Has anybody ever called you a name? In Isaiah 62 God calls His people a couple of names: “A crown of beauty,” and “a royal diadem.” He must have thought a lot of them to call them by such beautiful names.

The name change was so meaningful to Isaiah that as he spoke about it he said, “I will not keep silent” (Is. 62:1). He knew God was up to something great in His people, and that their story needed to be told. It was a story of grace, a story of God entering into the narrative so profoundly that the future would be different than what the past seem to indicate it would be.

Can God really enter into our stories and so change them that we must be given new names in order to reflect the new storyline? God said that His people use to be called, “Forsaken” and “Desolate.” Not any more. Now they are called “a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord,” “a royal diadem,” “My delight is in her.” He said they would be called by the name “oaks of righteousness.”

Grace is a wonderful reality. It sees beyond the immediate, beyond the “forsaken” and “desolate,” and declares that God is doing a new and different thing. God will so change the mind and spirit of His people that it is said of His, “The Lord delights in you,” and “Your God will rejoice over you” (Is. 62:5).

Aren’t these remarkable thoughts to think? God rejoicing over people? God delighting in people.? I can understand people rejoicing and delighting over God, but God rejoicing and delighting over people. Wow.

Could it be that changing names is an ongoing event with God? What is your old name? What might God call you if He were to change your name? “Your name was ____________ but now it is ________________.”

There is a way of living that accompanies one who has come to faith in God through Jesus Christ. Christians pray often the prayer Jesus taught, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). Why do we pray that prayer? We pray it because the ways and means of God are fundamentally in opposition to the ways and means of the world. Followers of Christ do life differently than does the world.

In the words of John the Baptist we “bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Luke 3:8). That is to say, we live in a way that reflects the life of God in us. We are truthful. We live in a spirit of giving and sharing. We are honest, and live with integrity. We don’t push and shove our way through life; instead, we reach out to people and love them in the name of the One who loves us.

Thomas Chisholm says in well in a hymn, “O to be like Thee, blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art!” When we “bear fruit in keeping with repentance,” we find ourselves hungry to be like the One who has redeemed us and made us whole.

Truth be known the world needs followers of Jesus to step up and live redeemed lives. Someone needs to speak truthfully and live authentically and do works of mercy and love. If not Christians, who? If not today, when? There is no better time than the present to let the life of Jesus fill us and energize us to be like Him in our world. Is it possible that through us Jesus loves and serves and touches and restores? Could we be a voice of hope and forgiveness in His name?

May God help us to bear fruit in keeping with repentance and the life we live in Jesus.

Here is a wonderful word to consider. It appears in Luke 3:2, “The word of God came to John…” Isn’t that just like God? The world was going about its business, caught up in its distracted ways, and, unbeknown to it, God shows up in some-body, catching everybody off guard.

John heard the word and began to preach about how people could turn away from the numbing and deadening ways of life outside of God and find a place of forgiveness, hope and new beginnings. God was afoot and something new was underway, something that would change the storyline in peoples’ lives and give them new hope and new beginnings, a future under the influence of God.

John called people to repentance. Sounds like a very theological thing but really it is a very simple thing. Repentance means to turn around. That’s all. The difficulty comes with a person deciding if they want God in their lives. Some say NO to God, and meander along through life, as if they have forever. Others say YES to God, and turn around into the loving arms of God who loves the world so much that He gave His only Son for it.

John came to prepare the way for Jesus. John wasn’t the message. Jesus was the message. John wasn’t the hope. Jesus was the hope. John breaks into metaphor as he explains what the presence of God in a human life will mean: Every ravine will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be brought low; the crooked will become straight, and the rough roads smooth (Luke 3:5). This is a poetic way of describing how grace changes how we look at life.

When God is present in a person’s life he or she sees differently than before. Not the scenery or the conditions but God sets the tone for life. God’s presence brings healing and hope and a sense of renewal and future.

In Advent we hear the invitation to turn around and come home -- home to God

We come into Advent with a sense of joyful anticipation and also a sense that all is not right in the world. In the church we recognize that God is at work in the world but that the world has not yet opened it's heart to the possibilities of God. The world fights for recognition, money, power, and control but it is a fight that, in the end, will bow before the Creator and confess that He is, indeed, the Creator and Redeemer of all that has been created.

Often times a key question that is asked is, "Who's in charge around here?" Advent gives us the answer. God is in charge around here. He has patiently and graciously worked in history until a moment in time when He actually came into His creation in Jesus Christ, and brought full and free salvation into the world. Today He lives among us as Savior and Lord. At some future date He will come again and take to heaven those who have received His grace. It will be a great day of consummation when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Between now and that future event, there will be a lot of uncertainty and violence where nations will rise up against nations. There will be unrest in every place throughout the world. We already know this, don't we; we experience it everyday. Yet, Jesus calls His people not to be discouraged. Though the times and seasons will bring dismay and perplexity Jesus says, "straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near" (Luke 21:28).

So, in Advent we wait and listen and pray and hope. We worship, knowing that God is in our midst and that history is unfolding under His sovereign authority.

I am thinking that the most joyous people on the earth ought to be Christians, and that thanksgiving should fill our lives. Praise should be our unrehearsed and spontaneous response to life in this world because we know that our lives comes to us as a gift from God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.

This is not to call us to naivete and it does not denied the fact that life is hard. Life is hard, sometimes miserably hard and there are many things we do not understand. Thankfully, God knows that we are dust and that our days are numbered on the earth. What we know is that God has spoken to our lives in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ and that "from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him." (Psalm 103:17).

The counsel of Scripture stands: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:6-7)

In this thanksgiving season let's join together in the giving of thanks to God for all that His grace brings into our world and into our lives.

God bless you all, and HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

There is a wonderful picture in Daniel 7:9-14 where the God of the Universe called, The Ancient of Days, takes his seat among kingdoms and powers and authorities that have arisen in history; kingdoms that sought to undermine the reality of the living God. Once He is seated an interesting thing takes place: all the other authorities begin to lose their power, place, and prominence. Their fifteen minutes were up, and the true and Living God takes center stage.

Shortly someone comes before the Ancient of Days and is received by Him. This someone is referred as being “One like a Son of Man.” As the Son of Man stands before the Ancient of Days He was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, and He was given these things so “that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him.” Apparently this Son found favor with the Ancient of Days because not only did He receive dominion, glory and a kingdom, but also these would comprise an “everlasting” dominion. His rule would never pass away and His kingdom is one that cannot be destroyed.

The New Testament makes it clear that this Son of Man is no one less than Jesus Christ. In Him, the writer of the book of Hebrews says, “We receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken.” Before Jesus all kingdoms and authorities bow. They can push and shove, and do, but they cannot take down the “everlasting” kingdom of the Son who takes His authority from the Ancient of Days.

And, this is the kingdom in which we live. We say, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

I sometimes wonder where God is. How is He present? Why He often chooses silence? What is His will? And, sometimes I get bewildered and come face to face with my powerlessness. Thank God I'm not alone, though. The psalmist is my companion for he too experienced those questions. Out of the context of his own life situation he wrote,

Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never be favorable again? Has his lovingkindness ceased forever? Has his promise come to an end forever? Has God forgotten to be gracious or has he in anger withdrawn his compassion? (Ps. 77:7-9)

It is true that sometimes the ways of God are "in the mighty waters." (Psalm 77:19). . Sometimes in life the clouds pour down water and the skies resound with the sounds of thunder (Ps. 77:17). Sometimes lightning lights up the world and the earth trembles and shakes (Ps. 77:18). Sometimes the way of God is deep mystery and his footprints are not seen (Ps. 77:19). What then? How do we proceed? What do we do? What do we say to each other? How do we conduct ourselves? John Henry Jowett says that "Mystery is part of our appointed discipline. Uncertainty is to prepare us for a deeper assurance. The spirit of questioning is one of the ordained means of growth” (My Daily Meditation, (El Camino Press: La Verne, CA., pg. 167) I find great peace in that fact. I think it is wonderful to know when one is "too troubled to speak" (Ps. 77:4) that God is present, maybe in mystery, but still present. As Jowett says,

God's way moves here and there across this trackless wild. God is never lost among our mysteries. He knows his way about. When we are bewildered He sees the road, and He sees the end even from the beginning. Even the sea, in every part of it, is the Lord's highway....And so the bewildering sea is our friend, as some day we shall understand... We need the mysterious sea, the overwhelming experience, the floods of sorrows which we cannot explain. If we had no sea we should never become robust. We should remain weaklings to the end of our days....God take us out into the deeps. But His way is in the sea. He knows the haven, He knows the track, and we shall arrive! (My Daily Meditation)

In his own questioning the psalmist came to a beautiful moment of personal decision that models for us the way of faith, when he said, I shall remember the deeds of the Lord; surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will meditate on all Your work and muse on Your deeds. Your way, O God, is holy; what god is great like our God? You are the God who works wonders; You have made known Your strength among the peoples. You have by your power redeemed Your people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph (Ps. 77:11-15).

