Mark 1:35

Max Lucado is a gifted writer who has written dozens of books. His writings never seem to tire or repeat. God has given him a unique ability to translate his thoughts to paper with feeling and passion. Just as a preacher can communicate through metaphors & stories, Max Lucado speaks to your heart in a way that is easily understood and visualized.

His latest book, For The Tough Times is a small, compact book. It would be perfect to give away. I'm thinking about keeping a few copies around to give to people facing difficult circumstances.

Have you ever been through a hard time? Ever felt like life was unfair or harsh? Or, do you know someone who may be experiencing a dark time? This book is perfect reading during when uncertainty approaches.

Max Lucado uses excellent imagery when speaking of how much God is for us. My favorite is that if God had a car, my name would be on the bumper sticker. Love that!

Overall, I would highly recommend this short book. If you pastor a church, teach a bible study or just have a heart for people, I would recommend picking up several copies. Listen to people today, they are hurting. This book may be what they need to receive a glimpse of God's love.

Christmas is bigger than trees, wrapped presents and LED lights. It is bigger than even Santa Claus...yes, you heard it here first. Christmas is bigger than Santa Claus!

Or at least is should be... but somehow every year Christmas ends up being about the gifts and the consumerism. We buy, we give, we receive.

If you have any doubt whether Jesus is bigger than Santa, let's compare:

• Santa lives at the North Pole... JESUS is everywhere.
• Santa rides in a sleigh... JESUS rides on the wind and walks on the water.
• Santa comes but once a year... JESUS is an ever present help.
• Santa fills your stockings with goodies... JESUS supplies all your needs.
• You have to wait in line to see Santa... JESUS is as close as the mention of His name.
• Santa lets you sit on his lap... JESUS lets you rest in His arms.
• Santa doesn't know your name, all he can say is "Hi little boy or girl, what's your name?"... JESUS knew our name before we did. Not only does He know our name, He knows our address too. He knows our history and future and He even knows how many hairs are on our head.
• Santa has a belly like a bowl full of jelly... JESUS has a heart full of love.
• All Santa can offer is HO HO HO... JESUS offers health, help and hope.
• Santa says "You better not cry"... JESUS says "Cast all your cares on me for I care for you."
• Santa's little helpers make toys... JESUS makes new life, mends wounded hearts, repairs broken homes and builds mansions.
• Santa may make you chuckle but...JESUS gives you a joy that is your strength.
• While Santa puts gifts under your tree... JESUS became our gift and died on the tree.

Merry Christmas!

The comparison is not unique to me. I'm giving credit to an anonymous author since I couldn't locate the actual source.

I love reading the psalms. David wrote about half of them and his writings were incredibly transparent. He was by no means a perfect guy, but through his struggles he was always repentant and always sought God's mercy and forgiveness.

This short psalm gives us David's principles for living a life that glorifies God and allows us to accomplish God's work while we are on earth.

Honesty

O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; Nor do I involve myself in great matters, Or in things too difficult for me. Ps 131:1

We have to accept ourselves and who we are in Christ. Once we can do this, then the way others view us becomes less important. It is how Jesus sees you that makes a difference. We spend SO much time trying to impress others. This gets in the way of the impression we should be making for Christ. Forget about all that other stuff. Keep the main thing, the main thing.

Let go of the dishonest views of yourself and grab hold of the way Jesus sees you. He loves you the way you are right now. He will love you no more or no less if you wear the right clothes, or say the right things or drive the right car. He Loves you!

Humility

Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; Like a weaned child rests against his mother, My soul is like a weaned child within me. Ps 131:2

It is time to humble ourselves and yield to God's plan for our life. What is it that God is calling you to do? It is time to get after it. How long can you sit comfortably resisting His calling in your life? Listen, pray and then put it into action.

God is calling us to be spiritually and emotionally mature. It is about time we step up and humbly accept His will for our lives.

Hope

O Israel, hope in the Lord From this time forth and forever. Ps 131:3

The child wants things to remain as they are. safe. secure. They have a routine and everything is known to them. But the mother has other plans. She knows that for the child's next phase of life, they need to be weaned. The child resists, but mom knows best!

