The Time is Near...

As many of you know, we are coming upon Easter quickly.  Next Sunday, we celebrate Palm Sunday.  Today, I want to look at a scripture that introduces Jesus' purpose for the sacrifice

John 12:20-33

Lots going on…first, people are asking to see Jesus – to talk with Him, ask Him questions – so Philip goes to Jesus to tell Him.  This must have signaled something important for Him – the Greeks are asking, not the Jews – and He knows His time is near.  As He identifies that His time is near, Jesus takes the time to explain to His disciples the importance of what is happening.  He explains clearly His purpose. Jesus talks about what happens with wheat.  He is talking about His own life and the importance of His death.  Because of His death, lives are saved!  He then explains to them that it is essential that they not place importance on this earthly life and the things contained in it.  Think about it…what do we hold so dear in this life?  We hold money and power and prestige very high.  Jesus tells us to put this life aside – to do the opposite of loving the life.  He then explains that if we want to serve Him, we follow Him…we allow Him to lead and guide and direct.  This selection ends with Jesus acknowledging that by His death, the devil is cast out and He opens up the doors for His people.  So, why is this important?  It is important because as we approach Easter, we must remember that Jesus' death was not insignificant.   This should begin to open our eyes to the magnitude of what He has done for you and me.  Jesus didn't die just so that we are saved – to open up the gates of heaven for us as sinners who come to Him.  He also did it so that we have a different perspective.  We live in this world, but long for the next.  We have a dual citizenship.  We know where our home is, with Jesus – wherever He is, that is where we want to be.  We also live in this sinful, cruel world.  Yet, we are here as citizens of this world to make a difference.  Jesus came and fulfilled His purpose that God sent Him for.  But, we probably don't often think about how we are or are not fulfilling the purpose that He has set for us while we are still here.  Lent should be a time of reflection…where God wants you to be and where your relationship is with Him.  I pray that you are reflecting on your walk with Him and listening to Him as He is guiding and directing your life!  Give up the things of this world…surrender all to Him.  Jesus is being clear that we are not to love this life and the things in it.  Yet, these are the things we hold most dear.  But, if indeed we are dual citizens, it makes sense that we want to do what is best for our King, even while we are here.  Part of doing that is giving up the things of this world to Him – our eternal King.  Why does this matter?  Most of us are not poor.  We do not have things for the reason of having them so we live a great life.  We have things so that we can help those who do not have.  We are called to be good stewards.  We could have easily been born in a poor home, in a poor country.  We would not be any less blessed.  We would not be any less privileged.  We have been given things so that we use what we have for Him and His glory.  We have a responsibility because of what we have been given…for to whom much is given, much is required.   We are called to be good stewards which means surrendering this earthly life completely to Him.  Our ultimate destination is with Jesus.  What we do in the meantime means something…is of importance…YOU are of importance to the Kingdom of God.  It isn't about our comfort here…it is about our mission until we reach the ultimate place of peace and comfort – our heavenly home with Jesus.  What are you doing with what He has given YOU until you reach the home with HIM?

GREAT FAITH, GREAT LOVE

Today, I want us to consider who we are as Christians and how we fulfill our call as the Church.  Our theme for the church is 'Moving Forward with Purpose' and that is exactly what we should be doing…Unfortunately, too many times, we as Christians don't move forward because we don't see any need.  We are content to do things the way we always have because they 'work'.  We also don't want to challenge ourselves to do more or different because that may take us out of the comfort of our pews and into the nasty, cruel world.  Why would we want to do that?  What are we called to do?  What does it look like to Move Forward?

Mark 2:1-12

What happens in our scripture today can be easily overlooked…Crowded home – no room to get to Jesus…the friends believed that Jesus made a difference and wanted their paralytic friend to see Him, firsthand.  They wanted to do this bad enough that they were willing to lower him through the roof…They knew that Jesus had the power to heal – they cared enough for their friend to lower him down to Jesus because that was going to be the only want that he was going to be able to see Jesus.  What did these men have? 

Jesus saw their great faith…They didn't have the ordinary, stand at the door kind of faith.  They saw the need of this man and knew the power of Jesus…they had great faith

They also had great love!  They were willing to risk embarrassment and possible ridicule – not to mention their time and resources – all for their friend who they wanted to see Jesus.  They had great faith and great love.

Those are things that the church seems to be missing today.  We say we have faith in God until it is put to the test.  We say we have great love until we actually have to prove it.  The test…look around you in this community and surrounding areas.  There are people who are dying to know Jesus.  They don't know that…they just know hopelessness, despair, hurt…they are blind to the healing power of Jesus.  How many times do we ride around with eyes of great faith and great love and see God's children rather than just random people…I think even more sad is that we go through our lives and don't even see what truly is around us.  We build a nice pretty wall and it has a nice pretty picture of the world on it.  That way we don't have to worry about what is actually around us because that is what we see.  Matthew West sings a song about living in his own little world – population 'me'…that is how many of us live because it is easier that seeing what is really going on in our world. 

