bearing fruit that lasts

Jesus Passes the Baton

2011-04-25T16:47:00.000-07:00

Monday ~ April 25

Read:
John 20:19-23, Luke 24:13-17

Jesus passes the baton!
Jesus appears to His followers as if out of nowhere. He always knows right where we are, how to get to us and what we need. He is always right on time.
He comes with a message of “Peace” and His Spirit reminds us of when he spoke “peace I give you, not as the world gives…”
He reminds us of what He has done for us and what he is calling us to do.
When we chose to walk this road it was not for our own personal spiritual life and not so that our lives would bear the fruit of sacrifice. We do not walk this road for those we serve nor for those who we love. But we walk this road to testify to the greatness of Jesus, the Son of the living God in whose kingdom we find our home. It is with all honesty and gladness that we can proclaim…
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Hosanna in the highest!"
We may not know where this road may lead, but lead where it may, He will never leave us, or forget us. He will always be with us for He is in us. This road will lead us to the kingdom of our Father, but along the way, it will intersect with many others who like us before, he wants to invite to walk this journey with us. May He use us to draw many others to join Him on this road – the road to life, the road of Christ.
“Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53 And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.” Luke 24:52-53

Prayer:
Father,
May I continually praise you, and Jesus your Son, who has shown me the way of life. Thank you that you never leave me and your peace sustains me. May you use my life to dray many more to walk this road of Christ, to discover life and the hope that is found in your kingdom. Amen

Action:
Make a list of 3-5 people who Jesus may be intersecting your life with and who do not yet walk this road of Christ with you. Write each name down and pray that Jesus would show you how you can invite them to experience walking this road with Christ. Write down whatever ideas come to your mind next to each name and as God enables you bring those ideas to fruition. Pray for each person on your list by name each day of this week.

Meditate:
Matt 28:18-20
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

“ask where the good way is,
and walk in it,”
Jer 6:16

Jesus is Alive!

2011-04-24T06:58:00.000-07:00

Sunday ~ April 24

Read:
Luke 24:1-8

Jesus is alive!
The road of Christ leads to an empty tomb. Though humanity can kill him, death cannot hold him. “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!” Some things just do not make sense, like looking for the living among the dead.

Empty Garden Tomb

Jesus has drawn us to walk this road, to walk in his way. A journey to His Father‟s kingdom, and on this road Jesus defeats death not for himself but for us all.

“The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Rom 6:10-11)

This road of Christ has lead us to life, where we are alive to God in Christ Jesus. As we walk this road we get glimpses of the kingdom ahead of us and our steps lighten. The dark and lonely days are behind us. Though the ambush of our enemies is still a present threat, they cannot deter us. The kingdom is ahead of us, the sacred city that Christ has been leading us to is real and just ahead of us now.

Prayer:

Father,
Thank you for loving me and giving me this amazing experience of walking this road of Christ. Thank you for bringing Jesus to life, and that now His life can live in me.
May Jesus be praised by my life, He alone is worthy of all my praise.
May your Spirit always remind me of His words and ways, and may I always long to faithfully trust and obey Him. Give me a heart that is willing to sacrifice for the sake of your kingdom in the life of others. May my life be permeated with the atmosphere of service so others might see your kingdom. May the life that Christ lives in me be lived for you and for your glory. Amen

Action:
Take a walk in your neighbourhood today and consider how God has placed you there to bring the life of Christ to those who live around you. As you pass each house declare “He has risen” before it and ask God to make that truth known to those who live there.

Meditate:
Ephesians 2:4-5
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved.

“ask where the good way is,
and walk in it,
Jer 6:16

Road Hazards

2011-04-23T09:24:00.000-07:00

Saturday ~ April 23

Read:
John 12:1-11, John 15:18-16:4

Road Hazards

As long as we are walking on this road to God‟s Kingdom we will be walking through a world that is hostile to Jesus and His Father. The road that Jesus walks cuts through the landscape of pride, the hillsides of arrogance and the plains of self-sufficiency. There will be ambushes along the way. People will try to discredit you, shame you and cast you in the light of a fool, but we know the truth – a truth that has set us free.

I do not imagine Lazarus was afraid of the Chief Priest and their plans to kill him – he had already been dead once and Jesus had restored his life. Lazarus was now completely free to proclaim the works of Jesus, for what can any man do to him that has not already been done?

Remember Jesus told us these days will come and we should not be surprised when they do. We must always remember the old hymn…”this world is not my home, I am just a pass‟n through; my treasure is laid up somewhere beyond the blue”. There is a kingdom prepared for us, Jesus told His disciples He would go there to make things ready for our arrival. Even though some days are dark and others may be hostile, our hope rests not in this place any more but in the place where our Lord will be so we travel this road of life and holiness with the hope that comes in the morning.

Prayer:
Help me remember this road of Christ will lead through hostile lands some days. You tell us to “pray for our enemies and those who persecute us” and so I ask that you will make yourself known to them and that each of them might experience the depth of your love. Though my enemies may seek my destruction, my hope remains in your everlasting goodness. When people speak harshly against me, may my words return your grace. Help me remember that Jesus, my lord, died at the hands of His enemies, and I can experience your strength to extend your love as well. Thank you for never leaving me. Amen

Meditate:
John 17:22-23
I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

“ask where the good way is,
and walk in it,”
Jer 6:16

The Power of Sacrificial Servanthood

2011-04-22T22:41:00.000-07:00

Friday ~ April 22

Read:
John 14:15-15:17

The walk of Christ – the power of sacrificial servanthood

Jesus dies.
This road of walking with Christ takes an overwhelming turn and there is only one way to navigate the curve, obey him, and let his Spirit guide you.

Like turning the corner and finding you are in a very dark room.

There is only one way to make it on this road and it is through obedience to Jesus.

Do not think for a moment that He has abandoned us on this road to manage on our own. He has not. There is still road ahead of us, but we must rely on what He has told us. We must trust Him, we must obey Him. We must learn to listen to His Spirit that lives in us. It is only our sacrificial heart and attitude of service that will enable us to keep going and encourage others with us to continue down this road with us.

The light for our journey on the road to God‟s Kingdom must come from His Spirit that resides with in us. Our love for Him and others is the fuel we need to cause our lights to shine more brightly and make our way on this road. There is no other way. Now we will have to trust Him like never before. His Word will be the light for our road and obedience to His Spirit will show us how to proceed.

Prayer:
Father, Some days seem so dark and Jesus seems so distant. When I am tempted to turn back to my former way of living help me remember I am not alone. Thank you for sending your Spirit to guide me. Help me to learn to hear his voice more clearly and help me obey him. I thank you that Jesus told me that days like this would come and that His peace will always be with me. Help me to love Him and others in the midst of my uncertainty and may I experience His joy completely today. Amen.

Meditate:
Isa 53:5-6
―But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

“ask where the good way is,
and walk in it,”
Jer 6:16

The Walk of Christ - Modeling Servanthood

2011-04-22T22:12:00.000-07:00

Thursday ~ April 21
Read:
John13:1-17

The walk of Christ – Modeling Servanthood

As we dig down to walk this road with Christ we find an unexpected discovery. The air is different down here, like a different barometric pressure, the atmosphere is totally changed from where we were living a few feet of life higher, where we once were just walking. Jesus, the Son of God, who is leading us to live in the Kingdom of God is generating and permeating an entirely new atmosphere. It is an atmosphere of service. You can‟t escape it except to climb back up to the old place where you previously lived. It is unavoidable.

At first you‟re not sure whether to breath faster or slower, it may be hard to catch your breath, but if you don‟t fight it you soon find that breathing this new atmosphere of service to actually renew your strength. It is a fresher and cleaner air than you can remember breathing before.

Jesus shows us how to breathe on this road, by taking a towel and doing the most menial tasks. He jumps right in to the bottom of the servant roles with an attitude that he was doing the most prestigious job. But it doesn‟t stop here. He says we should do this too, just like he is – attitude and all!?!

But it doesn‟t stop here. It is in our service that we call others to serve, who likewise will call others to serve… We model what Jesus has shown us, not just doing the acts of service, but also calling others to service. Jesus has set a perpetually generating atmosphere of serving others on this road as we walk with Him. This is, indeed, a new and fresh walk, on the road where Christ walks.

Prayer:
Father,
You are turning my world upside down but yet it seems so right. Forgive me when my pride has kept me from receiving your service and also blinded me from serving others. Help me to breathe in this new way of living and begin to pass on this atmosphere of service. Show me the menial places you want me to serve and give me an attitude to enjoy them. May my joy cause others to long to serve others as well. Amen.

Action:
Look for one way you can serve someone that will take them, and you, by surprise that you would actually do it. Let them know that God loves them as you do it.

Meditate:
Matt 20:26-28
―Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

“ask where the good way is,
and walk in it,”
Jer 6:16

The Walk of Christ - the fruit of sacrifice

2011-04-20T17:40:00.000-07:00

Wednesday ~ April 20 - Passion Week Day 4

Read:
John 12:23-33

The walk of Christ – the fruit of sacrifice

Jesus knows that the road to God’s kingdom is paved with sacrifice. It is a sacrifice that He is prepared and ready to make. Without sacrifice our lives remain singular, but with sacrifice our lives bear fruit in the lives of many others.

Sacrifice is often something we want to avoid. Sacrifice hurts. Before the sacrifice is made the action appears final, it is hard to see beyond the sacrifice. Before the sacrifice our focus will be on the thing, the object, action, whatever it may be, that is about to be sacrifice. Do I have to sacrifice this? It is very difficult to see beyond the sacrifice. It is only after the sacrifice is made can we see the effects. It is done. It is gone. I can‟t go back now, but life begins to change now, in ways that would not have been possible before the sacrifice. We must sacrifice our wills to follow Christ‟s. We will sacrifice attitudes and values that have previously been the root of sinful behaviours, bitter feelings towards others, that have fueled our tempers, fed our worldly values. The things we sacrifice will cost us but will lead us to live and think differently. Jesus said “No, it is for this very reason I came…”

It is when we have trusted God to dig down through our lives and discover that the road that Jesus is on is really there. We have given him authority in our lives and realize this is really worth it; the sacrifice is glory to God. It is when we walk on this road of sacrifice we hear God‟s voice comforting us, assuring us, leading us to life.

Prayer:
Father,
May I learn to live sacrificially, so that I am willing to make every sacrifice you lead me to make. Help me to have open hands so my life can bring you glory. Help me not to hold on to the things, attitudes and values that have kept my life small. I ask that you begin to multiply your goodness in every area of my sacrifice. Amen.

Meditate:
John 12:49-50
―For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say."

“ask where the good way is,
and walk in it,”
Jer 6:16

Authority of Jesus - Exercising Trust in Our Living

2011-04-19T08:34:00.000-07:00

Tuesday ~ April 19 Passion Week day 3

Read:
Luke 20:1-8
Authority of Jesus - exercising trust in our living

Authority is a tricky thing. We rebel when we think authority has been imposed or presumed upon us. But when we give someone authority over our lives it is a great demonstration of trust and respect. Jesus was only days away from giving His life for all mankind and yet the religious people of the day were challenging His authority, His right to teach the people about the Kingdom of God and call them to live in it.

Jesus knew that the authority that they questioned was directly tied to their trust in God. John the Baptist called people to repent of sin and prepare to follow the Messiah who was sent from God.

Trusting God is like shoveling down through our lives so we can find the road the Messiah is on. When we come to the place where the Messiah is walking we will give him authority because we have trusted Him in letting our lives be uncovered. But if we continue to trust in the ways our lives have been built up then we will not give Jesus authority in our lives and we will not discover the road the Messiah is walking on that leads to God‟s kingdom.

Today, pick up your shovel and begin to trust God in a new area. Begin to dig down through your life, repent of every stone you uncover and cast it aside. With every shovel full say “I am trusting Jesus to show me where His road is going to lead me”. When you come to the road where Jesus walks with you and you look back up through what you have dug out, rejoice that you have a good saviour whom you have trusted and given him authority in your life.

Prayer:
Father,
Help me as I begin to trust you in new areas of my life and give me the courage to believe the road is there for me to uncover. Give me the strength to cast aside the stones and other stuff I have been trusting in to lead me through my life, and help me to keep digging until I reach the road that Jesus walks on. I trust that Jesus will show me how to live in your kingdom.

Action:

Identify specific areas where you are beginning to trust Jesus and give him authority in your life. Complete the sentence…
“I am going to trust Jesus with this area of my life_____________ and I will stop doing this __________”

Meditate:
Isa 40:3-5
A voice of one calling:
"In the desert prepare
the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness, a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all mankind together will see it.

“ask where the good way is,
and walk in it,”
Jer 6:16

Jesus Cleanses His Temple

2011-04-18T06:57:00.000-07:00

Monday ~ April 18 - Passion Week day 2

Read: Isa 56:1-8; Mark 11:15-19

Jesus cleanses His temple
When Jesus entered the temple area, it was not like you or I would enter a worship service at church. Jesus was entering a sacred place, the place humanity gathered to worship God. It was a holy place that required the men to have gone through a sacred bathing ritual in one of the many bathing pools just outside the temple walls, where they would have disrobed gone through the pool and put on clean clothes before entering the temple area. Jesus would have entered into the large area called the court of the Gentiles where money would be exchanged for the temple tax and animals could be purchased for sacrifice, these are things everyone would have done before they would worship. This was a loud and busy place, in some ways not unlike the markets just outside the temple walls. The sacred had become the common, the holy reduced to crass commerce.
The God / man had just „come home‟ and it was not what he intended to find. It is interesting Jesus calls it “MY house will be called a house of prayer for all nations”. A presumptuous thing to say, unless it is YOUR house. Jesus expects to find his house, his temple, being used for the purposes He intends for it to be used.
Paul writes in 1 Cor 6:19-20 ―Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body‖.
Today, our bodies, our lives are intended to be used to honour God in everything we do. How often do we let the sacredness of our bodies become common? How often do we allow the
holiness of our personal temples appear as crass as the world outside the temple walls.
Life happens to us all and it can pile up over us to the point that we know our life with Jesus is somewhere down there, but I am just not where I used to be. For us to walk in the freshness of our relationship with Jesus, perhaps there are some things in your own life that need to be „dug out‟ and discarded. Ask God to show you the areas of your life that need to be dug out so you can honour Him as His temple.

Prayer:
Father,
Forgive me where my life has been reduced to the common and crass. Your Spirit longs to live in my body as a holy temple for your glory. Yet, so often I give so little attention to your presence in my life.
As Jesus came and cleansed His temple, please Father cleanse my life and remove the areas prevent you from receiving the glory you deserve. I long to live in a way that you are pleased to „come home‟ to. Amen.

Meditate:
1 Cor 6:19-20
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

“ask where the good way is,
and walk in it,”
Jer 6:16

"Hosanna" - My King Who Saves Me

2011-04-18T06:54:00.000-07:00

Sunday – April 17, 2011 - Passion Week Day 1
Read: Matthew 21:1-11

Declare “Hosanna” - ―My king who saves me

Jesus enters into Jerusalem as the gentle king who brings salvation. He was not hurried, nor was His pace hectic; he was not forceful or demanding, but like a triumphant king who enters the city with confidence and jubilant gentleness, He knows He is the one who brings salvation to the people of this place.
The road he takes into Jerusalem is laden with a carpet of palms and cloaks if to say “you are so special we don‟t even want your feet to even touch the ground”. This impromptu parade drew everyone‟s attention to the road that carried the king of creation through the gates of the sacred city. Along the road, the people could not help but to sing the praises of an ancient prophesy as He entered, crying out “Hosanna” or “Lord save us”. Though they lived with a Jewish king (Herod) and all the strength of Rome (Pilate) they still intuitively sensed their need for a savior.
You may live safe and secure, in relative comfort and yet your soul cries out for more, a saviour. Our hearts can get trampled by layers of life, be it relational hurts or demanding stress points or the busyness of the day, we build new layers on top of old places yet our soul cries out from the depths for satisfaction. It is here and now that Jesus comes to bring His salvation. Declare today that “Jesus is my king and saviour of my soul”. This is the first step in digging down to the place where you can walk with Him and experience His love for you.

Prayer:
Father, I confess that too often I have lived like I don’t need Jesus and have covered Him over with many other concerns of my life. But, today I declare before you and all creation, that Jesus is my king and the saviour of my life. Thank you Father for bringing me your salvation through your Son. Help me today to live like Jesus is my Lord. Please uncover the areas of my life that keep me from living in the joy of His salvation and experiencing the full passion of His love. Amen.

Meditate:
Isa 35:8-10
And a highway will be there;
it will be called the Way of Holiness.
The unclean will not journey on it;
it will be for those who walk in that Way;
wicked fools will not go about on it.
9 No lion will be there,
nor will any ferocious beast get up on it;
they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there,
10 and the ransomed of the Lord will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

“ask where the good way is,
and walk in it,”
Jer 6:16

Walking The Road of Christ

2011-04-18T06:51:00.000-07:00

Passion Week 2011

Once again this year, the Lord would not let me rest until I
completed this devotional for our church body. This daily
devotional is for the week leading up to Easter and is designed
to help us interact with the story of Jesus in fresh ways.
On my recent journey to Israel, I was struck by the fact that at
many locations, to get to the first century street level and really
walk where Jesus walked you might actually have to dig ten or
more feet below where we walk today. Over time, centuries of
lives have occurred. Wars have destroyed and people have
rebuilt on top of those places. Much of life has passed and now
to get to that first century place again, you have to dig through a
lot of history to uncover it.

The same can happen in our own lives. Often, for us to get
back to that place where we once walked with Jesus in a close
and meaningful way, a lot of life has to be dug down through. It
is not that Jesus has disappeared or left us, but perhaps we
have covered him up with a lot of life. As a result, we don‟t see
him, we can‟t respond to him.

My prayer for you is that perhaps this week you will identify
areas and begin to dig down through your life to uncover the
place where you first met and walked with Jesus. May you
uncover those areas of your life so you can walk again with
Christ and experience His passion and love for you.

“ask where the
good way is,
and walk in it,”
Jer 6:16

Stop living like the beggar

2010-06-17T06:42:00.000-07:00

Acts 3:6 Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” 7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong.

How often I have walked by someone on the street with their hand out, wanting me to give them some money.
Sometimes I give them something, sometimes not. If I have some change, perhaps I will drop some of it in their paper cup.

There have been many times someone will ask for money and I will tell them “I don’t have any today, and just keep walking.”

I think this passage has more to say than just helping the beggar on the street, It says something to my heart.

Peter knew he had nothing in his pocket but was also knew he had something much more valuable in his life and he gave to this poor man out of the wealth of his life. Peter had taken stock of his own life and knew what he had to offer and his relationship with Jesus was paramount in his life - even to money, when someone asked for help it was the first thing that came to his mind.

The fact that Peter was even inclined to give when he didn’t have what the man asked for speaks to Peter’s own awareness of himself, the man and the situation. Peter’s heart was positioned to give.

