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)?

On the way home from Jerusalem and the Feast of the Passover, Mary and Joseph realized that their twelve-year-old son, Jesus, wasn’t in the caravan, so back to Jerusalem they go, frantic to find him.

They finally find him in the temple conversing with the teachers. He is listening to them and also asking some questions. He was conducting himself in such a way that “all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers” (Luke 2:47). Mary and Joseph aren’t thrilled about it all and Mary asks Jesus, “Why have you treated us this way? Behold your father and I have been anxiously looking for you” (Luke 2:48).

The twelve-year old boy responds to her by saying, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house” (Luke 2:49)? This response did not clarify things for Mary and Joseph, but apparently it was the end of the matter. The next thing we read is that Jesus “went down with them...and continued in subjection to them” (Luke 2:51). “Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (vs. 52), and Mary “treasured all these things in her heart” (vs. 51).

What do we do with this story? I suppose we just let it be and fight the temptation to read too much into it. Apparently God became a real human being and had to learn to live “in subjection” to his parents.” Also, Mary and Joseph had to learn to let go and to let their Son become who He was.

Here we see the spiritual depth of parents who really do live by the tenants of their faith and we see the Spirit at work in a twelve-year-old boy who still has a lot of growing up to do.

Incarnation is a tough reality to embrace, but if God is really going to do it, it had better be real or it will just be fluff. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14) as a twelve year old and he submitted himself to parents who loved him. He wouldn’t always be twelve but He would always be Messiah.

Christians believe that God has entered into His own creation, and that He enters the created order so that humanity and nature itself might be redeemed. This thought is simply too much for some, and is summarily dismissed as ridiculous or unthinkable. Yet, at the heart of our Faith is the remarkable belief that “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among” (John 1:14a). One of the men who was closest to Jesus for three years proclaimed, “we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14b). Surely it is a huge thing to get our minds around, and the fact that God enters into His own creation is indeed a marvelous wonder and mystery.

I am intrigued that what the apostle John wanted us first and foremost to see about Jesus is that He came to us “full of grace and truth.” He wasn’t simply one of us; He was “the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man” (John 1:9). And exactly how did the true Light come when He came to us. He came, “full of grace and truth.”

What do grace and truth look like? They look like Jesus. If grace and truth could be personified they would look like Jesus. He did not come to judge us into submission. He came to lift us up into the very life of God by a grace and truth that astounds the imagination. He came as Light in a dark place and to those who dare “believe in Him,” this Divine Light “gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).

May we take the Light and live the life of one who has tasted both grace and truth. God dwells among us and we don’t have to live in the past and we don’t have to live defeated. He calls us to the Light and nobody can ever extinguish this Light (John 1:5). “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men” (John 1:4).

Let’s get busy living because we have tasted God’s grace and truth.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

May I share this wonderful Christmas devotion from John Henry Jowett's devotional book, My Daily Meditation? It is based on Luke 2:8-20. It touched my heart again this year as it has done so for many, many Christmas days over the years.

The heavens are not filled with hostility. The sky does not express a frown. When I look up I do not contemplate a face of brass, but the face of infinite good will. Yet when I was a child, many a picture has made me think of God as suspicious, inhumanly watchful, always looking round the corner to catch me at the fall. That “eye,” placed in the sky of many a picture, and placed there to represent God, filled my heart with a chilling fear. That God was to me a magnified policeman, watching for wrong-doers, and ever ready for the infliction of punishment. It was all a frightful perversion of the gracious teaching of Jesus.

Heaven overflows with good will toward men! Our God not only wishes good, He wills it! “He gave His only begotten Son,” as the sacred expression of His infinite good will. He has good will toward thee and me, and mine and thine. Let that holy thought make our Christmas cheer.

When Gabriel told Mary that she was going to have a baby even though she had not been with a man, her inquiring response was, “How can this be?” (Luke 1:34). How, indeed? For that matter another woman whom throughout her entire life had been called, “barren,” (Luke 1:36) was just three months away for delivering her son, John, who would be called, the Baptist. How, indeed?

Have you ever said to God, in light of His outrageous word, “How can this be?” I hope you have and I hope you never stop asking it. I hope God can be in each of us in such a way that our faith just keeps being stretched and stretched until the only answer that makes sense to us is, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you” (Luke 1:35).

Mary couldn’t get pregnant, but the Holy Spirit came upon her.

Elizabeth couldn’t get pregnant, but the Holy Spirit came upon her.

Because of an evil Herod, Jesus had no chance of getting out of Bethlehem alive, but the Holy Spirit was upon Him.

The cross killed Jesus and the dream for the future died on a hill called, “The skull,” but the Holy Spirit was upon that event.

Death spoke loudly in the life of Jesus but on a Sunday morning He came out of the tomb alive because the Holy Spirit was upon Him.

The Church had no chance of making it out of the first century, but the Holy Spirit was upon the Church.

How can these things be? Because NOTHING WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD” (Luke 1:37).

Case closed, or maybe reopened.

I feel compelled to share John Henry Jowett’s devotional thought for December 18, found in My Daily Meditation. Enjoy, and be filled with the wonder that is God.

