July 21st, 2017
Mark 6:7-12 (Sermon 2017.07.16)
Chris Morton delves into the question “does Jesus have something he wants me to do with my life?”
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Chris Morton delves into the question “does Jesus have something he wants me to do with my life?”
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AMS was so happy to have Mary Whitehurst join us and share from Matthew 9:35-10:8.
Mary Whitehurst is a native of Memphis, TN, but currently lives with her husband and 5 year old son (both named Jamar) in Hutto, TX. She received a Bachelor’s in Social Work from TCU and is currently pursuing a Master of Divinity degree at the George W. Truett Theological Seminary. Mary has a heart for ministering to girls and young women in crisis and currently works full time at Austin LifeCare as the Director of Pregnancy and Family Services.
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Kevin Jordan shares from Song of Solomon 8.
The Song of Songs (also known as the Song of Solomon) is a passionate love song depicting the love shared between a bridegroom and his bride. Traditionally, though, it has also been understood to be an allegory or a picture of God’s love, particularly the love of Jesus Christ (the Bridegroom) for His bride, the Church and the Church’s love in response.
Song of Songs 8:6-7:
Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy
unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned.
From Kevin:
In the words of the Apostle Paul from Ephesians 3:17-19, “I pray that (we), being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that (we) may be filled with the measure of all the fullness of God.” Amen.
How many of you have ever been bullied by the strong hand of death?
At the age of eighteen I left home to go to college. . .and I never again saw my mom healthy. Within a
year she was dead, her body ravaged by cancer. . .
Death, like a bully, pushes in uninvited, wreaking havoc in our lives, leaving in its wake tremendous pain
and grief. . .
Some of you in this room know exactly what I’m talking about: You too have been struck, stung, even
slammed and wounded by the strong hand of death.
Have you ever been pursued, captured, and held captive by the Strong Hand of Love, the Strong Hand
of God’s Love, which according to the Bible here in Song of Songs 8, is “as strong as death”?
“I could never myself believe in a God, if it were not for the cross. The only God I believe in is the One
Nietzshe ridiculed as ‘God on the cross’. In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was
immune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully
before the statue of the Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing
round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. But each time after a
while I have had to turn away. And in my imagination, I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted,
tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding
from thorn-pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in God-forsaken darkness. That is God for
me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He
suffered for us. Our sufferings become more manageable in the light of his. There is still a question mark
against human suffering, but over it we boldly stamp another mark, the cross which symbolizes divine
suffering.” (John Stott, The Cross of Christ, pp.335-336).
Have you been set free from the strong hand of death?
Do you know the Strong Hand of Love—God’s love in Jesus Christ?
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Shane Blackshear shares from Matthew 7:21-29 and discusses faith, doubt, and how the body of the church can and should help us establish the rock that we build our house on.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practiceis like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
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This past Sunday, Ashley Blackwell led us through Matthew 6:24-34.
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount
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Chris Morton discusses Matthew 28:16-20
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Mason Parva brings us a message about Jesus’ ascension to heaven and how we may have gotten it wrong concerning heavens relationship with earth.
…Heaven and earth were made for one another. Heaven is present to us — when we pray, when we read Scripture, when we share in the sacraments, when we minister to the poor in Jesus’ name. We are right on the edge of heaven, looking into it acting into it, receiving from it.”
– N.T. Wright, Lecture on Acts
In doing so we pervert and corrupt things, or rather we turn our relationship to them into a corrupt and sinful relationship. We do not thereby make them evil, but we use them to increase our attachment to our illusory self.
…The only true joy on earth is to escape from the prison of our own false self, and enter by love into union with the Life Who dwells and sings within the essence of every creature and in the core of our own souls. In His love we possess all things and enjoy fruition of them, finding Him in them all. And thus as we go about the world, everything we meet and everything we see and hear and touch, far from defiling, purifies us and plants in us something more of contemplation and of heaven.”
Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation
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Christine Sine joins us and teach about resting in God’s presence.
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John Chandler shares his hopes and desires for himself and the body of Austin Mustard Seed during his sabbatical.
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Our friend Gideon Tsang, from Vox Veniae, joins us with a challenge to change our minds.
Quotes and resources mentioned:
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