His name

Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” (Acts 10:34-43, NRSV)

All are acceptable to Him.

We can have forgiveness of sins through His name. All the prophets testify about Him, and through Him we can be forgiven.

He died for our sins, and we are witnesses to this in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to all the corners of the world.

He died on the tree, so that we might be set free.

Be His witness, and know it is only in His name that we are redeemed.

witnesses

witness_roughThen the high priest took action; he and all who were with him (that is, the sect of the Sadducees), being filled with jealousy, arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.  But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, brought them out, and said, “Go, stand in the temple and tell the people the whole message about this life.” When they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and went on with their teaching.
When the high priest and those with him arrived, they called together the council and the whole body of the elders of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the temple police went there, they did not find them in the prison; so they returned and reported, “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside.” Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were perplexed about them, wondering what might be going on. Then someone arrived and announced, “Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!” Then the captain went with the temple police and brought them, but without violence, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people. When they had brought them, they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them, saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than any human authority. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.” (Acts 5:17-32, NRSV)

When God calls you to do something you can’t not do it…

I remember when I was in college I first felt the call to seminary, and I thought, no I could never do that because I’m not good enough to be a pastor. I was judging myself based on what I thought others would think of me and my past. I did not hear the love of God ringing through in the call, knowing He would empower me to do His will.

So I didn’t follow.

Many years later that call rang true in me again, and this time I said yes. Now I am not a perfect pastor or person. But I have been empowered by God to be His witness just as you have. We are all empowered to speak His word boldly and without compromise to the world!

He will be with you. So go and speak his truth!

ripples

WitnessesIn the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:1-8, NRSV)

Jesus was dead, but then He rose and presented Himself in many ways over 40 days.

And He told His disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit, who would empower them to be His witnesses, in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth!

What does that mean?

Well you can see in the picture Jerusalem, and below and above Judea, and then Samaria, and the on to the rest of the world.

It is like a ripple in the pond when you drop the rock in.

Your actions of showing forth your life in Christ should cause the waters to move in all directions around. You are to take His message of Love. The love that He did on the cross for and send it rippling into the lives of those around you.

So go and be a witness for the grace and mercy of Jesus in all the world!

puzzled

While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.  Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. (Luke 24:36-48, NRSV)

Seriously Jesus! You have to ask why do doubts rise in our hearts?

I mean just earlier this week, 2 days ago we saw you on the cross. You were dead, and now here you are asking for something to eat?

This just doesn’t happen.

It is a puzzle like the one pictured here. Here is the description of this taken from the website it comes from:

The idea is to figure out how a bolt with two nuts and a washer was able to get itself where it’s at – that’s the part that seems impossible! Yet, here it is.

For those of you (and I will be willing to bet there is quite a few of you) that know how I did this, PLEASE do not post the solution – let others guess as that is the fun of this! 🙂

I will offer these clues:

– There was no glue used.
– The wood remaining in the picture was never cut, split nor broken.
– The holes are perfectly centered side to side in the wood and run perfectly level with the piece.
– This is one solid block of wood.
– The bolt is solid as well and has not been tampered with or cut in any way.
– The bolt moves freely, but snugly, in the holes, but of course it has to stop because of the outside pillars.
– This took me over five days to build.
– The nuts and washer? Purely decoration. 🙂

The piece measures 7 inches long, around 2 1/2 inches high and about 1 1/4 inches thick and is made from Southern Yellow Pine.

If you are wondering, that’s a 3/8” Stainless Steel Carriage bolt going through two 3/8” holes in the wood.

How is this possible. There is a bolt through a block of wood and there is not a hole on either end…

Just like Jesus standing in front of us after we saw Him brutally killed.

How can this be.

You see I can doubt that the above is true, yet I have seen something similar with my own eyes and held it in my hands. It is real. And so is the risen Jesus.

You see we are allowed to be puzzled. We are allowed to doubt. We are allowed to question.

Puzzles, doubts and questions push us towards discovery and understanding.

So live in the puzzlement of our faith, knowing that Christ is alive, even though He was dead. And because of that you also will live forever!

voice

Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
Ascribe to the LORD the glory of his name;
worship the LORD in holy splendor.
The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the LORD, over mighty waters.
The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;
the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild ox.
The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire.
The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness;
the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of the LORD causes the oaks to whirl,
and strips the forest bare;
and in his temple all say, “Glory!”
The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;
the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.
May the LORD give strength to his people!
May the LORD bless his people with peace!
(Psalm 29, NRSV)

Did you ever thin before about what the voice of God can do?

I mean think for a minute.

In the beginning, the earth was a formless void, and God’s voice moved over the waters….

And then there was…

everything!

God spoke and existence came into being.

The Lord speaks and flames come and the wilderness shakes, and the forests are stripped bare.

If He can do all of that with just His voice, can we even imagine what He can do?

Do not worry

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:4-9, NRSV)

Is it easy not to worry?

And if you are like me, usually when someone says not to worry, I worry more.

I can always find something to worry about.

And if we are honest with ourselves, we could all never be at a loss for things to worry about.

But we are not supposed to worry.

Because Jesus will always be with us. Does this mean everything will always be wonderful and great.

No. But in everything we can pray and He will always be with us. By not worrying we are focusing on the good, and not the bad.

Focus on His love, and that will get you through.

shifting hope

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.  And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him— provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel. (Colossians 1:19-23, NRSV)

“Provided you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel.”

Sounds upon first hearing as a standard by which none of us will get through. As long as you are always secure in your faith, never questioning, never shifting from the hope of the promises of the gospel.

Sounds like a hard road to travel. And if you take it as a command and an impossibility it is. We can not as humans remain steadfast in the faith. We are sinful and will fall away, yet if we hold to the hope of the gospel, that Jesus came to show us a way to live, because of His love for us. And the fact that the greatest love was for Him to lay down His life to show us that love. That hope will get us through even the deepest of doubt.

So hold tight to that hope and know that He loves you, and don’t let life shift you away from the hope of the gospel!

Far off

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.  He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. (Ephesians 2:13-18, NRSV)

Christ is our peace, and our comfort.

He has given all of us access to being near God through the blood shed on the cross.

Those who were in and those who were far off, He has made peace, and reconciled all of us.

So live in the peace He gives us and the relationship He provides with God.

unperfect

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.  For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. (Romans 5:1-8, NRSV)

People will not die for others, unless they really love them.

Now yes you can say what about those in the armed forces who are fighting for our freedom, and to protect others. Yes they are dying for people they do not know and because of that we should consider them Christ Like because they are laying down their lived for others. And the Secret Service protects the president. I know a friend of mine is a Secret Service agent and when he almost got put on protection detail for a president neither of us thought was a great person we talked about how he would protect that man. And his response was that he would protect the position of president and die if he had to. That is Christ Like.

But you see, none of us get to the point that we are like Christ. And we have to understand that we are all unperfect. and Christ died for us while we were unperfect for a chance for Him to make us perfect. So judge no one for the way they sin, and love them. And let the love that Christ showed all of us on the cross cover them and let Him work in them.

troubled

Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me. “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. (John 14:23-27, NRSV)

Here Jesus foreshadows the coming of the Holy Spirit.

He tells us that He will send the advocate, the Holy Spirit, and the spirit will teach us everything and remind us of what Jesus said to us.

And then He tells us there will be peace. Not peace like we have here in this world. Because when Jesus gives us something he actually gives it to us, and we can rest assured in the peace that we will have.

And because He will give us peace, we can live without fear, and not cause trouble for ourselves. We know that God will be with us in the trouble that comes to us, so we need not make more for ourselves.