Peter’s Posts

Childish or childlike?

When I was little my grandparents had an old bathtub buried in their garden. It was a garden for water lilies. My brother told me to be very careful around it, there was no bottom. I believed him. I walked a wide circle around that white rimmed hole to the center of the earth.

I was told another story as a child. I was told about this man who did miracles. That he healed sick people, even raising some from the dead. He was killed by being nailed to cross. He was put into a grave carved out of rock and three days later he came back to life. He stayed here for a few more days with his friends and then he was taken up in the clouds where he said that he would build a house for me, and he would come back some day.

Kids believe the stories that they are told. They have child like faith.

Jesus talked about that in Matthew 19.

“13 Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them.

14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” 15 When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.”

I think I was there the day they pulled up the old bathtub in grandmas garden. There was a bottom after all. That story wasn’t true.

As for the other story? No one can disprove. Many have tried. I still believe the whole thing. Even the part about him coming back someday.

I heard more of the story as I got older. I found out why he died. He died to pay for my sin, to pay for our sin. The sin that keeps us separated from God. He died because he loves us so much he would rather suffer and die than to be kept apart from us.

It’s been a long time since he left. We don’t know when he will come back. One thing is for certain, his return is closer now than ever. He is waiting for the last one who will believe in him to hear the story I was told and to believe it.

Are we telling the story? Some one needs to hear the story today. Will we tell them the story of Jesus?

#tellourjesusstory, #Matthew191315

People are messy.

Life is a mud-puddle and we are the players in it.

Divorce is that painful institution that I haven’t experienced and don’t feel qualified to talk about. I can see that it hurts. I’m sorry for those who are forced to go through it.

Jesus talks about in Matthew 19. Let’s see what he said.

“19 When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. 2 Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”

4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’[a] 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’[b]? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

7 “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”

8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

10 The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”

11 Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”’

I heard it said that being married is like putting two pieces of tape together sticky side in. “The two will become one flesh.” Divorce is a process of pulling those pieces of tape apart. No body wins. Parts are damaged. Abilities to be joined together again are diminished.

May God keep our hearts soft and keep those of us that are together, together and May God bless, heal and restore those of us who have gone through the process of tearing apart.

Time doesn’t heal all wounds, time just makes you older. Jesus is our healer, when he and time get together amazing things can happen. He will require that forgiveness be brought into the mix, forgiveness must be distributed liberally, all around. With that combination healing and restoration can take place.

I started out talking about life as a mud-puddle. Marriage should not be part of that dirtiness.

“Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.”

Prevention, forgiveness, restoration, healing, all available in Jesus. I just want to pray quickly here.

Jesus, please protect and bless those of us who are married. May our marriages be rich with your blessings. For those of us who are hurting now, for those in a rocky painful place, heal restore and renew joy and bring new life to stagnant places. For those who are recovering from divorce bring healing and hope and restoration. Allow forgiveness to blanket them.

Help us love each other better Jesus.

#matthew19, #learningtolovelikejesus

This was written by the prophet Isaiah, hundreds of years before Jesus was born and yet it tells us us what his ministry is about.

“And now the Lord speaks— the one who formed me in my mother’s womb to be his servant, who commissioned me to bring Israel back to him. The Lord has honored me, and my God has given me strength. He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” The Lord, the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel, says to the one who is despised and rejected by the nations, to the one who is the servant of rulers: “Kings will stand at attention when you pass by. Princes will also bow low because of the Lord , the faithful one, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

Isaiah 49:5-7 –

Because of Jesus, there is hope for me, a Gentile.

Where are you today? Jesus brings salvation to the ends of the earth.

I was not part of God’s family. But I have been adopted by him, purchased through the sacrifice of his Son Jesus.

“Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.”

Ephesians 2:11-18

There is a battle raging. Are you dressed for it?

I was at the parade in our little town recently. There were many police, city and county sheriffs there to aid and to display. I saw one female officer who was wearing some type of body armor under her uniform. Body armor for a children’s parade? You never know.

As a Christian I am in an active war 24/7. A war for the hearts minds and souls of the people of our town, myself included.

Am I dressed for the conflict?

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. 19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.”