THE SINNER’S GUEST

“He is gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.”
Luke 19. 1-10.

IT was hurled as an accusation; it has been treasured as a garland. It was first said in contempt; it is repeated in adoration. It was thought to reveal His earthliness; it is now seen to unveil His glory. Our Saviour seeks the home of the sinner. The Best desires to be the guest of the worst. He spreads His kindnesses for the outcasts, and He offers His friendship to the exile on the loneliest road. He waits to befriend the defeated, the poor folk with aching consciences and broken wills. He loves to go to souls that have lost their power of flight, like birds with broken wings, which can only flutter in the unclean road. He went to Zacchæus.

Yes, the Lord went to be “guest with a man that is a sinner,” and He changed the sinner into a saint. The worldling found wings. The stone became flesh. Gentle emotions began to stir in a heart hardened by heedlessness and sin. Restitution took the place of greed. The home of the sinner became the temple of the Lord. “Today is salvation come to this house forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham.”

John the Baptist had become somewhat of a fixture in Israel so when Jesus showed up and began to baptize also it evoked a question in someone’s mind and the question led to a discussion about purification (see John 3:22-30). We’re not sure of the nature of the discussion but it led John’s disciples to go to him and tell him that someone was competing with him in this baptism business, and that this someone was a man that John himself had baptized.

I don’t want to speak for John’s disciples but it sounds like they weren’t very excited about the competition. John very quickly laid their concern to rest as he explained to them that this fellow about whom they were upset, in fact, was the one he had been talking about, the one of whom John said, “I have been sent ahead of Him” (vs. 28).

John was present to clear the way for Jesus. John saw Jesus as “the bridegroom” and himself as “the friend of the bridegroom” (vs. 26). He had his duty and it was to point the people to the One who would come after him. His ministry was about Jesus not himself. So it was John explains to his disciples that Jesus “must increase, but I must decrease” (vs. 30).

That Jesus was baptizing was exactly and precisely what John expected. It was okay; in fact, it was huge. It was time for Jesus to break out of obscurity and onto the world scene.

It’s not about us; it’s all about Jesus. We are friends of the Bridegroom, pointing everybody to this marvelous person whose name is, WONDERFUL.

Before Jesus entered into public ministry, God raised up John the Baptist to prepare the way for Him. History had been moving toward this moment for generations and at the appointed time John came saying to the people, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight” (Mark 1:3).

I’m not sure God ever does much of anything out of a vacuum. God seems always to set up history for appointed moments. His coming might surprise, even catch us off guard, but it is never without preparation.

For generations God had been speaking to the people about the coming Messiah. Then one silent night He slipped into history, almost unnoticed. For some thirty years Jesus lives in obscurity. Very few people know about the miracle among them. Then John the Baptist shows up proclaiming, “After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals” (Mark 1:7). What a wonderful and humble testimony, but it gets better. John says, “I baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mark 1:8).

Surely, John did prepare the way; and, one day not too long after John’s words a face in the crowd stepped out and submitted Himself to be baptized by one who said of himself that he was “not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals.” The appointed time had come, and through John’s faithfulness the way was opened up for the Savior of the world to step out of obscurity and onto the world’s stage.

I have wondered if each of us doesn’t in some way have a John-the-Baptist role to play. Could it be that God uses us to open doors and to prepare the way for Jesus to step out of obscurity and into the lives of people who need the Savior?

Mark 13:24-37 contains a remarkable word from Jesus. Three times He calls the people either to “Keep on the alert” or “be on the alert” (vs. 33, 35, 37). These things He says in the context of a promise that the Son of Man is going to come “with great power and glory” (vs. 26). At that time He says He will “gather together His elect from the four winds” (vs. 27).

Sounds like a very special day in history, doesn’t it! One you won’t want to miss. It will be a day of great joy from some, a day reckoning for some, and a great day of revelation when the world will know that Jesus Christ is who He says He is. And, what do we do until that day? We stay alert. The One who comes into human history as an infant born in a stable will come again into human history as the One before whom all history bows. It’s going to be quite a day.

The baby born in Bethlehem, now an adult, ready to go to the cross and die for the sins of the world, tells His people to stay alert, not to be lulled into complacency, and always to remember that even though heaven and earth will pass away, His words will not pass away (vs.31).

In these days when everything Christian is under assault and Jesus is being marginalized into unimportance, be alert and don’t buy into the lies and fabrications. The world will do to Jesus what it has always done to Jesus. It will nail Him to a cross. And, Jesus will do what He always does. He will burst out of the tombs into which the world lays Him, and He will come forth alive, embracing with redemptive love the very world that killed Him.

Whether or not the world will receive His love is its issue, but make no mistake about it; while heaven and earth are passing away, His “words will not pass away.”

Amen. Come Lord Jesus.

In Matthew chapter 25, Jesus indicates to us that those who know Him best will be the most involved in works of mercy and compassion. He reveals how important it is to him for His followers to do certain kinds of things such as feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, embrace the stranger, clothe the naked, visit the sick, and to come alongside the prisoner. Holiness in action, that is the lifestyle to which He calls His people.

