Day 20!

This chapter is possibly the most important chapter of our faith.  This chapter makes all the difference between Jesus and the rest of the world’s religions.  Not just the fact that Jesus died for our sins, because many good men have died for those they loved, but the fact that Jesus rose from the grave!  This is so exciting and so important to grasp a hold of because this proves that He is God.  He has power over sin and death.  That he is all powerful.  That He keeps his word.  If he had not risen from the grave he would have been like everyone else.  But he rose and now lives in our hearts.  This is why we use the cross as a symbol of our faith.  Yes it is an object of severe suffering and pain but it is also the place where each one of us is offered new life through Him because he died in our place and rose again.  He is no longer on the cross but alive in real time in our hearts! Tomorrow as we gather together to worship, let’s worship Him in this greatness.  As we sing out our praise to Him together, let’s keep in mind His power and the life that He has within Him, He offers it us!  So I invite you to join us tomorrow with joy in your heart as praise the God who is alive!

DAY 19 - A Special Day in History

JOHN 19 - It was Passover week for the Jews, the day they celebrated the time when God "passed over" the homes of everyone who had killed a lamb and marked their front doors with the symbol of a cross (in blood).  These people were the only ones who survived God's judgement of sin, since they obeyed His command to mark their doors.  

After celebrating this Festival for many years, they now have another Lamb to kill, another cross of blood, and another opportunity for judgement to pass over humanity.   This Passover was different.  It marked history.  A perfect man, a Holy God, fulfilling hundreds of prophecies, crucified on a cross so that we may live.  

A miracle happened that day.  All of our sins were carried on Jesus' shoulders.  He gave us all the chance to receive eternal life - life with Him!  Forgiveness of sins is now available.  It was not cheap, it cost Him much pain and even death, but for us... all we need to do is believe. Really believe.  

"Jesus once again we confess that we believe in You.  Thank you for the gift of life and forgiveness!  Thank you for bridging the gap to the Father for us! Thank you for taking my every sin to the cross, so that I might know you intimately.  I believe."

Day 18 - Peter's Denial

John 18:27 - Again, Peter denied it. Just then a rooster crowed.

It tells us earlier in Scripture the story of Peter, and Jesus' prophecy to him that he would deny him 3 times during the night before the rooster crowed signifying daybreak. Every time Jesus tells him this news, he says, "No, how can this be, I love you, I wouldn't deny that I know you." But Jesus confirms to him that, yes, in fact he will deny him.

I can only imagine when Peter heard that rooster crow, just after finishing denying his relationship with Jesus, knowing full well that he does in fact know and love this man, his heart probably sank into his stomach. He probably got that all over sick feeling that you get when you know you just made one of the biggest mistakes of your life! He instantly regretted it. Probably even wished he could have gone back and said differently, stating that he did, in fact know Jesus, and was one of his friends. But his pride got in the way.

How will you react? What will you do when someone asks you if you are a Christian? Will your response be to deny knowing the Savior because we feel embarrassed of what others might think of us? Will we tell them of our decision to follow Christ or even if we are thinking about following Christ? What if someone asks you why you go to church? Will our initial response be to deny it, just to fit in? Hopefully, our pride will be overcome, and we can use these opportunities to learn from Peter's mistake and share the love of Christ. It's not easy! I have to say, when people ask me why I moved to California, it's often times difficult, knowing that they may make fun of me for our decision, to say we moved here to start a church. But those are the times when we set our own selfish pride away and let God work in those situations. Allow God to show Himself!

Dear Jesus, please give us every opportunity to proclaim our lives to you. Help our pride step out of the way, in order that your work will be accomplished through us. Amen.

Day 17-- Work and Worship

I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. John 17:4

This verse tells us two things:

1- God gives us work to do while here on earth, and

2- We give God glory by completing it.

Have you ever been dissatisfied with your job, frustrated with the current circumstances in which you find yourself? A lot of times I have wished that my "work" would be something really noble...that mine would be a life of significance punctuated with exclamation points instead of question marks. I have this intense desire for my life to count for something far greater than who I am, to make a difference and thus bring God glory.

