Vineyard Church of the Peninsula: Recent Episodes
Vineyard Church of the Peninsula
Saul, the Synagogue’s ‘bad boy’ and Judaism’s rising star, was fired up for a mission. His intent? Arrest, imprison and have killed, all members of the seditious new sect elevating one Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah. With perfect timing, God instead arrested Saul, sidelining him for a number of years to help him unlearn the erroneous teaching he’d absorbed. God later released him, now a repentant Paul, on a new mission, joining those he previously persecuted, and soon becoming one of the most vocal, and valuable, proponents for the cause of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.Ephesians 1:1-141. vv. 1,2 – Introduction: _________________________________________________2. vv. 3-6 – God’s big idea: ______________________________________________3. vv. 7-10 – God’s big idea: _____________________________________________4. vv. 11-14 – God’s big idea: ____________________________________________
Salvation’s provisions have been completed. Jesus’ glory has been revealed. Instructions for life and ministry have been lined out. Holy Spirit teaching and encouragement and correction are ongoing. Promises of victory have been repeated. The otherworldly reality of being in the world while not being of it has been sealed in High Priestly prayer. Per King David, we are to: persevere, be patient, be entwined as one with the Lord, be brave and courageous, never lose hope, keep on waiting (Ps. 27). John 15:1-171. vv. 1-4 - ______________________________________________________to Jesus2. vv. 5-11 –________________________________________________in Jesus’ love3. vv. 12-17 – _____________________________________________________to love Forerunner exhortations of: A long obedience in the same direction.
Jesus chose diminishment for our flourishing. His mission was divine love at its human best. He epitomized sublime servanthood and elevated downward mobility to the holiest of lifestyles. His determined march to the cross cleared the sin- and death-strewn roadway, paving the way for a world-upending, church-birthing, Pentecost. And now, as 21st Century believers, we live to revel in his gifts, his promises, to us.Mark 6:30-521. vv. 30-34 – Jesus’ compassion for ______________________________________2. vv. 35-44 – Jesus’ inclusion ____________________________________________3. vv. 45-52 – Jesus’ tenderness __________________________________________
In Jesus’ day, Jews anticipated the arrival of a militant, conquering hero, aka Messiah, to restore the political entity, aka kingdom, to Israel. Jesus, the true Messiah, came to guide his people in unlearning their faulty views, accumulated like barnacles on a boat, over Centuries. His was a kingdom, not of military power with weapons and armies, but the unseen kingdom ‘of the spirit’ entered by faith. His was a kingdom not of liberation from physical oppression but of liberation from the oppression of sin and the grave.Mark 4:1-41 1. vv. 1-12 – only hearts that are _________________________________________2. vv. 13-20 – only hearts that are _______________________________________3. vv. 21- 34 – only hearts that are _______________________________________4. vv. 35-41 - only hearts that are __________________________________
With the greatest sense of urgency, Mark’s Gospel account was the first writing to introduce the reading world to an extraordinarily average-looking, exceedingly unpretentious, man, yet one who came bearing all authority in heaven and on earth, the Creator God – a Galilean, this one called Jesus. Mark wants us to understand that there was nothing ordinary about the mission of Jesus. Rather, its love and saving power sought to catapult frail, fallen, human lives to a brand-new, eternal dimension.Mark 2:1-121. vv. 1,2 – massive _____________________________________________2. vv. 3-7 – major _______________________________________________3. vv. 8-12 - manifest ___________________________________________
Scripture talks of spiritual blindness, the inability to discern Truth as Jesus presented it. We sing, ‘Open the Eyes of my Heart, Lord’ in acknowledgement of the grandeur of the glories of our Salvation and the inferiority of our comprehension. God is a God of mysteries, but chooses to reveal Himself, little by little, to us. All truth is permanently available to us, but we speak of awakenings, revivals, renewals, and breakthroughs as those special times when God chooses to ‘open the eyes of our hearts’ in unusually powerful ways. The Apostle Paul defines it this way: “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me completely.” (I Cor. 13:12, NLT).Luke 15:12-32 12-24 –_____________awareness of _____________abundance 25-32 –____________awareness of ______________abundance 1-2 – _____________awareness of _______________abundance
Ken Brown shares his journey on suffering with debilitating back pain and how he found Jesus through it all. CS Lewis said“My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?”I have heard “Some people can see God only when they are flat on their backs.”In the midst of everything, looking back across my earlier years, I was arrogant and prideful and saw no need for God. I was doing just fine, thank you very much. Because of His great love, He cared enough for me to put me on my back, and because I am an idiot, He has kept me there so that I can see as clearly as possible. For that gift, I can only thank and praise Him for helping me to see just how weak and frail I really was, and still am._____________________________________________________________When it comes to suffering, after settling my mind about the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture: of course the first question to ask is: what does God’s word say about this subject? It was through the objective truth of Scripture that I wanted to interpret my subjective experiences, not the other way around. God’s word can be trusted, my fleeting thoughts and emotions can not always be trusted. There is a very common expression today: “follow your heart”. But even here, God tells us: Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” So once again, the point being that when it comes to suffering, or anything else really, we should interpret our experiences through the objective truth of Scripture, not the other way around, not by clichés like: “following your bliss” or “follow your heart”. Jesus, the Great Physician, lists the grim symptoms of our hearts: “out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander” (Matthew 15:19).There are numerous passages of Scripture that have come to mean a lot to me when it comes to suffering, here are a few:Paul tells us2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.Ephesians 1:11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will”. As Don often reminds us, there is no Plan B. God works all things according to the counsel of His will, not most things.. not some things… all things.. including pain and suffering.Romans 5:3-5 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.Anything that happens, suffering included, God either wills directly, or indirectly wills it by allowing it to happen.This set of verses, and many many other passages in Scripture, tells me that God is absolutely sovereign over all aspects of creation, including suffering. There are no maverick molecules running around outside of God’s sovereign control, this is my Father’s world. Suffering serves many purposes; directing us towards seeing our need for God, it happens so that we can comfort others who who may be going through the same experiences we have been through, it produces character and ultimately, hope. But the point is… even in the midst of suffering God is on His throne. When suffering happens and someone asks “where was God when X happened?”, the answer is He is in the same place now as He was when His Son was on the Cross. He is still in control.CS Lewis said “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”____________________________________________When it comes to questions about feeling as if I do not deserve what I am going through, or asking “why me?” when in the midst of suffering, I had come to see that the Fall has radically and pervasively affected all creation, including human nature, and God’s holiness was a more profound issue than I had originally thought. Isa. 6 made me realize that even sinless unfallen angels have to cover themselves when in His presence. If that is the case, then I now understand why Isaiah said ““Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”Outside of salvation, of having been justified by grace through faith, having been saved by works… sure… but not by my works, for by works no one will be saved. (see Romans 3:20-30; Galatians 2:16 and 3:10-12) Only by being clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ could I ever hope to stand before God. That being said, our very will itself is in bondage to sin. Our will prior to salvation is not free to do anything except to operate within this fallen nature, ie to sin. Mankind is not “free” in some kind of Libertarian sense. But this is not to say man is as evil as he could be, even someone like Hitler could have been more evil than he already was.The larger point is understanding our dire situation outside of Christ, and realizing I really have no right to ask “why me, what did I do to deserve X?” because that question carries with it the connotation that I somehow do not deserve to go through suffering. But humanity is fallen and sinful. What does a person like that… like me… really deserve? GK Chesterson once said “Original sin is the only doctrine that's been empirically validated by 2,000 years of human history.” So it seemed to me that I needed to be very cautious when thinking about what I do or do not deserve. In fact, I realized I do not want what I actually deserve at all, namely God’s righteous and just judgment for my sins. In reality I want grace and mercy, not justice.
We are the redeemed, the born again, the called-out ones, the forgiven, God’s Beloved, the co-heirs with Christ, the alive forevermore ones. In all this, we say Amen! to those in heaven shouting: “Salvation . . . belong(s) to our God.” (Rev. 19:1 NLT.) Back to him we sing: ‘not to us, Oh Lord, but to your Name be the glory forever and ever.’ Our previous non-significance has been entirely swept away in the streams of God’s mercy toward us. We confess: ‘Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in us and was given to us by God. We do not belong to ourselves, for God bought us with a high price. So, we must honor God with our bodies.’ (1 Cor. 6:19, personalized).2 Corinthians 5:1-21 NLT1. 2 Cor. 5:1-10 –Transformed ____________________________________________2. 2 Cor. 5:11-15 – Transformed __________________________________________3. 2 Cor. 5:16,17 – Transformed __________________________________________4. 2 Cor. 5:18-21 – Transformed __________________________________________
Few 3,000-year-old, written records are of any consequence to us in the 21st Century. But God’s Word stands tall, speaks forever Truth, reads like our daily news feeds. ‘A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.’ 2 Peter 3:8, NLT. Our God lives unhindered by the constraints time places upon us. What He created for illustrative purposes in ‘our distant past’ remains a potent reality in our present. His Plan ‘A’ (Genesis thru Revelation) hangs together seamlessly.2 Chronicles 7:11-22; John 2:16-21; 1 Corinthians 3:10-17, 6:12-20 2 Chronicles 7:11-22 – Solomon’s temple gets _________________________ John 2:16-21 – Jerusalem temple gets _________________________________ 1 Corinthians 3:10-17 – God chose _____________________________________ 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 – God’s chosen temple, __________________________
It's not about you...2 Corinthians 12:8-10 When I am weak, Christ is strongPsalm 73:26 My flesh may fail1 Peter 5:7 Cast your anxieties on HimRomans 8:26 The Spirit helps us in our weakness2 Corinthians 12:9 My grace is all your need, my power works best in weakness
Question for discussion: The people that God lovingly created, how does He redirect the motives, the aspirations, the lifestyle of His children to extend His Kingdom?Put yourself in God’s shoes, whose desire is for relationship, who has lost it with His people. How does He regain it?DiscussionJohn 15:26-27God gives us an advocate. Holy Spirit on the inside.John 14Counselor - Holy Spirit. Ultimate therapistRomans 8God gives us choice. He gives us an appetite for Him.Ephesians 1:2He gives us a powerpack - resurrection powerpackRomans 8:12-16Inner conviction - we cry Abba Father, as a child calling for his parentThe Holy Spirit as a thirst quencherJohn 7What does it mean to be Glorified? Why did Jesus have to die in order to be glorified and for the Spirit to be given?The answer: God redirects our focus with the Holy Spirit.Additional thoughts:How can I cultivate a love language that involves my every moment every day?How can I make him welcome/comfortable in my home?
One of the central figures in the life of the early church, and one of the least likely to find himself there, was Saul of Tarsus, known to us as the Apostle Paul. His faithful and vulnerable written communications to his friends and churches give us, even today in 2024, invaluable ‘how to’s’ for living the Christian life. It is fair to say he would never have seen coming the shifts in focus, the shift in loyalties, the shift in priorities. It was not the autobiography he would have planned to write.Acts 9:15,16, 2 Corinthians 11:16-28, Philippians 3:5-16, 2 Timothy 4:1-8 Acts 9:15,16 – Paul’s introduction _____________________________________ 2 Corinthians 11:16-28 – Paul’s defense ________________________________ Philippians 3:5-16 – Paul’s disclosure ___________________________________ 2 Timothy 4:1-8 – Paul’s conviction ____________________________________
Beyond a relationship with Jesus as Lord, beyond adoption into the Beloved, beyond eternal life, beyond forgiveness of sins – all this already too much to comprehend, too good to believe - there is the inscrutable and included and immeasurable, gift of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity. And this ‘gift’ is kaleidoscopically massive. If the disciples, after three years with Jesus, couldn’t grasp the full picture of what life was about to become, it’s little wonder that the new believers in first Century churches were sketchy in their understanding and slow to incorporate Jesus’ teachings into their everyday lives.John 14:16,17, Acts 9: 1-18, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 John 14:16,17 – the mystery of _________________________________________ Acts 9:1-18 – the mystery from _________________________________________ 1 Corinthians 12:1-11- the mysterious ___________________________________“Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!” Romans 11:33 NLT.“Who could ever wrap their minds around the riches of God, the depth of his wisdom, and the marvel of his perfect knowledge? Who could ever explain the wonder of his decisions or search out the mysterious ways he carries out his plans?” Romans 11:33 TPT.“Have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God, this deep deep wisdom? It’s way over our heads. We’ll never figure it out.” Romans 11:33 MSG.
Jesus’ death was the payment of our ransom, redeeming us out of the grip of sin and death. It was the turning point in the war between God and Satan. Victory (Satan’s ultimate defeat) was now determined with a fixed end date (unknowable to us). At Pentecost, Jesus furnished his now-redeemed ones with all the power and protection they would need in the battles to be faced as that date approached. His Pentecost gift, the Holy Spirit, would be their in-house life coach, intimate friend, battle strategist (prayer counselor), and director of Love’s communications.Proverbs 4:20-27, Luke 21:29-36 4:20-27 – A parent’s ______________________________________________ Luke 21: 29-33 – A prophetic _________________________________________ Luke 21: 34,35 – A priest’s ____________________________________________ Luke 21: 36 – A King’s _______________________________________________
Jesus’ death was the payment of our ransom, redeeming us out of the grip of sin and death. It was the turning point in the war between God and Satan. Victory (Satan’s ultimate defeat) was now determined with a fixed end date (unknowable to us). At Pentecost, Jesus furnished his now-redeemed ones with all the power and protection they would need in the battles to be faced as that date approached. His Pentecost gift, the Holy Spirit, would be their in-house life coach, intimate friend, battle strategist (prayer counselor), and director of Love’s communications.Proverbs 4:20-27, Luke 21:29-36 4:20-27 – A parent’s ______________________________________________ Luke 21: 29-33 – A prophetic _________________________________________ Luke 21: 34,35 – A priest’s ____________________________________________ Luke 21: 36 – A King’s _______________________________________________
Jesus, and the entire duration of his ministry, was a revelation of the Father’s plan. The disciples, and the crowds, often missed the truths constantly being opened up for them, tending instead to stay focused on the spectacular, like miracles of healing (even from the dead!) and crowd feeding and dominion over nature. These were meant simply to illustrate the dynamic truth of the Father’s love. Signs and wonders were never intended as the main event.John 14:15-28Seven (beyond spectacular) Eternal Promises – 15 – ______________________________________________________ 18 – ______________________________________________________ 19 – ______________________________________________________ 22 - ______________________________________________________ 23 – _____________________________________________________ 26 – _____________________________________________________ 27 - _____________________________________________________
This week we had a visit by special guests Duke and Marie Lancaster. Marie shares a message about the true meaning of the book of Revelation and Duke leads a ministry time following the message.Duke and Marie are mission mobilizers with Vineyard USA and visit various churches around the country, as well as internationally.