The battle is real and so are our defenses. Truth, righteousness, the Gospel of peace, faith and the helmet, salvation are what we wear.

The word of God is our weapon, and prayer. We need to be dressed for battle, even at a children’s parade.

It’s a River not a lake.

God’s love, his forgiveness, his mercy, his grace they flow out from a boundless reservoir but as they flow into our life they must also flow out of our life. We cannot get it but then not give it.

Matthew 18 explains this.

“21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”

22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.[g]

23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold[h] was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.[i] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’

30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”’

Remember Newman from the Seinfeld show? A nemesis. An arch enemy. As a Christian I do get to have one and only one. I do have one. You get one too. In fact it is the same one.

“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

But let’s not talk about him.

Let’s talk about this amazing love and forgiveness we get to be bathed in. We just need to remember to give it away as freely as we received it or we won’t receive it anymore.

Maybe it’s like a water pipe. The only way a water pipe gets fresh water in, is to have the water it has now pass through it. It has to give away what it has so it can get more.

God’s mercy must flow through us to get to us.

His love is like a river.

#Godsloveisariver, #matthew1821thru35

John 15

Hate speech: we are the hated

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’[b] If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’[c]

The Work of the Holy Spirit

26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.”

No one likes to have their pet and or private sins exposed. We all have secret deeds done in darkness. Jesus came to us as the light of the world. Being around him, being around his followers is like lighting a lantern on a dark night. Those who want to stay hidden scurry away hissing.

Hissing? Ok, that may be just for drama.

People and things that want to continue in their activities that God has said, “don’t do that, it will hurt you” will hate the light of Jesus.

” They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’[c]”

If we live in the light, there will be those people who hate us and our message.

This our rule, Jesus’ command; love each other. Jesus loved us to death, His own death. We are to love in the same way.

The world will hate us.

We will fight back, with love. Bring a pillow to a gunfight? Well yes. And bandages.

Jesus came to change hearts, not behaviors, starting with our own.

John 15

Hate speech: we are the hated

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’[b] If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’[c]

The Work of the Holy Spirit

26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.”

No one likes to have their pet and or private sins exposed. We all have secret deeds done in darkness. Jesus came to us as the light of the world. Being around him, being around his followers is like lighting a lantern on a dark night. Those who want to stay hidden scurry away hissing.

Hissing? Ok, that may be just for drama.

People and things that want to continue in their activities that God has said, “don’t do that, it will hurt you” will hate the light of Jesus.

” They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’[c]”

If we live in the light, there will be those people who hate us and our message.

This our rule, Jesus’ command; love each other. Jesus loved us to death, His own death. We are to love in the same way.

The world will hate us.

We will fight back, with love. Bring a pillow to a gunfight? Well yes. And bandages.

Jesus came to change hearts, not behaviors, starting with our own.

Loving.

Gentleness.

Kindness.

Goodness.

Faithfulness.

Peacefulness.

Joyfulness.

Patience.

When a person accepts Jesus’ forgiveness Jesus actually comes into our lives, into our hearts and starts living in us. Immediately he begins to remodel. His designs always include the aforementioned qualities.

Our lives change. Our behaviors change. Our interactions with other people change.

In Matthew 18 Jesus tells us how to properly go about confrontation in a way that is private, honors both parties, and is solution and relationship focused.

“15 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

18 “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be[e] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[f] loosed in heaven.

19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”’

The Christian life is a life that is lived differently than the lives of people who don’t know Jesus. Why?

Love.

Jesus’ love for us.

Our love for the world of people, humans like us, fallen, bent and broken humans.

I don’t get this right all the time. But Jesus still

Loves me. Even me. Even you.

#matthew18, #forgiveasyouareforgiven

When I wrote this I wrote with both hands and both eyes and both feet intact.

If I took this verse in Matthew 18 literally none of that would be true.

“6 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”

My eyes, my hands and my feet all cause me to stumble but only because my heart told them to. My heart, where all my thoughts are pondered and decisions made. It is desperately and decidedly wicked and selfish. My heart wants what it wants no matter what or who says differently. What can I do to be pure? What can I do To wash away sin and selfishness that is woven into my very fabric? My heart and soul are burlap, rough and coarse.

