I woke early this morning. Made my way to my chair, where each morning I study and pray for an hour, to get my day started. This morning I am focused on admiring the tree… the presents… and to ponder this holy day of our Saviors’ birth. For some today is about presents. For some it’s about lights. For some the food is what brings joy and still others it’s about family. As I look at the evergreen foliage, covered with decorations, I see a tree that stays alive even in the harshest of winters… During the coldest season of the year, it endures. To me the tree represents our Savior, and his love that abides during every cold and brutal season of our life. The decorations remind me of how he has blessed our lives, not only with material things, but with the favor of his love. In the lights I see the burning love he has for his people. His people who no matter how they live their life, his light shines from the center of their soul. In the presents I see the gift that he gives of unending forgiveness and salvation. But mostly I see him, in each person, that finds a little more happiness during this time of year. I pray we find him in everything we see, touch or hear. I pray that we find his love in others and that they in us. A love that grows, because of him, for everyone. Not just during this season… but all year long. 1 Thessalonians 3:12
Merry Christmas to you and your family! Love, Perry
1 John 4:16; So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
Romans 8:37-39; No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 John 4:12; My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!
John 10:10; Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.
2 Corinthians 9:8; God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it,
He throws caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon. His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out.
Ephesians 1:7; Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free!
Colossians 1:13-14; God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He’s set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating.
Ephesians 2:8-9; Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
Acts 26:17b-18; “‘I’m sending you off to open the eyes of the outsiders so they can see the difference between dark and light, and choose light, see the difference between Satan and God, and choose God. I’m sending you off to present my offer of sins forgiven, and a place in the family, inviting them into the company of those who begin real living by believing in me.’
Deuteronomy 4:29; But even there, if you seek God, your God, you’ll be able to find him if you’re serious, looking for him with your whole heart and soul. When troubles come and all these awful things happen to you, in future days you will come back to God, your God, and listen obediently to what he says. God, your God, is above all a compassionate God. In the end he will not abandon you, he won’t bring you to ruin, he won’t forget the covenant with your ancestors which he swore to them.
Acts 17:27; “The God who made the world and everything in it, this Master of sky and land, doesn’t live in custom-made shrines or need the human race to run errands for him, as if he couldn’t take care of himself. He makes the creatures; the creatures don’t make him. Starting from scratch, he made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find him. He doesn’t play hide-and-seek with us. He’s not remote; he’s near. We live and move in him, can’t get away from him! One of your poets said it well: ‘We’re the God-created.’ Well, if we are the God-created, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to think we could hire a sculptor to chisel a god out of stone for us, does it?
Matthew 7:8 “Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This isn’t a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we’re in. If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing. You’re at least decent to your own children. So don’t you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?
December 18th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
Why A Stable?
He was a baby just like any other. Born with pain. Born with blood. Born naked and new to the world. Ten fingers. Ten Toes. Two feet. Two hands. Two eyes. Feet that would walk mile after mile, to teach his fathers love. Feet that would one day hold up the sin of world, on the cross. Hands that would heal. Hands that would calm a storm. Hands that would raise others from the dead. Eyes that see love, when others see hate. He looked ordinary to most people, but to those that believed, he looked like heaven. He cried like any baby does, but to those that believe, it was the sound of freedom. I have often wondered why God chose shepherds to reveal his son to? Why he chose a lonely stable with its’ filth, its’ odor and its’ disgust. Why that setting? Why those people? Because God was proving to history that his son… his life… was meant for everyone. Not just the religious. The shepherds were considered the lowest of all. The stable the worse place of all. It was Gods way of saying my love… my grace… is for the lowest, most despicable person you can think of. My son will live a life of poverty, at the same time healing and loving as I do. All to prove, my love for each person, no matter who.
Two thousand years ago our Savior came. As an ordinary baby dressed in earthly skin, but with a heavenly purpose. To teach… To save… To sacrifice for you… for me… for everyone…
My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.
I write this, dear children, to guide you out of sin. But if anyone does sin, we have a Priest-Friend in the presence of the Father: Jesus Christ, righteous Jesus. When he served as a sacrifice for our sins, he solved the sin problem for good—not only ours, but the whole world’s.
The Only Way to Know We’re in Him
2b-3 Here’s how we can be sure that we know God in the right way: Keep his commandments.
“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.
December 11th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
Why Mary?
Mary… This time of year my thoughts can’t help but turn to her. I think of how young… how innocent she was. I think of how brave she must have been. How much she must have been in love with God. I wonder? If God ask me to do something as questionable as he asked Mary, would I be willing? Would I throw away my reputation… my family… my people… my church? Would I completely turn my life over to God, with my only thought being, how can I please him? How can I help him change the world? Not sure I could do something as drastic as Mary. I don’t know anyone who could in todays’ world.
She was a virgin. She knew it. Her boyfriend knew it. Everyone else? I suppose even her parents thought other wise? She was young. She was innocent. She was well respected. Until… Then she was frightened. Then she was ridiculed. Then she was not welcome. Then she had doubts. What a radical God we serve. What an astonishing God that would take a young girl. Test her. Use her. Yet bless her. All to prove to us that he is the one and only. All to prove to us how much he loves… how much he desires to save us. He could have simply sent an angel holding Christ in their arms. Why a young peasant girl? Why Mary? To show us that no matter who we are, he can use us in remarkable ways. What an amazing way to introduce our salvation. Jesus!!
“And did you know that your cousin Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is? Everyone called her barren, and here she is six months pregnant! Nothing, you see, is impossible with God.”
Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven’t stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which God works. We pray that you’ll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.
Servants, respectfully obey your earthly masters but always with an eye to obeying the real master, Christ. Don’t just do what you have to do to get by, but work heartily, as Christ’s servants doing what God wants you to do. And work with a smile on your face, always keeping in mind that no matter who happens to be giving the orders, you’re really serving God. Good work will get you good pay from the Master, regardless of whether you are slave or free.
Don’t just do what you have to do to get by, but work heartily, as Christ’s servants doing what God wants you to do. And work with a smile on your face, always keeping in mind that no matter who happens to be giving the orders, you’re really serving God.
Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving.
Jesus said, “I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him. You’ve even seen him!”
December 4th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
Maybe It’s Simple!
One hundred and eighty three times Jesus was asked a question. He only directly answered three. What if Jesus’ message was hidden and most everyone is missing it? What if his message was for all religions… all people… and we are so caught up in what we want to believe, we are missing the deepest part of his life? What if organized religion has distorted his message, in order to self promote? I like answers. Daily I ask questions of the people I work with and I want them to give me definitive answers. Maybe Jesus wanted us to think for ourselves. It’s easy to follow rules that are written down. It is much harder to search your heart, for guidance from the spirit. It’s easy when someone says “do it this way”. It’s harder if they say be creative and figure it out. When someone gives us answers we feel secure. We don’t have to worry about being wrong. “you told me to do it that way”. However, when Jesus taught in parables. When he avoided answering questions… it leaves it open to interpretation. Maybe he wanted each of us to figure out who we are… and what is important, in our hearts. Maybe he wanted to make sure we didn’t hold a bunch of rules over the heads of others, in order to make ourselves feel superior. Maybe the only thing that matters is the most important question he answered. “Love me with all your heart… Love others the same.” Could it be that simple? I think so! Galatians 5:13-15
It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom.
It’s news I’m most proud to proclaim, this extraordinary Message of God’s powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him, starting with Jews and then right on to everyone else! God’s way of putting people right shows up in the acts of faith, confirming what Scripture has said all along: “The person in right standing before God by trusting him really lives.”
So where does that put us? Do we Jews get a better break than the others? Not really. Basically, all of us, whether insiders or outsiders, start out in identical conditions, which is to say that we all start out as sinners.
9In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. Also, since you are Christ’s family, then you are Abraham’s famous “descendant,” heirs according to the covenant promises.
Paul then went straight to the meeting place. He had the run of the place for three months, doing his best to make the things of the kingdom of God real and convincing to them. But then resistance began to form as some of them began spreading evil rumors through the congregation about the Christian way of life. So Paul left, taking the disciples with him, and set up shop in the school of Tyrannus, holding class there daily. He did this for two years, giving everyone in the province of Asia, Jews as well as Greeks, ample opportunity to hear the Message of the Master.
It was soon news all over Ephesus among both Jews and Greeks. The realization spread that God was in and behind this. Curiosity about Paul developed into reverence for the Master Jesus. Many of those who thus believed stepped out into the light and made a clean break with their secret sorceries. All kinds of witches and warlocks came out of the woodwork with their books of spells and incantations and made a huge bonfire of them. Someone estimated their worth at fifty thousand silver coins. In such ways it became evident that the Word of the Master was now sovereign and prevailed in Ephesus.
Scripture reassures us, “No one who trusts God like this—heart and soul—will ever regret it.” It’s exactly the same no matter what a person’s religious background may be: the same God for all of us, acting the same incredibly generous way to everyone who calls out for help. “Everyone who calls, ‘Help, God!’ gets help.”
Don’t overlook the obvious here, friends. With God, one day is as good as a thousand years, a thousand years as a day. God isn’t late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and time to change.
Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
I can’t tell you how happy I am to learn that many members of your congregation are diligent in living out the Truth, exactly as commanded by the Father. But permit me a reminder, friends, and this is not a new commandment but simply a repetition of our original and basic charter: that we love each other. Love means following his commandments, and his unifying commandment is that you conduct your lives in love. This is the first thing you heard, and nothing has changed.
November 27th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
Love Never Rest!
As my wife and I got our room assignment I was surprised when I saw the number. Thirty six floors is a long way up! As I stand at the window, looking over Denver, I see many highways full of cars. Each with people in them. I look down and thousands of people are moving along sidewalks, riding the subway, and going here and there! So often I wonder how the image of God can be in each… but it is. Do they feel the love that comes from that? I think of each story that is their life. I think of the love they have, or do not have in that story. As I survey the crowds of people I am not thinking of who they are or what their lifestyle is. I simply see Gods’ children. I feel him saying to me “you are to love them all”. Does he know how hard that is? Does he know how much patience that takes? He does! As he loves each with no motive or reason why! He loves each because they are his! He loves each because he sees himself in them! Our ability to love is never at rest and so therefore can never be complete. Each day when our feet hit the floor, is another day to love those around us. We don’t need to agree with their lifestyle. We don’t need to look at the way they differ from us. We simply need to love without judgement, but with compassion. When we do… Christ will shine from our heart! Romans 14
In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.
You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.
There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. Late one night he visited Jesus and said, “Rabbi, we all know you’re a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren’t in on it.”
“I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father.
Since Jesus went through everything you’re going through and more, learn to think like him. Think of your sufferings as a weaning from that old sinful habit of always expecting to get your own way. Then you’ll be able to live out your days free to pursue what God wants instead of being tyrannized by what you want.
You’ve already put in your time in that God-ignorant way of life, partying night after night, a drunken and profligate life. Now it’s time to be done with it for good. Of course, your old friends don’t understand why you don’t join in with the old gang anymore. But you don’t have to give an account to them. They’re the ones who will be called on the carpet—and before God himself.
Listen to the Message. It was preached to those believers who are now dead, and yet even though they died (just as all people must), they will still get in on the life that God has given in Jesus.
Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up, so take nothing for granted. Stay wide-awake in prayer. Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything
This is how we’ve come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.
“Don’t suppose for a minute that I have come to demolish the Scriptures—either God’s Law or the Prophets. I’m not here to demolish but to complete. I am going to put it all together, pull it all together in a vast panorama. God’s Law is more real and lasting than the stars in the sky and the ground at your feet. Long after stars burn out and earth wears out, God’s Law will be alive and working.
November 20th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
REBORN!
I have baptized many in my life. When I baptized our son, at thirteen, I was told by the man directing baptism to make sure I got all of him under the water. He then proceeded to tell me that if I didn’t, he wouldn’t be saved! YOUR JOKING! At thirteen I was baptized myself. I had been taught, to inherit the kingdom, you had to be plunged under the water. To be “born again”. When Jesus told Nicodemus one has to be “born again” Nicodemus looked upon Jesus with puzzlement. Thru contemplation and study, I have come to realize that there is more. What Jesus was telling Nicodemus was go back to the beginning. Relearn all your ways of thinking. Throw out your traditions, rethink your laws, relook at your attitudes, examine your position in life. Before Christ, the law was the authority. Now Jesus is saying I am the way, the truth, and the life. I don’t follow the law, I go further. I don’t look to ways of living, to earn a place in heaven. I depend on the spirit that is within me. What Jesus was telling us, when he spoke to Nicodemus was… Your way of thinking, the way you were taught since birth, has to be reborn. The act of baptism is simply a symbol. The true change lies in the heart, not in the water. To be reborn means to learn to love unconditionally… without judgement. Just like a baby loves without hesitation, we must be born again to love the same. John Chap. 3
Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that’s not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don’t need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything.
