Spiritual Warfare

Mid-week Devotional
Spiritual Warfare

Pastor Wes

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Transcript

A couple weeks ago, I presented a teaching on what I called Spiritual Jiu-Jitsu. My premise was that the high-level grappling, submission-based, gentle fighting art of Jiu-Jitsu is, in a way, intertwined with the roots of Christianity. I encouraged God’s people to wrestle with Him in a Jiu-Jitsu type way- holding on closer and tighter to Him, because only in being close to him can we find true blessing, forgiveness, hope, and purpose.

           

Now, there is another form of “spiritual fighting” the Bible mentions, that is often termed as “spiritual warfare.” The Bible mentions, concerning the follower of Jesus, that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Eph 6:12) Now you might feel that there are real people out to get you in life, while this may be true, the Bible is clear that mankind’s true enemy is spiritual in nature. Our enemy is one that wants to see God’s creation destroyed, families torn apart, minds distracted from truth, lives giving into temptation, lives in-effective for living for the things that really matter- ultimately our enemy wishes that death and destruction would reign in our lives rather than the life-saving presence of King Jesus.

           

Jesus describes this enemy as a thief, He says “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10). Peter, who had first-hand experience with this real enemy’s temptation, says this “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8). Now, our natural reaction to words like thief, devil, a devouring-prowling-lion might create a little fear within our hearts. But nowhere in the Bible are we told to fear our enemy. No, we aren’t to fear any man, or any spiritual or physical enemy- in fact the only one we are told to fear is God Himself. Then concerning our enemy, we are to, again as Peter says “Be of sober spirit,” and “be on the alert.” When we think of being “sober,” we think of being in our right mind- not hindered mentally by alcohol or by any other drug. Now obviously being physically sober is necessary in order to be of sober spirit, but being of sober spirit is probably another level above just being physically sober. We could be physically sober, but in our hearts, in our spirit, we could still be distracted/hindered/handicapped by many things: over-focus on temporary worldly things, loving things more than Jesus, worshipping in our hearts something or someone other than Jesus, believing lies from the enemy, doubting God’s goodness, truth, and promises, etc. I believe what the Bible teaches us concerning spiritual warfare is not an over-focus on our enemy, his plans, and his tactics, but rather we are to focus solely on God- on His truth, His plans, His purpose. You aren’t to fear, because “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) God is greater, He is with you, and it is He who has the power to defeat the enemy in your life.

           

My family often sees a little bit of what you might consider spiritual warfare on Saturday nights. I often have trouble sleeping that night, or have bad nightmares, or out of the ordinary things happen. I assume it’s because come Sunday morning, there is an enemy who hates to see Jesus worshipped, who hates to see the body of Christ encouraged, strengthen, convicted, functioning- that enemy would much rather see followers of Jesus fearful, distracted, frustrated, tired, unmotivated to be with others of God’s people. This past Saturday evening, my wife and I were woken up to a loud crash inside our home. I got up out of bed to see what had happened, to find that a picture frame had fallen off our wall and shattered glass in the hallway. I swept the glass up against the wall so that no one would step on it in the night, prayed out loud asking for God’s protection for my family, and then went back to bed. In the morning I found that the picture that had broken was one amongst many wedding pictures of various couples, and it just so happened to be the wedding picture of my wife and I. I also noticed that the nail in the wall was still perfectly secure, even angled slightly up so that a picture frame wouldn’t slide off. I examined the picture frame, and though the glass had broken all on the floor, the frame itself and the hooking mechanism were still both perfectly intact. I tugged on some of the other frames to test their strength, and none of them budged. The bottom line was that everyone had been in bed, no one was moving around the house, nothing was shaking any walls- yet somehow the picture frame leaped off the wall and crashed on the ground.

           

Now, you might be reacting to this story in one of two ways- first you might be thinking, “Oh it’s nothing Wes, there’s some other scientific explanation,” and you might attempt to downplay any idea of an enemy in a spiritual world that would seek to distract or cause fear. Or, perhaps you might be leaning towards the other extreme and be thinking “Oh Wes, you need to perform some spiritual ritual, cast out demons, have a prayer vigil, and, and…” But I would advocate that you not adopt either of these views. The Bible warns us of a spiritual enemy, so yes- we are to be aware of and not pretend that enemy doesn’t exist, but nor are we to over-focus on his limited power or be tempted to fear. Our biblical response to this type of situation must be claiming God’s truth and promises, and asking for His intervening presence and protection- and then trust that God is fully capable of handling the enemy.

           

While God is all knowing, and all present everywhere, our enemy is not. If we have surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus, His spirit resides within us and there is no room inside us for the enemy to get inside our head. He doesn’t know or hear your thoughts as does God. For this reason, I have made it a habit of praying out loud. I want my enemy to know that I am standing on God’s truth, trusting in Jesus, and claiming His truth and promises. I want my enemy who comes to tempt me to know that I am claiming God’s word and promises, promises like “Submit therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) Often at the very mention of the name Jesus, I already sense God’s peace, and no longer feel threatened to fear.

           

I want to encourage you to be aware in your own life, to be of “sober spirit” and “on alert” against this adversary of mankind. In some places of the world spiritual and demonic activity is very obvious, blatant, and out in the open. But often here the spiritual activity taking place is much more subtle. One of the best tactics of the enemy around here is for you to be attacked, but not realize you are being attacked. He would love for you to not even notice it, but if you do, then he’d prefer for you to just brush it off as nothing, or for you to go to some weird extreme place of fear. Be alert, on guard, vigilant, not looking for the devil under every rock and around every corner, or blaming him for your own sin “the devil made me do it,” but have a healthy awareness that in this world there is a very real battle raging all around us for the hearts and minds of men and women. Recognize what is going on… when you’ve found new joy in being with God’s people and you’re learning a bunch, and all of a sudden something happens in your life that will now make it harder for you to make it to church… when you’re repairing a relationship and out of the blue a new circumstance is presented that would seem to undermine the repair being made… when you’re thinking about sharing Jesus with a friend and every excuse in the world immediately floods into your mind… Be alert. Search out some “go to” verses from scripture that you can claim in situations so that you would not give in to the tactics of the enemy who seeks to destroy your life, but that in Jesus you will be able to stand firmly in His truth and have life in Him more abundantly.

