Above All, Love

1 Peter 4:8
Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.

God has called His children to be a people who live by grace and forgiveness.

And when they encounter sin, they meet it with the infinite power of God's love in them.

Learn to meet hardship on the grounds of God infinite ability, not your constrained and hampered strength.

Seek to meet trial with love and hope.

Walk in the stead of Christ's blood, constantly being made new, forgiven, and washed clean.

We don't live righteously by being redeemed once and then going alone.

A beautiful piece requires constant revisions. 

Turn back to your first love.

And take on His love. 

Unity is found in compassion and grace.

So live by the Spirit, not the flesh.

Surrender your heart to the infinite love of the Father who loves you unconditionally. 

John the Baptist's Faith & Trust

John’s Faith:

John’s life was dedicated to making known what the Lord would do. He was declaring to thousands what was still to come. He was preaching something entirely out of faith, trusting that the Lord would fulfill what He had told John.

Matthew 3:1-6

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord;

    make His paths straight.’”

Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

John gave up his life on account of the Lord. 

John 3:30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

He opened up himself as a servant, and said, "God, do with me what you want."

And God brought Him into the desert to do His work. 

John had gone out into the Wilderness, and there he had stayed and waited upon the Lord.

Now, he did not leave that place to preach. No, he stayed and trusted that God would do the rest.

So, the people came to him and heard of Christ because he waited and trusted that the Lord would work.

Because, as Luke 1:66 says, “the hand of the Lord was with him.”

He had faith that even in the Wilderness, God would work.

John’s Trust:

Matthew 11:2-6

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

John was thrown in prison and was not rescued.  He began to wonder who Jesus was, and why He didn’t come to get him out. He began to doubt Jesus. And Jesus says, “blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” Basically, “Yes, I haven’t rescued you from that desert, am I still enough?”

So, John has to say, “Is this Savior still enough, even if I can’t see Him? Is He still good even if I don’t see Him working in my life right now?"

I believe He came to this understanding:

1 John 6:67b-68a “’Do you want to go away as well?’ ‘Lord, to whom shall we go?’”

If Christ is who He says He is, there’s no point in going elsewhere. Only He is worth it.

Philippians 1:21 “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

In Matthew 14, we see John being beheaded.

Becoming a martyr and believing that through all of it, Christ was enough.

He believed when it was illogical to do so.

Matthew 11:11

“Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

 John was the greatest among men because of his reliance on God. 
He made the decision to say, “Christ is enough.” 
He gave it all, to the end.

Remember this:

           

Luke 1:66: “the hand of the Lord was with him.”

God is always with you.

Deuteronomy 31:8 “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

A Man of Sorrows

John 11:35
Jesus wept.

Jesus, the Lord of Lords, the King of kings, Emmanuel, the Bright Morning Star. He was and is a man of sorrows.

It is easy for us to view Jesus as a holy being who is merely sympathetic. But, in all reality, Jesus is more empathetic than anyone else on the earth.

Hebrews 2:18 says, "Since He Himself has gone through suffering and testing, He is able to help us when we are being tested."

Christ endured the Cross and took upon pain, suffering, hurt, all that we go through and far more. For every time we feel disconnected from God, we should remember how Christ understands that. He was disconnected from His Father upon earth, and though tempted, He relied on the Lord for strength.

In that same empathy, Christ feels what we feel.
Through the Cross, the veil was taken away, inviting man into the very presence of God.
By that action of sacrifice, God enables us to come into unity with Himself.
So, we can feel as God does just as He feels as we do.
Ever time you are hurt, so is Christ. Every time you cry, Christ cries.

For God is not far from the broken. He cannot be.
How can He reject the brokenness of His children?
He will never abandon those whom He loves.
He will not give up on them, no matter how far they run.

2 Timothy 2:13
If we are unfaithful, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny who He is.

God knows you.
He understand and feels your pain.
Through Christ He has brought you under His wings and called you, "Child."

To think that the God of all creation would care so much that He would weep for a wretch like me.
Such amazing grace. Such amazing love.

But truly, it is as Colossians 1:27 says, "God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

An all-knowing and all-powerful God who chooses to care for me and feel the very pain that I endure. That is something I want to live for. Praise the Lord.
Christ is Enough.

Inheritance

Salvation is freedom and then so much more.
It was not just the wiping of a slate, but also the enabling of a whole new future of hope, life, and love.
Salvation was the beginning of living in reality. It was the beginning of life.
He took all of our darkness, but then He gave us His light.
That second part must not ever be forgotten.

Do you think of yourself as King or Queen, Prince or Princess?
Through salvation, that is who we are.
We are the children of God, and we were adopted into the wealthiest,
grandest, greatest, most amazing family there ever was, is, or will be.
We are co-heirs with Christ.

Think about that!
Christ, the one and only Son of the one true God.
God has brought us up to Him.
We are Kings and Queens, Princes and Princesses.
We sit at His table, for He is our Father and He is our Friend.

That is the reality of Christianity.
Not just a struggle to stay pure, but a conquest to bring hope.
We are called up to Him, to reign with Him.
We are lights to shine forth His love.
The representatives to go out and invite people into His courts.

He calls us "Son" and "Daughter."
And He says, "Go."
To all the world, telling of this good news.
Inviting people into the inheritance that is theirs if they choose.
He places the crown upon our head and says, "Rise, you are mine."

He's not trying to cheat you out of your life.
He's trying to give you your life.
And He is inviting you in to His throne room.
The call has gone out, it has resounded across the nations.
“Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”

And a small voice responses as we lie prostrate at His feet. 
“Here am I! Send me.”
And He says to us as we are before Him,
"Rise up and shine, for your light has come. The shining-greatness of the Lord has risen upon you."
And we rise and we go.