We are the same way. When everything is comfortable, then there is no reason to do anything different. But God in His wisdom, has a way of shaking us loose and allowing us to move forward.

When we move forward, this verse reminds us to have hope. We have hope from this day forward. Sure, it will be challenging and we'll look back. Sometimes wishing we could go back to that comfort. But it isn't available anymore. Now there is only the future and we must hope in that day.

Martin Luther said in life there is only "this day and that day."

"this day" refers to today.
"that day" refers to the day we'll see Christ face to face.

So let's live "this day" with all of the honesty, humility and hope we can muster. God will provide the rest and will do so until "that day" comes.

Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do. I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it! John 14:10-14

Jesus makes an incredible promise here. He says (paraphrasing) that if you believe in Him, you will be able to do even greater things than He, because He is going to the Father. Wow.

We have the potential, according to this promise, to do the things that Jesus did and even greater things are possible.

It all begins with prayer. In v. 13 Jesus says, "You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father."

The prayer is a partnership or collaboration between You, Jesus and the Father.

Imagine the power of prayer when you are collaborating with God the Father.

Credit to Rick Richardson in Reimagining Evangelism.

This is a re-post from Mark Driscoll:

This election season which has dominated the cultural conversation for many months has been particularly insightful regarding the incessant gospel thirst that abides deep in the heart of the men and women who bear God’s image. Without endorsing or maligning either political party or their respective presidential candidates, I am hopeful that a few insights from the recent election season are of help, particularly to younger evangelicals.

First, people are longing for a savior who will atone for their sins. In this election, people thirst for a savior who will atone for their economic sins of buying things they did not need with money they did not have. The result is a mountain of credit debt they cannot pay and a desperate yearning that somehow a new president will save them from economic hell.

Second, people are longing for a king who will keep them safe from terror in his kingdom. In the Old Testament the concept of a peaceable kingdom is marked by the word shalom. In shalom there is not only the absence of sin, war, strife, and suffering but also the presence of love, peace, harmony, and health. And, this thirst for shalom is so parched that every election people cannot help but naively believe that if their candidate simply wins shalom is sure to come despite sin and the curse.

The bottom line is obvious to those with gospel eyes. People are longing for Jesus, and tragically left voting for mere presidential candidates. For those whose candidate wins today there will be some months of groundless euphoric faith in that candidate and the atoning salvation that their kingdom will bring. But, in time, their supporters will see that no matter who wins the presidency, they are mere mortals prone to sin, folly, and self-interest just like all the other sons of Adam and daughters of Eve. To help extend naïve false hope as long as possible, a great enemy will be named and demonized as the one who is hindering all of the progress to atone for our sins and usher in our kingdom. If the Democrats win it will be the rich, and if the Republicans win it will be the terrorists. This diversionary trick is as old as Eve who blamed her sin on Satan rather than repenting. The lie is that it’s always someone else’s fault and we’re always the victim of sinners and never the sinner.

Speaking of repentance, sadly, no matter who wins there will be no call to personal repentance of our own personal sins which contributes to cultural suffering and decline such as our pride, gluttony, covetousness, greed, indebtedness, self-righteousness, perversion, and laziness. And, in four years we’ll do it all again and pretend that this time things will be different. Four years after that, we’ll do it yet again. And, we’ll continue driving around this cul de sac until Jesus returns, sets up his throne, and puts an end to folly once and for all.

In the meantime, I would encourage all preachers to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and repentance of personal sin. He alone can truly atone for our sins. He alone can deliver us from a real hell. He alone is our sinless and great King. And, he alone has a Shalom kingdom to offer.

Lastly, for those preachers who have gotten sidetracked for the cause of a false king and a false kingdom by making too much of the election and too little of Jesus, today is a good day to practice repentance in preparation to preach it on Sunday. Just give it some time. The thirst will remain that only Jesus can quench. So, we’ve still got work to do….until we see King Jesus and voting is done once and for all.

Thank you Mark Driscoll for your words today.