When Peter offered the man Jesus, it wasn’t “let Jesus save you”, “let Jesus bring you hope, help you, befriend you” although that begging man most likely needed all of those, but Peter offered what Peter ultimately could not provide, the miracle of a crippled man made able to walk. Peter was in an instant able to look beyond the man’s immediate circumstances and in the authority of Jesus, by his name, compassionately lift the man to his feet. Peter knew that the relationship he had with Jesus was not even the most valuable thing he could give the man, but instead it was the authority and power of Jesus that Peter had access to and was able to extend to the crippled man. It was the power of Jesus that made a man to stand on his own that day, and Peter knew that ultimately that was the only thing that could lift the man above the circumstances of his life.

One thing that struck me was Peter’s awareness of what he had that was greater than what he didn’t have. Peter did not have silver or gold but he could offer the full resources of God because Jesus had given him access to His authority. So often I focus on what I do not have, my own limitations or the limitations of my circumstances and Peter was not living like that. Instead he knew what he had, the value of it and he was faithful with it. When I become focused on my limitations then I am controlled by them and like the beggar all I can think about is the money, or whatever, I don’t have that keeps me from living a fruitful life. Peter however was faithful to give what he did have and therefore experienced fruitfulness come out of his life that only Jesus could bring. He gave freely because he knew that what he had was inexhaustible.

This morning I am asking Jesus to show me and remind me of what I do have, and then to help me prioritize it from the greatest to least valuable. I want to give to others out of the wealth I have and stop complaining, in my own heart, about the limitations of what I do not have. I want to be faithful with what I have so it can bear fruit in my life and in others around me. I want to draw on the resources of God, through the authority of Jesus and I want to stop being the beggar and start living like Peter.

Jesus Teaches Me About Sacrificing for Faithfulness

2009-09-02T09:22:00.000-07:00

From Matthew 19

God seems to really value the quality of sacrificial faithfulness. Look at marriage in v 3-9. When the Pharisees wanted to challenge Jesus on his stand regarding divorce, Jesus reminded them that marriage is about a man and woman discovering that their oneness grows out of their faithfulness to each other and that a hardened heart will not sacrifice for their spouse and this kind of heart will lead to unfaithfulness.

Jesus says in v 28-30 that those who sacrifice and are faithful will be rewarded greatly.

The rich young man (v16-24) was not willing to sacrifice and missed the reward of God because he would not follow in faithfulness.

In the middle of this chapter is a puzzle, a teaching on children (v13-15)

Children require sacrifice and faithfulness on the part of parents and other adults. Adults (especially when they are not the parents)often look to dismiss and discount the children as unimportant to them personally. Parents know of the sacrifice and faithfulness children require but they grow weary of the demands. Children live completely dependent upon the sacrifice and faithfulness of their parents and other adults. Even when they are disobedient, they still look to their parents for love and care.

When the disciples of Jesus were not being faithful to the children, Jesus rebuked them and received the children to bless them.

My heart must be willing to sacrifice for others if I want to be known as a faithful person. There can be no real faithfulness without sacrifice, and the more we sacrifice the more faithful we become. Jesus promises that sacrificial faithfulness leads to real and lasting rewards. I suspect it is the ones who have nothing left (the "last" in verse 30) are the ones who come out the real winners.

I am glad Jesus said that "MANY who are last will be first" - at least we will be in good company!

My Barriers to Growth

2009-06-17T08:50:00.000-07:00

Growth is an evidence of life.
When I think about growth, I think about how there is “old” growth and “new” growth.
Old growth is like the trunk of a tree that continues to get bigger around with more bark every year but is a growth that is hardly noticeable except when it gets really old and is obviously a big tree; and that is really all that is said about it “that’s a big tree!”. Old growth was once “new” growth but has now become hardened with age and it’s glory has faded into the past. It now becomes the home of insects and parasites, another part of the food chain. “Old” growth has an important role to play in the “new” growth that the “new” growth is dependent upon. The “old” growth provides resources, protection and stability for new growth that is vulnerable. The “old” growth provides wisdom of how to weather the storms and challenges that the “new” growth will encounter.

New growth is where the fruit happens. In my garden, I look for the new growth, the evidence that the plant is healthy. I planted things for the new growth, for the flora, for the fruit. Where the old growth is sentimental to the heart the new growth brings joy to the heart.

Both are necessary for the fruit to set on, but some “old” growth trees support very little new growth and bear little fruit. My life is a combination of both “new” growth and “old” growth...

What keeps me from developing new growth?
Here are 10 things that can be barriers to my growth

1. New growth is costly -
        growth requires time and resources
        have to be willing to pay the price

2. new growth takes attention
        have to think about new growth
        new growth needs nurturing
        the inclination is to focus on “old” growth that will not produce

3. New growth takes intentionality and planning
        I have to make room for new growth
        I have to anticipate the requirements of the growth

4. New growth takes work
        I have to do something if I want to grow. New growth takes change
        I have to do things differently
        respond to a changing environment / culture

5. People around me can limit my growth
        growing people help people grow
        positive people help people grow
        informed people help people grow

6. Loneliness limits growth
        little grows in a vaccuum -
        too inward focused

7. Information can keep me from growing
        not knowing what to do leads to bad decisions
        wrong information leads to wrong decisions

8. Perspective can keep me from growing
        desiring stability and security over joy
        desiring comfort and ease produces little fruit

9. Unrealistic expectations will hinder growth
        expecting a forest to spring out of a desert - over night
        discouragement is a growth killer

10. More fear than faith
        fear of failing - loosing sight of future growth
        not taking time to hear from God
        unwilling to respond to God

Jesus prays for you

2009-04-11T09:12:00.000-07:00

Read:
John 17:1-26

If anyone’s prayers are to be answered, Jesus’ prayer to the Father is sure to be. Jesus asks to be glorified by the Father, to be able to fully express His goodness, to fully express God Himself. When God glorifies another it is always to demonstrate God Himself, not the individual.

Jesus had done all He was sent to do, and now Jesus was dependent upon the Father to do all that God desired to do. To truly be a sacrifice Jesus had to place himself completely into the hands of His Father.

Jesus’ concern is not for himself as he faces the cross, but for His disciples, and you, and I, and all His followers. Jesus prays for our protection from the evil one, by the power of His name. He asks that we be set apart, made distinct, by God’s word of truth. Jesus also prays that we be brought to unity, together with Him.

Our unity is not with the world, though we are not taken out of it. But our union is with God Himself. It is in an extraordinary relationship with God that the world will know His love that is only experienced through Jesus and was established through His sacrifice.

Just as Jesus placed Himself into the hands of His Father, will you trust him too, faithful to obey what He calls you to do?

Prayer:
• Thank God that He answers Jesus’ prayer for you.
• Confess your need for His protection.
• Listen to His truth as He distinguishes you from the world around you.
• Ask Him to display His love through the unity of your life with Him and others.
• Thank Him for the incredible gift of displaying His glory through your life.

Meditate:

John 17:22-23
I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

The trial of eternity

2009-04-10T08:18:00.001-07:00

Read: John 18:1-11; Luke 22:66-23:25; Mark 15:16-20; Matt 27: 32-56

Jesus was arrested and His trial immediately began very early in the morning. The trial of all eternity, that took place in three courts, was over by mid-morning. Jesus allowed rulers that He had established to condemn Him, soldiers that He had knit together in their mother’s womb to beat Him mercilessly then nail Him to a tree that He created, and carried to the hill.

Jesus experienced the rejection of His followers, the pressure of arrogant men, the pain of senseless beatings, the humiliation of a naked crucifixion, but His heart breaks and he cries out because He is separated from His Father (Matt 27:46) for the first time in His existence.

Restoring your relationship with God is the reason He went to the cross. The pain of the brokenness of that relationship is what cost Him his life. There is no life apart from the Father, because He is the source of all Life. When Jesus died, the earth shook to exclaim, “He was the son of God.”

Prayer:

• Thank God that He loved the world so much to send His son to die for it.
• Confess that your sin required Jesus’ death on the cross.
• Listen to His spirit as He shows you the cross He died on
• Ask Him to help you never loose sight of the cross
• Thank Him for loving you so much.

Meditate:

Isa 53:5-6
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

A covenant of hope!

2009-04-09T07:26:00.000-07:00

Read:
John13:1-20; Matt 26:17-30; Mark 14:27-41; Luke 22: 24-62

God had made a covenant with His people long ago in a desert where He gave them the Law, the unattainable Commandments for them to live by. A covenant was established by God with Moses and sealed by the sacrifice of blood. However, this old covenant only lead people into the guilt of their sin for breaking God’s Commandments. Breaking the covenant required new sacrifices.

Jesus establishes a new covenant that fulfills the old one and brings hope to us today. His life became the sacrifice required. In His death, His flesh was broken and His blood shed for the forgiveness of our sin. This is a covenant of forgiveness that is sealed by His blood and is symbolized in the act of communion. It is in a relationship with Jesus now that we find our hope.

Even in this, Jesus continued to demonstrate the importance of humble service as He washed the feet of the disciples. He brings strength to our weaknesses as He prayed for Peter (Lk 22:32) though He knew he would deny Him. He demonstrates His control over the situation as he walks into the hands of His accusers fully aware of what lay ahead of Him.

He wants His followers to believe in Him. Not blindly, but connecting His sovereignty with the realities around us (Jn 13:19). He is at work in the world around you today. Do you recognize the hope He brings to your life today?

Prayer:
• Thank God that He desires to bring hope into your life.
• Confess your dependence upon Him for your hope – to make it through the doubts and darkness that your days can bring.
• Listen to Him as He calls you to commune with Him in this covenant of hope.
• Ask Him to be your strength today and to fill your heart with the hope that only He can provide.
• Thank Him for being your only source of hope.

Meditate:
Heb 6:19-20
We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf.

God Glorifies His Son through Sacrifice

2009-04-08T07:30:00.000-07:00

Read:
John 12: 20-50; Matt 26:1-16

Jesus knows now is the time for which He has come. This is the culmination of His time on earth. God is about to glorify Himself, through His Son, in an astonishing way to demonstrate the extraordinary love He has for His creation. Jesus reinforces the values of the Kingdom of God that He has spent the last 3 years building into His followers. Values of self-sacrificing service, giving up ones own life for the benefit of others (v 25-26). God Himself confirmed Jesus’ life, message and purpose once again. The Father is pleased to multiply His Glory upon His Son and Jesus declared that as He is lifted up, on the cross and in our lives, He would continue to affect peoples lives for the rest of time (v32).

Even after such a great confirmation by the Father, Jesus remained under complete submission to Him. He continues to show that He is in the world as one who had been sent (v44). Jesus also acknowledges the level of His submission to the Father, for He never spoke on His own, God always told Him what to say and how to say it (v49). If Jesus, as God’s son, was that submissive to the Father, how much of your life are you willing to submit to God’s control?

Prayer:
• Thank God that Jesus demonstrated self-sacrificing service on your behalf to enable you to come into Gods presence even now.
• Confess the times you have not been willing to submit your speech, actions or attitudes to Gods will.
• Listen to the things He wants to change in you.
• Ask God that He forgive you and help you live the self-sacrificing life that Jesus demonstrated for you, so that you will become a “son of light” (v36)
• Thank God for the love He has shown you through His son Jesus.

Meditate:
John 12:49-50
For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say."

Faith and Prayer

2009-04-07T09:19:00.000-07:00

Read:
Matt 21:18-22; Mark 11:20-33; Luke 20:1-19

Jesus teaches His disciples a lesson about faith and prayer. He knows what lies ahead for all His followers and they will need both the strength of faith and the power of prayer in the coming days. God works through people who are relying on Him alone, expecting Him to do things only He can do, for His benefit and glory.

Jesus teaches us that all of nature is to respond to God and bear fruit to His glory, and that prayers to this end can move any mountain we face. Through our faith in Him we can see Him respond to our prayers.

Often, Jesus’ authority is questioned. He was doing things that could only be done because He was God, and yet some were still unwilling to believe He was who He was. Sometimes we think “this is too hard for God, He would never do this in my life” and we opt for the easy way out, saying “we don’t know” just like the teachers who challenged Him. Will you let Jesus be God in your life and give Him the authority to do what He wants to?

Prayer:

• Thank God that He is able to do anything He desires
• Confess the times you have not believed He was who He said He was in your life.
• Listen to Him tell you how He wants you to trust Him today.
• Ask Him to increase your faith as you commit to obey Him.
• Thank Him for being faithful even when you are not.

Meditate:

Luke 20:17-18
"'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone'?
Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."

Jesus cleanses His temple

2009-04-06T18:15:00.000-07:00

Read:
Matt 21:12-17; Mark 11:12-19; Luke 19:45-48

Consider:
Jesus entered the temple and did not like what He saw. It was not the place it was intended to be. The temple was to be a sacred place where God’s Spirit resided and where God would meet with His people. The temple was a holy place, a place of prayer. A place set a part for God’s purpose, but it had been infiltrated by the activities and purposes of the world.

1 Cor 6:19 says “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus desires to inhabit our hearts. Our hearts are to be the place we meet with Him, set a part and belonging to Him. It is in our hearts where His life springs new in us.

If Jesus were to cleanse your temple, what would he over turn and throw out? Where and how has the world infiltrated your own heart. Are there things in your life that you would not want to be in the same “room” with Jesus?

Jesus declares His house to be a house of prayer. If you were to turn your life into a house of prayer, how would your life be different than it is today? Prayer is how we communicate with God, we tell Him what is on our heart and listen to what is on His heart. Our lives are to be a temple for Him, a place for Him, and He wants to communicate with us through prayer.

Pray:

• Thank God that we can know Him.
• Confess the things that He wants to cleanse out of your life.
• Listen to how He wants to communicate with you.
• Ask Him to make your heart a temple that honors Him.
• Thank Him for making your heart a temple for Him.

Meditate:

1 Cor 6:19-20
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

"... The Stones Will Cry Out"

2009-04-05T22:15:00.000-07:00

Read:
Matt 21:1-11; Mark 10:46-52; Luke 19:28-44; John 12:12-19

“Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests” declared the angels at Jesus birth (Lk 2:14). Now the people of Jerusalem proclaim “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest” (Lk 19:38). Like striking bookends of praise to begin and conclude Jesus’ time on earth.

No one deserves more praise than Jesus!

The King of the universe is coming! As if the King of all creation were coming to His own coronation, the jubilant cries of all of nature would resound with praise. As the psalmist wrote; “All you have made will praise you, O Lord;” (Ps 145:10) or Isaiah the prophet who declared 700 years earlier as he spoke of the anticipated salvation that God would one day bring; “the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.” (Isa 55:10) – and this was that day.

Jesus, the King was entering Jerusalem for the very last time as the man/God. He was making His way to establish the new creation. He who created the heavens and earth in the beginning, from beyond the heavens, was making His way to His next creative space on a hill and from under the earth where creation would happen again. This is where a covenant of salvation would be established and a ‘new Adam’ formed.

Though this new creation would be of a very different nature from the old creation, it was as though all the existing creation could feel the energy swelling as Jesus entered the holy city. By their very nature as ‘created ones’, the people on the roadside could not help but to be ‘caught up’ in the praise of the King as He passed by them. Though their hearts would soon turn dark and their cries of joy soon become shouts of violence, this day all creation welcomed their master into their presence.

Today, will you welcome Jesus the King into your life with praises as He comes to create His covenant to new life in you?

Prayer:
• Thank God that His Son was both the sovereign of all creation, the King of Kings, and also the only one who could save you.
• Confess to Him where you have not been open to His presence in your life.
• Listen to His Spirit as he shows you the things in your life that He would like to use to display His glory.
• Ask Him to change you, to heal you and give Him the areas of your life that He has just shown you.
• Thank Him for His love for you that draws you to Him.

Meditate:

Isa 55:11-13
“... My word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.
Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree,
and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the LORD 's renown,
for an everlasting sign,
which will not be destroyed."

Passion Week ~ Easter Devotional 2009

2009-04-05T22:02:00.000-07:00

Easter is my favorite holiday of the year, it is truly worth celebrating. It is more than just a day when we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, but it is a whole week leading up to that glorious day that leaves us with a glimpse of eternity. It is a week of pageantry, and passion. The culmination of God’s incarnation wrapped up in betrayal, denial and pain. It is an emotional week of intense love, that leads to the deep despair of death but ends with the exhilaration of life and the revelation of God’s enormous grace

Once again this year, the Lord would not let me free until I had prepared this for you. This is my gift to you. As I have worked to write this for you this Easter, my prayer is that you will have a passionate encounter with Jesus, our living Lord and King, this week. This guide is designed to help you walk through this coming week with Jesus, remembering what He did for you.

As you read, pray, think and meditate, may God’s Spirit draw you close to Him. May you hear His heart beat for you. May you feel the scars He bore, may His presence be as close as His breath on your neck. As you walk with Jesus on the road to the Fathers grace may you be captured by His love for your life.

The Path of Spiritual Growth

2009-02-25T14:06:00.000-08:00

Col 1:9-11
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,

Thanks to a recent blogpost by Ed Stetzer, who I enjoy reading and am always challenged, some thoughts were spurred that I want to capture (and share).

There is a progression in this passage that moves us towards spiritual maturity. The need to grow in this area, both personally and for all who I influence and lead, seems always on my mind. To become more like Christ, in my thoughts, attitudes, values, actions. To encourage others to pursue these - there can be no greater pursuit in life I believe.

Stetzer quoted an amazing statistic from 2500 church attendees, 3.5% displayed any measurable spiritual growth over a years time while 55% perceived themselves to have grown spiritually. It appears we are painfully deceived. Surely, not me, I can hear the thoughts and conversations. Perhaps the bar is set too low. Perhaps it is not set at all.

In Col 1:9-10 there is a progression of spiritual growth; Knowing --> Being --> Doing

Knowing - "...the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding..."

Being - "...live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way..."

Doing - "...bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,"

Many have shared with me, and I have experienced it myself at times, that they know what they should do - they don't need to read more books, they don' t need to memorize more scripture, spend more time reading the Bible, but they just need to do more of what they already know.

What a common experience in maturing this is. We have been around Christianity long enough to hear enough sermons, read enough verses, we get the concepts, but the actual application seems to be an impossible struggle.

Perhaps we have skipped over the crucial step of BEING. The step that actually changes my attitudes, that transforms my values, not my understanding, but my beliefs, where I am living what I am becoming. The step that integrates what I know with what I want to do, and the problem exists in the personal pronouns of that statement - "I". We think "I" can do this, and "I" can not.

The transformation of our BEING occurs through my obedient responsiveness to the power of the Holy Spirit. The only thing "I" can do is let Him be Lord and let Him change my being as I respond to Him. He is the Master and I am not and from there He changes my being and I begin to "...live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way...". I don't set the bar, He does, and yes there is one. He moves it up little by little, and I grow.

Doing then becomes a step of faith, responding in both knowing and being.

...to fear the Lord...

2009-01-28T07:18:00.000-08:00

2Cor. 5:11 Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men.

14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Do I know what it is to fear the Lord?
...in my feable, immature attempt, I have some inkling
...but not what I will have, can have,
but still, in what I know, I know to fear the Lord
and it is GOOD - He is Good

and so, as a result,
I try to persuade men.

the rest of this passage says nothing of their responsibility to respond to His offer which I, as their “ambassador” deliver,
but the rest of this passage speaks of MY RESPONSE AND RESPONSIBLITY.

