Sunday Scripture

 

Time for another Sunday Scripture!  As I explained several weeks ago, I've made some changes in  my Sunday posts,  using the Daily Grace Co. book Fix Your Focus, which is really not a Bible study as such, but more of a guide to help you fix your focus on God, His Word, prayer, gratitude, and spiritual growth, every week for 52 weeks.  I encourage you to follow along with us as we journal, look at Scripture, pray, and face the challenges of our weeks with our focus on Him.  I truly hope that others are finding this as helpful as I am.

This week's lesson was actually done by me the week of July 28,  but I am working ahead of you readers.  So here goes!

🌿 WEEK-AT-A-GLANCE CHECKLIST is further on in each week's section. But since I am working on Fix Your Focus all week long, I find it works best for me to do this checklist first. This checklist offers us four points:  

* To make a plan for reading our Bibles and praying.

* To add any upcoming events to our calendars.

* To jot down a to-do list of tasks that must be completed this week.

* To make a note of our top three priorities for this week.

This last point is one that I need to pay special attention to every week.  I've been finding it so helpful.  (The other three points are things that I'm consistently doing.) 

For this week, my top three priorities are:

1) Ministry -- cards to grieving friends, Sunday School lesson prep and teaching, blogging, phone call with Rebekah, farmer's market outreach.

2) Time away -- Tuesday through Thursday will be spent in Boothbay, Maine!

3) Fellowship --  time with friends in Boothbay and while traveling.

[If you are following along with our study, this is the place to make a Week-at-a-Glance checklist and/or priority list for yourself!]

🌿 The first actual prompt for each week is JOURNAL.  We are encouraged to take a few minutes to journal about our fears, joys, worries, desires and stressors concerning the week ahead.  [If you are following along with us, take a moment in a journal or notebook to do just that.]. Here's what I wrote on Monday, breaking it down into the suggested categories:

Fears: No real fears going into this week.  

Joys: A getaway to Maine will be a joy.  Time spent with friends in a beautiful setting will be a joy.  Ministry is a joy as well.

Worries: Not really worries.  A few concerns about the trip and how my hubby plans to deviate from his special diet.

Desires: As always, for God to be glorified in the events of the week.  For nice weather, safety, and a relaxing getaway.  For an effective outreach at the Saturday outdoor market.

Stressors: Travel in a busy tourist area in summer always has the potential for stress.  Limitations of time, energy, and aging.  Staying in a new place.  Concern for things at home.

🌿 The next prompt is PRAYER. It was suggested that we use several prayer prompts to have a conversation with God about the week ahead.  [You can do the same.  Use the very same prompts for your own prayer.]

* Lord, You are ... sovereign over all the events of this week.  You are so good to provide Christian fellowship and friendship and a time of vacation in a beautiful area.   You are aware of all of. our concerns and potential stressors and can be trusted to take care of each of these.

* Lord, I feel ... unready for this trip, and yet in some ways I'm better prepared for a trip than I often am.  I feel enthusiastic about the trip and am hopeful that it will be relaxing.

* Lord, help me with ... my attitudes and the way I deal with stress.  Help me to leave all of my concerns in Your all-powerful hands.

* Lord, forgive me for ... attitudes, words, and actions that are not pleasing to You.  For times when I worry or fail to trust You.

Make a note of four or five people you are praying for.  I listed  a young couple seeking God's direction, a couple in ministry with some vehicle needs, a family member who needs to get on track with God..

🌿 The next section in this helpful guide is SCRIPTURE MEDITATION.  I chose to first meditate on this week's Scripture, Mark 8:35, using the SOAP method, and then answered several suggested questions.   [You can use your own preferred method to meditate on this verse, and answer the questions below for yourself.]

S= "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it."  (Mark 8:35)

O = Verses 34-38 of Mark 8 are titled "Cost of discipleship" in the Scofield Bible.

Verse 35 begins with the word "For".  What is it looking back to?

To verse 34: "And when He had called the people unto Him with His disciples also, He said unto them, Whosover will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."