How To Deal With The Past

How To Deal With The Past

Pastor Wes

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Transcript

It was fun last week to zoom out a bit, and look at the resurrection of Jesus from the broader perspective of the whole Biblical narrative. Today we’re going to zoom back in and look at a really beautiful passage as we complete our study from the book of John, in his final chapter, 21.

 

Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene after His resurrection. Then He appeared to the two guys walking the road to Emmaus, and the two guys then went to tell the other disciples what had happened. As they were telling the other disciples about meeting Jesus, there Jesus appeared. I think this appearance of Jesus described in the book of Luke is probably the same appearance John describes in his account, the appearance of Jesus when Thomas wasn’t present. (John 20:19) Then eight days later Jesus appeared again with Thomas there. After that, Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, James, John, and then 2 other disciples (perhaps even the same two that were walking the road to Emmaus)- all these went fishing on the lake. And in very similar fashion to one of the first miracles He did early in His ministry, Jesus called out from the shore, telling them to cast the net on the other side of the boat, and the net became full of an insane amount of fish. 153 large fish to be exact. (John 21:11)

 

Now there’s lots of great little details that John mentions in his account, many I believe are mentioned so that we might better grasp the meaning and significance of the events, and others are just simply details recorded because John is vividly describing what happened in an eye witness narrative. Some of the details from John 21 that Pastor Dave walked us through, I want to point out again, because of their bearing on the passage we’ll be looking at today. First, notice in verse 7 that it is “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (the author John) who says “It is the Lord,” pointing out to Peter that’s it’s Jesus on the shore. And counterintuitively, Peter puts on his outer garment in order to swim ashore. Now, if you have ever attempted to swim with street clothes on rather that swimwear, you know that it is not an easy task. Can you imagine attempting to swim in the traditional “outer wear” rob that they wore during this time period?

 

The next detail I want you to note is in verse 9. As soon as Peter and the others arrive to shore, they are greeted with a charcoal fire, entering into a fire-side, camp type setting, which surely would have reminded everyone of the charcoal fire mentioned earlier, when Jesus was on trial and Peter denied knowing Jesus to those gathered around the fire. (John 18:18)

 

Lastly, in verses 10-11 we see that Jesus asks them to bring to Him “some” of the fish caught, and of the 7 men present, it is Peter who jumps up and doesn’t just bring “some” fish as Jesus requested, but rather Peter, by himself, drags the heavy bundle of fish through the water onto shore. So, there they are- gathered around Jesus- who is cooking fish and bread on the fire, and then serving them so they could eat. Verse 15-17…

 

Peter was surely shaken after that night he emphatically denied Jesus three times. I’m sure he felt like he had let Jesus down, the other disciples down, and himself down. Especially after that last meal they had shared together, when Peter, in front of all the disciples, declared “Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away.” (Matthew 26:33) Have you ever made a promise, a commitment, declared a change in your life- only to later do the very thing you vowed never to do again? It’s a terrible feeling. This was Peter. Here he is, and there’s every opportunity in the world for PTSD to creep in- he’s sharing a meal (like the meal in which he declared his allegiance to Jesus), he’s at a campfire (like the campfire on the night of the denial), and he is publicly questioned three times (like on the night of the denial). And the event of the miraculous catch of fish, is reminiscent of the miraculous catch of fish when Peter was first learning of who Jesus was, where he was shaken to his core and cried out “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” (Luke 5:8) On top of all that, Jesus gives another nod to Peter’s past by referring to his former name “Simon, son of John.” 

 

It’s as if the whole scene has been created in order for Peter to be forced into dealing with the past. As if Peter is having to retrace every mistake, walk through, analyze and deal with his sin step by step, looking through the lens of his love for Jesus. The past can be a difficult thing. So often we want to forget about the past- to not be reminded of our mistakes or the bad things that have happened to us. Now, while it’s not healthy to remain in and dwell in the past, it is healthy to look into the past and process it with Jesus’ help, so that we can in a healthy manner move forward into the future Jesus has for us.

I want us to look at how Jesus deals with Peter’s past mistakes here. But first let’s consider how Peter is dealing with his past. The details I mentioned earlier give us a bit of a clue. Peter was so focused on the past that he didn’t even recognize who it was that was calling out to them from the shore. Even though the very same miracle was performed that was previously a pivot point for Peter in following Jesus, Peter somehow didn’t see it. John saw it, and had to snap Peter out of it- “Hey Peter- dude… you don’t recognize that miracle? It was the one that changed your life. Hello? Bro- it’s Jesus!” So Peter snaps out of it, puts on the tunic, and jumps into the water. Now, maybe there’s an argument that he put on the tunic out of respect for Jesus, like maybe he was in his underwear on the boat and felt it not proper to approach God Himself, whom He had been ashamed of and denied just a couple weeks ago- maybe under the circumstances it would have been like showing up for your traffic violation at the courthouse wearing a nothing but a bathing suit- maybe- but what I’m seeing here is also a little bit of unnecessary work, of trying a bit too hard, complicating the situation- making things harder than they need to be, almost out of penitence and punishing oneself for previous mistakes.

 

Then as I mentioned, in verse 10, Jesus tells “them”- as in all seven of them, to bring “some” fish over, as in enough for each of them to have a satisfying meal. But Peter, perhaps before anyone else could get to it, rushes over by himself, and drags all the fish ashore. Talk about being an overachiever. I mean he is working hard here, half punishing himself, and half “kissing up,” in a sense, to Jesus. But I don’t think Jesus is too impressed by all the extra suffering on Peter’s part. Look at how Jesus deals with Peter’s past here. You might expect Him to say something like, “Peter, are you sorry for denying me in front of everyone? You promise never to do it again? If so, then we’re good- I forgive you.” Does he say, “What were you thinking? Why would you do that?” No, but those are some of the things we often say when we deal with offering forgiveness to those around us, or to our children, but here Jesus shows us the heart of the matter when dealing with repentance, forgiveness, and grace. Jesus prompts the offender to consider what it is that their heart truly loves, and then challenges the offender in how to express that love. Don’t miss this truth this morning. So often we are focused on attempting to change our own behavior, or a friend’s, parent’s, spouse’s, or child’s behavior, and it’s not so much the behavior that needs to be attacked, it’s the love of the heart that needs to be re-directed. If we can re-direct the current of the heart’s love, then the behavior will fix itself. If we can fall more in love with Jesus we will become different, better people. If you can prompt your friend, parent, spouse, child to fall more in love with Jesus, they will become different, better people. Stop worrying about the behavior that is a problem- the behavior is only a symptom of the real issue. The real issue, the root of the problem, is the love of the heart. So often we replace a love for Jesus with a love for fun, happiness, money, pride, success- whatever- and if we could only realize that the earthly fun, happiness, money, pride, success will one day be vaporized and that the new reality we will be living in will be a reality constructed of the authenticity in which our hearts loved Jesus.