To help open our eyes today, I invited Gale Hoey here today.  She is a woman of great compassion, great love and great faith.  I know and have seen how she is seeing the world quite differently than many of us and I asked her to come share what we may be missing…

Gale Hoey helped us to begin to take off the 'blinders' and see what is really around us…not what we want to be there, but what is really there.  She challenged us to open our hearts and minds and go beyond what we might normally do.  She also helped us by allowing us to hear where God has put her in her life of service.  What a blessing it was to have her as part of the message!

There are people who need our help…showing the love of Jesus, teaching them about the love that He has…That is done in so many ways.  There are people who are on the outside of the church that would really like to come in…but they can't seem to make the first step.  Maybe they don't for fear of what we will say or what we will think or how they will be judged…so they stay out of the family of God because it is just easier.  We bridge that gap by reaching our hands out…by taking our feet and showing the gospel of peace…by opening our hearts to them.  Many will say, "If I go, the church might collapse…" How about what Jesus says about leaving the 99 and rescuing the 1 and the rejoicing in heaven??  There are people paralyzed in despair and fear and sin and hopelessness…if we have great faith and great love of Jesus Christ – we can show them what it means to truly know Jesus firsthand.  Take the blinders off and see what God would have US to do – leaving behind our own little world and moving forward with HIM!

March On, March Strong...following who?

Last week, we looked at asking the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us as we sign up for the army of the Lord.  Today, I want to talk about who it is that we serve in the army.  Who is Jesus?  Do we really understand who is in charge and whose commands we are to follow?  To begin to uncover what this, let's look at a couple of passages in the Gospel of Mark.  Mark 8:31-33.

This is strong text that is often difficult for us to understand and take in.  Jesus is teaching the disciples about how He must suffer, die and rise again.  That must have been huge for them to take in.  Prior to this, Jesus has hinted around at it.  He has taught in parable form.  He has even indicated that things needed to have a sense of secrecy about them.  To really get this, let's go back and look at Mark 8:27-30.

Wow – this is quite a change in tone.  Jesus asks who people are saying that He is.  Then, He asks the disciples who they think that He is.  Peter announces loud and clear that Jesus is the Christ.  He is the One they have been waiting for…the Messiah!  Jesus tells them not to tell anyone.  Why?  Possibly because if people start lifting Him up as the Messiah at this point, they could begin "putting Him on a pedestal" and making it more difficult to have God's will fulfilled about what was to come.  What was to come?  Jesus tells them what is to come.  He tells them that He will have to suffer and die.  He tells them He will rise again.  But, they, like many others, are expecting something completely different from the Messiah.  They are looking for a King.  They are looking for a Savior of their nation – literally saving them from their current situation – not spiritually.

Jesus knew that what He was there for was something completely different than anyone expected.  That is because they were thinking in terms they could comprehend and understand…King saves the people and wins the battle.  They are saved.  But the saving they are expecting is temporary.  They had been saved many times from captivity and imprisonment.  Jesus wanted to help the disciples to begin to understand…but it was too much for Peter.  He couldn't stand to hear this about His Christ.  So, He is thinking in human terms about what He wants Jesus to be and to do.  Jesus quickly puts Peter back in his place – and at the same time, I am sure makes a major impact on the others as well.  Jesus could have heard the temptation from Satan to just take the King position and not worry about the suffering.  Remember in the Garden, He prayed that if the cup could pass… Jesus knew He had to follow God's plan and knew that this was not from God.  He stopped Peter in his tracks and put him in his rightful place – as a follower, a disciple.  Peter still had MUCH to learn and SO DO WE!  How many times do we look at God's will and try to make it fit with the image of how we think things should be?  Think about it…blessings mean money…God's favor means wealth…persecution and suffering means you are doing something wrong…help yourself, look after #1…and so on.

None of this fits in with the scriptures…Blessings are from above and are not understood with human ideals…God's favor is not earthly wealth or anything earthly…as we know that treasures are not to be stored up here…where you treasure is, there your heart is also…

Until we begin to understand who Jesus is and what He has done for us – listening to the Holy Spirit and to the Word rather than the world, we will never begin what He is trying to do in and through us.
We will never begin to comprehend how to live in this world when our home is not here.  We will never really get it until we begin to "GET HIM".  Soldiers…it's time we start reading the manual, listening to the leader, and begin obedient…march on, march strong in the power of the Lord!!