The unleashing of the Holy Spirit was a great pushing forward. It pushed the disciples forward along a path with no clear next steps. It pushed crowds of new believers in Jesus to quit old ways and begin to learn his ways. It pushed Jewish leadership to re-think beliefs and traditions and their manmade hierarchy. It soon brought pushback from that leadership in the form of resistance, anger, fear-fueled, murderous fury, and ultimately, widespread persecution of all those who claimed the name of Jesus as their Lord and Savior.Acts 7:48-60 1-47 – Stephen’s ______________________________________________ 48-53 – Stephen’s ____________________________________________ 54-60 – Stephen’s ___________________________________________
The Pentecost pyrotechnics in that upper room were the prelude, not the main event. They signaled the birthing of Jesus’ church and brought his disciples front and center in a brand-new Kingdom adventure. What began as a Spirit-powered, forward-propelling, impacted the disciples with such force they were instantaneously transformed. Through them, huge crowds would begin to be drawn to Jesus’ church. His church (pardon the pun) was off to a roaring start.Acts 2:11-41 11-16 – Holy Spirit ____________________________________________ 17 – 36 – Holy Spirit __________________________________________ 37 – 41 – Holy Spirit __________________________________________
PENTECOST SUNDAYThe Pentecost Event was an incisive Kingdom invasion, with Jesus not waiting for the disciples to attain to a state of full readiness. It was clearly a ready-or-not overwhelming. They had been told (Luke 24:49) they would be ‘clothed with power from on high,’ (NIV) or that ‘the power of heaven would fall upon them and wrap around them’ (TPT). This was a no turning back moment, resulting in them (and every disciple to follow through centuries to come) being infused with more life, more strength, more power, more courage, more insight, than they could possess on their own. They had undergone a radical Kingdom makeover.Luke 24:32-491. vv. 32-35 – Jesus ___________________________________________________2. vv. 36-40 – Jesus ___________________________________________________3. vv. 41- 43 - Jesus ___________________________________________________4. vv. 44 – 49 – Jesus _________________________________________________
For Jesus’ disciples, it wasn’t simply what they knew he could do that was a continual source of amazement, it was what he chose to do that kept them off balance. Daily, there seemed to be another of his choices that further opened their eyes to his priorities, those of the Kingdom. They probably gave up trying to figure out his course of action because it was at a level of spontaneity and creativity ridiculously beyond theirs. And each revelation was a challenge to their many preconceptions. I mean, healing the servant of a Roman military captain, this time, from a distance? What next?Luke 7:11-171. vv. 11-13a – Widowed woman _______________________________________2. vv. 13b – Bereft woman ______________________________________________3. vv. 14,15 – Lonely woman’s __________________________________________4. vv. 16,17 –News Flash: Vulnerable woman ____________________________“A mother's love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity. It dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path." Agatha Christie-"The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness." Honoré de Balzac"I want my children to have all the things I couldn't afford. Then, I want to move in with them." Phyllis Diller
The final week in Jerusalem with Jesus was palpably ominous with unnamed malice in the air. The Passover meal with him felt out of sync, wrenched from tradition, with more foreboding signs. Later, Judas’ betrayal revealed a still passive Messiah, unwilling to fight, even unsurprised at the surreal circumstances of his arrest. The next hours stretched out in hideous slow motion, ending in the unthinkable death of the One in whom all their hopes rested. This crushing ‘defeat’ devastated Jesus’ friends, setting them adrift in a sea of grief and trauma. Jesus’ resurrection once again flipped their worlds upside down, leaving them unsure what any of the past three and a half years was about. Seeing the resurrected Jesus so soon after having abandoned their friend en masse was, to say the least, uncomfortable.John 21:1-141. vv. 1-6 – (Luke 5: 1-11, John 15:5) – The Kingdom - ______________________2. vv. 7-11 – (Matthew 14:22-32) – The Kingdom - _________________________3. vv. 12-14 – (Luke 24:31-49) The Kingdom - ______________________________
Ever the unparalleled teacher, Jesus was intent on expanding his disciples’ understanding of the ways of his Father’s Kingdom. Step by step, so as not to overwhelm his disciples, he searched for occasions to illustrate it, to place its values within a memorable context. At times, it probably seemed to his band of friends that they were still processing the last revelation when something equally new and surprising (shocking?) was thrown at them. John 4:1-8a, 25-381. vv. 1-4 – non-____________________ an ear ________________________2. vv. 5-8a – _____________________________________________________3. vv. 25-28 – demonstrates ________________________________________4. vv. 31-34 – figurative _____________________________________________5. vv. 35-38 – love ___________________________________________________
The disciples’ heads reeled with every fresh aspect of this Kingdom to which Jesus constantly referred. Sometimes, the revelations were simply brand-new, never-before considered. At other times, the revelations were deeply counter-intuitive, harshly in conflict with prevailing thought and teaching, raising the ire of the religious elite and unnerving the disciples with the force of their imperious anger. But, mostly, for these uneducated guys, Jesus’ words were a breath of invigorating, fresh air.Mark 2:23-281. v. 23 – ____________________________________________________________2. vv. 24 – ___________________________________________________________3. vv. 25,26 – Declared kingdom _____________________________________4. vv. 27,28 – Declared kingdom ______________________________________
Jesus was the instructor, and the disciples were his open-air, traveling classroom of twelve. The constant crowds clamored for spectacle while each display was intended to show his students further aspects of the character of the Kingdom of his Father. Jesus often tired of the sensation-seeking of the people, frequently retiring alone to pray or sneaking off with his small band of friends. Jesus’ intentionality of these times away often failed to register with his apprentices, but the truths were tucked away by the Holy Spirit for future reference.Mark 9:30-371. v. 30 – Intense, _______________________________________________________2. vv. 31,32 – Intense ____________________________________________________3. vv. 33-37 – Intense ____________________________________________________
Jesus came embodying the Kingdom of God. All he did was à la Kingdom. Undoubtedly, it was also à la Galilee, the rural region where he had been raised. Once he had chosen the twelve young Jewish men who would become his representatives, his number one priority was to communicate to them the values, the ways, of his Father’s Kingdom. There was much for them to learn and even more to un-learn.John 2:1-111. vv. 1-5 – Kingdom value – __________________________________________2. vv. 6-10 – Kingdom value – _________________________________________3. v. 11 – Kingdom value - ____________________________________________
Three and a half years. One mission. No Plan ‘B.’ Mission now complete. Sin and death forever vanquished. Guilt and shame washed away, things of the past. Abundant life, the new and irreversible reality: signed, sealed, and delivered. Jesus’ Resurrection can never be a ‘then’ event. It is eternally the new normal, the Divine invitation to be included in this Kingdom of Resurrection – this Kingdom now ours.John 11:1-441. vv. 1-16 – ________________________________ of this Kingdom now ours2. vv. 17-37 – _______________________________ of this Kingdom now ours3. vv. 38-44 – _______________________________ of this Kingdom now ours
The most intense week in the life of Jesus is kick-started by an intense worship celebration as he makes his way into Jerusalem. There is also intense criticism and intense hatred in the air. No longer years or months or weeks, his ministry window is now just a few short, and very intense, days. But today, Jesus accepts, even welcomes, possibly craves, the praise and noisy chaos of his jubilant followers. He is aware of the contrasting atmosphere awaiting him elsewhere in this city that has his heart. His 3½ years of doing the work of his Father have all led to this pivotal week and the pulling together of the one common thread running throughout.Luke 19:35-44, John 9:1-411. The blind man – __________________________________________________2. The neighbors – ___________________________________________________3. The Pharisees – _____________________________________________________4. The man’s parents -__________________________________________________5. The disciples – ________________________________________________________
In the brief span of 3 ½ years, Jesus is tasked with the wildest of missions – to convey to an unsuspecting people, the height and depth and breadth of his Father’s love and to demonstrate the power, authority, majesty, and character of His kingdom; approximately 42 months to convincingly display this vast, long-misunderstood realm of his Father. At the direction of his Father, then, he selects twelve very ordinary, very ill-prepared, men to be trained and equipped as prototype disciples for every generation of believers who will follow. We are they.John 6:1-131. vv. 1-4 – No ________________________________________________wasted2. vv. 5-9 – No ________________________________________________wasted3. vv. 10-13 – No _____________________________________________ wasted
Jesus’ public ‘mission field’ was only about 3½ years. So very much to teach and to demonstrate in so very short a time! He spoke only the words of the Father because every word was of tremendous importance, every opportunity laden with crucial truth. His miracles were uniquely effective communicators of the powerful, loving riches of the Kingdom, this Kingdom soon to be conferred on these often-bewildered men who had been given him by his Father.John 4:43-541. vv. 43-46a – Galilee __________________________________________________2. vv. 46b-47a – Capernaum ___________________________________________3. vv. 47b-52 – Healing _________________________________________________4. vv. 53,54 – Kingdom growth _________________________________________Nothing can wholly satisfy the life of Christ within his followers except the adoption of Christ’s purpose toward the world he came to redeem. . . [Those] who are putting everything into Christ’s undertaking are getting out of life its sweetest and most priceless rewards.J. Campbell White (1909)
Bryon Anderson shares a personal testament about his journey through life learning about God's love, sharing stories about various ways God showed up for him and for his wife Joan.
For the law-keeping Jew, God was the fearsome, mountain-shaking Yahweh of history. To the wayward Jew, He was the all-patient One. To the forsaken Jew, God was the friend that sticks closer than a brother. To the beleaguered Jew, God was the Faithful and Holy One speaking through His prophets, promising punishment along with restoration and peace. To the Jew of Jesus’ day, the much-anticipated, prophesied promise of God spoke of a Messiah who would reign terror and vengeance and crushing defeat on their enemy, Rome, and in the process, restore Israel’s rightful sovereignty.Zephaniah 3:9-20, VOICE1. Zephaniah 3:9-13 – Promise of nations ___________________________________2. Zephaniah 3:14-17 – Promise of joy ____________________________________3. Zephaniah 3:18-20 – Promise __________________________________________
With the terrifyingly majestic encounter with Divine Glory still thundering in our ears from the base of Mount Sinai, we now race ahead four Centuries to ca. 1000 BC, to King David and his outpourings of love and gratitude for a very different aspect of one and the same God. He moves us from the meta-narrative to the micro-narrative, from Creation’s resplendence to acknowledging God as the Lover of his soul. David says, in Psalm 8: “I know you are the fascinating artist who fashioned it all! But when I look up and see such wonder and workmanship above, I have to ask you this question: Compared to all this cosmic glory, why would you bother with puny mortal man or be infatuated with Adam’s sons?” (TPT).Psalm 1391. vv. 1-6 – A Kingdom seeking ___________________________________________2. vv. 7-12 – A Kingdom reigning ________________________________________3. vv. 13-18 – A Kingdom attentive _______________________________________4. vv. 19-24 – A Kingdom requiring ______________________________________
The dizzying reality that we are now people of the Kingdom, joint heirs with Christ of the beauty and the bounty of God, continues to be a mystery we are called to embrace. We see all that Jesus modeled, all that he taught, all that he did to introduce the Kingdom. But what went before? What foretastes were given to help prepare undeserving hearts to receive the glories of such an inheritance? Well, in a way, the entire Old Testament story is a Kingdom primer, with repeated glimpses of power and glory and authority totally other, totally mesmerizing, totally sublime.Exodus 19:16–Exodus 20:211. 19: 16-25 – The approach of __________________________________________2. 20:1-17 – The voice of _______________________________________________3. 20: 18-21 – The response of __________________________________________
Since our adoption into the Kingdom of God, our lives have become an integral part of the Meta-Narrative, the over-arching Love Story that is found from Genesis to Revelation. We are the Beloved, the Church of the Living God, the Bride of Christ. There are multiple micro-narratives that abound, spinning out from innumerable, ceaseless sources, narratives which toll doom and despair, dystopian narratives without glimmer of light or hope, essays trafficking in fear and anxiety. But, Praise God!, we do not look to these for truth. Our hope, our confidence, is in the invincible Kingdom of God, full of Light and Truth in the face of Jesus.1. Isaiah 9:6-7 –Irrepressible _________________________________________2. John 1:5, Luke 4:16-21 -Undaunted ____________, Audacious __________3. Acts 1:8 -Pre-established ___________________________________________4. Hebrews 12:23-29 -Unshakeable, ___________________________________Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
The Kingdom of God and light are inseparable. In John’s Revelation of the New Jerusalem, he saw: “The city has no need for the sun or moon to shine, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.” (Revelation 21:23) and: “Night will be no more. They will never need the light of the sun or a lamp, because the Lord God will shine on them.” (Revelation 22:5). Later, in his Gospel account, John records Jesus saying: “While I am with you, it is daytime and we must do the works of God who sent me while the light shines. For there is coming a dark night when no one will be able to work. As long as I am with you my life is the light that pierces the world’s darkness.” (John 9:4-5).1. Luke 2:25-32 – The Light ___________________________ (Isaiah 9:2, Isaiah 60:1-3)2. John 1:4-5 – The Light ______________________________________________3. John 8:12 – The Light, ______________________________________________4. Ephesians 5:8-10 – The Light ________________________________________
Relational discord, power struggles, secret plotting, angry shouting, division along ‘party’ lines, all these things are totally absent in the Kingdom of God and the life of the Trinity. There, there is Shalom. Only Shalom. Always Shalom. Spirit fruit is forever in abundant evidence. And when the Kingdom broke in on earth, that Shalom-saturated atmosphere, through Jesus, began its confrontational spreading. Its presence so rankled Jewish leadership early on in Jesus’ public ministry that their plotting of Jesus’ death began. Dietrich Bonhoeffer pointedly wrote: ‘There are only two ways for man to encounter Jesus; man must die, or Jesus must be put to death.’ 1. John 5:17-20 – obedient ______________________________________________2. John 14:8-11 – not just alike, ___________________________________________3. Luke 22:41-42 – submissive _____________________________________________4. Luke 23:44-46 – faith-filled _____________________________________________5. John 20:11-17 – Jesus called him _______________________________________
One of Isaiah’s prophecies regarding Jesus, states: “. . . He possessed no distinguishing beauty or outward splendor to catch our attention – nothing special in his appearance to make us desire him.” (53:2, TPT.) This physical ordinariness hid Jesus’ majesty from public view. His humble origin, place of upbringing, rural accent and clothing, all kept his full identity well concealed until his ‘hour had come.’ His disciples spent three and a half years doing double takes at the surprising things he said and did in their presence. In all that time, what they were witnessing, firsthand, was the mesmerizing, sometimes shocking, Kingdom way of life, right before their eyes.Luke 6:27-361. vv. 27-31 – Kingdom love is characterized by _____________________________2. vv. 32-35a– Kingdom love is characterized by ____________________________3. vv. 35b,36 – Kingdom love is ____________________________________________
Jesus. To the Old Testament Israelites, he was the prophesied and much-longed-for, Deliverer. To John the Baptist, he was the Greater One. To the disciples, a Rabbi-become-Friend. To the religious rulers, a threat to their status. To the Romans, just another Jewish nuisance. To the Church, life itself and so much more! Isaiah 9:6, VOICE, says it like this: “His name? His name we’ll know in many ways.” Each one who encounters him does so at a point of need and thereafter knows him as the needed answer, the needed rescue. So, the big question is, who is he?Colossians 1:12-201. vv. 12-14 - The Christ as _______________________________________________2. vv. 15-17 - The Christ as _______________________________________________3. vv. 18-20 – The Christ as _______________________________________________The four living creatures worshiped, singing:“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty! The Was, the Is, and the Coming!”The twenty-four elders worshiped, surrendering their crowns, singing:“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory, honor, and power, for you created all things, and by your plan they were created and exist.” (from Revelation 4, TPT)
God the Father meticulously chooses times to accomplish His will. But strangely, these ‘times’ are largely unannounced beforehand. So, at a time when thousands were having to travel from their homes to the cities of their forefathers for the census, one young couple, inconspicuous in the crowd, made their way from Nazareth to Bethlehem. While there, their baby boy was born in the obscurity of a cattle shed. No one but a group of unnamed shepherds were informed of this nearby birth. It was they who received the exclusive, Royal invitation to be the baby’s first visitors.Luke 2:1-20For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.Today, in the city of David, a Liberator has been born for you!He is the promised Anointed One, the Supreme Authority.. . .today in Bethlehem a rescuer was born for you. He is the Lord Yahweh, the Messiah.Luke 2:11, KJV, NIV, VOICE, TPT1. KJV –________________________________________a Saviour, Christ the Lord2. NIV – A Savior_________________________________________, Christ the Lord3. VOICE – A Liberator_______________________________, the Anointed One,the Supreme Authority4. TPT –_________________________a rescuer, the Lord Yahweh, the Messiah
Laodicea – (7 of 7)The seventh and final letter dictated to John, in Revelation, addresses the final type of waywardness exhibited in the churches. When believers in Jesus were on fire with love they were like tall, flaming torches boldly announcing their faith to everyone around and, in particular, to their enemies, both Jews and Romans. But by blending in, they were less noticed, less hassled. The seduction to stay active but in a non-spiritual, non-threatening, way was great. The wealthy commercial hub around the Laodiceans was a perfectly convenient environment in which to swim ‘under the radar.’Revelation 3:14-221. v. 14 – Jesus claims his role ____________________________________________2. vv. 15, 16 – Jesus expresses ____________________________________________3. vv. 17-19 – Jesus proposes ___________________________________________4. vv. 20-22 – Jesus ______________________________________________________
Philadelphia – (6 of 7)The letter to the church in Philadelphia was most likely the one received by all seven churches with the greatest enthusiasm, the greatest encouragement. Each letter was a kind of Kingdom report card or something akin to an employee’s annual review and was received with a measure of trepidation. But this letter! Not just ‘E’ for effort, but a full-on congratulations for the way the members faced trials and persecutions and dug deep wells of joyful worship to sustain them in their holy faith. Philadelphia’s was, and continues to be, the archetypal church.Revelation 3: 7-131. v. 7 – Jesus claims Truth, Holiness, and ________________________________2. v. 8 – Jesus _________________________________________________________3. v. 9 – Jesus _________________________________________________________4. v. 10-13 – Jesus _____________________________________________________Joy is our portion in his fellowship. . . It is his joy . . . a robust joy, with no small element of outright hilarity in it. For nothing less than joy can sustain us in the kingdom rightness that possesses us, which truly is a weighty and powerful thing to bear. Dallas Willard-----------------------------------------------------Joy is a celebration of the ‘crowded kindnesses of God’ in daily life. Alexander Maclaren
Sardis – (5 of 7)From the very beginning of the church Jesus birthed through his disciples, there were wobbles, some discouraging, some devastating. Sixty years along in this tendency, Jesus found it necessary to address these problems to reset the then-current course and to set the bar for future generations of his church, including, and more importantly for us, those in the 21st Century. His judgments are just and his love is impeccable.Revelation 3:1-61. v. 1a – The Lover of our Souls __________________________________________2. v. 4 – The Lover of our Souls ___________________________________________3. vv. 1b-3, 5,6 – The Lover of our Souls ___________________________________
Thyatira – (4 of 7)On this first Sunday of Advent, 2023, focusing on the theme of Hope, there is evident, a startling contrast between the sweet Babe in the manger, the serene young couple gazing on their newborn, and the towering, fearsome and fiery, image of the victorious forever, risen Son of God, who has been given the Name above all Names. It is He, ‘the One whose voice was like the roar of many rushing waters’ (Rev. 1:15, TPT) who dictates this fourth of seven letters to His church.“Ask me to give you the nations and I will do it, and they shall become your legacy. Your domain will stretch to the ends of the earth. And you will shepherd them with unlimited authority, crushing their rebellion as an iron rod smashes jars of clay!”Psalm 2:8,9 TPT.Revelation 2:18-291. v. 18 - The ‘Babe of Bethlehem’ ____________________________2. vv. 19, 24,25 – The ‘Babe of Bethlehem’ ____________________3. vv. 20-23 – The ‘Babe of Bethlehem’ ________________________4. vv. 26-29 – The ‘Babe of Bethlehem’ ________________________(Isaiah 9:2, 2 Peter 1:19, Rev. 22:16)
Pergamum – (3 of 7)“. . . Jesus, the Anointed One, unveils the truth wrapped in tender mercy.”John 1:17, TPT“Your Word is truth!” John 17:17, TPTThe prophetic image of Jesus with a double-edged sword coming from his mouth, might have been terrible were it not for the Word’s healing instruction. It was a visual of the double-edged beauty of truth and mercy surgically piercing hearts to clear the way to wholeness. The Lover of our souls now dictates a third letter, this time as the One who is holding the purity of his beloved to the highest standard, that of truth. And this, so that he might see everyone come to repentance and belonging. His supreme invitation to his purified bride, his beloved, is to the wedding feast.Revelation 2:12-171. v. 12 - The Lover’s _________________2. v. 13 – The Lover’s _________________3. v. 14-16 – The Lover’s _____________4. v. 17 – The Lover’s ________________
Smyrna – (2 of 7)As the ‘firstborn from the dead,’ Jesus is literally the victorious, living proof of life after death. He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings! He is the Alpha and the Omega, the author and finisher of Salvation, the Lover of souls now his. Now and for all eternity, he stands in enemy-annihilating power and beyond-describing majesty. “[Jesus] is destined to reign as King until all hostility has been subdued and placed under his feet. And the last enemy to be subdued and eliminated is death itself.” (1 Corinthians 15:25,26). The vast scope of Salvation enfolds the whole Church securely in its love-oozing embrace.Revelation 2:8-111. v. 8 – the Lover’s _______________ declaration2. v. 9 – the Lover’s________________ declaration3. v. 10 – the Lover’s ______________ declaration4. v. 11 - the Lover’s ______________ declaration
Ephesus (1 of 7)Jesus introduced the Kingdom of his Father to as many as he could reach. He demonstrated it through miracles and parables and his own lifestyle and taught all who would listen. He intentionally put himself in harm’s way rather than compromise the purity of his love mission. Driven by that love, he submitted himself to arrest, false accusations, beating, crucifixion and death. He rose triumphant as the ‘firstborn from the dead’ gaining the right to intercede for, and lead, his church-about-to-be-born, then and now.Revelation 2:1-71. v.1 – the Lover’s all-seeing ____________________________________________2. vv. 2,3,6 – the Lover’s sincere _________________________________________3. vv. 4,5– the Lover’s ___________________________________________________4. v. 7 – the Lover’s elaborate ___________________________________________
Jesus’ disciples, after three years of walking with him, watching him teach, heal, and interact with the crowds, often were left befuddled by him. Plus, his miracles! Only Peter, James and John had the rare privilege of being present at his Transfiguration, and they could hardly cope with what they were experiencing. Seeing Jesus alive again after the Resurrection was also beyond their word capacity. Watching him ascend into the clouds stupefied them. What more could possibly come?Revelation 1: 1-201. vv. 1-3 – unveiled ____________________________________ of prophecy2. vv. 4-8 – unveiled ________________________________ of glorified Christ3. vv. 9-17a – unveiled _________________________________ of risen Christ4. vv. 17b-20 – unveiled __________________________ of victorious Savior
Much of what Jesus taught his disciples had to pass through the filter of their current cultural understanding, where his lessons would frequently get stuck. Many times, the disciples failed to truly ‘get’ what Jesus meant in his parables and stories and illustrations. These times required asking more questions for a clearer explanation. Some of these instances left Jesus incredulous at their slowness, their seeming inability to believe what he told them.
