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Category: Jesus (Page 28 of 60)

God Is Involved

May 19, 2015 / / 0 Comments

PrisonChainsThe Gospel is not just one point in history. We know the Gospel is not just the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. The Gospel is eternal. It’s what God is doing and what God has always been doing. One way to sum up the enormous scope of the good news of God is to say that God is involved and things can change.

God is involved in real human need. Real, practical, physical, earthly, human need. It’s not metaphorical, allegorical, or symbolic. It’s real. When Adam and Eve are naked and afraid, God gives them clothes and protection. When Cain is worried about being killed, God gives him a mark of safety. When Israel is trapped in bondage to slavery, God delivers them to freedom. When David was a sinner, God forgave him. God is involved in real human need.

And we see this so clearly in his Son. Jesus came to show us what it looks like when God is involved. He tells us the stories and embodies it in his actions. God is involved in real human needs. And that’s really good news. A man is bleeding to death in a ditch and along comes a good Samaritan. Yes! A runaway son comes home smelling like a pig pen and his father runs to hug him and restore him to the family. Excellent! A man says to Jesus, “You can heal me if you are willing.” And Jesus replies, “I am willing.” That’s the Gospel! That’s the good news!

The Kingdom of God is hurting people being comforted. It’s distressed people being encouraged. It’s about hopeless people being given hope. The Gospel is captives being freed, prisoners being released, outcasts being brought in to a family. It’s cold people being warmed, sinful men and women receiving full forgiveness and Satan’s grip being broken forever.

God is involved right now today in your situation. The almighty Creator of heaven and earth is not some distant despot, a remote ruler who only watches from afar. He sees your plight, he hears your cries, he feels compassion for you, and he is mighty to save. He is intimately involved.

Peace,

Allan

Do Whatever Jesus Tells You

May 12, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Do Whatever Jesus Tells YouWe’re not sure what the mother of Jesus was thinking at that wedding in Cana when she told her son the hosts had run out of wine. But she was clearly expecting Jesus to do something. The timing was wrong and the Messiah seemed a little less than enthusiastic about inserting himself into the situation, but his mother was asking him to do something. And then she told the servants of the house, “Do whatever Jesus tells you.”

Mary knew that Jesus would provide what was needed. And whatever he chose to do and however he chose to do it, Mary believed would be for the best of everybody involved. She trusted that Jesus would come through. And he did.

Jesus provided more wine at that party than anybody could possibly drink. The conservative estimate in Scripture claims anywhere from 150-180 gallons of wine. That’s a lot of wine. And not just any wine; this was the very best wine. This wine was so good the caterer complained to the groom.

“Do whatever Jesus tells you” is a statement of faith and confidence in that grace and in the Lord of that grace. You can’t do much better than that. Advising people to do whatever Jesus tells them and you, yourself, doing whatever Jesus tells you is a pretty good rule of life.

Jesus delivered more than Mary could have possibly asked or imagined. He provided an abundance of blessing. There’s grace in this miracle. There’s grace and provision for a pushy mom and grace and provision for everybody who had been invited to the feast. Abundant grace and provision. From Jesus. More than you need.

Peace,

Allan

 

Protected by Christ

May 2, 2015 / / 0 Comments

“Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” ~Romans 8:33-34

Protected by ChristJesus is right now interceding for you. He is speaking up for you. He did not return to heaven to retire. He is there today speaking to the Father on your behalf. He is representing you, defending you, working for you. And he’s never lost a case.

“He is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” ~Hebrews 7:25

The One who speaks for us has already been there. He’s already taken all the tests and passed them with flying colors. He’s aced all the exams and he has all the answers. You will never face anything in your life that our Lord hasn’t already faced and conquered. And he speaks for you today. He protects you.

Peace,

Allan

What Can I Do For You?

April 20, 2015 / / 0 Comments

The Holy One of Israel came to this earth not to be served but to serve and to give his life for others. He came to seek and save what was lost. He took the very form of a servant. Our Lord never did anything for himself. He lived and died to meet the needs of others.

At the end of Luke 18, Jesus is purposefully walking to his death. He’s almost to Jerusalem and the cross. And he comes upon a blind man sitting by the roadside begging. Jesus looks at him and says, “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus — full of the Holy Spirit, empowered by Almighty God, living in perfect harmony with God’s original promise and God’s perfect plan — says, “What do you want me to do for you?”

