1 John 3 1How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!
In the King James version it says to “BEHOLD what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God!”
As I read this verse and see the two translations, I can not help the love of the Father described by Jesus in the story of the prodigal son.
Some things to remember today on Thursday March 20 as you walk out your day …
He Thinks About You When You Are Not Thinking About Him
Luke 1520 … “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
His Father was waiting for Him! And watching for Him. Even though the son had dishonored Him.
He Wants To Promote You
Luke 1522 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it …
His Father wanted to actually promote Him!
The Gifts That He Offers Are All That You Long For
Restoration
Promotion
Forgiveness
Authority
Walking In Honor
Covering
Jesus tells us what the Father does, and John tells us to plant this idea on our hearts in our daily walks.
1 John 3 1How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!
When you walk in the idea that God has taken your shame, and your bad moments, and your failures and replaced them with
Restoration
Promotion
Forgiveness
Authority
Walking In Honor
it is hard to go the wrong direction. So John is proclaiming it as a reminder to his spirit, and ours, that we are worthy of nothing …
But if we want to be worthy of selling the gospel we will have to take a memory of what the Father did for us so that can truly sell it.
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!”
Amen
Amen
and
Amen
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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So much of the Old Testament is hard to read. Blessings and Curses … and a lot of rules. But only if you read it without considering who wrote it.
John 1 says “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God from the beginning”
Let me say this again: He was with God from the beginning.
Yes. Jesus. He was with God from the beginning.
So let’s read this through those glasses:
Deuteronomy 286 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
As you move forward in your life, God wants to bless you as you arrive and when you leave.
What a promise!
Now certainly we need to read one small verse and seek to understand it by putting it in context with the entire passage and the entire book. At the beginning of Deuteronomy 28 it says:
Deuteronomy 281 If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.
IF. IF we fully obey.
Certainly God is not asking us to be perfect. Noah found favor in his eyes. So did David. So did Abraham. And ALL of them made major mistakes that made them far from perfect.
In reading this in context, I think His point is for us to do each of these items:
Trading Pride For Repentance
Proverbs 16 18 “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall”
Trading Religion For Worship/Devotion
1 Samuel 13 14 But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”
Realizing The Magnitude Of Our Forgiveness
1 Timothy 1 15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.
In these three things, we have a chance … to receive the promise of Deuteronomy 28:6.
Deuteronomy 286 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
So I encourage you this very day to raise your hands to the heavens and cry out the Living God … to thank Him for loving you beyond your sin. He is worthy of our praises. He is greater than our sins. And He is certainly worthy to save.
And that makes you, and me, Blessed …
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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As I was preparing to speak to our FCA group last week, the phrase “It Just Got Real” was on my heart and in my head.
Two of our students were in a terrible car accident. And when looking into the details it was truly a miracle that they were still alive to talk about it.
All of us have had “It Just Got Real” moments that challenge us to rethink who we are, what we are doing, and why we are even here in the first place. It is in these moments that we have opportunities to make important decisions … I encourage you to do this with God at the forefront of your mind.
It Got Real with Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3 as he came to the realization that his life had no meaning.
Ecclesiastes 3 11He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end”.
What is the meaning of life has been asked by mortal men since the beginning of time.
It Got Real for John as he penned John 1 and made the boldest claim in human history:
John 1 14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
He had seen Jesus crucified and raised from the dead. And only after did he put all the pieces together.
It Gets Real for ALL OF US when we see the true commitment of Jesus to who we are and what we are doing.
John 11 35Jesus wept.
Mary had told Jesus that He needed to be there … and, had He been there, her brother would not have died.
But that’s just it, isn’t it?
We expect Jesus to NOT BE THERE … but Jesus IS there. He IS ALWAYS THERE.
And as He sat on that hill and looked over Jerusalem this is a truth that you must take with you EVERYWHERE YOU GO AND IN ALL THAT YOU DO.
He Shows Up
God is there for us.
He is there for us in the flesh … but more than that, and when we can not see His work as Mary couldn’t, He is there in the spirit.
His Kingdom is eternal and it is an invitation for all who would dare call Him king.
His Kingdom is for the rich and for the poor, for the strong and for the weak.
His Kingdom is for the put together … and for the broken.
It Just Got Real.
What are you going to do about it?
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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The Bible calls all of us as believers to many things.
And one of them is to be: Above Reproach
As we read below:
1 Timothy 31 Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. 5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. 7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.