 

And Jesus knows that we are going to make mistakes- yes, you and I are going to mess it up. But the heart of Jesus is not a list of do this/don’t do that, it’s not a heart of beating you down when you mess it up, it’s not a heart of shame and guilt- the heart of Jesus is one that is tender, that asks us one question after we screw it up-“Do you love me?” In other words, “Who, or what is it that your heart is loving?” And our answer is “Yes, Jesus, I do love you. Forgive me for not showing it, help me to better express my love for You.” Or our answer is “No Jesus, I realize am not loving you. Forgive me for not loving You, help me to better see your love for me.” Because if we could really see His goodness, if we could see through the blinders, distractions and false narratives and really grasp His immense goodness and love for us- the affections of our heart would be drawn to Him like a powerful magnet, and again, we would become changed as a natural result.       

 

Concerning the word “love” in this passage, perhaps you’ve heard before that the Greek language uses different words for our word “love” in English. There’s eros- a romantic love. Phileo- brotherly love. Storge- family bond type love. Agape- the unselfish, God-like, faithful and committed love. In the original Greek language used by the author John, he records Jesus as saying first to Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you agape me, more than these?” After quickly analyzing his actions, Peter realizes he can’t truthfully respond, “Yes, I agape you”- (love you unselfishly, faithfully, with fullness and commitment)- no, he had screwed that up, so he humbly responds as “Yes, I phileo-type love you”- (you are my brother I love deeply). The second time, Jesus again uses the agape love word in His question, and Peter again responds using the phileo love word. But the third time Jesus questions, Jesus uses Peter’s word for love- phileo. “Simon, son of John, do you phileo love me as a brother?” And Peter responded “Yes, I phileo love you.”  The nuance is subtle, but it’s as if Jesus basically says, “Ok, I’ll meet you there on your level. Let’s start with the phileo love.” And I believe we can then safely assume that it was Jesus’ desire from that point on, to help grow Peter’s phileo love into a more complete and solid agape love.

 

We all are wrestling with different things in our hearts, and we probably all express different levels of love or lack of love for Jesus, because of our past. Some of us grew up in church, and have had a great experience- yet we are tempted to “love” Jesus through our traditions, and maybe just recently we are learning how to better walk with Jesus and love Him in a more daily, natural, and authentic relationship. Others of us have had negative experiences with the church, and we’ve associated those experiences directly with Jesus, which has made it a little more difficult to love Him, and maybe just recently we have begun attempting to heal from those experiences and open our hearts afresh to the possibility of loving Jesus and drawing closer to Him. Maybe there are others that feel your experience with this guy Jesus is totally all new in comparison to your past experience, and you’re sorting through the desires of your heart even right now as we are gathered. No matter where your heart is, I encourage you to be open to the reality that Jesus wants to show you more of His love, and He wants your heart to be drawn to love Him even more.

 

Now throughout the bible we can find teaching on examples of what the outward actions and signs look like for one who loves Jesus, but here in this passage Jesus really simplifies the equation. “Tend My lambs.” “Shepherd My sheep.” “Tend My sheep.” He could have said, “If you love me, then be bold in your witness.” “If you love me, then never lie again.” “Peter, if you love me, then don’t be arrogant in your assessment of your devotion.” No, Jesus simplifies and comes back to what He had previously laid out as the most important commandments in all of scripture. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. (Matt. 22:37-38) Love God, love people. If you love God, you will show it by loving people, especially His lambs and sheep who have surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus.

           

There are subtle nuances here in Jesus’ words as well. “Tend My lambs.” The word “tend” suggests serving, feeding, patiently giving care to the lambs- lambs being the young sheep, the new sheep- the ones still growing. “Shepherd My Sheep.” The word “shepherd” suggests perhaps some firmer leading, guiding, and care for sheep- sheep being older, more experienced and “grown” than the younger lambs. Lastly Jesus says “Tend My Sheep.” Even older, more experienced and “grown” sheep need tender “lamb-like” care at times. Isn’t that where Peter is even right now? He’s no new lamb to this, he’s walked every day of the past 3 years hearing, seeing, experiencing the presence, work, and teaching of Jesus, and throughout that journey has shown himself in different places: as a mature sheep who Jesus affirmed- as in the time Peter responded to Jesus and said “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” and Jesus in return replied “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona.” (Matt. 16:16-17) Minutes later Peter showed himself as a mature sheep who needed firm shepherding as he told Jesus concerning His death “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” And Jesus responded firmly “Get behind Me, Satan!” (Matt. 16:22-23) And here in this passage in John, Peter appears to be a little more like a timid, humble, young lamb, as he responds to Jesus “I don’t know if I’m ready yet for agape loving you, how about phileo love?”

 

Just as we each are in different places concerning our heart’s love for Jesus, we need to understand that depending on the person and circumstance, we must express His love for others in different ways. There’s no question that if we love Jesus, we are to love His church, but that love for His church is sometimes tender, and yet sometimes firm. And the love we show to other followers of Jesus needs to be expressed in ways so that the youngest all the way up to the oldest, can receive it. (even in times when the oldest don’t act like they’re the oldest) And yes, Peter grew to be a leader in the early church, and yes, this passage is a call to other leaders, pastors, shepherds in the church, but I believe that tending to the flock is a responsibility for us all as followers of Jesus. No matter where you are in your journey with the Lord, no matter what your area of influence, I believe Jesus is calling you to a higher level of love for Himself, and calling you into a higher level of love for His people. And if we could solidify in our hearts our love for Jesus, that love would carry us through any of life’s difficulties. Look with me at the difficulty Peter would face, in which he would need his love for Jesus solidified firmly in his heart, verse 18. (John 21:18-19)   

 

Peter would later be bound, and led to crucifixion because of his testimony for Jesus. The historians of the day wrote that Peter even insisted that he be crucified upside down, because he wasn’t worthy of dying in the same manner as did Jesus. It would appear that Jesus’ method of forgiveness, relationship healing, restoration worked. It would appear that Peter grew from phileo love of Jesus into agape love for Jesus.

