Steps of Faith~ 9th Sunday after Penecost

Amos 8:1-12: The Lord does not like it when making money is so important that you are willing to do evil to the poor & needy. The Lord does not like it when you would rather make money than spend time with the Lord on his holy days. Because of this sin, he will make the earth shake and kill many. Then you will grieve over the dead. But a time is coming when people WILL hunger for the words of God more than food or drink. When that happens they will be willing to travel great distances to find it.  Ps. 52: Why do you brag about the evil you do? You think up evil plans and do it. You tell lies. You depend on your money more than God.  You love what is wrong more than what is good. God will punish you for doing so. Then those who follow God will see and laugh. Those who follow God will be like olive trees in God's temple, for they trust in God.  Col. 1:5-28: You WERE enemies of God in your minds, because of the evil that you did, but now Christ has made you friends again. God made peace by the blood Christ shed on the cross.He now brings you to God as holy people with no darkness in you.Therefore you cannot be judged as guilty of sin any longer.  Luke 10:38-42: Jesus went to Martha and Mary's home. While he was there Mary sat at his feet and listened to him teach, but Martha was working hard. She became upset because Mary was not helping her and said something to Jesus about it. Jesus told her that She was worrying about too many things and that Mary had chosen the right thing.  When we are living in the kingdom of darkness and sin, we do evil Ps. 52). We also do evil in God's eyes when we seek money and what it can give us over a relationship with God (Amos 8:1-12).  We were enemies of God before we turned to Him to repent from the evil sins that we have done, and accepted Jesus & His blood to pay for and cover our sins and save us from the kingdom of darkness. Because of what Jesus did for us, we will not be judged for being sinful (Col. 1:5-28). Praise God! The reason Jesus paid that price is because he loved you and wants a relationship with you here on earth & into eternally. The question is are you like Martha whose mind was on many things or are you like Mary who took time to sit at Jesus feet and spend time listening, learning from him? As well as build a relationship with Jesus.  Challenge of the Week: How will you make time to build a relationship with god this week? Accomplishment of the week: How did you spend time with God this week? How did that build on your relationship with him?