For an answer Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room, and said, “I’m telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you’re not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God’s kingdom. What’s more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it’s the same as receiving me.
Our orders—backed up by the Master, Jesus—are to refuse to have anything to do with those among you who are lazy and refuse to work the way we taught you. Don’t permit them to freeload on the rest. We showed you how to pull your weight when we were with you, so get on with it. We didn’t sit around on our hands expecting others to take care of us. In fact, we worked our fingers to the bone, up half the night moonlighting so you wouldn’t be burdened with taking care of us. And it wasn’t because we didn’t have a right to your support; we did. We simply wanted to provide an example of diligence, hoping it would prove contagious.
Jesus said, “I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him. You’ve even seen him!”
“I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught.
“Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.
November 13th, 2023
Happy Jesus Day!
Humble Strength
Breakfast on a ship is one of my favorite times. I arose early to beat the crowd. I found a seat that faced the window, which afforded me a chance to see the ocean moving past. It was peaceful, and a good time to observe my surroundings. She came past my table many times. Each time asking if I needed anything. Gracefully serving everyone she saw. She came from Vietnam, with a smile to brighten up the world. She had a servants heart, but I felt a strength in her that was undeniable. She found pleasure… peace… in serving others. We talked and I was amazed at the humble attitude. The humble grace. The humble presence. Then it hit me. She possessed what I call HUMBLE STRENGTH. The strength that comes from knowing why you are here. A strength that shows confidence in a humble manner. Strength that says, you come first, because I love you the way Christ intended. I don’t believe we truly understand the humble strength of our Savior. Many mistook his quiet nature and his willingness to follow peace, as a sign of weakness. A sign of passiveness. If we truly… in our hearts… understood the strength he possessed, we would stand in awe. At any moment he could have destroyed his captures. He could have brought people to their knees. Humbly he sought peace. He sought love. I learned a lot watching the young lady from Vietnam. She reflected Christ, more than anyone I have ever encountered. Humble Strength. It’s how we imitate our Savior.
Summing up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that’s your job, to bless. You’ll be a blessing and also get a blessing.
You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way. And do you suppose God doesn’t care? The proverb has it that “he’s a fiercely jealous lover.” And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you’ll find. It’s common knowledge that “God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble.”
Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God’s words; if help, let it be God’s hearty help. That way, God’s bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and he’ll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything—encores to the end of time. Oh, yes!
“I’ve never, as you so well know, had any taste for wealth or fashion. With these bare hands I took care of my own basic needs and those who worked with me. In everything I’ve done, I have demonstrated to you how necessary it is to work on behalf of the weak and not exploit them. You’ll not likely go wrong here if you keep remembering that our Master said, ‘You’re far happier giving than getting.’”
It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?
Make sure you don’t take things for granted and go slack in working for the common good; share what you have with others. God takes particular pleasure in acts of worship—a different kind of “sacrifice”—that take place in kitchen and workplace and on the streets.
If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.
So eat your meals heartily, not worrying about what others say about you—you’re eating to God’s glory, after all, not to please them. As a matter of fact, do everything that way, heartily and freely to God’s glory. At the same time, don’t be callous in your exercise of freedom, thoughtlessly stepping on the toes of those who aren’t as free as you are. I try my best to be considerate of everyone’s feelings in all these matters; I hope you will be, too.
Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”
His life doesn’t match his words. But the one who keeps God’s word is the person in whom we see God’s mature love. This is the only way to be sure we’re in God. Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived.
If someone claims, “I know him well!” but doesn’t keep his commandments, he’s obviously a liar. Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.
November 6th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
A New Genesis!
Many years ago I tried to play golf. My dad and father-in-law were avid golfers, so I tried. Turns out, it is not for me. There is one term in golf I used a lot. Mulligan! It’s a golf term for a do over. Jesus life and death produced for us a new genesis. A new day to start over. In golf terms a “mulligan”. A way to move past the law that surely condemns to a new time in the garden. A time of peace… of understanding… before Adam ate of the fruit. Jesus’ life, was given to us, by God, as a way to erase what Adam did. To take us back to a time of understanding, when as man, we walked in solitude with our God. God told Adam “if you eat of this tree you will surely die”. However God did not kill them after they sinned, he simply punished… then loved. So it is that Jesus, reflects the heart of God, in the garden. Where he shows pure love without censure. We have come to believe, that we have a God that practices condemnation. One minute we are delighting in his grace, the next we are worried that our sin will bring his wrath. Do we have a loving God or a vengeful God? Jesus came to show us the heart of his father. Jesus, just as God, is pure love. Love does not condemn. Love does not keep records of wrongs. Love cherishes. Love will always win… even to the end.
Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
God’s readiness to give and forgive is now public. Salvation’s available for everyone! We’re being shown how to turn our backs on a godless, indulgent life, and how to take on a God-filled, God-honoring life. This new life is starting right now, and is whetting our appetites for the glorious day when our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, appears. He offered himself as a sacrifice to free us from a dark, rebellious life into this good, pure life, making us a people he can be proud of, energetic in goodness.
God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He’s set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating.
Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death-dealing sin. If one man’s sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what God’s gift poured through one man, Jesus Christ, will do! There’s no comparison between that death-dealing sin and this generous, life-giving gift. The verdict on that one sin was the death sentence; the verdict on the many sins that followed was this wonderful life sentence. If death got the upper hand through one man’s wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, absolute life, in those who grasp with both hands this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand setting-everything-right, that the one man Jesus Christ provides?
Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right.
As a priest, Christ made a single sacrifice for sins, and that was it! Then he sat down right beside God and waited for his enemies to cave in. It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people. By that single offering, he did everything that needed to be done for everyone who takes part in the purifying process.
So, my dear friends, since this is what you have to look forward to, do your very best to be found living at your best, in purity and peace. Interpret our Master’s patient restraint for what it is: salvation.
Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. You’re not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It’s the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won’t last forever. It won’t be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are!—will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does.
October 30th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
We Are Good!
Woke up running. Early meeting. Busy day ahead. The hours flew by. Before I knew it the day was over, and the Sun was setting. As evening arrived and I finally got still, I took time to apologize to my Savior, for not spending time with him. I hoped he would understand. As I always do, I asked my Jesus “are we good”? The reply he gave, to my heart, made my knees weak. “I made a beautiful world… for you… that I have to look over! I have millions of prayers to answer and lives to touch. The angels surrounding me, are singing with such great beauty. All of this is happening, but my eyes are on you! I’ve spent my day watching you. Waiting for you. Worried only about you. Yes we are good! We always will be. My grace covers you. My love is never ending and my affection for you… it’s bone deep. You have my heart… all of it.” We have a Lord who longs to have a relationship with us. He waits patiently for us to come to him. For us to talk to him. For us to give him our time…our heart. He looks to each of us, as if we were his only child. His affection is not affected by how good we are, but is static because of how good he is. We all have busy days. We all forget to spend time with him. So he is waiting. Watching. Loving.
Let grace, mercy, and peace be with us in truth and love from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, Son of the Father!
I Love You!
Perry
John 15:4-7;
“Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me.
“I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.
Ephesians 5:16;
So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times!
1 John 4:16;
This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He’s given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.
Romans 8:38-39;
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.
1 Peter 5:7;
So be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs. God’s strong hand is on you; he’ll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you.
Luke 10:38-42;
As they continued their travel, Jesus entered a village. A woman by the name of Martha welcomed him and made him feel quite at home. She had a sister, Mary, who sat before the Master, hanging on every word he said. But Martha was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen. Later, she stepped in, interrupting them. “Master, don’t you care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me? Tell her to lend me a hand.”
The Master said, “Martha, dear Martha, you’re fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it—it’s the main course, and won’t be taken from her.”
Matthew 11:28-29
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
October 23rd, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
Labels or Love?
I saw him from afar. Feminine ways… small amount of makeup… and a piece of ladies clothing. As my wife saw tears in my eyes she asked what I was thinking. Not critique… but empathy. Worried about what he goes thru. The teasing. The hatred. The judgement. I prayed he would stay strong.
Think deeply about the words of Christ. Let it sink in. “Love enemies and strangers more than you love your friends or family. Pay honor to those that persecute you.” Did not Paul say, in Acts, “All nations, all people, were made by God, and are in him. All people live and breath in his spirit and are his offspring. ALL PEOPLE! That means your enemies and your friends. That means all the people of Islam, Africa, Mexico, Russia, all people of America. We are asked to build bridges, not walls. As Christ hung on the cross, he was not only thinking of those that love him, but of every person that would ever live. Labels are not what he intended. “He’s conservative. I’m liberal. Those people are black. Those people are muslims. Is that person gay or straight?” When you look at the woodlands do you see a forest, or a tree? The forest is beautiful, but a single tree is a wonder from God. When I am in a crowd, I try not to see all the people, but the image of God in each person. When you learn to see beyond the label, and see the image of our Savior, love becomes a natural reflection of that.
“You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.
48“In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”
I have a serious concern to bring up with you, my friends, using the authority of Jesus, our Master. I’ll put it as urgently as I can: You must get along with each other. You must learn to be considerate of one another, cultivating a life in common.
“I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You’ll never—I promise—regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we’re at our worst. Our Father is kind; you be kind.
“The God who made the world and everything in it, this Master of sky and land, doesn’t live in custom-made shrines or need the human race to run errands for him, as if he couldn’t take care of himself. He makes the creatures; the creatures don’t make him. Starting from scratch, he made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find him. He doesn’t play hide-and-seek with us. He’s not remote; he’s near. We live and move in him, can’t get away from him! One of your poets said it well: ‘We’re the God-created.’ Well, if we are the God-created, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to think we could hire a sculptor to chisel a god out of stone for us, does it?
When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said:
“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
“You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.
“You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.
“You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.
“You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
“You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.
Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.
Peter fairly exploded with his good news: “It’s God’s own truth, nothing could be plainer: God plays no favorites! It makes no difference who you are or where you’re from—if you want God and are ready to do as he says, the door is open. The Message he sent to the children of Israel—that through Jesus Christ everything is being put together again—well, he’s doing it everywhere, among everyone.
But now you have arrived at your destination: By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God. Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe—Christ’s life, the fulfillment of God’s original promise.
In Christ’s Family
In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. Also, since you are Christ’s family, then you are Abraham’s famous “descendant,” heirs according to the covenant promises.
The Messiah has made things up between us so that we’re now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody.
October 16th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day
Love Deep/Laugh Hard!
Daily I live my life to the fullest. I go at life with break neck speed. I live out my emotions… and my heart… it’s an open book. The joke at the office is “if you want to see Perry cry, ask him about how much he loves Lorna”. That will do it every time! We are only given one heart… one body… one soul. Many times we spend our lives, trying to suppress our feelings, our desires, only to find that life has passed us by. When you love… love deep. When you laugh… laugh hard. When you hurt… embrace it to its’ depth. When you find people in your path, you feel a connection to, cherish it. Cherish them. Many people have crossed my path, in the past sixty years. Each have taken a part of my heart. Some more than others. We have a God, who desires in us, a relationship with others. He desires we share our lives, our love, our heart, with those he puts before us. He desires we give our lives to each other, as he gave his life to us. We should think of those around us, more than we do ourselves… just as he did. I have a dear friend who every time I say “I love you” he asks why I say that? He never says “I love you” back, but I know he does. Learn to love deeply. Learn to laugh hard. Most of all learn to cherish each relationship God puts before you. Your life will be rich!
It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows.
And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, “Today—at the latest, tomorrow—we’re off to such and such a city for the year. We’re going to start a business and make a lot of money.” You don’t know the first thing about tomorrow. You’re nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing. Instead, make it a habit to say, “If the Master wills it and we’re still alive, we’ll do this or that.”
But Jesus didn’t give an inch. “Only insofar as you eat and drink flesh and blood, the flesh and blood of the Son of Man, do you have life within you. The one who brings a hearty appetite to this eating and drinking has eternal life and will be fit and ready for the Final Day. My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. By eating my flesh and drinking my blood you enter into me and I into you. In the same way that the fully alive Father sent me here and I live because of him, so the one who makes a meal of me lives because of me. This is the Bread from heaven. Your ancestors ate bread and later died. Whoever eats this Bread will live always.”
Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.
That precious memory triggers another: your honest faith—and what a rich faith it is, handed down from your grandmother Lois to your mother Eunice, and now to you! And the special gift of ministry you received when I laid hands on you and prayed—keep that ablaze! God doesn’t want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold and loving and sensible.