In John 5:1-9, a story unfolds before us that is powerful, yet leaves us wondering how and why. Let me explain.

After the feast of the Jews, Jesus goes to Jerusalem. While there he comes to a pool. This apparently was not a regular pool, but a special pool where people could get healed. In v.4 it says that an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons and "stirred" the water. So after the water is stirred, there is apparently a race to the water. First one in gets healed.

Stop and think about this scene. The magnitude of the moment and the incredible drama taking place. There are hundreds (a multitude) of people gathered around the body of water watching and waiting. The waters are stirred and there's a crazy rush towards the pool. In and you win. Too slow and you lose. Wow.

So along comes Jesus. He walks up to this scene and is heading towards the edge of the pool. But with a multitude of the lame and sick, Jesus likely had to make an awkward step by step path to get there.

This is the part that I've missed every other time I've read these verses. Jesus walked past lots of people. Lots that deserved to be healed. People that needed to be healed. People who were sick, blind, lame and withered. But there is no record of Jesus healing those people.

Jesus, in v.5-9, identifies a single man who had been by the pool for 38 years, heals him and sets him free. In v.8 Jesus says, "Arise, take up your pallet, and walk."

Why did Jesus choose that one man and not the others?

What was the selection criteria Jesus used for healing?

Think about this in terms of today.

Sometimes you hear about someone with cancer or some challenging circumstance. They are about to have major surgery. But right before the operation they take one more x-ray or whatever and all of the sudden the person is cancer free or disease free. The family is praising God for a miracle.

That miracle is the guy that has been sitting there for 38 years. That's the guy that Jesus sets free. But that is not the norm.

On the other hand, most of the time the people we know are the multitudes of the sick, blind, lame and withered that do not get healed. They are the ones who do not realize the miracle of instant healing. I'm not saying that God is not involved. He is sovereign and in control. For unexplainable reasons, the miracle of instant healing does not take place.

This is an incredible story about the randomness to life. We can't explain everything that happens around us. We can't fill in the blanks and know how God works. It would be a scary world if we could, because in essence it would make us God, right?

I'm thankful today that I do not need to fully understand God's love to trust it. I'm thankful that God is sovereign and His love never fails.

What do you think about God's "random" acts of kindness in the book of John?

As for me and my house, we will serve the __________?

Whom will your house serve? Big question that demands an answer. It defines much of who you are and what you are about.

How would your spouse or kids answer that question? Is it the same answer you would give?

Our home represents many things. It is the essence of who we are and what we are about. But the enemy wants to invade your home. He wants a seat at the table.

In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve did not protect their home and it was infiltrated by the serpent. Tragic results of not keeping watch.

How do we protect our homes? Let's look at 1 Peter 5:6,9

v.6 - Humble yourself before God. Ask for help.
v.9 - Resist satan and stand firm in your faith.

Okay, you are probably wondering how this works in everyday life? HOW do we resist satan and stand firm in our faith? How? Practically? How?

Let's start by not forsaking the gathering. Hang with friends. Get some accountability. There is strength in numbers.

Also...tell your story and stop holding everything inside of you. The battle within creates losers, not winners. Talk to someone about your struggles and ask for help.

Lastly and the place to camp-out, is prayer. It works and is powerful. Pray for the Holy Spirit to free you of the sin that so easily entangles you. It works, I promise!

So... who or what will your home be known for?

Joshua 24:15 - ...As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!

John 8:12. Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life."

Matt 5:8 - Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Lord Jesus, thank you for cleansing me of the sin and stain that makes my heart impure. Only through faith in Christ, can I have a pure heart.

Now Lord, continue to show me daily how to live a life worthy of the calling. On my own, my flesh and darkness creep in. So show me how to die daily to myself and to pick up your cross and live for you. I am in awe of your love for me and cannot fathom your perfection. But I rejoice in it and praise you! Amen.

Hebrews 12:29 says, "Our God is a consuming fire."

As I looked over this verse and prayed, I asked myself a couple of questions. First, what does this mean? Is this a warning of God's judgement? Does he cleanse us through trials of fire? I don't really get the fire thing, especially a consuming fire!

