As a minister I believe the only true way to study is to look at verses in the context of which they were written. These HJD messages and the scriptures are done for that purpose. Each verse listed is a link to the whole chapter. Simply click on the verse and you will be taken to the whole chapter for further reading. I chose the translation “The Message” as it is in the language of today so we can relate. I encourage you to study with passion each verse in many translations. Enjoy and I pray this blesses you over and over.
Perry
March 30th, 2025
Happy Jesus Day!
His Name Is Jesus!
It happens daily. I notice it when I wear my HJD shirts. People look at me and form a pre-conceived idea when they see the name Jesus. Many tell me they like my shirt. Others ask about it. Those comments and inquires are great. The ones I worry about… the ones that keep me up at night… are the ones that turn the other way. Those that have a different lifestyle or maybe don’t believe in the same God I believe in. They turn or make a face. Why? Because Christianity has become known as judgmental and condemning. Instead of radiating a heart like Christ, we are perceived as we think our life is correct, and theirs is wrong. Why would they want to be around someone who is allows judging? They get that enough from the rest of the world. Instead of opposing so many things, by trying to force our lifestyle on others, maybe we should practice more love and acceptance and let Christ do what he does best. Change hearts! A friend of mine was at a gas station on a Sunday and he looked like he had been to church. Some young people at the pump next to him got his attention and flashed one of their shirts. It simply said “freedom from religion”. We have to be very careful how we portray our Savior. Why would those young people want to trade a system of rules, for another system with a whole other set of rules. I would have told them. I have freedom from religion also. His name is Jesus!
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.
Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.
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.
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.
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! So reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory. Jesus did it; now you do it!
Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew’s house with his close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined them. When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company, they had a fit, and lit into Jesus’ followers. “What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and misfits?”
Jesus, overhearing, shot back, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? Go figure out what this Scripture means: ‘I’m after mercy, not religion.’ I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders.”
So here’s what I want you to do. When you gather for worship, each one of you be prepared with something that will be useful for all: Sing a hymn, teach a lesson, tell a story, lead a prayer, provide an insight. If prayers are offered in tongues, two or three’s the limit, and then only if someone is present who can interpret what you’re saying. Otherwise, keep it between God and yourself.
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 Love
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.
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 him.
March 23rd, 2025
Happy Jesus Day!
Finding The Spirit Of Christ!
God comes into the world in surprising ways so that the sincere seeker will always find evidence. Is sincere seeking perhaps the real meaning of walking in faith? —Richard Rohr
We have forfeited our desire to reason. One of the delights in being human is the ability to reason. To look at issues and decide thru research, thought, and prayer where we stand. We have forfeited that, in order to feed our need to feel like we belong. Whether it’s to a certain religion, a political party, or a given club. To be tied together thru the experience of the spirit is the ultimate goal. It’s easy to sit and listen to a religious leader or a political party and adopt their thoughts and feelings. It’s much harder to ignore all that and listen to the holy spirit that lives in each of us. I have spent my life going to church. Watching people as they accept everything the preacher says without forethought or motive. “If the minister spoke it from the stage it must be correct.” Jesus mostly answered a question with another question. Why? Christ was saying “test everything”. Take direction but search your heart and listen to the spirit that lives within you. Each day I study, I read different theologians. I weigh different points of view against what my heart is telling me. I have had so many tell me what they believe scripture to say. When I ask them to show me, they simply can not. Why? Because they simply heard it. Christ is asking more of us. He is asking us to listen to and seek out his spirit.
I Love You! Perry
But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is.
The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living.
Don’t suppress the Spirit, and don’t stifle those who have a word from the Master. On the other hand, don’t be gullible. Check out everything, and keep only what’s good.
Don’t Believe Everything You Hear
My 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 Love
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 Loved
God 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.
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.
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.
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 16th, 2025
Happy Jesus Day!
Grace, Glorious Grace!
