JESUS, OUR FATHER

 

JESUS, OUR FATHER

John 8:19 "Where is your father?" they asked. Jesus answered, “Since you don’t know who I am, you don’t know who my Father is. If you knew me, then you would know my Father as well.” NLT

Is God a mystery to you? Let Jesus unravel the mystery. God is way too much for our understanding, but He has allowed us to know enough about himself to satisfy all that our souls need for life and eternity. Jesus is God in human flesh. God chose to limit himself by our humanity in order to help us find Him. He mysteriously was able to live within the confines of our humanity and still remain in heaven. He came and personified himself for us. We are able to understand God in a new light as we observe the life of Jesus.

Like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day, so many people try to find God in other ways. Man tries to reach God and discover who He is without Jesus. It is impossible to know God without Jesus in the heart. It is impossible to really have any kind of a right knowledge of God apart from Jesus. It is impossible to understand the workings of God in the world without Jesus.

There is only one way in which God will make himself known to us and that is through a personal relationship with Jesus. If you want to know more about God, you must know Jesus as your Savior. If you want to know Him better, you must let Jesus be your Lord. God wants all men to know Him and has done all he could do to make it happen. If you are trying to find God some other way, you will fail. Jesus is the only way God can be known on a personal level.

God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit—three distinct and functioning personas of God, yet, they are one in being. Jesus brings all three into focus so we can know God with our hearts, minds, and souls. Hallelujah! What a Savior!

TO KNOW JESUS

 

TO KNOW JESUS

John 8:19 "Where is your father?" they asked. Jesus answered, "Since you don't know who I am, you don't know who my Father is. If you knew me, then you would know my Father as well." NLT

Do you know who Jesus is? Do you really know Him? All knowledge of Jesus begins in the heart. Without Jesus being your Savior and then Lord, you may know about Him, but you won't know Him. To know Jesus is to embrace Him and commit to living a surrendered life to Him.

To know Jesus is to experience Him working within you, changing you, and using you for His purposes instead of your own. To know Him is to desire what He wants more than what you want. To know Him is to lean on Him for understanding and to trust Him in whatever He does in your life. To know Him means that you are faithfully into the Word of God so that you can hear what He has to say to you. To know Him means that you spend time alone in fellowship with Him.

When you really get to know Jesus, you really get to know God. Jesus is God in human form. When you know Jesus you discover just how personal, yet powerful, God is. You discover how amazing God is in every way. You discover that God is holy and that we are like Him in holiness through Christ. There is no way to comprehend God apart from Jesus. There is no way to please God apart from Jesus. There is no way to make it to God apart from Jesus.

Is God a mystery to you? Let Jesus unravel the mystery.

JESUS, THE LIGHT

 

JESUS, THE LIGHT

John 8:12 Jesus said to the people, "I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't be stumbling through the darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life." NLT

Jesus is THE light of the world. Some people have the idea that they are the light. They are bent on drawing attention to themselves. They get so wrapped up in their accomplishments and popularity that they forget that they are not the light of the world. It is so easy to forget that Jesus is our light source.

Any light that we are able to shed in the world flows from Him. We can do nothing apart from Him. We are not worthy of the credit we often take for what is done through us. Each of us is a servant, and nothing more. We live to bring others to Christ who is the light, not to ourselves or our ministry. Our egos are easily stroked and we must fight the urge to stroke them.

In order to stay properly connected to the Light, we must never neglect our connecting times. We must diligently seek Him out and let Him search us out to make sure that there is nothing in us that would cause us to take upon ourselves the glory that is His alone.

Read your Bible faithfully, spend time in your prayer closet daily, and listen to those who would warn you of your slipping away from the Lord.

Follow Jesus alone and you won't be led into the darkness of self-deceit and glory and stumble your way through life. Live in Christ and you will see clearly your way to heaven.

THE FIRST STONE

 

THE FIRST STONE

John 8:7-8 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, "All right, stone her. But let those who have never sinned throw the first stone!" Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. NLT

A woman had just been caught in the act of adultery. Several things come to my mind. What about the man involved in this? Wasn't he equally as guilty? Shouldn’t they have him stoned too?

It was the religious elite who were sitting in judgment of this woman. They already were ready to stone her for what she had done. They brought her to Jesus thinking they could use her to trap Jesus into saying something they could use against Him. If He were to agree with them, then it would go against the spirit of love and mercy He preached about. He would then be accused of being a hypocrite, just like they were. Their real goal was to condemn Jesus, not the woman.

If the religious leaders were really wanting to stone the woman, they would have done it without asking Jesus. They had the authority to do it and would normally have exercised it, but that was not what they were after. Jesus was a problem for them, and they saw this as an opportunity to get rid of their problem.