I am compelled by Christs love
I am convinced of what I believe
I am motivated by a different purpose

I have a responsibility of reconciliation

and so can I say “I implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God”

strong words,
my Christian culture would like that tempered, my heart is like theirs too often, so I can blame others for my slow and un-empassioned efforts to relay God’s message entrusted to me. How often we can look for reasons not to, believing the method is ineffective,
believing that somehow the message is weaker than the method.

do I really believe that God’s message will not return void - ineffective, unproductive

it leads me to think about 2 Pet 1:8

Have I forgotten what it is then to fear the Lord?
do I really?

Have I passed this on to others?
Do I implore anyone!?!

My prayer

2008-12-30T09:30:00.000-08:00

Father,
Thank you for the blessing of my family.
thank you for children who are growing so strong and beautiful
thank you that we love one another and enjoy our love
thank you that each of my children love you, walk with you, and want to walk with you

thank you for my wife who loves me, who loves you and loves our children
thank you that the beauty of my wife is made evident in the lives of our children
thank you for her strength of character and the grace of her heart
thank you that she helps me be a better man

thank you that you are good, kind and patient with me
thank you that you do not change, even when I want you to be different
thank you that you love me and have greater desires for me than I have for myself
thank you that in you I have a reason to be

Please, help me, my wife and each of my children want to walk with you today, and tomorrow
Please provide all we need to live and to love
Please help us to be honest and to live like truth matters
Please help us to put one another, and others, ahead of ourselves

Bless my wife with the deep desires of her heart
bless my children with rich and long marriages
bless my home with peace, hope, joy, love and much laughter
bless my life with wisdom and love that helps others see you

May you be honored in all that we do
May others see you in the ways that we live
May the evidence of your goodness, kindness and grace be in our lives
May you receive glory because you made and saved us

May your Word be on our lips
May your truth free our minds
May your Spirit be in our hearts
May your Son guide our hands and feet
May your love be our life, for your glory

Amen

Mark 8:11-21 -- Hearing From God

2008-10-23T15:13:00.000-07:00

I was recently asked a good question, but it was puzzling at the same time. Over the last number of years Diana and I have been asked this question countless times, and each time we leave the conversation amazed. The question nearly always comes from Christians, involved in their churches, usually they have been Christians for many years, they would consider themselves 'mature'.

The question, most recently, came from a successful, professional man, who is very involved in his church and community. He is on many boards, called upon to help make many, significant decisions. People look to him for input and guidance. He is a leader in his community

This is the question: "How do you hear from God?"
A great question, but disheartening because it is an honest question that is coming from a person who should know how to hear from God.

The disciples should be learning how to hear from God; the Pharisees should know how to hear from God.

I find most people regard circumstances as the greatest indicator of when, how and what God has spoken about; and while that is one component - His will does show up in our physical world as a way for us to know He is at work - circumstances are an insatiable and really have little to do with actually changing our thinking and attitudes about Him and our life (that is why we often do the same thing over and over but are expecting different results 'this time'). We try to 'read the signs' of circumstance and look for another 'sign' to build a trend to determine what God is saying. I find that is how many Christians determine if God has spoken.

In this passage of Mark 8:11-21, Jesus is responding to religious people, 'important' people, in regards to knowing "how God has spoken". They want ANOTHER miraculous sign; good grief He had just fed 4000 people, they must have missed that message, so they want ANOTHER one!?! Jesus is not going to play that game.

The disciples are once again concerned for their own logistical situation and to them, when Jesus says something to them, they think he is responding to their logistical concern about their next meal. Jesus and the disciples are on two completely different frequencies.

yeast - Pharisees - Herod; watch out!
5000 people, five loaves, 12 basketfulls;
4000 people, seven loaves, 7 basketfulls;
Don't you get it

logically - there is little to build a system on here for those who would want to 'run the numbers' - what is He trying to say?

Hearing from God has much more to do with our attitude about Him than the circumstance itself. Hearing from God has more to do with our response than it does the results. There are ways to hear from God, and circumstances are but one piece of the hearing process, as the disciples are beginning to learn how to hear from God.

The Compassion of Jesus - Mark 8:1-3

2008-10-21T22:50:00.000-07:00

Mark 8:1 During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 2 “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”

Remarkable! A large crowd gathering around Jesus that eats nothing for 3 days, some of who have come a long distance. A crowd that is so mesmerized by His teaching that they loose sight of the rumbling in their tummies, they were more hungry for what He had to say than they were for their own bodies. A crowd so caught up in what He has to say that taking a break even to eat was unthinkable to them. There was something more important to them than their own sense of comfort. Sleep must have overcome them, but they would have made some very conscious choices to not eat.

When was the last time you or I were in a group of people who had not eaten for 3 days because we were so captivated by a worship time, or reading the words of Jesus...or anything? When was the last time i was so 'caught up' in what Jesus was teaching me that I lost track of the time, where everything else in my life went in a screeching halt?

Jesus had compassion for these people. He knew what they had been enduring. He didn't shorten his time with them to look after their needs, but instead he pushed them to the point that if they were to exert themselves any more they would reach a breaking point. And it is precisely at this point that He has compassion for them, and His compassion took on extraordinary dimension. When Jesus expresses His compassion, it goes far beyond mortal compassion. He meets their need in an extraordinary way, by feeding thousands on a few loaves of bread and a couple of small fish. A logistical impossibility but not for the Son of God. When Jesus meets a need, he completely satisfies.

I am challenged by these 2 verses; How serious am I about knowing Jesus, who He is and what He has to say. Is this more important to me than food? When was the last time you or I experienced the compassion of Jesus in an extraordinary way as a result of being with him?

Fully Engaged -- Mark 6:45-52

2008-10-15T14:29:00.000-07:00

Sermon notes 10-12-08

Have you ever been in a situation when you were trying to do what you thought God had told you to do but every time you turn around it seems like nothing is working out the way you think it should? I have. You begin to wonder "God - where are you? Why isn't this working out? What am I supposed to do? Am I doing something wrong?" doubts begin to creep in. Maybe he has left you in a lurch, something else got his attention, but what am I supposed to do?

I remember when I was 37 yrs old. I believed God had told me to leave my career, move from our church, friends, family, sell our home and move to a different city to do what he had told me to do - go to seminary.

There had been a miraculous series of events occur to confirm and establish the direction it seemed he wanted us to go. God had spoken to me in a dramatic way, and events had occurred just as he said which opened up a miraculous opportunity for a job for me in this new city.

some time earlier, i had put together this whole schedule of things that needed to occur in order for us to make this move. by this time we had 3 young children, a home, job, responsibilities... it was not like when we were just married and we could pack everything up in a pick-up truck and turn our lives like we were rowing a canoe, we had become the titanic and it was going to take some time and space to move our lives and so I put together this Gantt chart schedule. One of the dates on my schedule was to turn in my resignation at Boeing, my employeer. I felt like I needed to give them at least 3 weeks notice because of some of the projects I was involved in that would need some transition, so I set the date to turn in my notice as July 3 by my schedule. That was going to leave us 3 weeks to move, get unpacked and set up before I and the kids would start school.

God had opened up an opportunity for a job for me, discussions were going very well, they liked me, I liked them, but no official offer had come yet. Was i going to turn in my resignation, leave my career of over 10 years without something certain in hand yet? what if they didnt offer me the job, what if something happens, someone else that I dont' know about they are talking to and decide to offer it to them, anything can happen at this stage.

I am getting very nervous, I am trying to do what God told me to do, but what is with all this drama? did he go to sleep, this this some sort of test, what am i supposed to do? I know the miracles God had just accomplished to bring me to this point but now what?
the resignation letter was typed, signed and sitting in my desk drawer, am I going to turn it in? Why hadnt God provided me the job yet?

Maybe you have gone through something where your not sure where God is at, has he forgotten you,

Jesus disciples had just experienced a most amazing miracle, He fed 5000 people with a few loaves of bread, not only that but when they were cleaning up the dinner, they picked up more food than they started with - after everyone had eaten all they wanted.

They just get everything picked up and then he makes them get in a boat to sail to Bethsaida, but he doesnt go with them, he stays and says he is going to pray, they wish they could have gotten a little rest, but no, they are heading out after a long day and to make matters worse a wind storm comes up and makes it a long and hard night.

We can get so caught up in our own circumstances that we loose sight of the fact that:

Jesus is always in control:
45- made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him
Jesus always seemed to know exactly what he was doing and what he wanted the disciples to do. He knew what others around him were thinking, saying, doing

Mark tells us that Jesus would know what the scribes and Pharasees were thinking
He knew when a person was dealing with a phsical illness or a demon
He raised the dead - he calmed storms - made lame to walk, blind to see
he was not influenced by the pressures of other people, but stayed focused on what the Father had sent him to do.

He knew he was separating himself from the disciples - evening was coming - they were going to be in the middle of the lake and he was on land alone

God's best does not necessarily equal our comfort - he will test us - he will put us and / or allow us to be in difficult and challenging circumstances, that does not mean a compromise of his love for us - but it does mean he wants us to experience what it is to be in a relationship with him in less than comforting circumstances.

he dismissed the crowd - people did what he told them to do
46 - he made time to pray

with Jesus things didn't 'just happen' but they happened just as he determined them to be - Jesus was and is always in control.

why is it that sometimes we are not as sure, could it be we still relate his contol to our comfort?

Jesus is fully aware of what is going on
48 -he saw the disciples straining at the oars
He knows the challenges you and I face - He knows what we are going through in our lives
He is not distant and out of touch, but sees and knows what is going on

he is willing to let you struggle, and watch you struggle through it
from evening to the fourth watch of the night -he watched them struggle. that is from evening to after 3am. the fourth watch was from 3am-6am.
Jesus watched them struggle all night, in the dark and cold of the night.

he was on the side of the mountain and watched them. He was up there to pray with the Father, no doubt perhaps he prayed for them as he kept a watchful eye on them.

Rom 8:34-35 ...is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

It is no small thing that Jesus is able to keep his eye on them. It is dark, they are getting further and further away, it is windy, likely cloudy weather - remember there was a tremendous storm only a couple of nights earlier - there is likely not much moon light out, but for Jesus it really doesnt matter - and that is the point, he sees what is happening in a small boat trying to make its way across a rough lake in the middle of the night.
He sees your life trying to make it across the rough waves of your circumstances. He sees your sleepless nights. He knows when your heart is cold and alone.

cant you imagine the discussion going on in that boat that night:
"Why in the world did Jesus make us get in this boat - so late in the day. He knew how long it would take for us to get across and besides he saw those clouds coming in,. That's what you get when you have a carpenter trying to use a boat.
Doesnt he know how tired we all are, doesnt he care?"
"Why is it so important that we make it across tonight, what are we going to do anyway when we get there, there is just going to be a bunch of people who want to see him and were going to have to clean up the mess again. With no sleep, after killing ourselves all night in this stupid wind"

Do you know how cranky tired people get in the middle of the night.
Ask a tired parent.

Ps 139
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them
we want things to 'just work out, without much struggle'
when things get hard, we may think 'where is Jesus now, when we can use him'

Jesus goes to where you are:
he went out to them, He took the initiative - walking on the lake
He meets you in the midst of your storm, your difficulty, your pain

Not only did he walk out to them - which by the way didn't appear to be nearly as difficult for him to manage the waves as it had been to the disciples., the waves didn't even phase him. They didn't slow him down in the least. as a matter of fact the scripture says "he was about to pass them by"
what do you mean he was going to pass them by... I thought he was going out to help them.

there have been a number of explainations of why Jesus was going to pass them by.
- he was going to 'playfully surprise them on the other side'
- he was on his way to the other side and saw their distress and decided to stop to help - not what the text says...
- perhaps it was the disciples mistaken impression that he was going to pass them by

more likely this was not a rescue plan at all but that Jesus had more in mind when he went out to them on the water. The disciples, while struggling, they were frustrated, but not in peril like the last time when they thought they were going to die.

Walking on the sea is something no ordinary mortal can do and to pass by is no mundane mistake. Jesus desire to pass by the disciples is similar to other Old Testament epiphanies. The greek verb 'parerchomai' (to pass by) when connected to a divinity, refers to an epiphany, when God would make a "striking and temporary appearance in the earthly realm to a specific person or group for the purpose of communicating a message to them." (Meier)
There is the story of Moses in Ex 33 when Moses asks God to show him his glory, and God responds by passing by him and proclaiming his identity. God held Moses in the cleft of a rock and covered him with his hand so he could only see God's back but not his face, as God proclaimed:
Ex 34:6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.

in 1 Kings 19 the Lord tells Elijah to stand on the mountain "for the Lord is about to pass by."

When Jesus wants to pass by his disciples, he wants for them to see his transcendent majesty as a divine being and to give them reassurance. While mortals can not see the face of God, we can see the face of Jesus. The one who comes to the on the sea is not simply a successor to Moses, who fills baskets with bread in the desert. Only God can walk on the sea, and Jesus' greeting is not simply a cheery 'hello', but a divine self-revelation, "I am"

Is 43:1 “Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
Is. 43:2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
Is. 43:3 For I am the LORD, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;

the disciples didn't recognize him - "who is this person...?"

we don't always recognize him

but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50 because they all saw him and were terrified.

He wants you and I to see him - not physically, but His sovereignty - He is God -

He makes Himself known to you - he reveals himself
Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

When Jesus gets into the boat, he demonstrates his divine power even further, his mere presence causes the wind to cease howling and enables the disciples to continue on in there journey.

He did not say "here i am, let me take over for you..."
He didn't get in and take an oar but enabled them to continue on their way in peace.

Where Jesus 'comes in' He brings peace
51 Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52 for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.

he did not start rowing with them, he did not take over their work, but he calmed the waves. He made it possible for them to continue on and know that He was God, he was in control, he knew where they were and what was going on around them and that they were in a unique relationship with the divine living God.

He did not change their perspective, it says their hearts were hardened
Mark directly ties the earlier events of feeding thousands with their current experience of Jesus walking on water to them and calming the waves.

the disciples were completely caught up in the circumstances they missed the message of what Jesus was teaching them
Jesus is God - and he is concerned for people to the full glory of the revelation of God 'in the face of Christ"

when Jesus said "you give them something to eat" in Mark 6:37 - all the disciples could think of was the logistics and how it was going to impact them.
They didnt understand how so many had eaten on so little, but they were the servants and clean up crew and then Jesus made them leave.

when Jesus reveals himself as God, they don’t get it and while he brings peace to the waves they don’t experience that same peace in their hearts

That does not have to be you or I, Jesus says in

John 14:27

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.

In my story, I didn’t know what to do, so I prayed.

I prayed with a friend and at the end of our prayer time I realized I could slide my schedule a week and God restored my peace. A week later I was prepared to turn in my resignation, but still hadn’t received an offer. After lunch that day, I decided to call Mike, the man I had been talking with at the new company to see where things were at. Mike said as soon as he heard my voice, “I am so glad you called, I just talked to personnel and they are sending you an offer, I don’t know exactly what it is, but if you are willing to work for us, we want you.”

That was enough for me to turn in my resignation and leave my career to make this step to follow God’s lead in my life. Jesus was fully engaged in my life and he was bringing a peace that passes understanding.

A week later I received the offer. It was very generous with a salary that was more than I was making at Boeing, all the normal benefits, plus a generous retirement, moving expenses, and an offer to cover our mortgage until our house in Wichita sold, which took a year. I discovered He longs to work in peoples lives in a way that will make Himself known.

Desparate Faith - Mark 5:25-34

2008-10-09T11:30:00.000-07:00

25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
Mark 5:30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
Mark 5:31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask,‘Who touched me?’ ”
Mark 5:32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Have you ever felt like your very life is being sucked right out of you?
Your energy is being drained from more than just your body, but your very soul.
A heavy thought to start such a post, but this was exactly where this woman lived. I have lived there before, many have, many still do, and perhaps you know what I am talking about. It's a life where a happy smile on an aching disposition could no longer be tolerated. I didn't, and you may not have a physical condition as draining as this woman had, but the picture of her life somehow dramatically mirrors many others. Life is running out of you faster than it is being replenished and it is leaving you dry, cold and exhausted. Nothing seems to be enough, nothing satisfies, everything drains.

A woman who had suffered with bleeding for 12 years knew what it was to suffer.
Humanly, our blood is our life. Without warm blood in us and flowing through our bodies, we don't live. Every part of our body needs blood in order for us to live healthy, normal lives.
This woman felt the very cold anguish of her life leaving her empty, it bled out of her and left her soul empty and hopeless.

It wasnt so bad that she had spent every dime she had on doctors who couldn't help her - they can only do so much, right?
She did all she knew to do - she had been under the care of many doctors through her life. She may have started out with the best that money could buy, but eventually they were no better than the "any who would work for so little". But, the worst part was that her 'condition' stole life from her. Her life was consumed by 'the condition'. She was known in the community as the 'poor woman', what a way to live. Sustained pitty takes a bitter toll on the soul. She needed life again.

The woman was so tired, so empty she had hoped that just getting close to Jesus would be good enough for her, perhaps just a brush of his hem would give a poor soul like hers enough to keep going a little longer. She didn't have what it might take to get an audience with him, like Jarius, the synagogue ruler did. She couldn't hope to have a conversation with him, to ask him for anything, she's not important enough for that. But, she has got to have a little hope, that maybe something could rub off from him that would bring her life again. She had heard that he heals people, maybe this is her salvation, maybe her last hope, nothing else worked. She silently reached out.

"WHAT WAS THAT!?!" "I just barely touched his robe as he passed by" A shock wave ran from her finger tips through her body like a rush of life like she had never experienced before. She felt it, and she knew it was real. And more than that, she instantly knew she was healed, even without seeing any proof yet. It wasn't so much that the bleeding had stopped, but that life was pulsing through her again, her soul was coming back to life again, and yea, the bleeding was stopping.

In this extraordinary moment, Jesus too knew something had just happened. Many people had 'brushed him by', but few had such a small mustard seed of desparation to silently reach out to him in faith. One thing Jesus always seems to respond to, no matter how it comes, is the desparate longing of faith. Faith that He alone can...
heal, redeem, restore life, and more than the pulsing blood of life, but the beating life of a soul.

One thing I have found in my life is that trusting in Jesus builds trust in Jesus. Even a small sincere reach of desparate faith is met. Jesus never scoffs at faith but turns and responds in gracious love, and ultimately that is were we long to experience Him. He is the one who said "I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full", a nameless woman experienced it that day, I have experienced it on the days I reach out to him, He restores lives that have been sucked out, reach out to him today, in honest desparate faith, and He alone will bring you life.

Jesus is the one who says:
34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

(read also John 15: 5-8)

An Intentional Redemption - Mark 5:1-20

2008-10-09T11:27:00.000-07:00

Sermon notes from 10/5/08

As you know, I enjoy movies. I particularly enjoy adventure, sports and super hero movies. Abby and I have been watching Smallville together.

In all these stories, good and evil are very clear, or at least you think they are.

In the last number of years, there has been a shift in many movies that are made to show how a normal human takes on supernatural powers and faces another supernatural enemy, whether it is the Hulk, Ironman, Spiderman, the Fantastic 4, Bruce Willlis. And the ‘super-human’ always wins, through their own use of power, intellect and shear determination they defeat the super enemy.