October 9th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
The Blue Dot
Carl Sagan, in the book Pale Blue Dot, shows that earth is but a dot in the portion of space, we have been able to explore. We are a tiny dot in our solar system… which is a tiny dot in our galaxy… which is a tiny dot in the vastness of space. Yet every human to ever live. Every person that loves God and that God loves… lives on this Blue Dot. How can our minds… even start to comprehend the power, the vastness, the complexity of our God. He made all of this with simply a thought. Daily we strive to put him in terms we can comprehend. In terms that produce in us, an image, that allows us a reasonable understanding. All in an effort to gain a sense of order. In an effort to gain a sense of security. We put God into human terms and use that as a way to create our salvation. When God saw that our brains, as complex as he made them, could not even start to understand his ways, he decided to send his son. Jesus… became our image. He came to this Pale Blue Dot simply to show not only the power of God, but the love of his heart. He came out of trinitarian love, for every person that will live, on this dot. To think, that a God this vast, could care about our mistakes, above our love, does not describe his complexity. His love for us is the reason he created all this. What an amazing God!! Acts 17:24(msg)
“The God who made the world and everything in it, this Master of sky and land, doesn’t live in custom-made shrines or need the human race to run errands for him, as if he couldn’t take care of himself. He makes the creatures; the creatures don’t make him.
We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.
By his Son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end. This Son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God’s nature. He holds everything together by what he says—powerful words!
Hebrews 11:3; By faith, we see the world called into existence by God’s word, what we see created by what we don’t see.
Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives.
But you’ve seen and heard it because God by his Spirit has brought it all out into the open before you.
The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface, dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along. Who ever knows what you’re thinking and planning except you yourself? The same with God—except that he not only knows what he’s thinking, but he lets us in on it.
Have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God, this deep, deep wisdom? It’s way over our heads. We’ll never figure it out.
Is there anyone around who can explain God?
Anyone smart enough to tell him what to do?
Anyone who has done him such a huge favor
that God has to ask his advice?
Everything comes from him;
Everything happens through him;
Everything ends up in him.
Always glory! Always praise!
Yes. Yes. Yes.
October 2nd, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
Christ Ambassadors!
I was standing in the omelet line patiently waiting my turn. As always, I spend that time looking to people to teach… to inspire. I couldn’t help but notice her behavior. She was demanding of the young man who was cooking. Insisting he do it her way. Telling him what he was doing wrong, and instructing him how to do his job. As she turned around I noticed a cross, hanging from her neck. As I stepped up for my turn, I simply asked, “how is your morning going”. That opened up a whole conversation, between John and I. As he finished up my omelet I told him how good he was at his job. A huge smile come over his face. When we go into Gods’ world, we are representing him, and his son. When we wear identifying symbols of our Savior we are saying to the world… this is who we follow… this is the one we pattern ourselves after. Not a day goes by, that I don’t have the HJD logo on my person, for all to see. I don’t have the luxury of having a bad day. Each person I encounter, should see love and kindness moving from my spirit. Each person, our path crosses, is carrying their own burden. Family issues… sickness… the loss of a loved one. They should find in each of us, the heart of our Savior. The kindness of his eyes. The caring in his voice. We should be the reason they smile. Then maybe they might say “tell me… who is this Jesus?”
“The God who made the world and everything in it, this Master of sky and land, doesn’t live in custom-made shrines or need the human race to run errands for him, as if he couldn’t take care of himself. He makes the creatures; the creatures don’t make him. Starting from scratch, he made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find him. He doesn’t play hide-and-seek with us. He’s not remote; he’s near. We live and move in him, can’t get away from him! One of your poets said it well: ‘We’re the God-created.’ Well, if we are the God-created, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to think we could hire a sculptor to chisel a god out of stone for us, does it?
Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift.
Don’t grieve God. Don’t break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted.
Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.
Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.
Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?”
If someone claims, “I know him well!” but doesn’t keep his commandments, he’s obviously a liar. His life doesn’t match his words. But the one who keeps God’s word is the person in whom we see God’s mature love. This is the only way to be sure we’re in God. Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived.
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
It pleases me that you continue to remember and honor me by keeping up the traditions of the faith I taught you. All actual authority stems from Christ.
All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
“Here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them! If you only love the lovable, do you expect a pat on the back? Run-of-the-mill sinners do that. If you only help those who help you, do you expect a medal? Garden-variety sinners do that. If you only give for what you hope to get out of it, do you think that’s charity? The stingiest of pawnbrokers does that.
September 25th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
It’s All About Relationship
Do you live a life of control based on fear, or a life of freedom based on love? Because we see ourselves as sinful, we have developed a need for control, based on the fear of, lack of redemption. We are fearful, that unless we are good enough, Jesus sacrifice will not be enough to cover our salvation. We look for security based on our ability to follow rules. I visited with her for a long time and she is not sure if heaven is in her future. “I’m working toward it”. What? My comment was “you are very arrogant”. She seemed offended. “To think you can be good enough, to earn your way to his arms, is arrogant”. The only way to his embrace… is deep love for him… deep love for others. Short of love, it can’t be done. We live in a world that is control based. Rules. They are everywhere and a part of everything we do. So when we find out that Christ love is free. It has nothing to do with rules… it’s simply thru love.. it blows our mind. Our bible. The one we read daily. Is not a constitution. It is not a set of rules, to be followed, or we go to jail. It is all about love. It is God… as Christ… teaching us how to form more perfect relationships. Relationships with him and relationships with each other. THAT is how we feel his embrace. THAT is how we hear him say “Job Well Done”!
We Jews know that we have no advantage of birth over “non-Jewish sinners.” We know very well that we are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know? We tried it—and we had the best system of rules the world has ever seen! Convinced that no human being can please God by self-improvement, we believed in Jesus as the Messiah so that we might be set right before God by trusting in the Messiah, not by trying to be good.
It wasn’t so long ago that we ourselves were stupid and stubborn, easy marks for sin, ordered every which way by our glands, going around with a chip on our shoulder, hated and hating back. But when God, our kind and loving Savior God, stepped in, he saved us from all that. It was all his doing; we had nothing to do with it. He gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit. Our Savior Jesus poured out new life so generously. God’s gift has restored our relationship with him and given us back our lives. And there’s more life to come—an eternity of life! You can count on this.
Carrying out this social relief work involves far more than helping meet the bare needs of poor Christians. It also produces abundant and bountiful thanksgivings to God. This relief offering is a prod to live at your very best, showing your gratitude to God by being openly obedient to the plain meaning of the Message of Christ. You show your gratitude through your generous offerings to your needy brothers and sisters, and really toward everyone. Meanwhile, moved by the extravagance of God in your lives, they’ll respond by praying for you in passionate intercession for whatever you need. Thank God for this gift, his gift. No language can praise it enough!
Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God’s words; if help, let it be God’s hearty help. That way, God’s bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and he’ll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything—encores to the end of time. Oh, yes!
Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.
September 18th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
Make It All About Love!
I often get asked what religion are you? What church do you attend? I reply “I am someone who loves Jesus with all my heart”. I have spent my life, until now, believing that religion had something to do with a building we gather in. That it had something to do with a group of people, that sing songs and listen to teaching. Most of us are under the belief that religion, is about a group of rules, social obligations, and commandments having to do with external behavior. Religion is simple! It is the belief in God, which produces an inner freedom, that will lead toward deeper and greater love. Love for all mankind, not just the people you gather with on Sunday. Daily I encounter people who have moved from the pursuit of Christ, because of the nature of the churches they have attended, and the attitude of the people in that church. How can that be what our Savior wants? This new direction for HJD, God is leading me too, is about abolishing stereo types and offering love to everyone of Gods’ people. Atheist, Agnostics, Black, White, Gay, Straight, New, Old, Strong, Weak. If they are human they deserve our love… our respect. Christ loves them, why shouldn’t we? As I read in my new testament, Jesus had more problems with the religious elite, than he did with the common sinners. Step out of your comfortable religion and take up the cross that Jesus asked of us.
In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.
But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.
Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let’s not let it slip through our fingers. We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help.
“Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.”
Work at getting along with each other and with God. Otherwise you’ll never get so much as a glimpse of God. Make sure no one gets left out of God’s generosity.
Don’t run up debts, except for the huge debt of love you owe each other. When you love others, you complete what the law has been after all along. The law code—don’t sleep with another person’s spouse, don’t take someone’s life, don’t take what isn’t yours, don’t always be wanting what you don’t have, and any other “don’t” you can think of—finally adds up to this: Love other people as well as you do yourself. You can’t go wrong when you love others. When you add up everything in the law code, the sum total is love.
September 11 , 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
Seeing Without My Eyes
Oh to see, without my eyes! Have you ever thought how our eyes deceive us? We judge based on looks. Based on lifestyle. Her vision was taken from her at age six to save her life. I pray for her, when I think of all she is missing. I for one, enjoy the vision of a sunset. I enjoy the beauty of my wife. The look of my grandkids smile. Savvy cannot see those things, but she is blessed by seeing with her heart and not her eyes. Eyesight is something we should never take for granted. However, some days I ask that God close my eyes, and open my soul, that I may first love before judging. That I may be kind before making a perception. As I move forward, in the direction God is leading with HJD, it is important that I learn to see with my soul… before my eyes. With my heart before my mind. With my love before my judgement. As people we tend to judge the lifestyle, before we love the person. Christ has shown me through his heart that love is all that matters. Love is the beginning and the end. Love does not have room for judgement or condemnation. Love is accepting. Love does not look at the sins of others, but focuses on the image of God within. I pray we close our eyes and accept those around us. It is what Christ did. It is what we should do.
If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both.
“I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You’ll never—I promise—regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we’re at our worst. Our Father is kind; you be kind.
Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.
Those people are on a dark spiral downward. But if you think that leaves you on the high ground where you can point your finger at others, think again. Every time you criticize someone, you condemn yourself. It takes one to know one. Judgmental criticism of others is a well-known way of escaping detection in your own crimes and misdemeanors. But God isn’t so easily diverted. He sees right through all such smoke screens and holds you to what you’ve done.
You didn’t think, did you, that just by pointing your finger at others you would distract God from seeing all your misdoings and from coming down on you hard? Or did you think that because he’s such a nice God, he’d let you off the hook? Better think this one through from the beginning. God is kind, but he’s not soft. In kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.
September 4th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
Judgement or Love?
It’s so good to be back with you on this journey. A journey to find the heart… the spirit… of our Lord. To explore what it means to deeply love people. To long more for love, than to worry about right or wrong.
Katie has spent her life in the pursuit, to love as Christ loves. To show others, the same love she feels, from our Savior. Katie Davis left her privilege filled life of comfort. As a teenager, she choose to move to Uganda and serve those people. Not worrying about rules. Not worrying about comfort. Not worrying about who is right or who is wrong. Simply loving those in her path. The same kind of life our Savior lived. Is it better to live a fact – truth life? Working each day to prove your interpretation of scripture to be the right one. To prove that they are sinners, more than me. To prove they are not saved, but I am. Or is it better to live a wisdom – truth life. Working each day to love people as Christ loved them. Not worried about being right, or wrong. Not worried about who is a sinner, and who is not. Simply loving as Christ loved. True love means, not judging but leading. True love means, meeting people right where they are. We are ALL full of sin. One as bad as the next. Regardless of our sin… Christ loves us. He sees perfection, when we see disorder!
Luke 6:24 – 48 (MSG)
I Love You!
Perry
Romans 15:5-7; May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
Mark 10:21; And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
John 3:19-21; And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
Romans 11:33-36; Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
1 Corinthians 13:1; If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
Romans 3:23; For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
James 4:17; So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
Galatians 6:9; And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
Philippians 2:1-11; Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
July 10th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
Love! It’s All There Is!
His questions were warranted. “How do I reconcile the violence in the world today and in the bible? God wiped out whole nations of people even after he killed everyone except for Noah? I was taught he is a loving, merciful God, yet I read of his destruction and today I see his people being hateful to others.” My answer was simple. I hear people say I believe this. I believe that. We come up with our own interpretations of scripture, to mold what we want to believe. Giving explanation to why worldwide there are over 45,000 different christian religions with over 33,000 in America alone.
It doesn’t matter who you believe or what set of rules they follow. Your pastor, your leaders, your teachers. It doesn’t even matter if everything we find in the Bible is accurate or correct. What matters is who you trust… who you love… YOU ARE NEVER GOING TO KNOW THE TRUE MEANING OF SCRIPTURE, NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU STUDY. What matters is your level of trust in the one who died for you. Jesus! The deep love you have for him and the love you have people. Base your faith… your trust… in him. Allow him to dwell in your heart and your spirit. Only then, will you be free of the burdens placed on us by men. Christ came to love, not start another religion. HE is the only way to happiness.
