{"id":866,"date":"2018-02-25T08:57:58","date_gmt":"2018-02-25T16:57:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=866"},"modified":"2018-02-25T08:57:58","modified_gmt":"2018-02-25T16:57:58","slug":"devotion-luke-2413-35-what-is-wrong-with-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=866","title":{"rendered":"Devotion Luke 24:13-35 What Is Wrong With Church?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luke 24:13-35<\/strong>\u00a0Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles\u00a0from Jerusalem.\u00a014<\/a>\u00a0They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.\u00a015<\/a>\u00a0As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them;\u00a016<\/a>\u00a0but they were kept from recognizing him.\u00a0\u00a017<\/a>\u00a0He asked them,\u00a0\u201cWhat are you discussing together as you walk along?\u201d They stood still, their faces downcast.\u00a018<\/a>\u00a0One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, \u201cAre you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?\u201d\u00a0\u00a019<\/a>\u00a0\u201cWhat things?\u201d\u00a0he asked.\u00a0 \u201cAbout Jesus of Nazareth,\u201d they replied. \u201cHe was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.\u00a020<\/a>\u00a0The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him;\u00a021<\/a>\u00a0but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.\u00a022<\/a>\u00a0In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning\u00a023<\/a>\u00a0but didn\u2019t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive.\u00a024<\/a>\u00a0Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.\u201d\u00a0\u00a025<\/a>\u00a0He said to them,\u00a0\u201cHow foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!\u00a026<\/a>\u00a0Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?\u201d\u00a027<\/a>And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.\u00a0\u00a028<\/a>\u00a0As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther.\u00a029<\/a>\u00a0But they urged him strongly, \u201cStay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.\u201d So he went in to stay with them.\u00a030<\/a>\u00a0When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.\u00a031<\/a>\u00a0Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.\u00a032<\/a>\u00a0They asked each other, \u201cWere not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?\u201d\u00a033<\/a>\u00a0They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together\u00a034<\/a>\u00a0and saying, \u201cIt is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.\u201d\u00a035<\/a>\u00a0Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ready for church?\u00a0 Too often we are in a rush to get to church in the morning.\u00a0 We get up, do the things we need to do to get ready to go and then rush off.\u00a0 We get to church with our minds buzzing about things of our life.\u00a0 What has been happening in our lives, what is happening and what will next week bring.\u00a0 We rush into church, find a seat (our usual?) sit waiting to be blessed.\u00a0 Then sometimes we leave not feeling blessed.\u00a0 Not feeling rest.\u00a0 In fact, sometimes, we can feel even more frustrated.\u00a0 The music wasn\u2019t the genre we like, or it was too loud, or just the wrong songs.\u00a0 The worship team wasn\u2019t dressed right.\u00a0 Then we start on the pastor. \u00a0He wasn\u2019t dressed right either.\u00a0 He was too formal and stiff.\u00a0 He was too informal and relaxed.\u00a0 He spoke with no passion and softly.\u00a0 He spoke too passionately and loud.\u00a0 His message was the same old thing.\u00a0 His message was filled with facts we didn\u2019t and too much background, just preach it.\u00a0 Driving home we wonder what is wrong with this church.\u00a0 We assess and criticize it.\u00a0 We wonder where the blessing is. If Jesus was there, we sure didn\u2019t see him.<\/p>\n

In the above scripture Cleopas and his friend were talking about Jesus as they walked along.\u00a0 They were considering who He was and what was His mission.\u00a0 When they met the teacher they were prepared to hear what He had to say because their minds were already fixed on Jesus.\u00a0 They had something to learn and they listened.\u00a0 They even listened after the teacher rebuked them. They were drawn to the message that they had been thinking about.\u00a0 As the teacher spoke to their open and prepared minds, their minds were further opened.\u00a0 They saw Jesus and were excited and left with \u201cburning hearts\u201d to tell of what they had learned.<\/p>\n

Family, if we were not blessed by the worship music, if we were not blessed by the message, as we search for the reason why, we should first position ourselves in front of a mirror and there we will find the reason why.\u00a0 See, it is those who are seeking who find the Lord (Deuteronomy 4:29, Jeremiah 29:13, Luke 11:9<\/b>).\u00a0 Those who find have both been, and are, seeking Him.\u00a0 They are actively seeking and then they find that He was first calling.\u00a0 Before we come to church, or Bible study, we must ready our hearts and come as a continuation of our pursuit of God.\u00a0 Then our pastors will preach amazing messages, the choir will sound like angels, the worship team will sing inspired and beautiful and we will leave blessed and thankful that God has given them to us to fan the flames that are already in our hearts.\u00a0\u00a0Matthew 6:33\u00a0<\/b>\u201c\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>But seek first His kingdom\u00a0and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well<\/span>.\u201d\u00a0 First let us seek and then we will find.<\/p>\n

If we want to know what is wrong with church\u2026it\u2019s probably our own self.\u00a0 But the good thing is that Jesus is ready to forgive us (1 John 1:9<\/b>) \u00a0and get us back on the path of blessings.<\/p>\n

Blessings and love to all!\u00a0 God is good all the time and He loves us.\u00a0 Knowing these two things beyond all other things will keep us in peace at all times!\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n

Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/span><\/p>\n

Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Luke 24:13-35\u00a0Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles\u00a0from Jerusalem.\u00a014\u00a0They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.\u00a015\u00a0As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them;\u00a016\u00a0but they were kept from recognizing him.\u00a0\u00a017\u00a0He asked them,\u00a0\u201cWhat…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[1872,99,100,106,101,94,17],"class_list":["post-866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-deuteronomy","tag-jeremiah","tag-john","tag-luke","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=866"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":867,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866\/revisions\/867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}