A Very Uninnocuous Verse

Innocuous: 3. not interesting, stimulating, or significant; pallid; insipid: an innocuous novel.

Perhaps I’m the only strange person who, when reading the gospels, thinks “where’s the chapters and verses that tell of Jesus and the disciples doing really mundane daily activities? Where’s the accounts of Peter sweeping the floors or Matthew grocery shopping?” Certainly there were moments of humdrum and typical day to day activities that they left out for sake of pointing out the truly important matters.

But then in the 11th chapter of Mark’s gospel we find this rather gloriously unimaginative moment in the life of Jesus! Upon first read I released a victorious “AHAH!”

Sadly, after reading it over and in the greater context of the surrounding scriptures I found this wasn’t innocuous at all, instead it was incredibly uninnocuous.

So Jesus came to Jerusalem and went into the Temple. After looking around carefully at everything, he left because it was late in the afternoon. Then he returned to Bethany with the twelve disciples. Mark 11:11 NLT

You may be wondering, “why in the world does this matter?” but I challenge you to consider what was happening when Jesus went into the temple that day. Jesus went into the temple and He found the money changers doing their thing, the animal cartel doing their business, and He found the corruption which broke His Father’s heart.

He found exactly what we remember from the scene in scripture where Jesus went into the temple turning over tables, chasing people out with a whip, but here – on this day – Jesus looks around and “he left”.

Certainly, the emotions were hot that day, we must believe that His righteous indignation was incensed but instead of seizing the opportunity and the moment, He waited.

We know, from John 2:15, that Jesus made a whip; He took the time and the energy to carefully handcraft a whip. (If you’re interested in what goes into making a rope whip, check out this Youtube instructional video)

 

We can imagine Him carefully listening to the Father while He prayed, receiving instructions. Then, in Mark 11:12-16 we read how Jesus went back the next day and drove them out with that VERY whip He had spent time working to create.

John’s gospel isn’t 100% clear on when the whip was made, it could be interpreted that “making a whip” or “made a whip” was something that happened in the past (it is imperfect third person); I like to think that after visiting the temple on the previous day, He went back to Bethany and started work on the whip, as this process isn’t a quick or simple task that can be completed in a rage.

Which brings me to the main point of this very uninnocuous verse; Jesus didn’t act rashly in Mark 11:11 when He encountered the money changers, nor was He acting in a rage in Mark 11:15. That isn’t to say that He wasn’t angry, nor does it suggest that He didn’t turn over tables or bring a whip! Rather, He was behaving as the righteous judge cleansing the temple and in acting in the fullness of His faculties, totally in control of His emotions and actions, fully engaged in the Father’s work, and hearing from God.

I believe that this may be the big “take-away”; we should avoid at all costs reacting (if Jesus didn’t react and He’s our Master – perhaps we should take that as an example for us to follow) but instead only respond to what God speaks to us about how we should respond.

Are there some areas of your life which you have allowed yourself to react to situations thus considering yourself more privileged than Jesus? How are you doing with making God’s instruction your priority?

Imagine the church filled with people who refuse to react and insist on only responding to God’s instruction, unmoved by situations and circumstances!

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Are You Ready?

If I told you that I scheduled my first home invasion through Jim Bob’s Home Invasion…you would tell me that I’ve lost my mind! Literally no one schedules their own home invasion! The truth is that no one knows when it’s going to happen! Jesus addresses this in Luke 12:39-40

³⁹ “Understand this: If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would not permit his house to be broken into. ⁴⁰ You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.”

The point is that we are to be ready because just like a home invasion, you don’t know when He is coming!

 

There’s no need to panic – as far as I can tell there are really three critical things every believer needs to be doing… (without oversimplification)

Ultimately we are given three directives; love God, love people and draw people to Jesus. Certainly there are other disciplines which grow our relationship with God like daily Bible reading, worship, and prayer but when you boil it all down if you love really God you’re going to do those things anyway. If you love people, you’re going to have to address the sinful attitudes and habits in your life to better love them, and if you love people you are going to be drawing them into a relationship with Jesus.