“You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren’t willing to receive from me the life you say you want.
“I’m not interested in crowd approval. And do you know why? Because I know you and your crowds. I know that love, especially God’s love, is not on your working agenda. I came with the authority of my Father, and you either dismiss me or avoid me. If another came, acting self-important, you would welcome him with open arms. How do you expect to get anywhere with God when you spend all your time jockeying for position with each other, ranking your rivals and ignoring God?
“But don’t think I’m going to accuse you before my Father. Moses, in whom you put so much stock, is your accuser. If you believed, really believed, what Moses said, you would believe me. He wrote of me. If you won’t take seriously what he wrote, how can I expect you to take seriously what I speak?”
So God said, in effect, “If that’s what you want, that’s what you get.” It wasn’t long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them—the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes!
The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can’t receive the gifts of God’s Spirit. There’s no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known only by spirit—God’s Spirit and our spirits in open communion. Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God’s Spirit is doing, and can’t be judged by unspiritual critics. Isaiah’s question, “Is there anyone around who knows God’s Spirit, anyone who knows what he is doing?” has been answered: Christ knows and we have Christ’s spirit.
He replied, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn’t been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That’s why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward a welcome awakening. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they’re blue in the face and not get it. I don’t want Isaiah’s forecast repeated all over again:
Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!
Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what you don’t have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it.
God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one can resist God’s Word. We can’t get away from it—no matter what.
Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, “God is trying to trip me up.” God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.
What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.
Jesus said, “The first in importance is, ‘Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.’ And here is the second: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ There is no other commandment that ranks with these.”
Don’t run up debts, except for the huge debt of love you owe each other. When you love others, you complete what the law has been after all along. The law code—don’t sleep with another person’s spouse, don’t take someone’s life, don’t take what isn’t yours, don’t always be wanting what you don’t have, and any other “don’t” you can think of—finally adds up to this: Love other people as well as you do yourself. You can’t go wrong when you love others. When you add up everything in the law code, the sum total is love.
Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up, so take nothing for granted. Stay wide-awake in prayer. Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless—cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God’s words; if help, let it be God’s hearty help. That way, God’s bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and he’ll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything—encores to the end of time. Oh, yes!
July 3rd, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
Give More / Take Less
As I talked with some students my question was simple. “Do your parents let others in front in traffic?” Do they offer their place standing in line?” Overwhelmingly the response was “are you joking?” My heart is heavy and my burden is great. People take, and take, and take. We live our lives wondering what is in it for us. We look to those that lead, those that influence our lives, and we expect them to be perfect. We take of their position. Their power. Their resources. The pressure that puts on leaders is overwhelming. The pressure that our Savior felt was exhausting. Most came, not to love him, but simply to take of his power. His power to heal. His power to save. Why do we spend our lives believing we should always look out for ourselves? We even spend most of our time asking God for something, rather than trusting. When is the last time you prayed during the day to simply say “Thank You”? To let him know how awesome of a God he is. Take a whole day and simply praise his name. Don’t ask for anything or expect anything. Simply love him. Do the same for those around you. Let someone in front in traffic. Open doors. Offer your place in line to others. Tell your boss “Thank You” for your job. The Kingdom of Christ is alive today. You can experience it. You simply have to show it to others first.
1My dear friends, don’t believe everything you hear. Carefully weigh and examine what people tell you. Not everyone who talks about God comes from God. There are a lot of lying preachers loose in the world.
2-3Here’s how you test for the genuine Spirit of God. Everyone who confesses openly his faith in Jesus Christ—the Son of God, who came as an actual flesh-and-blood person—comes from God and belongs to God. And everyone who refuses to confess faith in Jesus has nothing in common with God. This is the spirit of antichrist that you heard was coming. Well, here it is, sooner than we thought!
4-6My dear children, you come from God and belong to God. You have already won a big victory over those false teachers, for the Spirit in you is far stronger than anything in the world. These people belong to the Christ-denying world. They talk the world’s language and the world eats it up. But we come from God and belong to God. Anyone who knows God understands us and listens. The person who has nothing to do with God will, of course, not listen to us. This is another test for telling the Spirit of Truth from the spirit of deception.
God Is Love
7-10My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.
11-12My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!
13-16This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He’s given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.
To Love, to Be Loved
17-18God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.
19We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.
20-21If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both.
Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.
This is how we’ve come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.
I plan (according to Jesus’ plan) to send Timothy to you very soon so he can bring back all the news of you he can gather. Oh, how that will do my heart good! I have no one quite like Timothy. He is loyal, and genuinely concerned for you. Most people around here are looking out for themselves, with little concern for the things of Jesus. But you know yourselves that Timothy’s the real thing. He’s been a devoted son to me as together we’ve delivered the Message. As soon as I see how things are going to fall out for me here, I plan to send him off. And then I’m hoping and praying to be right on his heels.
Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.
“I’ve never, as you so well know, had any taste for wealth or fashion. With these bare hands I took care of my own basic needs and those who worked with me. In everything I’ve done, I have demonstrated to you how necessary it is to work on behalf of the weak and not exploit them. You’ll not likely go wrong here if you keep remembering that our Master said, ‘You’re far happier giving than getting.’”
“Here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them! If you only love the lovable, do you expect a pat on the back? Run-of-the-mill sinners do that. If you only help those who help you, do you expect a medal? Garden-variety sinners do that. If you only give for what you hope to get out of it, do you think that’s charity? The stingiest of pawnbrokers does that.
Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.
You wouldn’t think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not? Because you know you’d be asking for what you have no right to. You’re spoiled children, each wanting your own way.
Run away from childish indulgence. Run after mature righteousness—faith, love, peace—joining those who are in honest and serious prayer before God. Refuse to get involved in inane discussions; they always end up in fights.
Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
June 26th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
He Is Enough!
Jesus, through out his life was demonstrating one principle. The only thing that matters is faith, expressing itself in love. Later the mystic Paul, thru visions and communion with Christ was about conveying one concept. The only thing that matters is faith, expressing itself in love. As I prayed for her healing. As I asked for what we wanted. I heard him say to me “when did I stop being enough?” We spend years, months, weeks and hours studying. We believe that more knowledge will save us. We believe that if we study enough. Pray enough. It will produce correct thinking. So many of us believe we have to act a certain way. Live a certain way. Follow a certain way of thinking, in order to be saved. In our minds that works… until the doctor shares the diagnoses. Then all that matters is not what you believe… as much as who you believe. At that point it doesn’t matter what religion you call yourself. How many hours you have studied. Doesn’t matter how many years you have gone to a building to worship. All that matters is your belief in God… and his son. Mostly you believe he can heal. Love becomes more important than rules. Love of God, Love of family, and Love of friends. I believe in my heart that one way or another, God will heal this person I love. That faith. That love. Is all that matters.
So keep at your work, this faith and love rooted in Christ, exactly as I set it out for you. It’s as sound as the day you first heard it from me. Guard this precious thing placed in your custody by the Holy Spirit who works in us.
I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.
And friends, once that’s taken care of and we’re no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we’re bold and free before God! We’re able to stretch our hands out and receive what we asked for because we’re doing what he said, doing what pleases him. Again, this is God’s command: to believe in his personally named Son, Jesus Christ. He told us to love each other, in line with the original command. As we keep his commands, we live deeply and surely in him, and he lives in us. And this is how we experience his deep and abiding presence in us: by the Spirit he gave us.
And now I have it all—and keep getting more! The gifts you sent with Epaphroditus were more than enough, like a sweet-smelling sacrifice roasting on the altar, filling the air with fragrance, pleasing God to no end. You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus. Our God and Father abounds in glory that just pours out into eternity. Yes.
So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.
Not one of these people, even though their lives of faith were exemplary, got their hands on what was promised. God had a better plan for us: that their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole, their lives of faith not complete apart from ours.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
he’s the one who will keep you on track.
Don’t assume that you know it all.
Run to God! Run from evil!
Your body will glow with health,
your very bones will vibrate with life!
Honor God with everything you own;
give him the first and the best.
June 19th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
Drunk On His Love!
I love, being in love, with you father. It’s like a fine wine as it gets older. It becomes smooth, easy and more joyful. Daily I get drunk on your love… your grace. It brings such joy, such peace, such understanding to my existence. I drink it in, and allow it to move through every part of my soul. As I come to better understand your heart… your spirit… I can taste and smell it’s aroma like that of aged wine. I can’t imagine a minute without you. I want each day, to know you more. To understand you more. To be one with you. To rest in your warm embrace and taste the smooth sweetness of your love. To know that you will always love me, and you will always accept me, into your embrace. You will watch over me, and guard me, as each day brings trials. Each day brings troubles. Each day brings tribulation. At the end of such days you are there to greet me. To reassure me. To give me peace. To grant me rest. Father let your light shine from me, so others may desire to taste your heart, your spirit. That they may come to know the peace, only you can bestow. When I die I don’t want to go sober. I want to go drunk on your love… your grace. Thank you father… for loving me even more than I love you!
Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.
My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in.
And that’s about it, friends. Be cheerful. Keep things in good repair. Keep your spirits up. Think in harmony. Be agreeable. Do all that, and the God of love and peace will be with you for sure. Greet one another with a holy embrace. All the brothers and sisters here say hello.
Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.
But you, friends, are well-warned. Be on guard lest you lose your footing and get swept off your feet by these lawless and loose-talking teachers. Grow in grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Jesus answered them, “Do you finally believe? In fact, you’re about to make a run for it—saving your own skins and abandoning me. But I’m not abandoned. The Father is with me. I’ve told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.”
Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.
The comment I heard from the christians was “we don’t want our kids around those undesirable people”.
As I walked straight into the crowded street of Belize my friends were questioning “should we be here?”. “These are God’s people” I replied and I have on his armor. We live in a world of judgement. A world of placing importance on our position at the table. Those that live one lifestyle, look down on those that live another. As I watch… tears fall and my heart is broken. Christ didn’t see undesirable people. He saw those he could save. Christ didn’t ask “should we be here?” He saw those he could heal. Jesus was more comfortable with the prostitute, than the religious elite. He never belittled anyone, criticized anyone, or treated them with pompous attitude. When he encountered those with an elitist attitude, he rebuked them. How can we ever teach people of Christ, when we only associate with those we feel comfortable with? How can we teach a prostitute unless we get to know one? The Jesus I know made it clear… the kingdom of God is radically inclusive. According to the Jesus I know, we can no longer label people male/female… good/bad… rich/poor…slave/free…sinner or religious. When we see everyone as God’s creation, worthy of his love, it will open our hearts and our minds. We will then welcome them to the table and tell them how amazing our Savior is.
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.
By this time a lot of men and women of questionable reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, “He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.” Their grumbling triggered this story.
Now Jesus turned to address his disciples, along with the crowd that had gathered with them. “The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God’s Law. You won’t go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don’t live it. They don’t take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It’s all spit-and-polish veneer.
“Instead of giving you God’s Law as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals. They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads, and wouldn’t think of lifting a finger to help. Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next. They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in the most prominent positions, preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called ‘Doctor’ and ‘Reverend.’
“Don’t let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates. Don’t set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of ‘Father’; you have only one Father, and he’s in heaven. And don’t let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one Life-Leader for you and them—Christ.
“Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you’ll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you’re content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.
Frauds
“I’ve had it with you! You’re hopeless, you religion scholars, you Pharisees! Frauds! Your lives are roadblocks to God’s kingdom. You refuse to enter, and won’t let anyone else in either.
“You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You go halfway around the world to make a convert, but once you get him you make him into a replica of yourselves, double-damned.
“You’re hopeless! What arrogant stupidity! You say, ‘If someone makes a promise with his fingers crossed, that’s nothing; but if he swears with his hand on the Bible, that’s serious.’ What ignorance! Does the leather on the Bible carry more weight than the skin on your hands? And what about this piece of trivia: ‘If you shake hands on a promise, that’s nothing; but if you raise your hand that God is your witness, that’s serious’? What ridiculous hairsplitting! What difference does it make whether you shake hands or raise hands? A promise is a promise. What difference does it make if you make your promise inside or outside a house of worship? A promise is a promise. God is present, watching and holding you to account regardless.
“You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You keep meticulous account books, tithing on every nickel and dime you get, but on the meat of God’s Law, things like fairness and compassion and commitment—the absolute basics!—you carelessly take it or leave it. Careful bookkeeping is commendable, but the basics are required. Do you have any idea how silly you look, writing a life story that’s wrong from start to finish, nitpicking over commas and semicolons?
