Mayday, Mayday!

It has been nearly ten years since the 9/11 attacks. The attacks used airplanes loaded with innocent people as “living missiles.” People were probably doing a lot of screaming as planes were headed downward or into one of the buildings, or as they were impacted by the planes hitting different buildings.

“Mayday” comes from a French word m’aider, which means “come help me.” Whether it was 9/11, the Titanic, earthquakes, tsunamis, or countless other emergency situations, people are needing help.

One of the cool mysteries of the Bible is the lineage or genealogy of Jesus. From Adam and Eve, clear through Joseph and Mary, Jesus’ lineage has been filled with some interesting characters. Also intertwined in this lineage are situations that, to you and me, almost caused Jesus to not happen, but God prevails through any situation.

Sunday, we looked at this “emergency” side of the lineage of Jesus – times when Jesus was in trouble, in one form or another. However, though it all, God prevailed. Here are some applications to choose from to use this week… (to review the texts/subjects covered, click here to listen/watch the recap)

• Out of Control Life, In Control God ~ Within the texts, we see situations like Cain killing Abel or Hezekiah getting sick or Jesus so hungry He needs bread. There are situations in our life that makes it seem like things are just totally out of control. However, even in the midst of any chaos, God is always in control – not only in the lives of “Bible” people, but in ours as well.
• Tempted? Resist! ~ I cannot imagine what hunger Jesus must have felt after being in the desert for 40 days! It would have been real tempting to fall into that first temptation. I think we all have been in a situation where you feel you can eat about anything due to hunger. Jesus was probably there. He resisted, so can we…let’s do it – even if it seems life is going down in a hurry.
• Do Something With Your Salvation ~ If there was no Jesus (Click here to watch Acappella’s song on YouTube of “If There Were No God”) then we’d be without a future, without hope, without eternal joy…just plain WITHOUT! Since there is a God and His Son, let’s do something with our salvation by bringing a light to someone’s day. Use your talents to make someone see your faith!

Can you hear it??? People hollering out as their life is going down…Mayday, Mayday! aka come help me!!!  Let’s go and help them!!!

Squandered Away

“You must give 30 million dollars away in 30 days” is the big challenge in the 80s show “Brewster’s Millions”. There are stipulations as to how he can spend the money. The prize for the challenge is 300 million dollars. The other parts of the challenge is that no one can know about the prize at the end and it cannot be simply handed out to people. The movie displays the challenge of getting rid of such significant cash under the stipulations laid out.

For the young man in the parable from Luke 15, finding a way to squander all the money he was given, was no challenge. He had no stipulations. He had no sense of money management. He was in it for himself. Much like we tend to be at times – even the most selfless fall into this man’s shoes from time to time.

Sunday, we looked at a modern-day take on the Prodigal Son and how we can often squander away what has been given to us (from a spiritual sense). Here are some applications to choose from to use this week…

• Rebelled ~ Rebellion can take place in various forms. Most of us go to extremes when we think of the word. However, from the spiritual sense, the smallest of rebellion can cause us to get into trouble. Sometimes it helps us understand where other people are coming from if we can take a look at what we have done to forgive others, understand others, or empathize with others.
• Received ~ The feeling of a hug can be very comforting. Not a greeting hug, but the kind that is from someone who is close to you. Be it a spouse, a child, a parent, or a close friend or family member. These are the kind that are comforting. These are the kind that let us know they care. As we rebel and come back, we need to feel that spiritual embrace from God to let us know that He’s there and He cares. Maybe there is someone who needs a hug or embrace from you this week (possibly not even knowing it).
• Resuscitated ~ Having your heart stop kills you. Having sin in your life kills you. After rebelling, the being received, it has a way of resuscitating your life! This gives you new life which is vital to continuing on. Without life in your life there is no purpose. People all around you are spiritually dead or just seeking that life. Their life is running out of breaths to breathe. They need you to help them…don’t pass them by…resuscitate them!

Don’t squander away your spiritual inheritance on mismanaging life, nor keeping it from others.