Even in my wondering, God is here. Even when I cannot see his footprints, He is here. When the storm is raging, He is here. When the questions outnumber the answers, He is here. When the pain is greater than the peace, He is here. When the bewilderment elevates the mystery, He is here. When life doesn't make sense, He is here. When the blessings are flowing like a river, He is here. When the path takes us through the fire, He is here. When uncertainty is the order of the day despair is not, for we are on the road redeemed by the God who works wonders (PS. 77:14).

I have a suspicion that until I get to heaven I will wonder about things but one thing I will not wonder about is the fact that God is holy and leads his people like a flock. He did it once by the hand of Moses and Aaron, and his deeds of long ago remind me that what he did once He is continuing to do today. I do not wonder about that at all.

The unnamed multitudes of the Gospels intrigue me. In fact, they haunt me a bit because they so beautifully model things in me I wish would go away. They irritate me, too, because I realize that as much as I want to criticize them ultimately I am just pointing my finger at myself.

Take those folks who were a part of the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand in the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John, for instance. There is no doubt about it, they were present the day of the miracle because they had seen Jesus work some pretty wonderful miracles on some very sick people. His actions captured their imaginations and they found themselves following Him. They weren't following Him because they really believed that He was God among them but just because they wanted to be where the action was. After the miracle, they were hooked, sort of. They saw some awesome possibilities of some wonderful things for their own lives and they were very intrigued. However, if the truth be known, they were there because the spectacular always draws a crowd and because of the fact that people want to have their needs and wants and pleasures met.

And, Jesus saw through it all. He saw the phony, the misdirected, the selfish, the ladder-climber, the up-and-coming, the "I have an agenda and I want what I want" crowd -- and He didn't buy it. He rejected it. And as He told them the truth one by one they just whimpered away and faded into the background.

I wonder if their actions startled Jesus or caught Him off guard in some way, because the very next thing He does is to turn to His twelve men and ask them if they wanted to go away also. They said they didn't but I'm not sure He really believed them.

I wonder how Jesus feels when the actions and thoughts and lifestyles and priorities and goals and attitudes of those who say they love Him cause Him in quiet, unguarded, unplanned moments of honesty to feel He must turn to them to see if they are still with Him. That must hurt a little bit, don't you think?

I don't want to be near Jesus because He does spectacular things. I want to be near Him because of who He is. He is Lord and He has called me to Himself, just to be with Him because I love Him. I don't want Him ever to look at me and feel impressed to ask, "You don't want to go away also, do you?"

Solitude is to purposefully withdraw from the noisy world in order to be with God. It is not to be alone. It is to be alone with God. It is to be with Him in such a way that His presence envelopes your very life and exposes you for who you really are. It is the place of honesty, the place of truth, the place where denial is not allowed. It is the place where we confront in ourselves all that is not of God, and come to the act of unconditional surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Solitude is the place both of struggle and of release. That is to say, in the solitude, where the struggles of our lives are faced, Jesus comes to us and we discover that in reality we are not fighting ourselves. We are fighting God. Yet, in the discovery we find that God is not fighting us. He is present to reveal to us that if we will let go, He will dismantle destructive forces which fight within and without us, and give us a healed and whole, new self.

Solitude is the place where we learn to say, "for to me to live is Christ" (Philippians 1:21). So, the solitude becomes what Henri Nouwen calls the "Furnace of transformation," where we are set free from the entanglements of "The seductive compulsions of the world."

Solitude is the place where we choose to run away no more, but to stand and fight the enemy within. It is the place we go to die to things which are destroying us, and from which we emerge saying "…the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me? (Galatians 2:20).

My invitation is to find a way to get alone with God. He is your Creator. He is your best Friend. He is your Confidant. He is your Savior. He is your Counselor. He loves you with an everlasting love. Come within His wonderful embrace and find healing and laughter and joy and peace. Find in Him, purpose and meaning and value.

Here is a wonderful and marvelous thought to think. It comes from Hebrews 9:24: "For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands." We know He entered a holy place and that He is there as a great high priest on behalf of his people. This text, however, places that reality into its greatest and highest context, and it informs us about how unique and special Jesus is.

This text tells us that the life of Christ in the world is a God-thing; it's not a man thing. This is a God thing. Jesus is God's response to the human situation -- and what a response it is. God is with us is history in the person of Jesus. God is with us in redemptive love. His love is revealed in His sacrificial self-giving on the cross. His love is made real to us in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

God is with us. He is present with us according to the power of Jesus indestructible life (See Heb. 7:16). Isn't that amazing? Whatever it means for you to live, the indestructible life of Jesus is with you. You may, in fact, be destructible; Jesus isn't. The indestructible life of Jesus has taken the blow, and today He is speaking to the Father on your behalf. This is a God-thing.

Under the influence of His indestructible life Jesus has made purification of sins and, He has set down in heaven beside the Father, indicating that His work is complete and that now He is free to be in the presence of the Father on behalf of the world and on behalf of those who have come to trust their lives to Him.

Let the Church know that it is being prayed for by Her Lord Jesus. Let the church know that Jesus' indestructible life sets the atmosphere in the church. Let the Church know that Jesus lives to address the destructive influences that seek to destroy people. Let the church know that it comes into the place of ministry not in its own strength but in the strength of the indestructible life of the risen Lord.

He took what was his, left his roots and went to where life was a constant party. Leaving the stifling lifestyle of farm life he entered into a great new world, and what a wonderful time he had; Lots of wine, lots of women, lots of laughter and lots of friends. Then the money ran out and so did the wine, women, laughter and friends. What started out as the time of his life turned out to be the vacation from hell.

In desperation he took to the streets for survival. He lived from hand to mouth and often times went without. Finally, he landed a job on a pig farm just outside of town. He hated the pigs and he hated the job but it was living. Or was it?

One desperate day of soul searching, as he tried to please the pigs' owners he got to thinking about things and decided that he'd really had about enough. His father was pretty wealthy. He had lots of hired hands around the ranch. Maybe he would hire back his son. He probably wouldn't want him as a son anymore, but he was always looking for good workers. Here was his chance, and off the young partygoer went.

When he got in sight of the place that had once been his home, he noticed that way off in the distance someone was running toward him. It looked like his father. He looked closer. It was his father. As his father drew near he heard him giving orders that sort of stunned him. "Kill the calf and prepare a feast... Go get the family ring....Get a beautiful robe and place it on the shoulders of my boy....I can't believe it! He's come home. He's come home."

Suddenly the young man found himself enveloped in the bear hugs of his father whom through tears kissed him and held him and ran his fingers through his hair. Choked-up and almost unable to speak, the boy's father struggled but suddenly forced out the words, "I love you so much. I'm so glad you're home. I've missed you. You're home. You're home. I love you so much."

Sometimes I wish God were like that but maybe that would be asking a little too much. It would be, wouldn't it?

Goliath was a well-trained, killing machine. David was a teen-age shepherd boy on his father's farm just outside Bethlehem. Goliath was mean, aggressive and powerful. David was gentle, reserved and quiet. The odds were all in Goliath's corner and the possibilities of success for David were pretty slim.

And so it was, in the floor of the valley two warriors met face to face, one a warrior of all that is wrong in the world and one a warrior of all that is right. One came to the battle with a spear, a javelin and a sword, the other with a sling shot, five smooth stones and God. The Philistines were confident that their champion would have it wrapped up in a few moments. The Israelites were sort of numb, not really knowing what to do with all the commotion.

When it was all over the giant of a man, Goliath, lay headless on the floor of the valley. David stood boldly in the posture of victory. The Philistines were running for their lives and the Israelites were re-energized with courage, confidence and belief.

A young teenage boy wrote a chapter in history that day which would never be erased. He revealed to a watching world that God is present, at work and in charge. To everybody who looked on that day it was fairly evident that it was little David verses huge Goliath. But everybody who looked on that day was wrong. Reality is not as it often appears to be and the fact of the matter is, it was not Goliath verse David at all. That was just the appearance. The fact was that it was Goliath verses God. Maybe that's why at a crucial moment in the hostile conversation between Goliath and David that David slipped in a little profound truth that shatters our fears and questions and inabilities and weaknesses, and reminds us of one overwhelming, unchanging, life-transforming, situation- revolutionizing fact of life -- THE BATTLE IS THE LORD'S!

I wonder what God could do in our lives if we, His children, really operated on the premise that we are not alone but that He is profoundly present with such authority that the only accurate way to explain the battles, the confrontations with the enemy, the assaults of the thief from hell, the harassing of the evil one is to say THE BATTLE IS THE LORD'S. Wouldn't it change us just a bit if we knew that today was ultimately and finally in His hands and that everything destructive, seeking our demise comes not against us but against HIM? I wonder! I have to admit the thought energizes me. I wonder what Goliath would say about it, or David's brothers or selected members of the Philistine army. Actually, it doesn't matter what anybody else says about it, I suppose. It all comes down to what you and I say about it?

