Peter’s Posts

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.

Born again.

That term or phrase sounds like something that was coined by a 20th century evangelist. In my mind I can hear the Reverend Billy Graham say it. “You must be born again.”

The truth is, It was Jesus who coined the phrase. He was talking to an influential spiritual leader who had come to speak with Jesus “after dark one evening”. The leaders name was Nicodemus.

“After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”’
John 3:2-3 – NLT

It was a new phrase to an old teacher, a new concept. So Jesus explained what he meant and how it was possible.

“Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.” “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked. Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
John 3:5-17 – NLT

What about me? Have I experienced the new birth? Yes! I live with the promise of eternal life! I was physically born into the family of Herbert and Elaine Loeffelbein, but I was reborn into the family of God almighty.

What about you? Have you experienced the new birth?

The apostle Paul summed it up like this:
If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised from the dead, you will be saved.

Here it is quoted in context: “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. As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”’
Romans 10:9-13 – NLT

I am thinking about the spiritual application of brokeness. The word gives me a mental picture of a twig snapped in two. But maybe brokeness is more like my washing machine. From the outside it looks fine, but on the inside there is something deeply wrong. If I were to operate it for very long it would self distuct. It’s not snapped in two but it is broken, like my washing machine, I am not snapped in two, but I am broken. I believe that Jesus is an excellent repairman, and I need his touch on my internal workings.

So many of the people I know are like me, wounded and broken on the inside. We are like broken down jalopies, barely capable of moving yet life does not, will not allow us to pull off the highway of life to get fixed. I get images in my head of the Beverly Hillbillies truck.

Jesus said he came to seek and save the lost. He came to save, not condemn.

I think about the leper, if you are willing and Jesus was willing. And I remember the woman at the well shunned by her townspeople but Jesus broke all the rules and revealed himself to her. Then there was blind Bartimaeus. When he finally got Jesus’ attention Jesus asked what he wanted – to be given sight of course. Also there was the woman caught in the act of adultery. After dispersing her accusers he said “neither do I condemn you”.

Let’s take a look, we find the story in John chapter 8.

“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
“No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

These people all were broken but Jesus didn’t toss them aside, instead he fixed their physical conditions and set them free from their sins.

In Isaiah 42 God declares his intention to heal, mend, encourage.

“A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;

The washing machine is a bad example because I did toss it and bought a new one. Now my garbage disposal is a different story. It quit working and I was preparing to replace it but while I was looking for a model number I found a post that showed how to reset an overload button. Presto! It started working again!

Sometimes it is our brokenness that keeps us from Jesus. We feel unclean, like the leper I mentioned earlier. Lepers were required to stay at a distance and shout unclean. I can identify with this but the man in our story shook off the conventions and restrictions and got close enough to Jesus to touch him.

How broken are you? Not sure why I asked that. It doesn’t matter. Maybe it’s time to look into our owns hearts and minds and assess where we need healing or repair. We cannot be too broken for Jesus to heal us.

A bruised reed, a smoldering wick an overloaded garbage disposal. That’s me,

Jesus does not condemn me. Jesus does not condemn you. He is waiting for us to ask him to help us.

Will you ask for help today? I hope that you will. If you are already repaired will you share your story of redemption and repair with someone else?

Thanks for reading all the way to the end.

May God bless you today with his healing touch.

Staying on mission

“🎶the ships aground on the shore of this uncharted desert Isle…🎶”

For my generation most of my schoolmates would be hearing that song play from our TVs at 3:30 pm every week day.

Home from school, toss the books and coats and flip on the TV to Gilligan’s Isle.

It was a great distraction from life and school work and homework.

The Apostle Paul had a story about a shipwreck too. 15 days at sea in a terrible storm. We read about it in Acts 27.

In the midst of the storm Paul is visited by an angel and receives a hopeful message.