There are other movies where there is an outbreak of some deadly, incurable disease, or an asteroid about to hit the earth, or tidal wave, or volcano, that strikes fear throughout the region and threatens to devastate life. Others center on a murderous human monster that has nine lives and comes back in sequel after sequel to savage his victims. The villains are usually defeated through human ingenuity and grit determination with some violent means or scientific wizardry, which ends the movie but never completely solves the problem. These movies pit the forces of good against the forces of darkness and yet show no knowledge of God’s purposes or power to overcome evil and have no awareness of how God works to defeat it. They assume that humans have the power and ingenuity to expel evil from our midst.

Mark presents a different picture of the source of evil and how it is overcome. Evil comes from a demonic power that seizes human beings. It is not something we can defeat on our own. It takes a greater supernatural power to defeat it – the power of God.

Martin Luther wrote a song called A Mighty Fortress is Our God and the words in it say:

“Did we in our own strength confide,

Our striving would be losing.”

Only in Jesus can we find “a shelter from the stormy blast” and the power to overcome the forces of evil that overcome not only individuals, but communities, nations and continents. Only in Christ are we delivered from the dominion of evil powers.

Jesus establishes his claim over all the earth in this story, he has sailed to the southern shore of the sea of Galilee to an area predominately occupied by Hellenist gentiles, who were obviously not constrained to the dietary regulations of the Jewish culture, for they had a large herd of swine. Jesus had just crossed a significant cultural boundary to carry his gospel of forgiveness. He hadn’t just ended up there but was very purposeful. He had just spent the night sailing through a terrific storm that he seasoned fishermen were sure they were all going to die in, but Jesus gets up and calms the storm.

Jesus lands on the other side and is met by a most notorious madman – a man who was consumed by evil spirits.

Jesus is known in the spiritual world. Seven sons of Sceva – trying to cast out demons by invoking the name of Jesus

Acts 19:15 [One day] the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?"

Wherever he goes, his holy presence, like some chemical catalyst, triggers an immediate reaction from the unholy. Evil entities know they must regard and respond to the Son of God.

This demonic man was a problem for the area – they had banished him, no one had anything to do with him. He had a family, but they certainly didn’t know what to do with him. He had created so many problems for the area they had tried to shackle him, but he was extraordinarily strong and broke every chain or iron they put him in.

He lived naked among the dead, in the tombs – outside of the city. Everyone was afraid of him.

Can you imagine the questions of a child at night as he howls out while he cuts himself? “Mommy, what is that sound? It’s scary”, “I know honey, it is the man at the tombs again, he is a very sick man, but you will be fine here, try to go to sleep.” She says with a mix of pity, disgust, and concern for him and fear that he might really do something bad sometime.

No indication that Jesus went looking for the evil spirit, but it came out to him – it ran to him & fell before him

The evil spirit knew exactly who he was and what he was capable of and it’s obligation to pay homage to God

Mark 5:6-7

6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. 7 He shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me (what business do you have with me – NAS) , Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me!"

While humans who can’t quite fathom the reality of the divine breaking into human history (4:41) and struggle to accept Jesus as the divine, that is never questioned in the spiritual world, they always recognize him and respond to him (1:24; 3:11; James 2:19). They always know that they are up against a vastly superior power.

This is a story of change and redemption – how Jesus intends to change a person’s life, - how the world responds to that change - and what Jesus wants of those who are changed.

Fear is something everyone deals with at some level.

It drives how we respond to people, develop attitudes about situations,

When i was in my late 20’s i really wasn’t afraid of much of anything – i was strong, determined and didn’t know much about life yet. I knew there were problems to be solved, but I didn’t know what there was to fear, I find as a person gets older and experiences more things in their life, fear becomes a greater concern.

We are generally afraid of the things we don’t know or understand, or things that are bigger and stronger than we are. There are things that we believe can hurt or significantly affect us,

Or the inevitable, things that haven’t happened yet

Jesus tells his disciples – when they are with him, they have nothing to fear...

Mark 4:40 He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

Jesus came to preach the gospel of forgiveness, redemption, restoring man’s rightful relationship with God, restoring mans dignity as a bearer of God’s image

Jesus Releases captive lives

Mark 5:8-13

8 For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit!"

9 Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?"

"My name is Legion," he replied, "for we are many." 10 And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.

11 A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. 12 The demons begged Jesus, "Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them." 13 He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

Freed a man held by demons –

This man had been living life among the dead

A Self destructive lifestyle

Shameful life

Not trusted or welcomed by community

Not living God’s image he was created to bear but held captive to all that was evil

There is no power too strong that Jesus cannot bring freedom. It takes significant power to release evil’s hold on a person’s life.

When Jesus casts out the demons and released the man – he did it in a good and gracious way – not violent, or arrogantly but confident and graciously – he was not unkind to the demons, but very much in control over them.

This is an extraordinary exorcism – because here Jesus negotiates with the demons. He commands them to leave, they make a request and Jesus accommodates them. He is gracious – even to demons.

The purpose of demons is to discredit and destroy God’s creation, His highest creation being humans. Any person they inhabit they seek to dehumanized, discredit completely and when they are done with them, then destroy. They will used up every ounce of a person until there is nothing left – their destruction of a person is a living death. They also desire to draw attention to themselves and their destructiveness and invoke fear in others of God’s creation. Anything to draw attention away from God.

He Redeems destroyed souls

Mark 5:15

15 When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.

He restores lives. He restores God’s image in the life of people.

a tormented soul is now at rest

the man’s shame of his exposure and nakedness is gone – he’s dressed

He is in his right mind – when God sets your mind right – he takes it back to the default settings, he sees things right now, he understands who he is and who Jesus is – he recognizes the extraordinary power of God and he is in complete submission to it. He is at peace.

Others feared what they did not understand

No else says and does the things Jesus does – he is God in flesh

The townspeople were not frightened by what has happened to the pigs, but by seeing this man now clothed and in his right mind. – they did not rejoice at his recovery but were afraid. What is so scary about seeing a person sitting at the feet of Jesus? The community had desparately tried to tame him with no avail, Now Jesus not just tames him but restores him, redeems him, with a word.

Jesus disciples had also expressed fear at Jesus great power – on the way across the lake, he had calmed the storm with just a word, and they were terrified and asked each other “who is this? Even the wind and waves obey him?” (4:41)

The townspeople don’t seem to care to find out why he is so powerful or why he has such power – they just want him gone. No key to the city – but the cold shoulder. The demons begged Jesus to stay in the area, now the townspeople want him out of the area.

They are more comfortable with strong, troublesome forces that take human beings captive and destroy animals than they are with the one who can expel them and restore dignity to people..

They could cope with the odd demon-possessed wild man who terrorizes the neighbourhood with random acts of violence. But they want to keep someone with Jesus power at a lakes length away – on the other side of the sea. “go ‘help’ someone else, but we don’t want you here.” They must have considered Jesus more dangerous and worrisome than the demons.

More comfortable to manage what they knew – even if it was dangerous

Rather than change it

Jesus is gracious. Just as he granted the demons request – he also grants the request of the community to leave them. He does not stay where he is not welcome.

And so this community becomes a graphic and living example of the outsiders who see but do not perceive, who hear but do not understand and therefore do not receive the benefits of the Kingdom (4:11-12).

They do not receive what Jesus can provide, they do not bring their sick or demonized to him. They chase off their source of deliverance and salvation. People can tolerate religion as long as it does not affect business profits.

Jesus changes people’s lives – he releases captive lives; he redeems destroyed souls

He Restores a person’s Purpose

Mark 5:18-20

18 As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. 19 Jesus did not let him, but said, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." 20 So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolisc how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.

The man who has just encountered the most significant thing that has ever happened in his life is now seated at Jesus feet – he looks like another disciple, and begs to “go with him” - the only request in this story he does not grant.

Jesus restores the man’s relationships – to his family and community

This man’s purpose is to share what has happened to him with others – it was not for him alone. The townspeople may want Jesus to leave, but the effects of Jesus presence will carry on.

Isa 55:11

11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

It will not return to me empty,

but will accomplish what I desire

and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Jesus sent the freed man out to proclaim what God had done for him

To the Decapolis – ten cities in close proximity – a metroplex

There is an important message in Jesus directions to the man that we must not overlook:

The man is not simply to tell people about the miracle that happened to him, but what that miracle signifies and how it impacted not only the circumstances of his life but the very essence of his life – his soul. the Lord has been at work and it has had a huge change on that mans life, he has received mercy. He had received something opposite of what he or others might think he deserved – Mercy.

He will live the rest of his life as a man who has been given another chance, another lease on life. His life was forever changed. He can now bear the image of God with integrity.

When he meets Jesus’ powerful mercy, he is restored to wholeness. His encounter with Jesus makes him fully human again, with a family, a home and a mission in life. He is no longer a wild animal that people around him thought needed to be tamed, but a human being called to proclaim the dynamic affects of Gods mercy in his life. How is it that Jesus can transform a berserk derelict of a man into a sane and well-balanced human with just a word?

C.S.Lewis used the imagery of this story in describing his own life before his conversion (Surprised by Joy) my life was a “zoo of lusts, a bedlam of ambitions, a nursery of fears, a harem of fondled hatreds. My name was legion.”

This is every person.

Jesus goes to people who are not looking for him – He takes the initiative in reaching out and restoring people – not only restoring their relationship with God, but restoring them to the people they were intended to live as. Even if they are across a lake, possessed by demons, an managing okay on their own.

God searches out those who have never searched for or thought about turning to God.

Jesus releases captive lives

Redeems destroyed souls

Restores a person’s purpose

What keeps you from being the person God wants you to be?

Nothing is too strong or too far away

Jesus overcomes fears, incapabilities, strongholds

So you can share who he is and what he has done for you.

God’s chief desire is to make himself known to his creation. That we see that he is good, faithful and we can choose him

He wants to use you to do that, what is preventing that from happening.

Back again

2008-10-09T11:14:00.001-07:00

I have not forgotten about this walk through Mark and I am back to these posts again finally. As many of you know, we have been moving our church office and it has taken a great toll on my time the last several weeks. More than I anticipated.

I have appreciated those who have responded asking about the posts, I am grateful for those who read them and enjoy those who respond to them.

So here we go again, I pray God uses his Word to propel us each to know His Son better, and know His longing for our lives to walk in relationship with Him.

Mark 3:17-19 - Intentionally Called

2008-09-26T10:29:00.000-07:00

Interesting things happen between Jesus and his disciples in this passage. It begins with Jesus wanting to spend some time with them, withdrawing to the lake. However the crowds continued to follow him. He never seemed to discourage them from following him, he never seemed annoyed by them, but intent upon serving them. People were coming from all around now, word was getting out about him not only among people but in the spiritual world as well.

11 Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was.

When the evil spirits saw him, they knew exactly who he was and out of submission to His authority, reverence and obligation they bowed before their creator (yes - Jesus even created them too - see John 1:3; Col 1:15-16; Lk 10:18; Job 1:6-7; Phil 2:10-11). They had to acknowledge who Jesus was, and Jesus remained in authority as He ordered them what to do. Do you and I have even the reverence for Jesus that the evil spirits have? Does He have that kind of authority over your life?

When Jesus finally gets away for a few minutes and He called some of His followers to him, twelve of them. In those few minutes those 12 men's lives were dramatically changed for the rest of their lives. In those few minutes Jesus appointed them as apostles and commissioned them to their life's callings. Right there - they went from being disciples - ones who are learning the ways of the master, to apostles - ones carring a message, entrusted to carry on the work that Jesus had taught them and gave them.

It is no mistake that this occurs just after Jesus encounter with the evil spirits. What a dramatic contrast to the rest of the world. The new apostles had just witnessed the extraordinarly authority and power that their master possesses. They were to have that same authority over the spiritual powers of evil (v15), but not in their own authority. They were to be with Jesus and He would send them out to preach (v14). Jesus just uped the stakes for them, they were to be with him always, to learn, to serve, to grow in understanding, both intellectually and experientially. They were not going to miss anything with Jesus; what an extrordinarly relationship. They would also have to respond to Jesus' direction to go out and speak publically of His message of forgiveness and love. Those were the prerequisites to having authority over evil.

Jesus lived with the constant awareness that His departure was ahead of Him. His time on earth as a human was limited but the effects of His presence was to be ongoing for the rest of time. As a result, His followers and apostles were His succession plan, to continue His redemptive work after His departure. He called not only followers, of which he gained many, but He also appointed and designated some to be appostles, those who would carry on and carry out His work for the rest of history, in the power of having been with Him and in His authority.

He is still appointing apostles from His followers today, people who go out with His message and in His authority. Are you one of those?

Mark 3:1-6 -- Pursuing Good

2008-09-22T10:31:00.000-07:00

Psa. 36:1 An oracle is within my heart
concerning the sinfulness of the wicked:
There is no fear of God before his eyes.
2 For in his own eyes he flatters himself
too much to detect or hate his sin.
3 The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful;
he has ceased to be wise and to do good.
4 Even on his bed he plots evil;
he commits himself to a sinful course
and does not reject what is wrong.

Jesus was "on trial" from the moment he stepped on to the world stage. His trail did not start when he was drug before Pilate about to be crucified, but he was on trial from the beginning of his ministry. He was not on trial because he did something wrong, but because he did everything that was good to do and he called everyone around him to do the good they saw to do.
Two of the most significant mentors that I have had, are men whose godliness shows up in goodness. They look for the good to do, their words are used to highlight and draw attention to the good in a situation. They are two men who know each other, but live hundreds of miles apart, yet both have discovered God is in the good. Neither of these men would be call "up-beat" or "positive thinking" for they both think very critically about people and situations, but their thoughts are disciplined to discover and draw out the good. They have often been in situations where they could have been critical in their attitudes or actions, but they did not respond as others around them might have, like the popular opinions of the people around them. Instead their attitudes, words and actions stepped above acceptable social norms and in the process drew me and others to pursue the higher road of the good - for the sake of and to be like - God.

Jesus constantly looked to bring about good wherever and whenever. The good always highlighted God and provided an opportunity for people to interact with him. The good he did either caused people to glorify God or despise him, and so he was on trial. Not everyone wants to do good, except what is good for them.

Do you focus your thoughts on what is good regardless of the implications it may have on you personally? Do you discipline your minds attention to discover and do the good you can do? It is not an easy road to get on and like Jesus you encounter critics who will put you on trial, but you will discover the strength of God's goodness in the process. I encourage you to memorize, meditate and activate Philippians 4:8-9 in your life to help you focus on doing the good that is around you to do.

Mark 2:23-38 -- Relationship or Duty?

2008-09-20T15:10:00.000-07:00

also read 1 Sam 21

How quickly we can make rules. Rules make life more orderly. A parent who does not establish rules for their child has just established exhausting chaos. The rules are to support life, to help it be enjoyable, for everyone involved. When our children were young and we were going to a restaurant or shop, we would go over the rules before we went in, to remind everyone of how our time there was to go, so everyone could have a good time, us, those waiting on us, friends or family we might be with, and the strangers also in the same place, our rules were to help everyone have an enjoyable time, while we were there.

the rules were not to make life extraordinarily difficult, dull or discouraging, but to make the most of the time together. We did not establish the rules to be mean to our children, but because we loved them. The rules were not set in stone, but able to change as the children grew and situations demanded it. The children did not set or interpret the rules, we did. Whenever we let the kids set the rules we quickly found ourselves in negotiations with them and the focus was solely on what they wanted.

God longs for us to enjoy him in relationship. So much so that he created a day and set it a part solely for that purpose and called it the Sabbath, a time to be with Him. He established some boundaries for the relationship but over time His children had established a whole series of rules to define and organize what that meant, and soon the negotiations began to try to discover how to keep the rules, get what I want and, oh, by the way, I'll give God a little attention if I remember.

David went to God's house because he had a living relationship with God and knew he could find help from God. He wanted to be with God, to honor Him, to trust and rely on Him, and so God allowed the rules to be changed in that circumstance to provide David and his men with food.

When you God to God's house, do you go to be with Him or to fulfill some duty, to satisfy some expectation, some rule? He wants to be with you, that is what the Sabbath was made for, do you want to be with Him? God wants to make your time with Him enjoyable, to renew your sense of purpose and restore hope.

When David was in God's house, he received more than bread, God provided other things he needed as well. check it out, what was it / why?

Mark 2:18-22 -- Analog vs Digital

2008-09-18T13:30:00.000-07:00

Digital living - A completely new way of doing life.

What Jesus offers you and I is life on a completely different wave-length than what the rest of the world operates on. Jesus did not come to patch up the old system. His interest is not in reforming the existing but transform into something completely different with no obvious need or connection to the former. There can be no concessions, no accommodations and no compromises with the old.
It is like trying to pick up a digital signal on an analog piece of equipment, it doesnt work. I once owned an old cell phone and the provider was going to a completely new and different signal type and so I had to replace my phone with one that could operate on the new type of signal.

Jesus says "you used to operate on an analog spirituality and I am offering you a high-definition, digital spirituality" the two ways of living are not remotely compatible.

The old ways where sinners were condemned and excluded are not part of the new ways where they are received and transformed.
There is no fasting where piety is distinguished by withholding and imposing limitations is not a feature to be valued in Jesus presence.
Life with him is marked by an intimate relationship, and time is marked by celebration.
What Jesus brings into a persons life is incompatible with the former ways of living.

How often we attempt to modify and adapt the things Jesus said to make them more palatable and implementable into 'regular-analog' life. When indeed what he calls each of us to demands different systems and values of living, with no connection or resemblance to the former ways of living.

To live a life of giving, to the poor, to the needy, and giving not only financially, but of our attentions and affections. Reaching out to the sick, the spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally sick to bring healing and hope. A life of celebration instead of overwhelm and grief. A life that extends grace instead of judgment. Where love is marked by sacrifice rather than investment. Where 'digital' people have stepped into the eternal resources of life. It is those eternal resources we have to offer, and we can offer them generously, without efficiency.

It is easier I suppose, when the demands that life brings us would seem to fit more conveniently into the former wineskins; in the analog world, where we know better what to expect, what the limitations are, and the lowered expectations are not only acceptable but prudent. And so, we must trust that the changes that Jesus proposes will actually accommodate the demands and stresses that life will bring. We have to trust him with not only the new wine but the new wineskin too, that the new digital system and the new equipment will still allow me to relate to the world I walk and live in.

Are you trying to live a digital life with analog equipment? Are you trying to use old ways of living with a new lifestyle? Is it making a mess? Don't give up on the digital, let him replace your analog way of living, trust him...High definition is coming...

Mark 2:13-17 -- An Eye for the Ill

2008-09-17T14:55:00.000-07:00

Out of a large crowd, Jesus picked one and called him to follow him. Levi would seem to be an unlikely pick of a follower. As a tax collector, he was despised by everyone Jesus might be trying to reach and yet Jesus saw something in the man we would eventually come to know as Matthew. Like the other new followers whom Jesus had called to be with him, Levi also got up from his booth and left a most likely profitable source of income to follow him.

Jesus had dinner at Levi's house. He entered Levi's world before Levi entered his, and Jesus brought all of his disciples with him too. Jesus became known here as the 'friend of sinners' as he ate and seemed to enjoy the company of people so very different from himself.

