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THIS WEEK'S BLOG:

Not Rejected

I think we could spend hours, if not days, in just the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel. If there is one thing that is made clear in this writing is that God is passionately pursuing us and bidding us to have a relationship with Him that is restored by His Son, Jesus.   There is one verse, in particular, that stands out to me. John 6:37 , “However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them.” Those that come to Jesus will never be rejected. If you come to Jesus, just as you are now, he will not turn you away. He gladly welcomes you to come to him.   It is not God’s design or plan that we live separated from Him. He makes the way for that relationship to happen. He initiated the plan. He paid the price. He gives freely. He gives us free-will to choose or reject that offer of reconciliation through Jesus, His Son.   God makes His intent clear:  Ezekiel 33:11 , “As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked peo
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Tetelestai!

Just before Jesus gives up His spirit on the cross, He utters a very powerful word. The word that He cries out is “ tetelestai” (tih-tellis-tie). When literally translated, this word means, “It is finished.” It can also refer to something completed or accomplished. The word occurs in  John 19:28  and 19:30 and these are the only two places in all of the New Testament where it is found. In the John19:28 passage, it is translated, “After this, when Jesus knew that all things were now  completed , in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, he said, ‘I thirst.’” Two verses later, he utters the word himself: “Then when he received the sour wine Jesus said, ‘ It is finished ,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”   Did you know that the word  tetelestai  was also written on business documents or receipts in New Testament times to show indicating that a bill had been paid in full? The Greek-English lexicon (by Moulton and Milligan) says this: “Receipts are often intro
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Thanksgiving

  As we near the Thanksgiving holiday, I can’t help but think of David’s prayer of praise. We find that in the Old Testament.   1 Chronicles 29:10-19 , “David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, “Praise be to you, Lord, the God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.   Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.   Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.   Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.”   As we gather with friends and family around the table for our Thanksgiving meal, I pray that we will be reminded of the greatest Thanksgiving of all. However, I am not speaking of the holiday in November!   The greatest thanksgiving, for most Christians, is celebrated dur
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Making Reaching Out a Little Easier

  I was reading through one of my daily devotionals and, like always, there are those that strike me in a stronger way. This particular day highlighted Luke 15:2, which makes one profound statement: “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” There’s nothing complicated about what Jesus is doing! I believe it is our approach to ministry that complicates the steps we take to introduce Jesus to others. Jesus had no boundaries. He was willing to engage Samaritans as much as the Jews and Gentiles. There are times we get so focused on “getting them saved” or “getting them to Church” that we forget the most important “first step” of establishing a relationship . Befriending and showing the love of God by being a neighbor and friend. This devotion went on to say, “God rejects sin but not sinners. He seeks them out to free them from the misery. All love should work thus: not condemning but helping even if it is only with a silent prayer. Do I pray for the conversion of souls?” My c
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True Perfection

  We are human and prone to mistakes, misunderstandings, and other influences towards our fallen nature that keep us from being absolutely perfect. There are those times where we may find exceptional achievement, but most times we fall short in some way.   Perfection, however, is not an illusion. It is something that we can strive for in our spiritual lives. Jesus challenges a rich man with such a goal. Matthew 19:21 , “Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect , go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’”   Why would Jesus give this man what appears to be a nearly impossible task? It would seem impossible if we didn’t understand the word “perfect.” The word is not implying that we should be continually living without fault. This form of perfection relates to love .   Jesus is literally addressing the unconditional love of agape. In other words, Jesus is saying that we must strive to love as God does which includes exp
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Sifting

  We find a very uncomfortable statement made by Jesus to Peter in  Luke 22:31 , that reads,  “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat.”  What is more intriguing is that Jesus doesn’t stop it or prevent it from happening, but rather prays that Peter’s faith would not fail during the sifting. It is a prayer for our faith as well! What is this sifting? The word used for “sift” means  “inward agitation to try one's faith to the verge of overthrow”  or can have a figurative interpretation to mean “to riddle.” One of the greatest acts of “sifting” by Satan is his use of doubt in God or to question God. One of the earliest examples is from  Genesis 3:1  when Satan tried to get Eve to doubt God when he questioned,  “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” Satan’s tactics were no different with Jesus during Christ’s 40-days in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11). Satan will always try to trick us into accepting his offers on t
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Time

  We all have some type of device to track time. On our phone. Our watch. A clock on the wall. Some even spend great sums of money to have a grandfather clock to chime the top of the hour as well as each quarter hour. Time matters. We schedule events for a particular part of the day based on time. Our favorite television program or educational classes are at a specific time each week. We have meetings, briefings, and other functions all have a set amount of time they last. However, when it comes to the life of the Church, we have a tendency to expect it to be regulated to a certain amount of time as well especially the Sunday worship service. We have allowed social norms to dictate worship to a one hour service. People have grown accustomed to that hour and now naturally expect that all church services to be one hour and no more. Through that understanding there has grown a population in the church that struggles to accommodate more than one hour. They become fidgety and restless
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