“The next day, as gale-force winds continued to batter the ship, the crew began throwing the cargo overboard. The following day they even took some of the ship’s gear and threw it overboard. The terrible storm raged for many days, blotting out the sun and the stars, until at last all hope was gone. No one had eaten for a long time. Finally, Paul called the crew together and said, “Men, you should have listened to me in the first place and not left Crete. You would have avoided all this damage and loss. But take courage! None of you will lose your lives, even though the ship will go down. For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me, and he said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul, for you will surely stand trial before Caesar! What’s more, God in his goodness has granted safety to everyone sailing with you.’ So take courage! For I believe God. It will be just as he said. But we will be shipwrecked on an island.”
Acts 27:18-26 – NLT

The danger didn’t stop there, the soldiers he was sailing with wanted to kill the prisoners but…

“The soldiers wanted to kill the prisoners to make sure they didn’t swim ashore and escape. But the commanding officer wanted to spare Paul, so he didn’t let them carry out their plan. Then he ordered all who could swim to jump overboard first and make for land. The others held on to planks or debris from the broken ship. So everyone escaped safely to shore.”
Acts 27:42-44 – NLT

Up to this point Paul had been beaten, stoned, and whipped numerous times yet he just kept on telling people about Jesus. He stayed on mission, stayed on task.

I need that focus. It embarrasses me to to admit how little it takes to get me off focus and off task. My mission is the same as Paul’s, tell other people about Jesus.

Here is how Paul describes his mission:

“I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!”
Philippians 3:7-11 – NLT

It’s time to go to work, both figuratively and literally, so I end here. I must ask myself, How am I doing? Am I staying on task? How are you doing?

Staying on mission

“🎶the ships aground on the shore of this uncharted desert Isle…🎶”

For my generation most of my schoolmates would be hearing that song play from our TVs at 3:30 pm every week day.

Home from school, toss the books and coats and flip on the TV to Gilligan’s Isle.

It was a great distraction from life and school work and homework.

The Apostle Paul had a story about a shipwreck too. 15 days at sea in a terrible storm. We read about it in Acts 27.

In the midst of the storm Paul is visited by an angel and receives a hopeful message.

“The next day, as gale-force winds continued to batter the ship, the crew began throwing the cargo overboard. The following day they even took some of the ship’s gear and threw it overboard. The terrible storm raged for many days, blotting out the sun and the stars, until at last all hope was gone. No one had eaten for a long time. Finally, Paul called the crew together and said, “Men, you should have listened to me in the first place and not left Crete. You would have avoided all this damage and loss. But take courage! None of you will lose your lives, even though the ship will go down. For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me, and he said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul, for you will surely stand trial before Caesar! What’s more, God in his goodness has granted safety to everyone sailing with you.’ So take courage! For I believe God. It will be just as he said. But we will be shipwrecked on an island.”
Acts 27:18-26 – NLT

The danger didn’t stop there, the soldiers he was sailing with wanted to kill the prisoners but…

“The soldiers wanted to kill the prisoners to make sure they didn’t swim ashore and escape. But the commanding officer wanted to spare Paul, so he didn’t let them carry out their plan. Then he ordered all who could swim to jump overboard first and make for land. The others held on to planks or debris from the broken ship. So everyone escaped safely to shore.”
Acts 27:42-44 – NLT

Up to this point Paul had been beaten, stoned, and whipped numerous times yet he just kept on telling people about Jesus. He stayed on mission, stayed on task.

I need that focus. It embarrasses me to to admit how little it takes to get me off focus and off task. My mission is the same as Paul’s, tell other people about Jesus.

Here is how Paul describes his mission:

“I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!”
Philippians 3:7-11 – NLT

It’s time to go to work, both figuratively and literally, so I end here. I must ask myself, How am I doing? Am I staying on task? How are you doing?

From a memory.

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.

