Hits: 0
Matthew 4
Follow Jesus!
Today is day 4 for our daily devotions so please turn with me to Matthew 4, which is an amazing chapter of how Jesus faced His wilderness experience and the temptations to give into His circumstances. Jesus was victorious and used God’s Word to win the day! So can you!
Jesus’ promise is fulfilled through the work of the Holy Spirit, in and through you. God’s desire is for you to trust the work of God’s grace in you to do the impossible through you. God is going to use you today when you trust the Holy Spirit’s power and presence to show the world Jesus, in and through you.
YOUTUBE:
Hits: 179
Read more...
Matthew 3
Bold, yet Humble!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and I am reaching out to you to bring some hope to your day with a short, daily, devotion.
Today is Friday, March 20
Each day I will share a short devotional thought from my personal Bible reading, as we walk through the New Testament, together.
Today is day 3 for our daily devotions so please turn with me to Matthew 3, which focuses on John the Baptist, and I must admit that I am a huge fan! What a perfect guy to introduce Jesus to the world—bold with the truth and humble in his relationships.
John knew that his calling in life was to point people to Jesus, not call them to himself. Therefore, he could be bold and humble. Remember, humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is simply thinking about yourself less.
In Matthew 3:14, when Jesus approached John to be baptized, John’s response was one of recognizing Jesus as the Lord, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Yet Jesus needed John to fulfill his life purpose; so that, Jesus could fulfill His purpose in coming to earth. Wow!
Friends, let us be bold with the truth of God and humble enough to fulfill our purpose in this time, no matter the cost! God will use us in all of our circumstances, including these scary days, to point others to Jesus. God is taking that which the devil intended for evil and is using it for good!
YOUTUBE:
Hits: 216
Read more...
Matthew 2
Light in Dark Places!
Today is Thursday, March 19
Matthew 2:10 highlights one of the details of the Christmas story, “When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.” The story of Immanuel (“God is with us”) is the light of God piercing into the darkness of this world situation and our human brokenness.
Jesus Christ is the Light of the World and He calls Christians to be the light of the world (see Matthew 5:14-16). Yes, the world is a dark place. Yes, our circumstances are challenging, if not scary. Yes, life is not always the way we hoped it to be. But, there is hope! As long as the sun rises in the East there is hope, because with the light, comes hope.
God is not surprised by the current darkness, but if we let it, the darkness can prevent us from being the light of the world. Don’t let the darkness prevail—we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus! Shine the Light into the darkness. Reflect specifically, today, on how you can help others to see the light of God in the midst of all the darkness. Be a hope-bearer, not a Doomsdayer!
Your church family loves you and is praying for you today! Consider reaching out to at least one person, today, to share this encouraging message from God’s Word. You never know how you can bring light to another person’s darkness.
YOUTUBE:
Hits: 168
Read more...
Matthew 1
God is with us!
Today is Wednesday, March 18
These daily devotionals are our church’s effort to create some family unity and community well-being.
Each day I will share a short devotional thought from my personal Bible reading as we walk through the New Testament, together. Consider this a great time to get into God’s Word and follow along each day.
One of my good friends, an ICU nurse, shared with me the profound comfort this promise gives her. No matter the trauma or heartache of her daily experiences, she knows that God is with her. This is a promise she holds on to tightly: day after day, heartbreak after heartbreak.
Your church family loves you and is praying for you! Consider calling one person today to share this encouraging message from God’s Word. You never know how you can bring comfort to another person.
YOUTUBE:
Hits: 186
Read more...
Responding to the Passion of Jesus (Week 3)
2020: A Year of Celebration!
“Keep Journeying Together!”
Key Verses: Matthew 21:12-13
Our goal for all of 2020 is to do one thing: LIFT UP THE NAME OF JESUS! Our theme verse for 2020 is John chapter 12, verse 32 (John 12:32, ESV), which proclaims, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” This verse explicitly points to the fact that Jesus would be lifted up on the Cross of Calvary to give His life as a payment for sin, as the very next verse says, “He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.”
The implications of this verse go beyond Jesus’ death and influence every area of our lives: we are called to live our lives in response to Jesus being lifted up on the Cross as the Savior for all the World! In response to His Passion!