There are many things in this verse that we must read:
Faithful
Temperate
Self-Controlled
Respectable
Hospitable
Able To Teach
Not Given To Drunkenness
Not Violent But Gentle
Not Quarrelsome
Not A Lover Of Money
Must Manage His Family Well
Must Have A Good Reputation
Now, if you are A Recent Convert … what I have to say now is not for you. You are to seek God, and pray, and learn His word, and meet with other SOLID BELIEVERS, and grow in your faith.
But most of us … we grow out of that … and now it is time to step up and do the very thing that that verse above requires. It is time for us to walk into the calling that God has for us. As a coach, I would say: “Get Your Butt Going!”
You Are Called To Greater Things
Do not underestimate your influence, do not downplay it, and do not lazily disregard it. Walk into your calling!
1 Peter 2 9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
This Is Not An Optional Mandate
He calls us to ministry. It is not our job to “regulate” the pastor. We are not to sit in the back pew and say “he needs to do this and this and this …” Nonsense. We are to stand up and lead. Start your ministry today, or at least tomorrow or Monday or have a plan. And aim big! The world is full of the lost.
Matthew 2818 But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.
24 “Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ 26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. 28 ” ‘Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29 For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
The Gold Standard
Follow the playbook in your ministry. The playbook is written in your Bible. And Jesus … He is the Gold Standard.
Proverbs 173 The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart.
So yes,
Be Above Reproach
Be:
Faithful
Temperate
Self-Controlled
Respectable
Hospitable
Able To Teach
Not Given To Drunkenness
Not Violent But Gentle
Not Quarrelsome
Not A Lover Of Money
Must Manage His Family Well
But then what?
Get Your Butt Going!!
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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As I drove home from a meeting with an incredible man today, I was convicted in my car and I believe God put this thought on my heart:
“The Bible IS NOT a boot.”
Amen.
The Bible should never be used to kick someone, to hurt someone, to drive a point home.
It is NOT OUR PLACE.
I am saved by the grace of a God who loves me too much to let me die in the midst of my sin … and my sin is great.
Thankfully I say to you … “My God is not done with me yet!”
Wow, that feels so good to say:
“My God is NOT DONE with me yet!”
In a world of darkness and evil and falling short, I am the greatest of these … the pride, and unforgiveness, and impurity, and vengeance, and hard-heartedness that can well up in me is beyond description. And it is destructive. And yet, I can find it, and identify it, in me. In God’s love letter written to all of us, for this day, on January 28, 2025, Paul said it best:
1 Timothy 1 15Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. 17Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
The Bible Is NOT A Boot.
Because if it were, I would be getting kicked in the face right now by a God who could kick me a good distance. But that is not His way. And as I meditate on that verse above today, I am so grateful. For I am “the Chief of sinners” and I would be happy to argue with Paul about it.
And chances are … you are “the Chief of sinners” too.
And so what does God tell us to do?
How are we to introduce others to Jesus?
How can we properly communicate this gospel?
Here are a few thoughts:
The Bible is a Message Of Reconciliation:
2 Corinthians 518 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.
The Bible is a message of love:
John 3 16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
The Bible is a message of our need to have a Savior:
Romans 8 1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
The Bible is a lot of things.
It is a book of instruction.
It is a book of wisdom.
It is a book of history.
It is a book of LOVE and GRACE and FORGIVENESS …
It is a book about Jesus.
There are a lot of ways to describe it.
But one thing that it is not: The Bible Is NOT A Boot
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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In the last post, I talked about the Heart Of His Ministry, and today I would like to address the Heart Of The Gospel.
At no time in history is this message more important than today.
John 316 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
And so it is.
God loves the world.
God loves you.
And God has no condemnation for those who believe in Him.
How can this be rejected?
It is the only thing we really need to step forward.
We trade our mortality for an eternal existence to be lived out today.
I often wonder …
How will I afford that?
How can I get through this …. ?
Where am I going next?
What is in store for my kids in their future?
The reality is that all of these questions do not matter compared to the one that really does … and that is:
WHO do you believe in for your eternal existence?
And once you answer that you can build your day, and your life, around it.
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Growing up in the Presbyterian church, I seemed to offend people with one comment. I told those who asked me that I was NOT a Presbyterian, but a follower of Jesus.
That ruffled feathers … some even in my own family.
But I have never been more convicted on this very topic.
