Posts Tagged With: Jesus

Follow the Narrow Way, Your life depends on it!

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Daniel

I was listening to the Sermon on the Mount on my smartphone’s Bible app as I was cleaning the kitchen the other day. My wife was in the other room and I kept saying to her, “Catherine, he sounds serious… Catherine, he’s not kidding”.

This morning I am wide awake at 1:55 with Jesus words echoing in my ear, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14 NIV)

Jesus GateOf course it must be stated right from the start that Jesus himself is the narrow gate. He says:

“Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.” (John 10:9 NLT)

Relationship and fellowship with him is to follow the narrow way.

Jesus has been so kind and compassionate to me. I think some of the reason I often avoid listening to him and seeking out what he has to say to me daily is because I think he is going to come down hard on me.

He never does. It seems that his aim is to kill my sin with his kindness and turn me from my self-destructive sin. (Is there a sin that isn’t self-destructive?)

I just looked up and read this from Romans 2:

“Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?

5 But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 He will judge everyone according to what they have done. 7 He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers. 8 But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness. 9 There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. 10 But there will be glory and honor and peace from God for all who do good—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism.”

The fact is, I want to walk the narrow way that leads to life. Fact is, I don’t want to store up judgement by refusing to repent. I want to stop all the ways I live for myself and wickedness and “give Jesus a try”. I don’t want any vice to keep me from experiencing the life of Jesus to the full. I want to be a good friend to Jesus.

I don’t doubt for a moment that deep down you also want to respond to Jesus in this way. I have no doubt that you want to experience for yourself the abundant life Jesus said he came to bring to you:

“I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. 9 Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. 10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” (John 10 NIV)

Are you experiencing a rich and satisfying life?

As I ponder this question for myself I am amazed to be able to say, yes. In spite of myself I actually am experiencing an abundant life. Crazy huh?

It may seem like we don’t have too many real live examples of someone experiencing the abundant life, but I think that is because we are always looking for examples of someone who follows Jesus perfectly. I know that I follow Jesus. A cursory glance over my blog posts will reveal that I don’t do this perfectly and often times there are still foxes on the loose in the vineyard (to borrow a biblical metaphor).

We often wait till someone is dead to honor the memory of their life because the living still have time to disappoint us and leave us with egg on our face as they have been known to do (It’s happened to me so many times!).

You Are A Role Model

Even though you or I may not be bold enough to say like Paul, “follow me as I follow Christ”, we are still ALL role models for someone. We like to think we aren’t or we may even blatantly say as some sports figures do, “I never set out to be a role model.” We pretend we aren’t because we love to live for ourselves and seek our own pleasure. (Jesus brother James writes that this makes us adulterous people – see James 4).

If we are looking for perfect examples to follow, look no farther than Christ. He followed his father beautifully. He modeled what a follower looks like with a kind of trust that led him to do only what the Father does and speak only what the Father speaks. He followed His loving Papa all the way to the cross. He knew his Father deeply loved him. He was secure and grounded in that love and knew that his Sovereign loving Papa was leading him every day into what would be the most joyful ending to the story. Jesus didn’t have a five-year plan, he had a “what’s next Papa?” plan. We can too.

Someone told me yesterday that there hasn’t been anyone who has done a pure deed with the purest of motives besides Jesus. That touched my heart to hear that. My Savior and your Savior, has the purest of motives in his dealings with you and I.

The Narrow Way

theWaySo, back to talking about the narrow way.

For whatever reason this quote from the Matrix comes to mind. Morpheus tells Neo, “There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.”

Did you know that Christians were first called “followers of the Way”? This, no doubt, was a reference to Jesus who called himself the Way.

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

Yes the way is narrow. Jesus is it. The only way. There is no other way to the Father. So rest assured if you have received and are trusting Jesus you are on the narrow way. But are you walking in the way? Are you walking the path of Jesus that leads to you experiencing a rich and satisfying life?

Walking the path is going to look different for every one of us. What does “walking the path” look like for you? I can’t tell you. You have to ask the One who is the path and who destined a specific path for you.