Throughout this series, the word “Passion” has a more technical meaning that in Biblical Studies points to the suffering of Jesus Christ, specifically from the historical events of the Garden of Gethsemane to the crucifixion.[1]
The Passion of Jesus cannot remain a once-upon-a-time idea in your head captured in the icon of the Cross, just as our call to follow Jesus and share in His sufferings cannot remain an abstract concept. There are real implications to the Passion of Jesus, not only in what He did to rescue us and give us life, but in how we should live our lives in response to His life, death, and resurrection. As we prepare our hearts and minds for Easter, we are walking toward the Cross in order to hear personally, from the Spirit, how each of us is invited to respond to Jesus’ Passion.
Today, we are going to learn: As the Body of Christ, members of Jesus’ Church, we must keep journeying together, even when we experience disappointment in fellow members of the Body. Jesus experienced deep disappointment through His ministry, with His followers, the clamoring crowds, the religious establishment, the political authorities, His own hometown and family. Even so, Jesus did not let His disappointment or pain stop him from journeying with them and for their good—to the Cross! In the same way, we can’t let our disappointment or pain with one another stop us from journeying together because we are the Body of Christ.[2]
Paul states in Romans 12:4-5, “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”
Jesus experienced significant disappointment during His earthly ministry, but He still gave His body to the Passion so that we can be His Body to proclaim His love! Love is when we keep journeying together even when we face significant disappointments with one another and in the church as a whole—that is a part of our sharing in the fellowship of His suffering that conforms us to His death (Philippians 3:10).
That is why we can’t forsake the gathering (Hebrews 10:24-25)—it short circuits God’s plan to reach the nations: “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
If you didn’t know this—there is no Plan B—we are Plan A of God’s plan to show the world His love! I bet that sounds pretty crazy to you. But no crazier than the whole Gospel story and that the way God decided to save humanity was through the Passion of Jesus Christ!
If Jesus had to pay such a high cost for our salvation, what cost is His body willing to pay to carry on the work of God in the world? Reflect on things in your life that are not pleasing to God or are not working in agreement with His Plan A for your life and invite the Holy Spirit into that place. Are you willing to let God work in you and through you?
Honestly, going by what I see in how easily and how quickly people jump ship from the Body of Christ, or remain ineffective because they habitually forsake the gathering of the saints or are unwilling to let anyone do any kind of “stirring up” in their lives, people are not willing to suffer at all for the privilege of being a member of the Body of Christ, nevertheless, doing the necessary work to fulfill God’s plan to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).[3]
Most people I know are too distracted by the world and when they do get involved with the church, they are too preoccupied with their own comfort and preferences to join with Jesus in His Passion as a member of His Body. And I know mostly church people…
You are a member of Jesus’ Body and His Body is God’s chosen vehicle of salvation to the world…for the lost of our community and every community. We must return to a high view of Jesus’ Church.
Allow me a personal illustration. After decades of not doing it or not enjoying it like I did before my military days, I am back to enjoying running. I was a runner a long time ago and I’m back at it. Funny thing though is that one of my toes does not consider itself a runner and it has a black toenail to prove it. Every time I go running, it lets me know that it’s not a runner. Not too loud, but loud enough for me to question whether or not it is really committed to the fellowship of the body. I have not yet gotten to the place of questioning whether or not I should cut it off… J Really, it’s a part of me, a member of the body, even if it’s not quite on board with this whole running thing. Do you know what I do with this toe? I give it more attention. I use my wife’s fancy little stone to rub down the ever-growing callous at the end of it and I make sure my blackened toenail is hanging in there… It must feel beaten and battered, but I keep telling it that it’s doing it to itself if it would just get with the program like the other 90% of my toes. J
That reminds me of Paul’s teaching about the Church—the Body of Christ—in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27. Listen to Paul talk about my toe, hidden to you, but trying to take over my whole body:
For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.
Jesus’ Passion gives us the motive to stay together as the body of Christ, whether we are that “toe” or find ourselves disappointed in it because it likes to let us know it’s still there from time to time. Maybe, that toe thinks it’s calling in life is to keep everyone patient and graceful.
Jesus had some “toe-pain” over 3 years of journeying with His disciples for 3 years. We think that the only suffering Jesus had was during His Passion. To capture this, I walked through the Gospel of Matthew, just took my Bible out during my morning quiet time, and read through it seeing the places Jesus experienced moments with people who are the people Jesus was inviting to become members of His body and instead might have felt some “toe-pain”:
- But what about how painfully disappointing the whole state of affairs were with the Jewish religious leaders: Matthew 9:3, 11; 12:2, 14, 24; 15:12; 19:3; 21:12-19 and throughout the rest of His time in Jerusalem until He is crucified He is in constant conflict with the religious elite. Talking about toe-pain! I’m sure I would have cut these people off, but Jesus didn’t. On the Cross He forgave them (Luke 23:34). What an example!