Now this whole conversation could possibly be summarized and concluded by Jesus saying “follow me.” In other words, the gist of the conversation was for Peter to follow Jesus’ way of loving God and loving His people- but it appears this command wasn’t just spiritual in meaning, it was physical as well- Jesus was getting up from the campfire and wanted Peter to follow, to walk with Him. So Peter follows, and this is what happens, verse 20… (John 21:20-25)  

 

I love this. Peter gets up with Jesus, and the other disciples are content to stay seated by the fire and chit chat, but John is like “I don’t want to miss anything this raise-himself-back-to-life-guy says or does” and he gets up to follow them. He jumps at the opportunity to get some more Jesus time! I hope that as we grow our love for Jesus, we would be the same. That we would no longer be content just talking about work, play, the ballgame- but that we’d be hungry to hear about and witness how Jesus is interacting with His other followers. So, Peter notices John tagging along behind them. Perhaps he asks about John out of genuine concern for his future, or perhaps he asks about him out of feeling annoyed by the eavesdropping, but judging from Jesus’ response it seems that Peter’s motive in asking about John is rooted in a feeling of something like “Ok Jesus, you’ve told me of my scary future, is this guy John’s future better or worse than mine?” It seems Peter was comparing the road he must walk with the road John must walk, and Jesus responded with an answer that basically told Peter not to worry about John’s future.

 

You see, there’s a difference between caring for God’s people and comparing with God’s people. You’re not caring for God’s people if you are comparing your road to theirs. You’re not caring for God’s people if you are sizing up their situation in light of your experience and situation. I’m not saying that there isn’t opportunity to teach and share with others from your own experiences with God- no, we definitely need that. We need to hear from each other and share with each other the things we have each learned on our personal journey, but what we don’t need to be doing is comparing our journey with others out of envy for where they are in comparison, or with a pat on the back out of pride because of where we are in comparison. Follow Jesus, be obedient to Him, walk on the road He has given you- whether it appears easy or difficult in comparison to those around you. Pastor Dave and I’s hope for ourselves and for each of you, is that we each would catch the vision of loving Jesus and tending to His sheep, with a Jesus-like humility and authenticity, void of any envy or pride. May we thoroughly address our past issues, looking at them through the lens of our present heart affection towards Jesus. And as we engage with each other- sharing each other’s burdens, hearing each other’s stories, learning from past experiences, witnessing each other’s struggles- may we constantly be encouraging each other to more fully love Jesus and His people.

Resurrection Day HIStory

Resurrection Day HIStory

Pastor Dave and Pastor Wes

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Transcript

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. It was dark, and He said “Let there be light”; and there was light. Using His words alone, God spoke into existence- day and night; water, sky and land; plants and trees; sun, moon and stars; fish, birds, and all the animals. And then taking dust from the ground God formed man in His own image and breathed His life into Him. Taking a rib out of man he formed woman. And God loved His creation, and He wanted man and woman to truly love him as well, so when he formed them He allowed them to have freedom of choice. He didn’t program them as robots to automatically love and obey Him as their creator, no they would have to make that choice on their own.

 

So, Adam and Eve, for a time period, enjoyed a close relationship with their creator God, living in the tropical paradise of the garden of Eden. Life was good. No stress, no worries, no fears- just joy. There was fulfilling purpose, true peace, nourishment. It was the life we all desire in the deepest place of our heart, the life that we all sense we were intended to live. God had given Adam and Eve one command to obey: they could eat of any tree from the garden, except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We all know what happened, Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating of the forbidden fruit, and thus lost their innocence, their close friendship with God, and their home in the garden of Eden. Their one act of disobedience- their one act of sin- opened up a spiritual gateway to all of mankind. With that sin, difficulty entered into the world- mankind would have to work terribly hard in order to survive, in order to put food on the table. Survival of the human race would be painful- even in childbearing. Tension entered into the relationship between man and woman, and death began to haunt every single living being. On top of all this, moving forward, mankind would now have a real enemy to constantly deal with, not a slithering snake enemy, but the evil, slithering forces of Satan and demons that were represented by the serpent. (Gen. 3:14-19) If you think about it- all the pain, hurt, and difficulty with life in this world can be put into these categories: the difficulty of work and provision, the pain of birthing and raising children, relationship tension, death, and the tempting attacks from evil forces that persuade us to disobey God. The reason you and I get frustrated, stressed, fearful, angry, hurt- the reason is linked directly back to this event of disobedience that took place in the Garden of Eden. Yes, thousands of years later, the consequences of our inability to be fully obedient to God continually haunt us. Yet, as we see the problems of our day rooted in the curse of that day, we must also see that the solution of our day is also rooted in the promise of that day. To the serpent, representing Satan and the forces of evil, God said that though he may bruise the heel of mankind, mankind would end up bruising his head. Yes, God’s plan was that one day the forces of evil would be dealt a head crushing blow. And in order for mankind to understand the depth of God’s plan, God chose to reveal things one step at a time, properly taking time in order to successfully woo mankind’s heart back to His.    

 

As the human race multiplied, so did wickedness and rebellion against God. Part of God’s plan was to reveal His holiness and justice to mankind, and thus Noah witnessed God’s judgment like no one had ever seen before, as those who had completely rejected God were destroyed in a catastrophic worldwide flood.            

 

As the earth was repopulated, God chose the family of Abraham to reveal to the rest of the world His goodness and blessings. Abraham’s son Isaac had a son named Jacob, and through Jacob the nation of Israel was birthed. This nation was to know and understand the creator God, to walk in fellowship with Him, to be the mouthpiece through which God spoke to all of mankind. But even early in their relationship with God, they too rejected Him, just as Adam, Eve, and the others during Noah’s time did. The people of Israel broke fellowship with their God, and eventually found themselves enslaved by the nation of Egypt.                 

 

God still loved His creation, and thus saved His people by sending them a man named Moses. God performed miraculous signs and wonders that only He could do, in an attempt to captivate their attention and win them back into a love relationship with Him. In His very first command to them as a corporate entity, He told them to offer up a perfect, unblemished lamb as a blood sacrifice. This lamb was to die in their place. The sin and wrongdoing of the people was in effect transferred from themselves and placed instead onto the lamb. They were to eat this roasted lamb with bread that didn’t have any rising agents in it- no bacteria- just pure flour, water, and oil; and alongside the lamb and purified bread, they were to eat bitter herbs. They were to eat this meal quickly- standing up- not seated, because they were to soon rush out from Egypt. They smeared the lamb’s blood over their household doors, and this proved each household’s obedience, and they were able to live, as God judged their hard-hearted Egyptian neighbors with the death of the firstborn in every family. This special meal became known as the Passover meal, it was commanded by God to be done each and every year, it was to serve as a reminder of God’s rescue, a reminder that God requires perfection (unblemished lamb), a reminder that death would continue to be the consequence of sin, and a reminder that death would also somehow be the salvation for the one who obeyed God.    