“You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You buff the surface of your cups and bowls so they sparkle in the sun, while the insides are maggoty with your greed and gluttony. Stupid Pharisee! Scour the insides, and then the gleaming surface will mean something.
“You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You’re like manicured grave plots, grass clipped and the flowers bright, but six feet down it’s all rotting bones and worm-eaten flesh. People look at you and think you’re saints, but beneath the skin you’re total frauds.
“You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You build granite tombs for your prophets and marble monuments for your saints. And you say that if you had lived in the days of your ancestors, no blood would have been on your hands. You protest too much! You’re cut from the same cloth as those murderers, and daily add to the death count.
“Snakes! Cold-blooded sneaks! Do you think you can worm your way out of this? Never have to pay the piper? It’s on account of people like you that I send prophets and wise guides and scholars generation after generation—and generation after generation you treat them like dirt, greeting them with lynch mobs, hounding them with abuse.
“You can’t squirm out of this: Every drop of righteous blood ever spilled on this earth, beginning with the blood of that good man Abel right down to the blood of Zechariah, Barachiah’s son, whom you murdered at his prayers, is on your head. All this, I’m telling you, is coming down on you, on your generation.
“Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Murderer of prophets! Killer of the ones who brought you God’s news! How often I’ve ached to embrace your children, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you wouldn’t let me. And now you’re so desolate, nothing but a ghost town. What is there left to say? Only this: I’m out of here soon. The next time you see me you’ll say, ‘Oh, God has blessed him! He’s come, bringing God’s rule!’”
Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don’t see things the way you do. And don’t jump all over them every time they do or say something you don’t agree with—even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently.
For instance, a person who has been around for a while might well be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume he should only be a vegetarian and eat accordingly. But since both are guests at Christ’s table, wouldn’t it be terribly rude if they fell to criticizing what the other ate or didn’t eat? God, after all, invited them both to the table. Do you have any business crossing people off the guest list or interfering with God’s welcome? If there are corrections to be made or manners to be learned, God can handle that without your help.
Or, say, one person thinks that some days should be set aside as holy and another thinks that each day is pretty much like any other. There are good reasons either way. So, each person is free to follow the convictions of conscience.
What’s important in all this is that if you keep a holy day, keep it for God’s sake; if you eat meat, eat it to the glory of God and thank God for prime rib; if you’re a vegetarian, eat vegetables to the glory of God and thank God for broccoli. None of us are permitted to insist on our own way in these matters. It’s God we are answerable to—all the way from life to death and everything in between—not each other. That’s why Jesus lived and died and then lived again: so that he could be our Master across the entire range of life and death, and free us from the petty tyrannies of each other.
So where does that leave you when you criticize a brother? And where does that leave you when you condescend to a sister? I’d say it leaves you looking pretty silly—or worse. Eventually, we’re all going to end up kneeling side by side in the place of judgment, facing God. Your critical and condescending ways aren’t going to improve your position there one bit. Read it for yourself in Scripture:
“As I live and breathe,” God says,
“every knee will bow before me;
Every tongue will tell the honest truth
that I and only I am God.”
So mind your own business. You’ve got your hands full just taking care of your own life before God.
Forget about deciding what’s right for each other. Here’s what you need to be concerned about: that you don’t get in the way of someone else, making life more difficult than it already is. I’m convinced—Jesus convinced me!—that everything as it is in itself is holy. We, of course, by the way we treat it or talk about it, can contaminate it.
If you confuse others by making a big issue over what they eat or don’t eat, you’re no longer a companion with them in love, are you? These, remember, are persons for whom Christ died. Would you risk sending them to hell over an item in their diet? Don’t you dare let a piece of God-blessed food become an occasion of soul-poisoning!
God’s kingdom isn’t a matter of what you put in your stomach, for goodness’ sake. It’s what God does with your life as he sets it right, puts it together, and completes it with joy. Your task is to single-mindedly serve Christ. Do that and you’ll kill two birds with one stone: pleasing the God above you and proving your worth to the people around you.
So let’s agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other. Help others with encouraging words; don’t drag them down by finding fault. You’re certainly not going to permit an argument over what is served or not served at supper to wreck God’s work among you, are you? I said it before and I’ll say it again: All food is good, but it can turn bad if you use it badly, if you use it to trip others up and send them sprawling. When you sit down to a meal, your primary concern should not be to feed your own face but to share the life of Jesus. So be sensitive and courteous to the others who are eating. Don’t eat or say or do things that might interfere with the free exchange of love.
Cultivate your own relationship with God, but don’t impose it on others. You’re fortunate if your behavior and your belief are coherent. But if you’re not sure, if you notice that you are acting in ways inconsistent with what you believe—some days trying to impose your opinions on others, other days just trying to please them—then you know that you’re out of line. If the way you live isn’t consistent with what you believe, then it’s wrong.
Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.
“Here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them!
JUNE 5TH, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
Living In The Flow!
At an early age I could hear the music. I could see it everywhere. I could feel it in my soul, and hear it in my head. As a gift from God, I learned to play the guitar without lesson. Music is not about notes on a page, or theory in books. You have to feel the music in your soul, and display it in your heart. Since the age of thirteen I have used the musical talent he gave me, to his glory. As time has passed and I have walked in communion with our God… I have come to learn the same of him. God… his Son… his Spirit… is not words on a page. He is not found in the church you attend, or the ministry you are a part of. You have to feel him in your heart. You have to experience him in the deepest part of your soul. He has to become, not just knowledge to you, but you have to become as one with him, to experience his flow. I have heard it said that you know you’re a writer… if all you can think about it writing. You know you’re a musician… if all you can think about is music. When you get to a point when all you can think of is Jesus. When he is a part, of every minute, in every day, then you will know you are his child. Only then will you experience his peace!
You realize, don’t you, that you are the temple of God, and God himself is present in you? No one will get by with vandalizing God’s temple, you can be sure of that. God’s temple is sacred—and you, remember, are the temple.
So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.
This is how we’ve come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.
Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we’re proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you. It started when God said, “Light up the darkness!” and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful.
7-12If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives.
Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?
He certainly spoke the truth. Get on them right away. Stop that diseased talk of Jewish make-believe and made-up rules so they can recover a robust faith. Everything is clean to the clean-minded; nothing is clean to dirty-minded unbelievers. They leave their dirty fingerprints on every thought and act. They say they know God, but their actions speak louder than their words. They’re real creeps, disobedient good-for-nothings.
And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.
Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.
Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?
I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, “Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I’ll handle the works department.”
Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.
May 29th. 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
Happiness In Hope!
Good or bad everyone we see or encounter each day is judging. Is watching. Is looking for who we are. He was the host at a restaurant where we had reservations. As we introduced ourselves he inquired as to how we were? We simply said, “we are terrific and how are you doing today”? To which he replied “better now”! “I don’t usually get people as happy as you, walk thru the door.” My heart skipped a beat as I thought, “we can’t be the only Christ followers that have come in here today” No matter who you are or what has happened in your day… your life… there is always hope. I see so many people that have lost their joy. They move thru their day not only being sad, but being hateful to others. Hope in the life of Jesus, that can be seen each and every day, brings happiness and joy to even the worst of times. Darkness. Deep darkness. Is not as much the absence of light, but more the absence of hope. This life, and the tragedies that befall us, are normal. Our God did not promise a smooth path each day. He did promise he is walking with us. He is involved in our lives and he is here… today. I find great hope in heaven and the promise of that. I find even greater hope in his presence each day and in his kingdom here… and now. It is up to us, to show the hope, that comes from him.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
May 22nd, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
Welcoming Doubt!
Doubt? I use to think doubt was frightening. To doubt the scripture, to doubt my religion, or to doubt my beliefs, brought anxiety to my soul. I have come to understand that doubt, brings contemplation, which leads me deeper into the heart of Christ. Doubt of all the beliefs we were taught, brings a faith that produces a stronger love. Doubt of the false pretense of human beliefs, in the rules of law, produces a better understanding of the heart of love, that is our God. It is human nature to think what we believe is right. “The church I belong to is the correct one.” “The club I am a part of is superior.” “The team I root for should be the winner.” Why did Jesus teach almost always in parables? In order to get people to think. He wanted you to contemplate his teaching. To reach into your heart and decide what you felt his message meant. It’s easy to listen to a teacher and believe everything they tell you. It is better to take what is said. Contemplate it… pray about it… and come to a conclusion that rest in your heart. The truth lies in Jesus and his message. That truth is so much deeper, than we can understand, by simply reading scripture. To doubt what is on the surface, produces a desire to better know the heart of God. When you find the heart of God, you will experience his kingdom… here and now.
I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.
But I do more than thank. I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!
Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let’s not let it slip through our fingers. We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help.
Earlier there were a lot of priests, for they died and had to be replaced. But Jesus’ priesthood is permanent. He’s there from now to eternity to save everyone who comes to God through him, always on the job to speak up for them.
By an act of faith, Enoch skipped death completely. “They looked all over and couldn’t find him because God had taken him.” We know on the basis of reliable testimony that before he was taken “he pleased God.” It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.
“If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!
Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.
May 8th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
The Growth Of Faith!
Faith… as described by Jesus, always involved a heart of growth. This time of year I am amazed, as I watcheverything come back to life from a state of deep sleep. Small seeds that dropped in the fall, become towering, beautiful plants, as the sun does its job. Faith is the same. As we grow in our faith, it is not about deeper belief in scripture, or God. It is more about learning to grow in the presence of God, living in our spirit, known as love. When Christ described faith as a mustard seed. Faith as a new wine skin. He was talking about faith that has room for growth. Faith that is never sitting stagnant. We can read all the scripture we want. We can memorize verse after verse, but if love is not produced by our faith, it is useless. We can show up at church every time the doors are open. We can go to every church gathering, but if love for others is not produced, it is time wasted. During my forty seven year walk with God, I have been a part of many christian gatherings. I have also seen many worship, and pray on Sunday, then go out into the work place and treat others with disrespect. That is faith only in a book, or an institution, and not in our Savior. Love. Pure… unlimited… untarnished… faith produces the same love that our Savior had. Love for others that is never ending.
But you belong. The Holy One anointed you, and you all know it. I haven’t been writing this to tell you something you don’t know, but to confirm the truth you do know, and to remind you that the truth doesn’t breed lies.
You need to know, friends, that thanking God over and over for you is not only a pleasure; it’s a must. We have to do it. Your faith is growing phenomenally; your love for each other is developing wonderfully. Why, it’s only right that we give thanks. We’re so proud of you; you’re so steady and determined in your faith despite all the hard times that have broadsided you. We tell everyone we meet in the churches all about you.
Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, “Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I’ll handle the works department.”Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That’s just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?Wasn’t our ancestor Abraham “made right with God by works” when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? Isn’t it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are “works of faith”? The full meaning of “believe” in the Scripture sentence, “Abraham believed God and was set right with God,” includes his action. It’s that weave of believing and acting that got Abraham named “God’s friend.” Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn’t her action in hiding God’s spies and helping them escape—that seamless unity of believing and doing—what counted with God? The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.
My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!
When the Pharisees heard how he had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their forces for an assault. One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: “Teacher, which command in God’s Law is the most important?”Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”
“Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.”
It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?
May 1st, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
To Ponder His Love
As sixty thousand pounds came out of the water, the emotion overtook me. This massive grey whale, made by God, was swimming not thirty yards from our boat. All my heart felt was amazement, at the power of our God. Ten miles in the ocean, no land in sight. The vast water does not rest. Knowing below me is unlimited life down to an amazing 4000 feet. All I could think of was the sovereignty of our God. I felt so incredibly small. Then he speaks. I made all this because I love you! I did all this because I care. As large as all of this is… I love you more. I have numbered every hair on your head, and I think about you every moment, of every day. Stop and ponder that. Our God. The one that formed the earth, and breathed life into everything we see or hear, spends his day in thoughts of us. In love, with us. Knowing that… feeling that… how could your day ever be bad. So much anger. So much hatred. If only… everyone could understand the depth of Gods love, why would there be anger or malice. To truly know that everything we see, hear, touch or taste was made for our enjoyment. Was made out of an unending, never ceasing love, should bring such joy to every creature that anger and hatred would be swallowed up. All that would remain is love. Unending love and thanksgiving for God and each other.
My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!
But God’s angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.
We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.
Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!God, I’ll never comprehend them!I couldn’t even begin to count them—any more than I could count the sand of the sea.Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!And please, God, do away with wickedness for good!1 Timothy 6:17;
Tell those rich in this world’s wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage—to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they’ll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life.