So, if you are doing the above three things… more than likely you’re ready! If you’re not, now’s the time! Since we don’t know when Jesus will return, there’s no time to waste – begin today by loving God, loving people, and drawing them into a loving relationship with God.

How do we love God? Think of how you express love to people – spend time with Him (prayer, reading, and worship), spend time with His people (go to church), learn to hear His voice, invest into His church (give tithes and offerings)

How do we love people? This is basic. Put other people before you, serve and don’t command or demand, spend time and build relationships, ask questions, meet needs as you’re able, don’t think yourself better than them, and most of all pray for them.

How do we draw people to Jesus? Pretty much doing the above makes you the most attractive thing in the world to thirsty souls. You attract more flies with honey than vinegar, so love God and love people. The bottom line is somewhere in your relationship, you will need to tell them about how Jesus has changed your life. You don’t have to have a doctoral degree to manage this – just tell them what happened in YOUR life. Tell them how it happened, what you prayed, and how you have lived since. Boom. Done.

There are probably a hundred different approaches like the “Roman’s Road”,  the “ABC’s”, etc. but if you are honestly listening to God He will give you what needs to be said.

Get out there – love God, love people, and draw them to Christ! Be ready for Him!

Pastor Kevin

Roll the Dice, Move Your Mice

We may throw the dice,
    but the Lord determines how they fall. Proverbs 16:33 NLT

Perhaps you’ve seen these phrases before;

      or maybe this one…     

I’m fully aware that there are a great number of people who not only subscribe to this philosophy but live their lives with these statements as “life-declarations”.

How frustrating it must be when you self-declare that you are in charge only to find that life doesn’t work that way.

In the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament portion of the Bible we find the verse at the beginning of this blog. “We may throw the dice, but the Lord determines how they fall.” Clearly, some may find this verse absolutely infuriating; I’ve found that people are ultimately divided into two camps. 

In camp one we find people who read a verse like that and feel like a child upset with a parent not giving them the control or authority they feel they deserve.

This is part of the original lie Satan gave Adam and Eve in the garden – you need to be just like God – you need to know what He knows, and God is holding something back from us. If we haven’t learned what we needed from that lesson I will explain it briefly; No, we don’t need to know what God knows, nor do we need to be just like God, and NO, God isn’t holding anything good from us.

And in camp two we find people who understand that God isn’t trying to control us so that He can lord over us with nefarious and malicious intentions;  instead these people in camp two understand that a loving Father is guiding our steps through this life. As we learn to trust Him more and more we recognize His love and grace through the most difficult times in life.

So the challenge for you today is this – which camp do you find yourself? Are you ever vying for control and authority, ever frustrated that no matter what you can’t seem to find control or authority?

Are you settled with God guiding your steps? Isn’t it sweet of God to let us roll the dice?

 

Love More Than Your Friends

If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that.                                                                                          Matthew 5:47 NLT

Love should be this incredible easy thing, something you just experience and give so freely, a feeling that flows uncontrollably from others and from us with absolutely zero effort.

Wouldn’t that be nice?

Unfortunately that is not the case, people can be decidedly unlovely, making it difficult to choose to love them when love hasn’t been shown. But that seems to be the problem doesn’t it? We tend to treat love like there’s a prerequisite of love shown in order to show love, or at least like it needs to be reciprocated in order for us to continue to show love.

Christians aren’t supposed to allow circumstances to dictate whether or not we show love to other people because while were still sinners we were shown the most intense love imaginable (actually beyond our imagination). It is an act most ungrateful to behave unlovely towards other people, regardless of their actions.

When we refrain or withhold love from people we have effectively stopped loving them. We make light of this when we excuse our actions based on other people, when there is no excuse for us.

“Even pagans do that” isn’t meant to be a slight against pagans as we know them today, rather an observation, made by Jesus, of people who had not been transformed by God’s love who had shown love to their friends.  The point isn’t about pagans, it’s a reference to how we (who’ve experienced the power of God) should behave differently than those who haven’t.

Jesus’ question is, of course, timely for us, “how are you different”? I invite you and I to ask ourselves that very important question today.

How are you different? 