 

That same night the people of Israel were rescued by God, and He led them into the wilderness where He personally would teach them. He gave them the 10 commandments, and other rules as well that would help guide them in a right relationship with Him and with their fellow mankind. As time passed, what happened is that the people, for the most part, followed God’s rules, yet still rejected Him in their hearts. They were more concerned with checking the right boxes than they were with walking in a close relationship with their Creator God. They even preferred that a man would lord over them as king, instead of their creator God serving them as their King. Many kings led Israel further and further away from fellowship with God. King David however, was a king that pleased God, yet He pleased God not in living a perfect life. David had some massive catastrophic failures, but what pleased God was his heart. David admitted his wrongness, and he admitted God’s rightness. David sought forgiveness from God and chose to turn from His sin, following God and thus enjoying close fellowship with Him.

 

As mentioned, most of the other kings weren’t like David, they rejected God and brought the people further and further away from Him. The people still celebrated the Passover meal, but it’s significance- what it was pointing to- was just lost in a cultural tradition. Knowing God required perfection was mistranslated into trying to look perfect on the outside, knowing that death would be the consequence of sin was downplayed and ignored, and knowing that death would also somehow be the salvation for the one who obeyed God was perhaps written off as some sort of spiritual mumbo jumbo. Doesn’t sound too different than today- a world of cultural traditions, hypocrisy, ignoring the consequences of sin, not connecting any lines between the dots of the origin of this world, the problem of this world, what death has to do with it, and whose death is able to give life.

 

After many years of patience, and attempting to call the people to return to a right understanding of Him, God began to connect some dots so that His created beings could understand. The people had witnessed His just and holy judgement through the flooding of the earth, His salvation and mercy to Noah, His power through miracles in Egypt, His ability to rise up leaders like Noah, Abram, Moses, David. His people would, for a season, walk with Him in right relationship, but then would reject Him, His protecting presence would depart, the people would then realize their mistakes and repent, and then God would rescue. But God wanted this cycle to end. He announced through the prophet Jeremiah: “Behold, the days are coming… when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah… I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people… For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jer. 31:31-34) And then through the prophet Micah, God proclaimed that in Bethlehem a ruler would come, one whose origins were from long ago. (Micah 5:2) And through the prophet Isaiah, “the people who walk in darkness will see a great light… You [God] will increase their joy… You will break the yolk of their burden… For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace”.  (Isaiah 9:2-7) These prophecies were announcing the coming of the Messiah, the eternal King that would come and make a way for man’s cycle of rebellion, sin, and death to be ended. The Messiah would come and would once and for all restore the fellowship between God and man. And He would serve as the final Passover lamb required for God’s rescue.

 

The majority of listeners went on with their day, shrugging off these messages, continuing to reject God. And God sent warnings to His people- that they needed to repent- that there would be consequences if they did not stop doing evil. But the people did not heed the warnings, and God sent the consequences He had warned them of. The nation of Babylon came in and conquered Israel, destroying Jerusalem and the temple, and the people were taken as captives back to Babylon. But… in Babylon, there existed some who had the heart of David, a repentant heart- who mourned their lack of fellowship with God, and longed with all their heart for God to bring the promised Messiah that would once and for all time break the curse of sin on humanity. 

 

This minority group, waited and waited as the heavens were silent, knowing that one day God would save them, bringing them the Messiah that would restore the hope, peace, and joy that Adam and Eve experienced with God before disobedience entered the world. And in a completely unexpected surprise, God sent Himself as the promised Messiah, born to the virgin Mary and her fiancé Joseph, in the sleepy village of Bethlehem. The angel of God told Mary and Joseph to name Him Jesus, the Greek form of Joshua- meaning “God is salvation.”

 

Jesus grew into a man, and began announcing His reign as King, and began announcing the type of Kingdom in which He ruled. He invited all to turn away from the cycle of sin, rebellion, and disobedience, and to turn to God in repentance for His forgiveness.  He wanted all to understand that He was sent by God in order to provide the way in which to have a restored relationship with God. He announced that the world we know would end, and that those who followed Him and received God’s forgiveness would live forever in a new place- His Kingdom, where there would be forever life, peace, joy, and happiness. He proved the validity of what He said by the impossible miracles He performed, giving sight to the blind, restoring the lame to walk, giving hearing to the deaf, healing the diseased, feeding the hungry, even bringing back to life the dead- all foreshadowing life in His kingdom. But He was very clear that He alone was the only way to gain entrance into the Kingdom. He said that He was the way, and the truth, and the life; and that no one comes to the Father but through Him. Upon seeing Jesus, a prophet by the name of John, called out saying “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) The Passover lamb from the time of Moses was the means of rescue of God’s people from Egypt, and it was the yearly means of rescue from sin and God’s judgement in the following years. But now God was identifying the Passover lamb (He Himself as Jesus) through which He would provide the opportunity for permanent, eternal rescue through His death for all of mankind.

 

On the night of His death, it just so happened, that it was the time in which the yearly celebration of the Passover meal occurred. That night he was gathered with his followers and as they shared a meal together, he taught them the new way in which to celebrate God’s rescue. They weren’t eating standing up as did Moses and the people during the first Passover. God’s word says they were reclining at the table, perhaps conveying the idea that because of what Jesus was about to do, people could finally have rest, and not have to scurry about in their own strength in order to arrive to salvation. There wasn’t any mention of bitter herbs, no, God was taking away the bitter herb curse of death. And the focal point wasn’t an unflawed, beautiful, wooly lamb, but rather an unflawed, beautiful, holy lamb of God who said “this is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” (Luke 22:19)

 

Not taking an animal’s blood to paint the outside of a home, rather Jesus showed true obedience in right relationship with God was something that must be internalized- not just performed on the outside. And so, taking the cup he said “Drink from it… for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.” (Matt. 26:27-28) And this is why to this day, we, along with followers of Jesus around the world, celebrate what has become known as the “Lord’s Supper.” What started as the Passover meal- a commemorating event of households that were obedient and “passed over” by the angel of death and thus rescued by God because of being covered by a lamb’s blood- that event is still celebrated by individuals and households who are now unaffected by the angel of death, because of God’s rescue provided by the blood of Jesus, the lamb of God.