Matthew 5:14-16; Isaiah 49:6
Matt. 5: 14 – The Light of the World –___________________________________
Isaiah 49:6 - A Light for the nations – ___________________________________
Matt. 5: 15,16a – Don’t _______________________________________________
Matt 5: 16 – Let your light ____________________________________________
“You are like that illuminating light. Let your light shine everywhere you go, that you may illumine creation, so men and women everywhere may see your good actions, may see creation at its fullest, may see your devotion to me, and may turn and praise your Father in heaven because of it.” Matthew 5:16, VOICE
When God’s Majesty is seen accommodating the relative inferiority of mankind, it staggers the (human) imagination. Pondering the ever-expanding universe alongside the miniscule planet on which we live is equally an exercise in jaw-dropping awe. From time immemorial brave attempts have been made to articulate Creation’s beauty and expansiveness - none, ultimately, having succeeded.
“My intentions are not always yours, and I do not go about things as you do. My thoughts and My ways are above and beyond you, just as heaven is far from your reach here on earth.” Isaiah 55:8,9, VOICE
The greatest good fortune for a man of thought is to have fathomed what can be fathomed, and peacefully to respect what is unfathomable. Goethe
Psalm 8:1-9; John 1:1-14 1. vv. 1-5 - Light ___________________________________________________
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vv. 6-9 – Light __________________________________________________
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vv. 10–14 – Light ________________________________________________
“I look at your macro-skies, dark and enormous, your handsome sky-jewelry, moon and stars mounted in their settings. Then I look at my micro-self and wonder, why do you bother with us? Why take a second look our way?” Psalm 8:3,4, The MESSAGE
We have become the righteousness of God in Christ. He declares us flawless in his eyes. He, right now, sees us as His completed masterworks – His Magnum Opus. We refer to God’s Kingdom breaking in as the Now and Not-Yet (that’s according to our timeline thinking). God has no Not-Yet. He lives in the Eternal Now. “So, dear friends, don’t let this one thing escape your notice: a single day counts like a thousand years to the Lord Yahweh, and a thousand years counts as one day.” (2 Peter 3:8)
Galatians 5:16-25, Romans 6:11-14
vv. 16 -18 – growing into __________ power, ________ freedom of the Spirit
vv. 19-21 – living the ___________________________________ of the Old Man
vv. 22-25 – ____________________ in, ______________________ after, the Spirit
Joy _____________________________________Peace __________________________________Patience ________________________________Kindness ________________________________A life ____________________________________Faith ____________________________________Gentleness ______________________________
Strength _________________________________
“The Holy Spirit of God has sealed you in Jesus Christ until you experience your full salvation. So never grieve the Spirit of God or take for granted his holy influence in your life.” Ephesians 4:30, TPT.
Life in the Kingdom of God is lived in stark contrast with life in the ‘kingdom’ of unredeemed people. The differences were constantly highlighted by Jesus’ way of life, his teachings, and the revealing of the intimacy of his relationship with his Father. Whether for those seeking to know more, to understand more, or for those wishing to put him on the spot, to trap him, Jesus bluntly challenged current thinking. He had an urgency to unveil the contents of hearts and provide immediate opportunities to grow up into Kingdom likeness.
“Your ancestors have also been taught ‘Love your neighbors and hate the one who hates you.’ However, I say to you, love your enemy, bless the one who curses you, do something wonderful for the one who hates you, and respond to the very ones who persecute you by praying for them.” Mark 5:43,44, TPT.
Luke 10: 25-37 1. vv. 25-28 – Poisoned _______________________________________
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vv. 29-32 – Familiar __________________________________________
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vv. 33-35 – Uncomfortable ___________________________________
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vv. 36,37 - Growth ____________________________________________
Through the scrap heap of broken humanity, our Heavenly Father walked and found pearls of great worth and precious treasures and, at the cost of His Son’s life, purchased us as His own. Having redeemed us, adopted us, cleansed us, forgiven us, imputed to us his righteousness, and given us His Spirit, he now works meticulously and ceaselessly to bring us to full, Glory-reflecting completion.
“I’m fully convinced that the One who began this glorious work in you will faithfully continue the process of maturing you and will put his finishing touches to it until the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6, TPT
1 Peter 1:22-25, 2:1-10
1 Peter 1:22-25 – a ____________________________voice
1 Peter 2: 1-8 – a ______________________________stone
1 Peter 2: 9,10 – a ____________________________people
“We can all draw close to [Jesus] with the veil removed from our faces. And with no veil we all become like mirrors who brightly reflect the glory of the Lord Jesus. We are being transfigured into his very image as we move from one brighter level of glory to another. And this glorious transfiguration comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:18, TPT.
The future Apostle Paul was big time disrupted when he fell into the hands of the Heavenly Potter on the road to Damascus. With more love than can be put into words, he was utterly broken down, firmly pressed to remove all excess content, slapped back onto the center of the wheel, pure water added, then step by step remolded into the one who would, with childlike enthusiasm, convey to us the glories of the plan of Salvation. Two millennia later, we labor under manmade add-ons to this great gift, add-ons that muddy our understanding and complicate what was never meant to be complicated. We need, once again, to be free to run with childlike abandon into the Father’s arms.
Romans 12: 1, (9-21)
v. 1a - What should be __________________________ to God’s marvelous mercies?
v. 1b –_____________________________to be his sacred, living sacrifices.
v. 1c –______________________, experiencing all that delights his heart.
v. 1d – this becomes your genuine ________________________________
Forever in the heart of God was restoring to relationship the people he had created. This plan, to redeem humanity from the darkness of God-absence, was announced in Genesis 3:15: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” The Crucifixion ‘struck Jesus’ heel’ and simultaneously ‘crushed Satan’s head.’ The Resurrection revealed the phenomenal magnitude of the Father’s plan, swinging open the doorway for gathering us to Himself. Pentecost signed, sealed, and delivered all the promises of Jesus in the indwelling of his Spirit.
The 24 elders surrendered their crowns before the throne, singing:
“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory, honor, and power, for you created all things, and by your plan they were created and exist.”
Revelation 4:11, TPT
Romans 5: 1-11
vv. 1,2 – God ____________________________________His Righteousness to us
vv. 3-5 – God _______________________His Love in the Holy Spirit’s living in us
vv. 6-8 – God ______________________________His love in Jesus’ death for us
vv. 9-11 – God __________________________us to joyous, eternal relationship
Special guests Duke and Marie Lancaster. Marie shares about the value of honor in the Kingdom of God. Duke prays after the message and shares words of knowledge and encouragement with members of VCP (this part is cut off for privacy).
The abundant life, which is ours in Jesus, has an inexhaustible supply, an overflowing list of provisions. God, the Father is a prodigal Father, in that He is wastefully extravagant in his love for us – all because of Jesus. He invites his children to draw near to Him and His abundant provision, to be loosed from the chains of sin and guilt and shame and be united in ‘free indeed’ freedom with Him.
“Lord Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, says: “Come back to me! By returning and resting in me you will be saved. In quietness and trust you will be made strong. But you refused.” Isaiah 30:15, TPT. “When he saw the vast crowds of people, Jesus’ heart was deeply moved with compassion, because they seemed weary and helpless, like wandering sheep without a shepherd.” Matthew 9:36, TPT.
Psalm 23: 1-3a
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v. 1 – A sheep’s source of guaranteed ____________________________
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v. 2 – A sheep’s source of guaranteed ____________________________
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v. 3a –A sheep’s source of guaranteed ___________________________
21st Century disciples of Jesus find themselves a Re-created people, a Pentecost people, a Beloved people, a Missional people, a ‘Being’ people, and fully equipped to respond to today’s wide-ranging set of challenges - as a people of JOY. With endless love and a changeless Savior, this peculiar people can still stand, can still bask in confidence in the award-winning power of the living Word of God. Never has a people known greater provision. Never has a people known such gifted, daily replenishment of all that is needed of compassion and mercy for the journey.
“My purpose in telling you [about my love and living in it] is so that the JOY
I experience will fill your hearts with overflowing gladness.”
JESUS, John 15:11, TPT
Luke 15:4 - 7 –__________________________________= JOY in the Kingdom
Luke 15: 8 – 10 – _________________________________ = JOY in the Kingdom
Luke 15: 11 – 24 - ________________________________ = JOY in the Kingdom
“Because [Jesus’] heart was focused on the JOY of knowing that you would
be his, he endured the agony of the cross and conquered its humiliation,
and now sits at the right hand of the throne of God!”
Hebrews 12: 2b, TPT
We are God’s invited ones, His chosen ones, His beloved ones. The language of the Kingdom of Heaven is rich with the theme of relationship and friendship and loving restoration. Through our fallen, Adamic filters, we hear the invitation as: ‘come set up the tables, do the shopping, prepare the meal, stay in the kitchen, and don’t leave before you’ve cleaned up.’ Grace flows in abundance through the entire story of God’s calling to His people, but it often gets skewed arriving in our ears as: earn, struggle, submit, be ashamed. The mercantile world we live in has little concept of love, mercy, hope, joy, or peace. What we have is a translation problem.
“I promise you this – the Holy Spirit will come upon you and
you will be seized with power. And you will be my messengers . . .”
Acts 1:8, TPT
John 1:12 – the invitation to ___________________________________________
John 15: 15b -17 – the invitation to ____________________________________
John 17: 20-26 - the invitation to ______________________________________
“Come,” says the Holy Spirit and the Bride in divine duet. Let everyone who hears this duet join them in saying, “Come.” Let everyone gripped with spiritual thirst say, “Come.” And let everyone who craves the gift of living water come and drink it freely. “It is my gift to you! Come.” Revelation 22:17, TPT
When we, as a lost, broken, sin-ensnared, people collided with the since-Creation Plan of the Universe-creating, Salvation-of-mankind planning, Redeeming, God, the outcome was a re-created people, a Pentecost people, a beloved people, a missional people. We are adopted. We have been given abundant, eternal life. We have been made ambassadors of reconciliation. We are called as Jesus’ witnesses all the way to the ends of the earth. We are to grow into being daily, living examples of in-Christ life. But, to what end? Is there a bigger picture yet? Is there a further target?
Ephesians 1:1-14
vv. 5,6 – that His love over us would be ________________________________
- vv. 11-13 –that we would bring _______________________________________
v. 14 – that we would be ______________________________________________
What we do every time we pray is to confess our impotence and [God’s] sovereignty.
Knowing God, J. I. Packer (1926-2020)
In a magnanimous show of Eternal Love, Jesus came to live amongst us. He chose to die in our place. He rose from the grave to share resurrection life with us. He sent his Spirit to be our Helper in more ways than we can imagine. He equips us with his joy, his peace, his presence, his promises. He gifts us with an abundance of provision staggering in all attempts to quantify. He stands us up in our weakness and guarantees our ‘arrival’ at holiness – his gift, proving we are his beloved people. Paul writes: “ . . . I’m fully convinced that the One who began this glorious work in you will faithfully continue the process of maturing you and will put his finishing touches to it until the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6, TPT.
Ephesians 6:10-18
1. v. 10 – strength supernaturally________________________________________
2. v. 11 – complete set of armor ________________________________________
3. vv. 12, 13 – victory in combat ________________________________________
4. vv. 14-18 – the armor – ______________________________________________
A Pentecost People
What we call waiting for God, God calls maturing His children. What we call late or 11th hour answers to prayer, God calls perfect timing. So, the timing of the sending out of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was another of God’s divinely engineered steps toward fulfillment of His ‘Pentecost People Plan.’ The Holy Spirit’s extravagant arrival forever fixed this event in the hearts of the disciples. They were instantaneously empowered for service, energized to engage in ministry, possible solely with Holy Spirit’s vigor, enabled to invite the miraculous, and to evangelize. Each successive generation of Pentecost People (i.e. us) has had the high privilege and holy responsibility to pass along what was gleaned over a lifetime.
Ephesians 4:13-16 1. v. 13 – the __________________________________________of Pentecost
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v. 14 – the growth _______________________________________________
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v. 15 – the growth ______________________________________________
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v.16 – the growth ______________________________________________
The Salvation of every individual is the premeditated, Eternal plan lodged in, and launched from, the heart of the Father. Jesus embodied that plan and brought it to fruition by his submission to death on the cross. He released the powerful impact of that plan by his rising from the dead, by being the firstborn of a new family of believers, all brothers and sisters (Rom. 8:29). That divine transaction, ‘the bread and the wine,’ still causes dead bones to live again and become an army, a re-created people. We are that people, the church of the Living God.
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Romans 1:18-32 – A people _________________________________________
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Ephesians 4:17-32 – A people ________________________________________
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Ephesians 3:14-21 – A people _________________________________________
For Jesus’ disciples, the Pentecost event initiated in them, gave birth through them, Jesus’ Church. For us, Pentecost shapes, gives current expression to, the Church into which we were born. We have the benefit of 2,000 years of the Church’s history, with all her astonishing growth, her cringeworthy errors, and her courageous perseverance. Here we are, the Church in 2023, battered by the scars of our past and blessed with the staggering blessing of now-at-home-in-us Holy Spirit. We have this moment of remembering so we might re-center ourselves on, re-commit ourselves to, our high and most-different calling. This is the Day.We believe that God is the Eternal King. He is an infinite, unchangeable Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, goodness, justice, power, and love. From all eternity, He exists as the One Living and True God in three persons of one substance, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, equal in power and glory.1. To the Father – we commit to ________________________________________2. To the Son - we commit to ___________________________________________3. To the Holy Spirit – we commit to _____________________________________with striving, childlike surrender to the fullness of Salvation’s provisions, desperately counting on your ever-faithful promises, trusting, however feebly, in the effectiveness of the stunning, always-available-to-us, offer of your forgiveness,
Three long days. 72 hours. Troubled sleep. Lots of pacing and avoiding eye contact with the others. A few forced attempts at prayer each day. Mounting stress. Each evening, watching the sun fade in the west brought renewed questioning, thinly disguising nagging doubts. Yes, Jesus had risen from the dead. Of that, all were convinced. But his continued talk of going away, which they had always hoped was meant to convey some hidden truth like so many of his parables, had always left them feeling uneasy, scared even. And now, it had happened and here they were, secreted away in a room in Jerusalem – waiting. 1. Job 14:14 – the waiting of __________________________________ 2. Psalm 27:13,14 – the waiting of _____________________________ 3. Isaiah 8:17 – the waiting of _________________________________ 4. Habakkuk 2:3 –_________________________for a waiting prophet 5. Romans 8:25 – _________________________ for a waiting church 6. Galatians 5:5 – _________________________ for a waiting church
Chris Mabey presents a message focusing on the passover meal, the last meeting the disciples would have with Jesus. Jesus washes their feet and shows his love and example of service to God and the Kingdom. 1. Leadership style - Washes the feet of His disciples John 13:1-172. Jesus's source of power3. Continues to love in spite of knowing He'd be betrayed4. New commandment: "Love one another as I have loved you" John 13:345. What is our ministry/leadership gift?