Jehovah Nissi. The lord our banner. It’s one of the names of God that I struggle to connect with… Or did until today. I saw a picture in my mind in a flash. It was like happened in a second. I’m going to try to describe what I saw In my mind. I was a young soldier reporting to battle. It was ancient times. I couldn’t see the battle field until I was almost on it. As I cleared the last hill a huge valley spread out in front of me. As far as I could see there were soldiers and horses and weapons, every menacing tool imaginable was there. The valley was filled with encampments, each encampment had at its center a banner. Every banner was the name of the tribe… Or so I thought, but as I got closer the banners each listed one of my sins. One banner I read said “Peter Loeffelbein should die because he on May 5th 1970 he stole Mike Hancocks green army truck.” That was the only one I feel comfortable sharing here but all my sins were there. My enemies wanted to destroy me for committing them. Myriad of enemies all ready to do battle against me because of my sins. I was overwhelmed. But then I saw it. In the center of all this hatred towards me I saw another banner. It said ” I love peter Loeffelbein! my son Jesus will die in his place”. There was Gods camp. His banner declared his love for me. He would send out his son, his only son to die in my place. All of my sins which in the enemies hands had become weapons would strike him and not me. I ran to that banner and fell down and wept at the feet of my king and my Champion, Jesus.

Jehovah Nissi, his banner over me is love. He has a banner for each one of us. Run to his banner.

Mark 14:3
While He was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper, (who miraculously was no longer suffering from the incurable disease) and reclining at the table, there came a woman with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume of pure nard; and she broke the vial and poured it over His head.

I heard a radio pastor speak on this section of scripture and his explanation really moved me.

He pointed out that the jar was very special. It would normally be used for either a dowry in marriage or a burial ointment.

The woman didn’t just crack the seal and dip some out. She broke the jar. She was all in. This jar that would either marry her or bury her she gave it all to Jesus.

Her commitment, her willingness to throw it all in poked my heart. Am I willing to commit like this? Am I 100% given over to this Jesus who has given all of himself for me?

John 14

Come home.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Jesus the Way to the Father
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

God our father is beckoning us to come home.

He stands on his front step of his house smiling and waving, scooping the air in a “come here” motion. He is smiling and pleading. “Come home! Come and spend time with me, rest here with me”.

As we approach we are scared and disappointed by the fact that between us and him is an expanse. The expanse is uncrossable, impossible. We recognize the expanse for what caused it, our sin. We stop and shout across to our father, “how? How can I get to you? I want so much to come home to you but how?”

He smiles and points. There is a bridge that we didn’t see. As we run towards the bridge we notice it’s odd shape and as we get even closer we see the bridge is covered in blood and then we hear a voice, his voice, Jesus’ voice, “it is finished” and we realize the bridge isn’t something, it is someone. The only bridge to our father is his bloodied and beaten son, stretched across the expanse of our sins.

The only way to God our Father is across the bridge of Jesus’ death. Will we take it?

The father is calling us, come home.

Did they have name tags?

When Moses and Elijah appeared on the mountain top and spoke with Jesus, how did Peter James and John know who they were? Did Jesus say, ” Hey Mo, how are you Elijah? What’s up?” Or was it just deduced from the context of the conversation?

Maybe there was an introduction? “Peter, James, John, this is Moses, the law giver, and this is Elijah, the mighty prophet..”

Let’s read the text from. Matthew 17.

“17 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.

4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

10 The disciples asked him, “Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?”

11 Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. 12 But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.”

The Jewish people were looking for a messiah, some one to come and shake off the oppression of Roman rule. They knew from the prophecies of the Old Testament that Elijah was supposed to come and usher in the messiah.

Here is Elijah, not an Elijah type but the real original Elijah standing before them. As a bonus the leader of leaders, a messiah of his own generation, freer of the Jews from Egyptian bondage, Moses, was standing there too. Two of the most influential humans to ever walk the planet. If they were talking to anyone other than God himself, they would be the ones to to listen to, they would have the message from God, they would be the star of the show but the voice from God said, “this is my son, listen to him”.

I think this scene may have been like a prize fight ring where the trainer and coach are in the corner encouraging and pumping up
The champion before he takes on the two ugliest and strongest forces known on earth. The forces Jesus was about to fight were Sin and Death. Up to that time these two, sin and death, were undefeated. Jesus was about to battle them not for himself but for us.

He will win. He did win. As he said from the cross, “it is finished”.

Jesus has defeated our enemies, sin and death. By defeating sin he removed the separation between us and God. Our debt is paid, the slate is clean and we have access to our loving Heavenly Father. By defeating death he took away the period at the end of the sentence so our life can go on with God. Physical death can now be the doorway to eternal life with God.