Jesus.

Jesus can and will take over our lives. He will cover us in his perfection so our Father God only sees his son when he looks at us, and as he is draped over us on the outside he begins to rebuild us on the inside. To restore and refine us. To turn our burlap souls into silk or satin or 600 count cotton.

God is the God of “and yet” or “even while”.

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

While we were yet sinners Jesus willingly died for us. He died for me. He died for us. He died for you.

If you don’t know him yet, do you want to? If you do know him, can you think of someone who doesn’t know him that you can gently show his love to?

#matthew18 #doesJesusloveme?

I do a bible study on the weekdays. We are given a set of verses to read and to ponder, to reflect on. It is terrible of me but I hope for a short section. Just a few short verses that are succinct so I can grab the message and go.

Today was Psalm 99. The entire Psalm. Mary my wife has many of the Psalms memorized so she would know that it was short but powerful. It only has 9 verses.

I opened my bible to read and I got what I needed in the first three words.

“The Lord reigns…”

What else do we need to know? God is still running the world. He is still in charge. He is still actively working on bringing his children home to himself.

I am feeling like a bubble on the wind, vulnerable and not in control, useless and powerless to change myself or my direction but the Lord reigns, he sees me and knows me and has a purpose for me, and for us.

The last 6 words are as powerful as the first 3: “for the Lord our God is holy.”

God is holy, he is separate from us, he is not part of creation, but instead is creator. He is not limited in any direction or in any way. If what we need doesn’t yet exist, he can create it. He is not in a hurry, in fact he is not subject to time. He is not subject to anything or anyone. All this is true of him AND he loves us.

He loves us so much that he gave his one and only son to die in our place, to pay for our mistakes and create a way back into a relationship with him.

The Lord reigns.

The Lord or God is Holy.

Imagine walking through a forest or a jungle and everything you saw, you could eat. Fruits, leaves, twigs, bark, seeds, didn’t matter, it is all edible. Now contrast that with a forest or jungle where some stuff was edible and some stuff is poison, and the more poisonous it is, the more delicious it appears, hold that thought for a moment.

I’ve been thinking about how I am living and doing this Christian life. I was going over how my schedule has morphed and changed over the last several years.

I don’t remember how I used to do it in my earlier years. I somehow knew (more likely was instructed by my mentor Dr. Floyd Jacobson) that I need to study the Bible on my own. It is not enough food for a persons soul to simply rely on a pastors message one day a week to supply all I need spiritually for a 7 day stretch of time. What is that saying? Seven days without reading the Bible makes one weak (week). Would I try to live my life on one meal a week? No I need to feed myself daily, with food and so also with the word of God which is spiritual food. I have had plans and schedules for time to study the Bible in the past, I don’t remember now how I did it but I did it. And then for a while, I didn’t do it. No plan, no schedule, “I’ll get to it, eventually”  I would tell myself, but I didn’t get to it. I listened to Christian radio occasionally and listened to Christian music but even that slowly eroded and I was left with bibles and books about the Bible on shelves but seldom opened, unused CD’s (compact discs, a way of recording and playing musical files) by christian artists. Somehow God called me back into an active relationship with him, (prompting by my Pastor and nudging and urging by my wife certainly played a big part) and I began reading, then studying the bible again. I decided I would do it in the morning. I had to set my alarm for enough time to add some study time.

Now back to the forest or jungle, whichever image you can relate to better. (I like the forest). The Christian life that is lived picking and choosing whatever the culture is offering as a spiritual food source would be like that forest where I didn’t know what was poison and what was good. The Christian life that is lived reading and studying the word of God is more like the first example, everything is good to eat. while studying the bible I can read anywhere in it, and it will feed my soul. The thing about our culture  is that just walking through life, our head, heart and soul are getting crammed a steady diet of our culture, poison and all. We don’t have to choose, our culture will choose for us. The thing is, we can choose, I can choose what I watch, what I listen to, what I read but if I do not choose, I will continue to receive what the culture has chosen for me, force fed, crammed into my soft little brain, my tender heart and my hungry aching soul.