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2 NLT)

What good things has God planned for you? The question is, will you take the time to seek the One who holds the answers? He will never force the way upon you. You will never just stumble upon it but must do your part. We have a role in this. Paul writes in Philipians 3:12:

“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.”

I am reminded that the Christian life, being a follower of the Way, has much to do with maintaining a clean conscience before God. This means we “get to” repent and turn from sin every time it is brought to our awareness. This is how we stay on course and remain in fellowship with the Way.

The still small voice of God is here right now. He is speaking to your heart in this very moment. Are you listening? The stakes couldn’t be higher. Your life is at stake.

God rewards those who diligently seek him. Won’t you join me in submitting to Jesus today? Cave to his kindness and just let him love you. Repent and turn from your sin so you can enter his loving kingdom and come under his protection and experience his wonderful guidance along the narrow path to true and abundant life!

Related posts:

Other Related articles
Categories: faith adventure, Repentance | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

Earth Only About 6000 Years Old?

Posted on November 27, 2013 by Daniel

I just watched a few teaching videos put on by Answers in Genesis over the last few days. It explained various things like the geological evidence for the flood and how, contrary to popular views, the earth is indeed young. Like 6000 years young.

Is this surprising to anyone? Offensive to anyone?

I have to confess, I know people who would role their eyes at this post. “He went there. I cant believe it.” <shaking of head> “What a sad unenlightened fundy lemming”. At least that’s the response I imagine from a certain kind of person. I was once featured in a blog as being an imbecile for believing God created the world in six days… by someone I considered a friend who also happened to be a pastor. That hurt. So this blog post was influenced with these people in mind.

Seriously. Does it matter if we believe in a young earth or not? Isn’t this just another  non-essential issue of the Christian faith? Many think so, but to think that flirts with dangerous ideas regarding the authority of God’s word.

I am not presenting this as an essential to the faith, but what I will say is that if you believe the essentials of the faith, biblically presented views of origins become an inevitable conclusion. It’s much like a mathematical proof.

I take the Bible at face value. I do this because Jesus did. He seemed to think Scripture was the actual word of God and was utterly trustworthy down to even the very tense of a single word.

These days it seems difficult to present and prove a case for something and convince anyone of the truth even when there are many Scriptures from both the old and new testament that plainly teach on a subject (can you think of an example of this?). But Jesus and the apostles often make a solid argument out of a single word or even the tense of a word!

What kind of world do we live in that cares nothing for truth or reality or the way things really are? No one is actually submitting themselves to the truth and this is sad because at the core of truth is love.

Why do I bother writing a blog about the age of the earth? Even if I can prove it, (and it can be proven) would anyone care? Could I change a single mind on the subject and why would that even matter?

I have a Christian friend who refuses to even think through the whole issue of origins or take a position on the subject because so many of his Christian friends believe in some version of theistic evolution and he doesn’t want to cause those relationships undue stress. It doesn’t matter to him.

I know other Christians who will mock and ridicule you for believing what those whacked out fundy’s like Ken Ham from Answers in Genesis teach. Besides, over half the scientists believe in and preach a big bang and millions of years.

Yes, there is definitely a majority among the scientific community who believe this devil inspired whacked out religion. This is because this “community” is very careful about who it lets in. (Ever watch Expelled? Great film by the way.) Would it surprise you to learn that almost half of scientists do believe in a Creator aka Intelligent Design? (To my knowledge “Intelligent Design” is the label they use to dispel the notion that their views are “religiously motivated”. Come on, who are they kidding?)

I will tell you why I think the whole issue of origins matters and why a young earth is true. Personally I wouldn’t care if the earth was millions of years old. I’m not sure why the Bible insists on it, but it does and the evidence is there to back it both Biblically, historically, and scientifically.

ORIGINS MATTER

CreationThe whole notion of macro evolution and millions of years is a ridiculous fable, a grand deception meant to distance the creature (you and I) from the Creator. In reading through the Bible I am struck over and over by the references to God being our Creator. God is almost always the one bringing it up. It’s as if he constantly needs to remind us where we came from, who is our source, and where are origins truly are.