Wouldn't it be great to wake up tomorrow morning or to go to sleep tonight knowing that THE BATTLE IS THE LORD'S? Doesn't that have a great ring about it? What Goliath do you face today? It's not your fight. It really isn't. It's God's. Let Him have it. Take your little resources and let them get lost in the immensity of God. Then come to floor of the valley and watch Goliath’s demise.

Walking with God through His Son, Jesus, and filled daily by the empowering presence of His Holy Spirit is surely grace at its highest possible level of expression. This is truly amazing when compared with the fact that the Bible says we've all sinned against God and fallen short of his glory (Rom. 3:23).

Why would an offended God respond to the offenders in grace and love, when the natural response to them is an "eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise" (Exodus 21:24). At least on the human level this seems to be a natural response. Revenge. Retaliation. Vengeance. Retribution. Reprisal. These seem to be the natural, unrehearsed response of persons to persons. Legal systems are set up to see to it that these are not the context in which judgment is handed down, yet, they still seem to be the spirit and attitude of so many people around the world.

But God does not come in revenge. Retaliation is far from Him. Vengeance is not the issue with God. Retribution is not a part of His way of doing things. Reprisal is unthinkable to Him. The way of God is the way of grace, so much so that the Bible reveals this amazing thought: "The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).

God is about life. God is about love. God is about hope. God is about renewal and new beginnings. Jesus said it was "the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy" [and how acquainted with his ways we are] but He also said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the abundantly" (John 10:10). That is grace --- Life to the full when your sins say you deserve death.

What is grace? It is God including us in when He could have written us off.

It is a strange thing to hear but it has a wonderful ring about it, too. Hebrews 7:25, in speaking about people who draw near to God through Jesus Christ, says that Jesus lives to make intercession for them. The writer says this in light of the fact that Jesus is able to save forever those who draw near to Him.

God talking to God about us; God interceding to God on our behalf; God in the life of the resurrected Jesus saving forever those folks, like you and me, who come to Him. This is deep for me, and wonderful. Let’s process some of these things together.

Into a system where weak men were appointed as high priests who offered up sacrifices for their own sins and then for the sins of the people, Jesus comes to be a priest who is not weak but whom, in fact, is perfect forever (Heb. 7:28). This perfect one enters into our story so that He might be the one who stands before the Father with us and on our behalf.

It is a marvelous madness to think that Jesus stands with us in all the issues of life and death. We are never alone. Life comes at us as it comes at everyone, and sometimes it gets very messy; but, Jesus is in the mess with us. Can you believe that? In this dangerous world we have a perfect high priest who, just like us, has experienced the realities of life in a broken world. Unlike us, however, He has not succumbed to the brokenness. In His resurrection He is victorious, and He lives as Lord of lords and King of kings. And, He is always praying for us.

You and I are being prayed for by One who really does know how to pray. This fact takes hold of us and energizes us to remember who we are and whose we are. If ever there were a moment when we are compelled to say, "Amazing! Absolutely amazing!" this is that moment.

In the mess Jesus is the Lord who prays for us, and He is with us now. Amazing! Absolutely Amazing!

Have you noticed that being a Christian isn’t all that easy; especially if you’re really taking it seriously? There’s always something working against you and the nature of things in the world requires that you had really better stay on top of things or you might just find yourself buried under lots and lots of things.

The writer of Hebrews speaks of these things in very pragmatic terms. He speaks of how followers of Jesus, “through practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil” (Heb. 5:14). He speaks of how they must “press on to maturity” (Heb. 5:1). He calls the Believers to “diligence… so that [they] will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Heb. 6:12).

Faith is not passive. Faith is a uniting of our lives with Jesus and then living out what it means to live in His life. The world is not a friend of Jesus or His Church. The world is not a friend to grace. So, when one changes worlds and comes to live in the kingdom of God, it can get messy.

Thank God for honest people, like the writer of Hebrews, who dare to speak the truth into our lives even if that truth is something we might not really want to hear. Because of the nature of spiritual warfare in the world, we don’t have the luxury of denial.

Thankfully, we have a high priest who knows more about all these things than we can know. Thankfully, we have a throne room into which we are invited to come close to the Father and find grace and mercy. Thankfully, we have a community in which we can practice our faith and train our senses to discern good and evil. Thankfully, we can grow up in Christ and live in the victory that He, our great high priest, brings into our lives. We don’t have to be sluggish Christians. Jesus is the “anchor of our soul, a hope both sure and steadfast” (Heb.6:19).

There is a Word at work in the world, according to Hebrews chapter four, which brings the very life and power of God into the lives of people. This Word is called “Living,” and “Active” (vs. 12). It is described as being “sharper than any two-edged sword, and capable of “piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow.” This Word, we are told, is capable of judging the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

This is a Word the likes of which most people have never heard before. It speaks into the physical realm but it can also speak into thoughts and intentions of the heart. It cuts so closely that it can divide marrow from joints but also soul from spirit. Talk about Lazer cutting perfection. Lazer cuts pale in comparison to the precise cutting capacity of this two-edged-sword Word of God.

Knowing all these things about the Word of God could scare one to death; just the opposite actually happens. This Word is a constant reminder to God’s people that they have “a great high priest…Jesus the Son of God (vs. 14). This Word is never spoken so as to wipe us out; it is spoken to make us whole. Jesus uses this two-edged-sword Word so as to know us through and through for the purpose of enabling us to “draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (vs. 16).

The truth is we can’t hide anything from God, and that is a good thing. He always operates in the context of the whole truth, and with the whole truth in mind, He comes to us in Jesus to remind us there is a place for us at the throne of grace.

Who would have thought it?

Somebody once said, “What you see is what you get.” I suppose that is true in a way but more truthfully is the statement, “what you see depends upon what is in your heart and how you choose to see things.” Is the cup half full or half empty? Both answers are correct but how we process what we see is another thing all together.

The book of Hebrews calls our vision into question. The world is running wild, it seems. It’s dangerous and a lot of times it doesn’t look like God is in control of much of anything. So the writer says, “We do not yet see all things subjected to him’ (Heb. 2:8). And that is a true statement if ever there were a true statement. However, it is not the only expression of what is. Following the negative statement the writer says, “But we do see Him…Jesus…crowned with glory and honor” (Heb. 2:9).

Putting these two statements together we read, “We do not yet see all things subjected to him. But we do see Him.” To which outlook shall we give ourselves? Both of them are true. Shall we get lost in the dangerous world where things can go so very wrong sometimes? Or shall we get lost in the grace of God who is at work in a crucified and resurrected Lord in the dangerous and seemingly out of control world? What you see depends upon what is in your heart and how you choose to see things.

We see Jesus. He has taken the brokenness of the world upon Himself and of this it is said of Him that He is “crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone” (Heb. 2:9). Jesus has drawn near to us so closely that “He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered” and through this “He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted” (Heb. 2:18).

God is with us in Jesus Christ. What more could we ask? He has spoken grace and mercy into us, and His presence redefines all of life for us.

Over my office door I have a sign that reads, PERSPECTIVE. It is a simple reminder that all of life is a gift to me, that I do not have forever on this planet, that some things don’t matter as much as other things, and that in the end my life is being shaped and formed by the Word I believe is the Word of God.

PERSPECTIVE was driven home again to me recently in my reading of the letter of James. In James 4:14 we are told, “You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” The first time I read that I thought, “Well, that stinks. I’m just a vapor and that’s it?” But I read further and realized that James was telling us that our days are numbered and that we have no guarantee of longevity, and that even if we live a long life, it pales in comparison to all of history and eternity. James tells us, “You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow” (vs. 14), and we don’t.

So, here’s the deal it seems. We can live in denial concerning our status in the world or we can “draw near to God” knowing that as we do so “he will draw near to [us]. A lot of people choose to leave God out of the loop, and there are people in cemeteries all around the country who didn’t plan on arriving there the day they arrived.

Through James God says to us, Wise up. Gain perspective. Broaden your horizons. Enlarge your outlook. More precisely He says, “Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you” (vs. 10). God size reality awaits us if we will slow down, see the big picture, let God be God in our stories, and live with His Sovereign PERSPECTIVE in mind.

“God…gives grace to the humble,” (vs. 6) so submit to Him, draw near to Him, live for Him, and let Him work His works of grace in you. It will be the ride of your life.

It is amazing how the Psalms of the Old Testament so clearly speak to the issues of our lives today. They seem to pray for us, don’t they? They speak for us and moan for us, and complain for us, and cry out to God for us. They give us permission to work out our humanity in the relationship we have with God. They let us be human, in fact, and show us how to be real and honest and transparent before God. In the psalms the human meets up with the Divine, and we see that God is with us in the very stuff of our lives.

Psalm 116 is an example in this. Verse three tells us that the writer had faced many serious issues of life. “The cords of death encompassed and the terrors of Sheol came upon me; I found distress and sorrow.” Rather than abandoned God in his suffering and questions, the psalmist “called upon the name of the Lord” (vs. 4). Instead of using his pain as a reason to stand against the reality of God, he took his pain into the very heart of God and proclaimed there, “Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yes, our God is compassionate” (vs. 5).