- How painfully disappointing His chosen followers—the future church leaders—were: Matthew 8:26; 14:31; 16:8, 23; 18:1 and that is just through His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem and doesn’t cover their abandonment and betrayals up to His crucifixion. But upon His resurrection, He spends 40 days with them and forgives them. Empowering them at Pentecost with the Holy Spirit to be His Church—the Body of Christ.
- He experienced disappointment and pain with the crowds: Matthew 8:34; 9:24; 17:17; 19:23-24. With the cities and the generation as a whole: Matthew 11:16-24; 12:38-39; 16:1-4, 5-6, 11-12.
- Maybe most acutely, He experienced “toe-pain” with His hometown: Matthew 13:55-58.
So often, in the life of Christ, we are called to love people who have been hurt by so many others. And you have heard me say it: “hurt people hurt people!” It’s true! Part of responding to the Passion of Jesus is being a healing person in those hurt people’s lives, not adding church hurt to an already long list of offenders.
A pastor once said to me, there are people in the church who are EGRs—Extra Grace Required! They are in every church and if you leave a church because of them, you will just find them eventually in your next church. And if you don’t know who the EGR is, then you are probably the one and everyone else knows it! I laughed… I cried… I am the EGR…
Jesus was constantly surrounded by EGRs! I guess, when we view it from His point of view on the Cross, we are all extra grace required folks. Starting with me…
Do your daily behaviors reflect and point to Jesus? Are we pausing in difficult decisions? When dealing with difficult people are we submitting our emotions to the Lord and waiting on the Lord to guide us? Love flows out of patience and meekness…
Do we love others as God first loved us? As Paul taught in Romans 5:8, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Hurt people may hurt people, but Forgiven people forgive people!
Which are you? Have you been forgiven?
Do we know that our love for one another is a primary way we lift up the Name of Jesus as His disciples (John 13:34-35)? Are we willing to suffer with the members of the Body so that we may persevere in belonging to the Body?
To practically know how to do this, read Romans 12:9-21.
We are God’s Plan A! There is no other plan to reach the nations with the Gospel of Jesus.
What’s your Plan A?
Listen to the Message here:
To watch the video click HERE
Footnotes:
[1] For a short article that explains the technical usage of “Passion” in Biblical Studies, please check out: https://www.gotquestions.org/passion-of-Christ.html (accessed February 20, 2020).
[2] A colleague wrote back to me in response to this paragraph, “This really puts into perspective of how long-term care for people is so hard. Addictions, rebellious lifestyles etc.… The fleshly reaction is to cut that person out of your life, so you don’t have to deal with their brokenness. Please help me Jesus to love others and see others how you see them with Kingdom eyes not worldly eyes.”
Hits: 287
Read more...
Responding to the Passion of Jesus (Week 2)
“Rest in Meekness!”
“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
“Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.”
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
“I am gentle and lowly in heart.”
“Cease striving and know that I am God!”
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ ” The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble [meek], and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (39).
Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
James 1:21-22: “Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
James 3:13-16: “Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.”
1 Peter 3:14-17: “But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness [meekness in KJV] and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.”
“What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
“Our Father…” (Matthew 6:9-13).
Listen to the Message here:
To watch the video click HERE
Hits: 308
Read more...
Responding to the Passion of Jesus (Week 1)
2020: A Year of Celebration!
“Jesus stayed on Mission!”
Key Verses: Matthew 16:21-23; 17:22-23; 20:17-19
Welcome to 2020, A Year of Celebration at FBC! This is our 110th anniversary year as our church was chartered on July 7, 1910. We are planning a big celebration the weekend after our anniversary date, so save the date for the weekend of July 11-12, 2020.
Who are we celebrating? We are celebrating Jesus and in doing so we are going to do one thing all year long: LIFT UP THE NAME OF JESUS!
Our theme verse for 2020 is John chapter 12, verse 32 (John 12:32, ESV), which proclaims, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” This verse explicitly points to the fact that Jesus would be lifted up on the Cross of Calvary to give His life as a payment for sin, as the very next verse says, “He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.”