When challenged by the religious keepers of the law challenged him in his actions, Jesus responded with an insightful picture. "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Jesus clearly makes a connection between a healthy life and a sinful life.

some observations:
Jesus saw and called the sick out of the crowd - Levi was sick, his friends were sick and Jesus knew they would respond to his offer of life.
Jesus led his followers to the spiritually sick. He taught them how to 'see' them and to 'see their illness' when they saw it.
Jesus went to the sick, he didn't wait for them to come to Him. How many times have I heard, or said, "have you gone to see the Dr. yet?" We know Dr.'s don't come looking for sick people, sick people have to go looking for the Dr. Jesus had an entirely different approach, he looked for people willing to take the prescription. He was surrounded by sick people - everywhere he went he saw their illness, but he seemed to look for people who would get up and take what he had to offer.
Jesus also stood up for the sick. It was clear to him that is why he was there. They were not a bother or inconvenience to him. He did not heal them to make his life better nor the world a better place, but he came to them to make their lives whole again; and he had no patience for anyone who was going to look down on them, especially considering that everyone who might look down on a sick person was also sick themselves, and yet not willing to admit their own illness.

Churches often have a way of taking a moral aspect of themselves. Agents to make the world a better (and cleaner) place, morally. Like a fine hotel where people enjoy the amenities of good friends, pleasant music and inspiring messages in a pleasant and comfortable environment. Surrounded by people like themselves and helping new ones become like them.

Jesus I wonder, might view the church more like a hospital than a hotel. Where the focus is on the sick and hurting and the smell of antiseptic assures one of the attempt to control the spread of germs. A place where healing is happening and people are re-gaining strength so they can re-enter a world to live a healthy life and with the strength to help other sick and hurt people.

I am confident Levi and his friends found life, like none other, in the presence of Jesus. More than merely being comfortable with Jesus around, they found comfort in him as their lives were being restored.

Do sinners (sick people) find comfort when they are around me as they regain a healthy life, or are they merely comfortable in their sickness around me.

Mark 2:1-12 -- The Healing Power of Forgiveness

2008-09-15T22:27:00.000-07:00

When we have a friend who has a problem, we want to try to help that person as much as we can.

Friend help friends live well. Real friends will do all they can to help.

We have had some wonderful friends who are helping Sarah our daughter establish her life where she has moved to. They have been taking her out driving to help her get experience. They are helping her move into her new home, helping her get a vehicle. Without our friends we would have no way to help Sarah do what she wants to do with the next step in her life. Friends help friends live well.

We help our friends move, find jobs. But other times we see our friend hurting and we want to help.

We see our friend in great need and our hearts, and schedules, and pockets are moved to help.

Here we have a man who was paralyzed and he had four friends who cared deeply about him. They know their friend is paralyzed – unable to move. They hear about this new teacher, prophet, healer in town. They want to help their friend so they do all they know to do, they pick him up and take him to where Jesus is. Only, once they get there the place is packed, no way to get in.

Now they must have really loved their friend, perhaps something had happened to him to make him paralyzed, they knew him before the accident, when he was a different person, but they have seen the bitterness well up in him over the time since he was unable to move freely.

I have a friend who was paralyzed from an accident, though he doesn’t say it, and might actually deny it, you can see the anger in his heart because of what has happened to him.

Sometimes things happen in a persons life and they paralyze you. A physical action or a word, a lot of things can paralyze a person and keep them from living free.

Sometimes what you and I mostly see are the physical things that paralyze a person, a physical thing in their body, or a relational problem that paralyzes a person, or financial issue, or even emotional issue that seems to be a huge barrier to helping the person move forward in their life and to live freely.

Back to our passage – here we have four guys who in their refusing to give up hope for their friend, begin to think creatively, if we could just get him infront of Jesus I just know he could heal my friend. And so they cut a new door into the room from the roof. I just love creative people who think outside the box. The combination of love for their friend, a deep desire to help him and faith that Jesus could actually help him caused them to be a kind of living sermon of the text of

James 2:26

26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

When Jesus looked at a person – he saw their soul first and understood their deepest need

We see people’s physical problems, financial problems, relational problems,

but Jesus seemed to have a kind of ‘x-ray’ vision that looked beyond the obvious and honed in on the root of the mans problem, what was truly keeping him from responding to God.

1 Sam 16:7

The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

Jesus regarded spiritual blessings far more significant than material blessings; and claimed to posess “authority” – the right and power – to not only heal the body but heal the soul as well.

Jesus knew that what truly paralyzed this man was not the damage to his legs but the damage to his soul. He also knew that the only thing that would truly bring healing was forgiveness. Now we do not know what the man needed to be forgiven of, we do not know what sin he had committed, and the fact that scripture doesn’t reveal that to us is a blessing, because ALL sin brings death, not physical death but the paralyzing sting of ongoing death. The guilt of sin that limits life and keeps you and I from truly living, and living eternally

The World is looking for the antidote to guilt

ER Video

A Dutch poet has called man’s guilt “the root of all human problems”

A British psychologist has called mans sense of having been forgiven “the most healing force in the world”

How often have specialists informed us that many patients could be dismissed from mental institutions if the were only able to convince themselves that their guilt had been truly blotted out..

Jesus never took sin lightly – he never told people “do you have a sense of guilt? Forget about it, move on...”

Instead Jesus saw sin for what it is – an inexcusable departure from God’s holy law (Mk 12:29-30)

29 "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.e 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'f

Sin has a ‘soul-choking’ effect (mk 4:19)

Mark 4:19-20

19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 2

He knew that getting rid of guilty feelings by allowing a little cruelty, promiscuity, infidelity and saying that “a little is not so bad” ultimately creates more problems than it solves.

He also knew that it was entirely impossible for a person to rid his soul from a sense of guilt by offsetting his sins by good deeds, that philosophy only leads to tragic failure and despair

Instead Jesus knew that the only solution to healing the soul, absolving a person’s guilt – which he proclaimed and provided – was FORGIVENESS – and this on the basis of his own atonement (10:45,

Mark 10:45

45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

14:22-23) so he says to the paralyetic “forgiven are you sins.”

The forgiveness Jesus offers does not stand alone – it is “pardon plus” In Christ, God dispels the invalids gloom and guilt and embraces him the arms of his protection and adopting love - “My son, your sins are forgiven” (Rom 5:1)

Now there were some scribes / teachers of the law who accused him of blasphemy

V7 “who can forgive sins but God alone?” a good question – and they are right. No one can forgive sin but God alone.

And even more – how do you know that the sin has been forgiven? How do you know the holy and divine God has been sufficiently appeased?

There are no outward sign of an inward reality of the forgiveness of sin that can be tested and verified – or is there?

9 Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'?

You can see when someone has been physically healed = they are better

What is the sign that a person has been forgiven – how do you know

How do you know when you have been forgiven?

So often, Jesus took his enemies on their own terms and refuted their acquations and in v8 He acted in full knowledge of their thought process = he knew what was going on inside of them.

It was – in fact – a much easier thing to heal the body than to restore a soul. For even a prophet might heal – but no prophet could ever forgive sins. But Jesus did both before their very eyes, leaving them speechless.

10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . ."

There are 2 ways to understand this verse – both of which are good and

A paraphrase “you say that only God can forgive sin, but i will show you that here is a human who has the same power” – that the “Son of Man” has authority =

Emphasising a human Jesus ‘Son of Man’ extraordinarily relating to the divine God

Understand ‘Son of Man’ as Jesus own self-chosen title for himself and would then paraphrase as ‘to show you that I – in person – have the power to forgive sin’.

Either way, the miracle becomes evidence to prove the divine authority of Jesus who able to forgive sin and free this man from every bondage.

Once again, the word of Jesus proves to be effectual, a word of power and authority. As in Genesis, God created from nothing by a word

Heb 11:3

3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

So at a word, Jesus, God’s Son brings strength out of weakness, freedom from the bondage of paralysis, forgivenss from the bondage of sin.

Something that was impossible by nature became possible and a paralyzed man walks home with his mat under his arm.

The natural reaction of the crowd was to praise God. All that they saw with their physical eyes was a paralyzed man get up and walk and Jesus, the newest – and most entertaining prophet just stood up to the scribes who were constantly heaping guilt on them through their teachings. The crowd was mesmerized and amazed, but the man who walked home walked away in the freedom of his soul.

A feature of this passage is the faith that the paralyzed man had to exercise to live in the reality of his new gained freedom. It is one thing to be forgiven, another to stand up and walk out by faith – is what we might say because we look at everything backwards. And Jesus know that about us. – but from his point of view – it is one thing to heal a persons body, but another thing entirely to provide their forgivenss – he knows it is ultimately taking him to the cross to provide that forgiveness. We are often too satisfied to mearly be healed physically.

And so he says to the man

He said to the paralytic, 11 "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"

Today, I often hear “I know Jesus has forgiven me, I just can’t forgive myself” and so the person continues to live in bondage to the sin that Jesus has provided the forgiveness for.

For some reason we still feel we must forgive ourselves, that we have some power or ability to forgive ourselves. And so, many of us stay paralyzed.

That is like a doctor giving you a prescription for an illness - and you deciding once you get home with the medication that you wont take it until you are able to reproduce the drug with what you have in your kitchen = and the truth is you cant make penicillin at home – even if it is made from bread mold.

You cant provide forgiveness on your own.

Also when we say “I just cant forgive myself” really says that you owe yourself a debt, that your sin was a sin against your own holiness – and that is a lie that we buy in to. In saying that, we have replaced the holy God with ourselves, that we are not ultimately accountable to him, but to ourselves and that is really matters.

It would be like that paralyzed man saying “as soon as I get over my paralysis in my own mind then i will get up and go to work” He could no more do that than you or i forgive our own sin.

The truth is – Jesus alone forgives sin, and we receive that forgiveness by faith. We believe the reality that he sets us free and we get our souls up off the mat and live free. We apply the prescription of His grace to our souls – and it is his grace that softens our hearts so they can beat again.

More than that, we apply his grace liberally and regularly to counteract the deadening strength of sin

As soon as we begin to think we don’t need it, we have come up with our own homecooked concoction of forgiveness and grace, we begin to move back onto the mat and become paralyzed again.

Then our friends, who care about us, are going to see that things are not right in our lives again, the paralysis is coming back,

Why? What are we going to do? Friends want to help friends live well,

They are going to look for the next solution – “I guess Jesus really wasn’t able to help our friend” when that is not true at all = we just replaced his forgivenss and his grace with our own, we stopped living free by faith.

Jesus offers you freedom – the ability to walk out of here free – truly free

You must receive it by faith – the only thing you do is get up and walk

Maybe you have been living paralized for a long time, something has held you down, You know the bitterness of guilt and you cant seem to get away from it. You can today, you can trust Jesus - that his death on a cross was sufficient to forgive you all your sins.

Maybe you have moved back on the mat and paralysis has crept back over your life. Jesus set you free and you tasted what it was to live free, but when that guilt comes back you try to tackle it yourself instead of saying “no” to that sin and “yes” to the forgiveness of Jesus. STOP trying to come up with your own homecooked concoction of forgiveness and begin to apply the grace of Jesus to your life again, receive his forgivenss again.

2008-09-15T09:53:00.001-07:00

The video clip I used in the sermon Sunday "The Healing Power of Forgiveness"

Mark 1:40-45 – Intentionally crossing barriers

2008-09-13T09:06:00.000-07:00

Jesus compassion drove him to cross any barrier to free someone so they could respond in faith to him.

In Jesus day there was a huge social stigma associated with anyone who contracted the dreaded disease of Leprosy. Leprosy knew no boundaries, it was not an exclusive disease that plagued a particular social, economic, racial or geographical group of people. It did not particularly care how much education a person had. Leprosy could infect anyone from the king to the common merchant to the lowest beggar.

Anyone infected with the disease immediately became a threat and outcast to the community. They were forced to live outside the city walls, often gather with other lepers in caves or anyplace they could find a bit of shelter. Not only were they excluded from the community, but if a healthy person were to come around them, they were required to cry out "Leper, Leper" as it to take the responsibility to announce their shame to the world. There was no hiding the fact they were the lowest, most dispised and threatening people on the earth. And to make matters worse - there was no cure, no hope of cure, they would live every day of the rest of their life and then die an out cast.

Philip Yancey, in his book "The Jesus I Never Knew" tells the story of a trip he made to India. He describes how 2000 years has not lessened the wretching impact of the disease. He met a well educated man in India who contracted leprosy and sat in his car weeping while his daughter was getting married inside the church. He did not dare to go inside and ruin the day for his daughter, for all the guests would run out in fear at one glance of his disfigured face.

In this passage a man came to Jesus, the very act of which would normally cause him to be stoned, so he most likely stopped several yards from Jesus and yelled to him "If you are willing, you can make me clean." Jesus - filled with compassion, moved to him, reached out to him and touched him. "I am willing, be clean" There was no barrier that prevented Jesus from offering compassion, healing, love, except perhaps the barrier of lack of faith. The other lepers - who are not mentioned, but likely there - did not receive healing, but all that Jesus could possibly do to bring healing - physical & spiritual healing - he did.

What barriers did Jesus cross to come to you? - have you forgotten those barriers that kept you from living life?

The man who was healed would likey carry the scars of his leprosy for the rest of his life. He will have a choice, to try to hide the scars so he would fit back into the community around him or live each day with those scars exposed for the world to see and take each opportunity to proclaim how he encountered Jesus who healed him and brought him back to life.

Which option have you chosen? Do you hide your scars so you can fit in to the rest of the world, who works hard to hide their own scars. Or, do you let the world see the scars of your lfie and take each opportunity to tell how Jesus brought you back to life?

Jesus commands the leaper not to tell anyone, but instead he goes out and begins to talk freely. Because of the mans disobedience, Jesus was no longer free to travel openly, instead staying outside in lonely places.

Jesus and the Leper traded pillows.

Mark 1:35-39 -- Prayer Fueled Purpose

2008-09-12T14:39:00.000-07:00

From Intentional Prayer comes Intentional Purpose

Prayer was not a spiritual discipline of Jesus life, but a distinguishing feature of his life; as common and necessary as sleep or eating a meal. Just as sleep provides rest and a meal brings physical strength, prayer fueled the priorities of Jesus life. His abiding relationship with the Father grew from the foundation of his intentional prayer life of hearing and communing with his Father.

"Very early in the morning..." This was the first thing Jesus did, hearing from his Father was a priority to Jesus and it was more important to him than was his sleep. Mark tells us he "left the house and went off to a solitary place"; Jesus separated himself for a time from the demands and responsibilities of his life, and the people around him - all the other voices who would like to tell him what he should be doing. What was important yesterday was left behind.

Jesus seemed to reserve very little - if any - time just for himself, even in his prayer time, he was not alone with his own thoughts. For Jesus, everything was done in relationship, even the early morning hours were reserved for an intentional time with his Father.

Simon Peter, woke up, found him missing and went looking for him. At this time, Peter was not particularly a help to Jesus, but a demand upon him, like a young child to his parent. Others priorities will always come looking for you, but Jesus was not swayed. His time with his Father renewed his own sense of priority and purpose. Many will loose their sense of priority and purpose in their life and get caught-up in the swell of others demands upon them. No one has the strength, on their own, to set and maintain their own priorities for a sustained length of time, even though we might think we can. How many christians have struggled to maintain a consistent prayer life, even though they know it is important. We try to "balance" it with all the other things in our lives and negotiate our priorities. In Jesus' life, there was no negotiating of priorities, instead they were fueled by his prayer time with his Father and his response was obedience.

"let us go somewhere else..." "This is why I have come" These were very clear directions and priorities.

Jesus spent time with the Father, regularly, in prayer. He made that the highest priority, not one good thing among multiple good things, but THE BEST thing he did all day. As a result he received the strength to do what he needed to that day.

Would the purposes of your day be fueled by your prayer life? How are the directions for your day determined?

Mark 1:21-34 -- The Power of Intentionality

2008-09-11T16:06:00.000-07:00

Intentionality has amazing power. So much of life we “take it as it comes”. We become responders to life. There is a driven-ness and purposefulness that begins to arise in the life of Jesus. The man whose life was only months before, hidden from public attention in the little village of Nazareth, now he stands in the synagogue in Capernaum, a major trade center for the region. People were amazed by him, there was something very different about this Jesus. He was not like the other teachers who they are used to hearing, He actually had authority in His teaching, a power they were not used to experiencing.

Then an interesting situation develops; there was a man IN their synagogue that was possessed by an evil spirit, and he was not alone “what do you want with US… have you come to destroy US?” It is not clear whether the people in the synagogue knew the man was possessed by an evil spirit, and allowed the spirit to control the man and influence the community without knowing how to handle it, or, perhaps they did not have the spiritual awareness to recognize what was really going on and responded to the man as a 'troublemaker' or just 'odd'. Regardless, the man was in their spiritual community with an evil spirit.

Then the evil spirit identifies Jesus – “the Holy One of God”. The evil and unholy knows the holy, and not only does he know Him, but responds as Jesus commands the evil spirit to come out of the man.

There are evil influences and spirits at work still today. They can be hiding anywhere, in anyone. Notice, Jesus does not condemn the spirit, he does not destroy it, but commands it, to which it must obey. Jesus chief concern is the life of the man who he cleanses and sets free from the evil spirit. God created each person with a free will so they can freely respond to Jesus. Jesus mission was not to destroy evil, that day is still to come, but His mission was to set people free to respond to Him out of their own – unencumbered will.

After Jesus left the synagogue, He encounters Peter’s mother-n-law who is sick, and Jesus heals her. Notice what she does next – she begins to wait on Jesus. When Jesus heals someone, or sets them free from an evil spirit, it is not for their comfort, but it is so they – and / or others can respond to Jesus in some way. He wants to free each of us from anything that hinders us from responding to Him. He truly desires relationship and will remove any barrier that prevents us from knowing Him in a relationship. Every sickness is not a hindrance to responding to Jesus, but some are and He will heal.

Do you need to experience the freedom from evil so you too can respond to the holiness of God in some way? You may be “in the church” but still controlled by an evil power. What is preventing you from responding to Jesus? The authority of Jesus has the power to set you free.

Mark 1:14-19 -- Intentional Followers of Jesus

2008-09-10T12:04:00.000-07:00

In an intentional gospel, timing is crucial.
After John is removed from the scene, with his calling completed and his time coming to a close, Jesus now picks up not only his own mission from God, but Johns message of repentance as well. "The time has come" he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Jesus came to call all humanity to a new and different way of living and experiencing God. In a "kingdom of God".

The notion of God having a kingdom, or that it was part of God's 'good news' was a new phenomenon. Encountering this kingdom required an intentional activity on the part of each hearer - "repent and believe". He called each person to a new way of living life - He completely changes the direction of your life, based on your faith.

From the beginning, Jesus was calling people to follow him. In first century Jewish culture, for a young man to follow a rabbi was a great privilege. To be a disciple of traveling teacher was a highly sought after opportunity. Often a young man would approach a rabbi and ASK to be one of his disciples. The rabbi might ask the young person to recite for him the Torah (the first 5 books of our Bible). This was to be memorized by every Jewish young person. Assuming the young protege could recite this to the rabbis satisfaction, then the rabbi might ask him to recite sections of the writings of different prophets. Then he might pose the question "Why should I let you be my trusted disciple?