Interestingly enough, Jesus equates these works of mercy as ministry to Him. When we embrace others we are embracing Jesus. When we extend mercy to others it is as if we are extending mercy to Jesus. And, get this; many times we don’t even know it is Jesus we are touching by our act of love.

What a freeing thought. We live out our lives in the spirit of holiness, a spirit that is so gracious that we treat everybody the same and all people as if they were Jesus to us. It’s real, honest and non-discriminatory outrageous grace lavished on others. Why would we do this? Because this is the way God has come to us. Outrageous grace has been lavished on us by the life of Jesus and so we lavish grace on others.

It makes perfect sense. Often we sing a song that says, “O to be like Thee, Blessed Redeemer.” Well, Jesus is about outrageous grace, extended to whomever crosses His path. O to be like Thee? Really? Then feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit the sick, visit the prisoner. We are never more like Jesus than when we do these kinds of things. And, remember, He said, “to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them you did it to Me” (Matt. 25:40).

Don’t you just love the Christian life and the fact that when we embrace others we are embracing Jesus? When we extend mercy to others it is as if we are extending mercy to Jesus Christ Himself.

In I Chronicles 12:32 we learn of certain men who “understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do…” They were able to assess the times and conditions facing Israel and offer words of true wisdom and counsel. Where are those “sons of Issachar” today?

What times these are in which we live, times known for many things: uncertainty, ideological worlds in blatant contrast, violence, tension. Call it what we will, the truth is that the world seems to be split down the middle on just about every issue that comes before it.

Some believers are convinced that things are so bad now that Jesus must be coming back very, very soon. I’m not so sure; and even if He is I pray He might tarry a bit longer because the world is in desperate need of His grace.

Be that as it may, in I Thessalonians Paul says, “as to the times and the epochs …let us be alert and sober” (vs. 1, 6). We don’t know when Jesus is coming back, just that He is coming back. This should not frighten us or destabilize our lives. In fact, Paul said of this upcoming and certain event, “Encourage one another and build up one another…” (vs. 11).

Don’t be lulled to sleep or overly preoccupied with when Jesus might come back. Just know that He is, and then go about your life as sons and daughters “of light” (vs. 6). Live and move and have your being in the Lordship of Jesus, having “put on the breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet, the hope of salvation” (vs. 8).

What do we have to say to a stressed out world? We say, “Jesus.” We live the life of faith and hope and love, leaning on the One who is Lord of heaven and earth. We live for the One who died for us” (vs.10). So, be alert and sober, and encourage one another” (vs. 6, 11). It is a great time to be alive for Christ.

I am intrigued with the politically incorrect posture popularly referred to as intolerance. In this tightly constructed worldview intolerance is the new unforgivable sin, punishable by character assassination or disenfranchisement from the community or, my favorite, made to look like an idiot in the eyes of the so-called tolerant.

In Matthew 25:1-13 we have ourselves a problem. We have Jesus exercising intolerance. How? He says that in this world there are foolish and prudent people. He drew a line and said basically if people were on one side of the line they were foolish and if they were on the other side of the line they were prudent. That is a value judgment on His part, separating people on they basis of their judgments, deeds and attitudes thus making the Savior of the world intolerant.

Or is He? Perhaps He is being truthful and that truth itself draws lines. Perhaps people in this world make decisions that in the end disconnect them from God. They are disconnected not because others are in tolerant. but because they, themselves, draw the line, and disenfranchise themselves.

Take note, too, that in Jesus parable both the foolish and the wise are invited to the wedding feast. No one is left out except those who foolishly refuse to the things necessary to be a part of the festivities. When the party started the foolish were out shopping, preoccupied with activities born of their foolishness.

Moral? “Be on the alert, for you do not know the day nor the hour” (Matt. 25:13). The Bridegroom is on His way. When He gets here will we be ready for Him or out shopping for what we should have already had? Wise or foolish, that’s our issue.

The passionate desire of the apostle Paul for the church in Thessalonica was, in his words to them, “that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory” (I Thes. 2:12). Of this longing for them he said, “we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children” (I Thes. 2:11).

Christians are a called people. They are called out of one world into God’s “own kingdom and glory.” Can we get our minds around this? In this world of ours Christians are called to live as citizens of God’s kingdom and glory. This is what defines being Christian.

God has spoken His world into our lives and, like the believers in Thessalonica, by a grace we most likely don’t fully understand, we “accepted it…for what it really is, the word of God” (I Thes 2:13). That word lives in us and, as Paul says, “performs its work in you who believe” (I Thes. 2:13).

Our lives, as Christians, are being worked on by the living Word of God. Is this not a marvelous thing? God’s word “performs its work,” in a hundred or more different ways. We call it mercy, hope, love, power, divine intervention, comfort. Call it what we will in the end it is simply and profoundly, “Amazing Grace.”

What was it the poet said? “O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be.”

Once upon a time the apostle Paul planted a church in the city of Thessalonica. Before the new church became established, however, Paul was forced to leave the city because of great hostility from people who were not receptive to the Gospel. In time Paul heard what was going on in the life of the new church, and He was thrilled.