That is the call.
That is our waiting destiny.
To be Kings and Queens, His Children. 
To be lifted up to Christ and to walk in the reality of His perfect image. 
That is the Gospel, our Inheritance.

Phantom

It is, for the most part, always been thought that we, the thinking, knowing, feeling humankind are, ourselves, the concrete fact.
The reality, if you will.
And, the "spiritual" things, such as God, angels, Heaven, and Hell have all been thought of as the mysterious and translucent.
Something to ponder, but not tangibly feel.

Though, what if that perspective is jaded?
Is there a possibility that our perception of things is misconceived?
Have we inadvertently switched the proper place of what is ghost and what is not?

C.S. Lewis in his famed book, "The Great Divorce," expresses that men are like ghosts. Shades in comparison to the true reality of God and all that is His. He articulates that we, humanity, are without Christ, simply phantoms.

The band, Gungor, named their album, "Ghosts Upon the Earth" in an effort to exclaim that we do not compare to the raw reality of God.
We are but ghosts.

Until Christ comes.
Because, in Lewis' novel, people who had accepted the truth and reality of Christ in their heart began to harden and become real.

So, in the same manner, we are only phantoms, aimlessly wandering the earth unless we let the Lord bring us into a hardened reality, through His Son.

That reality is Christ Jesus.
The Gospel and the Word.
Do not continue as a ghost.
Step into reality.

Emmanuel (God With Us)

Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jesus coming to earth and being willingly rejected by God, His Father due to our sin that He took upon Himself and disposed of on the Cross, was so that we could be with God and He with us. 

It's a love story, people! 

Boy meets girl, boy can't be with girl because of this or that, but by the end of the movie or book, we see that he makes a way.

God made a way! 

It's Jesus, the only way, the only truth, and the only life! 

Stop looking for Jesus under spiritual rocks!

You can't find Jesus in a wrist band!

You can't find Jesus in a special shirt! 

Because, He has found you.

Stop searching, you're found!

All it takes is saying, "Yes."

He chose you. He made a way for you.

He sent His only Son to save you.

He did the work, He paid the price, He sacrificed. 

You don't do the work.

You can't find God! Only He can reveal Himself to you. 

And He has through the Cross! 

Why do people say, "If I could just go to this place, or if I could just see a miracle, or just hear this person say this thing and then I'd be good, then I'll have what I'm searching for in God." 

Since when has God conformed to our measure of thinking?

God does not work on our time table or level of comprehension. 

You don't need a special situation to be with Him!

You know why? Because He's right with you!

He's in you! If you have accepted the Lord Jesus as your personal Savor and King, then He is dwelling inside you through the Holy Spirit. 

Though going to Church is amazing, you don't need to go to church to be with Jesus!

You don't need anything but Him. 

People all across the world in "third world countries" worship Jesus just fine with out a sound system, a guitar, or even a Bible. 

Please don't hear me wrong, God reveals Himself through His Word, and through corporate worship, and through countless other things, but those are not the only way to worship Jesus.

Because Jesus is in you.

And you don't need anything else except Him to be able to worship Him and live in His glorious presence. 

People! Stop "soaking" in His presence and start living in it!

Stop letting it just wash over you without letting if effect you! 

Waiting upon the Lord is fantastic and is crucial to our relationship with Christ, but people, 

Faith Without Works Is Dead!

Brothers, Sisters, fellow believers and human-beings, it is time to stop being so dependent on other humans to get to God. That is not how it was designed to be. 

We were not made for a second hand relationship with God.

It's time to start meeting with God face to face, one on one, you and God, nothing and no one else.

It's time to start encountering Emmanuel for yourself. 

Taking Our Place

Jesus did not die while we were loving Him!
Jesus did not subject Himself to be nailed on the cross whilst we were all on our knees worshiping and praying for Him.
Jesus did not have a prayer team, or a group of people who sent Him Bible verses and encouraging notes to keep Him going.

Jesus was rejected. He was beaten, detested, hated, despised.
People wanted Jesus dead!

And yet it says in God's Word, "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8 NIV)

Jesus was not welcomed into this world on a flush bed of silk and cotton.
Jesus was not "blessed" in the eyes of men, though He is blessing.
He entered into this world through an outcast and was laid in a barn!
Jesus was on the run for the beginning of His life-time
He was not welcome!
And yet He came.

God illustrates the depth of His love even before Christ dies with the story of Barabbas.
This thief, this murderer, this child of the world and sin, was with Jesus as He was brought before the rulers of the land.
And Jesus was the one who was taken and killed. Not the sinner, not the cheat, not the killer, but Jesus.
God set Barabbas free in a foreshadowing of what He would later do for all of humanity. 
Knowing very well that Barabbas would not thank Jesus, but would continue in his sin, God had Jesus take his place.

That is love! We don't know if Barabbas ever came to Christ or got saved, but God loved and set him free all the same.

Don't think that God hates you. That is the opposite of the truth.
Do not convince yourself that God doesn't want you. For that is false!
God sent His Son, His only child, His baby, people! He sent Him to earth to be beat and briused and killed, because He loves you!

God will never forsake you. He is not looking to see how many times you can mess up or turn away.
He is not a god of Greek mythology. He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.
And He loves you!

God is relentlessly seeking after you and He will not stop until He has every last bit of you.
He wants to bless you, to bring life into you.

Don't ever imagine that He would do anything bad to you.
Accept Him as He accepted Barabbas and just as He has accepted you. 

Largly based off Judah Smith's Video Sermon, "Jesus Is Loving Barabbas"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwX_EpNR4CA
https://open.spotify.com/track/4i6stINijO5T8kPQ7PwqxP