SERMON NOTES:

Prayer Requests

Y Pray for NEW BEGINNINGS! Y Pray for students as they return to school. Y Pray for Ken McCullen as he recovers from cataract surgery. Y Pray for Barbara Anne Keely as she recovers from a shattered arm due to a fall she had at home. Y Pray for Sally Leitchs grandma Fern as she recovers from a stroke.

DEVOTION
God loves and accepts us without condition. God asks us to be accepting people. At the surface the value of acceptance should be an easy value to embrace. Who can be against acceptance? Who can be against acceptance in a church? Its rare to find a person who would say that a church should not be accepting. But despite our easy acceptance of acceptance, people who are outside of the church dont think of church people as accepting. To bless others we are called to be accepting. Why is accepting so hard? Why do we embrace acceptance, but are still seen as judgmental? We would all be healthier if we can admit that acceptance is not easyin fact it is one of the hardest values to live out. All of us can have our buttons pushed because of the behavior of another person. This weeks devotion explores these issues of judgment and acceptance. The Scriptures teach us quite a lot about judgment and acceptance. The following Scriptures are just a small example of this. Enjoy!

Monday, September 10 Read John 7:53-8:11

This is a beautiful story that is easy to like. Its hard to imagine anyone not wanting to

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root on Jesus and he confronted the Pharisees about their judgmental attitude towards the woman who committed adultery. After Jesus shared grace with the woman he encouraged her to go and sin no more. The story becomes harder when we see ourselves as the Pharisee in the story. Yesterday in worship we were encouraged to acknowledge with God the qualities that we have a hard time accepting. We then prayed that we would have a soft heart towards people who exhibit these qualities. Letting go of judgment can only successfully happen if we are praying for it. The task is too hard to do without the help and benefit of God. Today as you pray, ask God for a soft heart. Ask God for the perseverance to give up judgment. Pray that we at Chain of Lakes can be a place where people let go of judgment and take on the Core Value of acceptance.

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The beautiful piece about God is God still loves usdespite all the trees that we carry with us. Today as you pray, give thanks to God for the unconditional love that we receive from God. Despite our own logs, God will always love us. What a wonderful and lifetransforming gift!

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Take some time to read it carefully. Consider reading it two or three times. The message does become clear. When we judge others we condemn ourselves. God is not happy with us because we take the role of God to another persona role that God is not willing to relinquish! What is it about humans that lead us to judge others so easily? We all know that judgment is not appropriate, but we do it anyways. Today as you pray, pray again that you can relinquish the attitude of judgment. Pray that God will give you the strength to lead a new type of life.

Wednesday, September 12 Read Genesis 18:1-8

Acceptance is very similar to hospitality. In fact the group who developed the Core Values for Chain of Lakes almost combined acceptance and hospitality together. This story is a powerful story of acceptance and hospitality. Abraham received these three strange men. He went out of his way to welcome them by sharing a wonderful feast. After the feast the three menwho were messengers from Godshared with Abraham that his wife, Sarah, would give birth to a son. Thinking about strangers as messengers from God gives an entire new understanding to hospitality and acceptance. Our culture has taught usand sometimes with good reasonto be suspicious of strangers. Unfortunately this fear of strangers can prevent us from seeing strangers as messengers from God. Today, as you pray, pray for new eyes. Pray that you can see strangers as messengers from God. Pray that we at Chain of Lakes Church can welcome strangers with this set of new eyes.

Friday, September 14 Read Matthew 25:31-46

The poor are very easy to judge. Its easy to look at a persons poverty and find reasons for the persons condition. Its easy to take on a blame-the-victim mentality. Some people do bring on their own poverty. But even if this is the case, Jesus calls us to look at people who are poor as if they carry the face of Jesus. Think of a person who you know who is poor. Picture that person. It might be easy to think that the person has brought poverty onto him or herself. But even if this is the case, try to picture the person carrying the face of Jesus. Today as you pray, pray that you can look at the person as Jesus. Look through the persons poverty and witness the face of Christ. Be careful as you do this because the person who might be changed is you!

Tuesday, September 11 Read Matthew 7:1-5

Its much easier to see the problems of another person than look at the problems we have ourselves. In fact judging others is one way to escape our own problems. The metaphor that Jesus shared in verse 3 is timeless and very powerful. The English translation of the Greek even diminishes the contrast between a speck and a log. The speck was like one tiny speck of sand; the log was like a huge tree. Seeing a tiny speck while ignoring a huge tree gives the metaphor even more power. What huge trees do you have a hard time letting go of? Even if no one else knows about these huge trees, God knows them.

Thursday, September 13 Read Romans 2:1-11

This is a powerful and very deep passage that teaches about the perils of judgment.

Saturday, September 15 Read Luke 23:32-43

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Jesus acceptance of the penitent criminal and his willingness to forgive the people who were killing him are reasons to follow him as Lord and Savior. None of us will likely ever get into a situation like this. But we have lesser situations where we are condemned by others. Our forgiveness or acceptance might only happen through our own prayers. Today as you pray, pray that you can let go of any pain that another person has caused you. Can you imagine yourself forgiving in a similar way to Jesus? Pray about it.