They had a reputation. They were known for their “work of faith,” their “labor of love,” and “the steadfastness of hope” they had in “our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Thes. 1:3). They had received the Gospel “in much tribulation” but they received it “with the joy of the Holy Spirit” (I Thes. 1:6). God had taken hold of that church and in spite of it’s rough beginning “the word of the Lord … sounded forth from them” (I Thes. 1:8). Theirs is a remarkable story of God and of an open and faithful people who allowed God to be God in their midst.

Every church has it’s own story and not every issue is repeatable in other situations. Yet, for every local church to be faithful to what God is calling forth in it, one thing must be present; that church must be willing to let God be God in the midst her people. This is non-negotiable. If this isn’t happening then that church isn’t really a church.

A key question for every local congregation might just be, “What does it mean in our Faith community for God to be God here?” From there a congregation might go in many different directions.; but, until God is allowed to be God in the midst, every thing else will be an exercise in futility.

We are citizens of many relationships: family, work, school, community, state, country. There is a sense in which we have loyalty to all these relationship, a loyalty that issues into responsibility and duty.

There is a concern, however. In the end we followers of Jesus are citizens of only one relationship. The Bible says, “Our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil 3:20). All other citizenships are defined by this one citizenship.

It is our relationship with God in Christ that defines who we are. It is God who holds ultimate authority in our lives, an authority that defines how we relate in all other relationships.

This is a huge because we live in a world where there are, in fact, many people who “are enemies of the cross of Christ” (Phil. 3:18). Not every one feels about Jesus the way you and I feel about Him. Many of these folks hold positions of authority in the many relationships we have. Because of this we cannot afford to see ourselves as anything less than citizens of the King we serve.

In fact, we are citizens of heaven living in “enemy occupied territory,” according to C. S. Lewis. In that light it is important that we keep the communication channels open with the One for whom we live. We can’t afford to get our loyalties confused or our relationships cluttered with distractions.

Make no mistake about it, too; there are distractions everywhere and if we aren’t careful we can get caught up in lesser things, and find ourselves in a place where Jesus is just one loyalty among many loyalties. However, may it never be. For us, Jesus is Lord, and no one else. ~~~ no one.

Our faith says that Jesus Christ is Lord, and this is the one fact upon which we build our lives. And, it’s not simply that Jesus is Lord; it’s how He is Lord.

The apostle Paul tells us that this One who “existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with a God a thing to be grasped” (Phil. 2:6). This alone speaks volumes but there is more. This One “emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant (Phil. 2:7). That pushes the envelope a bit, doesn’t it? God becomes a servant. In what universe does a god become a servant? In our universe gods have servants making over them twenty-four seven. They don’t serve; instead, they are served.

Jesus comes to us as the One who serves, and He served all the way to Calvary where He died on a cross. A God who dies on behalf of his kingdom, that’s strange, too, isn’t it? In our universe people all over the kingdoms are dying for the kings and the kingdoms. In the economy of Jesus only one has to die, and that One is the King Himself.

Because of the kind of Lord Jesus is it is said of Him that “God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name” (Phil. 2:9). This is true to such a degree that Paul says someday “every knee will bow….and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord…” (Phil. 2:11).

And, exactly why are we told all these things? Because we are called to have the same attitude in ourselves that was in Christ Jesus (Phil. 2:5). As He emptied Himself let us empty ourselves and live so as to reflect that the One we say is Lord is the One who comes to us as Servant.

Paul’s testimony was clear and concise: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). He believed that if he died he would “be with Christ” (vs. 23) and that if he lived it would “mean fruitful labor” (vs. 22). He was willing to accept whatever came his way and he would leave that decision to God.

I suppose, in the end, we do whatever our faith calls us to do, and leave outcome decisions to God. Our role is faithfulness. It is up to God as to where our faithfulness leads. It might mean death and to be with Christ now or it might mean life and continued ministry in the name of the One to whom we have entrusted everything.

To live in this world, according to Paul, is to conduct oneself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ (see Phil. 1:27). For him this means “standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel” (vs. 28). If we die, we go to be with Jesus. If we live, we go on to live together “standing firm…in one spirit…with one mind…striving together.”

Faithfulness is not about isolated and private obedience. It is about “striving together…for the faith of the gospel.”

On the way to heaven we really ought to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel, and we really ought to do it TOGETHER.

Don’t you want to be a part of a community of people who are standing firm together and who are striving together for the faith of the gospel? Sure sounds like the place I want to be. Sounds like the people of whom I want to be apart.

Jesus explains grace in such a way that one must conclude it is simply outrageous. It seems that a certain debtor owed a creditor more money than most of us will see in a lifetime -- ten thousand talents. Doesn't compute in my brain until we see that one talent was an amount exceeding a fifteen-year salary. Fifteen years of income multiplied by ten thousand. You do the math. It's outrageous, ludicrous, and absurd. And, you know what? The creditor had mercy and forgave the entire debt. Talk about winning the lottery without buying a ticket. This is huge.