In this, we see that who the Lord is to the psalmist saturates the very heart of what it means for him to live in this world. His testimony is, “I love the Lord, because He hears my voice and my supplications” (vs. 1). Life was just as hard for him as it is for everybody, but he lived is life within the life of God.

Where do we live our lives? How influential is God in the very real stuff of our daily living? May God help us to live and move and have our being within His very life. The reality of life in this world may or may not change, but being in a personal and vital relation with God through faith defines life in a fresh new ways for us. It caused the psalmist to say, “Return to your rest, o my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you” (vs. 7).

The world giggles, if not outright laughs, at the thought of there really being a devil; the apostle Paul didn’t. As a matter of fact, neither did Jesus. After being harassed and “tempted by the devil” (Matt. 4:1), Jesus finally said to him, “Go Satan!” (Matt. 4:10). Not much giggling in that command.

For Paul the word is clear, “put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil” (Eh. 6:11). The staggering word in that statement is “schemes.” The enemy is at work and his strategy is based on schemes designed to take down those who believe Jesus Christ is Lord.

Never take your Christian life for granted, and never underestimate the capacity of the enemy to implement cunning plans designed to distract you from God. And, remember, the enemy never works from the position of integrity. He could care less about a fair fight. His intent is to win, how he cares not. He will “steal…kill and destroy” (John 10:10), and if need be he will do it from within the costume of a gentle lamb or in the appearance of an angel of light.

In all this remember one thing, however; the devil isn’t lord. Jesus is Lord. Satan is a defeated foe, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ proves it. The enemy can still work his works and will do so until Jesus comes back for His Church in such a powerful way that every knee will bow and ever tongue confess that He is Lord (See Phil. 2).

So, the word of the Lord to us is “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.” Jesus is the conquering King, and in Him we find that we also conquer. The next time the enemy shows up to take you down remind Him that you live in the One who has already taken him down. Remind him that Jesus is Lord; he hates that.

The New Testament vision of God’s presence in the human experience is that he wants His people to live the life of a new creation. The old creation (the natural person apart from God) is about living in the killing, stealing and destroying ways of the thief from hell (see John 10:10). It’s about living below what you are capable of living by the grace of God. The new creation is about life and hope and forgiveness and destiny and future and promise; its about renewal and purpose and meaning. God wants the old creation to lose its grip on us, and for the life of Jesus to set us free to know God fully, and to live in wholeness, with meaning and dignity and ongoing, life-changing transformation in the grace and love of God.

The old creation says, "You're a loser; give it up.” The new creation says, "You are created in the image of God. Don’t ever give up.

The old creation says, "You're a mess; and you are trapped and imprisoned in a nightmare you created for yourself by the choices you've made. There is no hope. The new creation says, "God is here, and there is help for you beyond the wildest stretches of your imagination. The power of God will set you free and you can fly like an eagle in your life.

The old creation says, “You are Lord. You are the center of the universe. Cheat if you want to, lie if you want to, steal if you want it, gossip if it helps your cause; get what you want when you want it and if you can't get in, inflict pain on anybody who gets in your way. The new creation says, "Deep down inside your heart you know that the enticement of the old creation is leading you down the path to destruction. You know there is a way that seems right, but in the end it leads to death (Prov. 14:12).

Let’s be a people who let the new things of God lead us forward. Let God be God in our midst.

For my Bresee Church family

If we wanted to be about the business of building a great church for God, how would we go about it? You might say, “Well it’s a little late to ask that question now since we are some ninety years into the process?” I ask it anyway because, I believe, it is a question that must be re-asked just about everyday, in these fast paced and ever changing days.

Our church wasn’t organized until 1921 but it was begun in 1919. In 1919 where we are now is best described in the film, Stars Wars. In the opening scene a message scrolls up the screen, “in a galaxy far, far away…” That was Washington Blvd. 1919, and that world no longer exists. Questions asked in 1919 are inappropriate in 2009. The motive behind the questions may be the same, but it doesn’t work to ask 1919 questions in 2009.

So, if we wanted to be about the business of building a great church for God, how would we go about it? I suggest the best approach would be that suggested by Proverbs 3:5-6,

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

Being the church is about being a people who live for the glory of God. It’s not about us. Its about God’s “marvelous, infinite, matchless grace, freely bestowed on all who believe!” So it is, we trust in the Lord with all our heart. What God is doing in the world is bigger than us, and we must never simply lean on our own understanding.

Being the church is leaning on God, trusting in Him, and acknowledging Him in every way, shape and form. God speaks 2009 just like He spoke 1919. So, get on board. God will make your paths straight.

God had a word to speak to the people of Israel, and it was a marvelous word. He had delivered them from the clutches of Egypt and was in process of bringing them into their own land. More important than land, however, was the way God wanted to treat His people. He told them that He wanted them to be His “special treasure” (Exodus 19:5). As they responded in faithfulness to His voice and His covenant God would enable them to be to him, “A kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exod. 19:6).

The people had seen God’s deliverance; they had personally experienced how God had “bore” them “on eagles’ wings” (Exod. 29:4) and had brought them to Himself. They were blessed beyond their ability to fully comprehend it. All they had to do was to love God and be faithful to His covenant.

This is the Word of the Lord that comes to us today. As the Church we are a part of God’s “kingdom of priests.” We are God’s holy nation, a nation without borders, comprised of all peoples who have believed in Christ and who, therefore, live in faithfulness to God’s covenant.

And, what does this covenant look like today? It looks like Jesus. In Jesus God has said to people that they are His “special treasure.” We look to Jesus and we know how God wants us to live. We see His love, and we are compelled to love. We see His mercy, and we are compelled to live in mercy. We see His forgiveness, and we are compelled to live among others in a spirit of forgiveness. We look at His life and see what it means for God to be among us, and we know there is no higher calling than to live in the mind and spirit of Jesus.

We look to Jesus and find that we are compelled to “tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord” (Psalm 78:4).

Psalm 114:7 calls the earth to "tremble before the Lord," but I fear his words are falling on a lot of deaf ears in our culture. We are rugged individualist and we don't tremble before anything. Our heroes are the stuff of the one-man shows of Batman, Iron Man, and Superman, and our subculture anthem is "I did it my way." We don't do trembling very well. Real men don't tremble; they strut their stuff and they flex their mussels, and beware should you ever get in their way.

Some times God is such an inconvenience. He calls us to a rugged self-understanding that reveals when we are in our toughest disguise, its still a disguise. We think humility is for the weak and meek. God says it is for the strong and determined. Egypt was strong and determined; they didn't have time for trembling. They were too busy being Egypt to bother with God.

So it was that God took those who did tremble before Him and moved them out of bondage, and gave them a future of freedom, a future that called them to know that if they wanted to remain in the place of freedom they needed to live with such a sense of the Holy, such a sense of the otherness of God, such a sense of the sacred that they would never take God too lightly, but tremble before Him in the glorious wonders of worship and faithfulness.

Just this week I heard God referred to as "the man upstairs." No disrespect was intended but to reduce God down to this level doesn't reveal a sense of the Holy, the sacred, the otherness of God.

To tremble is to show deep respect and worshipful recognition. It is to remember who you are and never to forget from whence you come.

People often speak of priorities and of the keeping the main thing the main thing. In a world of countless possibilities the main thing can get lost in maze. Jesus called us to avoid the maze when He said, “See first His kingdom and His righteousness” (Matt. 6:33). Things come and things go but God is that One constant that brings us to abundant living.

What is the ultimate of object of our pursuits? In the spirit of seeking first the kingdom of God, through the Old Testament prophet, Jeremiah, God said, “Let Him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for I delight in these things.”

It would appear that what God wants of us and of all His people is that we live out the meaning of loving-kindness, justice, and righteousness.” If God delights in these things then so must we delight in these things. It only makes sense that in a sincere and honest seeking of God that we pursue things in which God delights, things like Lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness.

May the passion of our lives be that of pursuing God and living truthfully in that pursuit. Let’s hear the call of Jesus and seek first the kingdom of God. Remember the prayer he taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come” (Matt. 6:10)? Not my kingdom and not your kingdom, not even the Church’s kingdom. Let us be caught up in God’s kingdom activity. Let’s draw so close to God we can truthfully say that in His presence we are coming to understand and know Him.

Let us never forget who we are and let us never be distracted by the complications of the maze.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus and seek first the kingdom of God.

Henri Nouwen speaks of men and women who live with "an ardent desire to dwell in God's presence, to listen to God's voice, to look at God's beauty, to touch God's incarnate Word [Jesus] and to taste fully God's infinite goodness...."

Nouwen’s words sound a bit like what king David prayed when he opened his heart to God and confessed in Psalm 27:8: "When You said, ‘Seek My face,’ my heart said to You, ‘Your face, O lord, I shall seek."?

God is seeking true worshippers today who long to SEEK HIS FACE. He is looking for people whose ardent desire is to dwell in His presence, to listen to His voice, to look at His beauty, to touch His Son, and taste His infinite goodness. Will you be one of those people?