Do you see what we’ve got? An unshakable kingdom! And do you see how thankful we must be? Not only thankful, but brimming with worship, deeply reverent before God. For God is not an indifferent bystander. He’s actively cleaning house, torching all that needs to burn, and he won’t quit until it’s all cleansed. God himself is Fire!
“Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.”
April 24th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
Bone Deep Love!
As we all sit in a circle the question was; “what do you get from your spouse”? After listening to all the desires, all the wants from the others, I simply answered “I expect nothing from Lorna except to love me”. Love is a free choice. As the two of us are soulmates, our love does not demand performance. We simply do for each other out of a place of deep love. Unconditional love produces a desire to please… to serve… to cherish. So it is, with our love and relationship with Christ. As we accept his unconditional love it forms in us a desire to please him. Not out of fear… not out of a desire to earn… or a need to follow rules, but out of respect and love. Unconditional love never demands performance. Never demands compliance. Never demands rules. If love is truly unconditional there is no need for rules, because everything is done from a place in the heart. Our Savior does not demand that we do things a certain way, act a certain way or follow a given set of rules. If he did, then what was the cross for? He simply and unconditionally asked that we love him in return… the way he loves us. He then ask that we love others as much as we love him. From a place of love that goes bone deep. That is the only way to live and love in harmony.
Don’t Believe Everything You HearMy dear friends, don’t believe everything you hear. Carefully weigh and examine what people tell you. Not everyone who talks about God comes from God. There are a lot of lying preachers loose in the world.Here’s how you test for the genuine Spirit of God. Everyone who confesses openly his faith in Jesus Christ—the Son of God, who came as an actual flesh-and-blood person—comes from God and belongs to God. And everyone who refuses to confess faith in Jesus has nothing in common with God. This is the spirit of antichrist that you heard was coming. Well, here it is, sooner than we thought!My dear children, you come from God and belong to God. You have already won a big victory over those false teachers, for the Spirit in you is far stronger than anything in the world. These people belong to the Christ-denying world. They talk the world’s language and the world eats it up. But we come from God and belong to God. Anyone who knows God understands us and listens. The person who has nothing to do with God will, of course, not listen to us. This is another test for telling the Spirit of Truth from the spirit of deception.God Is LoveMy beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He’s given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.To Love, to Be LovedGod is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both.
Father, I want those you gave meTo be with me, right where I am,So they can see my glory, the splendor you gave me,Having loved meLong before there ever was a world.Righteous Father, the world has never known you,But I have known you, and these disciples knowThat you sent me on this mission.I have made your very being known to them—Who you are and what you do—And continue to make it known,So that your love for meMight be in themExactly as I am in them.
It wasn’t so long ago that we ourselves were stupid and stubborn, dupes of sin, ordered every which way by our glands, going around with a chip on our shoulder, hated and hating back. But when God, our kind and loving Savior God, stepped in, he saved us from all that. It was all his doing; we had nothing to do with it. He gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit. Our Savior Jesus poured out new life so generously. God’s gift has restored our relationship with him and given us back our lives. And there’s more life to come—an eternity of life! You can count on this.
One final word, friends. We ask you—urge is more like it—that you keep on doing what we told you to do to please God, not in a dogged religious plod, but in a living, spirited dance. You know the guidelines we laid out for you from the Master Jesus. God wants you to live a pure life.Keep yourselves from sexual promiscuity.Learn to appreciate and give dignity to your body, not abusing it, as is so common among those who know nothing of God.
April 17th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
There Is A Battle
He battled. Daily Jesus battled. He spent his time in a never ending battle with evil. With demons. With Satan. He stood strong and fought well, but in the end… he was crucified. He was tortured… beaten… scarred… and taken to Hell. Then in a moment, he woke, he rose, and he walked again. They still came. The demons still pursued, they still hated, but could not touch. They pursued, but could not harm. They chased, but could not catch. They tried again to beat, to torture, but could not penetrate the shield that now surrounded him. An armor of love from his father. A shield of love that lived in his very skin. There could have been no other way. The kingdom of God is not about might and show of force. It is in the quiet submission that true power is found. Christ message is about surrender in order to inherit power. Our Saviors’ message is about turning the other cheek. It’s about the power that comes from a life of service. The kind of power that can change a world, from the inside out. That can change you from the inside out. Daily we battle as well. Daily we take up our cross. Daily we need to offer quiet submission. Then Christs’ love will live in your very skin. That is an armor that the demons of hell can not penetrate. He rose! So will you!
Then Jesus took the Twelve off to the side and said, “Listen carefully. We’re on our way up to Jerusalem. Everything written in the Prophets about the Son of Man will take place. He will be handed over to the Romans, jeered at, ridiculed, and spit on. Then, after giving him the third degree, they will kill him. In three days he will rise, alive.” But they didn’t get it, could make neither heads nor tails of what he was talking about.
Jesus said, “Watch out for doomsday deceivers. Many leaders are going to show up with forged identities, claiming, ‘I am Christ, the Messiah.’ They will deceive a lot of people. When reports come in of wars and rumored wars, keep your head and don’t panic. This is routine history; this is no sign of the end. Nation will fight nation and ruler fight ruler, over and over. Famines and earthquakes will occur in various places. This is nothing compared to what is coming.
He told them, “You don’t get to know the time. Timing is the Father’s business. What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world.”
Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.
Don’t run up debts, except for the huge debt of love you owe each other. When you love others, you complete what the law has been after all along. The law code—don’t sleep with another person’s spouse, don’t take someone’s life, don’t take what isn’t yours, don’t always be wanting what you don’t have, and any other “don’t” you can think of—finally adds up to this: Love other people as well as you do yourself. You can’t go wrong when you love others. When you add up everything in the law code, the sum total is love.But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can’t afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!
It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?
And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no weekend war that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.
I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.
God honored the Master’s body by raising it from the grave. He’ll treat yours with the same resurrection power. Until that time, remember that your bodies are created with the same dignity as the Master’s body. You wouldn’t take the Master’s body off to a whorehouse, would you? I should hope not.
April 10th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
He Deserves Better!
They knew what he had done. So a hero’s welcome… a kings honor. The robes from their backs, and palm leaves paved his way. Put yourself in Jesus’s place. Not wanting the spot light, but knowing the donkey ride and the king’s parade, is what was needed to send the religious leaders to the edge. Knowing they needed one final push to send him to the cross. I’m sure as he gazed at the gathering of people, he was repeating what he would say on the cross. “Forgive these people, father, for what they are about to do.” The same people that praised his entrance today would later cry out for his crucifixion. They knew what they had seen… had heard… but chose to send him to the cross. Twelve best friends… twelve men who walked in the parade with him… men who said they would die for him… ran and hid. Do we not do the same thing when being his child is too hard? When we ignore praying because it’s not politically correct? When we turn away from a homeless man because it’s too hard to love him? When we do not trust? Christ deserves better. I’m going to spend my life trying to give him that. I hope you will too.
What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.
The Royal WelcomeWhen they neared Jerusalem, having arrived at Bethphage on Mount Olives, Jesus sent two disciples with these instructions: “Go over to the village across from you. You’ll find a donkey tethered there, her colt with her. Untie her and bring them to me. If anyone asks what you’re doing, say, ‘The Master needs them!’ He will send them with you.”This is the full story of what was sketched earlier by the prophet:Tell Zion’s daughter,“Look, your king’s on his way,poised and ready, mountedOn a donkey, on a colt,foal of a pack animal.”The disciples went and did exactly what Jesus told them to do. They led the donkey and colt out, laid some of their clothes on them, and Jesus mounted. Nearly all the people in the crowd threw their garments down on the road, giving him a royal welcome. Others cut branches from the trees and threw them down as a welcome mat. Crowds went ahead and crowds followed, all of them calling out, “Hosanna to David’s son!” “Blessed is he who comes in God’s name!” “Hosanna in highest heaven!”As he made his entrance into Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken. Unnerved, people were asking, “What’s going on here? Who is this?”The parade crowd answered, “This is the prophet Jesus, the one from Nazareth in Galilee.”
Another day, a man stopped Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”Jesus said, “Why do you question me about what’s good? God is the One who is good. If you want to enter the life of God, just do what he tells you.”The man asked, “What in particular?”Jesus said, “Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as you do yourself.”The young man said, “I’ve done all that. What’s left?”“If you want to give it all you’ve got,” Jesus replied, “go sell your possessions; give everything to the poor. All your wealth will then be in heaven. Then come follow me.”That was the last thing the young man expected to hear. And so, crestfallen, he walked away. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and he couldn’t bear to let go.As he watched him go, Jesus told his disciples, “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for the rich to enter God’s kingdom? Let me tell you, it’s easier to gallop a camel through a needle’s eye than for the rich to enter God’s kingdom.”The disciples were staggered. “Then who has any chance at all?”Jesus looked hard at them and said, “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it.”Then Peter chimed in, “We left everything and followed you. What do we get out of it?”Jesus replied, “Yes, you have followed me. In the re-creation of the world, when the Son of Man will rule gloriously, you who have followed me will also rule, starting with the twelve tribes of Israel. And not only you, but anyone who sacrifices home, family, fields—whatever—because of me will get it all back a hundred times over, not to mention the considerable bonus of eternal life. This is the Great Reversal: many of the first ending up last, and the last first.”
“Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention.
April 3rd, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
Just Ask!
Thirty seven times. Thirty Seven!! H2O became wine. Evil spirits ran in fear. Fish jumped into nets at his calling. Leprosy vanished with a touch. Small fish and simple bread fed thousands with a thought. Walking on water – no problem. Blindness vanished with a little spit and mud. Even a simple touch of his garment brought healing. Simple words and death’s sting was gone. Thirty seven times in three years Jesus used the power from his father to heal… to save… to change lives. Thirty seven times he proved to us that the power of God was present in his spirit. Why then do we struggle to believe that he will take care of us. Three hundred and sixty five times in his word he whispers “DO NOT FEAR” but yet we spend our days full of anxiety for one thing or another. Does not the Holy Spirit live within us? Does not the Holy Spirit… His Spirit… reside in our hearts… in our souls? I know its hard to comprehend but the same power that performed thirty seven miracles lives in each of us. That same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available simply for the asking. So ask!! When you fear, ask for courage. When you doubt, ask for confidence. When you are filled with anxiety ask for peace. His power will fill you to overflowing. Just ask!
But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won’t know what we’re talking about. But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells—even though you still experience all the limitations of sin—you yourself experience life on God’s terms. It stands to reason, doesn’t it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he’ll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ’s!
“I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught.
Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored.
This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!
March 27th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
He Changed Everything!
Most days I am amazed at the way our mind works. We have our routine, and we think we know what is right… what is wrong. We live in such comfort, and anything that takes us out of that comfort makes us uneasy. During the time of the Torah they thought the same. The leaders of the church had all the answers… had all the solutions. They spent their days teaching, what they believed to be right….to be wrong. THEN CAME JESUS! He took what they believed and turned it upside down. He took what everyone thought to be their comfort zone and turned it 180 degrees. He does the same today! He says don’t worry about rules… live by love. Don’t worry about this way or that… believe in me. Don’t think you are earning your way to heaven… let me carry that load. Return hatred with love. If someone steals from you don’t judge, give him your other belongings also. Love your enemies, even more than you love your friends. Our Saviors’ teaching is full of hidden messages. He teaches us a way of life we never thought possible. If we learn of his life, and contemplate his teachings, we will see but a glimpse of his heart. His message is for today. How the kingdom of God is here and now, if we simply live as he taught. Straight from the part of our heart… where he lives.
So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.
Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!