Twelve run-of-the-mill, invisible-to-society, guys are handpicked by the God of Creation to get to know, intimately, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords in the person of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, their Redeemer. It took three years of repeated, brief but intense, flashes of this incomprehensible reality for them to settle in their hearts and minds that they’d been chosen to set out on a holy, lifegiving journey, one that was already in progress. More challenging still was grasping the unmooring truth that it was a choosing, not because of them, but because of a love impossibly bigger than they would ever be able to put into words.Luke 9: (18-27), 28-36 v. 28 - major shift in ______________________________________ vv. 29- major shift in _____________________________________ vv. 30-32 – major shift in _________________________________ vv. 33-36 – major shift in _________________________________
If the disciples’ heads weren’t spinning literally, they certainly were, figuratively. Each time Jesus spent time with them after his Resurrection, their experience of his alive-again-from-the-tomb presence was dizzyingly surreal. How was this possible? How was all this God’s plan, His best? How were they to make sense of all that their eyes had seen, and their hearts had suffered? And then the sheepishness and shame of having run away, leaving him alone at the worst possible time? And didn’t Jesus seem more loving than ever, more interested in spending time with them? They obviously had failed to grasp something critically important from his teachings.John 15:1-17 1. vv. 1-4 – The one _______________________________________________________ 2. vv. 5-8 – The one _______________________________________________________ 3. vv. 9-13 – The one _____________________________________________________ 4. vv. 14-17 – The one ____________________________________________________
Unlike any Rabbi they’d ever heard of, Jesus seemed so much like one of the guys. Yes, he wielded astonishing power and authority, did miracles, and scared them witless sometimes, but mostly Jesus spent time with his little band of brothers as if he really liked just being with them. It was hard to know what to expect from him as there were so many ordinary shared times, times of laughter and casual talk, times of travel and times of fatigue, and then, those times of wonderment that left them speechless. If only Jesus had been clearer about when they were to pay attention, when to be most alert, when to anticipate the things of greatest importance.Luke 5:1-111. vv. 1-4a – typical _________________________________________2. v. 4b – atypical ___________________________________________3. v. 5 – typical ______________________________________________4. vv. 6,7 – atypical __________________________________________5. vv. 8- 10a – astonishing ____________________________________6. vv. 10b–11 – astonishing __________________ & _____________________
John Wimber, Founder of the Vineyard movement, would say, ‘Everybody gets to play.’ To that end, next Sunday, we all get to be the message. Here’s the loose structure that I see for our time together:Letting ourselves be inspired by thinking of the six commitments of Jesus that enabled him to finish the mission he’d been given: complete the missionwatch for distractionskeep in prayer touchdemonstrate gracestay visibleooze forgivenessa.(We’ll be among friends so) let’s share how we have experienced the leading/empowering of the Holy Spirit in any of these commitments. What has that done in our lives, for our faith? for our excitement about the Gospel message? Other? (there’s no one right answer. God so loves us that He works uniquely in each heart.)ORb.put artistic gifts to creating something that in some way reflects one or all of these commitments. ORc.What Scriptures illustrate one or all of these commitments? ORd.What are the takeaways for us this Resurrection Sunday?ORe.Whatever the Holy Spirit is prompting us to share, seemingly related or not (FYI: it will relate, don’t worry!)Above all, let’s make this a true celebration! (Dare I say, Have fun?)‘By “the Lord” what I mean is the Spirit, and in any heart where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is liberty. Now all of us . . . reflect the glory of the Lord as if we are mirrors; and so we are being transformed, metamorphosed, into this same image from one radiance of glory to another, just as the Spirit of the Lord accomplishes it.’ 2 Corinthians 3:17,18, The VOICE.
Commitment #6 – Ooze ForgivenessIt may be that the most challenging aspect of ministry for Jesus was reining in the desires of his heart, waiting for the Father’s word, the Father’s timing. Seeing the crowds, as if lost and without a shepherd was deeply moving for him. Waiting to go to Mary and Martha until after Lazarus was dead and buried may have cost him his sleep. Maybe walking past certain villages that he knew housed people who were sad and in distress may have prompted some earnest prayer, even entire nights in refreshing, perspective-renewing fellowship with the Father. The encounter with the woman with the issue of blood may have been a surprise, a divine appointment for the Divine, causing an overwhelming surge of desire not only to heal, but to forgive.1. Luke 23:32-34 –Forgiveness oozing to __________________________________2. Luke 23:39-43 – Forgiveness oozing to __________________________________3. Luke 22:31-34; 54-62, John 21:15-19 – Forgiveness oozing to ______________________
Commitment #5 – Stay VisibleAs controversy over Jesus and his teachings mounted and Jewish opposition grew hotter and more violent, the disciples became increasingly concerned for his safety, while Jesus simply seemed more focused, more determined than ever to forge ahead. On multiple occasions he exposed the hypocrisy of the Synagogue rulers, calling them snakes in the grass, the offspring of poisonous vipers, tombs covered with fresh coats of white paint, sons of hell. On other occasions Jesus pointedly accused them of disobeying God’s laws boasting of their obedience to their manmade laws. He refused to be silenced by adversity, refused to go under the radar because of threats, refused to waiver from the mission he’d been given.Luke 3:20-30 – Declaring himself _______________________________________Matthew 21:10-16 – Declaring _________________________________________Matthew 21:23-27 – Declaring himself _________________________________Matthew 26:36-46 – Daring ___________________________________________When Jesus took his last breath, he was at his most vulnerable, his most visible,naked and lifted up from the earth in humiliation and pain, completing the mission.
Commitment #4 – Demonstrate GraceFirst on the list: Complete the Mission. Second: Watch for Distractions. Third: Keep in Prayer Touch. Next, hone the skill of Demonstrating Grace. One dictionary describes ‘grace’ as a disposition of kindness, courtesy, and clemency. Jesus’ humanity was obliged to cultivate this temperament, this way of his being in the world. Grace is not spotlighted when all is well, when love is abundant, when circumstances are a blessing, a soul comfort. Grace is called upon in adversity, in moments of rejection, of insult, of harassment, of abuse, even in moments of frustration. And grace is found wanting in those trying circumstances if not having been developed well in advance (In Hebrew, Matthew 12:34 reads: ‘Truly the heart awakens and the mouth speaks’). John 13:1-17 -Grace demonstrated ___________________________________ Luke 22:14-23 –Grace demonstrated __________________________________ Mark 14:27-31 – Grace demonstrated _________________________________“God’s marvelous grace has manifested in person, bringing salvation for everyone. This same grace teaches us how to live each day as we turn our backs on ungodliness and indulgent lifestyles, and it equips us to live self-controlled, upright, godly lives in this present age.”Titus 2:11,12, TPT.
Commitment #2 – Beware of DistractionsAt the outset of Jesus’ going public, he came to the Jordan to submit to baptism by his cousin John, known as the Baptizer. Coming up out of the water, God’s shout reverberated from the clouds His blessing, pride in, and love for, His Son, Jesus. Mark, in his Gospel account, writes that immediately following that event the Holy Spirit whisked Jesus away to an uninhabited desert region (1:12, TPT). In Matthew’s account he records it was to reveal [Jesus’] strength against the accuser (3:1, TPT). It is extraordinary that, as a final step in preparedness for the journey ahead, the Father would choose, for His Beloved Son in whom He is well pleased, forty days of such extreme physical and spiritual testing.1. Luke 8:19-21, John 2:1-11 – The distraction of ____________________________2. Matthew 16: 21-23 – The distraction of _________________________________3. John 2:23-25 – The distraction of _______________________________________4. John 6:1-15 – The distraction of ________________________________________We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all – all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help. Hebrew 4:15 The MESSAGE
Commitment #1 - Complete the AssignmentIt’s easy to imagine Jesus savoring the anonymity of the village of Nazareth, the day-to-day family and woodshop happenings, the quiet countryside, the hills, the streams, the festivals, the annual trips to Jerusalem for Passover. To be known as Joseph’s son, the carpenter of the village, would have brought familiarity, stability. As his time came to launch out from that cocooning lifestyle, his thoughts would have been preoccupied with the wild unknown of this new and foreign way of being in the world. There would have been a ‘no turning back’ awareness, a need to say many goodbyes, a chilling separation from family and friends, a whole series of questions to be answered. Because the assignment was colossal in scope, there needed to be a firm resolve, that, once begun, this assignment, this mission, had to go all the way to its completion.Jesus’ assignment Matthew 16:21 – The clear ____________________________________ John 4:34 – The clear _________________________________________ John 5:17 – The clear _________________________________________ Luke 22:39-44 – The clear ____________________________________ Luke 23:46 – The clear ________________________________________Our assignment Matthew 28:19-21 – The ____________________________-Narrative The _______________________________________________-Narrative
Maybe one of the most spectacular aspects of God’s holiness, His total Otherness, is that He interacts with us in such vast extremes, at once the God of the Angel-Armies, as Eugene Peterson described Him, or as a doting mother hen devotedly protecting her chicks, under her wings, from a storm, at once the one in gleaming-snow white with eyes of fire and a sword protruding out of his mouth, or the one tenderly and compassionately raising a widow’s son to life from his funeral bier. It is His sovereignty seen in His liberty to come to us as He will. One God, infinite deliveries. One Savior/Lover of our Souls, limitless means of intimacy.Psalm 98 vv. 1-3 – The call for ______________________to respond to majesty vv. 4-6 – The call for ______________________ to respond to majesty vv. 7-9 – The call for ______________________ to respond to majesty
Adam’s sin fractured his glory, tearing apart his unbroken, intimate, Garden of Eden relationship with God. It was an instantaneous, tragic reversal. God was, for the first time, seen by Adam as Other, fearsome, disapproving, punitive. After his expulsion from Eden, Adam, and all subsequent generations of mankind retained a genetic longing to worship the Creator, a kind of broken hallelujah expressing itself in all manner of desperate waywardness and futile idolatry. There remained a mere trace of original glory, but a shadowed ‘knowing’ of what once was. Possessing limited wisdom, and ill at ease living with mystery, man has made innumerable attempts to re-know God, attempts which have often fallen short in pompous but pitiful, sometimes smug, understandings of the Creator.Job 1,2, 3:1,2,25,26, 40:1-5, 42:1-17 Job 1,2, 3:1,2,25,26 – Job’s _______________________________ tested Job 40:1-5 – Job’s ___________________________ at challenging God Job 42:1-17 – God’s _________________________ of his Omnipotence
We’ve just celebrated Christ’s coming and his birth during Advent and Christmas. It’s a striking point of interest that none of his disciples held any such observance and were most likely unaware of the details of that Bethlehem night, nor, likely, the ‘babyhunt’ that ensued (at least not its connection to Jesus), nor the family’s escape to Egypt, nor all the angelic interventions, the prophetic fulfillments, the multiple dramas playing out. Each of the disciples encountered him as a man, Jesus, the Galilean, the carpenter, the son of Joseph of Nazareth. They began following ‘the teacher’ as apprentices to be taught, to be directed, to fulfill a mandate. Their tenure with him turned up one shocking turn of events after another, with Jesus’ otherworldliness, his divinity, building to a crescendo at Calvary and those surreal days following.Revelation 1:1-20, John 1:1-14 Rev. 1:1-8 – Preface to the __________________________________ of Jesus Rev. 1:9-11 – John’s _________________________________________ posture Rev. 1:12-20 – The ___________________________________________ of Jesus John 1:1-14 – John ____________________________________ Jesus’ identity
1 Chronicles 29:10-15 “O Lord, the God of our ancestor Israel,[i] may you be praised forever and ever! 11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things. 12 Wealth and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything. Power and might are in your hand, and at your discretion people are made great and given strength.13 “O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name! 14 But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us! 15 We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace.“All You Have To Decide Is What To Do With The Time That Is Given To You.”Who Am I…Born in 1955 in Aransas Pass TexasMy life there was one of just living day to day with no real cares of what I was to be.I was shaken one day by my dad who told me once you graduate high school you have to leave.I was devastated because I knew I couldn’t afford college and my parents couldn’t afford to send me.My only option that I could think of was to join the military. The first recruiter that visited our house was from the Marines. He arranged for me to travel to San Antonio to the AFEES. I had a physical exam and went through all the departments and the last one was legal who asked me is there anything that you have not divulged today. Of course, I told him that I was on probation. I was told to have a seat and after a while they call me into the Senior enlisted Marine who told me that the Marines could not take me until I was off probation and they would accept me at that time. I took the bus back home and waited for the recruiter to come see me. Then I had a visit from a Navy recruiter, and I told him about being rejected by the Marines and without much hesitation he said we’ll just request a waiver and he took all the paper work that had Marines on it and one lined it and wrote in Navy. So, on June 1974 I graduated high school and left 3 days later for boot camp…I was in the Navy. Who flew me from Texas to Orlando, Fl., across the country to San Diego, Ca. What was hilarious after I was in boot camp is that the Marine recruiter came to my home asking to speak to me and my sister Lupe told him that I had joined the Navy because the Marines had rejected me. He quickly asked to borrow our phone and I can only assume that no one told him from the AFEES about the outcome of denying me entrance into the Marine Corps.Then to Camp LeJeune, NC my first duty station. There my life took a major change I worked in the hospital where I witnessed death both natural and unnatural. This was hard to take as a young man and was what I believed harden my heart about life. That’s when I met this young girl named Kim Chandler she would have appointments to the Internal Medicine clinic where I worked, for asthma. At one visit she asked me do you know Jesus. She then told me all about how he loved me and cared for me. She invited me to her friends’ home that lived on base because they held prayer meetings on Fridays. My first visit when I walked through the door, I saw this room full of young teenage kids. There I met Gerald and Donna Royal (leaders), Tom, David and Jim Henderson, Paul Frazier, Bill Macky, Caroline Albert, Linda Smith and Kim Chandler.This is where I started hearing about people that filled the positions of Apostle and Prophets, etc. this was the structure of the church. Also, I witnessed people speaking in Tongues, prophesying, laying on of hands and people falling out by the power of the Holy Spirit.On June 1978 I was discharged from the Navy, and I chose to stay in Jacksonville NC where the people that I had built a close relationship lived. I knew if I moved back to my home town I would probably go back to my old ways. I was employed as a furniture delivery driver, then was hired to work at a milk company where I eventually was promoted to deliver milk. I would attend Sunday morning prayer meetings at the home of Gerald and Donna Royal. Worship, speaking in tongue, laying on of hands and the teaching from the bible would be normal service. This was where I met this young girl, Amelia Rivers, who I tried to woo by one Sunday offering her some milk that I brought from the milk company. Well to my surprise she told me that she didn’t like milk and I was like what who doesn’t like milk. One day my friend Gerald Royal wanted to have coffee with me which I thought was strange since he didn’t drink coffee. While we where there he asked me this which threw me off. Has God been speaking to you about marriage. I paused to think and said no God has not spoken to me about marriage, but I knew that I wanted to be married. He then said to me that Amelia wanted to marry me some kind of bad…. So, on July 7, 1979, Amelia and I were married. Matthew 19:5 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate.”A new adventure began, we remained in Jacksonville. Amelia then told me that the surgery she had at a young age had made it impossible for her to get pregnant. Her surgeon told this to her parents. God then reminded me of what Jesus told his disciples in Matthews 19:26 “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”The following year was rough financially, I had to come up with something on providing for my wife and family. Well one day I decided to go to the local Navy recruiter’s office to see about coming back into the Navy. He said that it should not be a problem and that he would submit my application. I had requested to come back in as a Hospital Corpsman. But my requested was approved by BUPERS but not by BUMED. BUMED would not reinstate me as a Corpsman, so I decided to return as a non-rated sailor. My other challenge was that I had only 2 years to advance in rate. My first duty station was on the USS John King {DDG-3} where they tried numerous times to reinstate me back into the Hospital Corp. Even having my take the Hospital Corpsman E4 exam, results came back invalid route of advancement. My final resort was to write to my congressman. So, I wrote to Senator Jesse Helms from NC. Who quickly responded to me within two weeks saying they were forwarding my letter to the Navy Department. While at sea after knocking off ships work. I was sitting in one of the TV rooms and over the 1MC I heard this…SN Avila report to the bridge….my heart skipped a beat and as I attempted to put my shoes on, I proceeded to the bridge still trying to tie my shoes. I open the door to the bridge and requested to enter. The Officer of the Deck turn to me and pointed to the walkway on the starboard side of the ship. I was surprised to see the CO of the ship standing there, he turned to me and said… All good things come to those who wait. Petty Officer Avila. He told me that BUMED reinstated me to Corpsman and BUPERS validated my examination and promoted me to Petty Officer Third Class.Philippians 4:6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.I am His…
Our God is known for His ‘omnis:’ all-knowing, all-powerful, all-present. He is also all-love, all-joy, all-pure, all-divine. He exists outside of time which is His creation and within which all His creation lives. His master plan has always been to create a people for Himself, a people to love and a people to love Him in return. Immediately after the Fall, He spoke of His ultimate solution to this intrusion of sin and death into his much-loved creation: ‘the woman’s child will crush your head.’ making reference to Jesus’ decisive victory over sin and death on the cross. The love story concludes with our glorious invitation to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb in Revelation 19.John 3:1-21 vv. 1-13 – A love that ________________________________ vv. 14,15 – A love that _______________________________ vv. 16-21 – A love that _______________________________
Bryon Anderson gives a testimony about how God brought him to realization of his need for salvation, and how he came to become a Jesus follower.