The implications of this verse go beyond Jesus’ death and influence every area of our lives: we are called to live our lives in response to Jesus being lifted up on the Cross as the Savior for all the World! In response to His Passion, by which we are saved!
Throughout this series, the word “Passion” has a more technical meaning that in Biblical Studies points to the suffering of Jesus Christ, specifically from the historical events of the Garden of Gethsemane to the crucifixion.[1] As I will teach today, I believe the suffering of Jesus began, with intentionality, well before the Garden scene when it was first put on public display.
Throughout this series, here is my overarching teaching goal: The Passion of Jesus cannot remain a once-upon-a-time idea in your head captured in the icon of the Cross, just as our call to follow Jesus and share in His sufferings cannot remain an abstract concept. There are real implications to the Passion of Jesus, not only in what He did to rescue us and give us life, but how we should live our lives in response to His life, death, and resurrection. During this Lenten season, as we prepare our hearts and minds for Easter, we are going to walk toward the Cross and learn together how we are invited to respond to the Passion of Jesus.
Today, we are going to learn: Jesus stayed on mission by long-suffering with His followers, not just suffering for them! The mission of Jesus to “go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19) is not a one-time event of saving a soul, just like Jesus’s Passion was more than one week of events. The mission of Jesus was, and still is, a long slow obedience in the same direction of seeing people transformed by the love of God. This requires long-suffering with people!
Did you know the word for patience in the KJV is “long-suffering”? Long-suffering means patiently enduring lasting offense or suffering, especially those caused by other people. As a friend said to me recently, “Committing to having patience isn’t just agreeing to passively wait without worrying or complaining, but rather it is a commitment to be willing to suffer at the hands of others.”
There are three passages we are going to look at this morning as we start our journey towards the Cross of Calvary and Jesus’ vicarious death and victorious resurrection. Along the way we are going to study the Passion of Jesus and how we are invited to respond.
The first time Jesus clearly and explicitly states the plan of God to His disciples is found in Matthew 16:21-23:
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Peter is the voice we hear, but it’s very plausible that Peter’s voice represents the community voice of all Jewish people’s expectations of their Messiah: the anointed one of Israel would not die at the hands of Roman imperialism, but He would be the right hand of God to rescue God’s people from all foreign oppression, once and for all.
A real part of Jesus’ suffering was how much He was misunderstood—throughout His ministry. Even those who knew and believed He was the long-awaited Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of Man, the Son of God misunderstood His actions, because they did not know the plan of God.
“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ’ ”
Both were attempting to thwart Jesus from the plan of God—the devil maliciously with evil intent and Peter ignorantly with ethnocentric intent.
The Passion of the Christ, which we have typically focused on as a Holy Week reality, was for Jesus a ministry reality. As we see in three allusions to His crucifixion before this first overt announcement of His coming death: Matthew 9:15; 10:38; and 12:40.
“And Jesus said to them, ‘Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast’” (9:15).
“And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me” (10:38).
“For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (12:40).
The followers of Jesus did not/could not/would not hear it at the time.
“As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, ‘The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.’ And they were greatly distressed.”
This time, instead of being a stumbling block to Jesus, they were “greatly distressed” by Jesus’ insistence that betrayal, suffering, and death was coming His way. They most likely never heard Jesus mention being raised on the third day and if they did, they did not understand Him.
How is that possible? Have you ever received really hard news? Once the person dropped the diagnosis or bad news on you, did you hear much of anything after that? Nope… The disciples of Jesus are in a state of shock, disbelieving shock…
The third and last time Jesus tells His disciples is in Matthew 20:17-19,
And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”
Jesus tells them in the greatest detail of any of the three times. He is forecasting what is coming. Clearly demonstrating a firm grasp of what He must do to fulfill God’s plan for His life, death, and resurrection. Jesus is also expressing His willingness to submit to His Father’s will in order to fulfill God’s plan.
As one commentator wrote, “It is the Son of Man, the Son of David, the divine Son of God, who would voluntarily undergo such treatment to save others. His humility would contrast starkly with the arrogance of the sons of Zebedee in the following section.”[2]
Jesus’ pronouncement is contrasted vividly by Matthew 20:20-28 when we see the followers of Jesus jockeying for power positions in the coming kingdom. Clearly, they still don’t get it after three years with Jesus, after three clear articulations of His coming Passion. Jesus responds with abounding grace and honest truth to His followers,
But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
I say, “UGGHHH!!!! Frustrating people!!!” Jesus says, “Grace Abounds! These are My people!”