Our God as a consuming fire is a good thing. It is a great thing! God wants to purify us by burning away the sin in our life. He wants us to run towards Him and leave behind the burned and charred remains of our life in sin. To fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Are you ready to burn the bridges that connect you to your sin? To your past? To your shame? Let it go and prepare to be swept up in the Consuming Fire!

Jesus, you are a Consuming Fire and I stand in awe of the intensity of your love towards us. Ignite my fire to burn hotter so that everything that is not of you will be burned away. Amen.

Ps 3:3 But Thou, O Lord, art a shield about me, My glory, and the One who lifts my head.

Verse 3 has long been a memory verse. The Lord has used it many, many times in my life when I feel like the situation at hand is overwhelming or out of control. The Lord gently reminds me that he is present. He is my shield. He is my glory and the lifter of my head. It is Him alone. Not my wife or my friends, nor my own desires. It is God alone that sustains me and keeps me in His loving arms. He loves me deeply and I need to let go of everything else and allow His love to permeate my very being. As John says in 3:30, He must increase, but I must decrease.

What do I have to lose:

My life? It is His!
My money? It is His!
My family? They are His!
My prized possessions? They are His!
My pride? My arrogance? My selfishness? My sin? These things are not from God but are self created as a means to hold onto something that I don’t own. They are created to manipulate myself into believing I’m in control. They are worthless and fleeting. Symptoms of my flesh.

God, I pause right here and relinquish all desires to hold tight to what you own already. Release me to be free to love you and not grasp to that which is perishable. Amen.

Let’s continue. In v.5, I notice that the morning was a very important time for David. He really enjoyed the morning and gives us another example of Mark 1:35 in action. Some other examples are Psalm 5:3 as it starts with, “In the morning…” Psalm 30:5 refers to this as well, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”

Lamentations 3:22-23 says, “For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is thy faithfulness.”

Does joy come in the morning for you? Do you think of God’s compassion towards you each morning?

Let’s live the words sung by 33 Miles in “Thank You” as we seek to understand Mark 1:35.

"What if in morning when I wake up
Even before I fill my coffee cup
I said thank You

What if I look at the day and the hours ahead
And before I move forward I bowed my head
And said thank You

What if I looked at my life in a different way
Took a little more time to stop and pray
I know it would change all the moments in between "

Today we say thank you God for loving us and for giving us life... eternal life. Thank you today and everyday for the gifts you bestow and the blessing of having this incredible relationship with you. I'm humbled and in awe. Amen.

Does God speak to us today? It is a question that has been on my mind lately. Here's why...

When reading through God's word, I like to pick a book and then labor over it for a while. Ponder it. Consider it. You know what I mean? So I was praying recently about where to read next in the bible. Anyway, Through prayer, I decided that Jonah would be my next study.

Jonah appears to be a pretty easy read. Four books...no problem! In fact, being an avid Veggie Tales viewer, I kind of feel like I have Jonah nailed! I've seen the movie a dozen times and know every line and every song! Although I've not read anything in the bible about the "pirates who don't do anything"...but I digress.

Jonah 1:1 says, "The word of the Lord came to Jonah..." Wow. One and done. I can’t read further and am stopped in my tracks as I contemplate these words. Does God speak to us today?

I say yes. God hasn't changed, has He? Hebrews 13:8 says “Jesus is the same, yesterday and today, yes and forever.” So if He spoke to Jonah then, He should still speak even now.

Personally I can’t ever remember hearing the words of the Lord (part of me really hopes it never happens. Talk about the “Fear of the Lord!”). But he guides my thoughts. He speaks through His people. Through His word…It somehow all comes together to point me in His direction. He speaks to me and I cherish those times.

Lord, may You speak to us today and share Your will and Your desire for our lives so You may be glorified and Your perfect love be felt and realized in our lives.

