Peter’s Posts

Its spring time. Well almost. It’s spring and I’m thinking about harvest.

Harvest? Spring is a season for planting. Well Why do we plant? We plant because we want to harvest.

I’m mindful of the law of reciprocity. The law that says The more you give out, the more that will return. Like a farmer sowing seeds. The farmer who is stingy while planting seeds will be the one who is lacking at harvest. There is no guarantee that the seeds we plant will grow, but there is a guarantee that the seeds we do not plant will not grow. I want to Improve my chances of a good harvest so I need to plant more seeds more often.

“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”’

Fellow Christians are we hoping for a harvest? A harvest of souls? If we want a big harvest then we should be busy now planting. But not just planting, we should also be caring for the seedlings that are sprouting all around us, feeding and watering the little babies around us too.

Spring time and harvest. You cannot harvest what you have not planted. Not all seed sown will grow, so let’s put more seeds out. We want a BIG harvest.

I heard a statistic once that a person will hear the good news about Jesus dying for their sins 15 times before they accept it and receive Jesus.

Is their someone we’ve given up on? Sow the seed there anyway. We never know when the Holy Spirit will break through.

We need to keep sowing and keep caring for the seedlings.

Even a heart as hard and sealed up as this parking lot picture has cracks that can be planted with seeds. Our job is to keep sowing seed.

The final hour.

Which is harder to wait for? The last hour of Monday’s work day or the final hour of Friday?

Waiting is hard to do. It causes anxiety. For me the best remedy for waiting anxiety is to stay busy. To distract myself with activity.

We are waiting for Jesus to return and according to 1 John, we are in the last hour. This last hour hasn’t just seemed to take forever, it has actually been 2000 years (ish).

In hours? If I did the math right it’s been 17,520,000 hours (ish) since John wrote this.

“Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

1 John 2:18-23

We have two primary jobs to do while we wait: 1. hang onto our faith. Do not walk away. and 2. Share our faith.

David, who wrote the psalms, had some experience with waiting for the Lord.

“I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.”

Every winter my soul starts to despair because of the short days. It seems like it’s always dark. Dark when I get up, dark when I leave for work and dark when I get home. But if I just wait a little longer, late February, the days get longer again, and there is a glimmer of light on the horizon at both ends of my workday.

Could the world be at that same spot now? Is it late February on God’s timetable? Are we seeing the glimmer of light on the horizon of time? Not because the world is improving but because the world is getting worse. We know from reading through the book that it will. It will continue to get worse.

Even if Jesus’ return is not imminent i have a job to do. I should be sharing my story about Jesus with the people I meet and see every day. Who will I share with today?

John 5

Take him at his word

“Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.

48 “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”

49 The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

50 “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.”

The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.”

53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed.

54 This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.”

I think I would’ve insisted that Jesus come with me to see the boy.

This father just accepted what Jesus said and went back home.

Maybe the circumstances of the water to wine incident were well known, so I propose this Galilean conversation.

“How did he do it? What did he put in the jars?

“Nothing, he never touched the jars or the water.”

“Did he do any incantation or have a wand or magic powder?”

“No, none of that, he said ‘fill those water jars’, they filled them and it became wine…!?”

“Well that’s a miracle!”

“Yup, miracle”

“Who is this guy again? Jesus? The carpenters son…?”

He can turn water into wine. What else can he do? He can heal people. He is not a genie. He is not obligated to us to do whatever we ask but we can ask anything. I’ve asked him to heal my grandsons. I have 3 with bad allergies. Not immediately life threatening, unless a peanut comes into play. So I’m kind of annoying God with requests for healing and so far the answer has been no or not yet. I continue to ask because I believe he can do it. I believe he will do it. I don’t understand why it hasn’t happened yet but I believe it will.

I contend in prayer for friends family and coworkers who haven’t met Jesus yet. That they will meet and believe in him. Believe that his death paid for their sin and his coming back to life guarantees our eternal life.

I take him at his word.

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

God is not a genie. He is better. Genies have no conscience and no foreknowledge of how what we ask for will affect our lives and those lives around us. You wish for a bazooka, you get a bazooka. You ask God for a bazooka and he knows what you really need. If you’re a weapons specialist involved in a military conflict or if you are a 7 year old boy with bully issues. The answer will fit the situation.

One of the sillier things that I’ve prayed for is a 57 chevy pickup. I prayed for 30 years. Then out of the blue My uncle gave me this one. I had to work on it a bit but here it is. Answer to prayer? I think so.