There is a questionnaire to fill out.

Who is Jesus?

What has he done for you?

It’s an open book test. There is a strong hint in Romans 10:9-10.

“9 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. 10 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.”

Jesus knew how he would die and he did it anyway.

Matthew 16 Jesus begins to tells his disciples that he was going to suffer and die.

“21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life[f] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

28 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

He did it any way because he knew why he would die. Without his death as payment none of us would have a chance at having our relationship with God restored.

He died for me, a sinner. We can all say that sentence and it will be true, the sad part, being a sinner, and the happy part, that Jesus died for us, all true for each and every person.

If you didn’t know that yet, what will you do about it today? Don’t wait, act today. Decide. Will you receive the gift Jesus has given?

If you’ve read this and you heard it before and you acted on it and now are a disciple of Jesus, I am so happy but I have a follow up question, who have you told about this Jesus who loves enough to knowingly die in our place? 2/3rds of the world still haven’t accepted his gift. There are many who need to hear. Who will we tell today?

When relationship becomes routine

I have routines in my life that I have developed so that I don’t have to think about what I’m doing. At 4:05 my alarm goes off and my routine kicks in. Stumbling out of my room as quietly as I can, I proceed to the kitchen and make coffee and eggs and take my pills and plop into the recliner and read my daily chapter of the New Testament. Then I Read a part of a chapter of the book our men’s group is studying, pray for our compassion kids, (I have a book mark to remind me), pray for Mary my wife, (I have another book mark to remind me). just in case I fall asleep while studying I have a second alarm that goes off at 5:05. Next I make lunch, take another set of pills and head off to work.

Following Jesus is a relationship. I do things in a routine way to maintain that relationship. I want my activities to be routine but I want my relationship to remain vital and alive.

One thing all relationships need to survive and grow is time together.

I recently read that performance kills intimacy. By doing my routine have I morphed from a relationship to performing a routine?

While I am doing the daily things to maintain my spiritual life at a basic level am I losing closeness to Jesus by substituting routine for relationship? How do I keep my relationship alive while I continue to do the stuff that keeps me connected at a base level but that can become an artificial religion.

Do I do the things Jesus requests us all to do?

Keith Green had a song that said “come away come away come away with me my love”. In my head I say “I will do anything for you Jesus!” What, oh, I don’t really want to get up at 4:05 so I can spend time with you, can we just fit some time in between my work and my other stuff?

God says “trust me with your $$” Seriously Jesus I will do anything for you! What’s that? Give you ten percent of my money? I can’t tithe right now. We overspent on our vacation and school supplies are coming up and everything. You understand.

Jesus I will do anything for you! What’s that now? Sunday school needs volunteers? I really need to be in service so I can hear the sermon. I’m not good with kids. I don’t know the Bible that well.

Jesus I will do anything for you! What’s that? My neighbor needs help? I don’t know him that well. I don’t think that he’s a Christian. He listens to some pretty raunchy music. I don’t want to expose myself to that. I’m sure someone else will pitch in and help.

Jesus wants me to spend time with him. He also has tasks for me, tasks for my specific skill set and experiences. Ephesians 2:10 says “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which he prepared in advance for us to do.”

God loves me, he loves us. Jesus is the proof and the picture of his love. I was struck recently while in church singing. The rhyme scheme used love and blood. The culture we live in will not make that connection. Gods love displayed in the bloody death of his son. We sing about how God’s love is unfathomable, one song describes it as an ocean without bottom or shore.

“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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” Jn 3:16-17 NIV

I kind of rambled a bit today. I’ll sum up.

God wants a relationship not religion or routine. He wants our affection.

He also wants obedience. He wants me to do the things and help the people that he puts in my path.

God loves me – loves us. Jesus is the proof.

John 13

Dirty work

” It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

8 “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

9 “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

10 Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

I’m not sure how we got away from this, the foot washing. I guess some groups still do it. It’s a Maundy Thursday thing. Some groups do it more often. I have washed feet but never have I had my feet washed.

