8And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
How can you have JUSTICE and MERCY at the same time?
JUSTICE is giving someone what they truly deserve for what they have done….it is applying the punishment that is due to fit the crime.
MERCY is not giving someone what they truly deserve for what they have done…..is applying a “look the other way” mentality in order to avoid giving them what is due for their crime.
So how do you act justly and love mercy at the same time?
You bring in Jesus.
Jesus is the perfect meeting of Justice and Mercy. He paid for our crimes and gives us full mercy at the cross……As He proclaimed in His last moments (John 19:28):
It is finished = It is paid in full
(Tetelestai….A Greek word to indicate that a receipt was: paid in full)
I love that He did not just say: It is paid. He said: it is paid IN FULL. Our sin is not only overlooked—but fully forgiven and PAID FOR. I love that we can use a money analogy for this…..I understand debt and owing someone. And Jesus…..not only said you do not owe me….He paid off the debt that NO ONE gets shorted.
So today……let’s just focus on the simple message of the cross:
Jesus came down.
He fully experienced what all of us experience.
He was tempted in EVERY way that man is.
He was mistreated and falsely accused and disregarded.
He was tried and administered the punishment of a criminal and crucified between two thieves.
We must all come face to face with this information……and we then must come face to face with the reality of seeing it in our lives…….
So what does the Lord require of you? To seek justice and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God………..
Respond to the gospel with gratitude and hope and love……and then go and give it away to all you know……
In The Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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12After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.
13When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!”
17His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
18Then the Jews demanded of him, “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”
19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
20The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
23Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. 24But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. 25He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.
Why did Jesus tear up the temple?
Here are a few things that we do know:
The men selling cattle, sheep, and doves were selling “perfect” animals at higher prices…..the animals of the “common man” were NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
The men exchanging money were not using fair exchange rates…..the money of the “common man” did not have the same VALUE.
Watching over the entire show….we had the religious leaders—dressed in their fancy clothes and dictating right and wrong…….the level of the religious leaders to the “common” man was not on the same level. They were BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE.
Also watching over the activity were the Roman guards……and they ruled with an iron fist. Crucifying thousands and ruling with an iron fist. Their methods were fear, intimidation, shame, …… to the “common” man, the Romans controlled their DESTINY.
And then there was the idea of the temple itself. It was the idea of Passover….and this Passover celebration was set up, by God, so that “anyone who had the blood” could be saved by the Lord and the judgment of God…..but men had ruined it. And now, for the “common” man, this was not about the Passover, it was about standing. It was a constant reminder to the “common” man that they simply stood on the outside looking in. And so…..thousands of broken, poor, and overburdened people came to the temple each year to come to the IN-YOUR-FACE realization that they did not have the STANDING to be important.
Enter Jesus of Nazareth. Not Sunday School Jesus as I like to call Him….but Jesus of Nazareth—-the greatest man who ever lived and the lion of the tribe of Judah.
I have to think that this was not about money or animals or levels of accomplishment or conforming to Roman way…..it was about the fact that the people believed that “our standing will never be good enough”.
This was about: LOVE. This was about the fact that we, as people, can build things up and create walls between us and God that are not there…..and Jesus came to BREAK DOWN THOSE WALLS.
He stood in vision of this scene and could not stand to watch it any longer:
Jesus brings a new message….and it is as true today as it was the day that He cleared out the temple:
You are UNCOMMON…Even Extraordinary. You belong to Him and that makes you more than anyone who could be defined as great by any measure in a man’s heart.
You are VALUABLE. You don’t need to exchange your money at an unfair exchange rate to somehow attain your value. Your treasures are in heaven.
You are GOOD ENOUGH. Never does He devalue who you or what you are….He is simply calling you to Him…..for in Him is your peace and value.
There are not levels of prestige. There is simply God who loves us….and us.
Thy Kingdom Come is our destiny. Not government, not law, not money…..but God bringing peace, hope, and love to all.
Your standing is with God. Your citizenship is in heaven and your future is set.
Jesus has claimed the right to your destiny. He has bought you at a price. He has put value on your life and given you standing. There is no level of purity or righteousness…..just a God who left heaven and came to earth to proclaim His kingdom and rescue His people…….
And all who saw Him that day in the temple backed away in awe and reverence. There would be no standing up to Him that day or ANY day when He did not allow it. He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And when He gave His life—-He did it on His own terms and of His own choosing on a cross on Calvary some 2000 years ago…..claiming that it was “PAID IN FULL” to seal it with His blood.
So when you come to the “temple on the Passover”….bring yourself and yourself only. You don’t need money or a perfect animal or a resume of all that you’ve done or a certain level of accomplishment. You don’t need anything but a soft and teachable heart……….that would say to Him:
“Lord Jesus….You and You alone….Hold the keys to eternal life.”