Did you realize that Jesus is introduced by the apostle John as the Creator? Just read John 1 and see for yourself:

“In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
2 He existed in the beginning with God.
3 God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him.
4 The Word gave life to everything that was created,
and his life brought light to everyone.
5 The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it.”

Then Paul writes this in Colossians 1:

“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
16 for through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.
17 He existed before anything else,
and he holds all creation together.”

Have you ever thought of Jesus himself personally being the one who created all things? The one who personally created you?

HIGH VIEW OF SCRIPTURE

As mentioned earlier, I take the God’s word at face value. God cannot lie. He would not deceive us. The trustworthiness of Scripture is verified and affirmed by none other than Jesus himself and Jesus is verified by his resurrection from the dead. It can be proven biblically that the earth is about 6000 years young. (This is actually really old, but of course, not when you compare it to millions of years.)

It seems that the earth is actually a few days older than the sun, moon and all the googolplex of stars. This shows us that his plans for the physical world started here, with us, with earth, with you and me. The earth and every person created in his image is the center of God’s focused attention. You are the center of God’s attention and care. Do you realize how special that makes you and I?

Let’s not forget the character of the Creator. He is pure and unadulterated love. God is love and He created you to love you. You are created by love for love, to belong to love, to be loved and then to love. All you need is love. (Had to throw that in there. Did anyone else read that to the tune of the Beatles song?)

Honoring our Creator has profoundly personal and wonderful implications for you and I.

If you believe in the resurrection of Christ then you must believe that Jesus is who he says he is. He is God and the Messiah who attested to the veracity and reliability of Scripture as his true and reliable word. It’s time we think through the implications of that and start viewing Scripture and what it teaches in the same high regard as Jesus did.

Jesus believed in creation in six literal days. How ridiculous it is to say “he believed it” when he was the One who did it!

THE PROOF

Genesis 1 spells it out, ““And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day…the second day… etc…” Genesis 1:5 and following.

And the again in the Ten Commandments written by the very finger of God (Jesus) himself,  “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work,  but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God… For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” Exodus 20: 8-11

Jesus on creation:
“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’” Matthew 19:4

Jesus on the flood:
‘Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man.People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the Ark. Then the Flood came and destroyed them all.’ Luke 17:26–27

ALL of history is accounted for in Scripture and other historical accounts and places the earth at no more than 6000 years old.

If you are still not convinced, here is one final thought (not that there aren’t many other thoughts on this issue). Many seem to believe the days of creation were eons of time to accommodate for all those really brilliant haters of God scientists reliable and infallible interpretations of the “evidence” that makes it absolutely certain that the world and universe is in fact, actually and verifiably, millions of years old. If the days were eons of time, then how long was the seventh day? How long did God rest? An eon of time or a single day?

Adam was created on day six. We know his age was 930 when he died. He would be an eon older than his contemporaries if day seven was an eon. Think about it.

MADE BY HIM, FOR HIM

Let’s get back to that Scripture in Colossians 1 which tells us that everything was made through Jesus and for Jesus. I absolutely love this!

I was created by Jesus for Jesus. You were created by Jesus for Jesus. We are incredibly special to him and meant to belong to him.

Say it out loud: “I was created by Jesus for Jesus.”

Isn’t that powerful? You find your purpose and meaning in belonging to him, connecting to him, knowing him and nowhere else.

May the LORD bless your relationship with him today and increase your awareness of how loved you are. Allowing Jesus to love you is your primary responsibility.

Let him love you today! Spend some quality time with him and pray for me that I can do the same.

Related articles
Categories: Creation Science | Tags: , , , , | 3 Comments

Got to give Jesus some props!

Posted on November 22, 2013 by Daniel

I went for a run tonight. I was a mile into it going strong at a good 8 minute mile pace when I thought to take some time to pray.

‘Jesus, speak to me’, I thought. He said, ‘I want you to stop running.’

‘What?’ I thought, ‘I am out here to run a 5K and I’d rather have it uninterrupted, thank you very much.’