What is it that you want? What do you need? Ask and take Jesus at his word.

Read more about Gods answer to my silly prayer here. https://www.facebook.com/Rustys-Page-532927836827647/

John 4

It takes a person to save a village

“28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”’

Sometimes it only takes one person in a village who has met Jesus and been changed by him to awaken the rest of the folks living around them to their need of a savior. There is only one. Jesus is the savior of the world.

“Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.

42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”’

Jesus is the savior of the world.

He knows everything about me and still died to pay for my sin, our sins. Who will I tell ?

John 4

Warranty repair

“7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

17 “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”’

Mary’s car is under warranty. If it breaks the company will fix it. There are conditions to the warranty. Every 3 thousand miles or 3 months whichever comes first we are supposed to change the oil. I missed one. I may have missed 2. Mary doesn’t drive much so the months and Miles don’t line up. 27000 miles requiring 9 changes but we’ve owned it for 36 months which means we should have had 12 oil changes. Oops. How do I fix that? If I now change the oil 3 extra times are we good? Are we back on track?

Jesus met a woman. She had voided the warranty on her life. The warranty was sketchy at best. She was a Samaritan woman. A shirttail relative of Gods people. Gods people had a warranty of sorts, God would take care of them. At some point God was going to send the ultimate claims adjuster/repairman, the messiah and he would make all things right.

This lady, if you can call her that, and I think Jesus did treat her as a lady-so yeah, lady, had voided her warranty. 5 husbands and now sleeping with a man not her own. Warranty broken. But she was a charmer, she had charmed her way into and out of 5 marriages. But her charm was wearing off a little. She had a man but he was not so smitten as to seal the deal.

When she met Jesus she met a man who was impervious to her charm and yet knew how completely she had voided her warranty. She was exposed.

“21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”’

When she met this man Jesus who was impervious to her charms she also met the God who knew her whole story and yet……loved her and had come to this very spot on this very day to reveal himself as the claims adjuster/repairman that she had hoped existed but was sure she was unworthy of meeting. Certainly unworthy of being helped by.

The thing is, all of us, every one from the best to the worst, have voided our warranties. We are all without hope, unless there is a messiah, a claims adjuster/ repairman who can rescue us.

“Romans 3:23

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Jesus was her only hope. Jesus is our only hope.

Repent and believe is our only course.

31%

I wish I could come up with a better way to say this but I don’t know that there is one. Living the life of a Christian is simple, but it is not easy.

Matthew 10 continues with more real life.

“32 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.

34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn

“‘a man against his father,

a daughter against her mother,

a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—

36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’[c]

37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

40 “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”

The life of a Jesus follower will include sacrifice. It will require devotion to Him in times of opposition. We believe in a God we cannot see, who sent a son who lived and died and rose again, who ascended into the clouds saying he would be back. 2000 years have gone by. We are still waiting.

The joke goes, what do you call it when a bus load of ______ goes over a cliff?

The punch line is – a good start.

In some parts of the world the blank is filled in with the word Christian. There is opposition to Christianity.

As a follower of Jesus The best answer is, a tragedy. Christians make up 31% of the worlds population. What do you have when 31% of the world knows Jesus as their savior? A good start. We also have 69% of the world in a bus going over a cliff. This a tragedy. We have a good start with 31% but their is much to do and who knows how much time is left? Who knows? No one. How do we get people off the bus? Let’s get busy sharing our story of how Jesus has forgiven our sin and made part of his family.

31%.

John 3

Save the world: step 1

Announce the new thing coming.

John the Baptist was a key player in announcing Jesus arrival. He brought awareness of sin. And then he was arrested and beheaded.

Before he was beheaded He continued to tell his followers that he only came to announce the coming of the Christ.

“To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ 29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30 He must become greater; I must become less.”

31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33 Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. 34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God[i] gives the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.”

Like John My job is to announce that one has come from heaven bringing with him forgiveness for sin. All we have to do is repent, turn away from our sin, and believe that Jesus death pays for our sin and we will be forgiven.

It wasn’t about John.

It isn’t about me.

Jesus. What will we do with him today? Believe and receive?

The next few verses in Matthew 10 are harsh but still true. They are not verses that you find on a recruitment poster.

“21 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 22 You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 23 When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

24 “The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!

26 “So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.[b] 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

God is not taken by surprise when bad stuff happens. It will happen. Even in families.

