Monday Thought -- October 20, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“Therefore Jesus said again, ‘I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.’” (John 10:7-10)

They clamor for attention, making claims that they cannot fulfill.

Wealth shouts, “Here’s life, pursue me and you’ll find everything that you dream of.” But those who have pursued wealth and won have not found the fulfillment it offered, they’ve found emptiness instead.

Pleasure shouts, “Here’s life, pursue me, take all the pleasure you can find and you’ll be truly happy. It will be all you ever dreamed of, real life.” But the end of a life pursuing pleasure isn’t the fulfillment it promised, but dissatisfaction that there isn’t more and a hollow feeling inside.

Power shouts, “Here’s life, seek to control people and things and in that control you’ll find the satisfaction you desire.” But, in the end, power isn’t all that it claims to be. It fades and is gone, and even while you have it, it doesn’t provide the fulfillment it promised.

Name every other pursuit the world offers and the same can be said of them. They offer life, fulfillment, satisfaction, happiness. In the end, they cannot deliver what they promise. They are thieves, offering what they cannot give and stealing your opportunity to find true life.

There is a pursuit that does fulfill. It brings satisfaction that does not fade. It brings happiness that cannot be taken away. It provides more than it claims. Life, real life, is not in the pursuits of the world, but in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Pursue that, pursue Him, and you’ll find life.

Sometimes we look at the things of the world and wonder if perhaps that pursuit would be better. Don’t be fooled by what you see. Don’t be fooled by the facade people wear. Don’t be fooled by the temporary. Hold on to Jesus and you are holding on to life to the full, for eternity!

His, by Grace,

Steve

Friday Thought -- October 17, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” (John 10:1-5)

In Jesus’ day, the sheep knew the voice of their own shepherd. Out in the open fields, two shepherds would often meet and while they talked their two flocks mingled with each other. When the shepherds were ready to go their separate ways, one would call out to his sheep and they would follow him. The other shepherd would head a different direction, call to his sheep and they would follow him. There was no danger of the wrong sheep going with the wrong shepherd. The sheep knew the voice of their own shepherd and they followed him.

The sheep got to know the voice of their shepherd because they spent a great deal of time with him. They listened to him sing and talk. They got to know his voice so well that they could pick it out, even among dozens of shepherds.

Jesus talks at length in this chapter of John’s Gospel, comparing Himself to a shepherd and His followers to sheep. The point in these first few verses is that His sheep can get to know His voice so well that they can pick it out among many competing voices.

There is a principle there about knowing the will of God. The best way to be able to discern the will of God – where He is wanting you to go – is to get to know the Shepherd so well that you can tell which voice is His, even among the many which compete for attention. Like the sheep of Israel, we will get to know the voice of our Shepherd only by spending time with Him, lots of time with Him. The better we know Him, the easier His voice will be for us to hear.

His, by Grace,

Steve

Thursday Thought -- October 16, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned,’ said Jesus, ‘but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.’” (John 9:1-3)

Have you ever wondered why some people are born blind, or with other infirmities? The Jews of Jesus’ day, including His own disciples, thought they had it all figured out. People are born with handicaps because either they sinned, or their parents did. That’s especially helpful for those of us with no obvious handicaps, it must mean we’re pretty decent folks, and so were our parents!

Those Jews were wrong! Being blind or deaf, or having any other handicap, doesn’t mean that some sin is being punished by God. Rather, it means that is the way God has chosen to create the person in order to accomplish the purposes for which He decides to use them. That is His right as Creator.

The man born blind in John 9, was born blind to display the glory of God. One of the ways in which he did that was when Jesus healed his blindness and gave him sight again.

None of us is perfect. Not all of our handicaps are obvious. And some people suffer much more than others because of their handicaps. But all of us are made in the way God chose in order to accomplish what He desires to accomplish through us. Every person ever made has everything he or she needs to accomplish all that God wants them to accomplish.

With what God has given you, are you accomplishing all that He desires to accomplish through you?

His, by Grace,

Steve

Wednesday Thought -- October 15, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“‘Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.’ ‘You are not yet fifty years old,’ the Jews said to him, ‘and you have seen Abraham!’ ‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!’ At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.” (John 8:56-59)

It seems like such a simple little statement that Jesus made: “before Abraham was born, I am.” But it set the Jews off. They wanted to kill Him!