I was thinking he was going to chide me for using my Mapmyrun app on my phone to boast about my fitness (I know I still brag and take pride in my achievements and use my fitness as a way to be admired and respected. I wrote about it here: You have God’s Permission to Brag.)

‘Just stop running. I want you to stop running.’

‘Why? Give me a good reason……….. Fine. I’ll pause my run so you can chide me for being so worldly and so full of pride.’

I took out my phone to pause my workout and noticed that my “Live Tracking” button was not enabled and according to MapMyRun, I had traveled .15 miles at a 32 minute per mile pace. “WHAT?”

‘Now you can continue.’

“THANK YOU JESUS!” I shouted! “You are SO awesome! You just wanted to make me aware that the app which I use to boast to the world wasn’t working properly.”

He didn’t chide me, he just loved me.

WHY RUNNING IS SPECIAL TO ME

Running for me was a special thing when I was young. As a twelve-year-old I would take my bulky yellow Walkman and go run three or four miles listening to David Meece, Candle in the Rain. (Listening to it now in fact! You can too below. So many  memories.)

As a child I ran the famous seven mile Bloomsday race with my dad. My face was featured on the cover of National Geographic Young Explorer for a youth running event. The entire class at my elementary school would run a mile (every day I think) and I would almost always finish first. I remember running at an event at school and getting 5th place or something. (During this race there was this older girl behind me short of breath and saying, “Aren’t you getting tired? Don’t you want to slow down?” In fact I was getting exhausted but her comments spurred me on.)

While driving home from anywhere I would often ask me dad to drop me off several miles from home so I could run the rest of the way home. I was a regular Forrest Gump. “Run Forrest! Run!”

I’ve always loved to run.

THE BEST PART!

For the last ten years or so I couldn’t run over a couple of miles without my knees cramping up and being in extreme pain. If I pushed it I would limp for a while. This last summer I attempted a 5K. I was determined to finish running, no matter how slow, no matter how much pain. I did nearly the last mile limping and in extreme pain. Well, after that I decided running wasn’t for me anymore.

When I got my first smart phone through Republic wireless (cheap and great plan btw!) I was excited about checking out some of the free apps. Of course I was glad to see MapMyRun and other fitness apps. My brother-in-law inspired me to try another 5K. So on October 1st I ran a 5K.

The pain was gone! I was so excited that I have since just kept running. I have experienced pain-free running ever since!

God is good to me. I think, one way or another, he healed me.

My goal became to attain an 8 minute mile average. At the end of October I did it! Not a second over, not a second under. My facebook post: “I was shouting “Praise you Jesus!” “Thank you God!” for allowing me to reach my 8 minute mile goal tonight!”

I was shouting praise to Jesus at midnight in the park, just full of joy. He allowed me to reach my goal and he was right there in the midst of it smiling on me and sharing the moment with me. Awesome!

Related articles
Categories: Fitness | Tags: , , , , , , | 1 Comment

“Old Men Will Dream”, Am I Getting Old?

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Daniel

“I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions.” – Joel 2:28

Does this mean I’m getting old? I had a couple of dreams recently I thought were worth preserving for posterity:

Last night I dreamed that I was preaching on forgiveness. I shared that Jesus told us to:

“Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. “And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” Luke 17:3-4 NLT

I shared that if Jesus asks us to forgive like this then surely he forgives like this… and more. Check out this Scripture:

Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.  – Matthew 18:21-22 NLT

forgiveThis is not exactly referring to 490 times but to God’s eternal complete forgiveness.

This has been my lifeline. I trust the forgiveness of God. And then, I extend this forgiveness of God to others.

Today as I was driving I began thinking of a dear friend of mine who is living in sin, running from God. I prayed, “On behalf of Jesus I forgive _____ of all their sins.”

“Blasphemous! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Sound familiar? The Pharisees said this of Jesus when He performed that incredible miracle of forgiving the paralytic’s sins! (Oh yea, and then he healed him… yawn… j/k!)

Well, the answer to that question is: Yes! Only God can forgive sins AND ALSO anyone else that he gives the authority to forgive sins. Jesus said this to his disciples:

“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” John 20:21-23 NLT

So this means if you are a disciple of Jesus who has received the Holy Spirit you have the power to forgive others sins.