Did you know God is inviting you to dwell in His presence? Did you know God is inviting you to listen to His voice? Did you know God is inviting you to look at His beauty, to touch His Son Jesus Christ, to be filled with His precious Holy Spirit, and to taste the infinite goodness of God?
God is inviting you! And you will never be more blessed if you will just draw near to Him, seek His face, bask in His presence, look into His eyes, fellowship in His glory, and tell Him how much you love Him.

Hear the Word of the Lord: Psalm 119:10 says, "With all my heart I have sought Thee..." In Amos 5:4 God says, "Seek Me that you may live." In Isaiah 55 God says, "Incline your ear and come to Me....Seek the Lord while He may be found" (verses 3,6). Psalm 95:6 says, "Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker." In John 4:23 Jesus shares the very heart of God when He says, "an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers."

The Church in Jerusalem and Judea was poor by any standard of measurement, and the people of that church was on Paul's heart and mind. As he traveled he asked Christians to give offerings to help meet the needs of the home church, and people responded; even the people of the churches in Macedonia, another group of people who were extremely poor.

The churches of Macedonia had nothing of material things really, but they did have love for God in their hearts. Their love caused them to give to the Jerusalem church with "liberality" ( 2 Cor. 8:2). Paul says that even though they were in "deep poverty" themselves, that they still gave, "according to their ability, and beyond their ability" (2 Cor. 8:3). I don't know how one gives beyond their ability but Paul says they found a way to do it, and "gave of their own accord" (2 Cor. 8:3).

Paul then asks the Corinthian Christians, and us, through them, to have this same kind of mind, this same kind of heart -- a heart of liberality, a heart of generosity, a heart that finds a way. It is a heart profoundly lived out among us in Jesus who, "though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty mighty become rich" (2 Cor. 8:9).

Christians ought to be the most generous people on the face of the earth, generous in giving, generous in love, generous in forgiving, generous in worship, generous in mercy, generous like their Savior is generous.

More than what we give is how we give it -- our attitude, our motives, our spirit, our sincerity. Giving patterned after Jesus enables us to be "a fragrance of Christ," the kind of aroma that makes God look good (See 2 Cor. 2:14-16).

We don't know how much the Macedonians gave because that's not important. What we do know is that God had gotten a hold of their lives, and had made all things new for them. What a testimony!

THE POWER OF QUESTIONS

Along time ago I decided it wasn’t my job to make people happy. I don’t mind making people happy, and I do try to be an uplifting and positive influence, but if I don’t make people happy I don’t lose sleep over it.

Rather than making people happy I would rather be a voice that might lead them to think about things. I love to raise questions. I believe great exclamation points can be driven into the soul with a strategic question. And, it is usually a question of some kind that gets us thinking.

Most of us have been told about how powerful the who, what, where, how, when and why questions are. They seem to come up in just about every conversation, sometimes overtly and sometimes covertly.

Sometimes asking the right question is more powerful than what the answer to the question might be. I know in my life I want to know the truth about things, as much truth as I can know, at least. I don’t want to become stagnant; I want to grow. I don’t want to have to guess at answers but to wrestle with all necessary questions in order to get as clear an understanding as possible.

I’d rather know that I’m asking good questions than to be fed information that simply feeds my already existing worldview. Knowledge is freedom; at least internal freedom, which is the most important kind of freedom imaginable. Asking the hard questions, if they are the right questions, will lead to powerful revolutions where the powers that be can’t rest on their laurels or their own self-written press releases, and the powers that aren’t can’t rest in the pity of powerlessness.

Sometimes certain people have spoken right questions into my life and they didn’t make me happy. In fact, they made me mad. And, I love them for it because it is not their job to make me happy. It is their job to love me enough to tell me the truth, and to get me thinking. Do that and you have once again parted the waters of the Red Sea.

Jesus showed up and made all things new for the world. He didn’t die for some; He died for everybody (2 Cor. 5:15). He had you and me on His mind when he entered to the place of suffering, dying, and death. He had you and me on His mind when He rose up from the grave. When He poured out His love, He had you and me on His mind.

So new and powerful is the life of Jesus in those who have come to live in His life that the Bible says they are now “a new creature,” so much so that “the old things passed away, behold, new things have come” (2 Cor. 5:17). The love of Christ has taken over in their lives and His merciful, holy, wondrous, transforming, and majestic love now controls who they are (2 Cor. 5:14).

Here is a wonderful thing to consider. What God does in a human heart doesn’t isolate people but moves His people to be engaged in the world, sharing the love of God with others. The love of God brings to us “the word of reconciliation” that we in turn share with others (2 Cor. 5:19). We get to tell others about how much Jesus loves them. We get to share with others the transforming work of God’s amazing grace. We get to share with others that they can be reconciled to God, and live above the downward pull of separation from God.

When the love of God controls us the world begins to look differently. It is still the real world with all its issues, but now we see it is a world embraced by grace, and filled with the life of God.
We live because HE lives; it can’t get any better than this.

Everyone lives in the tension of the "already but not yet." Our past brings us into the present, and the future is yet to be written. Today we live between what was and what is to come.

The world we live in today is filled with all the realities of life in a sinful world. All around us we see the evidence of a world that chose against God and His "good and acceptable and perfect will"(Rom. 12:2), and "we groan" (2 Cor. 5:2). In this world life is hard for everyone, even believers. Yet, in this world we look forward to what is ahead. There is hope. In Christ, the future doesn't rest simply upon the foundation of the past. The future rests in the actions of God that led Jesus to the cross and to the resurrection. We move forward within the power of God who raised Jesus from the dead.

Tomorrow looks very good even though we don't know for sure when it will come to us. While "we groan" we also celebrate the fact that while we are here we get to live for God. Who would have thought it? All it means for God to be God comes to us everyday, and He leads His people forward to that day when we will finally "be at home with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8).

Between now and then Jesus calls us be faithful, "to be pleasing to Him" (2 Cor. 5:9). Realities that lead to groaning could lead us to self-pity, but they don't. Instead they lead us to live in this world in a way that pleases God. And how do we do that? In Galatians chapter five Paul tells us that the fruit of the Spirit is "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control."

Go out and make Jesus look good. How? Put your life into His life and be people of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. You'll surprise others, you'll feel good about yourself, your light for Jesus will shine, and you will be pleasing to God.

I’m in. How about you?

In Jesus there is a new order of doing things. The new order revolves around the fact that Jesus is about life and living. Many things at work in the world seem to lead to dying, to slavery of some kind, to bondage that is rooted in fear. No so with Jesus. In fact, followers of Jesus are boldly told by the apostle Paul that by coming to Christ and by living in His life they are actually "putting to death the deeds of the body" that lead to slavery and fear and are ushered into a personal relationship with God that invites them to call Him, "Father" (Rom. 8:15).

In that family relationship followers of Jesus discover that they have been "adopted" by God the Father (Rom. 8:15) to such a degree that from that moment on they are to see themselves as "Children of God" (Rom. 8:16). Being a child of God becomes the context in which a new order of doing things is lived out, a context in which slavery finds no home and fear is denied access. The outcome in this new context is described by Paul in the little phrase, "You will live" (Rom. 8:13).

We are called to live in the context of the family of God. In this family we are enabled to say NO to the deeds that lead to death-embracing realities. We are called to say YES to life, life in which we find that we are safe in the arms of God who took the initiative to adopt and did the work necessary for it to happen.

There is a key to how this all works in a person's life, and it is that they are "being led by the Spirit of God" (Rom. 8:14). So, it's not passive belief; it is active responding to the leadership of God. As God's child we are ever moving forward into what God would have us be.

Take God's hand and let Him lead.

Something spectacular happened on the Day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two. It is as if God showed up in a blaze glory and touched a people so profoundly and so deeply that the life transforming fires of God were set loose into human history.

The Day of Pentecost models for us in dramatic fashion that what God is doing in the world is not by might nor by power but by His Spirit (See Zechariah 4:6). The activity of God is not discerned at the end of a formula; it is a lived out reality rooted in the amazing life of Jesus Christ in a human being ~~ a living-out energized and empowered by the very life of God’s Spirit.

The Church is the supernatural creation of a Sovereign God who loves the world so very much that He let’s loose in it a community created, shaped, formed, empowered, energized and driven by His very life in that community. A community that tries to be a Spirit-filled community without the Spirit Himself in full control is a community that has no idea what it was created to be.

The Book of Acts reveals to us that without the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in us, we are simply an exercise in futility. The work of God demands the presence of God, and the people who do that work must do it in a power that is greater than themselves. God uses people who are yielded to His life, committed to His purposes, open to His ways, filled with His Spirit, and passionate about His will. God is up to something spectacular in this world. It doesn’t end at Acts chapter two; it just gets started there.

Let the Church be the Spirit-filled, Spirit-controlled, and Spirit energized community of Almighty God. Let us listen for the voice of God, live in constant expectation of His breaking into the world again in fresh new ways, and let us live faithfully for the God who continually astounds by His Amazing Grace.