New life was a recurring theme of Jesus’ ministry, the life springing up because of his death. Old life was that of fallen humanity, of those weighed down by their inherited rebellious brokenness. Jesus presented himself as the Vine, the Shepherd, the Mother Hen, the New Covenant, the Friend with the Greatest Love. These spoke of vital attachment, of secure surroundings, of safe covering, of permanent transferral, of unbreakable brotherly bonds, and all spoke of a glory-conferring, dynamic hiddenness. This new life, still cloaked in mystery, is now vicariously ours by means of Jesus’ sacrificial death on Calvary. Philippians 3:1,12 – Hidden _________________________________________ Philippians 4:4,13 – Hidden _________________________________________ Colossians 3:3,4 – Hidden _________________________________________ James 1:2-4 – Hidden ____________________________________________
Our inherited rebellious brokenness (what the Bible calls sin) chokes the bandwidth of the Advent gifts recently celebrated – hope, peace, joy, love. Temptations from all sectors impede our in-process maturity. Shame and despair messages intimidate us, threatening to suffocate our freedom in Christ. Yet these are but the desperate smoke & mirrors attempts of our Enemy to shroud the Truth of our inheritance with his evil marauding But, in other news, as this new year begins, we still hear the Open Invitation of our Heavenly Father, through King David, to: “Drink deeply of the pleasures of this God. Experience for yourself the joyous mercies he gives to all who turn to hide themselves in him.” Psalm 34:8 TPT.1 Peter 1:1-12 vv. 1-4 – some ‘Not Yet’ ___________________________ vv. 5-9 – some ‘Now’ ______________________________ vv. 10-12 – some ‘Not Yet’ _________________________
What are perfectly clear wisdom paths, to God, are deepest, convoluted mysteries to us. With every revelation of His plan, we are stymied. With every individual’s inclusion in His plan we simply want to ask why. With His every ‘perfect timing’ we feel the lateness of the intervention. With every characteristic we apply to this thing called ‘love,’ He rewrites the script. With every solution we consider to be right and proper, His choice is, for example, the Incarnation, which causes us to cry: Untheological! Unsophisticated! Undignified! In all these things God provides us with samplings of His majestic, oozing love for mankind.Acts 9:1-22; Romans 5:1-111. Romans 5:1-5 – _____________________________ then, ____________ forever2. Romans 5:6-8 –_________________then, _________________________ forever3. Romans 5:9-11 –_______________________then, __________________forever
All the characters playing a role in the birth of Jesus massively were jolted by Divinity’s near presence. As the Kingdom pressed nearer, the frequency and intensity of these encounters increased. But as the shock dissipated, the lasting residue for each one was joy. Decades later, when Jesus went public, his ministry, the very presence of the Kingdom, consistently oozed joy on those who would receive (and hatred on those who rejected). It has continued thus for over two thousand years.Old Testament Kingdom approach - Psalm 30New Testament promise of Kingdom approach - John 16:20-24. Luke 7:11-15 _____________________– cancelled by Kingdom’s oozing Luke 8:22-25 – _____________________cancelled by Kingdom’s oozing Luke 9:12-17 – _____________________cancelled by Kingdom’s oozing Luke 17: 11-19 – ___________________cancelled by Kingdom’s oozing
The Old Testament Ancient Hebrew word for peace, ‘shalom,’ and the corresponding New Testament Greek word, ‘eirene,’ both convey the idea of wholeness. This wholeness is a key element which was lost, tragically, in the Fall. It encompassed full integration with God, furnishing relationship, community, purpose, fulfillment. It also furnished total absence of fear, of anxiety, of shame. The tearing apart of this original integration led to dis-integration with its now all-too-familiar, attendant miseries. The serene, noise-free unity designed by God was shattered and a cacophony of striving and chaos and self-doubt have plagued mankind ever since.Psalm 23:1-3a; Isaiah 9:6; Ephesians 2:11-18 Psalm 23:1-3a – Led back to peace by ________________________________ Isaiah 9:6 – Led back to peace by ____________________________________ Ephesians 2:11-18 – Led back to peace by ____________________________
God, in His infinite mercy, has unfailingly provided abundant doses of hope to his often-erring, wayward, distracted people, through the voices of His attentive, obedient servants. Even the bleakest of times have contained still-simmering embers of that hope. When, in God’s inscrutable timing, and in His unfathomable plan, the Kingdom moved into the neighborhood in the person of Jesus, the nearness of the divine-now-become-human detonated an age of unprecedented hope to the receptive and an age of unspeakable anguish to those in denial.
Isaiah 9:2; Luke 1:5-20; Matthew 2:1-10; Luke 2:8-20
Isa. 9:2 – the thrill of an end _________________________________________
Luke 1:5-20 – the thrill of an end _____________________________________
Matt. 2:1-10 – the thrill of an end _____________________________________
Luke 2:8-20 – the thrill of an end ______________________________________
We live in the ‘time between the times,’ the Now and the Not Yet,’ the ‘here and the still arriving;’ all these descriptions of our day swirling with mystery and packed with anticipation. We are possessed of a perennial sensing of an invitation to a future reality, an as-yet unfinished reality, a reality so amazing that we need protection from the fullness of its glory, a reality determined before Creation and Time began. We both joyfully hope and hope with groaning for its manifestation. And in the meantime, we are invited to celebrate the abundance of all that has been given us in Jesus: his life, his friendship, his Spirit, his Word. When we accept his invitation, our souls fill to overflowing with thanksgiving.
Isaiah 25:6-26:6, Revelation 22:1-21
Isaiah 25:6-12 - The thrill of a promised _________________________
Isaiah 26:1-6 - The thrill of a promised __________________________
Revelation 22:1-7 - The thrill of a promised ______________________
Revelation 22:8-21 – The thrill of a promised ____________________
In the weeks and months following Pentecost there was, in the hearts of the disciples, a hyper-tangible sense of the realness, the immediacy, of the inside-of-them, superpower in the person of the Holy Spirit. This wild, near-vibrating source of energy outpaced all feelings of personal unworthiness, inferiority, guilt, and shame, rendering them incapable of subduing the audacious new working through them. Certainly, the heady days of the church’s infancy would have been described as overwhelmingly, fearfully, exhaustingly, exciting – and unquenchable.
Acts 3:1-26
vv. 1-10 – Supernaturally __________________________________________
vv. 11,12 – Supernaturally _________________________________________
vv. 13-26 – Supernaturally _________________________________________
Holy Spirit, we welcome You, as the wild, near-vibrating source of energy, to outpace all our feelings of personal unworthiness, inferiority, g
Jesus’ disciples, if they experienced anything in their time with their Savior-friend, Jesus, it was being overwhelmed. Surely, by the end of that traumatic week in Jerusalem during the Feast of Passover with Jesus’ arrest, trial, beating, crucifixion, death, and burial, they had been brought to their knees spiritually, if not physically. For all the elation and celebration and intimacy of their three lifechanging years together to be so cruelly destroyed before their disbelieving eyes, was beyond devastating. But they, like us, had a great deal left to learn about the workings of God’s Kingdom.
John 20:1-18
vv. 1-10 – an empty tomb: _______________________________________
vv. 11-13 – an angel-inhabited tomb: ______________________________
vv. 14-17 – an in-the-garden encounter: ___________________________
v. 18 - a post-encounter mission: ________________________________
Jesus’ miracles kept the disciples’ heads spinning: water, now wine, the blind, now seeing, Peter’s mother-in-law, bed-ridden, now preparing a meal for everyone, life-threatening swells, now a placid lake, an urchin’s lunch, now a banquet for thousands . . . These recurring events opened their minds and hearts to dimensions of glory never before imagined. Life had forever been hard scrabble, requiring grit and determination, with little space left over for the extraordinary, save an exceptionally good day fishing, or a bumper crop of grapes or wheat. And yet Jesus’ behavior continually pushed them further into situations beyond even childhood daydreaming.
John 11:1-44
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vv. 1-4 – A death _______________________________________________
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vv. 5-16 – A non-death _________________________________________
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vv. 17-28 – A death ____________________________________________
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vv. 29-37 – A death ____________________________________________
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vv. 38-44 – A death ____________________________________________
We are those who live in this world but who have citizenship in another. We are aliens, a people of another realm, another authority, another power. Our life in Christ positions us in the fullest security, the most lasting belonging, the greatest of all loves, the strongest of strong towers. We are divinely equipped for every battle, every ambush, every deception. We are Holy Spirit-indwelt. We are blessed to have always-accumulating world-weariness perpetually washed off of us by the Word, the richly abiding, Living Word of our Eternal, Creator God, the Word which will never be bound by chains, never be too short to save, never fail to deliver. As people of this Word our confidence is sure.
Matthew 23: 37 - 14:14
Matt. 23:37-14:2 - Destruction _______________________________________
Matt. 14:3-8 – One age ending, _____________________________________
Matt. 14:9-13 – Desperate times, ____________________________________
Matt. 14:14 – Calamity, chaos & hatred, ______________________________
Before technology became ‘the’ way to communicate, face to face exchange and personal, handwritten messages managed to hold an ever-expanding society together for millennia. The spoken word was invaluable. The handwritten word, a close second. Both have been employed extensively as prayer testament and personal record of mankind’s relationship with God down through the ages. The honesty and intensity we encounter in historic prayers can still help us, today, in creating freedoms in, and developing habits of, prayer for ourselves.
A few words from those gone before us:
Martin Luther (1483-1546) – a _______________________________ road
Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) – first and _________________________
Agnes Sanford (1897-1982) – a pair of ____________________________
André Louf (1929-2010) – superabundance _______________________
A sampling of 3,000-year-old prayers:
Psalm 31- deeply hidden, _____________________________________________
Psalm 46 – powerful help, _____________________________________________
Psalm 116 – compassionate listening, __________________________________
“Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!” (Mk. 9:24) One source of encouragement throughout Scripture is the number of times men and women openly express their weakness and confusion and even their anger, to God, without recrimination or rejection. We, like those mentioned, are (often) real and messy and undone and unlovely, too. And in those conditions, we, like they, are loved and cherished and invited to come and abide near God’s heart. But incredibly beyond that even, we are set apart, commissioned, and fully equipped by the Holy Spirit, as ambassadors, representatives of the Lord of Lords and King of Kings wherever we go, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, for as long as He puts his breath in our lungs!
Ephesians 1:18 - 2:10
v. 1:18-20 – An ______________________________ unlike any other
vv. 1:21-23 – An _____________________________ unlike any other
vv. 2:1-10 – A ________________________________ unlike any other
I work at an eye clinic located in a hospital that serves a large amount of underprivileged people. Many of them are homeless, have serious mental health issues, or are very poor. Every day, there are many patients who come to our clinic who have very low vision or are blind. Blind patients are often brought in by loved ones, a nurse’s aid, or other attendant. As you can imagine, they are either being led by their companions or brought to their appointments in a wheelchair. This story is about a man who made me stop and contemplate what it really means to be blind. I can’t tell you his real name, so we’ll just call him Joe.
I sit at a desk station in front of the eye clinic, where I check patients in for their appointments, schedule follow up visits, and so on. The eye clinic is right next to a set of elevators. One busy morning, a man gets off of the elevator and shouts very loudly, “Can someone help me find the eye clinic!?” A man nearby points in my direction and tells him where to go. Joe yells, “Where?” The man repeats himself, saying, “It’s right over there, right in front of you,” while pointing in my direction. Finally, frustrated, Joe yells, “I’m blind, I can’t see it.” He is using his white cane (the cane used by blind people to help guide them). Since he is only about twenty feet in front of me, I call out to him, letting him know to walk forward a few steps. “You’re almost here, walk forward a few more steps.” He takes about three steps. I tell him to take a few more, which he does, while swinging his white cane back and forth. People on either side of him are jumping out of his way so he doesn’t hit them. Joe continues to inch forward at the sound of my voice and when his guide cane hits my station, he stops. “I’m here for my eye appointment.” When I get his necessary information, I see that his appointment was the day before and that he had missed it. He was extremely disappointment and began to get upset. Calmly, I told him that I was going to try to help him find another appointment soon. I went and spoke with the low vision doctor, and she wrote orders to work him into her schedule for the following week. She also put in a consult for the patient to be picked up by a transportation service so he wouldn’t have to ride the bus and get to the hospital without any assistance.
He was very happy about this and told me he needed to get to the ER for something else. He asked if I could tell him which way to go to get back to the elevator. I told him I would come around to the front of my station and lead him there. I offered to walk him all the way to the ER, but he told me if I could get him to the elevator, he would find his way by getting someone downstairs to help him get to the ER. He held my arm and we slowly made our way toward the elevator. He was swinging his white cane back and forth, and I admit I smiled a little as I watched people jump out of his way.
On the way to the elevator, I asked him about his home situation and discovered that he lives alone. He told me he’s had people who have stayed with him before, in order to help him, but he confessed to me, “I am a difficult person. Most people don’t stay with me for more than a couple of weeks.” I told him I was sorry to hear that, and that he was precious and that he would be in my prayers. I asked him again if I could go to the ER with him, but he declined and thanked me for helping him find his way. I put him in the elevator and told him where to stand so that he could hold on, made sure he was stable, then I pushed the button for the ground floor. I also found it interesting and unusual that no one else who was waiting for the elevator wanted to get in. I chuckled a little to myself as I imagined him getting off the elevator downstairs asking for help to get to the ER, swinging his white cane. I had nothing but admiration for this man.
Later that day, I could not stop thinking about Joe. He was living his life in complete darkness, completely alone, with no help. Even though I gathered that he was quite self-sufficient in coping with his disability, I imagined him at home trying to cook himself a meal or do all the numerous self-care tasks and household chores that we all need to do on a daily basis. My heart was broken for this man and I cried for him and prayed that God would help him somehow. In my heart I knew that God was giving me the tiniest glimpse of His love, not just for this man, but for people in this world, for the lost. Jesus is relentless in his hunger for relationship with us, unwaivering in His pursuit for the lost.
It's funny how God uses random experiences in our lives to show us truths, to remind us of His call. I knew by how much this affected me that God had a lesson in it for me. I began to research blindness in the scriptures, and I asked God to teach me whatever it was that He wanted me to learn. Scripture after scripture, I found a common theme and began to see with new eyes, pun intended.
We are living in a time where people want nothing to do with God or Christianity. People all around us, in the media, in our workplaces, even perhaps in our families, are denouncing Christianity, normalizing depravity, and we see our culture and even our churches rapidly becoming more secular, more humanistic, more dysfunctional. We’ve seen the breakdown of families, with more single parent households in the US than ever in our history. Additonally, the marriage rate has fallen to an all time low of about 29% in 2020, down from 37.5% in 2008, and about 76% in 1960. There are powers at work that lie and make people believe that this is to be celebrated! We are living in an age where the blind leading the blind is an understatement. But let us not forget that Jesus is all about that ditch!
Meanwhile, many Christians have become discouraged, flailing, forgetting the power and light that we have been born into the moment God breathed that resurrection life into us upon salvation and baptism of the Holy Spirit. We have forgotten who we are and whose we are. In allowing me to experience that tiny glimpse I mentioned, I am reminded that God has not stopped just because our culture has turned away from Him. Thinking about Joe, I can’t help but understand with new comprehension that Jesus is all about the ditch. God is still at work in humankind. He is still madly in love with his people. He is chasing after the lost with increasing intensity. He is chasing after you and I and He has not forgotten His promises. His love is greater, even when we can’t see it or feel it. He is very much alive… He lives! And because He lives, we can proclaim the good news to this generation of fatherless people. After all, they’re crying out for help to find the “eye clinic.”
Faces of the Fatherless
“When I look into your eyes I see the faces of the fatherless Jesus you’re calling us
To love To give To embrace To forgive
Hungry people everywhere With deperate hearts they are crying out With a silent shout
Do you love? Do you forgive? What is the reason That I live?
Joy Now Ours
It is possible for us to wrongly focus on the person of Jesus. For example, Isaiah refers to him as a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. We could concentrate so totally on his intense suffering and brutal crucifixion that we obscure a pivotal truth announced in Hebrews 12:2: “Because his heart was focused on the joy of knowing that you would be his, he endured the agony of the cross and conquered its humiliation …” Jesus’ joy is of such vitality and invincibility as to cause the combined malice and deceit of man’s disobedience to pale in comparison. Isaiah and Hosea, as referenced by the Apostle Paul, say this: “Death is swallowed up in victory! So, death, tell me, where is your victory? Tell me death, where is your sting?” (Isa. 25:8, Hosea 13:14, 1 Cor. 15:54,55) Joy, then, for all its elusiveness, is powered by the inexhaustible, unquenchable, energy of the Godhead. And to think that this joy, his joy, is now ours! Colossians 1:12-14, 21-23, 24-27
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vv. 12-14 – The ______________________________________________of our joy
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vv. 21-23 – The ______________________________________________of our joy
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vv. 24-27 – The _____________________________________________t of our joy
Celebration is a way of engaging in actions that orient the spirit, the transcendent dimension within us, to worship, praise, and thanksgiving. We celebrate because our souls love it. We celebrate because God is the most joyous being in the universe. (taken from The Good and Beautiful YOU, by James Bryan Smith)
Our eyes relax in a darkened room without the need to focus but when lights are abruptly brought back up, like after a movie at the theater, we wince with the almost painful inrush of brightness, as we wait for our eyes to re-adjust to the now-illuminated environment. As those previously trapped in spiritual darkness, when being introduced to the Light of Life, there needs to be a gradual acclimatizing, a slow pivot, a stage by stage turning, to face the enormous shining all around us. Knowing Jesus, then, is a multi-phased process spread out over whatever amount of time is needed to awaken our souls to our new dwelling place. Isaiah prophesied: “Those who walked in darkness have seen a radiant light shining upon them. They once lived in the shadows of death, but now a glorious light has dawned!” (9:2) “The Son is the dazzling radiance of God’s splendor, the exact expression of God’s true nature – his mirror image!” Heb. 1:3, TPT. The Light Himself knows that too much (of his brilliance) all at once would overwhelm us.