In The Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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1A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: 2Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 4Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 6and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, 7Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, 8Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, 9Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, 11and Josiah the father of JeconiahF1 and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. 12After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Eliud, 15Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, 16and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. 17Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.
I used to read through that passage like it was a list of names…almost skipping it to get to the “important part” that I thought God had for me. But today, as I was driving to work….I thought of that list differently…..
In that list is brokenness. It is a story of men not being all that God had called them to be.
In that list is sin and disobedience. People going in a different direction and suffering the consequences of their choices.
In that list is imperfection. It is not the story of people living out the call on their lives—-just the opposite. In every case, God does something to redeem their life.
But at the end of that list is Jesus. The Messiah. The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
And He, at the end of all of those lives, shows up……where He was supposed to be, when He was supposed to be there, doing what He was called to do, how He was called to do it, and representing PERFECTLYwho He is supposed to represent.
You see…..there is a plan. And that plan is perfect. And that plan is written by a PERFECT GOD. In the midst of all of that brokenness—-God showed up.
And so it is with you. He will show up. And you are the result of the perfect plan.
He has written the genealogy over your life just the same…..42 generations back…..and just like that genealogy over Jesus—it’s not pretty. There is sin and brokenness and imperfection.
But that makes no difference.
What makes the difference is what is written at the end of the story…….
Because if the end of your story has Jesus in it……it will make the entire story work.
So don’t get caught up in what doesn’t work. Don’t get caught up in how many times you made a mistake. Don’t get caught up in your past or curses that may have been spoken over you…..or done to you…..or the pain that you can’t out of your head. Get caught up in having Jesus start to put His life over your story. Because if He is at the end of your story—-your life will begin to work right now.
How do you get Jesus in the end of your story?
You have Him start writing it now.
It will be the best decision you have ever made.
Father,
Come now. I trust Your plan over my life. I trust that Jesus can redeem my life. I trust Your leadership over my life.
I don’t know how I am going to do it……or what I will do to do it…..or when or even where…….
But I know who will do it.
You will do it.
And even if I don’t do it perfectly……You will.
You are the Alpha and the Omega.
The Author.
The lover of my soul.
The redeemer of brokenness.
The teacher.
The Lion of the Tribe of Judah.
Create in me a new heart, Father, and renew a right spirit within me. Keep me close to your presence…..for You, and You alone, hold the keys to eternal life.
In The Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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2,000 years ago a man named Jesus showed up in Jerusalem preaching a new message……it was a message of love and forgiveness and it had no ties to money, political power, popularity, prestige, or anything that defines greatness the way this earth defines greatness.
He was described as a healer and a magician, a good guy, a crazy man……..but some called Him God. So what was He? Was He crazy or a good guy or a magician or God?
Today, I would like to comment on John chapter 10:
John 10 1“I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep.
7Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.
9I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture.
10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
11“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
The world has painted a picture of Jesus that the Bible does not paint.
He cleared out the temple with a whip.
He told His own brother: “You make no difference.”
He told Peter: “Get behind me Satan.”
He looked at the religious leaders and said: “You brood of vipers”.
If you have not seen controversy in what Jesus said or did, then I want to challenge you to open your Bible and read it. Don’t go by what others say….don’t blend in with a culture…..don’t settle up on your eternity based on what someone else says…..actually read about Jesus in the book of John. Because here He says something fairly important: I AM THE GATE.
We have watered down so much in today’s society….we have tried to make things okay that are not okay……we have tried to bring politics into our churches….we have tried to bring culture into our churches…..
But what we really need to do is bring Jesus into our churches.
What we really need to do is define whether or not we are a follower of Jesus with everything that we do…….
Because if we are a follower, we are going to have to ask: “Is He going this way?”…….and if He is not—-then we must not.
Because you can’t follow someone if you are going in a different direction then they are…….
In The Name of the Father and the Son
and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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1 Timothy 3:16Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.
Think about it, He:
Appeared in a body~ God saw man and realized his destiny. Instead of allowing that destiny, He came down. Emanuel….”God with us”. He became an inmate to release us from the prison where we belonged.
Was vindicated by the Spirit~ In His mixing with us, He proved Himself faultless. He was tempted, tried, accused, blamed, mistreated, and attacked….and it began before He was even born. In spite of being attacked by the very people He came to save, He remained true to His call: the salvation of all mankind, bringing them back to Him.
Was seen by angels~ Those very beings who were created by Him, who worshipped Him, who chose Him, had to watch Him in different form. He made Himself nothing, took on a totally vulnerable state, in front of those who were once below Him.
was preached among the nations~ With no help beyond what we are given on this very day, He changed the world. He had no military behind Him, no political power, He did not travel far, He wrote no books, and He was killed as a criminal. Yet, His LOVE overcame all of that that He would be preached among the nations.
