Messiah Monday Message: Recent Episodes
Alex Dahlstrom
This is a weekly devotional/ sermon covering a passage of scripture from the Bible followed by 3-4 concise takeaways. The purpose is to give the listener a little piece of spiritual nourishment to help them in his/her walk with Christ the coming week.
Proverbs 12 English Standard Version (ESV) Verses 1-7 12 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid. 2 A good man obtains favor from the Lord, but a man of evil devices he condemns. 3 No one is established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous will never be moved. 4 An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones. 5 The thoughts of the righteous are just; the counsels of the wicked are deceitful. 6 The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright delivers them. 7 The wicked are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous will stand.
Main Points:
1) Verse 1 hits the nail on the head by tying knowledge and discipline together because without struggles or conflict, where is the incentive to learn? Romans 8:25 talks about how we hope for what we do not have and thus learning each day is how God leads us to bringing these hopes into reality! 2) The next 6 verses are direct lessons that we learn to keep from being lead astray and keep the Lord in the foreground towards reaching goals. 2-3 stresses the importance of God being in our favor versus overshadowed by sin/ wickedness. 4-5 talks about excellence in our relationships. Thoughts of righteousness that are just will lead you to see your significant other the way God sees him or her. From here God can work through you to help them to keep that excellence shining like each time you see them was the first time again. Verses 6 and 7 emphasize the importance of Love and righteousness versus being blood thirsty and full of hate. If you ever are in the frame of mind that life is a zero sum game, PRAY! God is with us constantly in victories over sin and death everyday. Where He isn't is in conflict for the sake of conflict. Also remember that proving someone wrong is NOT the same as solving a problem. God helps in finding solutions not building our pride like a win loss record of our intelligence. 3) In conclusion, we learn from being open to the Lord guiding us. Whichever season we are in, we must value the gift of learning and bring it ahead so we grow the faith, hope, and love we have in our lives!( I Corinthians 13)
Mark 11:20-25 ESV
The Lesson from the Withered Fig Tree
20 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21 And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” 22 And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. 23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received[c] it, and it will be yours. 25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”[d]
Main Points: 1) The power of prayer is unlimited because God is truly unlimited. If we limit our thinking in our prayers to what we know or don't know, we're missing the boat on countless opportunities that the Lord has before us. 2)Matthew 6 talks about how we should pray (the Lord's prayer and for God/cause not for appearance) and Romans 8:26 talks about how the spirit intercedes. This passage adds to these by saying we should be expectant with every prayer or petition we bring to the Lord.(Philippians 4:5-7) This means to TRUST in the Lord and let Him take the reins in your life. With this, even mountains will move to prayer and with belief you can see them part before you. 3) Stand humble before the Lord and remember to be prayerfully dependent. (Grace church SC line) Our lives are as carefully crafted/ directed as a flight from San Francisco to DC has to be to hit the flight path. Did you know that a 1 degree difference in travel trajectory at take off in this case would have the plane arrive in Baltimore instead or a 42 mile difference? We need God to keep us on course constantly on our journey to reach the right destinations and we do this by being connected through prayer and scripture. Here the bible is our road map and the Lord is our Co Pilot. Prayer is how we talk to Him. 4) Remember that the Lord is our Shepherd and that He's ALWAYS listening! (Psalm 23)
Romans 8:18-30 ESV Future Glory
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because[g] the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,[h] for those who are called according to his purpose.29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he alsojustified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Main points: 1) Pain is temporary! God is forever! So many times we let our worries and doubts blind our foresight. As Paul says in Philippians 3, we are pressing on towards the goal. That goal is serving the Lord into eternity. Our feeble mortal bodies cannot and will not stand to the task, which is why we set our sights on what is immortal versus the perishable things around us. 2) Anticipation and Hope are two things God works perfectly into our lives. This is because a foresight full of Hope can and will always outweigh a hindsight full of regret. God is helping to right our wrongs of the past by forgiving us and welcoming us into his family as adopted sons and daughters. 3) We do not hope for what we already have as it says in verse 24, that is why we appreciate it in loving the Lord that's shining through our gifts. Making the most of those gifts and bringing that love into the future is how hope really is present in this world. 4) What can we say? What should we do? How do I know if what I'm asking the Lord is making it up there? The answer is His spirit that has been sown into us speaks on our behalf. With this we lean on verse 28 to fuel our hope and encourage communication with God. "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,[h] for those who are called according to his purpose." 5) Jesus was the first to pass this way through the shell of a man lead by the spirit of God. Ask yourself. Are you in the spirit or are you just the shell? Through the spirit we shed the shell and it's pain to join Jesus in heaven one day.
Psalm 130 ESV
My Soul Waits for the Lord A Song of Ascents.
