According to the apostle Paul, there were people in his world whom he considered to be, “enemies of the cross of Christ” (Phil 3:18). This is a fairly descriptive and poignant accusation. Paul said of these people that their god was their appetite and that their glory was in their shame Vs. 19). They had set their hearts and minds on the things of this world, so the cross was a great distraction and inconvenience to them. It challenged their very being and this led them to treat Jesus and the cross so disrespectfully that Paul said they were “enemies of the cross.”

Followers of Jesus embrace the cross and see it as the most incredible expression of love one can image. It is in the cross we see Jesus and it is in Jesus we see the cross. When God chose to enter into His creation it was not with pomp and circumstance; it was with the humility and brokenness of the cross.

This old rugged cross makes followers of Jesus citizens of another world. The enemies of the cross have fixed their eyes on this world, and are sucking it dry for their own greed and shame. The friends of Jesus have fixed their eyes on their true homeland, heaven. They have their eyes fixed not on shameful appetites but upon “a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20).

Jesus is with His disciples everyday in this world, and He is getting them ready for the next world. Somebody once said, “All this and heaven, too?” It’s true. Jesus delivers us from the silliness and destructiveness of shameful appetites, with the understanding that He will at the right moment, “transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory” (Phil. 3:21).

In the mean time the word is, “Stand firm in the Lord, my beloved” (Phil. 4:1).

The Bible says that Jesus "is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him" (Rom. 10:12). And, who is invited to call upon Him? Everyone! Romans 10:13 says, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” And what does it mean to call upon the name of the Lord? It means that we embrace with our lives what it means for Jesus to be Lord and to “believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead” (Rom. 10:9).

What do you really believe? Do your believe Jesus is Lord? Do your believe God raised Jesus from the dead? If you answer YES to these questions, the Bible says you will be saved (Rom. 10:9).

The Bible calls us to two expressions of faith. It calls us to confess with our mouth and it calls us to believe in our heart. The inner world of the spirit meets the outer world of works. We confess with our mouth what we believe in our heart. And, it all comes down to a matter of faith. The Bible tells us that the word of faith is “near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (Rom. 10:8).

Who I am on the inside becomes visible in the outward expressions of my life. My words reveal my character. My deeds reveal my character. Could this be a reason king David prayed, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight” (Ps. 19:14). When the outer and the inner are in balance it makes for one awesome testimony.

When my heart is set on Jesus and is filled with His Spirit, my mouth, my very life, is in a place to reflect the beauty of inward wholeness, a beauty that is made possible because God abounds in riches for all who call on Him” (Rom. 10:12).

In the Gospel of Luke we have a gentile telling the story of Jesus to other gentiles in an effort to let them know that Jesus is the Savior for everyone. In Luke 13:29 we read, "And they will come from east and west and north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God."

So, when we see Jesus in the Gospel we see God working so as to draw people to Himself. It's not so much about what Jesus can do (although, this alone is mind-boggling). It's more about who Jesus is and what God is about in His life. It's about God at work in the world, shaping and forming a people into a people who sincerely, if not desperately, pray, "Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

Jesus comes into the midst and quietly inundates the situation with the life of God. Has this happened in your life? Somewhere Jesus stepped into your story, and ever since He has been by your side, leading and guiding, shaping and forming, teaching and changing you. In the good and bad times (and you've probably had many of both), on the mountains and in the valleys, in successes and failures, Jesus has been the invisible but very real presence who has held you steady, kept you focused, and filled you with a power that is beyond yourself.

In Him you have found a place of service, of giving, of obedience. Somewhere along the way He took you to a new place, a place where you decided it wasn't about you but that it was about God. Today, you look back on that decision as the single most important decision of your life. You look back amazed that God would dare be so good to you.