Then, this forgiven but incredibly ungrateful man goes out and finds somebody who owes him one hundred denarii, about three months wages, demands his money, seizes the man, begins to choke him, demanding "Pay back what you owe" (Matt. 18:21-25). And, Jesus then makes it known that He is not a happy camper and says that if this is the game the man wants to play, so be it, but he will receive the punishment due one who was forgiven so much but who forgave so little; and off he went to the place where he would be held to the strictest accountability until his ten thousand talents were paid in full.

God stuns us by His outrageous generosity and then calls us to live in our worlds in that same outrageous generosity. Do you know who Christians are? They are people who have been stunned by God's amazing grace and then live stunning others by extending grace.

Don't you just love living for Jesus!

True Life in community is a tricky thing, including the community of those who believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Life in His community means a corporate uniting of individual “living stones” into “a spiritual house for a holy priesthood (See I Peter 2:1-10). Individuality is not Lord here. Rather, Jesus is Lord; and, it is His life in the midst of the community that makes the community what it is.

St. Francis said it was in dying that we find eternal life. In that light, it is in living, not selfishly but for the sake of the community of Jesus, that we find ourselves. It is together we pray and fellowship and work and praise and honor God. We are on the journey together. We’re not Lone Rangers; we are the fellowship of the redeemed.

Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am in there in their midst” (Matt. 18:20). A community of two becomes a community of three because Jesus is there, and community of three becomes a community of four because Jesus is there IN THEIR MIDST.

Is it too much to ask that we live empty of self indulgence and filled with the Spirit of God so that Jesus may be in our midst? After all, isn’t it the presence and influence of Jesus we all seek?

Come, Lord Jesus. Come into the midst of your people.

We human beings are so tied into ourselves that it becomes a challenge to table our interests on behalf of "God's interests" (Matt. 16:23). Yet, Jesus calls us to do just this. And, apparently, Jesus feels very strongly about this because when the apostle Peter set his mind on man's interest, even if to do so would spare Jesus death on the cross, Jesus shot back, "Get behind me, Satan" (Matt. 16:2). That's a pretty heavy retort, don't you think? And, Jesus went from this retort into the language of each disciple denying himself, taking up his cross, and following Jesus into whatever it might mean to carry the cross.

Jesus saw this discussion as one of deep spiritual matters, soul matters, where people must decide what is more important, their soul or their interests. Most people choose interests over soul, and consequently the world is comprised of people who want what they want when they want it, and if they don't get it, then they will find a way to get it anyway.

There are some who choose the way of the cross. To them nothing in this world matters as much as do the interests of God. They long never to be a stumbling block to what God is seeking to do in the world. They have taken up their cross and are honestly seeking be all that Jesus would have them be.

God bless them; and may their tribe increase.

Sometimes Jesus is hard to grasp, and maybe that’s the way it should be because it is far too easy to put Him in our theological confinements and forget that we’re not in charge. Case in point, a Canaanite woman who thunders into Jesus world one day, crying out for a mercy that would heal her daughter of a condition she called, “cruelly demon-possessed” (Matt. 15:22).

To the surprise of those of us who believe Jesus trips all over Himself to help people, He doesn’t answer her. To make matters worse the disciples implored Jesus to send her away. So we have a woman who is crying out and disciples who are imploring, and a Savior who responds to the situation uncharacteristically.

The woman refuses to give up, leading Jesus to explain to her that his mission was to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and that it wasn’t’ good to take the children’s food and give it to dogs (Matt. 15:24-26). It didn’t matter, this woman had a child in need and, chosen or not, she needed God. This persistence caught Jesus’ attention and he exclaimed to her that her faith was great, and that her daughter would be healed.

Isn't that amazing? A woman from the wrong side of the tracks becomes a role model for faith. My response to this is, “You go girl! May your tribe in increase.”

Give grace a chance. This simple challenge has been in my thinking. How do we live in such a way that we are giving grace a chance, an opportunity, to fill the lives of people and the situations in which they find themselves? How do we go about daily giving grace a chance to work its wonderful work in our lives? As followers of Jesus we ought to be so very excited about the grace of God that we cannot imagine living without sharing the life of our Lord with each other and with those who live among us.

You don't have to live in my world very long to know that I am a USC Trojan football fan. Don't ever say anything negative about coach, Pete Carroll, and don't ever make fun of Traveler, the noble white horse that appears at all SC home games with a regal Trojan warrior astride, Are we clear???????

Sometimes I wonder how long people have to be around me to know that I am a fan, a disciple, of Jesus Christ. I hope not too long, for He is more important to me than anything else in the world.

How about you? Do you let people know that you follow Jesus? I hope so. In fact, I hope that you will find a way to invite people into the fellowship of Jesus' church. Let them know that He is here for them and that you are here for them, too.

GIVE GRACE A CHANCE.

Here is a great thought to think. It comes from African-American poet James Weldon Johnson in his poem, "The Creation"

"Up from the bed of the river
God scooped the clay;
And by the bank of the river
He kneeled him down;
And there the Great God Almighty
Who lit the sun and fixed it in the sky,
Who flung the stars to the most far corner of the night,
Who rounded the earth in the middle of his hand;
This Great God,
Like a mammy bending over her baby,
Kneeled down in the dust
Toiling over a lump of clay
Till he shaped it in his own image...."