For a rabbi would pour his own life into his disciples, they would travel, eat, and be with the rabbi closely to learn not only what the rabbi taught, but what they thought, how they were influenced, how they lived. The disciple was to become "like" the rabbi in every way to be a good follower.

Often, the rabbi might reply to a prospective student "you are a fine student, and you will make a very good farmer..." The young person did not make the cut, either based on what he didn't know, or his response, or sometimes based on his family connections, or status in the community, a rabbi would not accept the young man.

Now Jesus comes along. He is not waiting for people to want to follow him, but rather calling them to an immediate life change. (consider 10:17-22) He is not looking for disciples with a standard of intellectual or social or charismatic abilities based on what the person knew or had accomplished, but rather the responsiveness of their hearts. He was not calling them to be like Him, but to be themselves (fishermen) with a new purpose - his purpose - to call people to His Fathers kingdom, for he knew that the people in His Fathers kingdom would be like him, in the ways that they needed to be.

The intentionality of following layed with Simon, Andrew, James and John. Jesus was not like other rabbi's to accept or reject them, but they - themselves - determined their own acceptance - will they follow Jesus? Do they have the propensity to lay down their lives? They passed their first test "At once they left their nets and followed him"

What about you? Does your heart have the intentionality to follow Jesus? Would you have laid your nets aside and immediately followed Him? How would you prove that today?
Reply to me and let me know how you would show your intentionality to follow Jesus today.

Mark 1:9-13 - The Baptism & Temptation of Jesus

2008-09-09T20:33:00.000-07:00

The gospel of Mark is a fast paced gospel in comparison to the others. Generally, the book is written in short and simple sentences, but don’t confuse that with simple meanings or understandings. His short sentences raise lots of deep questions about just who Jesus is and what his life was about. In this passage, Mark packs a lot of punch into a few short verses.

In this short passage three amazing things occur that have significance for our own faith.

First – In verse 9, Jesus came to John to be baptized. Yesterday, we considered how the baptism that John conducted was a baptism of repentance and forgiveness of sin (Mark 1:4). In 2 Cor 5:21, 1 Peter 2:22 and 1 Jn 3:5 it is clear that Jesus was sinless. As an additional challenge, consider what Jesus says of his own baptism in Mark 10:38-39 or Acts 19:1-6 and Romans 6:1-4

If Jesus was sinless – why was he baptized by John?

Some have suggested that it was to provide an example that all of his followers should be baptized.

Or, a way for him to identify with humanity; Or, an example of Christ’s submission to the Father

Read Matt 3:14-15 – He was baptized to “fulfill all righteousness” – what does that mean? Wasn’t he already righteous?

Question one that you can reply to me about – Why was Jesus baptized, and more importantly, what does that mean for your faith?

The next amazing thing that Mark tells us is that as Jesus was coming out of the water we have a picture of the Father and Holy Spirit bearing witness of Jesus, one of the great Trinitarian passages. This is one of the few places in scripture where we see the entire Godhead at the same place at the same time. As in Genesis 1, here we see God speak his Word and the Spirit ‘hovering’ over the water. In Genesis, God was creating. Jesus was already God’s Son according to Mark 1:1, so God was not endowing a human Jesus with divinity (as some might wrongly derive), but what was going on? It is interesting the next time we hear God's voice is at the transfiguration and in Mark 9:17 the Father says the same message.

Question 2 – What is the significance of the appearance of the Trinity at Jesus baptism, and more importantly, what does that mean in regards to your own relationship with him?

The last amazing thing that happens in this passage is immediately after his baptism, the Spirit sends Jesus into the desert to be tempted by Satan. We see the Spirit of God in two very distinct lights, one as a gentle dove that is hovering over him in the water and then next as a powerful and demanding force that is sending him into a wilderness to be tempted. To the first century readers of Mark, the wilderness was no fun or glamorous camp trip, but a place of great danger and anxiety. To the first century person, the wilderness was the place of evil spirits, danger and wild animals who would see you as either danger to themselves or food. It would be in someways as if Jesus were to be lead to spend 40 days homeless in the streets of the downtown eastside, though not to minster to the inhabitants but to survive alone.

Considering that Jesus was both man and God, Question 3 - Why would the Spirit lead Jesus into a place of great risk, danger and temptation? If the Spirit would lead Jesus to this place would he not lead you to times of great testing as well? Why does it not seem Jesus was anxious to get out of the wilderness, could you rely on that same strength and resource?

The Intentionality of God – by words

2008-09-09T13:28:00.000-07:00

Mark 1:1-8

Isa 40:3-5; Matt 3:1-6; Luke 3:3-6; John 1:1-2

Mark 1:1 The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Mark 1:8 “...he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

As in the beginning of Genesis when God created a physical world to demonstrate his goodness, love and presence and like the beginning of the gospel of John

John 1:1-2

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.

Mark begins his writing declaring a gospel – a message of good news.

There is amazing power in a word. A simple spoken word can change everything. A word spoken from a parent to a child can influence a child’s entire life. A word spoken from a spouse can bring love or discord into a relationship.

God intentionally breaks into the time and space he created with a word, a message, wrapped up in the life of his son, Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Mark makes no mistake in starting out with the most provocative message ever penned. A message that the God of the universe has a son and that he sent to earth as a human. It is a message God had planned and declared through his prophet Isaiah over 700 years earlier and now brings to fruition. Over the centuries God has used prophets, individuals specifically and intentionally chosen to declare God’s words to humanity. Now he uses a man named John, known as ‘the baptist’ because he calls people to acknowledge and turn away from their sin and receive forgiveness from God. When people had made that step of repentance and received forgiveness, they signified it through the act of baptism as John immersed them into the Jordan River.

John was also a fore-telling prophet, “there is one coming more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worth to stoop down and untie”. He knew God was intentionally sending the most significant person imaginable into the world who would release God’s Holy Spirit making a unique relationship with God available to all who would choose Him.

John knew what it was to have God’s Spirit at work in his life; prophets were recognized as people God would occasionally use to accomplish His will. The Holy Spirit would ‘come upon’ a prophet for a specific activity or message, and John knew the thrilling significance of those occurrences. Now there is one coming that would mark the lives of people by the ongoing presence of God’s Holy Spirit, something John had only tasted and knew was as sweet as wild honey.

This powerful baptism of the Holy Spirit is something Jesus intentionally provides (v8 “he will baptize you with...”) to those in a particular spiritual condition:

· They have already responded to the preaching of sin and in conviction confessed and repented their sins;

· They have received forgiveness and experienced their public declaration of faith through baptism by water;

· And like John, they humbly recognized the power and position of Jesus the Son of God who baptizes them with the Holy Spirit.

God intentionally uses John to prepare the way for people to respond to Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Mark begins his writing with God’s invitation for he knows God’s Spirit longs to reveal the incredible good news of Jesus Christ on the subsequent pages of his book.

As we begin this study of Mark perhaps you too would want to respond to God’s invitation of forgiveness for sins as you confess and turn away from the sin that has held your own life captive. You can receive forgiveness of all your sin; past, present and future; and experience the cleansing that God’s grace brings. Perhaps you need to be baptized – by water – to declare your faith in the Son of God who loves you and intentionally comes to you.

Perhaps you have already done that, but today you need to renew the reality of God’s grace and his forgiveness and humbly acknowledge that Jesus, the Son of God is your saviour. Today, let repentance and forgiveness prepare the way for God’s Holy Spirit to bring power into your life as we begin to study this intentional message penned by Mark.

I pray that God’s Spirit will be at work in your life today.

If you have questions or would like to respond in some way you can here. I personally moderate all responses on this blog. If you do not want your response made public, please put “private” at the beginning of your response and I will respect your request and we can dialog privately.

Study of the Gospel of Mark

2008-09-09T13:04:00.001-07:00

At The Bridge this fall, we will be walking through the gospel of Mark. I have titled this series "an intentional message; an intentional life" because I believe Mark has a lot to say about living our faith in today's world.

There are 16 chapters in Mark. Each Sunday I will be preaching from a successive chapter in Mark, and during the week I will be posting additional devotional Bible studies from that chapter.

I encourage you to use this blog in your devotional time over the fall as we will walk through the book of Mark together. I also encourage you to post your own thoughts, questions, or ways this study is challenging your own life.

I will be moderating the posts. Any response that you want to ask me personally and do not want publicly posted please start with "Private" and I will respect your request.

I look forward to our study together, and even more, I look forward to seeing how God shapes us through His intentional message for an intentional life.

The Gospel of Mark – Background Notes

2008-09-08T09:44:00.001-07:00

This is a compilation of notes to assist a study of the book of Mark.

Mark is generally considered the first gospel account of Jesus that was written. Matthew & Luke likely drew on the writing of Mark as those subsequent gospels were composed.

The vast majority of commentators believe the gospel of Mark was written by John Mark, the student of Peter and traveling companion of Paul and Barnabas.

The life of John - Mark

Jewish name – John / Roman name – Mark - he gradually came to supersede his Jewish name – called John in Acts 13:5, 13 and then Mark in Acts 15:39, 2 Tim4:11

John Mark lived in Jerusalem.

Father – no information – presumed dead

Mother - Mary – of some financial means / influence – owns a large home with servants. The family is originally from Cypress. She likely had given significant resources to the apostles (Acts 4:32-37) as her home seemed to be a main meeting location for the church. No known siblings.

Cousin – (Joseph) Barnabas –(Col 4:10); A Levite (of priestly background) who "sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostle's feet" (Acts 4:36-37), He was one of the first believers in Jerusalem to support Saul (Paul) in the authenticity of his conversion to the other brothers (Act 9:27). Barnabas was sent by the church in Jerusalem to Antioch to guide the new church as it began to grow (Acts 11:22-23). He went to find Paul in Tarsus and bring him to Antioch where they stayed together for a year helping the new church get established in the faith. Barnabas convinces Paul to take John Mark with them on their first missionary journey.

Converted to Christianity by Peter who calls him "his son" (1 Pet 5:14). Peter gave John Mark much attention in helping him grow in his faith – likely as a result of the prominence of his family in the faith community and his earnest desire to grow. Mark was at his mothers home when Peter arrived after his miraculous release from prison (Acts 12:12) - the only man identified by name from the "many people gathered there to pray".

Papias (AD 60-130) and Clement of Alexandrea (AD 150-215) report that Mark was the close attendant and "interpreter" of Peter and wrote his gospel from the recollections and teachings of Peter. (Nelson, ISBE)

Other tradition says Mark had been a priest (Barnabas, and the family, was a Levite) and after becoming a Christian he amputated a finger to disqualify himself for that service and gained the nickname kolobo-daktulos, "stumpy fingered".

Time-line of John Marks life

Date

Description

Location

Reference

(approx age – 15yrs)

Probable that Mark is the young man running from the soldiers at Jesus' arrest. – Eyewitness of Jesus arrest.

Likely he would have been a teenager since he was called a young man. In Jewish culture a boy became a man at 12.

(Eastons Bible Dictionary, Fausset's )

Mount of Olives, outside of Jerusalem

Mark 14:51-52

A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, 52 he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.

41-43

(22 yrs)

Mary's home (mother) after Peter's release from prison

Peter was imprisoned by Herod Agrippa I (reigned 41-44 AD) Agrippa died

Some believe it is in this time John-Mark is converted to Christianity by Peter

Jersualem

Acts 12:12

When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying.

(26 yrs)

Accompanies Paul and Barnabas to Antioch. Paul and Barnabas are part of the first church in Antioch.

First Christian church – in Antioch

Acts 12:25

When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark.

(27yrs)

Accompanies Paul and Barnabas on first missionary journey as an "assistant"

Begin preaching in Jewish Synagogues.

Cypress – Salamis - hometown of Barnabas & John Mark

Acts 13:4-5

The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper.

Late 46

Traveled through island of Cypress with Paul & Barnabas

Arrive in Paphos – encounter popular Jewish sorcerer / false prophet Elymas –

Attendant of Sergius Paulus – Roman Proconsul (gentile) – Saul curses Elymas who becomes blind – Sergius Paulus becomes believer through faith in Jesus. First known gentile convert on Pauls journeys

Paphos – on Island of Cypress

Acts 13:6-12

When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.

(28 yrs)

Paul, Baranabas and JohnMark travel by ship to Perga

John leaves Paul and Barnabas and returns to the home of his mother in Jersualem

Perga

Acts 13:13

From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem.

49-50

(30 yrs)

Paul rejects Mark from going on next journey

A "sharp dispute" between Paul & Barnabas over Marks involvement in the ministry divided the partnership.

Barnabas leaves Paul and takes John Mark to Cypress

Tradition states he stayed in Cypress until Barnabas' death (who was living in 57 AD according to 1 Cor 9:5)

Jersualem

Acts 15:37-40

Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, 38 but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. 39 They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus,

60-62

(41 yrs)

In prison with Paul

Paul wrote Colossians during his first imprisonment in Rome (Acts 28:16)

Paul now calls him Mark

Letters to Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon sent at this same time

Rome

Col 4:10

My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you his greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. (You have received instructions about him; if he comes to you, welcome him.)

Philem 24

And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers.

(44 yrs)

Mark wrote the gospel of Mark

Strong tradition that Mark derived his information mainly from the teachings of Peter

Rome

Papias (60-130)

Clement of Alexandria (150-215)

Eastons Bible Dictionary;

(46 yrs)

With Peter in Babylon in the Euphrates

Babylon (Rome?)

1 Peter 5:13

She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark

66-67

(47 yrs)

2 Timothy was written by Paul in Rome near the end of his life(68?)

Mark is likely with Paul and Peter near the ends of their lives (68-69)

2 Tim 4:10-11

Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry

(49 yrs)

Tradition states that Peter sent Mark on a mission to Egypt. As the first evangelist to Egypt, Mark founded churches in Alexandria; becomes first bishop of the city.

According to Eusebius: "So great were his converts, both in number and sincerity of commitment that the great Jewish philosopher, Philo, was amazed"

Mark dies in Alexandria, some say martyred– date unknown

Tradition states that in 815AD Venetian soldiers stole Marks remains from Alexandria and place them under the church of St. Mark in Venice.

ISBE; Fausset; Unger;

( age timeline purely speculative and for general understanding of possible age of Mark at different stages of his life)

HELLENISM

"The Hellenistic age is rather the sudden unfolding of a flower whose bud was forming and maturing for centuries."

Hellenism – was a time of great political and social change in world and a name we give to the manifold achievements of the Greeks in social and political institutions. It is represented by the spread of the Greek culture and civilization that spread through civilization in the wake of Alexander the Great. He proposed to solve to problem of ruling the heterogenous world by applying a narrow nationalism and instead impose a culture that would transcend national boundaries – where all people could be accepted and 'at home'. This basically meant that the greek way of life would be extended to non-greeks, but in the process there became an amalgamation of Greek and non-Greek ideas and resulted in Hellenism. Hellenism was far from being 'pure Greek', but the Greek culture dominated the whole. It's affects were revealed through the expansion of the arts, science and philosophy, both in morals and religion.

Sometimes the Greek influence was most obvious in 'surface matters' like the wearing of Greek dress or a focus on athletic contests like the Greek games. Other times it penetrated deeply in to the relms of religion and philosophy. Hellenism was 'all embracing' and 'tolerance' it's chief value. Alexander encouraged a thorough mixing of the conquerors and the conquered by intermarriage; marriage was redefined by Hellenism.

Generally, Hellenism was not seen as a 'bad thing' by the populous, but the Jewish culture struggled greatly and did not welcome these 'new ways of thinking'. Though the traditional Jewish culture began to accept the Greek language they rejected the religious plurality and immorality that accompanied the Hellenistic culture. On the whole, most cultures, excluding the Hebrew culture, welcomed Hellenism with it's notable scholars, artists and scientists and many were impressed by the superiority of the Greek achievements. It became fashionable to adopt the latest Greek fads.

The Greek language was the influential force in the whole process, the whole known world spoke Greek and was a great convenience to the first Christian missionaries who took the gospel abroad because they did not have to learn another language. The world came together and was unified by the Hellenistic force of the Greek ideals and culture.

When Socrates was asked what country he belonged to, he supposedly replied "I am a citizen of the world" and Diogenes adhered to the same idea when he called himself kosmopolites – a "world-citizen" – the worlds first cosmopolitans.

In a cosmopolitan world – the local issues and concerns of the city-states were never allowed to dominate over the 'wave' of the Greek culture and thought that was overtaking the world.

The world was giving birth to the concept of democracy that was marked first by the inclination to permit the free development and expression of individuality that was subordinated to the common good. There was a recognition that no individual should subject their own individuality over the whole, but that as an individual subjected themselves to the whole and became part of the common good they were free to express their individuality and in fact they began to change to become part of the whole.

The Gospel according to Mark

The second book of the New Testament and the earliest of the four gospels, according to most New Testament scholars. The Gospel of Mark portrays the person of Jesus more by what He does than by what He says. It is characterized by a vivid, direct style that leaves the impression of familiarity with the original events.

Although Mark is the shortest of the four gospels, it pays close attention to matters of human interest. Mark is fond of linking the episodes of Jesus' ministry together with catchwords (for example, "immediately," "then"), rather than editorial comment; and frequently he interrupts a longer story by inserting a smaller one within it (Mark 5:21-43; 6:6-30; 11:12-25; 14:1-11).

- It is the current and apparently well-founded tradition that Mark derived his information mainly from the discourses of Peter. In his mother's house he would have abundant opportunities of obtaining information from the other apostles and their coadjutors, yet he was "the disciple and interpreter of Peter" specially.

As to the time when it was written, the Gospel furnishes us with no definite information. Mark makes no mention of the destruction of Jerusalem, hence it must have been written before that event, and probably about A.D. 63 AD.

According to Eusebius, the place where it was written was probably Rome. Some have supposed Antioch (comp. Mark 15:21 with Acts 11:20).

It was intended primarily for Romans. This appears probable when it is considered that it makes no reference to the Jewish law, and that the writer takes care to interpret words which a Gentile would be likely to misunderstand, such as, "Boanerges" (3:17); "Talitha cumi" (5:41); "Corban" (7:11); "Bartimaeus" (10:46); "Abba" (14:36); "Eloi," etc. (15:34). Jewish usages are also explained (7:3; 14:3,12; 15:42). Mark also uses certain Latin words not found in any of the other Gospels, as "speculator" (6:27, rendered, A.V., "executioner;" R.V., "soldier of his guard"), "xestes" (a corruption of sextarius, rendered "pots," 7:4,8), "quadrans" (12:42, rendered "a farthing"), "centurion" (15:39,44,45). He only twice quotes from the Old Testament (1:2; 15:28).

(from Easton's Bible Dictionary.)

Theological Contribution

Mark begins his gospel with the statement, "The beginning of the gospel [good news] of Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (1:1); and the last human to speak in the gospel is the centurion who confesses at the cross, "Truly this Man was the Son of God!" (15:39). One of Mark's key objectives is to portray Jesus as God's Son. At decisive points in his story, he reveals the mystery of Jesus' person. At the baptism (1:11) and transfiguration (9:7) the Father in heaven calls Jesus "My beloved Son," thus indicating that Jesus shares a unique relationship with the Father. Demons recognize Jesus as God's Son, too (1:24; 3:11; 5:7), testifying that Jesus is equipped with God's authority and power.