In what ways are you showing love to unlovely? In what ways are you expressing the power of Christ in you?

Real Joy Comes From Jesus

This is the third week of Advent; we are turning our attention to JOY this week!

Often times we confuse happiness and joy; before assumptions start flying… I’m not against happiness – it’s pretty important too! That said, I’ve found there’s an incredible difference between the two.

Here’s some examples which will help to draw the distinction between the two:

• someone who is “unhappy” in their marriage can still find “joy” in their children or grandchildren.
• someone who is “unhappy” in their profession can find “joy” in a hobby
• someone who is “unhappy” with their physical or mental condition can find “joy” in a friendship.

Unfortunately, each of these “joys” are very temporary – children grow up (and out), interests in hobbies wane, and friendships tend to fade over time as well. The joy we cultivate and experience is horrifically temporary.

But there is a REAL and lasting joy for anyone who believes and follows Jesus. On John’s gospel, the fifteenth chapter we find this beautiful gem,

 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. John 15:11 ESV

This verse tells us that Jesus’ joy has been placed in us! The exciting part of that is that Jesus’ joy isn’t temporary, it is eternal! Who is going to steal His joy? Who will rob Jesus of His joy? No one!

As we begin to focus on the joy He’s placed in us (not our temporal joy), we find that our joy is full or complete; no more working tirelessly to cultivate joy only to have it taken from us or wear off over time – Jesus in you gives you joy, REAL and complete joy.

Tap into that joy this week by worshipping, reading, and prayer, turning your attention away from circumstances and onto what He’s already placed in you. You don’t have to muster up this joy – it’s already there!

Joy to the world!

 

Tested and Tried, Non-Stop Miracles

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Bible, Christian, Church, devotion, God, Hebrews, Hebrews 3, Jesus, life, Miracles, NLT, one minute devotional, Supernatural

There your ancestors tested and tried my patience,

even though they saw my miracles for forty years. Hebrews 3:9 NLT

The Israelites were surrounded by the miraculous for 40 years; there was

• the manna from Heaven, daily, enough to feed all the Israelites
• the quail
• the water from the rock
• and the fact that there clothes NEVER wore out!

Can you imagine seeing the miraculous EVERY DAY in your life for 40 years! Sounds amazing right? The problem was that it became common-place for them. God providing for their needs became expected and eventually unappreciated.

They had tested God’s patience, they had tried Him, and found that He was faithful in that He would provide for them supernaturally, proving His faithfulness to them daily for 40 years! Over and over they experienced the faithfulness of God until it became mundane. God called it “hard-hearted” in verse 8.

Have you allowed for the miraculous in your life become common, mundane, and unappreciated? Perhaps it’s time to step away from your busy-ness, recognize what He’s been doing in your life, and tell Him that He is awesome! Be sure to tell others too, because your testimony could awake them from their hard-hearted attitude and bring them to a place of gratitude and praise!

What miracles are going on all around you right now? He’s a faithful God. He’s been tested, tried and proven!

 

“And I’m Loved by You, That’s Who I Am”

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Bible, Church, Faith, God, Jesus, love

We were singing the song, “Good, Good Father” the other night at church; when we sang the lyrics, “and I’m loved by You, that’s who I am” my heart jumped. What a statement of identity! I AM KNOWN AS ONE WHO IS LOVED BY GOD!

I’m very quick to admit my identity as a husband, father, grandfather, and Pastor… but how often do I offer up, “Oh, also I’m someone who God loves”?

It reeks of arrogance but it is actually a very true statement! How would it change the way I perceive, well… everything if I started to think like that? If God’s love for me personally was an identifying point of my psyche, how would I begin to behave differently, think differently, respond differently?

When I married my wife, Kim, I began to think as a married man. After our first child was born the reality of my new identity as “Father” began to set in. I think you get the picture.

I’m not basing this line of thinking off of a song, there’s actual scriptural reference to this concept.

See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!                                                                                                             1 John 3:1 NLT

What about you? Do you identify as a child of God? Does the fact that God identifies you as one of His children change you? In what ways might your status as “one who is loved by God” change the way you think or worship?