 

As surprising as the manner in which God himself showed up on earth in the human flesh of Jesus, so was the way in which He made it possible to enter into His Kingdom. Jesus Himself said that He would suffer and die and then 3 days later rise from the dead, but when it happened everyone was shocked. They first were astounded that He was dead, and then 3 days later they were astounded that He was alive. Passover lambs in the past had stayed dead. This one though, Jesus, defied all reason, science, and logic. Knowing that it was mind blowing to the world, Jesus made certain to appear, and re-appear to many witnesses to prove that it was really so. Rome and the Jewish leaders surely made every effort to cover up and dismiss the truth of this impossible reality that had occurred, yet they were unable to. Murdering those who proclaimed the resurrection did not stifle the truth- no, the news of what Jesus had done only spread further.

 

And it wasn’t until sometime later that people began to look at God’s story from the beginning of creation and see that all along God was pointing to His rescue through Jesus. From the promise of bruising the head of the serpent in the beginning of the Bible, throughout all the Old Testament, entering into the gospel books of the New Testament, God is pointing to Resurrection Day. We can see that Jesus was the Adam who instead lived rightly and obeyed God, the Noah who would provide salvation from the destruction of the earth, Jesus was the Abraham who would bless all nations of the world, He was the Jacob who would have a nation of sons and daughters, He was the Moses rescuing His people from captivity, He was the perfect unblemished Lamb sacrifice for the sins of the people. He was the David whose heart pleased God as king, He was the Jeremiah, Micah, and Isaiah foretelling the future reality of the coming Messianic Kingdom. The New Testament books that follow the four gospel accounts, they point back to Resurrection Day. The whole reason behind them being written is Resurrection Day. But they also point forward to a future Resurrection Day, the day followers of Jesus will, like Jesus, be resurrected from the death of this world, into new life, life like it was intended to be. The Bible ends with a description of this new life… “a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him.” (Rev. 22:1-3) The curse mentioned, is the same curse from the beginning of the Bible, in Genesis 3. The curse- of hard work, survival, pain, relationship tension, death- will be done away with in the life to come for the followers of Jesus, all because of Resurrection Day. Yes, the havoc of our real enemy will end as the serpent will eventually die from the mortal wound Jesus dealt to its head.   

 

Jesus is bringing all creation back full circle to the beauty in which it was intended to be, He is the one sent for you and I, who is now preparing a place for His followers in His kingdom. This is the story of Easter- the story of rescue, repentance, redemption, and reconciliation- this is the story of the Bible, this is the most important story you will ever hear. And we have the freedom to choose how we will respond to this story. God is reaching out through His son Jesus, and we each have the choice to allow Him, as eternal King, to rule in our hearts. If you have any questions about how your story fits into His story, we’ll be available after the service, please come and let’s talk about it. As you leave today on this Easter Sunday, may His story of history remain fresh in your mind. May you be encouraged, thankful, and joyful as you soak in its significance, power, and hope.

Spiritual Jiu-Jitsu

Mid-week Devotional
Spiritual Jiu-Jitsu

Pastor Wes

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Transcript

I’m going to go ahead and say something that may sound a little crazy, stepping out on a limb, and suggest that Christianity has its very roots entwined with Jiu-Jitsu. What? I’m serious, hear me out. It wasn’t called Jiu-Jitsu then, but as I read the Biblical narrative of Jacob wrestling, it sure sounds like the high-level grappling, submission-based, gentle fighting art that we now know by the name of Jiu-Jitsu.

 

The Bible starts with the book of Genesis, where we find out about the origins of the earth, mankind, and the universe. We see the story of judgement, salvation, and redemption through the flooding of the earth and through God saving Noah and his family. And then there’s the call of Abram, for him to leave his roots and follow God to an unknown place. Abram listened to God, and followed His voice. He made mistakes along the way for sure- telling lies of deception for his self-preservation- but he was counted as righteous because of his faith, because of his belief and trust in God. As a result, God promised immense blessing to Abram’s descendants. His name was changed to Abraham and in a God orchestrated miracle, he and his wife Sarah conceived a son in their old age, and named him Isaac. Because of Abraham’s obedience, Isaac was also blessed. But like his father, Isaac also lied and deceived in an attempt to protect himself. Isaac and his wife Rebekah had twins, Jacob and Esau- and we very quickly find out that this generational sin of deceiving/self-preservation was passed on now to Jacob as well. At the birth of the twins, Esau came out first, and Jacob was grabbing ahold of Esau’s heal, as if attempting to prevent Esau from coming out first. In that culture, being the first born was a super big deal- the first born received so much more of an inheritance from the family estate. Later in life Jacob ended up swindling Esau, giving Esau a bowl of stew in exchange for the first-born blessing. Well, stealing birth rights isn’t quite that easy, so later Jacob also had to deceive his dad Isaac in order to really get away with preserving and prospering himself, and he was successful in that deception. Esau was thus enraged, and vowed to kill his brother Jacob.

 

Jacob had to run for his life, fleeing to live in another land with his uncle Laban. There he worked for many years, and ended up marrying Laban’s daughters- Racheal and Leah. Laban was a bit of a scoundrel himself, but Jacob actually ended up being the smarter scoundrel and really prospered with flocks of sheep, servants, camels, donkeys, and children. But eventually, Jacob pulled the ultimate deception on Laban and took all of his family and possessions away secretly and began journeying back towards his original home. The big problem now, was the question of whether he and his family would survive the wrath of Esau. Esau, even after the many years, surely had not forgotten what Jacob did to Him. What good will it have been for Jacob to have swindled and self-preserved, and prospered all these years, if only to end up getting killed and robbed by his bigger, badder, older brother Esau? So, Jacob has this “Come to Jesus” moment in Genesis 32, He calls out to God, remembering the promise of God to Abraham and Isaac, he shows humility and repentance and says “I am unworthy of all the favor and of all the faithfulness, which You have shown to Your servant; for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. Save me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children. For You said, ‘I will assuredly make you prosper and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be counted.’” (Gen. 32:10-12)

 

In this prayer, Jacob is (maybe for the first time in his whole life) humbly admitting that he has been less than honorable in his dealings- he says “I am unworthy” of all God’s lovingkindness and faithfulness. Yet in that humility and repentance, he is gently wrestling with God in reminding God of His promises. It’s like there’s this tension in saying “God you have been good- even though I don’t deserve it. And even though I don’t deserve it, will you still show yourself to be good?” And then either God gives Jacob a wise plan, or perhaps Jacob is thinking “how much do I trust God to be good, and how much do I still need to just look out for myself?”- I really don’t know which one it is, but Jacob sends servants ahead with hundreds of goats and sheep as gifts to Esau, then he sends a 2nd, and then a 3rd caravan, and lastly sends his immediate family at the back of the line to meet Esau. The idea probably being that he assumes Esau will take out his rage on the first group or two, and maybe be softened by the gifts, so that by the time his immediate family and he himself meet Esau- hopefully by that time he’s calmed down and they’ll survive.