Just a few verses earlier, Jesus had been surrounded by a bunch of little kids. “Let them come to me,” he says, “in all their sticky handed and runny nosed glory! Do not hinder them! Let them come!” And they’re climbing all over him as he touches them and hugs them, engages them and blesses them.

One chapter earlier, Jesus engages and heals and blesses ten Samaritan lepers. In Luke 14 Jesus interrupts his own dinner in the home of a popular Pharisee to heal another man of a terrible disease. One chapter before that he lays his hands on a crippled woman and sets her free.

We get it, right? We’re not surprised when, after all this serving and healing and blessing, Jesus gets to the end of the road and asks one more time, “What can I do for you?”

This world is broken. It’s messed up. You are broken. You are. You know you are. I am messed up. I am. I know I am. We are all broken. And we see in Jesus our God’s faithful promise to deliver justice to the marginalized and oppressed, to bring healing to the sick and dying, to restore community to the lonely and isolated, and to bless those separated from God with true joy and connection. And belonging. And peace.

Peace,

Allan

Desert Time

April 13, 2015 / / 0 Comments

“He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us.” ~2 Corinthians 1:10

We view any hardships we encounter as unpleasant interruptions. Trials and tribulations are distractions that mess up our lives. It’s unfair when something bad happens to us. But Scripture paints things like this from the divine perspective of the Father. Paul says tough times come into our lives to teach us, to show us, not to rely on ourselves, but on God.

“This happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” ~2 Corinthians 2:9

God’s people have always believed that if you want to hear the voice of God, you go to the desert. You are drawn to God in the desert. You’re brought closer to God in the desert. God is better able to mold you and shape you in the desert. Because in the desert, you can’t survive without God’s direct intervention. If doesn’t provide water, you die. If God doesn’t give you food, you die. If God doesn’t bless you with shade, you don’t survive. If you’re in the desert, you can’t live without God. And you realize it there more than at any other time in your life.

It’s hard in the desert. It’s tough. Hot. Dry. Barren. Very little sign of life anywhere. Surrounded by desolation. And most of the time you don’t know if you’re going to be able to take one more step.

Maybe you’re in the middle of a desert right now. Maybe. Are you? You feel isolated. Alone. Helpless. Something’s happened to get you in this place. A serious illness. A divorce. Somebody died. A job situation. Whatever it is, maybe you don’t know if you can even make it one more day.

I want you to know that this desert time is where our God shapes you. God trains you in the desert. He’s drawing you closer and causing you to depend more on him.

“I’m going to allure you. I will lead you into the desert and speak tenderly to you.” ~Hosea 2:14

Before the Israelites entered the Promised Land, they spent 40 years in the desert. God gave them manna and quail from heaven and water from a rock. And it changed them into the people he wanted them to be. David spent time in the desert, running for his life, hiding in caves. God protected him and provided for him in the oasis at En Gedi. And it changed him into the greatest king Israel’s ever known. Elijah was driven to the desert where God caused an angel from heaven to give him food and then spoke to him personally in that small, still voice. And it shaped him into the Lord’s greatest prophet. When Jesus was baptized the Holy Spirit pushed him into the desert where he was tempted and tortured by Satan and protected and provided for by God.

It took Jesus 40 days. It took Moses 40 years.

God’s promise in Christ is that everything is going to be made right. All will be well. He proved his promise in the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus and in Jesus’ ascension to the place of ultimate power and authority at the right hand of God. Every single thing that’s wrong is being changed. And it’s all being made perfect to dwell forever in the presence of God.

So if things are not well with you today, it means it’s not over yet. It’s not done. And that’s good news! God is at work in you and through you. The Spirit says God will bring to completion that thing he’s started in you. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it. Amen. Maybe while you’re in the desert.

Peace,

Allan

Easter Sunday

April 5, 2015 / / 0 Comments

“The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead! God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him!”
~Acts 5:30-32

Christ Jesus our Lord is risen and reigning today, right now, at the right hand of God. May he bless us and his Church with the same boldness and courage of the apostles who witnessed it.

Peace,

Allan

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