This week we welcomed special guests Duke and Marie Lancaster, of Metron Ministries. It was a great time of fellowship, laughter, encouragement, and ministry.
Here is a little about them, copie from their website:
Duke and Marie Lancaster have been part of the Vineyard movement since 1992. Marie grew up in a Hungarian household, the daughter of an Assembly of God pastor and church planter. Marie says that she knew she never wanted to be married to a pastor and when she met Duke while they were attending Oral Roberts University she was certain he was the last person God would ever call into ministry, so she married him. But just a few years later God used a mission trip to radically impact Duke and he felt God call him to pastor. Together they embraced a call to ministry and missions and never looked back. They have traveled the world doing ministry, planted 3 churches, and were the Senior Pastors of Vineyard Church of Jackson, Mississippi for ten years, stepping down at the end of 2021 to pursue a desire to travel itinerantly to equip the saints in Holy Spirit ministry and to encourage and strengthen leaders. They have been married over 39 years and delight in their 4 children and 6 grandchildren.
What God has done; what we’ve become; what is ours; what is now our place of permanent belonging: these things stagger the imagination. All aspects of our salvation, our in-Christ lives, can only be discerned spiritually, with spiritual eyes, with open hearts. Embracing them with childlike faith grows us up to spiritual maturity. The Spirit of God within us seems to be willing, up to a point, to submit to our timetable, to our willingness to cooperate, to our ‘Yes.’ It may be because he fully appreciates the tentative reach of ‘clay feet’ across the old creation – new creation divide.
A consistent Bible theme: certain consequences for disobedience. It is illustrated from Eden, the people of Noah’s day, Abraham, Moses, David, the entire people of Israel, through to the New Testament account of people rejecting Jesus as Messiah. The Biblical account is replete with the cycle of warnings, punishments, and restorations. Like in all parental chastising, the main lesson to be learned is that proper discipline has as an end goal the restoring of safe, healthy boundaries and loving, strengthened relationships. The power of the entire sixty-six books of the Bible continues calling us to pay close attention, to guard our hearts, to heed the Spirit’s promptings.
The fire and fury of Pentecost was the needful, mesmerizing introduction to the taking up of residence of the Holy Spirit in the day in, day out, lives of Jesus’ disciples. They were ordinary, uneducated, unassuming, unspectacular men, chosen and trained by Jesus to live out loud, through the agency of the inherited gifts of the Spirit of God, extraordinary, bold, spectacular lives. The pure genius of this move of God, the installing of His Spirit, His power, (His glory, even!), within society’s least expected! Jesus’ unsuspecting group of followers was invisibly transformed into something akin to Kingdom Ninjas who, from that point forward, found themselves challenged to live out radically and transformationally normal lives.
How unsearchable are the ways of God! The power of His voice brought into existence the world we live in! Land and sea are contoured at his bidding. The universe’s expansion must be one of His favorite pastimes (or maybe it’s His delight in our wonderment at it, or our enthrallment with the James Webb Telescope). Sending His Son to put death to death is well beyond our depth. Raising Jesus from death to life is, too. Equipping us, each one of us, with the residency of His Spirit, is, well, words fail.
The ‘in Christ’ life is 100% complete, saturated with Christ’s fullness. The simple, life-giving story, too, is complete, missing no details, with no exceptions, no margin of error, both divinely ordained and divinely executed, for us. The plotline oozes Holy Love. The drama in the story is the undeserved, yet wide-open, invitation to receive, then share, that Love. The ending of our story is just the beginning of an eternity of intimate fellowship with Jesus, our Brother.
Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus is brimming with evidences of his fatherly love. His thinking has been so thoroughly overhauled by the perfection of God’s revealed love that all he can picture is the church being a model of the Kingdom way of living which is in painfully sharp contrast to the current value system of his culture, including his own church family. His sense of urgency in this regard is on display in every subject he addresses. He brings his admonishings to a close by focusing on what he considers the most important topic of them all, the need to live acutely aware of the permanent, harsh reality of warfare in the life of every believer.
Independence and autonomy are highly valued character traits throughout the Western World. They are to be fought for, often with much striving, persevering through pain and disappointment and failure, all with ‘take it on the chin’ bravado. Signs of weakness or lack of commitment are considered pitiable, culturally obliging the putting up of a façade to conceal what’s really there. Scripture, counter-culturally, exhorts total dependence (submission!) on God, inter-dependence on one another and concerted care for our neighbors. The Apostle Paul admits that we all see, for now, as through a post-shower, bathroom mirror. The Holy Spirit’s task is to bring clarity, showing us the Kingdom way of things and encouraging us to continue swimming against the current of our old nature and the pressures of the world around us.
In a letter to the church planted in Corinth just five years previously, Paul addresses the ungodliness plaguing the congregation there: immaturity, instability, divisions, jealousy and envy, lawsuits, marital difficulties, sexual immorality, and misuse of spiritual gifts. His tone is sternly parental, fatherly. All these issues were painful, embarrassing, destructive. But seemingly of deepest concern to Paul was how the mission drift concerning spiritual gifts was a contributing factor in all the other problems. He focuses much of his attention on the working of the Holy Spirit and the church’s wayward responding to that working. Two millennia later, his love-motivated admonitions bear repeating.
God’s Plan ‘A’ (there is no Plan ‘B’) includes His Church being the Dwelling Place of His Spirit, to enable her to be a clear expression of His heart in a confused, broken, and sin-sick world. The Holy Spirit is a Gift to the Church, her promised wedding gift, her bridal dowry, her guarantee, her down payment. The vastness of this received gift knows no limits, has no boundaries, no escape clauses, no fine print. It is staggeringly prodigal (in the truest sense of that word), that God would choose to so equip His Bride to complete His Divine Love Mission. The Apostle Paul will write: “… when God gives a grace gift and issues a call to a people, He does not change His mind and take it back.” Romans 11:29, VOICE. And this is critical, as the Church is impotent to prevail against the onslaught of the world and Satan, absent the all-empowering presence of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus’ church was a revolutionary new entity birthed by the power of the Holy Spirit through a smattering of men and women aflame with love and passionate desire for the Kingdom of God into which they’d recently been adopted. Its energy was raw, chaotic, turbulent, all-absorbing. To some, its very existence was alarming, threatening, heretical, needing to be eliminated. It took the known world by storm, a veritable spiritual wildfire soon reaching unprecedented proportions. Its newness, its rapid growth, its welcoming of a flood of people of diverse backgrounds, required management skills, training, teaching, guidance, solely under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit and filled with holy power through His gifts. This church could not flourish by drawing from known systems, or by listening to, and following, cultural norms, nor simply by what seemed right in the apostles’ understanding.
Sublime, supreme symmetry. Perfectly prompt plans, promises and prophecies. Lavish, laudable, longsuffering love. Faithful, fulfilling, forgiving, fierce, fawning Father. This is God. We are the fallen, the antithesis. Each of our creaturely encounters with Him inevitably results in a seismic shift in our souls. The ‘gap’ between our understanding and His majesty is immeasurable as Scripture reminds us so pointedly. The Pentecost ‘encounter’ we celebrate today is but one example of the extreme otherness of God’s timing and His ways (or, perhaps, the extreme otherness of our timing and our ways). We must readily concede inferiority to His supremacy that we also, like the disciples, might readily receive our impeccable, timely-sent, inheritance.
The impact of bad news is intensified the closer it gets to us. Breaking news in another country wields limited power. That same news in our country packs a larger punch. In our town or city, more still; our community, growing ever larger; our home or family, it reaches deep into the red zone, with sirens wailing, hearts beating furiously, all other thoughts completely overwhelmed with urgency. Good news, too, has similarly increasing impact. albeit, thankfully, toward a different conclusion. For the disciples, Jesus’ many lessons about the Kingdom were ‘nice,’ but often stayed foggy, as distant theories not easily relatable. Jesus is gone now, and the disciples begin to unpack the stunning glory, the near incomprehensible majesty of what he had described to them as their inheritance.
In the beginning, in the middle, and until the end, God has a plan (‘A’ – there is no plan ‘B’) It is to call people back to his loving heart in intimate fellowship. He has crafted a powerful, divine pathway for us with Jesus as our trailblazer. As we near the end of this season of Eastertide and Jesus’ allotment of forty ‘bonus days’ post-Resurrection, the guys are still needing more encouragement, more reinforcement that the Father’s Mission of Love is for them, that they are the chosen ones, chosen to choose others.
We continue to imagine all that was ‘mission critical’ that Jesus needed to be sure the disciples ‘got’ during those fleeting, precious, forty days after the Resurrection. Maybe most of the teachable moments that occurred during the three-year apprenticeship merited at least a refresher, if not a full rehearsal. One such situation stands out which required re-visiting. It happened during the Last Supper after Jesus had spoken of his upcoming betrayal. The conversation quickly shifted away from that awkward scenario, moving on to a discussion that was safer, more familiar, truer to the disciples’ context.
We are at the halfway mark of the forty days Jesus invested, post-Resurrection, in making sure his disciples ‘got’ everything vitally necessary for taking up the task of continuing his divine love mission’s work. There is much to do to re-invigorate his emotionally depleted guys before he leaves. His is a group of boy-men who need more bear hugs to calm their wildly beating hearts at the idea of going it ‘alone’, and whose hearts still need convincing of forgiveness and reassurance of continued relationship. There are many questions yet to be answered, many, many teachings yet to be clarified. But because the Father’s first order of ‘business’ is always and only love; restorative, positive, accepting love, that is where we turn our attention today.
Following Jesus’ Resurrection, the work of convincing his men that his main mission, his raison d’être, was to demonstrate, in a way that would be life-altering, his Father’s towering, eternal yet intimate love, not just for the world, but for each of them personally, by name, heartbeat to heartbeat. Critical to the success of Jesus’ ongoing mission was making sure his friends had a powerful knowing of this love that was now theirs, that God’s love was the impetus of the mission, the goal of the mission, and the key element to all they would do in the future. Obedience, power, discernment, all were to be included, but their starting place had to be the firm foundation of having experienced God’s ever-extending, ever-expanding love.
Instantly, as Jesus opted to draw in his final breath, entirely new, spiritual lives were set in motion, stirring, stretching, waking from their imprisonment of sin and darkness. A Seed had died, birthing them. What these lives were destined to become was not fully revealed, but the Love calling out to them, a force divine, revolutionary, was unquenchable. The force went viral. It is viral. The force went global. It is global. It had such mastery over death it emptied graves, restoring life and breath to those long dead. Spiritually, its impact continues. It begins with a transaction, always in secret, hidden away, but then, with perfect timing, bursts out of dark, cold confines into the glorious light of a new day, simmering with vitality and joy. We are the forever grateful, liberated recipients of this Love, whose work is ongoing in us.
Since its invasion of Eden’s tranquility, sin has been pandemic among God’s sons and daughters. The tragic expulsion from the Garden, the separations, the warnings, the reminders of God’s holiness (in the system of sacrifices), the Law, the purifying through exiles, foreign domination – that was the known history of the people of Israel. God had come to be seen as unapproachable by the common man, jealously punitive, eternally displeased, demanding absolute submission. Then came Jesus, talking about making all things new, talking of love, talking of relationship, friendship even, with God – open to everyone! His Resurrection, celebrated worldwide today, was the most explosive, surprising storyline twist, greater than any mystery novelist could ever have conceived! No one saw that coming! But, well beyond the extreme events of the week just passed, the resulting seismic shift, this grandest grand opening, staggers imaginations yet today.
Like the week of final exams for university seniors, this coming week called Holy Week was, for Jesus, one of extremes, one of intensity. The time was rapidly approaching for the culminating act of the divine love mission on which he’d been sent by his Father. This roiling drama guaranteed that none of the characters who’d been drawn into its vortex were neutral. Emotions ran at an all-time high at both ends of the love/hate spectrum. It was a week that would prove Jesus’ humanity and a week that would prove his divinity. It was a week that would vindicate his character and a week that would expose the character of the religious elite. It was a week that would test the love and commitment of his closest disciples and a week that would prove his love for, and faithfulness to, them. It was a week that would highlight his obedience to his Father and a week that would rattle the taut logic of Roman leadership.
From start to finish, the Good News has baffled the wisdom of the world (and not a few Christians!). Presented to us as one thing, with one faith, one Lord, one baptism, the fulness of the Gospel message has been filtered, sanitized, diluted, twisted, profiteered, sectarianized, politicized and rendered, by many, obsolete, if not dangerous. Despite all, God’s Word still stands, still declares truth, still calls for repentance, still offers eternal life, forgiveness of sins, friendship with Jesus. Errant voices, those attempting to eradicate absolutes in favor of ‘every man doing what is right in his own eyes,’ continue to find themselves shaking puny fists at the unshakeable, being thwarted by unrelenting Love, feverishly spinning a tale rife with believability gaps, heatedly crying foul at now-seen-as-discriminatory Biblical commandments. And yet…
Creation was intense. The fall of mankind was intense. Holiness interacting with mankind has always been intense. Jesus being sent, being born, being human, being crucified, rising again: all that was very intense. Our redemption from the slavery to sin continues to be ‘warfaringly’ intense. Accepting our ‘all things made new’ standing is intense. Allowing ourselves to be embraced by the kind of love included in our inheritance is intense. Parts of this earthly journey to the Father’s heart are intense. Most important for us to know, Love will see us safely home. And that, too, is intense!
Optimists are those dismayed when God permits circumstances that are not rose garden-ish. Pessimists are those dismayed when He permits circumstances that are. And yet in his great and lengthy sermon, Jesus said: “…your Father in heaven … loves each of us – good and evil, kind and cruel. He causes the sun to rise and shine on evil and good alike. He causes the rain to water the fields of the righteous and the fields of the sinner.” from Matthew 5, VOICE. Someone has noted that, in life, the only constant is change. How we respond to those variations, those vicissitudes, is largely determined by the depth of intimacy we enjoy in our relationship with our Father in heaven.
As Jesus was confronted with the many tragic evidences of mankind’s brokenness, he chose parables to illustrate the contrast between Israel’s ways and heaven’s. Each telling had within it an invitation to come, to surrender, to wake up, to trust. And in each, the heart of the Father was always and forever on display as wastefully love-extravagant, with a ”Y’all come!” disposition toward His much-cherished children. The weak link in the communication chain was in the hearts of the listening crowds and in the hearts of his own disciples. They had pre-conceived ideas about the God of their Fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, ideas of a fearsome, wrathful, punishing Sovereign, all of which made hearing Jesus’ warm, welcoming descriptions of his Father vastly perplexing.
Jesus’ Galilean ‘Band of Brothers’ was constantly being surprised by aspects of God’s Kingdom never before imagined. Most of it was super cool and even thrilling, but some of it was so far outside their experience they just checked out, missed the point, were left groping for a foothold. They regularly came to Jesus with a need for more information, for him to repeat what he’d said, to have it translated for their rudimentary context. And it wasn’t just his teachings. It was also how he lived, what he chose to forego, what uncommon attitude he displayed. After watching, and hearing, the way he talked with his Father, and realizing that this, too, must be a ‘style’ of praying, they asked him how they might do it.
Our world is being dealt yet another blunt reminder of the grim reality of our fallenness – man’s inhumanity to man – which has continually replayed its depravity ever since Adam’s haughty betrayal of God’s loving provision. When Ecclesiastes declares that there is nothing new under the sun, this latest war, regrettably, is just that, nothing new. Information technology’s global reach has, again, shattered delusions, from East to West and North to South, of the inherent goodness of mankind (As followers of Jesus, we’ve never been under any such deception). Our urgent call, today, as the Church, is to respond to crisis by asking, one more time: ‘What do the Scriptures say?’
One of the many revolutionary aspects of the message of Jesus was the immediacy of friendship with God. Until Jesus’ arrival, the thought of being in a one-to-one relationship with the God of their Ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, would never have occurred to the Jews of the day. Judaism’s fiery, passionate connection to Yahweh had cooled to formalized, hierarchical, elitist administration, with the ‘professionals’ - the Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Chief Priests, carrying out the inner, sacred workings. This mission drift relegated the non-priesthood Israelite to the lesser status of obedient synagogue attendee. Prayer, done ‘properly,’ was priestly work. Jesus, however, was presenting radical teachings, inviting everyone to come near, to be real, to receive affirmation of their worth, to offer themselves in truthful transparency.