Washing feet is an act of saying we are all human. I fail at perfection. No matter how well I cover up, conceal, perfume or otherwise hide my imperfections my feet will still sweat and stink.

Will you help me not stink? Will I help you not stink? Life is dirty. Feet get dirty. We can cover up or we can confess our human-ness and participate in keeping each other less dirty and less stinky.

It’s not just our feet is it? It’s my heart and my mind. My life and my actions. Will we help each other clean up our life and actions? Will we trust each other?
“But my feet have been in some really deep poop”.

We are all at times in deep poop. Life is at times, deep poop. Deep stinky sticky poop. Are we committed to clean others as we ourselves are cleaned?

Confession and forgiveness. Cleansing each other in a close and personal way.

Christianity isn’t living the perfect life. Christianity is living the forgiven and forgiving life.

Who is this Jesus guy?

That is the most important question we can ever answer. Who is Jesus?

It’s not just a life and death question. It’s an eternal life or eternal separation from God question.

In Matthew 16 Jesus asked his disciples this very question.

“13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter,[b] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades[c] will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be[d] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[e] loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.”

In my mind I see Peter answering this casually, with a mouth full of the first century version of potato chips.

Muffled by the food in his mouth and crumbs tumbling out and he said it, “you are the Christ, the son of the living God…”

Only God’s Spirit can reveal this truth to a person.

I pray today that folks that read this post would stop and answer the question for themselves.

Who is Jesus?

For those of us who already know him, I pray there would be fresh revelation of what that means to us and to the world. For those who haven’t discovered who he is yet, may Gods Spirit shine it into your hearts.

Jesus is the messiah, the son of the living God.

This morning I read Hebrews chapter 9.
Here are the verses that stood out to me.

“In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

“But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”

To remove sin, it requires a blood sacrifice. Jesus bled and died to pay for my sin, for your sin. He was the perfect man and so his blood washes us clean.

Our culture removes us from blood and death and gives us a plethora of ways to busy ourselves so we can ignore or even forget our sins. But they remain. Like a pit toilet our sins just keep piling up. Stinking and festering and poisonous.

Jesus blood washes the whole mess away with one giant flush.

It’s a beautiful thing available to all.

John 12

The horn button principle.

” Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

27 “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!”

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

30 Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up[g] from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

34 The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”

35 Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. 36 Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.”

The horn button principal. I have A 57 chevy pickup. His name is Rusty. For close to 30 years before I had my truck, I had a 57 chevy truck horn button. It sat on a shelf in my garage. I wanted a truck. I had horn button. When anyone asked about the horn button I would say “I’m growing to grow a 57 Chevy pickup from that horn button”. A long time passed. Finally one day I gave away the horn button. That ended my dream. Or so I thought. Several years went by but around my 50th birthday I got a letter from an uncle saying he had a 57 Chevy truck that he wanted to give me. It was the same person that I had given the horn button to. The day I got the truck I also got the horn button back. I had planted the seed and it germinated and grew into a truck.

The principle is that you have to let the dream die so that it can come back to life. Bigger and better than you could hope for.

Jesus literally planted himself in the earth for us. He died and was buried and came back to life changed. The people who were following him had an idea of who and what Messiah would be. It was wrong or at least incomplete. Messiah wasn’t coming to set Israel free from Roman oppression. Messiah had come to set mankind free from sins oppression. Jesus had to die, the incorrect or incomplete messianic dream had to die so that Jesus could become the real and only hope of freedom from sin.

“25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”

From a memory

You can have chili, cedar cheese crackers and raspberry sorbet for dinner but there is a day of reckoning or in my case, a morning of testing. That meal doesn’t sound like a diabetic rebellion but wow. Ding ding ding! High score for blood sugar.

Spiritually there is stuff we do and get away with that’s off our spiritual diet. We ingest and partake of things that we shouldn’t and because of grace and mercy we are forgiven when we apologize to God.

But there are 2 things I wonder about. The first is, is saying we are sorry the same as repentance? Repentance means to turn around, change course, do a 180 degree turn. The second is, what does this cheating on our spiritual diet do to our spiritual health? We may be forgiven but are we killing the spirits moving and working in our lives?