Was believed on in the world~ How could we not? How could we refuse the Living God, who in human form, was pierced for our transgressions?
Was taken up in glory~ Hallelujah! He would finally be restored to the place He had no reason to leave…..except to offer us a return to glory as His sons. Praise be to You, Jesus! We worship Your Holy Name!
(That’s how you forgive by Shane and Shane)
All who call upon You, You will rescue….and forgive
This is why I live
You lived the life I could never live
You died the death O that I deserve
You rose to life and now you live
Let’s all cry out today and say to the Lord, Thank YOU! This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.
2,000 years ago a new faith exploded onto the scenes around Jerusalem founded on the life and teachings of a man named Jesus Christ…..My life is based on that man……
But today, I am going to focus on what happened 48 years ago.
48 years ago I was on life support. I was clinging to my very life and only surviving because of what we call our navel.
It was not only bringing me oxygen, nutrition, antibiotics, and all of the things necessary to life….it was also taking away all of the things that could harm me like toxins, carbon dioxide, and waste.
And the only way this worked was that I was connected to my mom…..she was supplying all of it.
Now, in those 9 months that I was on life support, my mom experienced phenomenal changes:
Her blood volume increased by 50%
She grew a new organ
Her sense of smell was heightened incredibly—even making “normal” things smell terrible
Her body endured many, many more miraculous changes in order that I might find life
She endured many things in order that I might have life
Now I know that many would look at the Christian life and say: “that is crazy”…..but I would respond and say: the way we were born and came to be is CRAZY. You see, it is nothing short of a miracle that a baby is even born…..and yet we sometimes, as people, just walk through life and do not recognize how miraculous it truly is.
I think this is probably what Albert Einstein was talking about when he said: “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
I choose the latter……but I choose it based on my faith in Jesus—-not Albert Einstein.
So today, let’s ask Jesus what He says about our wonderful moms.
Here is what He says:
When you honor your mom–It blesses you!
Ephesians 6:1-3
Keep your mom’s teachings bound to your heart.
Proverbs 6:20-21
Think about your mom in all circumstances.
John 19:25-27
I hope that you celebrated your mom yesterday….I hope that you took her out to dinner and gave her flowers and a card and really poured into her. I hope that you told her that you loved her and made sure she understood how important she is to you and all of those around you………
But if you didn’t, you can do it today. Because chances are she thinks about you every single day of the year and every hour of the day.
No other relationship shows the commitment of Jesus Christ to come down and free us than that of a mom who cares for her family.
Appreciate it and honor it.
In The Name of the Father and the Son
and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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I could not stop crying when my father got sick. Over the course of many years I saw him deteriorate to the point where he lost his ability to think, to walk, to process, to even swallow.
Alzheimer’s is tough to deal with……..
On his deathbed, I read scripture over my dad as he breathed in his last gasps…..he opened his eyes and looked at all of us and then gazed up at the ceiling in our family room…..it was as if he saw something “beyond”…..I believe that he saw into the spiritual realm before he passed into it.
It was not until a couple of months later, in church, that I found peace…..as we stood in worship I had a picture of my dad—young, vibrant, full of life, and HAPPY……From that moment on……the Lord removed the sting and allowed me to remember him with peace—as if the Lord was saying: “I got him”.
For those of us who endure pain and suffering I pray this day for peace over you…over your situation…..over your life. I even offer for you to reach out on this blog that we might all cry out on your behalf for all that hurts…….
Peace, hope, and love to all of you in the mighty Name of Jesus.
For the sake of this blog, I will refer to this verse as: OVERWHELMED. For the Psalmist is OVERWHELMED with God….and His creation.
Psalm 8 1 O LORD , our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. 2 From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. 3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? 5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: 7 all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. 9 O LORD , our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Big Daddy Weave sings a song called OVERWHELMED……and I believe it goes very well with this verse. And it leads me to the subject of today’s Blog Post.
As I sat in church, in the midst of worship. I remembered another “Do you want to get well?” moment…….this one more personal.
I am a man with two bad knees. I have had two knee reconstructions….and both knees have been re-injured since. In the first 3 surgeries the cartilage was so bad that the doctor simply shaved it away. So when I see an athlete go down with a torn ACL……I am compassionate……I know the rehab it takes and how hard it is to deal with such a severe injury. My reality is that I deal with this daily.
Not too long ago, one of my knees went out at school…..and I could not get it to line up right. Without an ACL, your knee dislocates…..and mine seemed to be in a place where it was permanently “out”.
I began to go to a place of discouragement……
In fact…..I had a moment. I laid down on our couch at home and I began to become OVERWHELMED with discouragement—-I simply laid there with my head in my hands and silently wept……..
