Entering

28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. Now he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 “‘No, I don’t want to,’ he replied. But later he changed his mind and went. 30 “The father said the same thing to the other son, who replied, ‘Yes, sir.’ But he didn’t go. 31 “Which one of these two did his father’s will?” They said, “The first one.” Jesus said to them, “I assure you that tax collectors and prostitutes are entering God’s kingdom ahead of you.32 For John came to you on the righteous road, and you didn’t believe him. But tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. Yet even after you saw this, you didn’t change your hearts and lives and you didn’t believe him. (Matthew 21:28-32, CEB)

Those who you think will not be a part of the kingdom are making it in faster than you…

When we judge someone by what we think we know we are really judging ourselves, and holding ourselves back.

When we say we we don’t believe in what we have been told or seen we are denying that the Holy Spirit is working. We are living in the fear of the world.

Do not live in the fear, but live in the hope of Christ. And share that hope through Christ’s love.

perfected

12 It’s not that I have already reached this goal or have already been perfected, but I pursue it, so that I may grab hold of it because Christ grabbed hold of me for just this purpose. 13 Brothers and sisters, I myself don’t think I’ve reached it, but I do this one thing: I forget about the things behind me and reach out for the things ahead of me. 14 The goal I pursue is the prize of God’s upward call in Christ Jesus. 15 So all of us who are spiritually mature should think this way, and if anyone thinks differently, God will reveal it to him or her. 16 Only let’s live in a way that is consistent with whatever level we have reached. (Philippians 3:12-16, CEB)

Is anyone perfect?

Paul is telling us here that he is not perfect, nor has he reached the goal, but he is striving ever forward reaching for Christ.

In a world that tells you to look to self gratification, and self pleasure, Paul and Christ are calling us to press on towards Jesus and not focus on what we leave behind, or our selves but to keep looking and pressing forward.

Christ will never leave us and will always move with us through this world, to be our foundation and our hope. Never let go fo the hope we have in the baby in the manger. Know that he came to show us how to love the world around us and to help us along our journey.

Press onward and live in Christ’s hope.

reach the goal

7 These things were my assets, but I wrote them off as a loss for the sake of Christ. 8 But even beyond that, I consider everything a loss in comparison with the superior value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have lost everything for him, but what I lost I think of as sewer trash, so that I might gain Christ 9 and be found in him. In Christ I have a righteousness that is not my own and that does not come from the Law but rather from the faithfulness of Christ. It is the righteousness of God that is based on faith. 10 The righteousness that I have comes from knowing Christ, the power of his resurrection, and the participation in his sufferings. It includes being conformed to his death 11 so that I may perhaps reach the goal of the resurrection of the dead. (Philippians 3:7-11, CEB)

The portion of Philippians right before this is where Paul lays out his lineage and all the things as a Jew he can brag in, the proper lineage and tribe, blameless under the law. But all of this is garbage, trash because it is only the fact that Christ came and died and made a way that we are acceptable.

And only our conforming to Christ’s death may we obtain the goal of eternal life. This is made possible by the baby born in the manger, that is faithful to the plan to go to the cross.

Know you will never make it on your own, but don’t let that weigh you down in fear. Know the hope we have in Christ and live in that.

John

5 During the rule of King Herod of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah. His wife Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron. 6 They were both righteous before God, blameless in their observance of all the Lord’s commandments and regulations. 7 They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to become pregnant and they both were very old. 8 One day Zechariah was serving as a priest before God because his priestly division was on duty. 9 Following the customs of priestly service, he was chosen by lottery to go into the Lord’s sanctuary and burn incense. 10 All the people who gathered to worship were praying outside during this hour of incense offering. 11 An angel from the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw the angel, he was startled and overcome with fear. 13 The angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah. Your prayers have been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will give birth to your son and you must name him John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many people will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great in the Lord’s eyes. He must not drink wine and liquor. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before his birth. 16 He will bring many Israelites back to the Lord their God. 17 He will go forth before the Lord, equipped with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will turn the hearts of fathers back to their children, and he will turn the disobedient to righteous patterns of thinking. He will make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:5-17, CEB)

He will make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

Zechariah and Elizabeth were unable to have children and they prayed that God would bless them with a child. And God heard the pray and blessed them. And an angel announced this to Zechariah in the sanctuary while he was burning incense. John will be his name and he will make ready a people, prepared for the Lord.

What are you doing to continue what John started?

Are you living in fear of the day, allowing people to control your life or do you live in the hope of the coming savior and share God’s love with all of the world?

Be like John and make ready a people prepared to receive the Lord!

Fear or love?

The apostles and the brothers and sisters throughout Judea heard that even the Gentiles had welcomed God’s word. 2 When Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him.3 They accused him, “You went into the home of the uncircumcised and ate with them!” 4 Step-by-step, Peter explained what had happened. 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying when I had a visionary experience. In my vision, I saw something like a large linen sheet being lowered from heaven by its four corners. It came all the way down to me. 6 As I stared at it, wondering what it was, I saw four-legged animals—including wild beasts—as well as reptiles and wild birds. 7 I heard a voice say, ‘Get up, Peter! Kill and eat!’ 8 I responded, ‘Absolutely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ (Acts 11:1-8, CEB)

What God has made clean we should not call unclean. We have man made rules that govern our religious understanding. Do we follow the man made rules or God?

When we follow the rules of religion we are playing into the fear that we will not be able to please God. That our lives will not be acceptable, but when we know the love of God and know that God has already accepted us because of Christ, then we are freed from the fear that can bind us. We are free from the evil of this world that can plague us.

Do we allow the Holy Spirit to move and work, or do we follow man made rules?

Fear or love? Which do you choose?