At about that same time he climbed a mountain to pray. He was there all night in prayer before God. The next day he summoned his disciples; from them he selected twelve he designated as apostles:Simon, whom he named Peter,Andrew, his brother,James,John,Philip,Bartholomew,Matthew,Thomas,James, son of Alphaeus,Simon, called the Zealot,Judas, son of James,Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.You’re BlessedComing down off the mountain with them, he stood on a plain surrounded by disciples, and was soon joined by a huge congregation from all over Judea and Jerusalem, even from the seaside towns of Tyre and Sidon. They had come both to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. Those disturbed by evil spirits were healed. Everyone was trying to touch him—so much energy surging from him, so many people healed! Then he spoke:You’re blessed when you’ve lost it all.God’s kingdom is there for the finding.You’re blessed when you’re ravenously hungry.Then you’re ready for the Messianic meal.You’re blessed when the tears flow freely.Joy comes with the morning.“Count yourself blessed every time someone cuts you down or throws you out, every time someone smears or blackens your name to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and that that person is uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—skip like a lamb, if you like!—for even though they don’t like it, I do . . . and all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company; my preachers and witnesses have always been treated like this.Give Away Your LifeBut it’s trouble ahead if you think you have it made.What you have is all you’ll ever get.And it’s trouble ahead if you’re satisfied with yourself.Your self will not satisfy you for long.And it’s trouble ahead if you think life’s all fun and games.There’s suffering to be met, and you’re going to meet it.“There’s trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests are not truth contests—look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! Your task is to be true, not popular.“To you who are ready for the truth, I say this: Love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer for that person. If someone slaps you in the face, stand there and take it. If someone grabs your shirt, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more payback. Live generously.“Here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them! If you only love the lovable, do you expect a pat on the back? Run-of-the-mill sinners do that. If you only help those who help you, do you expect a medal? Garden-variety sinners do that. If you only give for what you hope to get out of it, do you think that’s charity? The stingiest of pawnbrokers does that.“I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You’ll never—I promise—regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we’re at our worst. Our Father is kind; you be kind.“Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. Don’t condemn those who are down; that hardness can boomerang. Be easy on people; you’ll find life a lot easier. Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity.”He quoted a proverb: “‘Can a blind man guide a blind man?’ Wouldn’t they both end up in the ditch? An apprentice doesn’t lecture the master. The point is to be careful who you follow as your teacher.“It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this I-know-better-than-you mentality again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your own part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.Work the Words into Your Life“You don’t get wormy apples off a healthy tree, nor good apples off a diseased tree. The health of the apple tells the health of the tree. You must begin with your own life-giving lives. It’s who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds.“Why are you so polite with me, always saying ‘Yes, sir,’ and ‘That’s right, sir,’ but never doing a thing I tell you? These words I speak to you are not mere additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundation words, words to build a life on.“If you work the words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who dug deep and laid the foundation of his house on bedrock. When the river burst its banks and crashed against the house, nothing could shake it; it was built to last. But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a dumb carpenter who built a house but skipped the foundation. When the swollen river came crashing in, it collapsed like a house of cards. It was a total loss.”
“If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!
Jesus looked her in the eye. “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”
March 20th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
He Will Wait!
We had gone into American Eagle on a routine shopping trip. I skimmed thru the mens’ department, the way most men do. I then found a spot to stand. A couple of minutes turned into many, and she was still trying on clothes. So I waited. People asking if they could help me. If they could get me anything. As I patiently waited, for the one I so dearly love, I thought of how God waits for us. God will wait. We have a God who waits for us until we are comfortable. A God who lives life with us, on our terms, and in our time. Our God who is full of grace, sees himself in each of us. He sees his son, in each of us. When you come to understand the mystery, that is the trinity, you come to understand that nothing else matters. It doesn’t matter if your catholic, protestant, methodist, agnostic or atheist, he will wait for our love. He will wait for us to find him. He will be patient with our sin, and he will be long-suffering with our unbelief. He will forgive many times over and he will be forbearing, when we turn the other way. When we act out of hatred. When we have a lack of faith, he will wait. He will love. He will be patient. She came back, as beautiful as ever. After all that she found nothing she liked. Because of love I will wait again… and again. So will our God.
Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.
Don’t overlook the obvious here, friends. With God, one day is as good as a thousand years, a thousand years as a day. God isn’t late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and time to change.
But God’s not finished. He’s waiting around to be gracious to you.He’s gathering strength to show mercy to you.God takes the time to do everything right—everything.Those who wait around for him are the lucky ones.
Here’s a word you can take to heart and depend on: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. I’m proof—Public Sinner Number One—of someone who could never have made it apart from sheer mercy. And now he shows me off—evidence of his endless patience—to those who are right on the edge of trusting him forever.
As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.
Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!
Because of the Master, we have great confidence in you. We know you’re doing everything we told you and will continue doing it. May the Master take you by the hand and lead you along the path of God’s love and Christ’s endurance.
This mystery has been kept in the dark for a long time, but now it’s out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, so therefore you can look forward to sharing in God’s glory. It’s that simple. That is the substance of our Message. We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the Message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less. That’s what I’m working so hard at day after day, year after year, doing my best with the energy God so generously gives me.
There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!
March 13th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
The Flow Of Our Spirit!
As I stood beside the mighty Mississippi, I came to a quiet realization of our spirit. The flowing of such a body of water never stops. Day and night without ceasing, it flows. It bends and turns. It has a life all its own, but is never stops. Downward… always downward… toward something so much larger… so much deeper… so much more powerful. It gave me pause to think of our spirit and the life we live. It is always flowing, always moving, never stopping. Our lives, and that of our spirit, is ever changing. Ever turning this way then that. One minute good, the next minute bad. You can’t stop it, and you should not want to. Just like the course of the river involves other organisms, so does the movement of our spirit. The flow of our life involves other people, places and things. It is flowing and moving toward something so much larger, deeper and more powerful. Even after death our spirit keeps flowing. Always moving toward something more robust, more vast. Just like the river opens into the ocean to find more life, more meaning, and more purpose, so our being, as we grow, will open into God. In him we will find more life, more meaning, more purpose. Just like this river… we will experience more than we ever could have imagined. So simply let it flow.
On the final and climactic day of the Feast, Jesus took his stand. He cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says.” (He said this in regard to the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were about to receive. The Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.)
So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.
Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life.”The woman said, “Sir, give me this water so I won’t ever get thirsty, won’t ever have to come back to this well again!”
Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life. The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever. I have told you this explicitly because even though you have seen me in action, you don’t really believe me. Every person the Father gives me eventually comes running to me. And once that person is with me, I hold on and don’t let go.
Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.
By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!
But that’s no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.
Then he said, “It’s happened. I’m A to Z. I’m the Beginning, I’m the Conclusion. From Water-of-Life Well I give freely to the thirsty. Conquerors inherit all this. I’ll be God to them, they’ll be sons and daughters to me. But for the rest—the feckless and faithless, degenerates and murderers, sex peddlers and sorcerers, idolaters and all liars—for them it’s Lake Fire and Brimstone. Second death!”
March 6th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
Everyone Is Sacred!
Until we understand that Christ, is at the center of everything, and everyone, we will continue down a path of destructive disconnection we see so clearly in the world today. We live in a ego driven, dualistic society. I’m right and you’re wrong. I’m on the left, you’re on the right and we can’t learn from each other. I’m liberal and your conservative, we simply can’t coexist. You are one color and I am another. You are from another country and I am American. Until we learn to think past the dualistic way we were taught, and see in three dimension, we will never truly understand the presence of our father. He’s In everything we see and every person we encounter. Everything in our world, every person, is sacred, and contains the spirit of our Savior. The greatest thing Jesus taught us, is to love one another. “What you do to the least of these, you do to me”. We have to stop believing that a persons lifestyle, place in this world, or system beliefs, means they do not have the image of God in them. Every single person, has the spirit of God, and is loved equally by him. Seeing that… is what makes you a true christian. We should not walk, but run in love, to everyone in our path.
Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up, so take nothing for granted. Stay wide-awake in prayer. Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything.
No prolonged infancies among us, please. We’ll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are easy prey for predators. God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.
In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. Also, since you are Christ’s family, then you are Abraham’s famous “descendant,” heirs according to the covenant promises.
Don’t lie to one another. You’re done with that old life. It’s like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you’ve stripped off and put in the fire. Now you’re dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ.
My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!
God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our natureSo they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle,And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.”God created human beings;he created them godlike,Reflecting God’s nature.He created them male and female.God blessed them:“Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.”
“Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.”
Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.
Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless—cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God’s words; if help, let it be God’s hearty help.
In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.
February 27th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
The Silence Of Love!
The silence of snow. It was a Thursday. The loud part of the storm had already come and the gentle part still remained. The snow started to fall, and the flakes got larger and more robust. I dressed for the occasion, and went for a walk. There is a silence in the snow. A silence like no other. The world has slowed down, and what sound is left, is absorbed by the white frozen water. In this silence you can hear God. You can so easily… just be. The beauty is overwhelming, but when you add the contemplative silence, a rush of emotion floods your soul. The thought of sitting in silence, with Christ, enters my mind. “Be still and know that I am God”. Maybe when we sit with our Savior, more is said in our silence than in our words. Our mind has time to relax, and our heart has time to fully love. It is hard to find that silence in most days. However, the rewards it brings are worth looking for it. Most times I find it in the early morning. Sometimes I find it with my animals. Other times it shows up when I least expect it. Sometimes even in a crowd of people, silence comes, and God is present. One thing is for sure. No matter when, or how the silence happens, I always find God there. Nothing is said. I simply listen and so does he. BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD!
“Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.
God, the one and only—I’ll wait as long as he says.Everything I hope for comes from him, so why not?He’s solid rock under my feet, breathing room for my soul,An impregnable castle:I’m set for life.
The enemy hunted me down; he kicked me and stomped me within an inch of my life.He put me in a black hole,buried me like a corpse in that dungeon.I sat there in despair, my spirit draining away,my heart heavy, like lead.I remembered the old days,went over all you’ve done, pondered the ways you’ve worked,Stretched out my hands to you,as thirsty for you as a desert thirsty for rain.
Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
While it was still night, way before dawn, he got up and went out to a secluded spot and prayed. Simon and those with him went looking for him. They found him and said, “Everybody’s looking for you.”
Starting from scratch, he made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find him. He doesn’t play hide-and-seek with us. He’s not remote; he’s near. We live and move in him, can’t get away from him! One of your poets said it well: ‘We’re the God-created.’ Well, if we are the God-created, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to think we could hire a sculptor to chisel a god out of stone for us, does it?
A soldier on duty doesn’t get caught up in making deals at the marketplace. He concentrates on carrying out orders. An athlete who refuses to play by the rules will never get anywhere. It’s the diligent farmer who gets the produce. Think it over. God will make it all plain.
The apostles then rendezvoused with Jesus and reported on all that they had done and taught. Jesus said, “Come off by yourselves; let’s take a break and get a little rest.” For there was constant coming and going. They didn’t even have time to eat. So they got in the boat and went off to a remote place by themselves. Someone saw them going and the word got around.
I delight far more in what you tell me about living than in gathering a pile of riches.I ponder every morsel of wisdom from you,I attentively watch how you’ve done it.I relish everything you’ve told me of life,I won’t forget a word of it.
“Pay attention! Watch this wonder that God is going to perform before you now! It’s summer, as you well know, and the rainy season is over. But I’m going to pray to God. He’ll send thunder and rain, a sign to convince you of the great wrong you have done to God by asking for a king.”
February 20th 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
Teach Me Patience!
Do you ever have those days when you are fed up with Gods’ children? As I drive, I sense anger at the person driving to slow, because they are texting. I get honked at by a girl, who came into my turn lane, because she didn’t pay attention to the sign. She was texting. The day progressed and it seemed to get worse. People not showing up for work. Products not on shelves. It seems integrity has left on a train. Common sense has taken a vacation. Then he talks to my heart. He shows himself in certain people… in certain places. He says wait… I am still here. I know my children have issues. I know my children, including you, fall so very short, but they are my children and I love them.“ Father teach me patience with those around me. Give me compassion. Grant me wisdom to look past the irritation and see Christ in everyone. To look beyond the people and notice you in everything around me. Father allow me to take the log out of my eye, before noticing the splinter in the eye of others. Keep me focused on you and not the tribulations of this world”. I want to add “please teach people to drive and not use their cell phone”. But God grabs my heart and says do not judge. I answer “but its hard”. Again he says, believe me I know. What a friend our God is!
“Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.
So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.
And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.
Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we’re proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you. It started when God said, “Light up the darkness!” and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful.If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives.
What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.
For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.
Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.
“I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You’ll never—I promise—regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we’re at our worst. Our Father is kind; you be kind.
But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.They spread their wings and soar like eagles,They run and don’t get tired,they walk and don’t lag behind.
February 13th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
Being God’s Child
My Heavenly Father!You say you love me, but I don’t know how to be your child. You say you have grace untold for me, but I don’t deserve it. You fill my life with favor, with blessings too numerous to count, but I don’t know why. You lead me down paths that lead to you, but so many times I do not follow. You speak to me with love and understanding, and so many days I do not listen. I read your words… your wisdom… your instruction… but I do not always heed them. You anoint my head with compassion, with empathy, but I don’t take the time to say “Thank You”. I try each day to make you proud. To be your hands… your feet… your love. I try with unwavering devotion to put a smile on your face, but I fall so pitifully short. My sin makes me want to hide. Then you wrap me in your love. You fill my soul with the warmth of your embrace. You peer into my heart, and without hesitation, you tell me that I don’t have to know how to be your child. All I have to do is accept and love you. What an amazing Father. What an amazing Savior you are! Father guide me down the path you would have me to follow. The path that leads straight to you.
Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
It’s the same today. There’s a fiercely loyal minority still—not many, perhaps, but probably more than you think. They’re holding on, not because of what they think they’re going to get out of it, but because they’re convinced of God’s grace and purpose in choosing them. If they were only thinking of their own immediate self-interest, they would have left long ago.
Appreciate your pastoral leaders who gave you the Word of God. Take a good look at the way they live, and let their faithfulness instruct you, as well as their truthfulness. There should be a consistency that runs through us all. For Jesus doesn’t change—yesterday, today, tomorrow, he’s always totally himself.
So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.
But now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.
Jesus provided far more God-revealing signs than are written down in this book. These are written down so you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and in the act of believing, have real and eternal life in the way he personally revealed it.
And now I have it all—and keep getting more! The gifts you sent with Epaphroditus were more than enough, like a sweet-smelling sacrifice roasting on the altar, filling the air with fragrance, pleasing God to no end. You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus. Our God and Father abounds in glory that just pours out into eternity. Yes.
The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface, dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along. Who ever knows what you’re thinking and planning except you yourself? The same with God—except that he not only knows what he’s thinking, but he lets us in on it. God offers a full report on the gifts of life and salvation that he is giving us. We don’t have to rely on the world’s guesses and opinions. We didn’t learn this by reading books or going to school; we learned it from God, who taught us person-to-person through Jesus, and we’re passing it on to you in the same firsthand, personal way.
February 6th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
The Joy Of Grace!
As I stand in the wind of a cold front, it feels as though it’s coming from all directions. It whips and turns, gusts and slows. It refreshes one minute, and brings shivers the next. As I feel it coming from this way, then that way. I think of the spirit of Jesus, and the way it feels the same. We have to live in a spirit place, in order to understand the love, and true joy, of our Savior. Joy should be a constant companion. When we find ourselves living, in the grace of one day, joy shows up through the spirit of Christ. We had the chance to keep my nephews recently, and to watch children play brings an awareness of the spirit of God. They have no agenda. They simply live in the grace of one day. No five year plan, no worry of tomorrow. Just grace of the moment… of the day. They go one way… then the other. They dance. Then they run. Then they sit. No thought of rules, or what’s right and wrong. Just grace for a moment. When we take the time to contemplate our father, and his spirit, we find joy coming first one way… then the other. As we grow we get so caught up by rules, regulations, and the need to please. We forget Gods grace, is part of our lives… every minute… every day. Father, teach me to look for your spirit… your grace… no matter what direction it comes from.
You realize, don’t you, that you are the temple of God, and God himself is present in you? No one will get by with vandalizing God’s temple, you can be sure of that. God’s temple is sacred—and you, remember, are the temple.
You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don’t see him, yet you trust him—with laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you’ll get what you’re looking forward to: total salvation.
“I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends.
“If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!
This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He’s given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world.
Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!
For an answer Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room, and said, “I’m telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you’re not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in.
I, Simon Peter, am a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. I write this to you whose experience with God is as life-changing as ours, all due to our God’s straight dealing and the intervention of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master.
January 30th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
A Hall Of Mirrors
We had been to an interesting museum. We were lost in a maze of mirrors. If you have never been in a mirror maze, you get so lost, because each way you turn, looks like the last. It wasn’t until I looked past the mirrors, that I started to see a way out. As I stood there, the thought of our lives played in my head. Our faith, our beliefs, our way of living, should not be a hall of mirrors. God wants authenticity. God wants people, who move past what they are told, and raised to understand, into a place of contemplation. He wants people who focus on the outside, instead of the inside. As I read the red letters, in my new testament, I see more parables than anything. Sometimes our Savior taught with words, but more often then not he taught in parables. Why? Then as now, he wants us to think. He wants more than just followers. Jesus wants people who think for themselves, and openly choose his teachings. God wants children who not only love, but freely choose to do so. If he wanted robots, he could have simply made millions, in his image. However, the greatest gift he gave us was free will, and a mind to think past his teachings. As you read, as you discuss, as you contemplate life, look past what you have been taught to believe. Look past the mirrors. It’s the only way to find true happiness, contentment and joy.
The disciples came up and asked, “Why do you tell stories?”11-15He replied, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn’t been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That’s why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward a welcome awakening. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they’re blue in the face and not get it. I don’t want Isaiah’s forecast repeated all over again:Your ears are open but you don’t hear a thing.Your eyes are awake but you don’t see a thing.The people are stupid!They stick their fingers in their ears so they won’t have to listen;They screw their eyes shutso they won’t have to look,so they won’t have to deal with me face-to-face and let me heal them.
The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface, dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along. Who ever knows what you’re thinking and planning except you yourself? The same with God—except that he not only knows what he’s thinking, but he lets us in on it. God offers a full report on the gifts of life and salvation that he is giving us. We don’t have to rely on the world’s guesses and opinions. We didn’t learn this by reading books or going to school; we learned it from God, who taught us person-to-person through Jesus, and we’re passing it on to you in the same firsthand, personal way.The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can’t receive the gifts of God’s Spirit. There’s no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known only by spirit—God’s Spirit and our spirits in open communion. Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God’s Spirit is doing, and can’t be judged by unspiritual critics.
Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, “God is trying to trip me up.” God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.16-18So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light.
Jesus said, “The first in importance is, ‘Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.’ And here is the second: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ There is no other commandment that ranks with these.”
I love those who love me; those who look for me find me.Wealth and Glory accompany me—also substantial Honor and a Good Name.My benefits are worth more than a big salary, even a very big salary; the returns on me exceed any imaginable bonus.
Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.
And don’t for a minute let this Book of The Revelation be out of mind. Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it. Then you’ll get where you’re going; then you’ll succeed. Haven’t I commanded you? Strength! Courage! Don’t be timid; don’t get discouraged. God, your God, is with you every step you take.”
My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are contrary to each other, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day.
Investigate my life, O God,find out everything about me;Cross-examine and test me,get a clear picture of what I’m about;See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong—then guide me on the road to eternal life.
January 16th, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
The Way of Our Being!
You don’t have to spend a lot of time with him, to know he has a kind heart. Our grandson… is an old soul, with a heart that mirrors our Savior. As we talked, his comment was “being nice to people is important”. We were talking, as we encountered people, being ugly to each other. Why do we have to tear others down, in order to feel good about ourselves? We look at those that are different than us, with disrespect. We judge, based on factors we find to be important, and we tear them down. We talk about their lifestyle… the way they dress… or the appearance of their hair. So many times we judge simply because they are different. I have come to believe that sin is not so much that of disobeying laws, but that which takes you out of the place of love, our Lord wants for us. Sin is missing the way of your being. Sin is not about rules. Sin is about missing the love that was placed in your heart, by the Holy Spirit, through the DNA of God. When we tear down, and abuse others, we are really tearing down God. Anything… outside of love for others is moving you into a place of sin, and away from the presence of Christ. When we find ourselves missing the way of our being… STOP! Pray. Then remember, your true self is one of love for others.
My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God. My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love! This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He’s given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.To Love, to Be LovedGod is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.19We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first. If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both.
In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.
Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.
When the Pharisees heard how he had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their forces for an assault. One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: “Teacher, which command in God’s Law is the most important?”Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”
“Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.”
Hatred starts fights,but love pulls a quilt over the bickering.
January 10, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
Fascination!
Do you truly appreciate the fascination of it all? Every minute, of everyday, provides a moment for wonderment at Gods’ world. At Gods’ power. As I sit in Radio City Music Hall, waiting for the show to begin, I am filled with awe to the point of tears. The history… the grandeur…the ability to see it… all came together, to fill me with wonderment and awe. So it should be, in the presence of our Savior. We spend countless days… countless hours… trying to understand his word. We spend a lifetime looking for a way to understand the Father… Son… and Spirit. We try so hard, to justify the beliefs we have, so that we can feed our egos, by believing we are earning his love, and a place at his side. We lose sight of the wonderment, and the fascination, of God and his Son. We can never truly understand his ways, his words, his heart. Why do we try so hard? Why do we feel as if we have to understand… we have to justify… in order to please him? There are days we need to stop trying, and simply stand with awe and amazement, at his grandeur. We need to come to the realization, that we will never fully understand. We will never fully comprehend. Instead we need to appreciate the fascination, that is God. Then. We need to simply love, and bow at his glory.
So come, let us worship: bow before him, on your knees before God, who made us!Oh yes, he’s our God,and we’re the people he pastures, the flock he feeds.
Train me, God, to walk straight; then I’ll follow your true path.Put me together, one heart and mind;then, undivided, I’ll worship in joyful fear.From the bottom of my heart I thank you, dear Lord;I’ve never kept secret what you’re up to.
“I don’t think the way you think.The way you work isn’t the way I work.”God’s Decree.“For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think.Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth,Doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry.
Every time the Animals gave glory and honor and thanks to the One Seated on the Throne—the age-after-age Living One—the Twenty-four Elders would fall prostrate before the One Seated on the Throne. They worshiped the age-after-age Living One. They threw their crowns at the foot of the Throne, chanting,Worthy, O Master! Yes, our God!Take the glory! the honor! the power!You created it all;It was created because you wanted it.
Everyone around was in awe—all those wonders and signs done through the apostles! And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person’s need was met.
Mighty your acts and marvelous, O God, the Sovereign-Strong!Righteous your ways and true,King of the nations!Who can fail to fear you, God,give glory to your Name?Because you and you only are holy,all nations will come and worship you,because they see your judgments are right.
Jesus knew exactly what they were thinking and said, “Why all this gossipy whispering? Which is simpler: to say ‘I forgive your sins,’ or to say ‘Get up and start walking’? Well, just so it’s clear that I’m the Son of Man and authorized to do either, or both. . . .” He now spoke directly to the paraplegic: “Get up. Take your bedroll and go home.” Without a moment’s hesitation, he did it—got up, took his blanket, and left for home, giving glory to God all the way. The people rubbed their eyes, stunned—and then also gave glory to God. Awestruck, they said, “We’ve never seen anything like that!”
Exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking the rules. Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family. Revere God. Respect the government.
January 2nd, 2022
Happy Jesus Day!
A Lover’s Life
The light of Christ that shone from her, illuminated the room. We had a rather trying day. Airport mishaps and hotel mistakes. As we checked into yet another hotel, she greeted us with open arms. Her smile was contagious, and her first words to us were “I’ve been waiting for you”. She offered us love… kindness… and special treatment. She threw open her arms and embraced us as if to say: I know we have the same creator and that makes us family. She said “I am from Ethiopia and as we may be from two different worlds we have love for each other”. As I stood in the middle of such warmth, such goodwill God spoke to me. We are to treat our fellow man, no matter who, no matter where, with love such as this. A love that says: Don’t care where you came from. Don’t care what color your skin is. Don’t care if you are clean or dirty. Don’t care what your lifestyle preferences are. Don’t care. I am going to love you with all that is in me. I am going to show you respect and I am going to shine the light of Christ upon you. Being Christ followers, means we spend each day, trying to imitate our Savior. Being kind and loving, as he was. Being meek and lowly, as he was. Looking for those to help, as he did. As you do, you will start to see the holy spirit in everyone. And they will see Christ in you.
So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover’s life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.
Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we’re proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you. It started when God said, “Light up the darkness!” and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful.
“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.
“I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends.
Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.
It pleases me that you continue to remember and honor me by keeping up the traditions of the faith I taught you. All actual authority stems from Christ.
What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.
“Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.”
Happy Jesus Day!
Jesus Needs US!
Mary was so young. So scared… but so trusting. Jesus… a baby like any other. Carried for nine months and born of blood… of pain. As she held him close, she could feel his beating heart. As she gazed upon his face, she could tell he was hungry. Like all babies he needed food… he needed her. As she brought him to her breast, the reality fully set in. I am feeding, and giving life to, the son of God. I am giving food and nourishment, to the Savior of all mankind. My Savior. I am sharing my blood, my life, my heart with the King of Kings. The Lord of Lords. He is God’s son… he is my son… he is a part of who I am. He came as an infant. He came helpless… naked… and needy. Just like us, he was totally dependent on his mother for life, for food, for comfort. Jesus could have come as an already grown man. He could have come to simply teach, and simply save. He could have spent three years, and returned to his fathers side. He wanted us to have more. He wanted us to know more than just salvation. Christ showed up as a defenseless… helpless… baby, to prove that he needs us, as much as we need him. He needs our love. He needs our compassion. He needs our relationship. Let’s not forget that, this Christmas… this year… as we humble ourselves in his presence.
So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover’s life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.1 John 1:1-4; That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.
Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let’s not let it slip through our fingers. We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help.
Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that’s not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don’t need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything.
Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.
We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.