Grace! So misunderstood. So foreign by our standards. A gift that we cannot comprehended. No strings… no agenda… no effort to earn… simply free. Grace cannot be understood by any record of merits and demerits. It cannot be held to patterns of buying, losing, earning, achieving, or manipulating, which is where most of us live our lives. Grace is quite literally “for the taking.” It is God eternally giving away God—for nothing, except the giving itself. I believe grace is the life energy that makes flowers bloom, animals raise their young, babies smile, and planets remain orbit—I feel it in my heart and soul daily. I still have trouble understanding it. How can his love be this strong? How can this unmerited love and grace be mine simply because I am his child. “But for the grace of God go I” that thought crosses my mind when I see others with addictions. People with hatred. People who have lost their way and land on the street. The grace and the favor of God is for everyone ever born, simply for the asking. It can’t be earned. It is a gift and the very nature of a gift is that it is given free of charge, with no expectation. So is the grace and love we have for our children. There is nothing in this world one of my children could do that would make me stop my love and grace from them. Being a child of God is so much better. So why does he shower us with his grace. For no good reason except love alone. Ephesians 2:4-9
I Love You!
Perry
It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.
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.
That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don’t give it the time of day. Don’t even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you’ve been raised from the dead!—into God’s way of doing things. Sin can’t tell you how to live. After all, you’re not living under that old tyranny any longer. You’re living in the freedom of God.
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.
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.
“So why are you now trying to out-god God, loading these new believers down with rules that crushed our ancestors and crushed us, too? Don’t we believe that we are saved because the Master Jesus amazingly and out of sheer generosity moved to save us just as he did those from beyond our nation? So what are we arguing about?”
We all live off his generous abundance,
gift after gift after gift.
We got the basics from Moses,
and then this exuberant giving and receiving,
This endless knowing and understanding—
all this came through Jesus, the Messiah.
No one has ever seen God,
not so much as a glimpse.
March 9th, 2025
Happy Jesus Day!
A Common Purpose!
There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.
—Martin Luther King Jr.
In a world of so much hatred it is time we realize there is more that unites us then divides us. At a time when the love of Christ is more important than ever, the wise build bridges and the foolish build walls. We must all work together on this planet to unite humans… All Gods Children. Until we learn that we are all in this together, under Christ, we will not move forward. All suffering is God’s suffering. God’s suffering should be our suffering. When that becomes a part of our hearts we will have less ego and more compassion. We will be willing to live with less conveniences when we see our part in global warming. We will speak more softly if doing so will help lessen human hatred. We will stop circling the wagons around our own group in order to help us recognize our common humanity. Life should not be about being correct… it should be about being connected. Being in a right relationship is much better than just trying to be right. Our world has become about being right instead of about being compassionate. Different religions disagree on who is right instead of looking to Jesus. Different political parties argue instead of looking to what is best for everyone as a whole. Christ will come back someday and set it right. We could do that now. It starts with you. It starts with me.
I Love You! – Perry
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.
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.
You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you’re still one body. It’s exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive.
I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn’t just a single part blown up into something huge. It’s all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. If Foot said, “I’m not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don’t belong to this body,” would that make it so? If Ear said, “I’m not beautiful like Eye, transparent and expressive; I don’t deserve a place on the head,” would you want to remove it from the body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.
But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn’t be a body, but a monster. What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, “Get lost; I don’t need you”? Or, Head telling Foot, “You’re fired; your job has been phased out”? As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the “lower” the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it’s a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn’t you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?
The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, the parts we see and the parts we don’t. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.
You are Christ’s body—that’s who you are! You must never forget this.
Get along among yourselves, each of you doing your part. Our counsel is that you warn the freeloaders to get a move on. Gently encourage the stragglers, and reach out for the exhausted, pulling them to their feet. Be patient with each person, attentive to individual needs. And be careful that when you get on each other’s nerves you don’t snap at each other. Look for the best in each other, and always do your best to bring it out.
Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.