Why? Because Jesus was passionate about making disciples (a.k.a. training apprentices)—passionate about taking people who believe in Him on the Journey of being transformed from what they were in the world to what God intended them to be in His Kingdom!
Jesus was about to pay the ultimate price and hand this entire operation over to His apprentices after training them 24/7/365 for 3 years. Can you imagine His internal suffering at their thick-headed insistence to not understand Him or His mission? Can you imagine the amount of passion Jesus must have had for these disciples for Him to keep on keeping on with them?
It couldn’t be that He was stuck with them—they were chosen by God to be His Apostles! Jesus didn’t tolerate them being in His life, He loved them. They were His mission and the reason for His Passion! Do you see people this way? Do you tolerate difficult people or love them with long-suffering? Is this even possible apart from the Holy Spirit?
Jesus’ journey to the Cross demonstrates the entirety of His Passion! But, it wasn’t just the Passion Week where we most clearly saw Jesus’ transformative act of love for all sinners. Jesus was passionate about making something out of these ragamuffins—of walking with them and loving them through their doubts, uncertainties, and stubborn refusals to change their minds on preconceived notions. He’s still doing the same today, with us!
He is still patiently loving those who have been chosen by God to be His followers!
Time after time, situation after situation: Grace Abounded! Jesus kept showing His followers the way to be on mission, even though they did not fully understand Jesus’ mission.
Jesus’s journey to the Cross was a long, slow obedience in the same direction! It was a Passion Journey and on His journey we see Jesus on mission the way we are to go on mission: with a persevering and transforming love for others, starting here, but going out beyond the borders… out of our comfort zones!
Jesus long-suffered (showed patience) with His slow-to-get-it followers, soon-to-be-called the Church. Their transformation did not happen because of one moment (the Cross) alone! It happened because of three years of Jesus’ long slow obedience in the same direction of love that lead to the Cross, but did not end there!
Jesus’ mission carries on today, after the Cross, after the Resurrection, after the Ascension, because of those 3 years of Jesus’ long slow obedience in the same direction of love! These men may not have gotten it until after all these major events happened, but it was the love of Jesus on the Journey that led them to carry on the mission of Jesus to a new generation.
Let me say it this way: it took 1,095 days of persistent love for that one triumphant day to make sense. But, then only in hindsight after 3 long days apart from that love, followed by 40 glorious days of experiencing Jesus’ resurrection and redeeming love for them to finally get it, and now for an eternity without a day apart from God’s love living in us through the Holy Spirit.
Don’t bail before the blessing! God is with you and He has a better plan for your life than you currently have for your own life. God is in you…patiently loving you to work in you His love and through you His love to the world. Be patient with others as God is patient with you!
This is our mission, so be like Jesus in His Passion and be long-suffering with people on the journey, just as God is still being patient with you on the journey. Go as Paul commands in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8,
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
You can listen to the message here:
To watch the video click HERE
Footnotes:
[1] For a short article that explains the technical usage of “Passion” in Biblical Studies, please check out: https://www.gotquestions.org/passion-of-Christ.html (accessed February 20, 2020).
[2] Michael G. Vanlaningham, “Matthew,” in The Moody Bible Commentary, ed. Michael A. Rydelnik and Michael Vanlaningham (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2014), 1490.
Hits: 379
Read more...
Responding to Jesus (Week 7)
2020: A Year of Celebration!
“Jesus is Lord of the Harvest: Go with Him!”
Key Verses: Luke 10:1-3
Welcome to 2020, A Year of Celebration at FBC! This is our 110th anniversary year as our church was chartered on July 7, 1910. We are planning a big celebration the weekend after our anniversary date, so save the date for the weekend of July 11-12, 2020.
Who are we celebrating? We are celebrating Jesus and in doing so we are going to do one thing all year long: LIFT UP THE NAME OF JESUS!
Our theme verse for 2020 is John chapter 12, verse 32 (John 12:32, ESV), which proclaims, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” This verse explicitly points to the fact that Jesus would be lifted up on the Cross of Calvary to give His life as a payment for sin, as the very next verse says, “He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.” The implications of this verse go beyond Jesus’ death and influence every area of our lives: we are called to live our lives in response to Jesus being lifted up on the Cross as the Savior for all the World!
Today, we are going to learn: Jesus is the Lord of the Harvest and He has invited us to pray for people to work His fields. Let’s look at the text where Jesus teaches us this.