Jesus gave them permission to execute judgment on her, after first examining their own hearts. He told them they were qualified to be the judge of her heart if they themselves had never sinned. I wonder how many judgments we make would be made if we were to first examine our own hearts.

Jesus did not hide His emotions. He told them emphatically what they needed to do. He then left them to their thoughts and stooped down to write in the sand. We aren't told what He wrote, but whatever it was, it must have given the woman's accusers pause to think. They weren't used to seeing sin in their own lives. They weren't used to feeling the shame and guilt of their own hearts. They had an agenda, but Jesus changed it. One by one, they left until she was all alone standing before Jesus. Guilt and shame followed them each step they took away from Jesus and the woman.

It's interesting how much Jesus changes our agendas when we stand before Him starkly aware of the sin in our hearts and be honest about them. When our sins are exposed, we can no longer be self-righteous.

Forgiven, Jesus told the woman to go and sin no more.

THE WORD IN THE WORD

 

THE WORD IN THE WORD

John 5:39,40 “You search the Scriptures because you believe they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me so that I can give you this eternal life.” NLT

Many search the Scriptures with their own agenda. They are looking for things to verify what they believe to be true. They interpret the Word in such a way that what they want to see will be seen. They are not open to the possibility that they may be wrong in their understanding. They have been taught a certain way and their minds will not accept any other way of thinking.

When we search the Scriptures, there is only one thing that we should be looking for, Christ. All of the Word speaks clearly of Christ. He is the reason why we look to the Scriptures for guidance and help in life- Jesus is life. There is no eternal life apart from Him. What we know will not save us. No matter how well versed we may be in the Scriptures, if we do not know Christ as Savior and Lord, we will not make it to heaven.

Reading the Scriptures for any other reason than to find Christ is a waste of time and effort. He is the living and written Word of God. When you read the Word in order to support what you have embraced as truth, you are not reading it right. Our only desire should be to hear from God about God and how He impacts life. We need to read the Word expecting to hear from God. And, if we read things that go against what we believe to be true, we must be open to changing our thoughts. Study carefully the Word and let it always point you to Christ who is the Word, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

JUST DO YOUR PART

 

JUST DO YOUR PART

John 4:37-38 ‘You know the saying, ‘One person plants and someone else harvests.’ And it’s true. I sent you to harvest where you didn’t plant; others had already done the work, and you will gather the harvest. NLT

Our egos can often be our own worst enemy. We like, and often, crave for recognition. We want to be appreciated for what we do. We like to be seen in an admirable light. We see ourselves as being very important people in the grander scheme of things. We take pride in our accomplishments.

What we tend to forget is that no one can accomplish anything without the input of others. We depend on others to do what they are supposed to do in order for us to be able to do what we can do. If others fail to perform their role, we are not able to do what we do. As much as we like to think that we are special and have accomplished much, we are just doing what we do because others have done what they did.

In the Kingdom of God, this is especially true. It takes everyone doing what God gives them to do in order for a soul to make it into heaven. We each have a part to play in preparing a soul for being receptive to the Gospel. We may or may not see the fruit of our labors, but God does. It's important that we remain faithful and just serve the Lord. When the time is right, a soul is harvested. It may happen quickly, or it may take years.

Don't concern yourself about being in the limelight and getting recognition for what you do. Do what God has given you to do and be satisfied with that. God knows the part you play in the harvest. Rejoice in what God is doing through you and others. Rejoice that He is being glorified in the souls of man.

DON'T PUT IT OFF

 

DON’T PUT IT OFF!

John 4:35-36 “Do you think the work of harvesting will not begin until the summer ends four months from now? Look around you! The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike!” NLT

Procrastination, we all do it. There are tasks that we put off simply because we either know we don't like doing them or because we would rather be doing something else at the moment. We usually assume that time is on our side and that we will have ample opportunity to get done what we know we should do.

Sadly, many of us are spiritual procrastinators when it comes to being witnesses for Christ and serving Him. We believe that we have lots of time to do it, so we put it off for another day. What we don't stop to consider is that tomorrow may never come.

We don't know when the Lord is coming again. We don't know if we will live another day. We don't know if someone we need to witness to will live another day. We don't know if the door of opportunity for us to serve will be open another day. Today is the day the Lord has given us and we need to be about His business while we have today.

There is probably no greater joy than to know that we have made a difference in someone's soul. We may be instrumental in leading them to the Lord. We may come alongside of them when they need someone the most. We may plant seed in their minds that will bear fruit later. However the Lord wants to use us, it brings great joy to the soul knowing that our life has made a difference in someone else's eternal life journey.

Don't be a procrastinator and miss out on the wondrous blessings God has in store for those who serve Him while it is still today. Don’t put off blessing some soul with the life-saving news of God’s love and grace. Don’t put off being a difference maker in someone’s life today.