Cross-references for "whosoever" -- "He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world  shall keep it unto life eternal."  (John 12:25)

"He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."  (Mark 10:39)

The word "but" signifies a change of direction.  A change of direction in attitude (and actions) marks a change in one's eternal destiny. 

Cross-references for "gospel" -- "And Jesus answered, and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house or brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands with persecutions, and in the age to come, eternal life."  (Mark 10:29-30)

"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people."  (Revelation 14:6)

Cross-references for "and the gospel's" -- "And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker of it with you.."  (1 Corinthians 9:23)

"Be not,  thou, therefore, ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the pow.er of God."  (2 Timothy 1:8)

"Whom [Onesimus] I would have returned with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel."  (Philemon 13)

A=  To help with my application of this verse, I answered the three questions from Fix your Focus:

* Reflect on what this verse tells you about who God is.

The issues of life and death belong to Him.  He is the One who declares the terms of serving and following Him.

* Think about what this verse tells you about who you are.

I'm a disciple of Jesus, and as such, I must understand that discipleship comes with a cost.

* Throughout the week, consider how this verse should affect the way you live.

 I should live every day in a way that glorifies God and points others to Him, regardless of what it costs me personally.  My life is not to be carefully guarded and protected; it is to be spent and invested in serving God and others.

"To lose yourself is not an act of desperation; it is an act of devotion. But we do not stop there: personal devotion should lead to practical duty, the sharing of the Gospel with a lost world." -- Warren Wiersbe

William MacDonald writes in  Believer's Bible Commentary: "The natural tendency is to save our lives by selfish, complacent, routine, petty existences. We may indulge our pleasures and appetites by basking in comfort, luxury, and ease, by living for the present, by trading our finest talents to the world in exchange for a few years of mock security. But in the very act, we lose our lives, that is, we miss the true purpose of life and the profound spiritual pleasure that should go with it! On the other hand, we may lose our lives for the Savior's sake. Men think us mad if we fling our own selfish ambitions to the wind, if we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, if we yield ourselves unreservedly to Him. But this life of abandonment is genuine living. It has a joy, a holy carefreeness, and a deep inward satisfaction that defies description."

C. T. Studd (1860-1931), missionary to China, India, and Sudan, said, “We will dare to trust our God ... and we will do it with His joy unspeakable singing aloud in our hearts. We will a thousand times sooner die trusting only in our God than live trusting in man”.

P= "Lord,I am thankful for Your Word and how clearly it teaches us how You would have us to live.  You are the King and You set the terms of how we are to live and follow You.  I know that You would have me to invest my life into serving You and others, not carefully guarding it for my own use.

"I pray that You will help me to live every day in a way that glorifies You and points others to You regardless of what the cost might be. I thank You for how You will supply the strength and energy I will need , in Jesus' name, Amen."

🌿 GRATITUDE is the next prompt.  We were to reflect on the way God has shown His faithfulness to you over the past week and list five things we are thankful for.  [If you are following along with us, be sure to make your own list of five things!]. Here is my list:

1) Time to meet with Rebekah on the Monday,

2)  Plenty.of food provided for the fellowship meal.  There were many extra people, but more than enough food for everyone.

3) A generous offering supplied for our missionaries from South Africa.

4) Healing, ever so slowly, of Steve's psoriasis.

5) Getting some homemaking tasks taken care of in Zone 3, the bathrooms.

🌿 SPIRITUAL GROWTH is the next prompt, and this week there's an emphasis on  REST. We were to make a plan to intentionally rest this week.  [And again, if you are following along, please think about this for yourself.]

 During our time in Boothbay, we planned several rest periods into each day.  We also made a plan to spend Saturday night at our cottage.

🌿 Lastly is a GOSPEL-CENTERED AFFIRMATION: 

Living in a self-focused way leads to loss; living in a Christ-focused way leads to true and lasting life.

We can take this affirmation as a challenge as we go into the coming week.  Are we living in a self-focused way or a Christ-focused way?  Something to consider!

And there's the Sunday Scripture for this week!