Mark, however, is careful to avoid portraying Jesus as an unrealistic superstar whose feet do not touch the ground. The Son of God is not immune from the problems of life, but enters fully into them. He must be obedient to the will of the Father, even to death on a cross. Mark portrays Jesus according to the model of the Suffering Servant of Isaiah. Thus, Jesus tells a parable, which ultimately reflects His own fate: the only son of the owner of a vineyard suffers rejection and death at the hands of rebellious tenant farmers (12:1-12).

Furthermore, Mark does not emphasize Jesus' deity at the expense of His humanity. Jesus appears sorrowful (14:34), disappointed (8:12), displeased (10:14), angry (11:15-17), amazed (6:6), and fatigued (4:38). In no other gospel is Jesus' humanity presented as strongly as in the Gospel of Mark.

For Mark, faith and discipleship have no meaning apart from following the suffering Son of God. Faith is not a magic that works independently of the believer's participation (6:1-6); rather, it draws the believer into intimate union with Jesus as Lord (9:14-29). Jesus' disciples are to be with Him as He is with the Father, and they are given the same tasks of proclamation and power over the forces of evil as He had (3:13-15; 6:7).

As the Son of Man serves in self-abasement, so too must His disciples serve (10:42-45). Discipleship with Christ leads to self-denial and suffering: "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (8:34). This, however, is not a matter of a religious desire to suffer; rather, when one loses his life, he finds it in Christ (8:35). Thus, one can only know and confess Jesus as God's Son from the vantage point of the cross (15:39). It is only through the Son of God who suffers and dies that we may see into the heart of God (symbolized by the tearing of the Temple curtain, thus exposing the Holy of Holies) and enter into fellowship with the Father.

Being Led by God

2008-05-07T09:25:00.000-07:00

When God leads His people (or His child) to walk with him, it seems to begin in repentance and ends with great rejoicing!

Isa 30 is about an obstinate and rebellious nation

Is. 30:1 “Woe to the obstinate children,” declares the LORD,
“to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin;
2 who go down to Egypt without consulting me; who look for help to Pharaoh’s protection, to Egypt’s shade for refuge.

God allows hardship to come their way (see v6-8) and eventually their sin becomes their destruction (v12-14) But when the Lord speaks it is for their rescue and redemption, but it starts with repentance

Is. 30:15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:
“In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.

And ultimately He longs to show His compassion and grace

Is. 30:19 O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. 20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” 22 Then you will defile your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, “Away with you!”

Walking by faith with God takes me to the edge of my life and relationship with Him. It is there, in that walk with Him, that I ‘see’ the clearest. It might seem the opposite, for I may not know the direction I am going, but I truly ‘see’ what is important & true and what is not. Walking with God demands that I trust Him and will respond to His voice.

In comfort and ease idols are discovered, built, acquired and regarded. The Israelites were so comfortable they even had the time and resource to decorate their idols with silver and gold. The Israelites are not the only ones who have idols, for I can have them too. The idol can be anything that becomes a substitute for God in my heart and mind.

It is when my life becomes comfortable that idols begin to spring up. When I have time on my hands or whenever my attention is captivated on one thing or another, the distractions seem to always lead to idolatry - like the old saying “an idle mind is the devils playground”. Our minds are never idle for long, for an idol is always within reach.

Idolatry always dulls my ability to hear God’s voice. Idolatry divides my heart and steals my desire to respond to my Lord. When I don’t hear from and respond to the Lord, that is when my heart becomes ‘dead’ to Him. Idols are nothing and they will lead me to nothingness.

It is through the pain and difficulties of life that God is able to identify my idols and the ways I have placed my trust in other things, and even myself, for yes, I can become my own idol. It is when life comes crashing down that I am ready to turn to the Father in true repentance and experience HIs compassion and grace. Through the tears of repentance, my heart is softened. Through the anguish of repentance the patterns of my mind are broken. Once again, I can hear His voice again, I can ‘see’ clearly again.

Now I can ‘see’ that which is more important than the direction my life is going. I can see, and hear the voice of my God who is leading me. My relationship with Him is more important than the directions or accumulations of my life, because He is my life.

Then, this passage says, we ‘defile our idols’ - we intentionally make them ‘unclean’, something VERY undesirable. I ‘see’ them for what they truly are and I dispose of them like they were a ‘menstrual cloth’. I treat the things I once considered very valuable as though they were despicable garbage, which is what they are. Not only do I throw them away, but I speak against them in my life with the attitude of a curse.

Now, the Lord begins to truly bless His children, those who walk with Him (v23-26). He brings abundance and goodness into their lives. He restores them and leads His children to know Him and walk in His ways - and it is good.

Being Led by God begins in repentance and results in rejoicing but always demands going to the edge of life and trusting Him. We walk and live with Him by faith, for He is just as interested in how you get where ever you go as He is in where you end up - Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

Taking The Bridge into the streets!

2008-05-06T13:27:00.000-07:00

“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” John 7:38

The Bridge passed out thousands of cups of water and Gatorade to the runners of the Vancouver Marathon and had a great time doing it.

Sunday morning is usually the time that The Bridge gathers for worship at the Vancouver Museum, but this last Sunday they literally took The Bridge out into the streets by volunteering with the Vancouver Marathon at water station number 12, the 21 mile mark of the run. Nearly 40 people from The Bridge made it out to cheer runners on as they handed them a drink of water or cleaned the cups up as the runners went by.

Clint Kabler did a fantastic job of interfacing with the Marathon staff and organizing The Bridge’s involvement. His reflections on the day were: “we were able to contribute to an event that our community (Kitsilano) values. I believe one of the best ways to dialogue with our community is to follow Paul's example to the Corinthians, "I have become all things to all [wo]men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings." Today, we continued a journey of sharing in its [the gospel's] blessings.”

It was exciting to see so many from The Bridge involved, even the children were able to take part. Everyone from long-term members to recent guests got involved and many new friendships were started.

Pierre Lapointe helped clean up the cups and said: “I found the event a lot of fun and most inspiring. Count me in for next year.”

At The Bridge, those who serve others and those who share Jesus with others are our heroes, this week we have lots of heroes at The Bridge!

The Bridge Prayer Retreat

2007-10-24T10:25:00.001-07:00

Praying and Playing together is always good

Spiritual weapons for spiritual battles

2007-05-15T22:39:00.000-07:00

2 Corinthians 10:3-6

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6 And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete. NIV

We are a people of 2 worlds; we live in both the physical world and spiritual world, and we do this simultaneously. In reality the things of the spiritual world have greater consequence because they are eternal. Our time in the physical world are constrained to time and space, both of which we will eventually run out of, but our existence in the spiritual world continues. It is in the spiritual world that the true battle of good and evil exists, where true and false are clearly seen because they are embodied in light and darkness.

We are not impotent in this spiritual world with the spiritual battle that ensues us. we have weapons that are very different from the physical world and all the more real. The weapons we have with divine power are distinguished by obedience, with obedience comes power. In the physical world, where things are upside down, obedience is rarely connected with power, in fact this world would say the opposite, that independent determination produces power, but that is not a divine power.

With a divine power of obedience to Christ, strongholds are demolished; arguments dissipate; and pretensions, the agendas, missions and purposes of the enemy are destroyed. Why does obedience have this kind of strength? Because it acknowledges God, the one to whom our obedience is directed. All these schemes of the enemy are set up against the knowledge of God who is divine and they can not stand. So we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

We have a responsibility in this; we are the ones initiating obedience, we take action over our own wills, and we are ready to punish disobedience. We take obedience seriously. Obedience is crucial to faithfulness, and truthfulness, we will not be faithful to that which we are not obedient, we are not truthful to that which we are not obedient.

Father: Help me take obedience to you, your word and ways seriously. May I have an attitude that desires and blesses obedience in my life and others. Help me desire you more than myself so that obedience becomes a joy. May I realize the divine power in obedience and live so that its power is evidence of your presence in me.

Quotes to take note

2007-05-15T22:31:00.000-07:00

on Character

Some day, in years to come, you will be wrestling with the great temptation, or trembling under the great sorrow of your life. But the real struggle is here, now, in these quiet weeks. Now it is being decided whether, in the day of your supreme sorrow or temptation, you shall miserably fail or gloriously conquer. Character cannot be made except by a steady, long continued process.
- -- Phillips Brooks

Miracles are Normal

2007-05-13T21:55:00.001-07:00

Based on feeding the five thousand – Mark 6:30-44

Miracles happen in the midst of the normal.
It was normal for Jesus to feed the many.

It was normal for people to get hungry.
It was normal to take bread and fish – that which was on hand.
It was normal to sit down and give thanks, to send it out, to eat.
All this was normal.

The disproportionate resources were abnormal -
five loaves, 5000 men.
The abnormal requires faith to do the normal.

Jesus does what is normal with faith
which is also normal.
Faith supports the normal.

Skepticism reduces the normal to subnormal.
Skepticism sucks life from the normal
Skepticism tries to be normal, but can't.

Life without faith is subnormal.
Faith will bring life back to normal
Without faith life can not be normal.

There is confidence when things are normal

By faith miracles overcome the abnormal.
It is normal to have faith.
With faith there is confidence.

When things are abnormal there is little confidence.
Lack of confidence feeds skepticism
Skepticism perpetuates the abnormal
both need the other to survive.

Faith absolves the abnormal
With God all things are possible
With God all things are normal
Life without God is abnormal.

Gerald Conner ~ Feb 1, 2005

Quotes to take note

2007-05-13T21:53:00.001-07:00

on Character

I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.
- -- Abraham Lincoln

Becoming Godly Leaders

2007-05-12T09:34:00.000-07:00

People lead from their hearts.
They use their minds, eyes, ears, feet, hands to lead, but the desire, motivation and passion to lead comes from the heart.

Matt 15:13-19
He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit."
15Peter said, "Explain the parable to us."
16"Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them. 17"Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man `unclean.' 19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.

The essence of a leader is someone who has people following them somewhere.
The leader is guiding them, showing them the way, in a particular direction and towards a desired outcome.

Since leadership is ultimately an issue of the heart, there are some qualities of the heart that as they are put in place, built up, developed will help us become better leaders. These will help build better leaders, regardless of the setting.

We are all called to be leaders in one form or another. We may be leading our families, perhaps we are leading others where we work, or leading things in our community, or in our church.

There are qualities that will help us be better leaders, as we build them into our lives. These qualities, when honestly dealt with, will challenge the issues in our heart and will cause us to be better people and consequently better leaders. No one has it all together, each of us can continue to grow in these qualities and let the power of Christ change us.

Character – demonstration of integrity, truthfulness and uncompromising lifestyle
Call – God is involved in determining what is done and how
Commitment – the ability to place obedience over cost
Competence – the desire and ability to do things well – pursuing excellence
Community – placing the needs and interests of others ahead of oneself
Confidence - recognizing and relying upon ones source of strength
Faithful – demonstrates trustworthiness to those relying upon them
Available - able and willing to use their resources to achieve the purposes
Teachable – Demonstrates a desire to learn from many sources.

I pray that as each of us are challenged by these we will choose to take the risk and deal with our own hearts and become better leaders of those following us.

Quotes to take note

2007-05-10T22:40:00.000-07:00

on the Spiritual Life

"Regarding the debate about faith and works: It's like asking which blade in a pair of scissors is most important."
- C. S. Lewis

WYSIWYG

2007-05-10T21:35:00.000-07:00

1 Samuel 16:7
But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

I am so easily persuaded by what I see, I can be impressed or ‘turned-off’ by what I see. When I was in business we had a phrase “wysiwig” “what-you-see-is-what-you-get”. I would think that what I see is real and based on that I will make my decision, choice, determination.

Appearance is so important today, it has been said “image is everything”. The problem with outward appearance is it doesn’t last. Eventually, we all succumb to our heritage, DNA will not delay the arrival of hair loss or arthritis. We can cover it up, and much money is spent every year to maintain the level of image we are growing accustomed to. The truth is we can not control everything that happens on the shell of us, the part that everyone sees.

What I can influence is what is going on inside of me. God highly values what is happening in our hearts – the real us, the place where we really are. I am glad my body doesn’t go into eternity, I would hate to be stuck with this piece of flesh, but I often can give more attention to my outside and ignore what is going on inside my heart. God looks at our hearts, he knows who we really are and what we really value, regardless what we present on the outside.

David was a man who ran after God’s heart. He trusted God with all his heart and was willing to respond to God in obedience, and because of that God knew He had His man who was capable to lead His people. God is not impressed by the things we are impressed with, He is impressed when He sees a heart that is His and responds to Him.

2 Chronicles 16:9
For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

There is an old saying “you can’t judge a book by it’s cover” and while everyone might agree with that, the truth is we do it, you surely don't believe that 'dust jackets' on books are really there to keep dust off - it is all marketing. The good news is God doesn’t stop reading at the 'dust jacket', he reads our hearts carefully and completely and when He comes into our lives he starts turning on the lights and conditioning our hearts to respond to Him. God is good and He knows that when He has found a heart that will respond to Him, He has found someone who He can express His goodness in and through their lives.

God wants to make His glory known to all His creation and He delights to use the lives of men and women whose hearts are His.

Father, You alone can see the inmost pages of my heart, may you be pleased by it and may you bring what is on the inside of me to the outside so that your glory may be revealed through my life.

True Humility

2007-05-10T06:36:00.000-07:00

2 Samuel 6:16-23
16 As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.
17 They brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the LORD. 18 After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD Almighty. 19 Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.
20 When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!"
21 David said to Michal, "It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD's people Israel-I will celebrate before the LORD. 22 I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor."
23 And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death. NIV

Men who humble themselves and look foolish to follow God are honored;
Fools who look good and follow no one are humbled.

David knew that true humility before the Lord and all the people would endear both to him. His true humility sought only to honor the Lord, he did not desire the endearing outcome but only knew the result would produce it.

Like her father before her, Michal was concerned for the appearance and station, not the interests of the Lord and the people and as a result was not qualified to bear fruit in her life.

While David gave – sacrificially and generously to God, and all the people – Michal had a heart of exclusivity. She separated herself from everyone else as she stood at the window observing and judging the day, placing herself above everyone, reserving herself for only herself.

David, like Jesus many years later, was willing to be completely humbled and the Lord raised him up. Michal, like many others in life, was only interested in herself and her own esteem and the Lord dried her up and she died empty.

Father, may I be willing to choose true humility before you and consequently the world around me that is watching. Not that you would raise me up but that by everything I have and am, you would be raised up in my life. I desire to be like David, a man after your heart.

Color

2007-05-09T13:19:00.000-07:00

written in a coffee shop on 4th

See a city splashed with color;
Soaking homes, gardens, hills, all other;
A place where rainbows unfurl their hues,
and stretch their bands across dripping dews.

Skies dripping, like tears, from overlooking eyes
Seeing beauty, made, but seeing it not
Looking where it should be, but finding it not
But could be,
Should be,,
…will be.

When those tears, dripping down
Turn to drops, dripping down
Red from hands, dripping down
Out of love, dripping down

Softening hearts full of pain
To bring real beauty back again
Now the color, stained, not splashed
Restores the hearts joyful laugh

Then a rainbow marks the promise,
Springing life, shy of pride.
The heart once made, has made a turn
The colors of beauty now restored
Like it could be,
Where it should be,,
…Will be

Gerald Conner 5/4/01

Why Vancouver 3 ~ What we knew & what we didn't

2007-05-09T13:16:00.000-07:00

What we knew and what we didn’t

Over the months as we prayed and walked with God and shared our lives with others, He continued to reveal His desires through new relationships, opportunities, confirmations through friends and scripture that indeed God was calling us to move to Vancouver to start a new church.

We didn’t know how we would get there, if we would have any money to live on, where we would live or the kids go to school, but we knew God was calling us there, so we committed to go. There are many stories of God’s miraculous faithfulness, and everything began to come together, when I have time I will try to write those up.

The Bridge was started in Sept 2001, reaching a secular, urban population with the Gospel of Christ through a community of love. God is making Himself known in the downtown and west side of Vancouver because He has chosen to use our lives here at this time, in this way. We are here as long as He is pleased to have us here.

Why Vancouver 2 ~ Prayer, counsel & circumstances

2007-05-09T12:53:00.000-07:00

Prayer, counsel & circumstances

Several weeks later, a class was cancelled and instead of going to the library to study I really sensed I needed to spend some time praying, so I made my way to the little prayer chapel on campus. It was a very significant time of prayer and I was really moved as I confronted God’s holiness. He reminded me of the passage in Ezekiel and spoke to my heart regarding His call and used some extraordinary ways to demonstrate it. He reminded me of the sacrifice Christ had made for me, and all, a sacrifice that came at great pain and price that I could not experience, but it was made for a purpose that I was to be part of, he explained in detail.

At the end of this significant, unanticipated, prayer time God seemed to lead me to go and speak to a professor at seminary. I really didn’t want to get ‘direction’ from this guy. He is saved and all, but it seemed that he and I were on different sides of the page much of the time. (we have since become friends). However, I knew God’s voice well enough to know that this was from Him, so I soon found myself standing in the professor’s office.

During that conversation I shared with the professor how I sensed God’s call to church planting. When I said that, he asked if I had ever considered Canada, I told him no, but that we had been praying about Asia or eastern Europe until God gave me some direction a couple of weeks earlier, and I told him about how God had spoke through the scripture. Then the professor said he wanted to tell me about how God had placed Vancouver on his heart 5 years earlier and he had been praying that God would use him to direct someone to that beautiful city. While it is a beautiful place, the people were far from God and they needed someone to share the gospel and start churches there. He also said that he had only shared that concern with his wife and a close colleague, never any other students, but that he sensed God was challenging him just then to encourage me to consider going to Vancouver to start a new church. Canada had never been on our radar screen, but as is our practice, Diana and I began to pray and take things one step at a time.

A few weeks later I was having coffee with a friend on campus who had previously lived in Vancouver. As he talked about his experiences, I said “this is interesting, I have been thinking about Vancouver lately”. I shared with him everything that had happened up to this point. He encouraged me to contact his brothers, who were in Canada.

I emailed my friends brothers and some of that was forwarded to a man named Jim, who was a church planting strategist in Vancouver who contacted me. Jim asked me for a bio and when he received that emailed excitedly that he and his wife had been praying that God would send someone from the Hope Network of churches to plant a church in Vancouver. We realized we had a number of common connections.

Several weeks later, we were at a dinner on campus where there was some information about a evangelism class that happened to take place in Vancouver, how interesting we thought. I applied for the class and was able to attend. It was the first time I was in Vancouver. Indeed it was a beautiful city, and I was impressed with the way churches and denominations seemed willing to work together. I also had the opportunity to meet Jim and his family while there.

A few months later, Jim contacted me, he was planning to attend a seminar in the area and wondered if he could stay with us. Then about a month later he did the same thing again. It gave us a chance to get to know one another and he invited Diana and I to Vancouver for a visit.

