be united

one-in-christNow I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power. (1 Corinthians 1:10-17, NRSV)

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ you should be in agreement, and there be no divisions among you, but that you are united in the same mind and the same purpose.

If only right?

But isn’t that really what Jesus came to do?

To help us see what it is all about?

And when we fight over the rules, and who is doing what the right way, or who is doing this the wrong way, we miss the point.

The point is to love God and to love you neighbor, and everything else will be handled by God.

So be united, and get over the small issues we want to make mountians out of.

Be united in Christ!

everyone

“I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. “Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:20-26, NRSV)

Jesus just prayed for you!

In the garden, the night before His arrest and trial and death He prayed for you.

For all of those who will hear and believe through these…

That the words they speak will show forth the love of Jesus.

Jesus prayed for you to hear the words and believe, and now he is praying for those who will hear through you.

Everyone needs to hear, and you can go and tell the story of a savior that prayed for you.

escape is not his plan…

“I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth. (John 17:6-19, NRSV)

I am not asking you to take them out of the world…

We do not get an escape card and automatically sucked up into heaven with Jesus when we become a christian…

We get to stay here in the world and be Jesus’ hands and feet. Which means that all of life will still be weighing down on us.

We don’t need to pretend that we can do it on our own either. You see here, Jesus says that he protected the disciples while he was here, and here he is asking the Father to continue to protect them.

We are not alone in this walk, and we do not have to pretend to be perfect, like there are no problems when we are Christians.

Yes we are set apart from the world, but we are still in the world. We are sanctified, hallowed, and set apart. But we are walking together in this world, as his body.

We are not without struggles, and we need to show that, and be broken together with Jesus giving us life.

 

Here is a video for a song that is inspiring me now:

 

king of all the earth!

God has gone up with a shout,
the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.
Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises.
For God is the king of all the earth;
sing praises with a psalm.
(Psalm 47:5-7, NRSV)

Sing praises to God, for He is the king of all the earth!

He is the one who created you and the place in which you dwell.

So raise a shout to God, and sing Him praises with a psalm.

immeasurable greatness

I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:15-23, NRSV)

I pray that you get the spirit of wisdom  and revelation as you come to know God, our savior, better.

I pray that your eyes would be opened and enlightened to see the hope we have in Him.

I pray that you would see the greatness and riches He has given you.

But most of all I pray that you would know the immeasurable greatness of His power to do whatever needs to be done for those of us who love and follow Him.

Rest in His greatness and know it is enough for you!

taken

When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”  Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers. (Acts 1:9-14, NRSV)

I always find the question of vers 11 a little humorous, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?”

Well Jesus was just taken from us that way. We kind of watched Him leave…

I mean after everything else that happened, I would really be wondering. Jesus was recently killed on the cross, and then He rose from the dead, and now here He goes again doing something, He told us would happen yet, unexpected.

But after this, rather than being locked in a room, they are together, devoted to prayer and mutual consolation. They are doing mutual care and consolation of the saints!

So know that even though Jesus was taken from us, He is always with us, where ever 2 or more are gathered…

overcome

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:9-21, NRSV)

This all sounds easy right?

Hate what is evil and hold fast to what is good…

What is good for whom?

Because what is good for me, might be evil for someone else…

Outdo one another in showing honor. So I’m suppose to one up everyone by honoring them more than they honor me?

Bless everyone, and that means those that want to harm you or persecute you!.

Do not curse anyone!

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good! And by doing all of these good things and living in love you will heap burning coals on the head of those who want you or expect you to take vengeance! Kill them with kindness, or better yet, love them into loving with kindness!

Overcome in Christ!

revealed

LOve-what-is-love-19594559-300-300Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. (1 John 4:7-12, NRSV)

God’s love was revealed among us by Jesus coming into the world that we might live through Him.

God chose to reveal His love for us by revealing His son to us.

God chose to give us an example to see, and touch and feel. So that we might see His love in action!

So go into the world and reveal His love through your life.

love one another

Love-One-AnotherWhen he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:31-35, NRSV)

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

Love one another all the time.

Not only when you agree.

Not only when you get along.

Not only when you get your way.

Not only when people do what you want them to.

There are no conditions to Jesus commandment.

Love one another.

It is that simple.

Who are you?

As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another. (John 15:9-17, NRSV)

Who are you?

It is a question we get asked all the time. And how do we answer that question?

Well I am a pastor, a father, a husband, a brother, a friend, a musician, a blogger, a social media junkie…

But do these really say who I am?

We can use all kind of words to describe who we are, but there is one identity that is where who we are really lies.

In the 15th chapter of John, Jesus is telling the disciples that they need to abide in Him so their joy will be complete. Now remember that Jesus is saying this hours before He is arrested, put on trial, beat, and crucified. And also before He knows what will happen to the disciples. That their joy would be complete! And they may know that Jesus loves them. They did not choose Jesus, but Jesus chose them. Just like you. Jesus chose you. So abide in His love.

Philip Yancey writes about identity in What’s So Amazing about Grace?:

Not long ago I received in the mail a postcard from a friend that had on it only six words, “I am the one Jesus loves.” I smiled when I saw the return address, for my strange friend excels at these pious slogans. When I called him, though, he told me the slogan came from the author and speaker Brennan Manning. At a seminar, Manning referred to Jesus’ closest friend on earth, the disciple named John, identified in the Gospels as “the one Jesus loved.” Manning said, “If John were to be asked, ‘What is your primary identity in life?’ he would not reply, ‘I am a disciple, an apostle, an evangelist, an author of one of the four Gospels,’ but rather, ‘I am the one Jesus loves.’”

What would it mean, I ask myself, if I too came to the place where I saw my primary identity in life as “the one Jesus loves”? How differently would I view myself at the end of a day?

Sociologists have a theory of the looking-glass self: you become what the most important person in your life (wife, father, boss, etc.) thinks you are. How would my life change if I truly believed the Bible’s astounding words about God’s love for me, if I looked in the mirror and saw what God sees?

Brennan Manning tells the story of an Irish priest who, on a walking tour of a rural parish, sees an old peasant kneeling by the side of the road, praying. Impressed, the priest says to the man, “You must be very close to God.” The peasant looks up from his prayers, thinks a moment, and then smiles, “Yes, he’s very fond of me.” [pp. 68-69]

Could you answer the question who are you with “I am the one Jesus loves!”

Because you are! It is not for anything that you have done, or will do, and in spite of all the things you have done and will do, Jesus loves you.

Jesus is very fond of you, because you are the one Jesus loves!