Don’t suppress the Spirit, and don’t stifle those who have a word from the Master. On the other hand, don’t be gullible. Check out everything, and keep only what’s good. Throw out anything tainted with evil.
If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we’re obviously lying through our teeth—we’re not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purges all our sin.
“Here is a simple, rule-of-thumb guide for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them. Add up God’s Law and Prophets and this is what you get.
March 2nd, 2025
Happy Jesus Day!
To Be Human Is To Be Divine!
Why does it have to be human or divine? Maybe to be human is to be divine.
Lately many young people tell me they are trying to read the bible from cover to cover. I always share “good luck” on understanding and getting much out of it. It is a library of stories written by humans in a specific place, at a specific time. Until you get to the gospels it simply doesn’t make much sense. So many stories and so much confusion. The bible is not a book written for Christians. The bible is not meant for a certain group of people or a certain religion. The bible is a book about what it means to be human and to be human is to be divine. Jesus only talked about scripture once, in the book of John, and then he simply said the whole thing was about himself. Yet daily we use the bible to bang people over the head with, that we think do not live up to certain standards, as we interpret it. Many do not know that there are seventy five books written for the bible that were left out. Even Mary Magdalene wrote one that the Council of Carthage chose to leave out in 393 AD. The whole of scripture was written for one purpose and one purpose only. The bible was written to bring full enlightenment about love. Jesus life was the supreme example of love. That is what I tell these young people. “Live a life of love and compassion, and don’t sweat the parts you can’t understand”.
I Love You! – Perry
Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.
“Does anyone care, God? Is anyone listening and believing a word of it?” The point is: Before you trust, you have to listen. But unless Christ’s Word is preached, there’s nothing to listen to.
“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.”
“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.
Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything.
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.
February 23rd, 2025
Happy Jesus Day!
SCHADENFREUDE!
Two young people asked me why people are so rude in traffic? Why do they get angry when you pull in front of them? While driving in traffic recently I inadvertently pulled in front of a man in a big pickup. He followed behind me on his horn for the next several blocks. Why? “Schadenfreude – a german word meaning to experience joy from someone else’s misfortune.” A Stanford professor actually measured Schadenfreude in a brain scan. He determined that when something tragic happens to someone you dislike it actually produces a chemical reaction in the brain to bring about pleasure. That man, in an attempt to scare me, was experiencing “schadenfreude”. Self esteem has a negative relationship with the frequency and intensity of schadenfreude; individuals with lower self-esteem tend to experience schadenfreude more frequently and intensely. The man in the truck experienced anger because he wanted to be first due to his low self esteem. By trying to scare me it brought about schadenfreude. Our Savior operated just the opposite, as so should we. As followers of Christ we should never experience pleasure from the misfortune of others. Even our enemies.
When Osama Bin Laden was killed, so many in America experienced schadenfreude. Not Jesus. To our Lord Osama was another child of his missing, as his other children rejoiced with schadenfreude. Didn’t he teach us better as he forgave his enemies on the cross? What kind of world could we experience if we dismissed SCHADENFREUDE! We might get a taste of heaven on earth!
I Love You! Perry
Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.
Live Well, Live Wisely
Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here’s what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It’s the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts. Mean-spirited ambition isn’t wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn’t wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn’t wisdom. It’s the furthest thing from wisdom—it’s animal cunning, devilish plotting. Whenever you’re trying to look better than others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the others’ throats.
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. 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.
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.
Don’t laugh when your enemy falls; don’t gloat over his collapse.
Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing.”
February 2nd, 2025
Happy Jesus Day!
Love = Joy!