Given the vast and gaping ‘in-Adam’ limitations of our fallenness, it wouldn’t be surprising that our response to God’s ways would be something like, “You’ve got to be kidding!” From our naïve and dimly lit perspective, we assume much and, as a result, are much aghast. God’s choosings, timings, methods, recruits, all are stunning upsets of our thinking. The least likely, the least qualified, the least trustworthy, the least honest, the least of the least: this is our viewing of God’s divine wisdom: a confirmation of the prophetic words in Isaiah 55: “My intentions are not always yours and I do not go about things as you do. My thoughts and my ways are above and beyond you, just as heaven is far from your reach here on earth.” And yet. And yet! Here we are, chosen, loved, adopted, Grace-gifted, Spirit-indwelt, commissioned – by that same divine wisdom of God!
The disciples had no vocabulary for their experience of this thing: Grace. Nothing in their upbringing had prepared them for the shock of having their lives Grace-gifted. And with such abundance! And with such uninterrupted flow! Their Middle Eastern world was steeped in strict Mosaic Law with the additional, restrictive laws of the Pharisees, and it was being held captive in the grip of a fiercely unforgiving, cruel Roman occupation. One could almost imagine the twelve seeing a parallel with the ancient story of their people wandering with Moses in the desert, being fed from the sky day after day, and asking, ‘Manna?’ (‘What is it?’)* Two millennia later, we, too, are left bemused, struggling to find adequately descriptive, easily accessible, language to unpack our wonderment. As a result, Grace is probably not a daily insertion into our conversations at the coffee shop. It may not even be on our radar.
One startling new reality for the disciples-become-apostles was the abundance of the gift of grace which continually energized, motivated, filled, blessed, sweetened, their day in day out lives. The writers of the books of the New Testament regularly acknowledged it, not just as a standard letter-writing salutation with all the warmth of a ‘To Whom It May Concern,’ but with live-edge relief and in-their-face, can’t-breathe-without-it gratitude. Jesus’ departure back to the Father and the subsequent arrival of the Holy Spirit initiated an era of ambassadorship through those men, the likes of which they couldn’t possibly have dreamed. On the outside they remained as before, but on the inside, they went through the same ‘all things are made new’ radical transformation as the one through which Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, empowers his Church today.
The antidote to the bedlam of our day is purposefully chosen stillness. A place where the din of malevolent voices is barricaded from our wearied souls. A place where non-anxious thoughts can be formulated and processed. A place where rest can be experienced as an unhurried luxury. A place where grace can be accessed. A place where God’s Shalom breaks off all authority that would attempt to bind us to chaos. A place where Jesus invites us to come and discover all over again the plan he’s made for us. Through the prophet Jeremiah he promises that his plans are of peace, not evil, plans for a future and for hope. He further promises us, as his people, if we call out for him, he’ll hear, if we pray, he’ll listen, if we look for him, he will reveal himself.
More than a baby. More than a redeemer. More than a friend. More than a suffering servant. More. Always more. Always beyond. Always intimate. Always ridiculously, unwaveringly, unstoppably, in love with us. This is the One Who invites us to close all competing ‘programs’ and reset to a sole soul focus – Him. He knows our journal entries of the upcoming twelve months. He sees the news headlines through midnight, December 31, 2022. He sees the victories and the tragedies, the births and the deaths, the breakthroughs and the devastations. In and through it all he is unshaken and unshakable. And he is powerfully and majestically for us. Who Jesus is, all that he says he is, all that the entirety of Scripture confirms he is, is ours: our provision, our wisdom, our peace. And so much - more.
Ask a child to describe air. Ask a fish to describe water. These essential elements are pure gifts, vital carriers of life: air to us, water to fish. Awareness of these treasures is minimal until heightened by their absence. When we are deprived of air, life is extinguished. When fish find themselves out of the water, likewise. God’s Love gift to us, Jesus, is the Treasure, the Supplier of life, the Gift words fail in portraying. However, hymnwriter F.M. Lehman, made a valiant, poetic attempt: “Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made, were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry. Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky.” John, at the end of his gospel account said: “There are so many other things that (Love) said and did; and if these accounts were also written down, the books could not be contained in the entire cosmos.” To put a PD spin on Paul’s declaration: “Now to the God who is Love in so many awe-inspiring ways, immeasurable ways, ways greater than we ever could ask or imagine ...” It is this matchless, measureless, majestic Gift we can but receive, celebrate, worship.
Like the gifts of Hope and Peace, Joy is a current reality, percolating in us, mightily operational. Unlike those first two, joy is not just powerful. It is loud, jubilant, outwardly expressive, raucous! The mystery is how feeble earthlings, wet mud creatures such as ourselves, can ever keep it contained, under wraps, under the radar. Yet all our lives, these three are carrying us, through all our weakness and failings, determinedly drawing us nearer the heart of the Father. As always, it is God’s Word, through the working of the Spirit, that reveals mysteries, sometimes languidly like the early morning arrival of the sun over the horizon, and sometimes startlingly, like a pre-dawn bugler playing Reveille at our open window. But always as a gift.
Four centuries of foreign occupation had created an atmosphere of darkness and gloom and despair over all Israel. But the entire might of Heaven was stealthily lined up in invasion-of- peace mode, awaiting the OK from God Himself. As Scriptures record, it was ‘in the fullness of time’ (or Kairos: the appointed, appropriate time) that saw the in-bursting of the Kingdom of Heaven which, at first, appeared to be utter mayhem, piling additional distress onto an already insufferable situation. Multiple angelic visitations, resulting in a couple belatedly enabled to start a family (and instructed to name the son to be born a name shockingly not found within their family line), an unwed teenage girl chosen to carry and give birth to the Holy One, and a devout Jewish man instructed to disregard all Jewish laws, customs and family expectations and have his pregnant fiancée move into his home. All this purposeful upheaval was part of the prophecy- fulfilling, Divine design for meeting the hopes and dreams of all the world.
It shouldn’t surprise us, even though two millennia having elapsed since Jesus walked the earth, that we find ourselves still flabbergasted (gobsmacked) at the mysterious ways of God: His invitations, His choosings, His forgivenesses, His faithfulnesses, His inexhaustible supply of second chances. We are wet mud creatures who find ourselves drawn to intimate proximity with the Master Potter Himself! We are but finite blips on the continuum of times and spaces who find ourselves invited for high tea with the One who resides outside of all times and spaces, having designed them Himself. We are conundrums and frustrations to ourselves but find ourselves eagerly desired by the One who knows all the glory and all the grime of our stories, all the gold and all the chaff in our hearts, every minute detail, and celebrates, head over heels in love with us! Scripture is chock-a-block with frail attempts to describe our Audience of One, the Three-In-One, the Lord of Hosts, this One who radiates joy like the sun (also His creation) radiates heat.
The Good News is that Jesus made membership in His Resurrection Life freely possible for us. The really good news is that we get to live that life out loud here, today, wherever ‘here’ is. And possibly the greatest news of all is that we are not its center, but simply those who get to be the ‘beautiful feet’ running with this news to the world around us, to the public square where we live, to the neighborhoods we live in. It is this ‘best news,’ this becoming beautiful feet, this becoming Jesus in Public, which is the raison d’être of our journey to the Father’s heart. Let’s look at his preparations for us.
All Biblical accounts of miracles, God’s interventions, reveal mysteries of his Kingdom. There is the part we see and experience, like in a physical healing, which, itself, is often difficult to fully express with words. Then, there is another part even more undiscernible, more cryptic, more otherworldly defying our logic and our language. It’s the head-scratching matter of the ‘how,’ and perhaps the ‘why,’ he did it. Each encounter with the majestic power of the Kingdom of God invokes speechless wonder, or as Peter writes, ‘joy unspeakable and full of glory.’ Or like the planted seed that ‘dies’ producing a new crop. Or, like our new birth into God’s family, adopted, fully loved, fully accepted, Spirit endowed, receiving grace and mercy and forgiveness with no end in sight. Our current quest to learn to swim in the waters of gratitude invites an unleashing of yet another mysterious aspect of the Kingdom of God. Something unforeseen, something exponential.
Our new birth, this Resurrection-in-Christ birthing, this not-of-this-world life, is a fresh start, a re-beginning, and includes the acquisition of a whole new set of life skills, new understandings, new behaviors, new speech, new priorities. We receive all of that in embryonic, ready-to-assemble form and it is our high honor and humbling privilege to develop, to grow, to manifest all things Kingdom. It is our sweetest freedom to be able to choose to no longer live manifesting all things of the world, of the flesh, of the devil. Of course, this choosing is where the spiritual battle begins in earnest! Paul refers to it as experiencing pressure but not being crushed, being persecuted but not being forsaken, being knocked down but not out. As we mature as followers of Jesus, each personal victory brightens our light, salts our salt, increases our joy, and causes us to radiate His glory.
24th Oct 2021 ‘COME BUY WINE WITHOUT MONEY’
John 7:1-14 JESUS THE JEW (in what ways did Jesus conform to Jewish customs? Here and elsewhere in the Gospels?)
John 7:14-27 JESUS THE TEACHER (what credentials did Jesus have in order to teach? And why did he divide opinion?)
John 7:28-44 JESUS THE CHRIST (how did some recognise Jesus to be the Christ? What does buying wine without money entail?)
NB. A final teaser: what is the connection between a vending machine and a French grape harvest?
Ecclesiology, Epistemology, Hamartiology, Christology, Theology, and many other twenty-five-dollar words lend an air of elevated academia to all things Christianity, to all things Church. The ‘ology’ simply means ‘the study of,’ but sometimes the foray into the ‘ology’ alienates the student from the very core intent of the study, the learning better how to live out loud a vibrant relationship with Jesus. In those cases, education for knowledge trumps education in relationship. At its best, education is a highly valued pursuit which should open all the doors and windows to the fresh air of the furthest reaches of the mind’s horizon, elating the spirit, and motivating an elaborate and eager and joy-filled application of its findings. Why should that be so? Because that’s Who God has always been and that’s Where He is always found.
Jesus told his disciples that he had much more to say to them concerning the Gift of Salvation, more detail than they were able to bear at the moment, more of its included, astonishing treasures. For over 2,000 years now, there have been revivals, renewals, new waves, new moves of the Spirit. And each time what is most true is that these have been simply fresh awakenings, fresh winds, fresh interests, fresh glimpses into something old, something hinted at long before. Each season of heightened spiritual growth since that day is proof of the ‘much more’ Jesus referred to and proof of Jesus’ keen awareness of our frail human capacity to absorb Kingdom bounty.
A hushed air of solemnity, voices at a whisper, exquisitely, and seasonally, garbed choir and priest, stately readings of Scripture, fully scripted order of service for well-groomed, buttoned-up, sedately seated attendees. These all have beauty and reverence and a sense of the imminence of the Holy. And these elements draw the hearts of hundreds of thousands of worshipers to the throne of God Sunday after Sunday, in beautiful churches and cathedrals around the world. What this misses, for me, is a transposable connection to the lived reality of those worshipers the other six days of the week. What Jesus outlined for the disciples learning to live in Kingdom reality was shockingly physical, brutish even, chaotic, loud, painful. Talk of crucifixion, death, beatings, rejections, betrayals, eating his flesh and drinking his blood, leaving everything behind, denying family, constantly living as hated, unwelcome aliens – these were all elements of Jesus’ invitation to the glorious plan of Salvation.
We, as disciples of Jesus, are on a journey to the Father’s heart. It’s a process of transformation that reveals itself to be more one of awakening than accomplishment, more one of spiritual awareness than spiritual achievement. For all driven, goal-oriented, over-achieving, ‘git ‘er done’, perfectionists, this is a stumbling block. (But what do I do?) For all those assuming that what God began, He’ll complete on His own, in His time, this is as welcome as finding out that that far-off deadline is today. (Wait! I have to do something?) To both extremes, Jesus issues his invitation to come, to receive, to rest, to learn his unforced rhythms of grace. And along the way the Grace-dawning is that we are already what we seek and where we long to arrive – specifically, in Christ, in God.
Random is not a descriptor of the story of God in Scripture. From Genesis to Revelation there are continuous threads weaving a central theme. The God of Creation, our God, is, as the Book of Deuteronomy declares, ‘One!’ In the New Testament, James tells us God has no shadow of turning. He is changeless. However, in our fallen, sin-beleaguered state, we are changeful, broken, fickle, restless, wayward. The single Song being sung throughout the Word furnishes us with great, soaring hope. We are seen. We are known. We are loved. We are abundantly provided for in our multiple weaknesses: our leanings toward detours, disobediences, dysfunctions, and plain old dumb sheep decisions.
Our invitation to in-Christ, eternal living, lands at our feet when we are still sin-wrecked, stubbornly willful, egocentric; in short, Biblically speaking, lost, like errant sheep. The good news within the Good News is that we are not left marooned in our inherited/self-made, dead-end barrenness. The gritty news is that, upon arrival, we are, all of us, in need of a ton of work, a total makeover, a radical transformation if we are ever to grow up into Jesus-reflecting, Jesus-sounding, Jesus-likeness, disciples. Further good news is that God knows that. He sees. He is able. He is willing. He is patient. He is love-jealous determined. What I think Peter means in saying we’ve been given everything we need for life and godliness, is that God is faithful to provide, through the tough-love facilitating of his Spirit, stretching growth opportunities, riveting, spot-on life experiences, as-needed, on-our-knees, nose-in-the-dirt, humbling occasions of failure/forgiveness/recovery, and firm-gentle reminders of our weaknesses folded into His strength. And all this sweetened (Thank You, Jesus!), with daily replenishings of His mercies and compassions.
Stories can sound accurate until compared with the facts. Two straight lines may look to be parallel until extended further. Measured construction elements may seem accurate until attempts are made to fit them together. White things can look pure white until compared with things whiter still. Lives lived might appear faithful until pressed up against the truth of Jesus, the Word. The disciples and the Jewish religious elite were regularly buffeted by the status quo-challenging winds of Kingdom reality as blown against their hearts by Jesus’ teachings. They were given great pause as to the implications for living their lives moving forward. As are we, today.
The Book of God (aka The Bible) is the intimate love story of the One Eternity- Dwelling, All-Creative, Jealous, Relationship-smitten Supreme Deity, and, of all things, human beings: His own creation! This epic tale spans millennia and contains episodes of the spurned Lover, the unfaithfulness of the beloved, the renewed wooing of the Lover, the stiff-necked rejection by the beloved, the introduction of safety barriers by the Lover, the trampling of those barriers by the beloved, the sending of the Lover’s emissaries, the stubborn deafness of the beloved, and then, with exquisite timing and till-death-do-us-part passion, the sending of the Lover’s Son, the long-sought-after betrothal and the preparation of the Wedding and the Wedding Feast (and the story – our story - continues to be written).
Jesus chooses us. Jesus calls us. Jesus equips us. But Jesus also knows us. He knows our stuff. He knows the embarrassing, humiliating stuff about us. He knows the magnitude of the weight our past tries to impose on us. He takes pity on us like a parent takes pity on a fearing, overwhelmed child. He doesn’t mollycoddle us, but I believe he does Jesus-coddle us. He waits for us. He loves us, and nobody loves us like Jesus love us. And he invites us to join him in the glorious adventure of building his Kingdom: not as mighty-spiritual saints, not as the sourly pious, not as the proud-of-their-humility religious, not as the odious holier-than-thou, but as we are, now, today: ordinary everyday local missionaries. And we’re enough.
New life comes to us by way of invitation only. There is no application to fill out, no resume to tweak/put a spin on. The invitation is to Divinity-initiated adoption, to eternal living, to being a friend/disciple of Jesus, one who apprentices him-/herself to a wholehearted lifestyle of learning to think, act, speak, be, like Jesus. It also motivates the unlearning all thinking, acting, speaking, being that are not like him. For all followers of Jesus, though, there are obstacles to overcome, a new reality to absorb, a humility to gain, and hearts to re-educate. Most foundationally challenging of all, is coming to an acceptance of a ‘not of this world’ relational bond, an intimate, undivorceable connectness, a promise that ‘no matter what you do I’m with you and I’m for you.’ Add to that, the stunning realization that the One who knows us best chooses/champions/cheers us most. When we land firmly on that, we will be ‘a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep us out.’ (from Matthew 16:17, MSG)
Jesus tore down every barrier separating us: blood-stained our sin, killed off death, bequeathed grace, re-established relationship possibility with himself; and now he invites us to live his life! All this in joy-filled anticipation of the day we would accept this bigger-than-big invitation. The moment we say, ‘Yes!’ kicks off a lifelong journey of transformation from immaturity to maturity, to be completed upon seeing him face to face. Until then, there are things to learn and many more things to un-learn. Paul, in Philippians 1:6, injects this hope: “I pray with great faith for you, because I’m fully convinced that the One who began this glorious work in you will faithfully continue the process of maturing you and will put his finishing touches to it until the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ!” Our in-Christ lives are super-saturated with provision and beyond-belief, zealously-maintained hesed/agape – ‘a life-giving forever bond with no mechanism in the brain to unglue us.’*
Because of His bounding joy, God went to meticulous lengths forming us in His image. Then, Adam’s tragic failure in the Garden marred that image. Until that moment when Adam’s disobedience disrupted God’s order, the prevailing atmosphere in Eden had been all-encompassing joy. This God-supplied joy was an essential bonding element in the love relationship between God and humanity, His greatly loved creation. As a consequence of sin’s intrusion, we all now enter life ‘fallen’ from our originally designed perfection and are ardently pursued by our Jealous Lover God until we are fully restored to joy in relationship with Him; until, once again, we bear His likeness. Renewed emphasis on, and re-discovery of, joy as central, is, today, a critical task laid at our feet.