As a Christian I am wanting to live the life  of a Christian, but what does that that life look like? Is it the same as a non-Christians? With just a bookend of church on Sunday? No. Well, it can be but that isn’t a good way to survive. We already talked about how a soul and spirit need to get fed. How do I know about God unless I’m reading God’s words written to his children? How do I know what God expects from me? How do I know who God is or how he acts and reacts towards me, how he feels about me, (he loves me, and loves you too) unless I am reading the book he gave us to learn about him?

Have a plan, or don’t have a plan. Did I have a plan when I used to crawl up into my Dad’s lap for a back scratch? Okay, maybe that’s a bad example, but the bible is a book that will feed us, no matter where we go in it. It does not all taste the same, there are some portions of the bible that are dry as old bones, but even old bones have nourishment if you chew on them.

Paul says this in Romans chapter 12: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

In his letter to the Philippians Paul says this:

“Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.”

Philippians 2:14-16

We are to not conform to the pattern of the world, renew our minds and hold firmly to the word of life. My new schedule of getting up earlier started as hard, this morning it slipped back to hard. I read a little then napped before my second alarm went off alerting me to critical time crunch mode. I don’t want to not be transformed. I don’t want to slip into the shape the world and our culture is trying to press me into. Even after reverting to my old sleepy sleep in ways this morning. I still grabbed a nibble of God’s word.

Christianity, It’s a relationship. Relationships take time, and space, and interaction, and conversation. The Bible is God’s voice to us. My dad and I weren’t close but I do have memories of when we were physically near, in conversation and interacting, sometime a back scratch but usually on a project, building this or that, and those times, the memories are sweet. That is what I believe God wants from us, for us and with us. Time.

The bible is sweet food for our soul.

God is a father who wants to have input into our lives, to have a relationship.

I encourage all of us to get back into the habit of renewing our minds and nourishing our souls, and building our relationship with our Father God by spending more time in his word, the Bible.

John 14

The Lord our God is one! (in three persons).

Deuteronomy 6:4 says “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!”

Jesus quoted this verse when asked what was the most important commandment was.

And yet he says this here; “15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”

23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.

“Come now; let us leave.”

Our God is one God. Our God is 3 persons. Our God is the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. One God. Three persons. One God.

This idea that Jesus states here was as radical a thought then as it is hard to understand now. God pre-existed creation, he became a man, not BOOM here I am a man, but like labor and delivery, smack smack “wah”, “it’s a boy!”, became a man. Lived life, had a job, ate, drank, went to weddings and funerals man, (while at the wedding turning water into wine, while at the funeral, raising the dead). He was a man a special God in flesh kind of man, who lived, he then died. But he didn’t stay dead! He rose from the grave! He hung around for 7 weeks and then went back to heaven to work on our home so he can take us there to be with him. While he is away he sent himself, as God in Spirit form, like the wind, we can’t see it but we feel it. We can’t see Him but we feel Him.

The Lord our God is one. To quote Mr Waturri from Joe versus the Volcano, “I’m not arguing that with you”. However, The Lord our God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, is one.

I am bummed that I don’t get to hang out with Jesus in the flesh…..yet. But I do get to be filled with His Holy Spirit, have Him, God in Spirit live in me. I know that I have yet to fully understand or appreciate or take full advantage of this amazing truth. But it there for me, for us. He is there, for me for us.

Have you invited him in? Will you invite him in? I did.

To borrow a Disney lyric that I heard recently, “Everybody wants to be a cat

Because a cat’s the only cat who knows where it’s at”. Now replace the word “cat” with boss. Every body wants to be a boss…Our nature creates in us a desire to be the one to tell others what to do, and to not want to be the one being told what to do.

Christianity is the upside down of that.

The disciples were walking along the road with Jesus, I see this in my head as Jesus walking ahead of them and the twelve in a clump, jostling each other arguing about who is the boss of whom.

Matthew 18 tells it like this.

“18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”

If we follow the example of our leader Jesus, the way up is the way down. Jesus humbled himself. He started as the Godhead in heaven, but he knew we needed him so he humbled himself and took on the form of a servant. Going back to the story in Matthew, Jesus will continue in this servant role until it kills him. He will follow the path down to the point of becoming not just a servant of all, but a sacrifice for all, a human sacrifice. His death will be the payment for my sins, for the sins of all of us. He has restored my relationship with God by being the servant to die and pay the price. It was a role only he could fill because he had no sin. He rose up from death to live forever, and offer us a way into God’s kingdom.

Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Jesus is. The servant-sacrifice. The way up in this kingdom is the way down. The greatest of all is the servant of all.

Just a reminder about this Jesus guy we believe in and follow.

“12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man,[d] dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”

“At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.”

“5 Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. 4 I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. 5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits[a] of God sent out into all the earth. 7 He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. 9 And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll

and to open its seals,

because you were slain,

and with your blood you purchased for God

persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.”

Jesus is the alpha and omega, first and last, he is the same yesterday, today and forever, he is the good shepherd, he is the way, the truth and the life. He is our king. Forever our king. He is our savior and redeemer. He is full of grace towards us.

I Just needed to remind myself.

Who is this Jesus?

See above.

Finish work

Philippians 1 & 3

I build stuff, usually with wood. I build boxes and trays and shelves and sometimes small furniture pieces. When i build once i get the basic form done and it works like it should i feel like I’m finished, like the project is finished. Recently i was given a birdhouse by a friend of mine and it is beautiful. He actually sanded it, put a coat of varnish on it then sanded between coats a put on another coat of varnish.

In contrast to my level of craftsmanship When God builds something God does the finish work. I am one of his projects. All of us who accepted Jesus as our savior are a project that God is working on. We may feel complete once major construction is done, the frame work is in place. But God carries every project to its finished completion.

In his letter to the Philippians Paul wrote about God’s work in us.

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 1:3-6 –

He goes on to say in chapter 3

“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. But we must hold on to the progress we have already made. Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example. For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.

Philippians 3:12-21

In the midst of reading in Philippians i read Ezekiel 37. Ezekiel wrote about the valley of dry bones. Even after the skeletons were complete they weren’t finished, God’s Spirit needed to fill them.

“So I spoke this message, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons. Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’” So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army.

Ezekiel 37:7-10 –

I don’t know why I’m stuck in this rut of being finished as in a craft or project built by a master and not finished until the finish is finished but here I am. And then I read the verses in Ezekiel where the bones were assembled and all the other fleshy parts were there but still they were not finished until God’s Spirit filled them.

Having God’s Spirit enter us does not finish us, but it does start the finish work because it starts the project God wants to work in our life and whatever God starts, he finishes.

I have written this post over several weeks and I’m not sure that it ever really congealed.

I end with where I started, a promise by God to finish what he has started in each one of us who have been adopted into his family through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

“he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

If you have not yet been adopted into God’s family, you can be. Today you can finalize the adoption.

“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.”

Romans 10:9-10

Today is a good to be adopted and start the finish work.

I’m sick today.

God is still good and wanting to let the world know about his love for us, displayed in Jesus.

Here are the lyrics to a song that I learned long ago.

Jesus loves me! This I know, 
For the Bible tells me so;
Little ones to Him belong,
They are weak but He is strong.
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me! He who died,
Heaven’s gate to open wide;
He will wash away my sin,
Let His little child come in.
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me! loves me still,
When I’m very weak and ill;
From His shining throne on high,
Comes to watch me where I lie.
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me! He will stay,
Close beside me all the way;
He’s prepared a home for me,
And some day His face I’ll see.
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.

True for me, true for you.

Whatever God is, he is completely. He is all powerful, omnipotent. He is all knowing, omniscient. He is completely just. He is completely merciful. Wait, can he be both just and merciful? Justice demands punishment for wrongdoing. Mercy pardons wrongdoings. How can those two characteristics coexist in one being?

The two character traits collide and coalesce in the person of Jesus. Jesus has taken on the judgement for our sin.

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Romans 5:6-11

Jesus absorbed Gods wrath by dying in our place.

In Isaiah the prophet saw this was to come and wrote this:

“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Isaiah 53:5-6

When I’m having a problem with another person, how they are behaving, how they are treating me or someone else I want God to reign in justice and bring the hammer down on them. When i myself am struggling with a weakness and find my strength giving way and my heart giving in to bad behavior I want God to reign in mercy and forgive me, and wipe away my mistakes.

