Ministries — Blaine | Chain of Lakes Church

Chain of Lakes Videos

Select a link below to view recent past videos of worship services. For all past worship services go to https://vimeo.com/chainoflakes/videos Don’t forget to also check out Pastor Paul’s blog

September 21, 2025
“Unlocking the Bible” Part 3

September 14, 2025
“Unlocking the Bible” Part 2

September 7, 2025
“Unlocking the Bible”

August 31, 2025
“The Skeptical Prophet” Jonah – part three, and a special prayer in response to the shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church

August 24, 2025
“The Skeptical Prophet” Jonah – part two

August 17, 2025
Guest speaker Dr. Janice Aanenson
Sound starts at 33:54

August 10, 2025
“The Skeptical Prophet” Jonah – part one

August 3, 2025
“My Favorite Scripture” John 3:16

July 27, 2025
“My Favorite Scripture” Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8

July 20, 2025
“My Favorite Scripture” Micah 6:8

July 13, 2025
“My Favorite Scripture” Psalm 23

July 6, 2025
“Dangers of Christian Nationalism”

June 29, 2025
“Twisted Scriptures” – Homosexuality is a Sin

June 22, 2025
“Twisted Scriptures” – Women Shouldn’t be Preachers

June 15, 2025
Guest Preacher Rev. Gary Hanson – “Suffering”

June 8, 2025
Pentecost, and “Twisted Scriptures” – Divorce

June 1, 2025
“Twisted Scriptures” – God Won’t Give Me More Than I Can Handll

Daily Devotions

Comments about the devotion can be emailed to pastor@colpres.org

Daily Devotions September 29 - October 4

Monday, September 29
John 4:7-15
A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
This week in the devotion we’re continuing our focus on important passages in the New Testament. We’ll look at six well-known passages in the New Testament.
The story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman demonstrated many beautiful qualities about Jesus. First, he was willing to talk to a woman. In his era, it would have been discouraged for any man to talk to a woman in public.
Not only was the person a woman, she was a Samaritan woman. Samaritans and Jews had a long history of discord.
It would have been much easier and understandable if Jesus had ignored the woman.
But Jesus was willing to break these conventions to offer living water to the Samaritan woman. This was water that led people to experience eternal life.
The woman was interested in this Living Water but had no way of knowing how to access it. She wanted to enjoy this Living Water so she would never have to come to this well again.
The story goes on with Jesus noting that the woman had five husbands and with the disciples coming upon the scene.
This Living Water is available to all of us. It’s not something that we receive through our tap water. Instead it’s something that happens in our relationship to God.
What are your thoughts about this story and receiving Living Water? Please share.

Tuesday, September 30
Romans 5:1-5
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
This passage is an important one for Protestants. It was a favorite of Martin Luther. Humans are justified or put into relationship with God through the death of Jesus. Through his death Jesus opened up a way for humans to receive God. The way that we receive this relationship is through faith. Humans are “justified by faith.”
In the last three verses of this passage the Apostle Paul wrote about how people can boast in their sufferings. Suffering leads to endurance which leads to character which leads to hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God’s love has been poured into our hearts. We literally carry God with us!
None of us have been encouraged to boast in our sufferings. But this passage shares that we need not be afraid of our sufferings. For sufferings can lead to each of us having a greater experience of God.
Have you ever thought of boasting in your sufferings? Please share.

Wednesday, October 1
Mark 6:30-44
The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things. When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.” But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” And he said to them, “How many loaves have you? Go and see.” When they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to his disciples to set before the people, and he divided the two fish among them all. And all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.
The feeding of the 5,000 is one of the few stories that appears in all four gospels.
We often miss the emotional state of Jesus at the start of this story. Jesus had just learned that his cousin John had been killed in a brutal way. We could have understood if Jesus had told the crowds to go away because Jesus wasn’t in the emotional frame of mind to deal with all of these people. Jesus had intentionally sought out a deserted place, so he could enjoy a quieter season with his disciples.
But the crowds had other ideas. When they discovered that Jesus was in this place they came out to meet him.
What is so beautiful is the compassion that Jesus had for the crowds. He will filled with splanchizomai—compassion. His guts literally went out to the people who were struggling.
What lessons can you learn from the example of Jesus in this story? Please share.