How would I work?
How would I be there for my kids?
For my wife?
I was a cripple on a couch…..and I can honestly say that I felt like a man without hope.
My wife…..the greatest person I know…..sensed my despair and came over and began to pray over me……she put her hands on me and began to ask God for His mercy and His strength and His love………
When I got up off of the couch that day…….I was OVERWHELMED with God’s love….encouraged and filled with hope and courage….I would stand and do what I was supposed to do (in the spirit), even though I had no idea how I would do it in the physical (although….my knee did feel better)
That Sunday, I limped into church. A friend of mine, Brian, was helping me collect and sort offering…….as we did so—I was struck by the fact that he had been talking in front of the church about his desire to pray over, and bring God’s healing, to people.
What did I have to lose?
So I humbled myself and asked him.
My humble servant friend gladly prayed and asked the Lord to bring healing to my knee…..
Since that day—–my knee has not given me one bit of trouble.
So today, I want to proclaim God’s desire to OVERWHELM your issue….whatever it might be.
You know…..sometimes there are mountains in front of us…..mountains that we look at and wonder: How will I climb that? How can I possibly get through this?
The enemy can own your world with a thought.
He can take you to a place of no hope.
He can bring you to a place where you do not know how you will do it.
He can fill you with lies and partial truths (even bigger lies) and convince you that you make no difference….that you are broken and ineffective…..that there is no hope.
I think it is easy, when we allow it, to be OVERWHELMED by the words of the enemy.
I think it was important that my wife prayed over me and helped me to become OVERWHELMED with God’s love.
I think that put me in a place where Brian could pray over me and I could be OVERWHELMED with God’s plans and His hope……and His healing touch.
So today……I ask: Do You Want To Get Well?
My first encouragement would be to tell you to be OVERWHELMED by God’s love. If you need some help—-ask someone to pray for you.
My second encouragement would be to tell you to be OVERWHELMED with God’s creation and simply who He is……..To be OVERWHELMED with the fact that He has got us….that even in death He has our world totally covered.
After all…….Jesus Christ is our ONLY HOPE.
In The Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
John 5 1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie–the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” 7“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” 8Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
Do you want to get well?
What?
Why would He ask that?
Did my Savior just ask a dumb question?
Unfortunately, he did not………..
This is an awesome scripture on so many levels…..I love that Jesus healed the sick and performed many miracles. But I would like to focus on something within the story that I believe God is trying to point out to us……and that is:
The question of whether or not we want to get well.
I don’t think that it is a question for a lame man at a pool…..I think it is a question that each of us must answer……
Do You Want To Get Well?
It is no secret that God warns us of many things……
When asked about adultery, Jesus brought up thought life.
When asked about murder, Jesus brought up anger and being hateful.
When confronted with social issues and hanging out with the “uncool”, Jesus embraced not being cool and hung out with anyone He felt convicted to be with—-not worrying one bit about what others thought of it.
Why these points?
Because I think that small things can lead to big things. And sometimes we walk into our own sickness…..and we live in it.
How many of us have walked into our own sickness … our own issue … our own sin … and there we lay—-spiritually crippled and miserable and blaming others for not helping us down when the water is stirred.
Sometimes we must face the fact that we have put ourselves in the very situation that we now live in…..
Crippled
Victimized
Broken
I am sorry if this is a hard word…..but when the Lord asks me to release something—it goes straight into my heart and makes me cry and then I begin to type. (if this is in your kitchen…..I have to say: it’s in mine too!)
So many of my issues or problems are simply my inability:
To be patient
To love
To forgive
To give more than what I take
But there is good news…..there is grace for today! (and tomorrow too!)
He can make us well.
But we must choose to be a participant in our own rescue….we can, in fact, be delivered because we can die to the one thing that we need to……
OURSELVES.
How many times have I looked up and said to the Lord?
“Why don’t you come down here and feel what it is like to be on this earth?”
“Why don’t you go through this pain so you know what it feels like?”
“Why don’t you come and FIX THIS?”
Let me testify on this day——that in the person of Jesus:
He Did. He Has. And He Will.
In coaching I have been known to say: “Get your butt going!”
Now I am going to do it in my BLOG. The world is dying out there….people need you to live out the call on your life……and it isn’t small….it involves bringing God’s Kingdom into your everyday world.
If you have Jesus…..you can truly do that……He has a plan bigger than anything you could ever do yourself…………
If you haven’t done it…..You can RECEIVE Him……and He can begin that work tonight!
And if you have……but you are crippled and wallowing in the misery that can only be healed by Him……..then I have to ask:
Do You Want To Get Well?
In The Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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2 MINUTE WARNING 