Bird nest’s fascinate me. None more than that of a swallow. Under our carport is a swallow nest that has been there for years. Their nest is so well constructed that it can stay, for years, as a place to return to. They strategically place it somewhere out of the weather. They fasten it to the underside using mud and saliva. No one teaches them this art. As young birds they simply know how to build these amazing nest. As humans we are each born with the love of God in us. We don’t have to be taught how to love we simply know. Love is the energy that sustains the universe. God does not compete with that love instead God works in deep cooperation with everyone who loves. The point of the Christian life is not to distinguish oneself from the ungodly but to stand in radical solidarity with everyone and everything. Isn’t that what Christ was doing on the cross? Isn’t that the kind of love that was planted in us? The cross was God’s great act of solidarity instead of judgement. His greatest act of love. The cross was not about salvation as much as it was about teaching us how to love through sacrifice. Jesus did not come just for salvation. He came to bring out the love that is embedded in our hearts. He came to help us find our way to a life of true love. A life that will bring untold joy. True joy can only be found in love.
I Love You! – Perry
“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.
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.
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.
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.
He Took on the Status of a Slave
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.
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.
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 came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.
January 26th, 2025
Happy Jesus Day!
God’s Master Plan!
He told me “you will never find a church like your vision”. I get so dismayed watching what we have turned Jesus’s love into. It’s a show. It’s about this rule or that. This lifestyle or that. When in fact Jesus’s life was about acceptance… compassion. Not condemnation or judgement! Church has become facebook in the flesh. Always putting on a good front in order to impress. Why does religion limit our Savior? When ministers sin or fall short why are they judged? Should they not be forgiven and still be allowed to lead? Why is their sin any different then ours?
I have watched as religion excludes so many of God’s children. Jesus only rejected the religious elite. Those that thought they had no sin. Women for so many years were excluded from using their talents to serve God. When in fact the women that followed Christ were perhaps the most important part of his life. Many of the people that christian churches look down on are the ones Jesus hung out with. As St. Augustine said “What is now called Christian religion existed from the beginning of the human race”. Thank about that! Were Mayans, Babylonians, and Africans, just dress rehearsals for us? Is God really that ineffective? Is Gods love really that scarce? We act as though he needed to wait for Catholics, Protestants, and American evangelicals to appear before his divine love affair could begin. God has been in love with all his children from the very beginning. Fitting into the mold that our churches have developed was never part of his plan.
I Love You! Perry
Peter and the apostles answered, “It’s necessary to obey God rather than men. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, the One you killed by hanging him on a cross. God set him on high at his side, Prince and Savior, to give Israel the gift of a changed life and sins forgiven. And we are witnesses to these things. The Holy Spirit, whom God gives to those who obey him, corroborates every detail.”
The Rescue
All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too.
Jesus was abrupt: “Clear out! This girl isn’t dead. She’s sleeping.” They told him he didn’t know what he was talking about. But when Jesus had gotten rid of the crowd, he went in, took the girl’s hand, and pulled her to her feet—alive. The news was soon out, and traveled throughout the region.
“The ten horns you saw are ten kings, but they’re not yet in power. They will come to power with the Scarlet Beast, but won’t last long—a very brief reign. These kings will agree to turn over their power and authority to the Beast. They will go to war against the Lamb but the Lamb will defeat them, proof that he is Lord over all lords, King over all kings, and those with him will be the called, chosen, and faithful.”
“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.
What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are. But that’s also why the world doesn’t recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he’s up to.
But friends, that’s exactly who we are: children of God. And that’s only the beginning. Who knows how we’ll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we’ll see him—and in seeing him, become like him. All of us who look forward to his Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus’ life as a model for our own.
January 19th, 2025
Happy Jesus Day!
Love And Grace!
Religions see certain people as the enemy. Jesus followers see sin as the enemy. All my life I have listened to preachers speak as though we are in and they are out. They speak of those within the church as being saved and the rest are not. They speak as though its a club and only a few can be found within its walls. I have heard them speak of, this religion is in, and the others are out. Jesus is not loyal to groups, countries, or teams. Jesus is only loyal to human suffering. He is present to the suffering Iraqi soldier as much as he is to the wounded American soldier. He cares as much for Mexico as he does for America. The Jesus nation crosses all boundaries. Jesus came to save everyone: Ephesians 1:9-10 / Colossians 1:15-20 / John 3:17. The gospel can not be worthy of being called “Good News” unless it is “Good News” for all people without exception. The right to decide who is in and who is out is not something our small minds can even imagine. That is why in Matthew Jesus said: “God causes it to rain on the honest and dishonest alike, and the sun to rise on the bad as well as the good” Our dualistic minds have so much trouble defending that. Our ego based way of life wants to believe that we are earning our way to his arms by following rules. Our ego wants to set a boundary, a price, an entrance requirement of some sort. Jesus simply looks to love and grace!