Thursday, October 2
Romans 8:31-39
What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son but gave him up for all of us, how will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ who died, or rather, who was raised, who is also at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than victorious through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
These words from Romans are often read at funerals. When people are grieving loss, it is very important to hear the message that God’s agape love had not left them.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God.
Enjoy these last verses from this chapter. Consider memorizing them.
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
What do these words mean to you? Please share.

Friday, October 3
Luke 10:25-37
An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”
But wanting to vindicate himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and took off, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came upon him, and when he saw him he was moved with compassion. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, treating them with oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and when I come back I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Often this story is thought of as an example of helping our neighbor. The Samaritan man stopped to help a man who was beaten on the side of the road.
But the story is much more than that. Like we read in the devotion on Monday, Samaritans and Jews had a long history of enmity between them. If a Jewish audience was hearing this story, they would be afraid when they heard that a Samaritan came near the Jewish man. They would have wondered if the Samaritan man would harm the person on the side of the road.
Instead the Samaritan man’s actions defy all expectations. The Samaritan went out of his way to be helpful.
We can think of all sorts of groups today who have enemies. The partisanship and polarization in our culture is very high. The story of the Good Samaritan transcends these divisions.
If a Samaritan can help a Jew, then a Republican can help a Democrat.
What are your thoughts about this passage? Please share.

Saturday, October 4
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
If I speak in the tongues of humans and of angels but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions and if I hand over my body so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part, but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see only a reflection, as in a mirror, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love.
These words from the Apostle Paul are often heard at weddings. But the message is one that is relevant for settings beyond a wedding.
We can learn from this passage about how to treat people. We treat people with patience and kindness. We are not boastful or arrogant or rude. We don’t insist on our own way. We are not irritable or resentful or rejoice in wrongdoing.
These words transcend time! The Apostle Paul recognized this when he said that love never ends.
Living out these words is faith at the highest level. This type of faith is especially significant when we are experiencing a high amount of stress. In fact these words are anecdotes to stress. They give us a roadmap for responding to the stresses of our own life.
What are your thoughts about this passage? Please share.

Daily Devotions September 22-27

Monday, September 22
Luke 1:26-38
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born^] will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
This week in the devotion we’re continuing our focus on important passages in the Bible; this week we’ll look at significant passages in the New Testament. This will be a series of looking at important New Testament passages will extend beyond this week.

The entrance of Jesus into the world is a story that deserves much fanfare. It is so interesting how God decided to announce the birth of Jesus. He asked the angel Gabriel to tell Mary, a poor Jewish woman. God could have announced this in multiple ways, but the way that was eventually picked would not have been predicted by many.

Mary was as surprised as anyone that she was going to birth the Messiah. The actual word, “Messiah” was not used in this story, but the description by Gabriel of the purpose of Jesus is consistent with an understanding of the Messiah.

Don’t ever put God into a box! God will surprise us. God surprised the world in deciding how Jesus was born.

Do you like surprises? Have you had a moment recently when you were surprised in your faith? Please share.

Tuesday, September 23
John 1:1-18
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life,^[a] and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.(John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ ”) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, himself God, who^] is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” So starts the beginning of John’s gospel. Many people call these eighteen verses the prologue. In it John explained what it means for Jesus to be born or as he wrote it a number of times the “Word became flesh.” The Word, who we know of as Jesus, took human form and lived among humans.

Many people have struggled with all of the philosophical underpinnings of these eighteen verses. But underneath it all is a very simple message. The Word became human and was born among humans.

Each verse of the Prologue is worth pondering and our reflection. Look at verse 17—“The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

Jesus was all about grace and truth.

What does it mean to you to say that Jesus was all about grace and truth? Please share.

Wednesday, September 24
Matthew 5:1-11
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he began to speak and taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely^[b] on my account.

We’ve moved on to the beginnings of the adult ministry of Jesus. He had been baptized and now was ready to begin teaching and recruiting a group of followers—who became known as the Disciples.

These verses begin the most famous sermon ever given—the Semon on the Mount. Jesus climbed a mountain and gave what the church would call a sermon.

These eleven verses are known as the Beatitudes. If you have some extra time today, read the entire Sermon on the Mount. It goes from the fifth chapter of Matthew to the seventh.

