Jesus began His ministry teaching in the synagogues unlike any other teacher. He read words from the prophet Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor..." Jesus understood and embraced this anointing. The crowds did not want Him to leave because they knew they were being taught by someone appointed by God. His response:
Luke 4: 43-44 43 But he said to them, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.” 44 So he continued proclaiming the message in the synagogues of Judea.
How many people attending churches...pastors and laity alike, really understand the singularity of God's purpose for us? Jesus defeated Satan and overcame our sins so that we will receive, as adopted children, the riches of His kingdom. I sit through sermon after sermon getting the "How to be a better (blank)" message. Fill in the blank with all sorts of Christian labels: servant, leader, teacher, preacher, prayer warrior, father, mother, wife, husband, son, daughter. I look at our church bulletin and see color ads announcing Diet or Exercise programs, Celebrate Recovery and Recovery International programs available in our church and then if I look real hard in the black and white plain-text section I find out that we also have Bible study groups that meet as well. I believe that this pretty much highlights where we are focused...on ourselves and our wellness.
Jesus' message was that God loves us and sent Jesus so that we could be with Him in heaven for eternity. Jesus revealed God's nature by contrasting it with our human nature, but I find that far too often, we are trying to get comfortable with a better and improved, more acceptable human condition instead of allowing Jesus to transform us. The self-help programs keep us in control and we can receive the praise for our progress.
The good news that Jesus proclaimed is the same today as it was when He was teaching. God loves us and wants to save us. He sent us Jesus to teach us and reveal His love and He anoints us with His Spirit to proclaim the message that Christ proclaimed. The message is found in God's own words and we don't need to add our own techniques and slant to make it more effective. Jesus had faith in His Father's love and His Father's word. Faith is trusting, believing, and having confidence in whom we place our faith, and if we put our faith in God, His anointing will be all we need to see His purpose for us. His Spirit leads us in Holy devotions and Holy living so that the Good News is revealed in our living and in our speaking.
Discover and Proclaim the Truth of The Bible which is: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life." (John 3:16 NRSV). Jesus came to humanity to proclaim and give evidence to that love and He has commanded us to do the same. We, who believe, must not merely be followers, but we must be proclaimers of the Gospel Message and we can only do that by being filled with the love of God.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Joshua 1...."BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS"
We read these words four times in Joshua 1. God is about to give the Jews the promised land as Joshua leads the Israelites through the Jordan River and God's words of encouragement are "Be Strong and Courageous". God is telling Joshua to put his faith in Him. Jesus tells us the same thing in Matthew 6 when He tell us "do not worry about your life...."
As I look back over my "Christian Walk" it looks like a roller coaster ride. I have the highs followed by the lows, and I believe that those lows are times when I took my eyes off Christ, put my faith in myself or someone else instead of God, and worry, fear, and discouragement took over. God does not want us to be on this roller coaster ride after we receive Christ as our Savior.
Because I have received Jesus and His Spirit lives within me, I do not have to fall from the highs every time life throws me a challenge. It is in the midst of the challenges that God's grace can be most apparent and His power and love experienced. By keeping my eyes on Christ and putting my faith in God, every day can be another day of being raised higher and higher with God's glory shining brighter and brighter.
As I look back over my "Christian Walk" it looks like a roller coaster ride. I have the highs followed by the lows, and I believe that those lows are times when I took my eyes off Christ, put my faith in myself or someone else instead of God, and worry, fear, and discouragement took over. God does not want us to be on this roller coaster ride after we receive Christ as our Savior.
Because I have received Jesus and His Spirit lives within me, I do not have to fall from the highs every time life throws me a challenge. It is in the midst of the challenges that God's grace can be most apparent and His power and love experienced. By keeping my eyes on Christ and putting my faith in God, every day can be another day of being raised higher and higher with God's glory shining brighter and brighter.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Luke 7: 9 Jesus was Amazed!
This passage is from the story where Jesus heals the slave of a Centurion, an officer in the Roman army. This Roman had shown great faith in Jesus when he asked for Jesus to heal one of his slaves, insisting that Jesus could do it just by speaking the word.
Luke 7: 1-10 7 After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2 A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death. 3 When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave. 4 When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy of having you do this for him, 5 for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us.” 6 And Jesus went with them, but when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; 7 therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed. 8 For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.” 9 When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” 10 When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.
As I read these words, the fact that Jesus was "amazed" caused me to pause. Here is God, creator of all things, amazed by a man. This just reveals how much in love, God is with us, that he looks upon us with amazement when we put our faith in Him. This is evidence that God did not create us as puppets on a string to be manipulated by Him, but He created us to be in a relationship where we can be amazed by Him and He can be amazed by us.
The next time I am wowed by God's grace and love, I will find joy in knowing that God will rejoice that my faith in Him is growing.
Luke 7: 1-10 7 After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2 A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death. 3 When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave. 4 When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy of having you do this for him, 5 for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us.” 6 And Jesus went with them, but when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; 7 therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed. 8 For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.” 9 When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” 10 When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.
As I read these words, the fact that Jesus was "amazed" caused me to pause. Here is God, creator of all things, amazed by a man. This just reveals how much in love, God is with us, that he looks upon us with amazement when we put our faith in Him. This is evidence that God did not create us as puppets on a string to be manipulated by Him, but He created us to be in a relationship where we can be amazed by Him and He can be amazed by us.
The next time I am wowed by God's grace and love, I will find joy in knowing that God will rejoice that my faith in Him is growing.
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