Turn with me to Luke chapter 10, verses 1-3 (Luke 10:1-3):
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.”
This is not the only place Jesus gives His followers a command to take the good news (gospel) to other people—we call this evangelism or missions.
Jesus famously commands in Matthew 28:18-20, “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’”
In our lesson today, we see that Jesus instructs His followers:
1. The work is not just for pastors and missionaries.
Jesus sent 72 followers, not just the 12 Apostles. This is the mission of the church—all the people of God are to go!
2. Don’t go alone!
In the Army, we were trained to have a battle buddy… [I will tell a story of my battle buddy linking arms with me in Ranger School to illustrate what a battle buddy is and why they are important.]
Do you have a battle buddy? That question may seem out of context, but when you listen to Jesus’ words, they make sense: “Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.” There is hardship and pain awaiting each of us in the world we live and attempt to serve in the name of Jesus. We live in a very broken world, filled with sadness and grief, sin and selfishness. Bad things happen to all of us and all we have sometimes is our faith in this message of hope, to reminder ourselves and to share with others because so many are feeling hopeless and beat up by a world that doesn’t seem to care.
If you got at it alone, there is a very good chance that your initial excitement to be a part of the work of God will waver and fail in the midst of so much pain and hardship. It is amazing how much life can beat us down, circumstances and chronic pain, alike, can distract us and keep us from seeing any light at the end of the tunnel.
Listen to three promises from God’s Word about spiritual relationships:
- 1 Corinthians 16:17-18 states,
“I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence, for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such people.”
- 2 Corinthians 7:13 reiterates,
“Therefore we are comforted. And besides our own comfort, we rejoiced still more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.”
- Hebrews 10:24-25,
“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
3. Go to every place Jesus would go! Stay in His yoke!
Jesus commands His followers to follow a certain path in how we plow the field: I want you to listen to some teachings from Jesus that help us understand how we are to work His harvest fields.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
This scripture has 2 lessons I want you think about: 1) start where you are because this is where you are (Jerusalem, your home community), but be willing to move outside of your comfort zone as the Lord leads you. That can include our region/state (Judah), the nation (Samaria, this also has the implications of people who may not be like you, maybe people considered outcasts or “not like us”), and to the end of the earth (anywhere and everywhere, people distant from you in every way).
Jesus is tearing down the cultural and religious prejudices of His day and He’s still doing it, today! Are there people or places you are not willing to go?
Don’t just think about way away out there, think about in here (around this room) or around our city or your school or workplace or extended family… Are their barriers in your mind and heart that disallow you from loving people the way Jesus loves you? Do you need to seek forgiveness or forgive another person today? Are there a few difficult minutes of a hard conversation ahead of you so that you can be free forever?
Does this sound like a heavy-burden to you? Does it cause anxiety or fear just thinking about going across this room or across the street in your neighborhood or across town or across the lunchroom or across the world?
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
I want you to get one thing out of this passage today: when you take on Jesus’ yoke, He will direct your path and set your pace in the harvest field. When you are yoked to Jesus, you are now working under a different power source that causes His yoke to be easy and His burden to be light. We are in the yoke of Jesus when we are empowered by the Holy Spirit. You are not alone!
And when you are not alone, you can do whatever it is God is putting on your heart to do! You can go where He leads you, even if others don’t understand why you are going to that place or to those people. We all needed someone to come to us at some point in our life… Let’s return the favor and reach out to others where they are.
‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.’”
Where is God calling you to go? Then, you go there! If each of us would just go where we each were called to go, then how many more people would have Jesus in their lives?
4. The final point for today is this: Pray for God to capture the hearts of more people to come on journey with Jesus and share in all the work.
Don’t go alone means praying to God and inviting Him to go with you. He also invites you to bring a friend with you as you go. If you are currently going alone, pray and ask God to raise a worker to join you.
If you currently see places of need that you aren’t called to go to, then pray that God would raise up people to go.
I can’t go everywhere, because that would be disobedience to what I am called to do. No guilt to you, nor will accept guilt to come back on me. We each are called—I’m in the yoke of Jesus learning to go where He calls me.
Whose yoke are you in and where is that yoke taking you?
It’s time to pray…
You can listen to the message here:
You can watch the video HERE.
Hits: 327
Read more...
Responding to Jesus (Week 6)
2020: A Year of Celebration!