The qualities highlighted in these eleven verses are not typically seen as important qualities. People who are poor in spirit, those who mourn, who are meek, who hunger and thirst for righteousness, are merciful, are pure in heart, are peacemakers, are persecuted on the account of Jesus.

Which of these beatitudes are most important to you? Which of these beatitudes are hard for you to follow. Please share.

Thursday, September 25
Romans 1:16-17
For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is God’s saving power for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith, as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”
The book of Romans was the last letter that the Apostle Paul wrote before he was killed. It is really the magnum Opus of his theology.

In these two verses Paul shared that the gospel is powerful as it gives salvation to everyone who has faith. We are able to leave this world when we die and stay alive in heaven.

As followers of Jesus we need not fear death. Not like anyone wants to die, but death has lost its power over us. We have been given the gift of salvation. Death is a transition to heaven.

Salvation is a gift that God gives to us. We don’t do anything to earn it as it was initiated by God.

We might think of salvation as something that causes people stress as we wonder if we are going to heaven. But Paul did not want people to see the gift of salvation this way. Salvation was the power of God to everyone who has faith.

Do you see salvation as a source of comfort? Is salvation something that takes away your anxiety? What are your thoughts about this gift? Please share.

Friday, September 26
Romans 3:21-26
But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed and is attested by the Law and the Prophets,the righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed;it was to demonstrate at the present time his own righteousness, so that he is righteous and he justifies the one who has the faith of Jesus.
Paul continues to share very significant messages in the book of Romans when he talks about the righteousness of God, the sin of humans, and how God responds to this.

We read that there is not distinction. All of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Every one of us sins—we fall short.

Churches have taken this message of sin and perverted it. One way is that the topic of sin is all a congregation will talk about. People have sinned; people have sinned; people have sinned. People feel so bad about themselves that they don’t want to approach God.

Another way is that people don’t talk about sin at all. People are created good and are good. Though this is true, it ignores the reality that people fall short. For no one would need Jesus if a person did not sin.

The good news that Paul shared in this passage is people are given grace. Even though we fall short, God offers us grace. We are redeemed.

What are your thoughts about this passage? Please share

Saturday, September 27
John 3:11-21
“Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen, yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned, but those who do not believe are condemned already because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”
The third chapter of John is one of the most important chapters in the Bible. We come across a very famous verse—John 3:16. We read that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
We might have seen this verse on a bumper sticker or a sign. It is a foundational message of the gospel.
Jesus shared this message in a conversation with Nicodemus, a religious leader.
The foundation of this verse is the love that God has for us. God loves us in a way that far surpasses our imagination. This love is expressed through the gift of salvation.
Did you memorize this verse when you were younger? What are your thoughts about it? Please share.

Daily Devotions September 15-20

Monday, September 15
Psalm 139:1-18
O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
    you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down
    and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
    O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before,
    and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
    it is so high that I cannot attain it.
Where can I go from your spirit?
    Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
    if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
    and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
    and your right hand shall hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
    and night wraps itself around me,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
    the night is as bright as the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.
For it was you who formed my inward parts;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
    Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
  My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
    all the days that were formed for me,
    when none of them as yet existed.
How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
    I come to the end—I am still with you.
As part of the sermon series Pastor Paul is sharing called, “Unlocking the Bible” we are continuing to look at important Scriptures in the Old Testament. This devotion and last week’s devotion share a total of twelve Scriptures that are significant in the Old Testament.
In this Psalm we read about God’s enduring presence. There is nowhere to go where God is not present with us.
Read these verses slowly and reverently. They communicate an important message to us about God. Consider reading them through more than once
The writer of the Psalm acknowledged that God is always present.
“Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, who are there.
If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
Even there your hand shall lead me,
And your right hand shall hold me fast.”
(Psalm 139:7-10)
What are your takeaways from this Psalm? Please share!