My great grandfather helped build the Lutheran church and parsonage in Cashmere. My dad was confirmed there and mom and dad were married there, I was sprinkled there in christening. I left that denomination and became a member of a radical Pentecostal denomination that was started by a woman. (The international church of the 4-square Gospel) I am still there. Thirty three years later, Mary and I are still there.

My father was deeply wounded when I took my family away. Now my kids are finding their own way in the world. They are all still believers but are finding places that can fit in and that fits them.

We are not fighting each other, not betraying unto death but there is some shifting and moving and it hurts and it’s scary but God knows. God loves my kids more than I do, more than their mom does.

My hair is numbered, I am worth more than sparrows and my Father God is not taken by surprise by changes in my life. He knows, he cares.

God loves us.

John 3

Behavior vs belonging

Did this ever happen to you? As a kid You invite a friend to join you for a day of family fun. Then this friend out shines you in every way in front of your parents. They are more helpful, more courteous, more polite. By the end of the day you can’t stand your friend anymore and you are pretty sure that your parents are looking into trading kids. But then the friend goes back to his house and you go back to live with your parents. You are still their kid.

Good works don’t earn us salvation like behaving for our parents doesn’t make us more of their child. The good behaving neighbor kid didn’t earn his way into our family through their good behavior. Our bad behavior didn’t make us lose our last name. Birth makes us a child of our parents. Being “born again” makes us a child of God.

New birth makes us a child of God. Our good works please him but they won’t make us part of his family.

“Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.[a]”

4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[b]gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You[c] must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”’

God wants us in his family.

“‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”‘

When I sin as a Christian, what do I do?

The same man that wrote the Gospel of John also wrote this in one of his letters: 1John 2

“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

If we are born again we belong to God, we are part of his family. Our behavior won’t change our family status. If we’ve sinned we need to confess it, admit it and get it cleansed by the blood of Jesus. It’s his death that washes away our sin. We need to Stay clean, but if we stumble, we get back up and get cleaned up. Then we get on with sharing About this amazing God who forgives sin.

The first mission of the apostles in Matthew 10 (apostle means one who is sent) is to the lost sheep of Israel, to the Jews, the lost Jewish people. Later on Jesus will broaden the scope to include all people.

“5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,[a] drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

9 “Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts— 10 no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep. 11 Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave. 12 As you enter the home, give it your greeting. 13 If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. 14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. 15 Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. 17 Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. 18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”

Shepherds of that time had it rough. There weren’t fences for pastures. Sheep would stray. Sheep who stray are easier targets for wolves to kill and destroy.

We have an enemy. He is actively seeking out those who stray. “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

In the wild it’s the weak and the straying that get picked off. This entire world is wild.

Message to the sheep in the flock: Huddle up sheep. Huddle and and cuddle and stay close to the shepherd. Protect each other and follow the shepherd.

Message to the shepherds: Gather the strays. If we see a stray, so does our enemy. He wants to destroy them. Who will get there first?

Jesus is THE good shepherd. He is calling for us to come to him and be safe.

“11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”’

Jesus is the good shepherd who has laid down his life for us his sheep. I want to learn to follow his voice and stay close.

Jesus please don’t let me stray.

Spreading the word and spreading the work. In Matthew 10 Jesus was about to create spiritual Special teams. Men with skills, abilities, devotion, zeal and weaknesses.

“10 Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.”

Shall we recount how these men failed? One betrayed him, one denied him 3 times all but one deserted him yet these are the men he chose. In spite of their fallenness and failures today, 2000 years later we have a group of people on the planet who have heard of Jesus, know his story, can read about him and are part of the largest group of followers in history.

“As of 2010 Christianity was by far the worlds largest religion with an estimated 2.2 billion adherents, nearly a third of the worlds population.”

12 guys changed the world. It didn’t stay 12 guys.

The invitation is still open.

Who wants to be clean and forgiven and loved and live forever?

“6 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.

9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 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! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”

Our sin separates us from God, but Jesus creates a way to be reconciled.

What will we do with that information today? Receive it? Share it? Both?

We love our stuff. Americans, we love our teams, our beers our coffee, our political parties, our birthday parties, our jeans, our sneakers, our car brands (or truck brands). We love our stuff. I love my stuff.

I love watermelon and I love pepperoni pizza and i love sitcoms and crime dramas and tools and toys. I love cars and trucks, some more than others (wink-wink Rusty!) I love my wife and kids and my grandkids. (This is not a prioritized list).

To not love stuff, well it’s downright unamerican. Who doesn’t love stuff? Who shouldn’t love stuff?

As it turns out… me. I shouldn’t love stuff.