You may be someone who needs to start following Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit before you too can possess this awesome power.

DREAM NUMBER TWO

“Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth,  and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.” – 2 Timothy 2:25-26 NIV & NLT

Scripture says that when we refuse to repent and oppose the truth we are taken captive by the enemy to do his will. This actually happened in my dream because I was guilty of a sin!

In my dream (and reality of course) I had super powers (as every believer does) and Satan was using me to destroy things, blast open doors, wreak havoc, cause general mayhem, chaos, and ruin.

Of course I was disturbed by what was happening. At one point Satan stopped and said, “Let me pause for a moment to laugh maniacally… Bwa hahaha!”

it-is-worse-when-you-dont-repent_mobileAt this point I came to my senses and yelled, “I repent!”

The invisible chains that the devil held me with broke off of me and I fought him off… quite easily actually. He was scared of me!

I saw the truth of James 4:7 in a whole new light:

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

This dream really spoke to me about the power of just being in right standing with God. Not a difficult thing by any means, we just get to (and absolutely must) repent of all our sins! No problemo!

Happy repenting everyone! Go and save the world my superhero friends!

Here is some context from James 4 & Psalm 51 that will help with the repenting:

“You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the spirit God has placed within us is filled with envy? But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say,

“God opposes the proud
but favors the humble.”

So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.” James 4:4-10 NLT

Psalm 51:

“Have mercy on me, O God,
because of your unfailing love.
Because of your great compassion,
blot out the stain of my sins.
Wash me clean from my guilt.
Purify me from my sin.
For I recognize my rebellion;
it haunts me day and night.
Against you, and you alone, have I sinned;
I have done what is evil in your sight.
You will be proved right in what you say,
and your judgment against me is just.
For I was born a sinner—
yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
But you desire honesty from the womb,
teaching me wisdom even there.
Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Oh, give me back my joy again;
you have broken me—
now let me rejoice.
Don’t keep looking at my sins.
Remove the stain of my guilt.
Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Renew a loyal spirit within me.
Do not banish me from your presence,
and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and make me willing to obey you.
Then I will teach your ways to rebels,
and they will return to you.”

Categories: Dreams, Forgive | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments

Be like Anne!

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Daniel

I was reading the story of David and Saul to Ellie last night and was struck by Sauls response to David after he spared his life:

“You are a better man than I am, for you have repaid me good for evil. Yes, you have been amazingly kind to me today, for when the Lord put me in a place where you could have killed me, you didn’t do it. Who else would let his enemy get away when he had him in his power? May the Lord reward you well for the kindness you have shown me today.  And now I realize that you are surely going to be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will flourish under your rule. Now swear to me by the Lord that when that happens you will not kill my family and destroy my line of descendants!” (1 Samuel 24:17-21 NLT)

(Read the whole story here)

“So what do we do when someone is mean to us and treats us badly?” I asked Ellie. “We treat them with kindness and we love them and maybe even bring them a gift”, I told her.

This reminded me of watching Anne of Green Gables awhile ago with my wife. I was so impressed with Annes zest for life and just how truly full of life she was. One scene that stuck with me was the transformation of one of Annes enemies. She was a jealous and bitter woman that worked with Anne at her first teaching job and made her life so difficult. At every opportunity Anne just responded with kindness and love and finally won her over earning her trust. She in turn became one of Annes dearest friends and “came to life” herself. It was beautiful.

I shared all this at my concert today and asked the group, “Wouldn’t it be awesome to see this played out in real life? In our own lives? Are there people in our lives who are mistreating us that we can respond with kindness, show love, or even give a gift?

How about you? Is there someone like that in your life? I know there is in mine.

I can’t wait to see what God will do and what former enemies will become dearest friends as we do as Jesus taught us:

 “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!  In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5 NLT)

Let me know what happens when you respond like David did, repaying evil for good. Come back and leave a comment!

Related articles
Categories: Forgiveness, Gospel | Tags: , , , , , | 4 Comments

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com