http___bogoposveteni.bg_index.php_2016-09-29-15-53-58_2016-12-31-07-40-15_87-2017-05-29-07-44-05_485-23-06_1.xml
https___pastorrobmoss.wordpress.com_2017_07_11_the-church-isnt-so-much-in-decline-the-church-is-exhausted-july-9-2017_.xml
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.30 1.31 1.32 1.33 1.34 1.35
ПРЕСВЕТО СЪРЦЕ ИСУСОВО Тържество Година А ПЪРВО ЧЕТИВО Бог ви възлюби и ви избра. Четене из книгата Второзаконие 7, 6-11 В онези дни: Мойсей говори на народа, думайки: "Ти си свет народ на Господа, твоя Бог; тебе избра Господ, Бог твой, за да бъдеш Негов собствен народ измежду всички народи, които са на земята. Не за това, че сте по-многобройни от всички народи, ви прие Господ и ви избра - понеже вие сте по-малобройни от всички народи -а защото Господ ви обича и за да запази клетвата, с която Той се бе клел на отците ви, изведе ви Господ с твърда ръка и освободи от дома на робството, от ръката на Фараона, египетския цар. И тъй, знай, че Господ, Бог твой, е Бог, Бог верен,който пази до хиляди поколения завет и милост към тия, които го обичат и пазят заповедите Му; а на тези, които Го мразят, въздава в лицето им, като ги погубва; Той не забавя да въздаде лично на онзи, който Го мрази. И тъй, пази заповедите, наредбите и законите, които днес ти заповядвам да изпълняваш." Това е Божие слово. ОТПЕВЕН ПСАЛОМ Пс 102, 1-2.3-4.6-7 и 10 (О: 17) Милостта на Господа е от века към онези, които Му се боят. Благославяй, душо моя, Господа; и цялата моя вътрешност да благославя Неговото свето име. Благославяй, душо моя, Господа, и не забравяй ни едно от Неговите благодеяния. O Той прощава всички твои беззакония, и изцелява всички твои недъзи; избавя от гроб твоя живот, увенчава те с милост и щедрости. O Господ дава правда и съд на всички обидени. Той показа Своите пътища на Мойсей, на Израилевите синове - Своите дела. O Щедър и милостив е Господ, дълготърпелив и многомилостив. Той не ни стори според нашите беззакония и не ни въздаде според нашите грехове. O ВТОРО ЧЕТИВО Бог пръв ни възлюби. Четене от първото послание на Свети Иван Апостол 4, 7-16 Възлюбени: Нека се обичаме един други, защото любовта е от Бога, и всеки, който обича, е роден от Бога и познава Бога. Който не обича, той не е познал Бога, защото Бог е любов. Божията любов към нас в това се яви, дето Бог проводи в света Своя Единороден Син, за да бъдем живи чрез Него. В това се състои любовта, че не ние възлюбихме Бога, а Той ни възлюби и проводи Сина Си да стане умилостивение за нашите грехове. Възлюбени, ако тъй ни възлюби Бог, и ние сме длъжни да обичаме един другиго. Бога никой никога не е видял. Ако се обичаме един друг, Бог пребъдва в нас, и любовта Му е съвършена у нас. Че ние пребъдваме в Него и Той в нас, познаваме от това, дето ни е дал от Своя Дух. И ние видяхме и свидетелствуваме, че Отец проводи Сина за Спасител на света. Който изповяда, че Исус е Син Божи, в него пребъдва Бог, и той в Бога. И ние познахме любовта, която Бог има към нас, и повярвахме в това. Бог е любов, и който пребъдва в любовта, пребъдва в Бога, и Бог - в него. Това е Божие слово. АЛИЛУЯ Мт 11, 29ав O Алилуя. Вземете Моето иго върху себе си, и се поучете от Мене, понеже съм кротък и смирен по сърце. O Алилуя. ЕВАНГЕЛИЕ Кротък съм и смирен по сърце. Четене от светото Евангелие според Матей 11, 25-30 В онова време: Исус отговори и каза: "Прославям Те, Отче, Господи на небето и на земята, задето си укрил това от мъдри и разумни, и си го открил на младенци; тъй е, Отче, понеже такова беше Твоето благоволение. Всичко Ми е предадено от Моя Отец, и никой не познава Сина, освен Отец; и нито Отца познава някой, освен Синът, и комуто Синът иска да открие. Дойдете при Мене, всички отрудени и обременени, и Аз ще ви успокоя. Вземете Моето иго върху си и се поучете от Мене, понеже съм кротък и смирен по сърце, и ще намерите покой за душите си; защото игото Ми е благо и бремето Ми леко." Това е слово Господне.