It Is Time For You to Renew?

Isn’t it amazing how quickly renewals happen? It seems like you just joined and it’s already time to renew your subsciption or license, membership or affiliation. If you don’t renew you will be cut off from all the benefits of that organization, service, or priviledge.

The same is true in our walk with God. We are constantly in a need for renewal! It seems like our attitudes and thoughts are our greatest testimony against us, which is why, in the book of Ephesians, Paul warns us to RENEW!

Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Ephesians 4:23 NLT

 

The operative word in this verse is “let”; we must LET Holy Spirit do the renewing that we so desperately need. He won’t barge in and change things for us, we must surrender and LET Him do what is needed.

Are you willing to LET Holy Spirit renew your thoughts, your attitude today? Have you considered how badly you need it to happen?

Is it time for you to renew?

How Attractive Are You?

In Luke 15, the very first verse starts off with a bang!

Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach.

The real question is, “Why?”. Why did they come to hear Him? Jesus’ message was a simple message of repentance, which I’m not sure if you know this or not, is not an attractive message with most people who are struggling in sin, or dead in their sins.

So why did they “often” come to hear Him?

As notorious as the sinners were for sinning, Jesus was a notoriously loving person. In fact, He is love. They were attracted to Him because He loved them more than their sins. He treated them better than the establishment of religion would ever dare to treat them.

He loved them unconditionally.

What would it look like for you to be attractive to sinners? Some automatically assume that to be attractive means to appeal to their senses or desires. Instead what if we appealed to the one common need every of human? Love.

What if we loved them as Christ loved them? In fact, they are the reason for the gospel! Just as you were once!

I challenge you to consider the way which you come across to agnostics, atheists, all unbelievers, those who believe differently than you. 

I challenge you to approach them with “no-strings-attached” love.

 

How Can We Appease God?

The volcano issued its demand through billows of sulphurous clouds and spurts of fiery ash and rock; certainly the only way to appease the god was through sacrifice!

“If only this god would see how serious we are, how much we are willing to give, what we will deny ourselves in order to stay his hand from the wrath which will ensue should we do nothing!”

*enter stage left* the young, beautiful virgin, tied to a cot made of sticks. 

The sacrifice is dropped, without regard, into the mouth of the monster.

Suddenly, the smoke stops.

The rumbling ceases.

As a voice, a cavernous sound, belches from the bowels of the volcano and releases a single syllable, “Nope.”

The villagers scream in terror as the rumbling begins anew, now with ten times the strength the smoke and fire erupt, driving those worshippers away from the mountain. 

Back in the village, a scared native looks to the chief and demands,

“WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO APPEASE THIS GOD?!”

I’m certain that this is a scene from some movie somewhere (for any copyright infringements I apologize)! Aren’t you glad we don’t behave that way anymore? If we sacrificed a virgin every time there were a famine, blizzard, or tornado there would be a shortage of un-defiled young ladies for our virtuous men to seek!

Sadly, many Christians still hold to this logic in regards to their walk with God. They firmly believe that if they behave poorly by sinning or wrong thinking, God will love them less. Also, if they behave well, reading their Bibles, going to church frequently, somehow God will love them more.

This logic is flawed on SO many levels. How do we suppose that we are going to coerce God into loving us more than sending His Son to die for us while we were His enemies? How can we make Him love us more? For that matter… how can we make Him do anything?

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:1 NKJV

I’ve got great news, as a believer and follower of Jesus, not only can you not make God love you more, but neither can you make God love you less!

This isn’t a license to sin (we will still receive temporal punishment for our sins) but it is a license to LIVE freely in the warmth of unconditional love. It motivates us to love other people, to live for God, and to worship with abandonment.

We aren’t very familiar with unconditional love, it’s a foreign concept to many of us because so many base their capacity to love others according to how they’re treated.

But NOT SO with God – He IS love – He doesn’t just love people – HE IS LOVE. When He says that nothing can separate you from Him, He means it.

If you’re a follower of Jesus,

stop trying to appease God.

Live freely for Him

and love others in the way that He has loved you,

unconditionally.