In the Lutheran liturgy each week as he began his sermon the pastor would say “grace and peace to you, from God our father and from our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ”.
It’s the greeting Paul used in many of his letters, Peter used it too. “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”

The reason I mention these scriptures is that they state Jesus’ dual role in the life of the Christian. he is our savior, his death pays for our sin and he is our Lord, our boss, our master, our sovereign King. It means he can tell us what to do and we will obey him. He can also tell us what not to do and we will obey him.

Do we really need a boss in our life telling us what to do and even harder, what not to do? Yes. Yes We do need that because this boss ordering our life Is the same boss who can and will forgive us when we fail him. And besides that His orders are always for our best good.

I sum up.

I fail, in my diet, in my spiritual life. There is forgiveness but there may be consequences, physically and spiritually. Jesus wants to fulfill his dual role in my life, save me from my sins and lead me as a good King. When I fail I should repent, turn around, throw the cheese crackers away! (the sorbet is gone already, burp).

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”

Holes that make us whole.

Beware!

Sorry celiacs but you may want to skip this next post. I’m going to talk about the glory of bread.

Bread glorious bread! The crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy insides. All of the yummy ways we can use it to carry other delicious food types into our mouths like pepperoni and garlic butter and sandwich fillings! I think the best part of bread is the delightful aroma as it bakes. The yeasty smell.

Yeast is pretty amazing stuff. It turns a ball of dough into a loaf of bread by puffing it up. As the yeast activates thousand of bubbles create little pockets of nothing.

In Matthew 16 Jesus talks about yeast. It’s not always a good thing.

“5 When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. 6 “Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

7 They discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn’t bring any bread.”

8 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? 9 Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 11 How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Just like yeast in dough, self righteousness can puff up a person. A puffed up
Person thinks themselves larger and better and self approved and not in need of a savior. But they are, as is a loaf of bread, Full of holes.

When Jesus died he got holes put into his hands and feet. But his death paid for my sin and restores my relationship with God. His holes make me whole. It is nothing I have done. I receive his holiness as a gift because he was willing to receive holes in his hands and feet.

Jesus called himself the bread of life.

“32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”’

Beware.

Beware of bread? No.

Beware of yeast, the yeast of the self righteous. Receive the bread of life, Jesus who became hole-y to make us holy and restore us to wholeness.

May third, what a glorious day for our family.

The year was 1975. It was the first Friday in May. Somehow, God only knows and I thank him even now, I caught the eye of this very pretty girl. She was in 7th grade, I was in 8th. She asked her friend about me and that friend later shouted down the hallway of our Jr. High something that was prophetic- how could she know? “Mary loves Peter!!” It was too ridiculous to be true , Mary was way out of my league, so when I heard it I thought it was a joke. Later that day that same girl would see me on my paper route and confirm that a very pretty, very smart, very gifted girl was interested in me. That day changed my life. The course of my life and every good thing that’s happened to me since then hinges on that day, that pretty girl,and that friend.

All of our family and all of our adventures started on that day. I am so grateful to God for our meeting and our subsequent life of love that started on that day in May, 197_ something. ❤️

Happy anniversary Mary and thank you Janetta.

Someone needs to hear this. Today’s Bible reading took me to Hebrews chapter 4.

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Heb 4:12-13

Since the garden of Eden and mankind’s rebellion against God we have been hiding from God. But he sees us. He not only sees what we are doing on the outside, he sees what’s going on on the inside. He knows what motivates our behavior, good and bad. And yet he loves us.

Paul said this in his letter to the Romans, “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.” Rom 5:6-11

God knows us, sees us and still loves us. He sent his only son to die in our place to pay for all of our debts, our sins, our willful misdeeds, and those deeds done to us.

In the first 4 chapters of Hebrews the writers quotes these verses 4 times, “Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.” Ps 95:7-8

If you are hearing his voice, the voice of a loving father saying “come home and be loved and forgiven”, I ask you to not harden your heart. Repent, return and rejoice in God’s reconciliation, his love and forgiveness.