We had several quotes from the weekend message that I think are worth us all having.
Let me start with the long quote from Dallas Willard:
In the simplest possible terms, the kingdom of God is God in action. It is the range of God’s effective will, where what God wants done is done. Jesus is a reformulation and embodiment of the message about God and his kingdom that runs through the history of the Jewish people recorded in the Bible. Jesus said: “Seek above all to live within the kingdom rule of God, and to have the kind of goodness he has, and all else you need will be provided with it.” (Matthew 6:33 paraphrase) The Psalmist said simply and concretely, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” (Psalm 23) In one of the historical books of the Old Testament a prophet is quoted as saying: “The eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.” (2nd Chronicles 16:9) This is what Jesus knew as he went through his sufferings and death. In that knowledge he simultaneously wrote across the pages of human history the depth of human meanness and brutality and the unlimited reach of God’s love and power.
It was knowledge of the presence and unfailing availability of God to those who trust him that led Jesus to say all the beautiful things (largely already recorded in the Psalms) which we wistfully acknowledge, but hardly believe to be true: all of those things about birds and flowers being in the care of God, of course, and about how we need never be anxious or afraid, no matter what comes, even crucifixion. The basic idea is that this world—with all its evil, pushed to the limit in what Jesus went through going toward and on the cross—is a perfectly good and safe place for anyone to be, no matter the circumstances, if they have only placed their lives in the hands of Jesus and his Father. We never have to do what we know to be wrong, and we never need be afraid. And Jesus practiced what he preached, even as he was tortured and killed. And so have multitudes of his followers. http://www.dwillard.org/articles/artview.asp?artID=101
I liked the prayer written and tweeted out by Trevor Hudson
Night Prayer: Lord, give us in the deepest places of our hearts an assurance that we belong to you and help us to live with this awareness. Trevor Hudson
Here’s a passage we looked at that didn’t make it onto the outline.
Psa. 84:10 For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside. I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord gives grace and glory;No good thing does He withhold from those who walk upright 12 O Lord of hosts, How blessed is the man who trusts in You!