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

1 John 2:15-17

Everything in the world is good, God declared it so at the end of creation but it has in it an enticement that can lead me away from my love of God. My little human heart has only a certain amount of love. How will that be divided?

If I love God first and foremost it opens the chambers of my life to more love. Like when I see my wife from across the room my pupils dilate. They open up as if to get more of her visage and likeness into my head and heart. When I love God first, my heart is opened up to allow more love for people. When I understand that God is creator of all things then things take on a different level of respect and admiration. I see things as part of a creators creation and I start to see people differently. I start to see Each one as a person created to spend eternity in fellowship with God but just now separated from him by sin.

That is true of each and every one of us. We are created by God and loved by God but we are all separated from him unless…

Unless we meet Jesus and accept his gift of reconciliation.

This is how that reconciliation happens: “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. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile —the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Romans 10:9-13

Say out loud “Jesus you are now my Lord, (master-boss-king-ruler-leader) and I believe that you rose from the dead. “

Can it really be that simple?

Yes, try it and see.

What changes? Down here? Not much. In heaven? There’s a party, in your heart? Sin is forgiven. And the driver seat of your heart is now occupied by the Holy Spirit.

Buckle up. We are beginning a new adventure. What happens to my love affair with stuff? As I read his word and begin to fall in love with the creator and redeemer I begin to love him and the people he has died for more and see the stuff around me not as treasures to hoard but as tools to use to reach the needs of all the sick and dying people who need to hear about a God who loves them.

John 2

Cleaning house

“13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”’

Seeking God. It brings a lot of people. Back in the day in order to meet with God you had to bring an offering. An animal offering. If you didn’t have one you had to buy one but you couldn’t buy it with regular money. You had to use temple money so first you would exchange your money for temple money. A small(ish) service fee would apply. This was the system. It had the potential to be abused and it was. People who came from all over to seek God in his temple had to first be fleeced by the market on the front steps.

It’s not meeting with God that’s the problem. It’s the greed in the hearts of men. Always looking for a way to get a little bit more.

“The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”

19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

20 They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.”

The cross was always in the plan. Jesus knew what he had come for and how it would end. It wasn’t a surprise. Jesus knew how wicked men are and had come to take care of them, all of them. He would die for all men. He would die for me. Jesus died for me, for my sin. He paid for the evil in my heart.

“Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name.[d] 24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. 25 He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.”

Thank you Jesus for knowing what’s in my heart and dying to pay for the sins hidden there anyway.

John 2

Faith shown through obedience.

The closest thing to a whine that Jesus ever does. And it is about being out of wine.

“On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there,2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

4 “Woman,[a] why do you involve me?”Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”’

Mary his mom says, “Son, they are out of wine,”

Jesus replies “Ah ma!? Do I have to? It isn’t my time yet…”

“Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.[b]

7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.

8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”’

Jesus turned what was plain water used for washing into the best wine of the day. No magic wand. No hocus pocus. The creator created.

The party was out of wine and Jesus told the servants to get water. They obeyed. Then he told them to take the beverage to the master of the banquet. At what point did the change take place? Before he dipped? As he walked to the front of the party?

Has Jesus asked us to do things that don’t seem connected to our current struggles? Obedience shows our faith.

Were the servants caring the water jugs grumbling all the way to the well? What about all the way back caring a jar of water. Water weighs about 8.34 lbs per gallon. These jars holding 20-30 gallons each were about 167-250 lbs. there were 6 jars. So were they grumbling or were they saying “it’s stupid but I believe” like Susan on Miracle on 34th street.

Then Jesus had them take the sample up to the MC of the party.

Faith and obedience rewarded.

Abraham took his son and headed up a hill to sacrifice him. He built the fire pile, tied Isaac up, laid him on the altar and drew his knife. None of that made sense but Abraham was obedient. God said “Stop!” Faith shown in obedience. God provided a ram, caught in the bushes nearby.

“11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”

Jesus filled a need. At the party and in the hearts of his followers.

Am I feeling empty? Have I run dry? Do i continue to do what’s in front of me. Do I follow orders? Do I ask for refilling or just assume I’ll stay empty?

And what about you?

Matthew 9.

I see the scene like this:

Jesus is busy teaching and touching and healing and in burst two big security men in the first century version of ear buds and dark glasses. They locate Jesus and isolate him from the crowd. Once they have his attention a smaller man steps out from behind them.

“While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.”19 Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.”

As they traveled to what was a sick bed but was now a death chamber, this happened.

“20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”

22 Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart,daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.”