"Let the Church of the Nazarene be true to its commission; not great and elegant buildings; but to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and wipe away the tears of sorrowing and gather jewels for His diadem. We want places so plain that every board will say welcome to the poorest."

General Superintendent Phineas F. Bresee,
in a sermon preached on January 15, 1902

Here is a wonderful word from Henri Nouwen. It comes from the June 10, 2008 Daily Meditation

He calls it, Empowered to Be, and Nouwen hits the mark as he so often does.

Who are we? Are we what we do? Are we what others say about us? Are we the power we have? It often seems that way in our society. But the Spirit of Jesus given to us reveals our true spiritual identities. The Spirit reveals that we belong not to a world of success, fame, or power but to God. The world enslaves us with fear; the Spirit frees us from that slavery and restores us to the true relationship. That is what Paul means when he says: "All who are guided by the Spirit of God are sons [daughters] of God, for what you received was not the spirit of slavery to bring you back into fear; you received the spirit of adoption, enabling us to cry out, 'Abba, Father!'" (Romans 8:15).

Who are we? We are God's beloved sons and daughters!

Here is an insight worth talking about over coffee and maybe even grappling a bit with in the process of spiritual formation. It is from Barbara Brown Taylor’s book, Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith.

“I know that the Bible is a special kind of book, but I find it as seductive as any other. If I am not careful, I can begin to mistake the words on the page for the realities they describe. I can begin to love the dried ink marks on the page more than I love the encounters that gave rise to them. If I am not careful, I can decide that I am really much happier reading my Bible than I am entering into what God is doing in my own time and place, since shutting the book to go outside will involve the very great risk of taking part in stories that are still taking shape.”

May I pass along this wonderful prayer of A. W. Tozer

Lord, I would trust You completely; I would be altogether Yours; I would exalt You above all. I desire that I may feel no sense of possessing anything outside of You. I want constantly to be aware of Your overshadowing Presence and to hear Your speaking Voice. I long to live in restful sincerity of heart. I want to live so fully in the Spirit that all my thought may be as sweet incense ascending to You and every act of my life may be an act of worship. Therefore, I pray in the words of Your great servant of old, ‘I invite You to cleanse the intent of my heart with the unspeakable gift of Your grace, that I may perfectly love You and worthily praise You.’ And all this I confidently believe You will grant me through the merits of Jesus Christ Your Son. Amen.

The Gospel is about the life of Jesus in the life of His new creation. In Christ the Church lives and moves and has its being. In Christ, the Church is formed and shaped by the cross, and in that cross the Church finds the meaning and depth of her existence.

We Christians don't live for ourselves or for our own personal agendas. God's agenda is the most important thing in all the world to those of us who seek to carry Jesus' cross with Him, and we live for God regardless of what it might or might not personally mean to us in our private lives.

Jesus calls us to a faithfulness that lives in response to God and to what God is doing in the world. Our question is not, "what's in it for me?" but rather, "What does it mean for us to lose our lives for the sake of the One who both created and redeems us?" What's in it for God? What's in it for the kingdom? What's in it for the Church?

Like queen Esther of old, we come to each day released to the fact that we may perish but even if we do we know that God is present and at work, at that His will, shall be accomplished. This puts everything in perspective and releases us to let go of any and all distractions, and to live in the "good, acceptable and perfect will of God" (Rom. 12:2).

Take up the cross and follow Jesus into that which is good, acceptable and perfect.

In his book, With God in The Crucible, Peter Storey who pastored for years in south Africa and who is now Professor Emeritus at Duke University has a wonderful message entitled, Let God Be God! In this message Storey writes,

…the Church must be the Church. Jesus brought into being an entirely new, radically different community, offering people a citizenship transcending the frontiers of nations and contrasting powerfully with the norms around it. The Church is not not simply another institution in society, nor is it an extension of the traditions of any one nation….
The Church must be different from, and often over against and in contradiction to, the ways of all nations. That alternative identity must be cherished and guarded as the most important characteristic of the Church. The richest gift the Church can give the world is to be different from it. It must be a constant irritant that the world doesn’t want, but cannot do without.” (Abington Press: Nashville, 2002)

Storey then shares a personal word of experiences in South Africa. He writes,

When we were cast out of the corridors of power and disowned and vilified by the sate, at first we saw it as a loss of influence. But in that loss we found our souls and rediscovered our identity. We were set free from the false patriotism that worships the nation’s idols. We found instead a higher patriotism that determined to hold the nation accountable to the Kingdom of God and God’s justice before everything else.

I embrace what Storey says, and I believe that he is on to something rooted and grounded in Scripture, and offers us a way of being the salt and light of Jesus in the world, in a way that is uniquely of Jesus.

Compassion filled His heart as Jesus looked over a crowd and realized how much the people needed God (see Matt. 9:35-38). He then turned to His disciples and challenged them to pray that God would "send out workers into His harvest field."

