When Jesus came into this world over 2000 years ago, He came on a mission to bring salvation to all of humanity in a place called Calvary. As Jesus made His journey to the cross, along the way, the Bible says He traveled about healing and working miracles of all kinds. In a sense it was a goodwill tour—Helping hurting people. This goodwill tour took Jesus to the little city of Jericho, a resort town, just 27 miles east of Jerusalem down toward the Dead Sea.
People went there to renew and spend their vacations. Beautiful palms and rose gardens were everywhere. Jesus is walking into one of the oldest cities in the world. Over the period of 5000 years some twenty-six cities have been built here—one on top of another. Jericho is a major hub of commerce, an intersection of sorts of trade routes.
Jesus is coming to Jericho, He has been here many times before. Jericho is buzzing with rumors of a carpenter that can perform great miracles—The blind see, the lame walk, the dead are brought back to life. This location is strategic for Jesus as it is storied ground. This city gate is the very location where Joshua or Yeshua (meaning Yahweh is Salvation), the successor to Moses, marched around this city and defeated their enemy with a shout.
Sitting in the sand at this very gate is a blind beggar. We don’t know how long he has been fighting his enemy—the enemy of blindness or how it came upon him. But we assume it must have been his burden to carry for some time. As Jesus approaches, the noise of the crowd reaches this man’s ears—He can’t contain himself, he stands and begins jumping up and down and waving his arms shouting, “Son of David, have mercy on me.” He shouts again, and again, and again just as those who defeated their enemy so many years earlier, with a shout.
Join us this week at Sedona United Methodist Church as the Rev. Fred Mast shares an inspired message from Mark Chapter 10 entitled “Shout to the Lord”. Sunday mornings we enter the spirit of worship at 9:30am featuring meaningful and uplifting music, special times of prayer and passionate life changing messages designed to move you closer in your relationship with Jesus Christ and others. We look forward to seeing you! We also offer an amazing Spirit Filled On-Line Worship experience each week accessed at www.sedonaumc.org.
Sedona UMC offers several weekly book and bible studies: Tuesday’s @ 2PM Adult Studies at “The Gathering Place” in West Sedona; Wednesday’s Men’s Bible Study at 9am; and Thursday’s Women’s Bible Study at 9:45am. We offer so many great missions, ministries, and fellowship opportunities at Sedona UMC—Visit our website at us on www.sedonaumc.org and “Like” us on Facebook.
We would love to pray for you! —Prayer requests may be submitted online or by calling us at 928-282-1780. We are conveniently located at 110 Indian Cliffs Road off the Back O’Beyond roundabout on Route 179 in Sedona. All are welcome at Sedona UMC—We look forward to seeing you!—Come and grow with us!