“Jesus is our Example: Serve Like Him!”
Key Verses: John 13:1-20
Who are we celebrating? We are celebrating Jesus and in doing so we are going to do one thing all year long: LIFT UP THE NAME OF JESUS!
Our theme verse for 2020 is John chapter 12, verse 32 (John 12:32, ESV), which proclaims, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” This verse explicitly points to the fact that Jesus would be lifted up on the Cross of Calvary to give His life as a payment for sin, as the very next verse says, “He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.” The implications of this verse go beyond Jesus’ death and influence every area of our lives: we are called to live our lives in response to Jesus being lifted up on the Cross as the Savior for all the World!
Today, we are going to learn: Jesus is our Example in all areas of life. We are called to serve like Jesus served. That is why He came and that is why we have been saved: Jesus emptied Himself, took on the form of a servant, and died on the Cross so that we can live an abundant life. We are Blessed to be a Blessing! Serving is a life of giving away what you cannot lose: God’s grace!
Jesus said to His first followers (the disciples) in Mark 10:42-45,
You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many [by being lifted up on the Cross].
Jesus makes it clear in His teaching that He came to set us an example: one of a servant who was willing to put aside His own comforts, in fact His very life, so that we can return to a right relationship with God that was intended for us from the beginning of creation, but was destroyed by human sin. Jesus came to rescue us and to show us what our lives can look like when we are completely submitted to the Father and empowered by the Holy Spirit, God’s presence in us.
The example Jesus came to set for us is found in our theme verse of John 12:32: “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” It was on the Cross of Calvary that Jesus demonstrated what true service looks like! As we talked about last week, it was not easy for Jesus to do this: in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus sweat blood leading up to the Cross because of the extreme anguish He felt (Lk 22:44; Mt 26:38; Mk 14:34), but loved compelled Him to serve us this way; as Hebrews 12:2 says, it was for the JOY SET BEFORE HIM!
Just like Jesus, we are called to be different and live different than the ways of the world: to die to self-service and live for God-service. The world says look out for number one and use other people to get your way. The world teaches us self-service and most everything that makes a profit in today’s world is something that caters to the whims and desires of “self”. Just think of the billions of dollars the advertising departments of multi-million dollar businesses spend on wooing you to invest your time and money into yourself.
Unfortunately, this includes in the American-led church growth models if you want to have a “successful” church. I don’t know what to tell you other than that I, and your elders, won’t pander to that mindset and false definition of success for the church. With that said, for us to remain in our community, the faithful need to step up in even greater ways, in both serving and giving, to keep a Jesus-centered church thriving in our self-centered culture. Giving in to the self-centered culture is idolatry and we must flee from it and not cooperate with it. Lord Jesus, please forgive us for the ways we have already.
Jesus says that the only way to glorify God through your service and to truly be great is to not to self-serve, but to serve people by submitting to God first; this is God-service. In fact, Jesus’ life glorified God for this exact reason as we learn from Jesus’ prayer in John 17:4, “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.” Jesus did not heal every person that needed healing, teach in every synagogue, feed every hungry person, tackle every social evil, tear down oppressive regimes and solve economic disparities between the haves and the have nots. Jesus did not do everything that would have been on each of our agendas for this world and all of its problems, but Jesus did everything His father asked Him to do!
Jesus rescued humanity from the damaging effects of sin so that we would be “free” as God-centered people to do all these things and even more—to do even “greater things” (John 14:12).
“The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”
Jesus has given us the same glory that His father gave Him and that glory is to do the work God has given each of us to do. We are called to be pleasing to God by doing what He commands us to do. People will often misunderstand how we serve them, because we are pleasing them in the Name of Jesus, not in our own name (personal self-interest), or the name of our church (corporate self-interest), or even in the name of our city, state, or nation (ethnocentric self-interest). We are God-serving people: God-pleasing service not people-pleasing service!
The bottom line is that living a non-serving life or self-serving life is not the real thing—neither biblical Christianity nor Jesus following. It’s disobedience to Jesus because you are still living according to your selfish nature. Following Jesus means your faith produces acts of obedience. Not to save you, but because you are saved! Not as works of the Law to attempt to please God, but obedience that flows from faith. Faith and good works are inseparable, and if you are separating them and you think that is OK, that is a problem.