Because of the extreme need at hand what kind of "workers" do you believe Jesus was calling into His harvest field? I think that not just anybody should show up for God in a world desperately in need of God. Those who dare be "workers" for God need to be a special breed. What breed exactly? In Matthew 10:8 Jesus gives us a hint. There He says, "Freely you have received, freely give."

Workers for God need to realize how much God has given to them, then take that generosity and turn it around on others. There is no room for tightwads in the harvest field that belongs to God. Great grace received become great grace given.

FREELY. What a great word. What a great way to live. What a great way to make God look good. What a great way to be to others what God is to us.

Am wondering if there are some folks out there who would pass along to me the name of the candidate they plan on voting for in the November presidential election? And, would you be willing to pass along 4 or 5 reasons you are supporting your candidate? Thank you! Any input will be helpful for a project I am working on.
God bless.

In a message entitled, Becoming What God Intended You to Be, Dr. Anthony Campolo shares what is really an important story as well as a crucial evaluation. He writes

At Eastern University, where I taught for so many years, I would constantly encounter students who would ask a simple question: How can I know what God wants me to do with my life? What a question! But I could never answer the question because I'm not sure that Jesus wants us to look that far ahead. I'm convinced that what Jesus calls us to do is to solve this problem: What should I be doing today? He says quite pointedly, "do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matthew 6:31, 34).

After quoting Jesus Campolo then asks, "Are you going to do what God wants you to do today? That's the ultimate question. Everyday you should get up and say, "This is the day that the Lord has made."

The point in all this? Focus on today. Do what faith calls you to do today. In time the days will become a story, a history, and you will discover that Jesus has led you all the way.

The fact of the matter is that Christians are a sent people. The church isn’t present to be a nice fixture for cultures or to offer a pleasant contribution to an enjoyable conversation being held by nice people. The Church is present because Jesus called her to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19). The Church is sent.

It seems Jesus was intent on bringing into the world a people who would forever proclaim that His life “was the light of men” (John 1:4). His life was good for people who lived in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:7). His story is to be told, His life is to be shared, and His glory is to be revealed in all the world. This is what the Church is to be about in her service to “go and make disciples.”

So, how is the Church doing? How faithful are we to proclaim that Jesus is the light of men? Are we passionate about telling His story, sharing His life, and revealing His glory?

In short, how are we doing when it comes to being faithful to the Christ who saved us and who fills us with His Spirit? For two thousand years somebody somewhere was faithful, so much so that in time the message reached us. What shall they say about us in the times to come?

On one remarkable day the Holy Spirit filled the waiting disciples with His very own presence and the world has not been the same since. On that day the Church was born, and a movement was let loose in history that would boldly go to the remotest parts of the earth in the name of Jesus, proclaiming that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world. It was quite a day.

The twenty-eight chapters of the Book of Acts gives us stories of the first efforts at fulfilling the Great Commission, an effort that is still under way, twenty centuries later. The book closes somewhere around the late 60s or early 70s. Since then, some have suggested, the Church has been writing the twenty-ninth chapter of Acts.

Here in the opening years of the twenty-first century the Church finds itself at a time when the message of Jesus is desperately needed. To live that message the Church is still dependent upon the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. The Church was birthed in supernatural power, carried out it's first mission efforts in supernatural power, and will be fruitful today to degree that it yields it's life to the supernatural possibilities of God in the world. Not magic, mind you, but supernatural, God-explained, power. A much quoted but perhaps most under-used Scripture still holds true: "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit," says the Lord Almighty" (Zech. 4:6). It was true for ancient Zerubbabel and it is true for us, too.

Get connected to God, and stay connected. Let God be God in your life and in the life of the Church. May all that we do and may all that we are be defined by the presence of the Holy Spirit. He is our POWER.

The word of Jesus to His disciples as He ascended back to the Father was, "wait" (Acts. 1:4). He called them to wait in Jerusalem until God gave to them a gift they would desperately need. They had been aware of a baptism with water but God was going to baptize them "with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 1:5).

The Spirit baptism was going to be unique in that when He came upon them they would "receive power" (Acts 1:8). The power would enable them to be faithful to God, so faithful that they would live as witnesses of Christ as the Church spread from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria and "to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Two thousand years later the Church lives in this same promise and in the same power. At least, the Church is invited to do so.

Whether or not the Church lives in the power of the Spirit today is under debate. The truth is, however, we are never the Church when we live by a power that is not of God. God's power is what makes us who we are.

Our abilities, our talents, our savvy, our skills, our gifts are wonderful, and thank God for them. But, these are not what make us the Church. It is the power of the Holy Spirit in a people that makes them the Church. In Him we live and move and have our being. It is the power of the Spirit who brings to us the very life of God that makes us the Church

Don't try to be the Church in your own capacities, but do let the Holy Spirit baptize you with power. Then, you will find that God is at work in your life, and that you are a vital part of something wonderful for and from God ~~ the Church of Jesus Christ.

Religion is an interesting animal. It can bring life and it can bring death. It can instill hate or it can inspire peace. It can unite or it can divide. Truthfully, it has been known to do all of these things through out human history. This is why religion makes me nervous. In fact, religion terrifies me because religion is too private and too subjective It acts out of the context of its own created foundations, and assigns the reason for the action, be they good, bad, or ugly, to God. So, religion is very human, very self-promoting, and very dangerous. It manipulates God to be what the religionist needs for God to be.