In the Christian Faith there is a teaching that says, “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son” (I John 5:11). The apostle John was so convinced of this that of his first letter he says, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (I John 5:13).

I am thinking of some words: Life, Eternal, Son, Believe, Know.” These crucial words bring clarity for us about the gift of God, and they remind us that in a world of conflict, confusion, anger, unrest, and violence that God is present. And, not only is God present, God is present with life-giving grace. The very thing we all long for is present in the presence of God among us.

In the Rule of Saint Benedict there is a great question that asks, “Is there anyone here who yearns for life and desires to see good days?” What a probing question and one to which, most likely, everyone on the planet would answer, YES. “Yes, I yearn for life; Yes I desire to see good days.”

For people who have come to know Jesus they would say that the yearning and the desiring have been met in Him. They would say, “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.”

It occurs to me that eternal life has more to do with quality than it has to do with quantity. The very life of the Sovereign God comes within the life of a very real human being and a quality, growing, developing, becoming relationship ensues, beginning now, and growing even into all eternity.

Embrace what has been given to you by God, become all that God would have you be, and be open to what God longs to do in your life. God has given you eternal life in Jesus, so go out and live it.

The Bible says that God “loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God” (I John 4:10 The Message). God took the initiative and reached out to us with a love that drove Jesus to the cross. God is the One who acted; and, we have been acted upon.

God is love and Love expresses itself. Love cannot remain neutral, cannot stand on the sidelines uninvolved, can disconnect itself from the one it loves. So it is that God astounds the world by showing up in it, showing up so personally, so involved, so dramatically that He dies on a cross.

Today the followers of Jesus are called to love with a love that is pattered after the love of God in Jesus. “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (I John 4:10). It’s not just warm, benevolent, heart-felt feelings for one other, but real love. This kind of love in a person does not come out of human effort alone. In fact, the Bible says, “We love because He first loved us” (I John 4:19). It is the kind of love that loves its enemies, prays for those who persecutes it (Matt. 5:44), and regards others as more important than self (Phil. 2:3).

When a person comes to “believe the love which God has for us” (I John 4:16) and begins to live in that love, it shows forth the fact that God has taken up residence in that person’s life. And, when God has taken up residence fear is overcome by His presence, confidence is instilled by His presence, and love becomes a way of living. And, when love becomes a way of living the world can see that God really is an awesome God, worthy of their lives.

In this world, if we are going to err, let's err on the side of God’s outrageous love. It will bring a smile to our Father’s face and it will establish great credibility in our testimony.

The faith we hold so dear expresses itself in one dynamic way – LOVE. “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren” (I John 3:14). Faith is active, not passive. We reveal we have faith not by saying we have faith but by living a life of Christ-like love.

I John 3:16 teaches, “We know love by this, that [Jesus] laid down His life for us.” What drove Jesus to the cross? LOVE. What led Him to the ultimate act of self-denial and sacrifice? LOVE. And, we love Him because of it, don’t we? But there’s more. The verse doesn’t stop with what Jesus did for us. It continues by saying, “And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”

Faith isn’t faith until it loves. Faith without the works of love is shallow and, quite frankly, debatable. Faith with Love is a powerful, creative, and imaginative force for God. A few people of faith, expressing that faith through divine love can let loose an influence that has all of heaven behind it.

And, what does it mean to lay down our lives for the brethren? Better yet, “Whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?” Don’t tell a brother or sister in deep need that you have faith; instead, find a way to reach into her or his life with the resources you have, and show her or him your faith by the act of Christ-like love flowing from your life into them.

Until faith is at work in love it sets, shriveling up on a shelf somewhere, talking a big talk but re-crucifying Jesus by it’s silence and pride, oblivious to the fact that the counsel of God is “Let us not love with word or tongue, but in deed and truth” (I John 3:18).

“Shout…Sing…Say;” three great words about knowing God. “Shout joyfully to God all the earth… Sing the glory of His name… Say to God, “How awesome are Your works” (Psalm 66:1-3).

Four more great words: “Come … See… Bless… Sound. ” The call is, “Come and See the works of God…Bless our God, O peoples, and Sound His praise abroad” (Psalm 66:5 and 8).

What a great way to live: Shout… Sing… Say… Come…See…Bless…Sound.” We don’t have time for petty things; we’ve a God to glorify. We dare not major in minors; we’ve a God on our hands who is “awesome in His deeds” (Ps. 66:5). We don’t have the ego-driven luxury of littleness; we serve the God who “rules by His might forever” (Ps. 66:7).

There is one more word to consider ~~ REJOICE! “Let us rejoice in Him” (Ps. 66:6). No time for diversions or distractions. We’ve got more important things to do ~~ Shout… Sing… Say… Come… See… Bless… Sound… Rejoice.

God is afoot in our world and what God is doing is worthy of our full loyalty, support, and commitment. He is at work and His deeds can only be described as, “awesome” (Ps. 66: 3 and 5). We can fight Him or we can join-up with Him. He has given us that choice. Regardless of our choosing, however, His deeds are still “awesome.”

Let us be named among those who join-up. May we be named among those who shout and sing and say and come and see and bless and sound and rejoice. What is it the old Hymn says:

Rise up, O Church of God!
Have done with lesser things;
Give heart and mind and soul and strength
To serve the King of Kings.

Once-in-a-while it is good to revisit our foundation. It is good to build altars where we can return and worship and remember. The apostle John helps us in this process.

In I John 3:5 and 8, John reminds us of just who Jesus is. John says Jesus “appeared in order to take away sins…to destroy the works of the devil.” Who is He? He is the One who meets us at the deepest needs of our lives and destroys the destroyer there.

In I John 3:1 John reminds us of how much we are loved by God and what that love means. He says, ‘See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God.” Who are we? We are children of the One true God who destroys the destroyer.

In I John 3:7-8 John reminds us that we can live above the destructive forces of the enemy of our souls by practicing a righteous life in Christ. We don’t have to practice unrighteousness. The One who is righteous lives in us and brings out that kind of life in us.

In I John 3:2-3 John reminds us that we are headed somewhere, and that somewhere is a place where we will be like Jesus because we will see Him just as he is. This approaching date and place is so profound to us that John calls it hope. This hope is so important to who we are and how we live that it becomes a steadying compass that ever reminds us that we’re not home yet, but that the hope we have in Jesus is leading us there.

We are on a magnificent journey of all journeys. The grace of God meets us at every turn, and and at every turn we know the future will be better than the past because it is leading us to a day and time when we will see Jesus face to face. On that day I John 3:2 tells us that “we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”

Hope you are enjoying the ride.

The Church has been asked to be a faithful witness of the Christ event. We are the tellers of the story. With the Word of God in hand and heart we seek to show up in our world as those who intentionally, carefully, and compassionately live out the fact that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, and that He lives in our lives.

The first Witnesses had the advantage of actually being with Jesus so that they could touch Him and hear Him and watch His life as He lived out the meaning of “the Word of Life” (I John 1:1). The rest of us have trusted the faithfulness of the Holy Spirit and the integrity of the first disciples and have come to believe in Christ ourselves.

Jesus has a prophetic word for us who have come after the fact. He said to those who physically lived with Him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” (John 20:29).

Jesus was aware that there would be many of us who would come to Him long after the earthly event of His life, and He prayed for us. He said, “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me” (John 17:20-21).

Want to hear some good news, Church of the twenty-first century? We have been prayed for by the Messiah Himself. We are not alone in our journey of faith. We are covered by the prayers of Jesus. And, Jesus said to the Father, “You always hear Me” (John 11:42).

Trust the Faithfulness of the Father, and trust the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. Then let your life reflect the fact that Jesus loves you and ever lives to intercede for you (Heb. 7:25). Trust His prayers.

It is exciting, thrilling, and marvelous to know that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead; but this truth is just a beginning. That HE LIVES has profound implications in our lives. That HE LIVES means that He is here to be in our lives. His testimony is present tense and not just past tense.

Jesus Christ is present to help His people live victoriously in world systems that tend to defeat. His Life in our lives means that we are enabled to do what we could not do in and of ourselves. We are enabled to love, enabled to live unselfishly and sacrificially, enabled to let God be God in our lives, enabled to “overcome the world” through the faith that Jesus has instilled in us (See I John 5:1-6).

Jesus’ resurrection calls us to experience the life of God right now, today, and to walk forward knowing that our lives and times are in the hands of One who speaks and even death bows. He speaks and we are enabled to rise above the current arrangements and powers, and to live in a new order of things. It is a way of being where the love of God permeates everything and where defeat is a stranger because defeat, like death, must bow when the power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead speaks.

The Resurrection calls us to be who we are. And who are we? We are people who take seriously the claims of Jesus and who live faithfully to those claims. Jesus has changed all life for us so much so that we are never again the same. We don’t want to be the same. We don’t want to go back. We are filled with the life of God and the future awaits us.

As late as Early Sunday morning just after the crucifixion the disciples of Jesus still thought he was dead and that their hopes and dreams had died with Him. They had seen Him die, taken down from the cross, and placed into a grave. After all, that’s where you put the dead, isn’t it?