Acts 2:42

37 When the crowd heard this, they were deeply troubled. They said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” 38 Peter replied, “Change your hearts and lives. Each of you must be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 This promise is for you, your children, and for all who are far away—as many as the Lord our God invites.” 40 With many other words he testified to them and encouraged them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” 41 Those who accepted Peter’s message were baptized. God brought about three thousand people into the community on that day. 42 The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers. (Acts 2:37-42, CEB)

I have known several communities of believers called Acts 2:42.

It is a great verse. The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers.

The verse before this says that God added about 3000 to the number of the believers that day. Because they were devoted to the teaching of the apostles, to being a community, to sharing meals and prayers. They were committed to each other and gathering for meals together and to pray together. That is really all we need to do, share table fellowship, pray with and for each other and be connected as a community as we follow after the teaching of Jesus and the Apostles.

This will drive out the fear in the world and allow us to be steady on hope.

Beginning

The beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ, God’s Son, 2 happened just as it was written about in the prophecy of Isaiah: Look, I am sending my messenger before you. He will prepare your way, 3 a voice shouting in the wilderness: “Prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight.” 4 John the Baptist was in the wilderness calling for people to be baptized to show that they were changing their hearts and lives and wanted God to forgive their sins. 5 Everyone in Judea and all the people of Jerusalem went out to the Jordan River and were being baptized by John as they confessed their sins. 6 John wore clothes made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He announced, “One stronger than I am is coming after me. I’m not even worthy to bend over and loosen the strap of his sandals.8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 1:1-8, CEB)

The beginning of the good news!

Here in Mark we see the beginning of the good news comes as Jesus is about to start his ministry. It isn’t at the birth, it is as John proclaims to make paths straight and prepare the way of the savior.

It is the hope we have in the birth of the savior that gives us the good news that drives out all of the fear we will encounter.

So know that the story is still be written, and go and share love.

Who do you want to impress?

27 Jesus and his disciples entered Jerusalem again. As Jesus was walking around the temple, the chief priests, legal experts, and elders came to him. 28 They asked, “What kind of authority do you have for doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?” 29 Jesus said to them, “I have a question for you. Give me an answer, then I’ll tell you what kind of authority I have to do these things. 30 Was John’s baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me.” 31 They argued among themselves, “If we say, ‘It’s of heavenly origin,’ he’ll say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 32 But we can’t say, ‘It’s of earthly origin.’” They said this because they were afraid of the crowd, because they all thought John was a prophet. 33 They answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” Jesus replied, “Neither will I tell you what kind of authority I have to do these things.” (Mark 11:27-33, CEB)

Isn’t it interesting how we have to think about an answer because of what might happen based on how we answer?

Have you ever answered a question in a way that would make the person asking you like you more? Have you ever manipulated the answer to a question to get the right response?

That is what the chief priests, legal experts and elders are doing. They do not want to answer with their understanding but for how the answer will be perceived. And when we do this we are not living in the truth. We are letting the hope of the coming savior not be a part of our life.

Through Jesus being in your life you know the truth, and when you live in Jesus the hope of Christ is always with you. Answer in that hope and share the truth. Live the love that God has given us.

Hope shared

19 Now those who were scattered as a result of the trouble that occurred because of Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch. They proclaimed the word only to Jews. 20 Among them were some people from Cyprus and Cyrene. They entered Antioch and began to proclaim the good news about the Lord Jesus also to Gentiles. 21 The Lord’s power was with them, and a large number came to believe and turned to the Lord. 22 When the church in Jerusalem heard about this, they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw evidence of God’s grace, he was overjoyed and encouraged everyone to remain fully committed to the Lord. 24 Barnabas responded in this way because he was a good man, whom the Holy Spirit had endowed with exceptional faith. A considerable number of people were added to the Lord. 25 Barnabas went to Tarsus in search of Saul. 26 When he found him, he brought him to Antioch. They were there for a whole year, meeting with the church and teaching large numbers of people. It was in Antioch where the disciples were first labeled “Christians.” (Acts 11:19-26, CEB)

As we wait for Jesus to be born to us as a baby in the manger in this season of advent, we see the hope that comes after Jesus’ death and resurrection and ascension back to God in the spreading of the message of Love of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit worked in and through the early followers of the way and showed them the love and message to share as they went thought the world.

We are in stilled with that same hope and the same spirit and sent to share there same love.

Live in that hope and share the love of Christ every day!

Hope in Jesus

2 We always thank God for all of you when we mention you constantly in our prayers. 3 This is because we remember your work that comes from faith, your effort that comes from love, and your perseverance that comes from hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father.4 Brothers and sisters, you are loved by God, and we know that he has chosen you. 5 We know this because our good news didn’t come to you just in speech but also with power and the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know as well as we do what kind of people we were when we were with you, which was for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord when you accepted the message that came from the Holy Spirit with joy in spite of great suffering. 7 As a result you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The message about the Lord rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia but in every place. The news about your faithfulness to God has spread so that we don’t even need to mention it. 9 People tell us about what sort of welcome we had from you and how you turned to God from idols. As a result, you are serving the living and true God, 10 and you are waiting for his Son from heaven. His Son is Jesus, who is the one he raised from the dead and who is the one who will rescue us from the coming wrath. (1 Thessalonians 1:2-10, CEB)

We see your hope in Jesus and how that has carried you through.

When we imitate our teachers of the faith we can grow closer to Christ and God and strengthen your relationship with God. By focusing our lives on Christ and the hope we have in Jesus we will grow in our faith and share love with the world around us.

Hope will always over come fear, anxiety and any other evil we will encounter in this world.

So live in the hope we have in Christ. And love the world as you go.