Jesus is the balance point for these two opposing stands. Crying out for justice and begging for mercy.

All our iniquities were heaped upon Jesus at the cross. Our sins were justly dealt with. God’s mercy was poured out on us while his wrath and the punishment we deserve was taken up, laid upon God’s only son Jesus.

God is completely just.

God is completely merciful.

Thank you Jesus.

Hosea and Gomer

I felt lead to read the book of Hosea recently. It is about a man who lived in the nation of Israel. It was during the period of the country being split apart. 10 tribes banded together and disassociated themselves from God and followed false god’s, worshiping idols.

God spoke to Hosea and told him to marry a prostitute. He wanted to use Hosea’s marriage as a word picture for the nations adulterous relationship with idols.

“When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.”

Hosea 1:2-3

The couple had 3 children together, then Gomer

went back to prostitution.

This straying relationship was a symbol of the relationship between God and his wayward family of the 10 northern tribes of Israel.

After all of their unfaithfulness God still longed for them to repent and come back to him.

There are some hungers that go away if you feed them. My wife was craving the candy called Smarties. Not all stores carry them. Our normal grocery store doesn’t. When I found them at Walmart I rejoiced. I may have even said out loud, “yes! Woo hoo!” There were 2 sizes of bags. The one pound and the baby size. It’s called baby size because it weighs the same as a large baby. I got the baby size. We ate Smarties until my wife no longer craved them. Her craving was sated. (Parks and Rec reference).

Some cravings though just get stronger. As you feed them they gain power. I don’t know why but a craving for something that is outside of God’s boundaries usually has this power.

We don’t get to know what it was that drove Gomer back to a life of prostitution but I would guess that it was a craving that she kept feeding until it overwhelmed and overpowered her and she ended up back where she started. Did she go kicking and screaming? Fighting and clawing at the forces that were enticing her away? Maybe but probably not. Many times these battles are won by our enemy not by a frontal attack but by constant erosion and a lack of shoring up defenses on our part. Usually there is no SOS or “God Help!” signal being sent out. The constant pounding on our walls of defense by our enemy is seen as an annoyance, not as an attack. We never even sound an alarm.

We follow paths in our life. There are physical paths like the one in my back yard that leads to the gate, then there are mental paths, like how I respond to to gentle touch or a kind word. I also have mental paths for harsh words or abuse or neglect. An outward stimulus leads to an internal reaction, following well worn mental paths. Ruts in a road aren’t made by occasional travel and neither are mental ruts. Maybe Gomer just fell into a rut that led her back to prostitution, we just don’t know.

Our enemy knows our paths better than we do. He watches and he waits. In his spare time he has target practice on those paths that get us close to the edge and leave us exposed. Like a little mound of pride where we stand and look over the borders and boundaries of our life and we see the verdant fields, and maybe here the soft cooing of the sirens song.

What can we do? We cannot escape temptation but neither should we play with it. Fire is a great thing on a cold day, as long as it stays in the fire box where it belongs. If we play with fire, and I know this from personal experience, we will eventually get burned. Fire has no saturation point. It does not decide on its own to say, “I’ve burned enough for today, I will stop here”. No, fire consumes constantly with an ever increasing appetite for more. Temptation is not sated by giving in. It just gets stronger with every little opening we give it.

The book of Hosea I isn’t really about how to avoid falling into sin. The book of Hosea is more about God’s faithfulness and dogged pursuit of his wayward people. It’s about God’s grace and mercy toward people bent on running away. People who are rebellious and selfish and self seeking and self serving. People like, well, people like me.

Chapter 6 verse 2 and 6 are worth looking at.

“After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight. For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”

Hosea 6:2,6 – NKJV

These verses are clearer in the New Living Translation, “I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.”

Hosea 6:6 –

God’s people had begun living selfish, indulgent lives, and then they would heap up sacrifices at the temple to pay for them. I believe God’s point was he wanted hearts that followed him and obeyed him rather than profuse apologies.

After Gomer returned to prostitution God spoke to Hosea a and told him to buy her back.