Tuesday, September 16
Psalm 150
Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
    praise him in his mighty firmament!
Praise him for his mighty deeds;
    praise him according to his surpassing greatness!
Praise him with trumpet sound;
    praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance;
    praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with clanging cymbals;
    praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
This Psalm is not only the last one in the bible; it concludes a section of “praise” Psalms which are found in Psalm 146-150.
Thirteen times in this Psalm we read the word, “Praise.”
As you go through your day, how many times can you praise God? Be especially attentive for ways and opportunities to share praise.
In verses three to five we can almost hear music being shared that expresses praise. We praise god with trumpet sound and lute and harp and tambourine and dance and strings and pipe and clanging cymbals and loud clashing cymbals. Imagine the cacophony of sound.
Then verse six is a beautiful way to close the Psalm.
“Let everything that breathes praise the Lord.”
What are some ways that you are able to praise the Lord. These ways don’t have to bring attention to you; instead they can be ways to bring honor to God. What works for you? Please share.

Wednesday, September 17
Isaiah 40:1-5
Comfort, O comfort my people,
    says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
    and cry to her
that she has served her term,
    that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
    double for all her sins.
A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
    make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
    and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
    and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
    and all flesh shall see it together,
    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
These verses announce a significant change in the book of Isaiah. Until this chapter the people of Judah were being threatened with exile. The prophet Isaiah was doing everything possible to warn the people what might happen.
And then everything changed. The tone and the message of Isaiah changed.
“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her
That she has served her term,
That her penalty is paid,
That she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” Isaiah 40:1-2
The warnings of what might happen were suddenly gone. The themes of comfort and compassion and tenderness are now shared. The people of Judah had gone into exile. Now God was comforting them in their difficult place.
Some people call this section of Isaiah, Second Isaiah. It goes through Isaiah 55. No longer are the people being warned about what could happen; instead they are being comforted for what is happening.
What are your thoughts about this passage? Please share.

Thursday, September 18
Jeremiah 31:31-34
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.
The book of Jeremiah is a large compilation of the stories of the person named Jeremiah. Reading these 52 chapters is reading about the human condition. Jeremiah was constantly trying to bring the people back to God and sharing what was most important to God. Jeremiah was a prophet.
In these verses we read about a new idea—the new covenant. God was making a promise that something new was going to happen. Many people believe that this new covenant was a foreshadowing of the entrance of Jesus into the world. Things were going to change—even though Jesus didn’t come into the world for a least five hundred years.
This covenant would be set in people’s hearts. God would forgive people’s sins.
You and I benefit from this new covenant that Jeremiah announced. We could imagine this message that Jeremiah shared a message to us.
What does it mean to you that you enjoy the benefits of this new covenant? Please share.

Friday, September 19
Amos 5:21-24
I hate, I despise your festivals,
    and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
    I will not accept them,
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
    I will not look upon.
Take away from me the noise of your songs;
    I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
But let justice roll down like water
    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
These words come from Amos, who is labeled as a Minor Prophet. But do know that there is nothing minor about the message of Amos. He is described as a Minor Prophet because the length of the book is shorter than others.
God was upset with the people of Judah. God was tired of the rituals of faith. What God wanted was not the practice of these rituals. Instead God wanted to see all people treated with justice or fairness.
“Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Amos 5:24
These words could be spoken to us. God wants to see all of us as followers of Jesus to help justice be lived out among all people, especially the poor. The biblical motivation for the ministry at Chain of Lakes with people who are homeless could be this verse!
What does this verse mean to you? And what does it mean for your faith? Please share.

Saturday, September 20
Micah 6:6-8
“With what shall I come before the Lord
    and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
He has told you, O mortal, what is good,
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice and to love kindness
    and to walk humbly with your God?
These verses are similar to the ones we read yesterday. Micah is also described as a Minor Prophet—though there is nothing minor about these verses.
We learn in the entire chapter that God is not most interested in the rituals of our faith. God wants our hearts to be connected to doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God.
All three parts are important. They make up a complete faith.
Sometimes doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with God is hard. We need strength from God to help us do them. This verse could be part of our daily prayer—every day!
What does this verse mean to you? Please share.

Events

Church Calendar

Please note that the Google calendar is not showing up on iPhones, but will show up on Android devices and all desktop computers (including iMac). Your patience is appreciated while we troubleshoot this issue!

Community Gardens

Chain of Lakes Church is excited to offer a Community Garden Ministry next to the new church building at 2650 125th Ave NE, Blaine, MN 55449. It’s just east of Malmborg’s Garden Center on 125th Ave NE in Blaine or .8 miles east of Radisson Rd on 125th Ave NE, Blaine.