In that simple little statement, Jesus was saying that He had been alive for thousands of years, existing even before Abraham was born, before the Jewish nation got its start. No human being can say that. That’s the point: Jesus was declaring that He was no ordinary human being. Although clothed in flesh and bound by the limitations of humanity, Jesus was claiming to be God!

That’s even clearer when you grasp the meaning of the title by which He called Himself: “I am.”

It’s a title that says He has no beginning and no end. Jesus was declaring that time meant nothing to Him. He lived – and still lives -- in the eternal present. We would say, “I was there before Abraham was born.” Jesus said, “I am.”

Even more significantly, the two words “I am” are the name by which the Father called

Himself. When Moses asked God at the burning bush, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” (Exodus 3:13) God answered Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:14)

Jesus was declaring Himself to be God. That was very clear to the Jews who heard Him. They picked up stones to kill Him for it!

He’s no mere man that we follow. He’s not just a good man, nor even a great man. We follow Jesus. We follow God!

His, by Grace,

Steve

Tuesday Thought -- October 14, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” (John 8:31-32)

What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? It’s not about going to church. It’s not about an intellectual belief in who He is. It’s not about participation in rituals and ceremonies. All of those have value and help in some ways, but they are not the heart of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

To be a disciple means to be a learner and a follower. A disciple listens to the one of whom he is a disciple and then follows that teaching. So, a disciple of Jesus listens to the teaching of Jesus, but not in an intellectual pursuit of knowledge, but listens in order to follow what He says.

That sounds like bondage to some people. To do what someone else tells us to do, even someone like Jesus, means that we can’t just do whatever we want and many people object to that. More than anything else, many people what to be their own bosses and do whatever it is they want to do. They think that anything else is bondage.

But the truth is, to follow Jesus is not bondage, it is freedom, real freedom. To listen to the teaching of Jesus and to follow it is to live in the way God created us to live, and that’s freedom. It’s freedom from guilt, freedom from the power of sin, freedom to be the people God created us to be.

The truth sets us free. Following Jesus sets us free.

His, by Grace,

Steve

Monday Thought -- October 13, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“When the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near, Jesus’ brothers said to him, ‘You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.’ For even his own brothers did not believe in him.” (John 7:2-5)

Jesus had four brothers, James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. (see Matthew 13:55) At this point it was fairly late in Jesus’ ministry. He’d already been teaching for some time and had attracted many disciples. Yet, His brothers were not among His followers. His brothers did not believe in Him. They did not acknowledge Him as the Messiah.

Many of you also have family members who do not believe in Jesus. It’s encouraging to know that Jesus understands what it is like to have family members who do not believe, and do not understand why you believe.

The fact that His brothers did not believe did not keep Jesus from having a relationship with them. He continued to be with them and talk with them. Notice that Jesus didn’t preach to them in this encounter. Not every opportunity to be with your non-believing family members needs to be a time of preaching. Preaching every time you see them repels much more than it attracts them to what we believe.

Eventually, at least two of Jesus’ brothers became believers. James became the most prominent leader of the church in Jerusalem and wrote the book of James. Judas also wrote one of the letters of the New Testament, the book of Jude. Although they did not believe during most of Jesus’ ministry, they were watching Him. His life and His teaching finally attracted them to Him.

Be encouraged if your family members do not believe. Jesus understands. Watch your life and your testimony, so that God can use it to attract your family to the One you follow.

His, by Grace,

Steve

Friday Thought -- October 10, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, ‘Rabbi, when did you get here?’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.’ Then they asked him, ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’ Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.’” (John 6:25-29)

What attracts you to Jesus? Some were attracted to Jesus when He lived because they wanted what they could get from Him. They liked the food He created for them.

Jesus is looking for followers who aren’t attracted by what we can get from Him, but are attracted to Jesus Himself.

What is your goal in life?

There are many things to which a person can devote his or her life: being comfortable, acquiring wealth, having fun, staying healthy, being famous, making some contribution to society, and you can probably add more items to the list. None of those goals will last. All of them will fade into insignificance as time passes.

Jesus offers another goal in life toward which we can aim that will never fade away: it is simply to trust and follow Him. That’s a goal that will last for eternity. It’s really worth giving your life to.

His, by Grace,

Steve