Early on Sunday morning Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome made their way to the grave, hoping that they might be allowed into the grave to anoint the body of Jesus with spices, spices for burial. The anointing hadn’t taken place on Friday because at the time of Jesus’ death the Sun was setting into the Sabbath, and no work was to be done on the Sabbath. So, they waited.

On Sunday morning we know at least one thing. These ladies had no idea they were going to a resurrection. They were going to complete the responsibility to the dead. Proper anointing needed to be done, the body needed to receive the greatest of preparation and expressions of dignity toward the deceased. They were just doing what didn’t get done on Friday.

Then, Jesus showed up and ruined everything. They didn’t get to have their funeral after all. The body was gone. The spices weren’t needed, no mourning was necessary, and they were stunned. In fact, “They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid” (Mark 16:8).

When Mary Magdalene had gained her composer, she went to the disciples not to tell them Jesus was alive but that somebody had taken the body away (John 20:2). Over the next couple of hours Jesus physically appeared to those who loved Him and confirmed that His body wasn’t missing but that He was, in fact, alive.

We serve a Risen Savior.

From a 1999 Good Friday message by William Willimon:

Let us sit in the dark. Let us tell one another the somber story of Jesus' last hours in the land of the living. Let us stare into the darkness and tell the truth of our shadowlands. Then let us gather again, morning after tomorrow, hopeful that by some stunning act of enlightenment, the words are trustworthy and true, that, "the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:5).

I get nervous around crowds, not because crowds are threatening so much as I just never know how the crowd will decide issues in the heat of the moment. We hear about mass psychology and crowd mentality. One moment the crowd can love you and the next moment it can hate you.

One particular Sunday comes to mind. The crowd was breathless at the arrival of Jesus and turned a simple event into a parade. The crowd went nuts crying out things like, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord….Hosanna in the highest” (Mark 11:9-10). Five days later there was another crowd and a lot of the folks who were in the first crowd were in the second crowd, too. Only this time they weren’t worshiping the one of whom they had earlier said, “Blessed is He…” Nope! This time they were calling for His death shouting, “Crucify Him!”(Mark 15:13). Crowds make me nervous.

Palm Sunday is a reminder that Jesus deserves all the praise that people can offer but it is also a reminder that large groups can be an illusion. People can be swayed. People can be turned. They can praise and they can kill. This is a solemn reminder that what you see is not always what you get.

In the heat of the moment and in the pressure of the crowd is there a way for us to stay true to what our faith calls forth in us? Can we say “Yes” when everyone around us saying “No?” Can we say “No” when everyone around is saying “Yes?” Can we stand with Jesus regardless of peer pressure or mass psychology or the stress and strain than can come when we find ourselves alone in the crowd?

Can we just keep on saying, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” right on through Good Friday and into the glories of Easter morning?

Jesus was just a few days away from the day of His death, and He knew it. And, He was focused on that event and what that event meant. He was a dead man walking.

What does a man on the way to his death think about? I suppose the answer varies with each person but for Jesus He was thinking about the will of the Father. He told His disciples “for this purpose I came to this hour” (John 12:27). Then He said to His Father, “Glorify Your name” (John 12:28).

Something cataclysmic was under way. Jesus and “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31) were on a collision course. On Golgotha forces would collide and Jesus would die. In His death, however, the unthinkable, the unimaginable would take place and the ruler of this world would be cast out. Jesus said that in His being lifted up onto a cross and expiring on that cross He would draw all men to Himself (see John 12:32). The possibilities of redemption would be once and for all forever engrained into the very fiber of reality.

To this reality Jesus calls His disciples. He said to them, and through them to us, “If anyone serve Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also” (John 12:26). Jesus did not run away from the approaching collision but right into it; and so must we. Where I am, there My servant will be also.”

The greatest victory in all the world was won in the place of defeat. Just how big a victory it was would be seen on Easter Sunday morning. And, the ripple effect goes on and on and on. Let us be where Jesus is!

All four of the Gospels tell the story of Jesus feeding over 5000 people with a boy’s lunch comprised of five barley loaves and two fish. On our best day this stretches our imagination, doesn’t it? We call it miracle because that is the only word we have for it.

The apostle John called it a sign. For him, the mind-boggling size of the miracle wasn’t as important as was the One who worked the work. The sign pointed to Jesus. The issue wasn’t that everybody got a free lunch. The issue was the authority and power that were at work in the person of Jesus. This is quite an issue.

John said that when “the people saw the sign…they said, ‘This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world’” (John 6:14). What Jesus did that day evoked a response of faith and the people saw something they had never seen before. They didn’t understand it fully, but they knew they had witnessed an act of God, an act that led them to believe that something very unusual and different was afoot. Could it be that this one is the One we’ve been looking and waiting for?

People, being people, they wanted to make this wonder working fellow their king but Jesus would have nothing to do with that kind of thinking. They didn’t need a powerful king; they needed a powerful Savior. He didn’t come to pontificate monarchical strategies; He came to redeem a broken and hungry world.

I look at this sign and realize that the best thing we can do in our lives is to be as faithful to God as we know to be and to let Jesus do what Jesus does. He can make something out of nothing, a lot out of a little, and He does it all just because of Who He is. Truth is we don’t need a miracle so much as we just need Jesus.

Do you remember the story of Jesus turning water into wine? Just about everybody does. But, do you remember the story of Jesus turning the church back into the church? You can read about it in John 2:13-22. It is an intriguing story and at the heart of it is one angry Messiah.

Jesus had come into the Temple at Passover and noticed that the Temple had become a place of business rather than the place of spiritual formation. Sacrifices had to be made during Passover and the Temple leaders thought it might be profitable if they went into the sacrificial animal business. So they set the place up for honest and sincere seekers to buy the animal, sacrifice it, satisfy the law, all in a one stop church experience where the perceived needs of the worshipers outweighed the real need to come before God in worship and joy, brokenness and humility, and in praise and adoration.

Do you know how easy it is to turn the church into something God never intended it to be? At the heart of this radical renewal of church life probably lies honest and sincere motives; though motives are sometimes very difficult to discern. Yet, whenever the Church is made to be what it isn’t, even if it is in the name of God, it finds itself under judgment and perhaps the watchful eye of an angry Messiah.

Let the Church be the Church is our cry. To be anything other than what God desires is to set our minds on man’s interests rather than God’s. And, do you remember what Jesus said to Peter when he made this mistake? “Get behind me, Satan” (Mark 8:33).

Okay! He’s got my attention. I’m certainly listening.

On the journey to Golgotha Jesus reminds His disciples of how profoundly important it is for them to yield their lives to God and to live unashamedly for God in the days of their lives. He calls them to set their minds on the interests of God not man’s, and to take up their cross and to follow Him. The challenge is given extreme value when Jesus asks them “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?” (See Mark 8:31-38).

These are days when the economic systems of the world have been shaken and, for many different reasons, multitudes of people have lost fortunes, their retirement funds, and life savings. We are told by those who study these things that some people will never recoup their losses, and that for others it will take years to recoup if things go well in the future.

Some people have been duped, some misinformed, and others are so filled with greed and evil that it matters not to them that people are suffering. For some the world is not enough and they are never satisfied. In a profit and loss world there are some people who are forfeiting their souls for what economics can bring to their table.

In essence Jesus asks WHY. Why do people hang on to mist and wind when there is so much more to living than what the dollar can buy? For some people the question doesn’t even make sense, but to those who see beyond the moment and have a glimpse into eternity it is a crucial question. One of these days the great equalizer, otherwise known as death, will speak, and from that moment on somebody else will spend our money.

Jesus calls us not to think in terms of profit and loss but to think in terms of profit and forfeit. Can we be bought? What will a man give in exchange for his soul” {Mark 8:37). They don’t talk about this on the nightly news, do they?

Can you picture this? Coming up out of the baptismal waters of the Jordan, Jesus experiences a dove descending upon Him and a voice out of the heavens saying to Him, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased” (Mark 1:9-11). Then, IMMEDIATELY, the Spirit of the Father “impelled” Jesus to go out into the wilderness (Mark 1:12). Jesus obeyed and spent the next forty days in the wilderness tempted by Satan (Mark 1:13).

Jesus goes from the emotional affirmation of baptism, the dove, and the Voice, to forty days in the wilderness “with the wild beasts” where Satan assaults Him and seeks to bring Him down (Mark 1:13). But, there in the real valley God does not forsake Him. God sent angels “And the angels were ministering to Him.”

Have you ever been assaulted by Satan? I mean really assaulted? He hits you time after time after time until you are tired and fatigued and restless. You feel like you just can’t go on, and then he assaults you again. We all have experienced this, haven’t we?

When you feel tempted and assaulted by the enemy don’t think for a moment that God has forgotten you. He hasn’t. He is near. You may have to go through what you are going through, but never embrace the thought that God has left you alone. Sometimes obedience will take you into a face-to-face confrontation with the enemy. Just ask Jesus. It was the Spirit of God that impelled Him to go into the wilderness. This wasn’t an unplanned outing; this was a divine appointment. And, in the desert God came near and gave His Son the power needed to overcome the evil one.