If it had been a different day, the security men would’ve lost their jobs or maybe their lives for this interruption. But not today.

“When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, 24 he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. 25 After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26 News of this spread through all that region.”

Both the father and the sick woman had something in common, they had faith. Not in a “keep the faith bro'” way but in a “I believe you are my only hope” way. That faith was directed to the person of Jesus.

Having faith is not key or the answer. Who you have faith in? That is the key. Every other person who has ever been on this planet will fail, has failed. Jesus did not. Jesus will not.

The whole dead thing.

Except for those who are alive when Jesus returns? We will

all die. From the least to the greatest we will all die. In a fashion we are already dead.

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.”

Our sin separates us from God. We are already spiritually dead. But there is good news.

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

When we receive Jesus, accept his gift of forgiveness, declare him to be Lord of our life, we are brought from death to life.

I feel like I’ve been cramming too much in here.

Who do we believe in? More to the point, What do we believe about Jesus? The answer will

Change eternity for us.

John 1

The endorsement. The mission.

How cool would it be to know exactly where you fit in the history and development of the world? The World. Capital W World.

John the baptizer knew where he fit in Gods plan. The big Plan, capital P plan for the capital W world. The World for all time forward and backward.

“Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders[c] in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”

21 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”

He answered, “No.”

22 Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”[d]

24 Now the Pharisees who had been sent25 questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

26 “I baptize with[e] water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. 27 He is the one who comes after me,the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

28 This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.”

It’s good to know who we are and know our place but it is even better to know who Jesus is and his place in our world and our life.

“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”

32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”’

Jesus is the son of God.

From our perspective in history we know what happened to him. He was beaten and crucified, hung, pierced with nails through his hands and feet, hung on a cross until dead.

John called him “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”. This is what that image was about. Annually the Jews would take a perfect lamb, select it and set in in amongst the family as a pet for four days and on Passover slaughter it and eat it. You can read about in Exodus 12. The lambs blood was protection against the plague of death that was coming on Egypt. Painted on the door posts and top of the door frame.

This is a new thing that God was doing.

He came down, became a man and walked among us. He came to be a sacrifice for our sin. God would sacrifice himself for our sin. He will be our lamb for sacrifice.

God himself has paid for our sin by sacrificing Jesus on the cross.

I’m jumping ahead in the story only because John the baptizer saw what the mission was.

The forgiveness of sins is available to us all today.

Will we receive the gift?

Is there someone we know who hasn’t heard this news yet?

Allegories are usually wasted on me. I read Watership Downs in high school and thought it was a story about rabbits. In my early 20s I read a Christian allegory, I think it was Pilgrims Progress but I’m not certain. In the story the characters were on a journey to the celestial city. Each evening they would walk down to the river and some of them would put rocks in their back packs. They would purposely add to their own burden. It didn’t make sense to me or to the main character in the story. Little did I know that at the end of the journey those rocks were revealed to be prayers for other people. Sometimes we shoulder the burden for others as we walk our journey.

That idea has stuck in my head.

Yesterday I was on one of my daily walks and I have a plan to beautify the path I walk. I have some flower seeds that I plan to plant along the way. They are wild flowers so they won’t require water. I envisioned myself like Johnny Appleseed walking down the path and tossing out the seeds from a seed pouch slung over my shoulder.

Then I remembered Jesus story about the farmer who cast his seed and the seed was the word of God. I realized that that was my real mission in life, to spread Gods word.

But I knew that wasn’t all of it. Gods word needs to be shared in context or it doesn’t make sense. The context needs to be in an actively loving and forgiving and serving life. So I boiled that down to grace and mercy, AKA, forgiveness. That’s how I arrived at what I shared below here. I hope it makes sense.

I could see myself on life’s journey with 3 bags over my shoulders. Each bag carrying an essential element to the Christian life.

3 bags. Seed salve and supplication

As Christians We each start out the day with 3 bags over our shoulder.

Each morning two are full and one is empty.

Salve. One full one is forgiveness. Our job is to Empty it. His mercies are new every morning. We are forgiven our sins as long as we forgive the sins of others.

“For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Seed: One full one is Gods word, we are to share it.

“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”’

This bag we can fill up ourselves. The Holy Spirit can bring seed to us but as we mature we will become more actively involved in filling our own bag. If we don’t become active we won’t mature.

“12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!”

Supplication: The empty one we are to fill. It is for the needs and concerns of others. We fill it while walking through life meeting people and asking the age old question; how can I pray for you?