That next March, Diana and I made plans to visit Vancvouver. We were to go through a Church-Planters assessment process, but for the first time it was cancelled due to lack of participants. We felt it was from God, so to free up our time to see the city. While we were there, we believed God wanted us to move to Vancouver to start a new church and so we made a commitment to Jim that we would do that.

to continue reading check out "Why Vancouver 3 - What we knew and What we didn't"

Why Vancouver? Our Call / Ezekiel's call

2007-05-09T12:18:00.000-07:00

A call from God's Word

Diana & I had the opportunity to help start a great church in Wichita called River Community and that became one of the most significant experiences of our lives. During that time, we experienced God doing incredible things in us and around us and began to sense through scripture (see Jn 15:16), prayer and counsel, that perhaps God wanted to use us to reproduce our experience in other places. Other people needed to experience what we had encountered, so for several years we prayed and waited on God and His timing for our lives.

After several years, through some incredible events, God moved our family to Fort Worth, Texas where I attended seminary (see the Johnson stories). Part way through our time there, we began to pray about what our next steps were to be.

We new that God wanted to use our experiences in Wichita to impact other people in similar ways. We had begun to explore options overseas, thinking that perhaps He might want us in a different culture. However, through our eiscussions we realized our window of opportunity was not as open as we had thought, primarily because of the ages of our children. The kids were on the threshold of teenage years and the International Mission Board has a policy regarding appointing families with teenagers. We could still make that happen, but we had no time to waste. I told Diana we just needed to pray and see if God wants us overseas.

After a couple of weeks of praying, God spoke to me through some scripture. I was studying in Ezekiel and sensed the Lord say “Go to the beginning of this book, I have something for you there.” I started reading in 1:1 and by the time I made it through the third chapter I knew that God had been speaking to me.
see:

Ezek. 2:3-8 Ezek. 3:4-9

God seemed to speak these words into my heart, words that seemed to indicate we were to stay among people of our own language, but what laid ahead would not be easy. We thought we were to stay in the States, it seemed to fit to us.

To follow this story read "Why Vancouver ~ Prayer, counsel & circumstances

Johnson - 6 ~ God Moves

2007-05-09T11:47:00.000-07:00

God Moves - Rom 10:11-12 “Anyone who trusts 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,

“I am glad you called” Mike said, “I was just getting ready to call you, we would like you to fill this position in Fort Worth, if you are still interested. I don’t know what the compensation package will be but if your interested, we would like for you to be in this position.”

That was all the confidence I needed to turn in my resignation, I didn’t know what I would be paid, but I knew I would have a job and I would trust God to provide the right amount.

As I told my boss and co-workers about what was going on, they looked at me dumbfounded. This story was definitely outside of their box of ways to make career moves.

Nearly 3 weeks later, not until we were packing up our home did, the ‘official’ offer come in the mail. They were willing to work around my seminary schedule, pay me a good salary (that would allow me to support my family without Diana working and pay for my masters degree without going into debt), pay all our moving expenses, our storage expenses, even the mortgage on our home in Wichita until it sold (which took a year!)

God moved in some incredible ways – in ways only he could have moved. We were able to move to Fort Worth and begin seminary with incredible confidence that indeed it was God who was calling us and leading us.

Where we were going from there we did not know, but we knew the God who was leading us.

A verse that God gave Diana & I during this time and we saw come to life was:

Is. 30:19
O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. 20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

Johnson - 5 ~ The Faith Wait

2007-05-09T11:46:00.000-07:00

The Faith Wait - Psa. 130:5 “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.”

Finally, a month after my first trip, my family was going to Texas for a wedding and I decided to call Dr. Clark to see if he had received my resume and if we could possibly meet while I was in the area.

“I am glad you called, he said, I was going to call you today to see if we could meet sometime” Dr. Clark said, and we made arrangements to meet.

The wedding was in the Dallas area and so one day, Diana and I drove over to Fort Worth for the interview and to see the seminary campus, the first time for her.

Dr. Clark and I had a good meeting. He talked about what they wanted to do in their information systems department and that I would be leading those changes and managing that department. While it was a good meeting, no offer was extended, only talk of future meetings that were not yet scheduled.

I was encouraged, but my Gantt chart was behind schedule.

Several weeks passed, no word.

Then I get a call from Mike in Georgia. He wants to do an interview by video teleconference. I don’t know how to set that up, I don’t have that capability. After a few days they decide they can do this interview by phone and I talk with a Mike in the Information Systems department in Alpharetta, Georgia. This position would report to him and Dr. Clark in Fort Worth. Everyone needs plenty of bosses.

Again, the interview went well, but no job offer.

Things are getting very close for comfort. I am quickly approaching the date I had decided if I would turn in my resignation at Boeing. According to my plans, I would give 4 weeks notice, what I thought I would need to transition my responsibilities and leave us enough time to move and get settled before school started for me and the kids. What will I do? Do I believe God is calling me to go to seminary, to follow him and prepare for ministry – whatever that was going to look like?

Would I turn in my resignation of a good career for an uncertain future? Would I move my family without having a job? How will I provide for my family? How will I explain this to our parents – we are taking their grandchildren and doing what? God, what is going on here? God had told me before that He had brought me to Boeing, but never promised me a future there, but He did promise to always provide for my family and me if I would walk with Him.

I met with Terry our pastor and we prayed together. He didn’t know any better than I did what God was doing, but we did decide I could slide my resignation date a week. The letter was written and sitting in my desk drawer.

A few more phone calls with people in Georgia over the next week or so, all seemed well, nothing definitive. I never told Mike or Dr. Clark, or anyone else involved about what God had said and what had happened (only a few friends at church)– that wouldn’t help, if God had said it, God would do it.

Finally, Friday, the decision day came, what would I do? I went to lunch but couldn’t eat and decided to call Mike when I got back to the office to see where things were.

to find out how this ends ~ Johnson 6 ~ God Moves

Johnson - 4 ~ A Divine Appointment

2007-05-09T11:43:00.000-07:00

A divine appointment – 2Kings 6:19 "...Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for.”

Inside the lobby sat a lady with an aire of “kind, but in charge” about her, who asked if she could help me. I told her I was moving to Fort Worth to go to seminary (it was a Southern Baptist place, maybe that will help me find a job!) and I was looking for a position to work.

“I don’t know if you know anything about us or not” she said

“I didn’t know you all existed until about 5 minutes ago when I drove by”

“Well, we are in the middle of a re-organization and merger” she said “and we are laying about 30 people off in this facility right now, so I don’t think this would be a good time for you to apply” she explained.

“I understand” I said, and was about to turn around to leave but then I opened my mouth and I couldn’t believe what came out next.

“Is there anyone by chance that works here who is named ‘Johnson’” I said.

She had a real puzzled look on her face ‘Johnson?’ she said.

“Johnson” I said.

“Well, the only person I know who works here named ‘Johnson’ is Jack Johnson, he is the president of this agency, is that who you are talking about?

“I don’t know” I said, “but, could I get 10 minutes of his time? I promise I wont take much of his time, but I would just like to see him”.

“Well, Mr. Johnson has been out of town for the last 2 weeks working on this re-organizaton, today is his first day in the office, I don’t know if he has time to see you but I will call his secretary, what is your name?”

She called and I stood around in the lobby thinking “what am I doing? What am I going to say? God sent me?”

In a few minutes, Jack Johnson came down the stairs to greet me. He seemed like a nice man in his 60’s and he invited me up to his office. As we headed back up the stairs half way up he stopped, turned to me and said “Jerry Conner, have we ever met before? Your name seems very familiar to me!”

“no, so far as I know we have never met”

We get into his big office and as we visit I tell him a little about me, and hand him my resume. I don’t say anything about what God has told me.

He tells me about how there is this re-organization going on and how he is moving to Georgia as a part of it, but, they need someone like me there right now.

I am thinking to myself “you don’t even know me, but you need me, here?”

Mr. Johnson tells me that there is another man coming to take his place named David Clark, and he would be making any hiring decisions, and that I should contact him.

After about 10 minutes of visiting with Mr. Johnson, I leave. I get in my truck and as I drive away, I see the building I was originally looking for. I go in to fill out an application, but I honestly don’t remember much of it, my mind was spinning. As soon as I leave I think “I need to sit down and think”, so I find a coffee shop and I call my friend Harold Bullock.

I had had dinner with Harold a couple of nights before, but I didn’t tell him what I thought God had told me, but over the phone I told him my whole story of what God had said before I came, and what had just happened.

“I know Jack Johnson” he said, “I know what they are going through and they do need someone like you there right now, did you tell him about what you have done at Boeing”

“No, he really didn’t seem all that interested” I said.

“Well, you need to get some more time with him, call him and see if you can see him again”

Great, I think to myself, what am I going to say now, but I call him back at his office. His secretary tells me that Mr. Johnson is getting ready for a Board of Trustees meeting and can’t see me, but wants to encourage me again to contact Dr. Clark.

Clearly, that seems like the next step.

The rest of the week seemed like a blur, I had a few interviews that went ‘fine’ but nothing that seemed like a fit and I went home to Wichita early, the whole way a little dumb-founded thinking “what is happening here”

When I get home, I tell Diana & Jim, and others about all that had happened. It was a cool story, an amazing adventure, but no job in the hand. Still, I did the next step, I sent a resume and letter to Dr. Clark, and I waited, and waited.

to find out what happens next - check out "Johnson 5 - The Faith Wait"

Johnson - 3 ~ Do what I know to do

2007-05-09T11:42:00.000-07:00

Do what I know to do – Psalms 37:2 "Trust in the Lord and do good..."

I get into Fort Worth, and I am sleeping on the office floor of a friend, John Worchester. He wanted me to go to work for him, but I would have to raise my own support and Diana & I just didn’t have peace about doing that at that time. I only knew two people in Fort Worth, John and Harold Bullock, the pastor of Hope Community Church.

How am I going to find a job that I know exists but don’t know how to find? So, I did the only thing in knew to do, I had a fist full of resume’s in my hand and a newspaper under my arm and I hit the streets. I prayed as I went “God, where do I go”? I was faxing off resume’s, making phone calls, setting up interviews, what else can I do?

Wednesday of that week, I was driving in an area of west Fort Worth, looking for a particular office building, where a company had advertised a technology position. I was in the right area, but having a difficult time finding the address, so I just drove around the area a bit. As I drove around, I saw this other big white building with satellite dishes outside and a sign that said “Southern Baptist Radio & Television Commission” and thought to myself, “that’s interesting, I had no idea the Southern Baptists had anything like that going on”.

As soon as I thought that, another thought came to me as I drove around, “I should go in there to look for a job”…“no, I am going to this other place…but I don’t have an appointment… how bad can this be, I am going to lots of places…” and I found myself by the building again. I pulled over, said a quick prayer and went inside.

find out what happens next in Johnson 4 ~ A divine appointment

Johnson - 2 ~ The Prayer

2007-05-09T11:40:00.000-07:00

The Prayer - Isa 30:21 "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”"

About a week before going, in my quiet time I was praying about the upcoming trip. I prayed “Father, you know what you are calling me to, and you know better than I do what my families needs are going to be, I need you to help me and show me what to do and where to go.”

And God spoke. I don’t know if it was a voice in my heart, mind or ears, or some combination but this thought came to me, and I knew it was real.

“I am going to take you someplace where you did not intend to go, I am going to give you the name of the person to ask for before you get there, I am going to tell this person about you and he will give you the next step.”

Was that you God? This seems a little far fetched…

Over the next several days, I just continued to pray about this trip, our needs, and it seemed the same thought consistently came to my mind…

The day before I was to leave to go to Fort Worth, I sensed in my prayer time with the Lord that He said “I have told you what I am going to do, now you need to tell someone of it as a step of faith that you believe I will do what I have said”

I realized it could be easy for me to go to Fort Worth and experience all that God said he would do and come home and say “look what God did, and oh by the way he told me he would do this before I went”. But, that would take little faith. God wanted to stretch my faith and build His story into my life, so, in faith I could say “this is what I believe God has said, we will see what God will do.”

So, I told Diana and Jim my best friend, both knew me well enough that if I said “I think this is what God is saying…” they wouldn’t think I had just fallen off some weird spiritual cliff.

The next day, I drove to Fort Worth. From Wichita to Fort Worth is a 6 hour drive straight down I-35, I was by myself and so I decided to pray, and I prayed most of the way there. Somewhere just beyond Oklahoma City, as I prayed “God, who do you want me to see, where do you want me to go…” the name “Johnson” popped into my mind. “Johnson” I thought, God is this from you, do you have any idea how many “Johnson’s” there could be in Fort Worth? I kept praying and “Johnson” kept coming to my mind.

to find out what happens read: Johnson 3 ~ do what I know to do

Johnson: How did we know I was to go to seminary?

2007-05-09T11:36:00.000-07:00

A story I have told thousands of times and still often asked about. This is a long story, so I have broke it up into 'chapters'. I would love to hear your response to how God has led us.

The Problem – Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;"

Diana & I believed God was leading us to move to Fort Worth Texas, that I was to attend seminary there, but there was a few problems – how was this going to work out?

We had made a commitment to God early in our marriage that when we had children Diana would stay home with them and we would live on whatever income God brought us through me. But now, how will this move to Fort Worth work, how will I go to school and provide for my family? We did not believe God was releasing us from this commitment of how we were to raise our children and yet he was leading us into what seemed like an impossible situation.

Late one night, Diana & I were laying in bed talking about this situation, and I said we need a miracle for this to work, not just to work but to know that indeed God is leading us in this way. It has got to be big enough to show it is his hand at work doing things only he could do. We prayed and asked him to move and we would be willing to respond in faith and obedience.

Sometime later, I was having lunch with a friend. It was late April, 1997, some months after our late night prayer. My friend was a retired businessman who had been very successful in business and part of our church. He knew of our plans to move to Texas and so he asked how things were going.

From my business and project management background, I had planned many aspects of our move and I pulled out the family Gantt chart of schedules and milestones to guide our move. I had a line for the house, when I would do certain repairs and things around the house, it showed when I would put it on the market and when it would sell (aw, in such a perfect world). The chart had a line for our family, things we wanted to do before we left, garage sales, packing…, there was a line for my career, things I needed to transition, when I would turn in my resignation, my last day…, moving a family seemed like getting the Titanic to turn, it takes time and miles. There was also a line item on getting a new job in Fort Worth, sending resumes a date when I hoped to have a job lined up, but this line was very ‘shaky’. When my friend got to this line he asked “so, what is going on here?”

I explained this was my greatest concern, it seemed like not much was coming together. I shared how I had made a trip to Fort Worth and talked to a couple of people about jobs in a church and another ministry, but nothing really seemed to be coming together. I said “it looks like we will just move there, I will get a part time job, have Diana get a part time job and we will just hunker down and go for it.”

He looked at me and asked “so, do you think God is calling you to a life of poverty?”
An appropriate question that took me by surprise, while I knew things would likely be tough, I hadn’t really thought about it in those terms.
“No, I don’t think so.”

“then” he replied, “you need to go down there and find a job that will provide for your family” he said. “There are companies out there who are looking for people like you, with your skills, abilities and personality. They will pay you a good salary and work around your schedule, but they are not going to be advertised in the paper, they are out there and they are looking for someone like you, and you need to find one of those jobs.”

Well, that seemed like good advise, and I was hoping he would then say “and why don’t you call one of these guys and tell them I told you to call…” because he could likely do that, but he didn’t.

Still that seemed like good advise so I made plans to take a weeks vacation and go down to Fort Worth and look for one of these jobs that I didn’t know how to find.

What happens next? ~ read Johnson 2 ~ The Prayer

John 15:16 - My Commission

2007-05-08T12:36:00.000-07:00

I was sitting in a parking lot at one of the Boeing buildings, waiting to go in for a meeting. It was early in the morning, and I was early for the meeting, so I sat in my truck watching the sun come up and the cool fall day start. I started praying and in my heart I was feeling incomplete. I really didn’t want to go into another pointless meeting with other people who were only going to complain about being there. I thought back to a mission trip Diana and I had the great opportunity to go on the summer before.

The trip had been short, but in those few days I felt I had done so much more that was more significant. We had brought help and hope to some people in a small village in southern Kazakhstan, we had prayed with people for the situations in their life, we worked with the medical team who helped many, we showed the Jesus film and shared our stories and the story of Jesus to whole villages. We saw it bring a genuine smile to peoples faces and joy to their hearts. The Lord seemed to keep me in Romans 10 the whole time we were there, “how beautiful the feet of those who bring good news…”, I really resonated with the passage, I felt that was what we were doing, that was me.

Now I sat in a parking lot waiting for a meeting to start reflecting on all that had gone on. I had felt for sometime that perhaps God was going to re-direct my life into ministry, but I was resolved in my heart that I was not going to ‘raise myself up’. I was not going to uproot my family, head to seminary, move towards ministry without God himself doing something to strongly indicate these were His plans and not mine.

I remembered how our pastor had come up to me after a men’s prayer meeting only a few days earlier. He and I had been good friends for many years. We had worked together to start that new church that was 7-8 years old. The prayer meeting had been a great time where 70-80 men worshiped and prayed for several hours. We sang praises of worship, sin had been confessed, men prayed for one another, it had been another good evening and now my friend and pastor made a purposeful walk up to me and out of the blue said “on a scale of 1-10 where do you think you are regarding going into ministry”. He caught me off guard, we had talked before about the ‘idea’ but never very seriously. “9-10” I said, surprising myself as the words came out. “Good” he said, and walked away.

That morning, as I sat in my truck, half thinking, half praying, I said “God, if you want me to leave Boeing and go into ministry, please confirm it to me in your word” and I opened my pocket bible to John 15, the next chapter in my reading. I loved reading the chapter again, I had read it many times before; that morning as I read:

“12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.”

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name”

I read that over and over and each time God seemed to brand in on my heart – a verse that resonated so closely with my life and at the same time called me to a future. I didn’t remember reading that verse before, I am sure I had, but that morning it was fresh and real. I am no longer one of many servants, but a friend and he was speaking directly into my heart.

“You did not choose me…” I wanted to follow Him in ministry but at the same time avoided Him, I had seen ministers who I had no desire to be like, not all certainly, like my own pastor who was a great example, but I had seen plenty of others and I didn’t want to be lumped in with them. Also, the thought of preaching scared the wits out of me, not so much the being in front of people, I had had plenty of experience that way, but to be the mouth piece of God was hugely intimidating. But all of my fears and conflicts burned away that morning, He chose me, and appointed me.

This was a great commissioning if I had ever heard it, but why hadn’t I heard it preached before? No matter, God was preaching it himself into my heart. “…go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.” I was so grateful that morning. I felt totally completed in that instant, yes this is what I was made for, a realization I would continue to live out, but ever bit as real in that moment.

It was time to go into the meeting, and I was amazed. It didn’t take long for God to speak into my heart and redirect the entire path of my life, only minutes, but God’s work is eternal, time is completely unnecessary for him to do His amazing work. There had not been a single flash in the sky, no smoke in or over my truck and yet I knew God had been with me.

I don’t remember what the meeting was about. I do remember having a conversation with an unbelieving co-worker sometime later as she shared some of her life struggle with her rebellious child and as we ended our conversation she said “have you ever considered going into ministry? I think you would be good at that.”

I just smiled and said “have a good evening, I will see you tomorrow”.