My drive home from the office is suppose to be a transitional time. Intending to pray and prepare my heart for my time at home, I usually open the sunroof and begin to drive. About 200 yards down the road and realize the sunroof is REALLY noisy and makes the car awfully hot! Then my mind begins to race as I recount the day at work. Did I get this done, or that done? Oh no, I forgot to return those 16 messages...Or how many half done projects did I leave behind on my desk and which ones will I need to complete later that evening? Oh wait, I have to check my blackberry a couple of times in case a super important email was sent to me within the last 15 minutes. I usually end up returning phone calls and pretty soon I am pulling in the driveway.

But sometimes, I get it right. It usually starts with a song. What is it about music that escorts a person into worshipping our God? It is as though the right song has transformational power. Is it the melody, the lyrics? How...why? I love to listen to Christian music. I have listed to the JoyFM for a long time. But now my drives are usually spent enjoying music from my ipod. God knows how to bring the right song across the speakers so my time of worship will make my drive easy and unabated by the traffic, the day, the night.

David knew about this power. In Psalm 7:17 he says, "I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High. Do you think David had struggles with balance? I imagine it isn't a new problem, so most likely he did. But in the midst of everything he went through, he continued to sing praises to the Lord Most High. Inspiring and motivating! I realize to many of you, this isn’t a new revelation or an inspiring thought. But to me, it is awesome and offers hope and encouragement.

Lord, thank you for the privilege and ability to worship you. May it be a sweet song to you and may I make it a priority today. Amen.

John Chapter 1 is HUGE. What was I thinking asking us to write for 5 minutes or an hour on 51 verses? It would take quite a bit of time to truly dive into this chapter. I only wish I had the time to adequately speak to the awesomeness and depth of this chapter. But I’ll do my best to make some sense of it as a whole and then go a little deeper into a few verses.

I’ve read it five or six times so far. It is a great read and quite deep. It breaks down into some distinct directions (thank you Matthew Henry for your commentary):

* The presentation of Jesus (1-5)
* Jesus as divine and human natures (6-14)
* John the Baptist and his personal testimony (15-18)
* John and other public testimonies (19-36)
* Other testimonies and the calling of the first disciples (37-51)

The first verse is almost poetic. It flows and brings me back to Genesis 1. They both start with, “In the beginning” and flow very poetically. Genesis 1 uses “God” and John 1 uses “Word.” Very interesting how they seem interchangeable. But John never replaces God with Word, they are side by side almost. The first several verses are very deep and really grab my attention.

As I read John 1, I knew I wouldn’t be able to write about the whole chapter. So I read and re-read and then I became stuck on the following verses.

[b]John 1:11-13. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.[/b]

V. 11 - [em]“…those who were His did not receive Him.[/em]” - He came into the world as a human and the human race rejected Him. God the creator of the heavens and earth was walking among the people and the people wanted nothing to do with Him. Mankind, the nation of Israel whom He came to redeem and gift life to…rejected Him.

V. 12 - He says that some did believe - As “many” as received Him. Mark 10:45 says that Jesus gave His life for “many.” So some did believe and they were given [em]“the right to become children of God.”[/em]

V.13 - The children of God were not:

- [em]“born not of blood”[/em] - The “children of God” were not offered salvation through family inheritance or of anything that their parents had done (born of blood).

- [em]“nor of the will of the flesh[/em]” And not because of anything related to themselves or their flesh. Think about Romans 8:6 where it says the mind set on the flesh is death or 8:8 where it says that those in the flesh cannot please God.

- [em]“nor of the will of man”[/em] So the ones called the “children of God” didn’t do a single thing on their own to “earn” this salvation. Without God’s calling and the work of the Holy Spirit, man cannot choose his eternal destiny.

Father, thank you for picking me up out of a life that was leading to Hell. A life that was without fruit and purpose going no where...fast! I now realize that on my own I was on a path of destruction. I also realize that You called me LONG before I accepted you. I see the places in my past where you longed for me and I rejected you. Forgive me for doubting that my life could be better with You. I’m not a doubter anymore as I realize how much better I am when serving You.

Help me today Lord to be the husband and father that you called me to be. I complicate my life so much by injecting my own flesh and want so desperately to surrender to You more and more each day. If you are willing Jesus...help me to do so today.
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