 

So there Jacob is all alone. Probably not knowing if he will ever see any of his family, possessions, livestock, prosperous shepherding career- ever again. It’s dark, lonely, and probably the question pounding in his head is “Is God good, despite my mistakes?” He’s probably wrestling mentally with God’s promises, his life built on deception, would God forgive him, would Esau forgive him, what limits are there to God’s faithfulness, had God’s patience run out, would God take away everything from him in this one dark night as punishment for the life he’s lived? He’s at a crisis of belief. He had already prayed, confessing his unworthiness, yet claiming God’s promises- and now there was nothing left to do but wait. Scripture tells us that a man then wrestled with Jacob all night. This “man” is obviously a powerful being, either an angel or Jesus Himself, and is obviously a Jiu-Jitsu master. Perhaps in some sort of a leg lock he dislocates Jacob’s hip. And Jacob- the grabber of heals- perhaps has this man in a heal hook, and the man says let me go- but Jacob is holding on saying “I’m not going to let you tap out unless you bless me.” I can imagine them both sitting, facing each other, one tweaking the other’s leg, one tweaking the other’s heal- and they’re like “Tap out!” “No, you tap out!” The longest, best, rawest, UFC Jiu-Jitsu show is going down! And there in that fight, the Jiu-Jitsu master man says, “Ok, what’s the name you go by?” Jacob tells him and the man says “No, not anymore. From now on you will be known as Israel.” Israel means the one who strives with God.

 

This is incredible! Jacob realized that this wasn’t an ordinary man, he says after the fight “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.” (Gen 32:30) I’m sure he knew that at any moment during the fight, the “man,” probably God in human form (later fully revealed to us as Jesus), could have at any moment of the fight not only tweaked his hip, but could have smashed his body into a million pieces. Jacob, to be known from now on as Israel, gets up limping, yet so thankful for God and His mercy for not crushing him. He crosses over the river, walks to the end of the procession where his immediate family is, and there sees Esau approaching. He bows down to Esau seven times in humility, and here’s the moment of truth- Esau embraces Israel in a tackle hug and kisses him. Incredible! In what could only be described as a protecting act of God, Esau blesses his brother Israel, and allows him to pass unharmed with his family into the land known to us today as the land of Israel. And the rest is history. The nation of Israel, the nation Jesus the Messiah was born into, the nation through which the knowledge of Jesus spread to the ends of the earth, was birthed through this historic Jiu-Jitsu match that took place this one dark and lonely night of the soul thousands of years ago.

 

Jiu-Jitsu translates as the “gentle art.” Part of the idea behind it is to not inflict unnecessary damage to your opponent, but rather to hold onto them closely- so close that they are unable to cause any damage to you. As we wrestle with God- with understanding Him, His ways, His word- we must humbly realize that (like Jacob,) we are unworthy of His goodness, and yet, He is still good. May our wrestling with Him be in the form of Jiu-Jitsu- holding on closer and tighter to Him, because only in being close to him (even as we have questions and fears)- only in wrestling close with Him, can we find true blessing, forgiveness, hope, and purpose.

Can Christians Doubt?

Can Christians Doubt?

Pastor Wes

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Transcript

It would have been really amazing to have witnessed Jesus’ death and resurrection. Let me ask you a personal question right up front- would your faith be altered in any way, had you eye-witnessed Jesus’ death and resurrection? If you had seen it with your own eyes, would you be, perhaps bolder in sharing with others? Would you be more confident in applying the Bible to your daily life? Would you have a deeper peace? If the answer is yes to any of these questions, then the honest assessment we must conclude is that there could exist a bit of doubt in some areas of our spiritual journey. Now before you feel shamed or condemned, I want to let you know that it is okay to question, and wrestle with the truth of God’s word. First of all, there is no way that God is up in Heaven saying, “Oh no, Wes is doubting, what if his doubts lead him to the REAL truth and he finds out Jesus wasn’t really who He said He was?” No, of course not. God knows the Bible is true. His concern rather would be “Oh no, Wes is doubting, and he might be tempted to trade reality for a convincing lie.”

 

Secondly, if you have doubts, you are not alone. Scripture mentions others who had doubts, and God wasn’t somehow turned off by their doubts, rather time and time again we see God reaching out to mankind in our fears, pain, doubts- and meeting us where we are. God does not tire from working towards helping our minds see the truth- breaking us free from unbelief into belief. He’s a big God who loves you, and wants you to grow in your understanding and relationship with Him.

 

Thirdly, following Jesus requires faith, but it is not a blind faith. There are false religions out there with large pieces of evidence missing for their faith, with huge gaps in logic and common sense, whose practitioners must make giant leaps of blind faith in order to function according to their religion’s worldview. Following Jesus is not like that. There have been many who throughout time have sought to disprove the Bible, coming up with alternatives for the Biblical account of creation, for the worldwide flood, for the parting of the Red Sea, for the life/death/resurrection of Jesus- but all alternative theories fall apart at some point. As more data and research is gathered, there’s actually more and more evidence accumulating showing that history, science, and the Bible do not disagree. Rather, history and science are pointing to the reality that the Bible is indeed true and trustworthy, and so much can only be explained through accepting the truth of the Bible, the book that tells us of our Creator, miracle working God.