The fascinating truth this verse teaches, though, is that God receives glory when we simply complete the work he has given us!

But what if my "work" is cleaning up after a halfway-potty-trained-child? That's certainly not very noble. What if my "work" includes doing laundry, cooking meals, playing Lego's, and trips to Target? Sometimes it's so hard to see significance in the mundane tasks of day-to-day life. But that's my work, and it gives God glory when I complete it with my whole heart and a good attitude. It gives him glory when I work as if He is my authority and not some slave-driving boss.

Let's just be honest...a lot of what you do doesn't seem very noble either. Where's the significance in selling this product, or inputting data into this spreadsheet, or filling out this expense report? You find yourself working for a paycheck, not for a cause...and that can become unfulfilling really fast. Do you need a new job? Probably not. You need a new perspective!

God has given you work to do. It includes your occupation, but it is so much more than that. Part of the "work" ordained for you is that conversation you'll have today with your colleague, the ways you show love to your spouse, the time that you invest in your children, and, yes, the mundane, day-to-day tasks of life. Part of bringing glory to God is by doing the next thing...with a heart that recognizing the call to work comes from God.

So you can drive to work for the glory of God. You can send that email for the glory of God. You can fold those clothes for the glory of God! You can do the next thing, all for the glory of God...even if the next thing is cleaning up after your potty-training-impaired 2 year old!!!

Remain in Him.

John 15:5 "...Those who remain in me and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing."

One of my biggest desires is to glorify God with my life and be used by him. To do this, I have to stay close to Jesus and allow His Spirit to guide me in everything I do and every decision I make. Often we try to do things in our own strength and our own way. We get impatient and want to see immediate results.

Take a minute and re-read the verse above slowly. It's powerful!

When we are walking with Jesus and empowered with His Spirit we will be fruitful and accomplish much for Him. Without Him, we fail. Giving up control of our lives can be difficult- especially for control freaks like me! But, after falling down and getting back up, I've realized that He really does know what is best for me and that life with Jesus Christ is the best life of all. It's a life of meaning and purpose, love and hope. Thank you Jesus.

DAY 14- Remedy for Loneliness

If you have ever struggled with loneliness at any time in your life (and we all have) this chapter has great news for us all.  Our faith feels very different to those people in bible we read about because we say to ourselves, "at least they could SEE Jesus with their own eyes and talk to Him and have Him talk back to them."  That would be nice huh?  That day will come for us.  Just as a side note- did you know that Jesus says there is a special blessing for us that have "not seen Him" and yet believed? Pretty cool huh- but we'll get back to that later in this 21 day blog.  The benefit that we have living on this side of history of the bible is that we have the Holy Spirit.  Some times, depending on your background, even the mention of the Holy Spirit can open a whole package of weirdness.  But I want to ask you in this moment to set that aside and let's look together at what the bible says in this chapter about this whole thing.  In verse 23 Jesus says this: ..."Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.  My Father will love them and we will come to them and make our home with them.  Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching.  These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.  All this I have spoken while still with you.  But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, who the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. " Wow.  Isn't incredible to see that as we obey His word and accept Him as savior, that he actually comes and "makes His home with us"  living in us?  The NIV version of the bible calls him the "advocate" but I love what the Message version calls him, Friend.  If you use the word friend in these verses, it makes the message even sweeter.  To paraphrase:  The friend will come and will teach us and live in us and remind us of everything we've learned.  It is incredible to know that even in the midst of loneliness that we have a "friend" who can be closer than our skin that wants to help guide us and knows that we can't do this life on our own.So, the Holy Spirit doesn't have to be something that is weird, He's a loving guide that never leaves us.  And lastly, it is interesting to see that this whole process doesn't start with "getting it right," it starts with loving Him.  Let's offer Him our hearts in love today and we will find that obedience to Him is just a natural byproduct of that love.