Be alert because God is in the midst of your story.

The Gospel writer, Mark, tells us that just prior to the event the Church calls the Transfiguration Jesus tells a group of people, including His disciples, that some of those standing there would “not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power”(Mark 1:1). Nine verses later, as Jesus, Peter, James and John are coming down the mountain He gave the three men “orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, until the Son of Man rose from the dead” (Mark 1:9).

The story of the transfiguration in the Gospel of Mark is sandwiched between two thoughts about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I have to believe that in His resurrection “the kingdom of God” is revealed to have “come with power.” But prior to the resurrection none of what he was doing would really make sense. So, the word from Jesus was “don’t tell anybody about what happened on the mountain until I have risen from the dead.”

The resurrection is the clarifying reality concerning the life of Jesus. On the Mount of Transfiguration three men experienced the reality of the wonder that is God revealed in Jesus, but they weren’t ready to talk about it. Jesus still had work to do, drawing people to Himself. In time, the reality of it would explode out of a tomb, but not yet.

Today we live in light of the resurrection. The kingdom of God has come in power. The authority that raised Jesus from the dead is with us and the Father’s Word to us is, “This is My beloved Son, listen to Him” (Mark 9:7). And, we do well to do so.

I am wondering if any of us really know how lonely it would be to be isolated from human touch. No hand shakes, no hugs, no high-fives – just distance and alienation and a sense of estrangement. Present but not really; marginalized, separated, and alone.

“And a leper came to Jesus, beseeching him and falling on his knees before Him, and saying, ‘If You are willing, You can make me clean” (Mark 1:40). This leper knew about loneliness and isolation. It was forbidden to touch a leper, and if a mistake was made there was a huge cleansing ceremony that had to be administered to the poor unfortunate soul who did the touching. And, the leper knew the rules so he didn’t touch Jesus. He just fell at Jesus’ feet and begged for mercy.

“Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him” (Mark 1:41). You read it right. Jesus broke the rules of social engagement and touched this alienated, estranged, marginalized, separated and lonely man. He touched Him. Can you believe it?

“I am willing; be cleansed” (Mark 1:41). Jesus not only touched the man He healed him to the point of his being clean once again; clean to enter back into society, clean to take up his life again, clean to mingle among people, clean to be a part of conversations again, and clean to be embraced by loved ones.

And the Jesus who was willing to touch the leper is willing to touch us, too. He is willing to give us back our lives, to welcome us into His community so that we can experience His unfathomable grace.

The Christ we see in Scripture fully engaged Himself in the lives of people. Wherever He went He embraced people with the life of God. Wherever He went He brought health and vitality, dignity and respect, love and forgiveness. Wherever He went He preached the Word of God.

What does it mean to be a church built upon the life of Jesus? What would a people look like who were under the influence of God in Jesus? What would distinguish them from others? How would the people in their world know that they had been with Jesus and that Jesus was guiding and directing and orchestrating their lives?

I’m not sure we should look for easy answers to our questions but I am confident that they are questions worth asking. I’m also quite sure that whatever the answers might be for us they will not be discovered from a distance. I am quite sure that Jesus has called us to Himself, to be where He is. And, I am quite sure that wherever Jesus is He will be doing what He has always done – embrace people with the life of God, bring health and vitality, dignity and respect, love and forgiveness, and preach the Word of God.

I have thought about something Jesus did all through His ministry as He lived in the midst of people. Mark 1:35 summarizes it well when it says, “In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.”

I am wondering if it is not in the place of prayer where our questions will most likely be answered. To build our lives, our church, on the life of Jesus is to do more than just be “out there” with people. We certainly do need to be “out there” with people but perhaps first, before we dare engage anybody with the life of Jesus, we need to be in the place of prayer and worship where we can commune with God. It seems to me that we’re not going to be of much help to anybody if we are not intimately connected with the One person we believe is the Holy One of God (see Mark 1:24).

Mark’s gospel tells a wonderful story of an event that took place in the Synagogue in Capernaum (See Mark 1:21-28). To us it is a miracle story but to Jesus it’s an event in which His divine personhood is revealed.

A man with an unclean spirit was released from that spirit; or, as Mark says, “the unclean spirit…came out of him” (26). From a prison in his inner life, the man is set free. Suddenly we know that for him the future will be different from the one we would expect him to have given his situation. Jesus spoke into the man’s life, and he was set free.

Interestingly enough, the unclean spirit had engaged Jesus in a conversation that ended with the spirit saying, “I know who You are—the Holy One of God” (25). It seems the spirit knew more about Jesus than the others in the sacred place that day. Apparently, Jesus wasn’t interested in a conversation with an unclean spirit and He rebuked it abruptly by saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” (24). Just like that a man gets his life back.

Jesus’ action that day got everybody’s attention it seems. Suddenly we hear people saying of Him, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirit, and they obey him” (27).

Are you captivated by the authority that is in Jesus? The people who observed Him in action in the Synagogue that day became captivated by Him. In fact, in a spirit of amazement they started talking about Him, and the conversation went far beyond the walls of the building.

And He is among us today, with the same authority, the same power, the same influence. No wonder they started talking about Him.

I wonder how their conversations went.

Start walking with Jesus and your story really gets intriguing. This is one of many ways to speak of what it is like to get connected up with Jesus. He shares the truth, He calls people into His life, challenges them to reconsider what they once believed to be true, to believe in God, and to join Him on a journey of walking into tomorrow from within the embrace of God.

So it was that Simon and Andrew and James and John got connected up with Jesus. They were fishermen by trade but had apparently been impacted by what they heard in the preaching of Jesus. Then one day Jesus ups and calls them to walk away from their trade and to follow Him. They would still be fishermen, He said, but in a completely different way.

Men and women need God but men and women don't naturally gravitate toward God so God has a force of men and women who, in a sense, fish for men and women. That is, they invite others to consider the possibility of Jesus, and to come to Him. There testimony: God has changed my life for the better. It can happen to you, too."

Jesus told His disciples that the kingdom of God was at hand (Mark 1:15) and that they were invited into this kingdom. Simon and Andrew and James and John heard the message, received it, turned around and embraced the life of Jesus. It changed their destiny, even though at the time they probably had no idea what was coming down the pike at them.

"Follow Me," Jesus said (Mark 1:17). Isn't that enough? Join up and start following Jesus. You don't have to have every T crossed and every I dotted. Follow Him. He will build your life as you journey with Him. The kingdom of God is here. Wherever Jesus is, all the possibilities of God are present.

In the Gospel of John we read the story of the conversion to Christ by one Nathanael (John 1:43-51). His friend, Philip, had discovered Jesus and had invited Nathanael to discover Him, too. Nathanael wasn’t particularly impressed with it all when he found out that this supposed Messiah was from Nazareth. To him, that was pushing the sensibility envelope a bit too far. “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” he asked. For him it was a rhetorical question, the obvious answer being, NO.

When he met Jesus, however, something happened in him. Jesus seem to know him and to appreciate who he was. This intrigued Nathanael and something in his spirit drew him to Christ and to an amazing proclamation, “Rabbi, You are Son of God; You are the King of Israel” (vs. 49).

This did not end the discussion. Jesus responded by saying to Nathanael something to the effect that he hadn’t seen anything yet. “You will see the heavens opened,” Jesus told him, “and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (vs. 51).

What happened to Nathanael was just a beginning. Jesus was going to work a work of grace in his life and in the lives of all His disciples, and in our lives, too, that would reveal He is indeed the long awaited Messiah.

Start walking with Jesus and the story really gets intriguing.

WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT

Thirty years after His birth in a manger Jesus steps out of obscurity and into the waters of the Jordan to be baptized by one John the Baptist. Except for a couple of snapshots of isolated events, we don’t know much about those thirty years. The Gospel of Luke tells us that during this time “Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52), and that’s about all we know. The Gospel of Mark picks up the story at what appears to be Jesus’ inauguration into public ministry.

After waiting His turn in line Jesus came up out of the waters met by “a dove descending upon Him. Then a voice spoke to Him, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased” (Mark 1:10-11). Those who witnessed the event said that it was the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove that descended upon Jesus and that the “voice came out of the heavens.”

John would later declare that Jesus was the one of whom he said, “After me One is coming who is mightier than I…He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mark 1:7-8; John 1:27; Matt. 3:11).

At the heart of all that Jesus Christ brings to the world is the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Water baptism is huge and I cherish that Sunday afternoon so many years ago that I was baptized, but that beginning led me to something more. I needed God to work a work deep down inside my life where nobody lived but me and where nobody really knew what was going on there except for God and me. I needed an inward work that could not be touched by water but only by the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus came to set our hearts on fire with God. He came to work the works of God deep within our lives. The One of whom the Father said, “In You I am well-pleased,” sets our hearts on fire with God so much so that God can honestly say to you and me that in our lives He is well pleased. Wouldn’t it be great to hear God say, ”Well done good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25:23)?