2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 4.1 4.2 4.3 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 6.16 6.17 6.18 7.1 7.2 8.1 8.2 8.3 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 10.8 10.9 10.10 10.11 10.12 10.13 10.14 10.15 11.1 11.2 11.3 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 12.7 12.8 12.9 12.10 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 13.7 13.8 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 14.6 14.7 15.1 15.2 15.3 16.1
“But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another, 17 “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.’ 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon’; 19 the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.” 25 At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. I don’t think I’m telling you anything new by saying that being part of a church is a lot of work. It takes a lot of time, commitment, and practice to be a church. There are programs, budgets, planning, meetings, behind-the-scenes details too numerous to list that so many of you are involved in. Then there’s the whole discipleship thing—growing spiritually, following Jesus, forgiving and being forgiven, loving the world. There’s a lot of action and energy involved in being part of a church. People have invested a lot of themselves into their churches. So it makes some sense, then, that as churches across the country in every denomination and tradition continue to decline in numbers, people within their congregations take on extra burdens and responsibilities, digging in their heels to try and stop it. They buzz around looking for the answer, seeing what that one growing congregation is doing and trying to imitate that. Each one believes that if the whole church would put more effort into their church, it would turn this ship around. Youth programming! some say. More Bible studies! some say. Spiritual worship! Some say. Better preaching! some say. Outreach and social justice! some say. And because they are convinced that putting more effort into these areas will save the church, they work themselves into a state of exhaustion. And when that doesn’t gain the results it should, they can get despondent, apathetic, and just plain tired. They become so worn out that being part of a church actually becomes a burden. Add that to other burdens they carry, e.g., worrying about their kids, their job, their healthcare, and the state of world peace, they simply can’t carry the burden of being part of the church any more. And they become part of the decline they fought so hard to prevent. The church isn’t so much in decline. The church is simply exhausted. “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” It seems that Jesus understands that we are tired. He gets that we fight so hard to save our churches. He gets that we pour so much of ourselves into carrying this burden of holding up the church that we are all weary. And Jesus comes to us and offers to lighten this load. Come to me, he says. Take my yoke, he says. Find rest, he says. Isn’t that just what we need? But I cannot find rest while you are still carrying the load. And you won’t find rest for your souls if others are still under this weight. What we don’t yet understand in our culture is that your burden is mine. Mine is yours. We’re in this together—this church thing. Which is why Jesus doesn’t say, “Come to me, each one of you individually that are weary.” He says, collectively, “All who are weary.” Jesus is talking to the crowds here. Everyone. He’s not speaking to each one of us individually, but as a whole. We, together, take his yoke on us. We, together, come to him with our collective heavy burdens. We, together, are yoked with him and learn from him. It’s us together with Jesus, so together we bear our burdens. Together, his yoke is a lot easier when it’s spread among all of us and his burden is a lot lighter when we share it together. It’s really that simple. There’s more and more sense to the Apostle Paul referring to the whole church as “the body of Christ.” We are joined together in Christ for support, for encouragement, for lifting burdens. Have you seen that video on Youtube of a farmer that needed to move his huge barn in Bruno, Nebraska? Check it out. 344 people surrounded this barn, all grabbed hold, picked it up, and simply walked it to its new location. Everyone together. No one had too much weight. No one was overburdened. All different ages and abilities. Each one carrying some of the load, but no one carrying all of it. And they did what some said was impossible. Because they did it together. Being part of the church isn’t easy. But we have to do this church thing together, this Christ thing together. If not, we’ll all burn out and burn up one by one. As the body of Christ, we’re here to lighten the load for one another. We’re here to take seriously the business of forgiving each other; carrying the needs and hopes of even those we don’t know. Going out of our way to show love; being inconvenienced, happily, to benefit someone else here. No one takes he load alone. But together the load is easy and the burden is light. Being part of a church is not easy; walking with Jesus in the world is a heavy thing to carry. This is just too hard for any of us to do by ourselves. We’re all tired. We’re all feeling the weight. We need one another. To be about the work Jesus has given us, to live as Christ in the world, we need to do it together. We need each other. “Come to me, you all are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give all of you rest. Take my yoke upon you together, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you all will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Together that sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?