I want to preface what I write today to say that I am absolutely not against the church, any church. I have no agenda against religion as I believe that it has benefited our communities greatly.
But my allegiance is to Jesus … and Jesus alone. If that fits in to a church—great. And if it doesn’t, so be it.
John has done a great deal to influence this — or should I say God’s influence on John has influenced this. I do not believe that John could have written his incredible literary masterpiece without the help of God alone.
And so I say today … Jesus alone.
This conviction does not belong to an individual church … or religion. After writing books in the New Testament, John was exiled to the island of Patmos for preaching about Jesus and the word of God. On Patmos, John had some incredibly hard to understand visions but continued to preach the same message. In the book Revelation, he claims he was convicted by God to write this:
Revelation 3 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
This is a strange statement to me … but it implies that God has given us the choice. And that choice is to receive Him or to not receive Him.
It doesn’t say become a Presbyterian, or a Catholic, or a Lutheran, or a Methodist, or really, ANY other religion. In fact, John tells us in John 1 that
John 1 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God– 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
To THOSE who received Him.
To read those words is to realize … we have a choice.
Because Jesus’ life was not political … as a politician, he failed miserably (thank God). He successfully drove away BOTH SIDES.
His life wasn’t a military pursuit. But He drove back soldiers at the temple and stood up for the broken—no matter what the law might have been.
He could not be put in the religious category—after all, He was driven out of the synagogue and crucified for claiming to be God. After His execution and stories of His resurrection, the church not only disliked His followers, they pursued them, imprisoned them, and killed them. Saul lead the charge. And only after an encounter on the road into Syria did he change his mind and become a follower. The greatest champion of the new testament tried to squash out the followers of Jesus. And then … he changed teams.
Jesus could not be put in the category of rich. He had nothing but the clothes on His back at His execution.
He could not be put in the category of powerful. He chose not to push anyone back NOR force anyone to follow.
So what can we say?
In one of the most difficult texts to understand, He meets a religious leader at night:
John 31 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night. 3 In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. ”
He tells all of us:
John 3 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
After saying that He was “Jacob’s ladder”, that anyone who wanted to follow Him must “eat His flesh and drink His blood”, and after claiming that HE was the living water, He then declared:
John 10 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture.
These are not the words of a prophet. They aren’t the words of a nice guy. These are the words of a lunatic, or a liar, or a man telling the truth.
But that being said, they are words that are worth reading.
I don’t think Jesus was crazy.
I don’t think that He was a liar.
I don’t think that He didn’t know what He was doing.
I think that Jesus knows exactly who He is … and exactly who we are.
I think Jesus loves Muslims, and atheists, and political leaders, and army generals, and prostitutes, and corporate raiders, and homeless addicts.
And, if I am reading His gospels correctly, I think that He is giving EVERYONE the same choice.
CHOOSE HIM
or
REJECT HIM
But, as He said, “weigh the cost”. It’s the most financial decision that you will ever make.
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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If you are like me, you have some decisions in front of you that are INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT.
This is not a heavy word. It is an encouragement.
To remind you … “What You Have To Gain Is FAR GREATER Than What You Have To Lose”
So as you walk into the mountain in front of you … I have 4 pieces of advise.
1. Decide To Be Great … (Not Your Position, Your Posture)
As the disciples jostled for position in a very unbalanced time, Jesus reminded them what being great truly was.
Mark 1042 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 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.”
2. Pick A Team (Loyalty Means Everything)
Our God is not a neutral decision. I know which side I am declaring … and Joshua showed us how to do it.
Joshua 24 14“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord . 15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord .” 16 Then the people answered, “Fa
3. Love Your Enemies (YOU Are The Lion!)
As I reminded one of my athletes this past spring — YOU are the lion. Often we see lions showing themselves in the middle of the plain … and the animals scatter. As we approach the mountain, we must remember that WE are the lion — not the scattering zebras. And as a member of the winning team, it should never burden us to pray for, and love, our enemies.
Matthew 543 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you …
4. Remember Who You Belong To (My Father Loves Me!)
Probably our most important verse in the entire Bible … our belonging to God and His love of us. This is exemplified in in Zephaniah and we would do well to plant this verse on our hearts.
Zephaniah 3 17 The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”
So go forward to the mountain.
And climb with Faith, Hope, and Alacrity.
To Him Be The Glory And The Kingdom And The Power … For Ever And Ever.
Amen.
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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2 MINUTE WARNING 