I Love You! Perry
As it is, you are full of your grandiose selves. All such vaunting self-importance is evil. In fact, if you know the right thing to do and don’t do it, that, for you, is evil.
I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.
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.
The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide:
Then he said, “Go into the world. Go everywhere and announce the Message of God’s good news to one and all.
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.
January 12th, 2025
Happy Jesus Day!
The Way Of Love!
The question was “what is love exactly”? Love, as an action, is the only thing that has ever changed the world for the better. Love is Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi…. Love is a little girl in Pakistan named Malala Yousafzai standing up to men who said that girls shouldn’t be educated…. Love is someone protesting anything that harms the children of God. Love is a commitment to seek the good and to work for the welfare of others. It doesn’t stop at our front door or our neighborhood, our religion or race, our state or our country’s border. Where selfishness excludes, love makes room. Where selfishness puts down, love lifts up. Where selfishness hurts and harms, love helps and heals. Where selfishness enslaves, love sets free and liberates. I look around me and I don’t see much love in our country. I don’t see others letting someone in front of them. I don’t see others loving people except for friends and family. I even have a friend that can’t bring himself to say “I Love You” because he is afraid others may think he is gay. I worry about those that claim to follow the heart of Christ but can’t express love. The way of love will show us the right thing to do, every single time. It is spiritual grounding—a place of rest—amid the chaos that is often part of life. It’s how we stay decent in indecent times. Loving is not always easy, but like with muscles, we get stronger with repetition and as the burden gets heavier.
I Love You! Perry
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.
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. 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.
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.
Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift.
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?”
“And so this is good-bye. You’re not going to see me again, nor I you, you whom I have gone among for so long proclaiming the news of God’s inaugurated kingdom. I’ve done my best for you, given you my all, held back nothing of God’s will for you.
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.
January 5th, 2025
Happy Jesus Day!
Changing Our Paradigm!
A mystic, Caryll Houselander told the story of a train journey where Christ revealed himself to her in every person on the train. Those setting, those standing, those passing by. Upon exiting the train she saw the same in everyone on the street. Scientist have discovered that even in what appears to be total darkness there is still light. “Neutrinos” are slivers of light, or energy, inside each atom. These slivers of light exist in everything in the universe. As I look to the trees I see Christ. As I observe a squirrel Christ is there. As I stand in total darkness Christ is shining. These slivers of light, inside each atom of the universe are the DNA and energy of Christ. So when John in his gospel declared Jesus the “light that even darkness can not over come” he was touching on that which scientist can now clearly see. When we come to that realization why do we continue to act as though Christ is at a far away distance. Why do we pretend that everything we can see, feel, touch, or experience is not holy. Every human being, no matter who, is holy. Every creature, every grain of sand, and every tree is holy. Why do we simply consider only certain things holy when in fact Christ is found at the center of everything. Should we not care for the earth with our whole heart… care for all mankind with our whole heart? Because of the energy of Christ in everything, it means we are bound to all things. Should that not change our paradigm for 2025?
I Love You! – Perry
What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out.
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.
Cornelius was expecting them and had his relatives and close friends waiting with him. The minute Peter came through the door, Cornelius was up on his feet greeting him—and then down on his face worshiping him!
Walk in the Light
This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there’s not a trace of darkness in him.
You groped your way through that murk once, but no longer. You’re out in the open now. The bright light of Christ makes your way plain.
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.
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.