This is one of the reason I follow Jesus. I do not believe He is present to start religions. He is present, rather, to draw us to the living God. He expresses God’s desire for His creation to “seek him and perhaps reach out for him, and find him” (Acts 17:27).

Jesus shows us that it is God who created us and loves and that it is “in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). God has spoken into human history in the person of Jesus, and when He raised Jesus from the dead He manifested the fact that people can turn around and live differently than they once lived. Renewal is possible in this world.

The life of God can come into dead and barren places and breathe the breath of true life into them. Evil does not have to win. In Christ we see that God has spoken “with justice” (Acts 17:31), and has new things to do in us and in history.

It is when people let God be God in their lives we see the dramatic new reality God has in store. We don’t worship a principle or a theology or a doctrine. Rather, by grace we are drawn to a person, Jesus. In Him we see who God really is. We see God not as the unknown so much as the one who in Jesus makes Himself known, so known that renewal is always at hand.

What is it we Christians are saying to the world, something that nobody else is saying, that one thing that makes us Christian, that one thing that forms us into who we are?

In the ancient city of Thessalonica the apostle Paul helps us find our answer. Along with his ministry partner, Silas, he went to the synagogue, and to the people there “he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead” (Acts 17:2-3).

In his explaining and proving the Paul said an incredible thing. He told the people, “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ” (Acts. 17:3). Of his remarkable claim Luke says, “Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women” (Acts 17:4)

What makes us who we are as Christians? Jesus who is the Christ. What continually shapes and forms our lives? Jesus, who is the Christ. What drives the Church to be faithful in all things to God? Jesus, who is the Christ.

So the question isn't really what. The question is Who. Who makes us Christian, who shapes and forms our lives, who drives the Church to be faithful? Jesus. It is in Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).

On the road to Damascus Saul of Tarsus didn't meet a doctrine or a position or a discourse. He met a person. He met Jesus and Jesus changed his life forever. So, in his evangelistic outreach Paul didn't particularly tell people what to believe. Instead, he gave them a whom; He gave them Jesus and called them to believe in Him.

And what did Paul want the people to know about Jesus? He wanted them to know that He suffered, died, and was raised from the dead. He wanted his world to know that in his resurrection Jesus was confirmed to be the Christ.

We live in an information drenched, rapidly changing, violent, and unpredictable world. We live there as Christians, proclaiming that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and is here today as both Lord and Christ to bring the very life of God into the human experience.

The message of Jesus is more up-to-date than is the last update of your computer’s news information and is laser sharp in penetrating the “thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). Remarkably, even though Jesus knows the true thoughts and attitudes of the human heart, He is not present so as to trip us up concerning the thoughts and attitudes of our hearts (He doesn’t play gotcha games), but He is present to save us from ourselves so that we may experience the glory of being fully alive in the life that is God. We call it grace. In fact, we call it, “Amazing Grace.”

Living in Amazing Grace the church finds itself in this remarkable time in human history as the voice of hope. Jesus is present to enter into the storyline of every person, and to be in that story as both Lord and Christ. This is why the Bible brings to us teachings such as, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want” (Psalm 23:1) and, “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).

What a great time it is to live. What a great time it is to be Christian. What a great time it is to live within the embrace of “Amazing Grace.” What a great time it is to share the story of Jesus. What a great time it is fulfill our vows to God (Psalm 116: 14, 18) knowing that God is with us day-by-day, each step of the way, and that God is with us as the One whose presence is so real and so meaningful that we must conclude, “I shall not be in want.”

Regardless of what your future may or may not be, enter into it under the anointing of the One who is your God. Come to it in the power of God’s faithfulness.

On the day of Pentecost and in response to Peter’s appeal for people to “save yourselves from this corrupt generation,” 3000 people joined up and entered into a new way of life, the Jesus way of life. At the end of the day they realized that a new creation had emerged and that the world, from then on, would never be absent the church Jesus is building.

And what a church is was. There was awe. There were wonders and miraculous signs. There was sacrifice. There was generosity. There was fellowship. There was worship. There was witnessing. They prayed together and gathered together to hear important teaching from their leaders. There was a sense of unity that so bonded the people that they “ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God” (Acts. 2:42-47). God was on the move in the early church, and in many remarkable ways the world has not been the same since the activities recorded in Acts chapter two.

In short, the early church was a people under the influence of the Holy Spirit. They were accused of being under the influence of alcohol but Peter corrected that error in His dynamic sermon, and he let the listeners know that what was happening wasn’t of alcohol. This was a God thing.

I wonder if what is happening in our culture through the church a God thing. I often wonder, “what ever happened to the wonder?” Have we become too familiar with God things so that we’ve lost the wonder? Is “awe” too unscientific for the day in which we live? In our church, and in my life, what can be explained only because of the presence of God?

My prayer is simple: “O God, please connect us to the Vine so that the very life blood of the resurrected Jesus pulsates through our being. Pour out Your Holy Spirit, take over, and have Your way.”