Go show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy” (Luke 17:14, NLT). What I love about this layer is that it is quite possible that these men were looking for money and Jesus surprised them with something far greater than that!
That bring us to the next layer needing to be peeled. The point of this account is not actually about the healing, but about the response of the ten. Luke tells us that as the ten men with leprosy left to go to the priest, as Jesus had instructed them, they were cleansed of their leprosy. So, what we see here is that as soon as they obeyed Jesus command they were instantly healed. It did not happen once they arrived at the priest, but immediately as they responded in obedience to Jesus’ command. Nine of those men, seeing that they were healed, continued on to the priests, were investigated and deemed clean. Jesus never saw or heard from them again.
With that said, upon being healed, one of the men instantly turned around and ran back to Jesus. This is the final and most shocking of the layers. As he approached Jesus he began shouting, “Praise God!” What’s more, the man fell down a the feet of Jesus, thanking him for what he had done. More than thanking Jesus, he was worshiping (as the act of prostrating before someone or something indicates) the presence of God within Jesus.
With all of this before us, the real twist to the story is in the fact that this man was a Samaritan. The other nine, who never returned to praise God and thank Jesus, were Jews; however, this one who did return and recognize the presence of God in Jesus was a Samaritan. The Jews, including those other nine men, would look at this one man as a Godless Gentile, and yet it is this “Godless Gentile” who recognized the presence of God in Jesus, praised and worshiped him.
What this teaches us is to never, ever judge a book by its cover. Sadly, we often look at those who are different than us, who are outside of our culture, our religion, our politics and world views as being “less than us”; however, as this account points out, we may be the ones who are lacking in actually seeing the presence of God. Yes, we should hold fast to our beliefs of God and Jesus Christ; however, not at the cost of discounting or judging others, nor at the cost of dismissing God’s ability to reveal Godself to anyone at any time. This should humble and challenge us to open ourselves to being merciful, compassionate, understanding, welcoming and loving toward all people no matter how different we may perceive them.
THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.” – John Milton
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, help me to respond to you in humble and grateful ways. I am wholly yours. Amen.
ALSO IN SCRIPTURE “No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8, NLT)
When we think of God’s people, we tend to think one of two things. We might think of the Israelites who were God’s “chosen people”, or we might think of specific characters in the Bible. Either way, we tend to idealize the people we are thinking about. For instance, we may think that God’s people are super faithful, holy, perform miracles and live wholly devout and righteous lives. Unfortunately, this idealism enables us to distance ourselves from being God’s people, because we feel that we fall short of those ideals. As such, I have decided to write a devotion series on specific characters in the Bible in order to show you how much these Biblical people are truly like us, and how much we are truly called to be God’s people.
Part 216: Daughter of Abraham. I love this account because it reveals a couple of important things to us about God’s people. First it reveals to us something from the woman who was possessed by a crippling spirit. Second, it reveals something to us about the people who opposed Jesus healing her on the Sabbath. As is the case throughout the Gospels, we see the good, the desperate and the bad reflected to us in all of “God’s people”, and how God responds to each of them.
Let us look at the woman disabled by a “crippling spirit”. She was clearly a woman who would have been shunned. If you can picture her, she was no doubt doubled over in pain. We’ve all seen such people in our communities who are hunched over, twisted and can barely move from place to place. People with severe arthritis and other progressive, disabling diseases. In Jesus time, they had no way of knowing the cause of such a thing, so they assumed that whoever had such diseases must be under God’s curse for one reason or another.
Thus, such a person was seen as being possessed by evil spirits, which are the antithesis of God. What’s more, they were labeled and outcasted as such. In other words, this woman was shunned because she was being defined by her crippling illness. Society around her could not see beyond her illness to the person underneath. All they saw and focused on was the illness. Not so with Jesus, who saw the person whom the illness was afflicting. He saw her for what she was, a daughter of Abraham, one of God’s people. She didn’t even ask him to heal her; rather, he had compassion on her and called out to her and told her that she was healed.
On the flip-side, there was the leader of the synagogue who was indignant at the fact that Jesus healed this woman on the sabbath. He was so focused with the rules, regulations, and laws that he was ignoring the needy people right in front of him. He even began to scold the people coming for help, “’There are six days of the week for working,’ he said to the crowd. ‘Come on those days to be healed, not on the Sabbath’” (Luke 13:14, NLT).
Jesus scolded this man and called him and the other leaders hypocrites because these same men would untie their oxen and donkeys and lead them to the water so they can drink on the Sabbath, but they won’t do so for other human beings who are also made in the image of God and should be treated with compassion, justice, mercy, dignity and respect.
Friends, both of the people are people of God. The religious leader and the the woman disabled from a crippling disease. As such, we can learn from Jesus response to both of them. First, we are not defined by our sins, our diseases, or anything else that we have been afflicted and labeled by; rather, we are defined by Jesus Christ who loves us and has bought us our right to be called Children of God through this suffering, death and resurrection.
Second, people matter to God and, therefore, people ought to matter to us as well. We should never put shun people just because they’re presence is inconvenient or because we see them through the lens of the labels we attribute to them. Today’s challenge is for us to stop labeling others, including ourselves, and to stop allowing our circumstances, diseases, and/or other people from labeling us. The only label we have that is accurate is “child of God.” Christ loves us and calls us to accept that love and to share it with others.
THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“My feeling is that labels are for canned food… I am what I am – and I know what I am.” – Michael Stipe
PRAYER
Lord, help me to see past the labels into who people actually are. Amen.
Writing the Life-Giving Water devotionals is not only an important ministry, but is a deeply rewarding spiritual discipline for me as well. With that said, observing Sabbath (aka rest) is an important spiritual discipline as well. So here is a LOOK BACK to a devotion I wrote in the past. Read it, reflect on it, be challenged by it. Who knows how God will speak to you through it and how it will bear relevance in your life today? May the Holy Spirit guide you as you read the suggested Scripture and subsequent devotion.
“There is no healing for your wound; your injury is fatal. All who hear of your destruction will clap their hands for joy. Where can anyone be found who has not suffered from your continual cruelty?” (Nahum 3:19 NLT)
When we think of God’s people, we tend to think one of two things. We might think of the Israelites who were God’s “chosen people”, or we might think of specific characters in the Bible. Either way, we tend to idealize the people we are thinking about. For instance, we may think that God’s people are super faithful, holy, perform miracles and live wholly devout and righteous lives. Unfortunately, this idealism enables us to distance ourselves from being God’s people, because we feel that we fall short of those ideals. As such, I have decided to write a devotion series on specific characters in the Bible in order to show you how much these Biblical people are truly like us, and how much we are truly called to be God’s people.
Part 94: Nahum. Since there is literally nothing biographical to go on, regarding Nahum, I am not going to focus on the prophet as much as I will the prophecy. In Nahum’s three short chapters, we find a scathing denunciation of the city of Ninevah. Nahum’s words are swift, pointed, sharp, violent and, at times, his language is rather vulgar: “‘I am your enemy!’ says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. ‘And now I will lift your skirts and show all the earth your nakedness and shame. I will cover you with filth and show the world how vile you really are’” (Nahum 3:5-6 NLT).
In order to understand the language used in the prophecy, one has to understand the city and the kingdom it was spoken against. Most of you probably remember the city of Ninevah from the narrative about the prophet Jonah. If you recall, Jonah was sent there to pronounce God’s wrath, and imminent destruction, upon the residents of that city. According to Jonah, the city collectively repented, put on sackcloth and turned their hearts to God, thus receiving God’s mercy and forgiveness.
The likeliness that the Book of Jonah offers a historical record seems fairly slim, as the text seems to have been written as a satirical allegory. What is clear is that by the time of Nahum (writing a couple of centuries later than when Jonah lived), Ninevah seems to be just as wicked as it was back then. It was a wealthy and powerful city, as well as the capital of the ancient Assyrian Empire (modern day Iraq). The Assyrians were a militant and brutal Empire that had conquered many kingdoms, including: the Chaldeans, Babylonians, Medes, Persians, Scythians, Cimmerians, and the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
What can be said about the Assyrians is that they were saber rattlers, militant, and boasted of a powerful military force. They were seemingly unstoppable and were feared by the entire region. Yet, there strength became their undoing…their vulnerability…their weakness. What’s more, Nahum foretold that such disaster would befall them for all of their wickedness, militancy, and cruelty.
Shortly after Nahum’s prophecy, the Chaldeans, Babylonians, Medes, Persians, Scythians, and Cimmeriancs joined forces in an alliance that brought down the Assyrian empire. Many in the city were massacred or driven out. Archaeologists discovered unburied skeletons at the site of ancient Ninevah, evidence that such a seige of Ninevah, and such an end to the Assyrian Empire, was truly a historical event.
This should remind us all that the larger something is the harder it falls. Think of all of the major empires in the world: Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman, etc. Each of these Empires, as powerful as they were, fell tremendously as a result of their power and over-ambitious reach. Nahum reminds us that God favors the weak over the strong. According to Nahum, it was God that brought down the Assyrian empire for its evil ways, its wickedness, its militancy, and its cruelty. It was God that put an end to this powerful empire, through the unintended consequences that came out of its military conquest.
This should be a red flag for Judeo-Christians who live in powerful countries. Many Christians today see hyper-nationalism, military might, and saber rattling to be the direction God has called us in. Many Christians are celebrating, or at least justifying, the separation of children from their migrant families. Many Christians are calling for schools, homes and churches to be weaponized. Many Christians believe that their nation’s interests (no matter which country they’re from) should be put first at all costs. Many Christians believe that the end justifies any means.
Yet, Nahum warns the reader that God is not on the side of boastful, militant, powerful nations, or peoples, who use their might to promote their own self-interests. Rather, God calls us to be peacemakers, to put our faith and reliance on God and not in our weapons of death and destruction, and to witness to God’s kingdom through justice, mercy and humility. The challenge for us is to evaluate our own beliefs and to measure them to what the prophets, such as Nahum, teach us about God. Do our beliefs align with God, or do they stand in opposition to God? I pray we honestly reflect, repent, and adjust as need be.
THOUGHT OF THE DAY
Which do you put first, God or country? Whichever you put first is what you owe your allegiance to, everything else is subordinate to what you prioritize.
PRAYER
Lord, help us to put you first in our lives. If other things are in alignment with your will, so be it. Grant us the clarity to discern so that we can do what is right in all things. Steer us clear of anything that is against your nature. Amen.