For the Apostles, grasping the full scope of what Jesus’ death accomplished and made available was a distilling process, a little by little, growing awareness, with expanding comprehensions, and elating discoveries. The fever-pitched launching of the church provided no mental space to process the big picture, the meta-story. It was thirty years along in their journey that New Testament writers were able to articulate, and then only In part, the outsized gift they’d received, the eternal living that had become their present reality, their indescribably humbling, royal invite, the Ambassadorship to which they’d been recruited. We, today, are two millennia further along than they, and the ‘aha’ moments keep on coming. We still peer through mist and fog, through blurry filters, through pre-judgments, in an effort to discern, more clearly, this Life that is being lived currently through each of us.
‘There is a place that I know where I need more often to go.
A place of amazing comfort and rest.’
fromArms of my Father, by Dave Chumchal
We sing these words, and in singing them, we affirm their truth, their urgency, their childlikeness. But we too often don’t. Go there, that is. Somehow in our unhealed brokenness, we can be duped into thinking we’ve ‘arrived’ in knowing all the truth about Jesus and what has been made available to us through His cross, the mighty promises of God to us, the presence of His Spirit in us. Thus deluded, we can be led to live our day-to-day lives like all these facts, while amazing and praiseworthy and powerful, still leave us to carry life’s burdens on our weary shoulders. We get mired in making a living, raising a family, dodging life’s bullets and potholes, striving to repair everything and everyone that is broken around us. We unwittingly, and tragically, become standoffish to the big Invitation, and the central key, finding our delight in Jesus, dims and soon appears wimpy, impractical, the stuff of dreams.
Twenty-five years after his blinding encounter with the very Jesus he was persecuting, Paul became a prisoner in Rome, under guard, but allowed to be in his own rented house, with the freedom to preach and encourage everyone who came to him and to write, and send, letters to the many churches he had started. He had acquired significant status within the rapidly growing Church through his travels, his preaching and teaching, his lavishly expressed love for all the saints. Despite his growing renown, he always remembered his dubious beginnings: his colossal blunder, his overblown ego, his misplaced pride of status. His written communications to his friends and fellow believers were re-centering, corrective, positive, and deeply personal.
At his birth, Jesus was the in-breaking of the Kingdom and its King. How he lived was a Kingdom-citizen prototype. His charisma was unsophisticated, pure. His joyful enthusiasm was compelling. What he spoke was a clarification of Kingdom values, Kingdom reality. What he did by way of signs and wonders was a demonstration of Kingdom power. His crucifixion was a stunning display of Kingdom Love. His entire mission was the introduction of a new, exclusive, way to his Kingdom. His angry denouncing of pompous religiosity, the entrenched, heartless legalism, the small ‘k’ kingdom usurping the large ‘K’ Kingdom, was electrifyingly Good News, freedom itself, to average, ‘unseen,’ Jews everywhere.
Our God is a God of purpose, of precision, of planning, of perfection, of purity. His sphere of infinite influence shatters all human perceptions. His ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts, says the Prophet Isaiah. His weakness is stronger than our strength, Paul says. All things hold together in Him – things in heaven, things on earth, and things under the earth. He observes all of history in a single glance. Everything from Creation to the very End of the Age is laid out before him. Timing is a tool in his toolbelt. He sees the human timeline and determines ‘fullnesses’ of time which speak of His interventions, His visitations, His ‘new things,’ His ‘in-breakings,’ each of which surprises, stuns, scares, and ultimately, satisfies, His children.
Jesus went back to the Father / The Holy Spirit arrived / The church burst into being / Persecution erupted. For the next three decades, life for disciples of Jesus was ecstatic, challenging, terrifying, discouraging – all at the same time. It was only then, approximately 25-30 years later, that the accounts and letters we know as the books of the New Testament, were written. It was likely that those early years were so demanding that no one had the energy to reflect, to concentrate, to envision the future. Staying focused on joy gradually revealed itself as being of the utmost importance.
The Resurrection Scheme of Things
As the Holy Spirit continued wooing souls, sweeping them into the newborn Church of Jesus, the persecution, from both Jewish leaders and Roman authorities, continued its dark mission with corresponding intensity. However, it soon became clear that there was an unusual dynamic at work. The opposition was, paradoxically, increasing the appeal of the upstart movement called The Way and causing a greater influx of Jews seeking the refuge and hope promised in the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Joseph’s story (Genesis 50) was proving to be not an isolated incident, but a still-standing God principle – what the enemy meant for evil, God was turning around for good.
Habakuk
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1:1-3, 2:1 – There is __________________________ everywhere!
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2:2,3, 14-20 – There is ___________________________ to reveal
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3:2-6, 16-19 – My hope is __________________________!
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Matthew 24: 3-14 – The Resurrection ___________________________________
“ . . . we are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together to fit into God’s perfect plan of bringing good into our lives, for we are his lovers who have been called to fulfill his designed purpose.” Romans 8: 28, TPT
“And when that which is mortal puts on immortality, and what now decays is exchanged for what will never decay, then the Scripture will be fulfilled that says, ‘Death is swallowed up by a triumphant victory! So, death, tell me, where is your victory? Tell me death, where is your sting?’” 1 Corinthians 15: 54,55 TPT (Paul, quoting Isaiah 25:8 & Hosea 13:14)
From a group of twelve men, to a devoted group of one hundred twenty followers, to the overnight, viral sensation of thousands breaking free of the confines of traditional Judaism and streaming toward the Good News Jesus had announced, the unleashing of the power of God on an unsuspecting Jerusalem was soon staggering the imagination of the faithful. It was also threatening the Jewish religious elite and bringing fears of mass rebellion to the Romans enforcing their foreign rule over this perpetually contentious territory. The explosive growth of the church came with its problems of administration, demanding the attention of the already overworked apostles. The ministry of the Holy Spirit, then, as now, provided wisdom and discernment for the immediate, and the future.
The Incarnation, Jesus becoming man, was the initial breaking in of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Jesus’ death and Resurrection completely satisfied the righteous requirements of pure and holy justice, opening the way, through the man Jesus, for us to participate in intimate and eternal fellowship with God as his beloved. Jesus’ Ascension, his returning to the Father, not just as Son of God, but as Son of Man, bridged the gap between heaven and earth, furnishing full and free access to Heaven’s throne room to us, His redeemed, once for all time. The sending of the Holy Spirit we celebrate today was but the first installment of the ‘infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you.’ (Paul’s description in his letter to the church at Ephesus, chap. 3, TPT)
It was heart-stopping! And it was miraculous! A never-before-seen spectacle! It was chill-inducing! Defying all logic! It was like an unseen hand had cut an invisible cord that was holding Jesus to the ground, keeping him bound to his disciples, forcing him to keep encouraging his friends. Everything had been so normal that day, right up to that moment when Jesus seemed to float up and up into the sky until a cloud absorbed him, hiding him from them. Like so very many times before, the disciples were unprepared for this latest mysterious display (and reminder) of the Kingdom’s otherworldliness. They were even less prepared to grasp its implications.
Adam’s sin unleashed a perpetual avalanche of brokenness upon mankind. All peoples, languages and nations continue to ‘groan until the sons of God are revealed.’ Lying and blame-shifting are rampant with devastating consequences. Legalism and perfectionism are an all too familiar, if suffocating, duo. Jesus, throughout his brief itinerary, headed straight into these cultural winds, outlining the glories of his Father’s Kingdom, elating the masses of poor and needy, the sick and invisible, and infuriating the Establishment (the whitewashed tombs, the illegitimate ones, the sons of Satan, the brood of vipers, etc.). At every turn, God’s Kingdom advance was simultaneously greeted with mounting joy and opposed with mounting hatred. The clash of receptions led Jesus to the cross and to ultimate victory. And the Good News of his Kingdom is our inheritance today.
The functioning of God’s Kingdom, devoid of competition, jealousies, and grandstanding, stood in stark contrast with the functioning of the disciples’ world. Jesus’ teachings and demonstrations of the Kingdom, while definitely awe-inspiring, had to have been, to some degree, inconceivable to the entrenched thinking of his group of twelve guys. So many of the details seemed an impossible stretch, too peculiar, upside-down even. Maybe Jesus meant for them to understand that he was simply exaggerating to make a point, and not anticipating that they would follow these instructions legalistically. Maybe there was a hidden code they were yet to decipher. Or maybe he was openly revealing an entirely ‘other’ reality, a portal into a Divine community where pure love and joy and peace were constants, where happy laughter was the norm, where sin and its pollutions, including death, were banned for all eternity.
Dateline: circa AD 33, Location: Jerusalem - It’s been 21 days since Jesus’ Resurrection, just over halfway to day 40 when he will be taken up from before the eyes of his ever-incredulous disciples. It means that Jesus is super-concentrated on defining details of the Kingdom, its atmosphere, its workings, its priorities, as well as a more detailed description of what is foreign to its atmosphere, its workings, its priorities. Overlaid on this finetuning is a repeated emphasis on the Father’s intimate, abiding, saturating love. Military might, strategic dominance and Israel’s return to freedom in power and glory are nowhere mentioned in the briefings. A strange Kingdom indeed.
Matthew’s gospel emphasizes the Kingdom of Heaven (40 references) and Jesus as its King (14 times). His writing bridges the 400-year gap between the Old and New Testaments, carefully outlining the clear and unmistakable lineage from King David to King Jesus. Matthew wrote this account approximately 30 years after Jesus left to be seated at the right hand of the Father in the glory of the courts of Heaven. The disciples, while Jesus walked with them, were in the thick of accepting and making sense of their experience and tying it together with everything they knew of their Scriptures, even as they were regularly stupefied to be first-hand witnesses to the breaking through of the Kingdom of Heaven in their day and in their lives. That a certain level of detail escaped them in the heat of the moment, is understandably human, and immensely forgivable.
Matthew 13: 31-52
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vv. 31-33 – The Kingdom is _______________________________________________
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vv. 47-51 – The Kingdom is ________________________________________________
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vv. 44-46- The Kingdom is _________________________________________________
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v. 52 – The Kingdom is ____________________________________________________
‘Eastertide’ (the 50 days between Resurrection Sunday and Pentecost) was a precious time when Jesus seemed, for all intents and purposes, to be ‘back,’ and apparently back exclusively for the twelve, reinforcing his previous explanations of the Kingdom and how it operated, answering any further questions that came up, urging them not to leave Jerusalem until a future, undefined event had occurred, and proving to his little band of emerging leaders that he remained confident in their latent abilities. Luke, in Acts 1, talks of Jesus ‘appearing’ many times, making this a challenging new post-Resurrection twist in their relationship. Instead of hanging out with them as before, he would leave/disappear for a time then return/re-appear. Perhaps it was his way of weaning them of their clingy dependence and providing opportunities to strengthen their faith.
Old Testament saints longed to see it. Jesus’ disciples and his contemporaries longed to comprehend it. We are called to remember it. Not just the starry night and the storied manger, not just the miracles and signs and wonders, not just the cruelty and mockery of Holy Week, not just the betrayal and the mock trial and the beating and the cross, but the once-for-all defeat of sin and death, Satan’s rout, our incredible, first inhale of freedom. As the resurrected Jesus’ redeemed ones, his becoming-spotless Bride, his Church, his Kingdom Ambassadors, we are but ordinary clay pots, but clay pots who are brimming with anointings, with giftings, with divine endowments, with worth. We, finite mortals all, now ooze holiness, being too frail to contain it within our as-yet uncompleted frame. Jesus’ perfume has become ours. His mark is upon us. His glory is our treasure. His kingdom realm has become our true and forever home. And so, we look ahead to see Him that we might more clearly see Him today.
“He will crush your head” (God, to the serpent, right after the Fall), “Unto us a Son is given” (Isaiah, referring to the Messiah, the Son of David, 700 BC), “He was bruised for our iniquities” (Isaiah, about the Suffering Servant, 700 BC), “Before Abraham was born, I AM!” (Jesus, ca. 33 AD)
The Song has been echoing throughout the ages, since long before Creation. It’s a Song known by many names. Today, we call him Jesus. His climactic arrival in Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover engendered days of fanatical joy and searing hatred, celebration and condemnation, exaltation and mockery, and finally, crucifixion. And day after day, that entire week, the Song was a sweet, soaring descant, lilting high above the maelstrom brewing below. He was, is, and ever will be, our Song.
Luke 19: 28-44
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v. 30 - (1 Kings 1:28-40; Zechariah 9:9) - The Song’s ____________________________
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v. 40 – (Psalm 19: 1-6; Romans 8:18-22) – The _____________________ of the Song
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v. 41 – (Luke 13: 31-35) – The ____________________ of the Song
“You never know what a day will bring.” Nothing could have had a truer ring to it than it had for a young, Jewish fisherman, diligently at work at the shore with his father and a group of close friends and fishing partners the day Jesus strolled up and began talking to them! Seemingly with the greatest economy of words, Jesus walked away with an enlarged band of smitten followers, John being among them. The next three years would be made up of the most unusual, frightening, baffling, exhilarating, crushing, amazing experiences he would have thought possible. Each day of John’s journey with Jesus included teachings and developments that forged a love relationship with his Master, perpetually staggering his imagination. The following sixty years would serve to expand that brother-to-brother friendship in unprecedented ways. John surely heard, and knew, the Song.
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Mark 9:1-10 – Seeing Jesus’ ______________________________
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Mark 10:33-45 – Receiving a lesson in ___________________________
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Luke 8:40-42, 49-52 – Watching Kingdom mastery ___________________________
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1 John 4:7-21– Singing __________________________
Rahab’s great-great-grandson was raised in the insignificant region of Judah called Ephratah, in the even less significant village of Bethlehem. He was the youngest of the eight sons of a man named Jesse and charged with watching his father’s sheep. He was also a singer/worshiper/musician/songwriter. He was an obedient son whose life was dedicated to serving the Lord, the God of Israel. His anonymity expired just as happened with Abraham, Moses, and his great-great grandmother before him. He was launched on a path he could not have foreseen, one that would guarantee no one would ever need to ask his name. As for the song, David knew its invitation more intimately than most.
It’s embarrassing! It’s cringingly awkward! God’s love story talks about – it. The church’s prudish sensitivities are never on fuller display than when the Word includes tales of illicit love affairs, seductions, rapes, people caught ‘in the act’, even the ‘world’s oldest profession.’ But there it is, in print for all to see and read. One of the Old Testament books was considered so racy, young men were strongly encouraged, if sometimes commanded, to not read it for fear of the troublesome consequences. And yet, God! And that love song! No one is excluded from its invitation. Not even a prostitute! It’s been said: “God sees from on high, but he looks real low.” The ‘lowly’ Rahab heard it.
What an astonishing story! In just a few short verses, Scripture introduces us to a baby born at one of the worst times in history, in some of the worst conditions imaginable. The king’s edict has gone out that all newborns like him are to be put to death immediately after they are born. In an act of defiance, the two Hebrew midwives honor God over the king. The baby is hidden in a basket in the bushes by the river, found by an Egyptian princess, returned to be nursed again by his own mother, then adopted into Pharaoh’s household and raised and educated in the palace as an Egyptian prince! This one whose life was supposed to have been snuffed out, was loved and cherished by the very one who had willed his demise! Moses heard the song.
Abraham was born approximately 2100 years before the angel-heralded, midnight manger birth in Bethlehem, so when Joseph and Mary’s firstborn revealed this startling truth to some Jewish leaders: “I have existed long before Abraham was born, for I AM!” (John 8:58 TPT), John tells us the immediate, violent reaction was to put Jesus to death by stoning, for blasphemy (they failed to bring him down, that time). Jesus cited the beloved Patriarch partly because of the Jews’ veneration of their ancestors, their lineage, their vital connection to genealogy, their heritage, but mostly to encourage them to reach for God’s metastory, the big picture. Abram, as he was first named, was the son of Terah, an idolater, living in distant Mesopotamia. He was catapulted into God’s mission, the scope of which stretched past all known boundaries and required a dizzying, near-insane degree of trusting, loving submission to this God who was calling him. I’m convinced he obeyed because he was able to hear it - The Song.
Focusing on the theme of love today is most definitely low-hanging fruit for the Church. Borrowing from Isaiah 55, I’d have God say this: “My love is not your love, neither is your way of loving my way”, declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so is my way of loving higher than your way, and my love than your love.”Describing God’s love is beyond words, beyond stratospheric, beyond our full knowing until we see him face to face. Our dilemma is shared with the saints through all the ages.
“The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen could ever tell. It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell. . . Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made, were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry. Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong! It shall forevermore endure – the saints’ and angels’ song.” F.M. Lehman, 1917 (words in bold translated from an Aramaic poem by a Jewish rabbi, 1050 A.D.)
A key component of God’s intricate plan of salvation is for his church, his bride, to live out her physical life in the world without allowing her soul to be assimilated into it. His blueprint accounts for every contingency: sending a live-in life coach – his Spirit, assuring an advocate with Himself - his crucified, risen, now-reigning Son, composing a letter of faithful, loving promise - his Living Word. In consummate righteousness, Jesus holds eternal status as the King supreme over All Kings and the Lord supreme over all Lords. He rules with terrible justice and mighty power. He is the plumbline of Amos 7. It is an excessively grim self-condemnation to continue living next door, quaking in fear of the Plumbline, having been invited in to live with him, the Seat of Justice of the whole earth, to bask in the security of his radiant glory, his Shalom.
Romans 7:5-25
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vv. 5 - 12 – Sin defined.
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vv. 13,14 – Sin displayed.
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vv. 15 – 20 – Sin desired.
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vv. 21 – 25 – Sin defeated.
“The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.” ― Timothy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God “We sinned for no reason but an incomprehensible lack of love, and He saved us for no reason but an incomprehensible excess of love.” ― Peter Kreeft, Jesus-Shock