What do you need?

When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, “The Lord needs them.” And he will send them immediately.’ This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,  ‘Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’ The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!’ When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, ‘Who is this?’ The crowds were saying, ‘This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.’ (Matthew 21:1-11, NRSV)

Jesus is entering Jerusalem for the last time! Here He enters as the triumphant king as the messiah was to be.

The only problem is He is not the triumphant king that we want or expect. Hosanna to the Son of David! Come and free us and be our leader! Bring us to the place God has for us.

You see we think we need something that God does not have in the plan. We want Jesus to be a superman and to be our military king to set us free. We need a hero, and a king that dies on a cross is not in our plan.

But you see when it comes down to it, what do we really need?

It is interesting to me, that in the gospel of Matthew there is only one thing it ever says that Jesus needs.

When you think about what you need what is it?

Food. Shelter. Water. Companionship.

True… But I am sure we can come up with other things we think we need.

But the only thing that Matthew ever says Jesus needs is a donkey and her colt. Jesus needs a donkey to fulfill scripture, and that is all He ever needs. You see He is focused on Father and knows that His daddy will not let His needs go unmet.

We too can trust that our Daddy God will meet our needs, and provide for us. So the next time you think you need something, think hard and pray for our daddy to show you if it is really a need.

third time

They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, ‘See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles; they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise again.’ (Mark 10:32-34, NRSV)

For the third time, Jesus tells the disciples what will happen…

We hear it over and over again. I have heard it said that people have to hear something 11 times before it sinks in, or the get it…

We know the whole story, but every time I read one of these passages, I find myself right there with the disciples going, “No Lord, it can not be” “There must be another way Jesus.”

Why is it when Jesus tells us something that is not in our plan we have to question Him. We want things to work how we want them to. By my plan. But remember God does need you, He does not nee you to be an adviser, He needs you to follow Him!

So know what He tells you is the plan, and accept that we can not accept it, but know that God has been there and seen His way through and He will bring us with Him!

Death is not the end…

For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which I prefer. I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith, so that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again. Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel, and are in no way intimidated by your opponents. For them this is evidence of their destruction, but of your salvation. And this is God’s doing. For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well— since you are having the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I still have. (Philippians 1:21-30, NRSV)

Paul here is telling the Philippians that he knows that they need him, but if it was up to him, he would chose to be with Christ.

You see as humans death is something we can not escape. The death of our fleshly body will happen. But it is not the end, nor is it the beginning of anything. It is but a step in the whole master plan. You see we are with Christ as His brothers and sisters, He is always with us. He is walking with us through the valleys, and the mountain tops. He is living in that God shaped hole in our hearts where He resides.

So while we are here, in both kingdoms, we need to walk as if death has no hold on us, for we know that death is gain, and we are to show forth the glory of His love which has bridged the gap for us.

This world will not win for we have the victor living in us, so the victory is already ours! Death is not the end!

PBPWMGINFWMY

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God’s grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that on the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:1-11, NRSV)

God who started a good work in you will bring it to completion! God will not leave you unfinished!

When I was on internship we went to confirmation camp, as most congregations do, however my supervisor wrote the curriculum they had been using for many years. The first day all of us got name tags that said:

PBPWMGINFWMY

Now I knew what it stood for since I was helping teach the lessons, but the youth had no idea…

We went through the day talking about how God had created us to be workers in the mission field and that we are each our own creation of God with gifts to help the world see who He is.

It was a lesson much like Paul is telling the Philippians in verse 6 above. It is a lesson all of us can learn and live into and through…

You see the one who has begun a good work in you will see it through to completion and we keep working in you until that day you are fully in the kingdom of God.

You see God is not yet done with any of us and is at work right now in us, so all of us can live out and into the name:

Please Be Patient With Me God Is Not Finished With Me Yet!

So lets be patient with each other, because God is not finished working on us just yet…

God of the living

The same day some Sadducees came to him, saying there is no resurrection; and they asked him a question, saying, ‘Teacher, Moses said, “If a man dies childless, his brother shall marry the widow, and raise up children for his brother.” Now there were seven brothers among us; the first married, and died childless, leaving the widow to his brother. The second did the same, so also the third, down to the seventh. Last of all, the woman herself died. In the resurrection, then, whose wife of the seven will she be? For all of them had married her.’ Jesus answered them, ‘You are wrong, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”? He is God not of the dead, but of the living.’ And when the crowd heard it, they were astounded at his teaching. (Matthew 22:23-33, NRSV)

God is not a god of the dead, but is God of the living.

You see we confess each week in worship we believe in the resurrection of the dead. You see the truth of our human existence is that we will die. There is nothing we can do to get out of our human death. Our bodies are not able to live for ever, yet we believe we are united with Christ in a death like His, and we will be united with Him in a resurrection like His! We will be with God resurrected and fully with Him!

Now the kingdom of God in its fullness is not something we can know now and is a mystery. We walk as yet by faith, believing in the promises we hold to. Jesus died once and for all so that we all can be with God. We will be resurrected with Him.

For God is not a god of the dead, but God of the living and that living God is living in you and will bring you to the fullness He created you for in eternity with Him!