SERMON NOTES:

Prayer Requests

Y Pray for Angelicas friend Ann, a friend and colleague, who is receiving treatment for breast cancer. Y Pray for Dwight Zvorak as he recovers from the disease of alcoholism. Y Pray for persons and process involved in property purchase for COL.

Y Pray for Kevin & Nancy Amundsens

brother-in-law Harold Martin who was diagnosed with cancer and will be having 35 radiation treatments. Y Lee Bliss sister who was recently hospitalized. Y Tom Umscheid, the husband of Pastor Pauls cousin, who is going through cancer treatment in Rochester. Y Pray for John Thiessen as he begins chemo on Jan. 25 for his ureter/kidney/lymph-node cancer. Y Pray for Melanie Vosdinghs mother, Rochelle LeTourneau . She is having open heart surgery February 13 at Regions Heart Center.

DEVOTION

The sermon this past Sunday was is the God of the Old Testament consistent with the Jesus of the New Testament. Some of us have an image of the God of the Old Testament as angry and Jesus as nice and loving. These images are flatthey are not descriptive at all of the qualities of each. This week in the devotion were going to look at how God and Jesus were very consistent in their character. Were going to look at some of the passages in the Old Testament where God was angry, but were also going to try to understand how this anger was a small part of Gods character. Well also see how Jesus could be angry at times, but ultimately his character was defined by humility and love. Please E-mail comments or questions to pastor@colpres.org. Enjoy!!

Y Pray for Alvaro Gomezs family as he

has passed away from stage 4 stomach cancer.

Y Pray for Sharon Hines as she begins

chemo on her lung and liver cancer. Y Pray for David Norim that he finds employment as an adaptive PE teacher. He struggles with school budgets constantly eliminating positions in this field. Y Pray for quick healing as Dave Nyberg recovers from foot surgery. Y Carter Olson, age 7 who is undergoing chemotherapy for brain cancer and has 3 more months to complete. Thank-you for prayers already received; prayers are working! Carters recent MRI shows no cancer re-growth! Y Pray for Jennifers sister Rebecca Klein as their family go through divorce.

Monday, February 13 Read Genesis 6:5-8

The part of the story of Noahs ark that we often focus on is the actual ark. Its fun to think of all of the animals sailing in a ship for 40 days and 40 nights. What preceded the ark, of course, was the decision that God was going to blot out the

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people that God had created. As God looked out at the people all he saw was wickedness. God was deeply sorry about what was happening in the earth. We arent told in this story the details of wickedness of humanity. We are told that the behavior of humans was terrible, every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. This story shares Gods disappointment with humanity. In the creation story in Genesis 1 and 2 God saw humans and saw that they were good. But now God looked at them and could only see evil and wickedness. We humans can do wonderful good and terrible wickedness. Today, as you pray, pray for the condition of humanity. Pray that we can follow the path of goodness.

3 Wednesday, February 15 Read Exodus 32:1-10

Once again God was deeply disappointed with humans. God had just given Moses the 10 commandmentslaws that would govern humans. This was a holy and awesome moment. But just as God was doing that the people who God had liberated from Egypt were worshipping a golden calfa gross violation of the first commandment. For a moment God considered destroying the people of Israel. Moses went on to convince God to change the divine mind. The people did suffer, but were not destroyed. The wrath of God is scary, but as well see tomorrow its not a sizable description of the divine temperament. The golden calf is an image of what we worship instead of sharing our worship of God. We are all susceptible to golden calves. Pray that you can be aware of your own golden calves. Ask God for help in resisting the worship of them.

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Sing praises to the Lord, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to Gods holy name. For Gods anger is but for a moment; Gods favor is for a liftetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. Psalm 30:4-5

Friday, February 17 Read John 2:13-22

Jesus was not a milk toast type of person. On occasion he could be very angry. Just as God became angry when injustice and wickedness occurred, Jesus did too. Jesus was upset because he saw that the Temple court was being misused. People would purchase animals as an offering according to the laws in Leviticus. But the money became more important than the purpose of the sacrifice. So Jesus took matters into his own hands. He drove people out of the Temple court and poured out the coins. He was angry. Jesus anger was consistent with the anger that God on occasion displayed in the Old Testament.

Tuesday, February 14 Read Luke 10:25-28

On this Valentines Day we take a moment to focus on love. Jesus told his followers that we are called to love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and mind and love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Valentines Day is about romantic love. Certainly we want to love our spouse and share this love on Valentines Day. But Valentines Day can be a day to share love with the people who are closest to us. How can you love them today? Part of being a disciple is to love from our heart. Pray today that God can help you expand the love for others. Pray that we at Chain of Lakes can be a congregation who deeply loves others. Above all, live a day of love with the people close to you!

Thursday, February 16 Read Psalm 30:4-5 Isaiah 54:7-8

Gods love is much greater than Gods wrath or anger. Both of these passages are wonderful statements of the character of God. These passages dont skirt the fact that God can get angry, but they also recognize that this anger is a small part of the complete dimension of Gods character. The Psalm is a wonderful one to memorize. Try doing that today. Try the 3-2-1-1-2-3 method that Pastor Paul encourages. Read it three times and then say it from memory once; then read it two times and say it from memory once, etc.

Saturday, February 18 Read Philippians 2:1-11

This is a classic description of Jesus. Even though Jesus could have taken power for himself, he didnt regard equality with his abba, Father, as something to be exploited. We are called to have this same mind as Jesus. We are not called to be violent Christians based on an outdated image of God that we can take from the Old Testament. Instead we are called not to do anything from selfish ambition or conceit, tu to regard others as better than ourselves. May each of us look to the interests of others and not ourselves.

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If followers of Jesus lived like the description in this passage, the sanctuaries of the church would be packed. As you pray today, pray that you can live into this lofty vision of a life of a disciple. Take some of the values that are shared and use them to reflect on how you are doing. And then pray that the disciples at Chain of Lakes can also live into this lofty vision.