I do not have permission from God as your pastor to allow you to sit there and think that it is OK to live disobedient to the teachings of Jesus Christ. With truth and grace, I say to each of you: you are blessed by God to be a blessing to others—to real people with real issues in real everyday life! Put some feet on your prayers and go serve in such a way to meet the needs of a lost and dying world. Faith compels you! The Holy Spirit within you empowers you… take a step of faith and follow your Lord and Savior Jesus by putting on the towel of service.
Even Jesus’ closest followers did not understand the example of Jesus. Grace abounds for those who do not get it, but we can’t stay there. God is calling you to understand this very basic teaching—to get it and to stop making excuses for disobedience. Even Jesus’ closest followers were consumed with self-interests. Listen to this very famous real story, the historical account of Jesus Christ putting on the towel of service, from John chapter 13, verses 1-20 (John 13:1-20):
Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.” When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”
Jesus emptied Himself in this moment by doing the work of a slave by washing their feet. In the times of Jesus, the person who was to wash the feet of guests was not the husband or wife, nor the children or hired hand. It was the work of the lowest person in their culture. Jesus took on the form of the lowest person to wash the feet of His followers. But Jesus’ followers did not want this kind of example nor understand Him.
It’s not that Jesus wasn’t clear in His teachings or in the example He set—how could Jesus have been any clearer in either?—it was just that His followers were blinded by their own self-interest. They wanted Jesus to be greatest of all (not least of all) and to lead a revolution against Rome and liberate them so that Israel could be great again and they could then personally rule their country (and then the world) with Jesus (not to be a part of some spiritual kingdom that gets you ridiculed, side lined, and eventually crucified).
Jesus’ followers were still consumed with self-interest, but Jesus did not have an ounce of self-interest in his example. Jesus did not have an ounce of self-serving in mind when He went to the Cross—Jesus experienced extreme anguish in going to the Cross, but He did so because of the Joy of knowing that we would be rescued from sin—the very sin that keeps us yoked to SELF!
You are either yoked to Jesus or yoked to yourself! As Paul said in Galatians 5:1, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Sin has been defeated, now abide in Jesus and God-serve—that is true freedom!
Are you free in Christ?
One of the core values of our church is, “Developing people for a life of service.” Over the last year and a half I have often talked to you of the “7:1 initiative”, which is an FBC initiative to: 1) invest in 7 relationships through a small group, Sunday School class, or Bible study opportunity where you are learning from God’s Word and one another how to love others like Jesus first loved you; and 2) invest in 1 place of service in the church where you can be involved in a ministry team or mission partnership to serve like Jesus. If you don’t know where you can find a place of service, we have provided you with an updated 2020 “service opportunities” handout that has lots of places for you to prayerfully consider.
- lack of sustainable financing, evidenced by a huge deficit in the maintenance budget and the recent cutting of the mission’s section of the 2020 budget.
- struggles of the Meal Trains, which get sent out to 118 +/- families every time:
-
- missed 3 of 8 days for a member.
- missed 5 of 10 days for a member.
- missed 4 of 10 days for a member.
- struggled to fill out for a member.
- If you look at who is taking the meals, it is a relatively small group.
-
- lack of volunteers in the Children’s area, leading to the closing of the elementary children’s church during 1st Sunday services.
We do this, not because it will get you respect from other people or make our church better or will cause God to love you more, but because it is obedience that comes from faith—in other words, it is a faithful response to the gospel of Jesus Christ when you put your faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life. To say it another way, it is what the Holy Spirit will compel you to do because He lives in you and He is forming you into the example of Jesus Christ.
As you examine yourself about your area(s) of service, please remember that we do what the Spirit leads us to do, the way the Spirit has gifted us to do it, and in the way of Jesus—for the glory of God! I am not asking you to do anything more or less than obey Jesus! For me, that caused me to resign my career as an Army Officer before I hit my 20 years with no retirement or medical benefits. To leave all that I knew as security, to find my security in Christ alone. Then, again to leave all of our security at our first church in Sunnyvale, CA to come to New Castle, IN over a decade ago. And again and again, to die a hundred little deaths to obey Christ to love and serve like Him, instead of loving and serving myself and my own self-interest.
I am not asking you to do anything more or less than I have done, I never will! I am only asking you to respond to Jesus’ example by completely submitting to God and by asking the Holy Spirit to show you how He wants you to respond to Jesus’ example. Through God’s grace and only by God’s grace can we serve like Jesus!
You can listen to the message here:
You can watch the video HERE.
Hits: 408
Read more...
Hits: 83311