130 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! 2 O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 6 my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. 8 And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
Main points:
1) This passage is parallel to the Lord's prayer in Matthew 6 upon first glance. Starts with putting the focus on the Lord, proceeds to shrinking ourselves and needing His forgiveness, and ends with the expectation that we wait and adhere to His will to make what we have as hope today as love and Joy into the future. The order may be slightly off, but the points are still clear. 2) The emphasis on forgiveness here is the prime reason for Jesus's sacrifice. We still repent in Christ(incredibly incredibly important), but because of that sacrifice we can instead of focusing on cleansing ourselves be all in on advancing towards making these hopes for the future come true. God will meet us where we are.(Psalm 34) It is up to us to follow Him as He increases and we decrease in our lives. John 3:30. 3) Who we are versus the soul God has put in us can differ greatly. Physically and mentally we have impediments to allowing our souls that full potential. This is why we turn to His word to better understand how we can not only overcome what holds us back to glorify God, but proceed towards the heaven we all seek in making His ways our ways.(Isaiah 55)
Luke 6:20-23 ESV
The Beatitudes
20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said:
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
22 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! 23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.
Main points: 1) When we think about God and the heaven that awaits us up there one day, how could we ever consider ourselves rich down here in comparison? Thinking we are rich or all taken care of makes us narrow minded and gives the sinful illusion of self sufficiency without God. We are blessed by being poor when we recognize this and do what we can to seek that which is above. We do not know what we do not know at the end of the day and a question I'll have you think about is, is it better to know nothing and recognize your ignorance or is it better to know a great deal and fail to realize that you are ignorant? 2) Recognizing we are little to nothing (poor) before God without His grace and love is the first step. The next step is being willing to take action to change this. Of course no amount of works can fill the gap that Jesus has filled for us, but aligning our ways with Christ's is the primary way we can truly have an impact in this short life. 3) When you live the faith and push ahead on the Lord's path at full steam, it is going to make some people feel uncomfortable. I'm not saying that you're going out of your way to pester people or that your faith is making you holier than thou and having you judge/ condemn other evils/ sin around you. NO! That of course is not our place. What will make people revile you and feel uncomfortable is how hard they see you pushing yourself to serve His purpose and the riches this light coming through you is producing. We all squint or have are eyes forced shut in pain when we've been in the dark for a while and suddenly see a great light. The opposition you face is the sin all around you squinting and screaming to turn out the light. Keep the light on and the prayers coming and no weeping can compare to the endless joy/ laughter you will have into eternity!
2 Corinthians 3:1-6 English Standard Version (ESV)Ministers of the New Covenant
3 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our[a] hearts, to be known and read by all. 3 And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.[b]
4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Main Points:
1) Are you a letter from your self to society or a letter of Christ to the world? We all have feelings, thoughts, and opinions on how we think life ought to be. When we commend ourselves and don't recommend God, these thoughts, feelings, and opinions become skewed. Tough times, pain, uncertainty can bring out the absolute worst in us just like waiting until the last possible second to complete an assignment for school. When we come up short in this circumstance we blame many things and have excuses, which therein leads to the bad habit of procrastinating to continue into the future. As a letter from Christ to this world, we ESPECIALLY have to be self reflective and not let excuses be our crutch. God is always there for us and just because He fills the gap for our sins doesn't mean we get a pass to neglect simple things that advance His kingdom while keeping ourselves in check. (James 3 on taming the tongue and on influencers) 2) Everybody has a voice that they want to be HEARD and UNDERSTOOD. God is no different and the impact of Him being heard and understood in your life is eternal life. We are living breathing examples of what this can look like and what it shouldn't each second of the day. No one is keeping a tally of how many times you are on either side, but the former leads to exactly what God has in store for us, which is greater than any self driven destination. My point here is that when we humble ourselves to the point where we know He truly is our God, we will be very aware of the latter to where we can feel the uncleaniless like an uncovered sneeze to our face. Repentance is the sanitizer and lysol from God that clears up this message. (Matthew 18:22 on forgiveness) Point is that God wants you to be heard and understood too. He actually does so much, that He's written the message into your soul and very flesh that spurred this yearning within you! This yearning is His Holy Spirit. 3) There is nothing that defeats divine rooted confidence. It is the mark of the Holy Spirit at work and yields accomplishments out of us that we never could have imagined possible otherwise. No obstacle, no challenge, no distance is too long or tough for God to accomplish through you. You just have to believe and in these times of chaos, even ask Him to help you in your unbelief. There is nothing to hide from the Lord, so why cheat yourself by letting these small demons of uncertainty or shame keep you from letting God take the reins?(Mark 9:23-25) In Him we understand that His ways aren't our own and we then are able to embrace a life that is well beyond anything we could have ever deserved on our own nor believed could be anything short of the heaven we seek everyday!(Isaiah 55)