“Then the Lord said to me, “Go and love your wife again, even though she commits adultery with another lover. This will illustrate that the Lord still loves Israel, even though the people have turned to other gods and love to worship them. ” So I bought her back for fifteen pieces of silver and five bushels of barley and a measure of wine. Then I said to her, “You must live in my house for many days and stop your prostitution. During this time, you will not have sexual relations with anyone, not even with me. ”

Hosea 3:1-3

I heard a radio pastor point out that it cost Hosea everything he had, his money, his grain and his wine. To redeem me, It cost Jesus his life.

The last chapter of Hosea has these words:

“Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to him: “Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips. Assyria cannot save us; we will not mount warhorses. We will never again say ‘Our gods’ to what our own hands have made, for in you the fatherless find compassion.” “I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.”

Hosea 14:2-4

If you the reader have strayed from God, return to him. He has given all for you. If you the reader are walking with God today but you know others who have strayed, remember God’s heart toward us all. God loves us even though we have strayed and broken our covenant vows with him.

“I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.”

One truth about Jesus and my life following jesus.

He won’t quit.

He will not give up on me.

He has plans for me and he will keep building toward that goal.

Even if I tear down what he’s doing as he’s doing it.

He will not quit on me.

This is true for all of us.

It is true for me and it is true for you.

Another thing that I believe is true for every follower of Jesus. At one time all of us will experience a version of what the apostle John experienced that he recorded in Revelation

“Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.”

Revelation 5:1-6

There has to be a time when we see Jesus as the lamb slain. We have to see Jesus as the sacrifice for our sin

And.

And we will see him as the Lion of Judah. Lions are the king of The jungle. Jesus is the king. Is. Not was. Jesus is the living King.

Romans 10:9-10 “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Romans 10:9-10

These verses show us this same thing, Jesus as Lord, the lion, the king, and we believe that Jesus is the sacrificial lamb, that he died but now lives forever. The lamb that had been slain standing in the middle of the throne.

I encountered Jesus in these two ways. And now he promises to complete the project he has started in me.

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Philippians 1:3-6

My prayer for any and every person who reads this is that they will see Jesus as the Lion and the lamb and that they will as I am doing, stumble on toward completion.

My favorite part of any project is the design and build part. I dislike the finish work part. The tedious sanding and coat after coat of paint. The filling in of nail holes and all the other things that go into “finishing”. Jesus loves it all, every part of the process, he doesn’t tire of it, any of it.

Where am I in my own finish process? I don’t know.

How do you see Jesus? Is he your Lion? Is he your Lamb? He wants to be.

Has he begun a good work in you? If yes then rejoice because he will finish it. If not, would you like him to? All you have to do is ask.

God’s love is amazing

How small does a matter have to be to fall off Gods radar screen of our life?

In money value? Less than 19 cents. According to my exhaustive research , (2 websites from a google search) the drachma was worth about 19 cents. When the tax collector came around, Jesus knew, he cared and he provided.

“24 After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”

25 “Yes, he does,” he replied.

When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?”

26 “From others,” Peter answered.

“Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him. 27 “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”

It seems like a non story. Why is this little story even in the Bible? The Gospel writer Matthew was by trade, a tax collector. That may be why this story stuck out in his memory. But the Holy Spirit has something to teach me from this.

It has some odd things in it too, Jesus didn’t reach in his purse or pocket to get the money, he didn’t pull a 4 drachma Coin from behind Peters ear, he had Peter fish for it. Not catch a fish and sell it, but catch a fish and pull the coin out of the fishes mouth(?). What an odd way to provide. Jesus showed so much of his power and knowledge and ability in this coin retrieval system. The ocean is his piggy bank.

As Gods son, Jesus was exempt from the tax but he paid it anyway. Jesus was exempt from the punishment for sin, yet he paid it anyway. He paid the price for my sin, he paid the price for our sin.

My take aways from this story:

God hears our life story live, he cares about what is happening, he has knowledge of and possesses all the earth, it is all at his disposal, he will pay my way, he has paid my way into the temple and beyond, into Gods presence in heaven by dying for me on a cross.

Now he lives forever, not to brag about his own goodness and selflessness, but to continuously intercede for me to God as I am stumbling through life. Intercede for me, for us, the ones who put him on the cross.

God’s love is amazing.