We empty it each night as we pray. ( or throughout the day), for our needs and the needs of others.

The Holy Spirit can at any time fill these bags. He kinda has a mind to do that. He will Give us extra forgiveness, give us the perfect seed to plant in someone’s heart, show us a need that only God can meet in some ones life. We may wake up in the middle of the night with a burden that we couldn’t know on our own.

Three bags. A bag of Seed, the word of God. We read it and study it and store it up and then we share it with others. A bag with Salve, Gods mercy and forgiveness that we have freely received, that now we must also freely give to those we meet. Grace and mercy are the healing ointment for a hurt and broken world. Then supplication, our prayers to this awesome God we serve, for the people that he is sending us out to serve. Prayers for their needs and for their salvation.

That’s what it’s all about. 3 bags.

John 1

The beginning.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.”

Jesus being God. He pre-existed everything that was created by God. Jesus was there when there was nothing, not just darkness but a total void and vacuum, and God said “let there be light”. And light though it had never existed before suddenly came into existence. The creation was made through Jesus. Jesus is the word of God so when God said, that was Jesus right there.

Jesus is the light of the world. We see who we are when we encounter him.

I am feeling very inadequate to be talking about these huge spiritual concepts. But here goes…

Can you imagine building something big enough to walk through? A model village where you built every building, painted every detail, created beings to live in the village and use it. Their very existence and way of life was dependent on you. And you visit this village but no one knows you or recognizes you as the creator?

“The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

That is a big deal, a big thing, a change in the way that God had dealt with man. God had been a presence in the world. He revealed himself in very big, very Godlike ways, burning bushes, plagues on enemies, bread from heaven, water in the desert, water parting. Big ways, but now there was this man, a guy, a carpenter who started gathering a following.

A rugged prophet out in the wilds said that he was special.

“15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”)

Jesus, fully God, fully man.

That is enough to think about for today for me.

Titus

Paul’s True son in the faith.

Left alone on the island of Crete.

Left to straighten out, reinforce, assign leaders, good leaders.

What are the qualities of a good leader?

“6 An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe[b] and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. 7 Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. 8 Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. 9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.”

Titus was also supposed to silence the opposition. If this were a movie that would mean snuff them out. I don’t think that’s what Paul meant here.

Once Paul was being harassed by an evil spirit that was in a slave girl. She followed him taunting him and mocking him.

“Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

Acts 16:16-18

This did not go smoothly for Paul and Silas. They were arrested, beaten and flogged and thrown into prison. And God even used that. They were in chains in the prison having a worship service and God sent an earthquake that set them free. But they didn’t use that to escape. They shared Jesus with their terrified jailer and he and his household were saved.

We have the Holy Spirit living in us, he can give us a heart for our taunters and words to use to change hearts and minds.

“For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. 11 They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. 12 One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.”[c] 13 This saying is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith.”

A rebuke sharp enough to silence people with evil intent. I’m not sure what that would sound like. The Holy Spirit does know and can use us if we are listening to him and ingesting the words of God.

We will encounter some people that just don’t want what we have and will try to destroy what we teach.

“To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. 16 They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.”

There will be times when we are opposed. Answer this question and then proceed with caution. Are we trying to win arguments or win souls?

It is helpful to me to remember who i was, how i was and where i was headed before i met Jesus. It’s all about sharing Jesus with people like us, who don’t deserve His mercy and grace but can receive it freely, just like we did.

How many words does it take to change a life? It sounds like at a setup for a joke. It isn’t.

Matthew 9 tells us about when the author met Jesus.

“9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’[a] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”’

Jesus said two words and changed Matthew’s life forever. Matthew in turn has helped tell the world about Jesus.

Who can be included in this following of the teacher Jesus? It’s a special group of people. Who is Jesus looking for? Who is Jesus seeking? Who goes to a doctor? The sick. Who is Jesus seeking? The ones of us who admit we need his help.

The apostle John said in his first letter, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

When we are sick the first step to recovery is admitting that we need help.

I need help from Jesus. I need to be released from the burden off all my mistakes and blunders and disobedience. He is ready to help. He ready and waiting to forgive me yet again. His sacrifice, his bloody brutal death paid for all of it. And then he rose from the dead, victorious over sin and over death.

His mercy is inclusive. It is offered to all of us. Who needs a doctor today? A doctor who can wash away all of our sin? I do.

With two words Jesus changed Matthews life who in turned told the world about Jesus and by writing them down, has helped the world hear those words, follow me.

Are you coming?