 

Now, I know that surely I’m not the only one here who has ever experienced doubt, that has needed God’s help in sorting through fears, misunderstandings, and questions. If you can be honest with yourself and God, we probably all have some ways to grow in our belief and understanding of the truth of God’s word. This morning, may you be encouraged! Know that God sees you right now- right now where you are in your journey- and know that He wants you to find answers to your questions. He wants you to be encouraged, emboldened, and strengthened in your faith. Let’s look at the end of John chapter 20 together, starting in verse 19…  (verses 19-23)

 

Let’s stop there for right now. As we’ve been walking through the gospels in chronological order, recently we’ve looked at Jesus appearing to Mary there at the tomb on the day of His resurrection. He met her there in her pain and misunderstanding, he consoled her- speaking to the very root of her problem, and then sent her on a new mission to spread the good news of His resurrection. Then, as we looked at last week, Jesus appeared to two other followers of Jesus that same Sunday, as they were walking from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus, and in similar fashion, he met them there in their pain and misunderstanding, and opened their eyes to the truth of scripture concerning the Messiah. When he left them, they said to each other “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32) That heart burn wasn’t indigestion, I imagine their feeling to be more of “I had a misconception, a false narrative (as Pastor Dave mentioned), and now I know what reality is, and I’m remorseful for my previous condition, but that remorse is overcome with the feeling of joy that knowing the truth brings.” Perhaps we could imagine the burning in their hearts as the sensation of false narrative being burned up by the truth of God’s word- the lies being dispelled by the very presence of Jesus.

 

As evening approached that Sunday, after disappearing from hanging with the two road-to -Emmaus-guys, Jesus then entered into the presence of His now 10, closest, or what had been, His closest followers. Judas is missing, and Thomas is missing. And more than likely, there were others amongst His followers gathered there as well. And verse 19 makes specific mention that the doors were shut- why? Out of fear of the Jews. There in their fear, Jesus entered. He didn’t burst in like a SWAT team raid- He was just simply there all of a sudden. And surely that was startling, so immediately He speaks “Peace be with you.”  We be like “Yo, peace out”- and we leave the party. But Jesus enters the party and is like “Yo, peace in.” And he wasn’t a ghost, the next verse 20 tells us that He showed them His hands and His side where He had been pierced with the nails and spear. Real-life-Jesus didn’t knock, He didn’t open the door, He was just there- despite the closed (and probably locked) doors.

 

Jesus has the power and authority to go where no one else can go. To go where no doctor, or counselor, or pastor, or friend, or lover can go. There is no place of fear, doubt, struggle in which you can hide, where He is not willing and able to seek you out and meet you there in that place. And what is His objective? “Peace be with you.” He wants you to experience His peace. His joy, His satisfaction, His fulfillment. Many of you know the song “Reckless Love.” While I wrestle with the appropriateness of using that specific word to describe what our immensely holy creator God has done for us in demonstrating to us His perfect love- I appreciate the song’s message that conveys the idea that God is a God who pursues us with a powerful, non-stop love that continues despite our messed-up-ness. The bridge of that songs says “There's no shadow You won't light up, Mountain You won't climb up, Coming after me. There's no wall You won't kick down, Lie You won't tear down, Coming after me.” Those lyrics describe an overwhelming, pursuing love, but know that He doesn’t even have to kick down walls to come after you- no, he just moves right through walls. He doesn’t have to climb any mountains, He’s just already there speaking: “Hey, peace be with you.” The reality of the situation is that He is there, with you, inside those walls and wants to work with you to bring down those walls from the inside- to open up doors- with you, from the inside. The reality of the situation is you’re probably not up on the mountain top and Jesus is climbing up to get you, rather you’re in the valley, and you have to realize that He’s already there, and He is present, willing, and able to walk with you on that tough hike to get you up to the top of the mountain.

 

In saying this, I must clarify that though Jesus is all present and ever pursuing the hearts of mankind- we each have the responsibility to reciprocate His loving pursuit. To respond to, to accept, to receive, His presence and peace. For someone who has yet to surrender their life and place their full trust, hope, and belief in Jesus- for you the knowledge that Jesus is all present and ever pursuing you should compel you to graciously receive His love, presence, and peace- with a repentant heart admitting your need for Him and desire to follow His ways. For those of you who have taken that first step, the knowledge that Jesus is all present and ever pursuing you should compel you to make sure there’s not any rooms in your heart and mind in which you assume Jesus doesn’t have access to. You can’t hide anything from Him. He knows. He sees. And while He is present everywhere at every time, there are probably areas in each of lives in which He wants us to open the door for Him to enter. We close the door to this room, out of fear like the disciples, or out of hurt or pain or doubt, and He’s saying- “Hey, Wes- I technically already have access to that room. Just open up the door, let me work, together we can work through this.” He’s wanting us to open up every room, write it on every wall, sing it in every room- letting the good news of His work- His peace- permeate every single area of our lives.

 

And often His work of peace is a process. In verse 21, Jesus obviously needed to say again “Peace be with you.” Imagine yourself in your dining room at night, with the doors shut, house locked, and just as you go to serve yourself a scoop of potatoes, your eyes meet my eyes right there, standing at the table. That’s pretty creepy. I’m sure it would take a few minutes of me saying “Hey everything is good, I come in peace, there’s good reason for me being here.” And again, as we saw with Jesus’ encounter with Mary, as He engages with us in order to do a healing, recalibration work, His intent is not just that our hearts would experience peace, but His intent is that our hearts would receive peace AND we would then have purpose, intent, and mission in helping others to receive the same type of peace. May it be in our very DNA at One Church, the idea of us gathering together- as broken and messed up people, coming to admit our need of Jesus together, receiving encouragement and conviction together, changing our perspectives to mirror more the perspective of Jesus (together), and then being sent out together on His mission so that others might have the opportunity for the same experience.   

 

And as we are sent out, we aren’t sent out alone. Verse 22 Jesus, not worried about the spread of any virus, breathes on the disciples and says “Receive the Holy Spirit.” That’s what He wants for you and I as well. To receive His spirit, then- to listen to His Spirit, to give more attention to His Spirit, to surrender more fully to His Spirit. And then He says something a little strange, verse 23…

 

What is Jesus saying here? From many other places in scripture, we know that only God can forgive sins. The religious leaders wrestled with Jesus saying He could forgive sins- even Jesus’ own disciples surely wrestled with this. The conclusion for the disciples wasn’t that they were wrong in thinking only God could forgive sins, the conclusion for the disciples was yes, only God can forgive sins, therefore Jesus must be God. The key to understanding this verse, is to look back at what Jesus had just said in verse 21. “as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” Why did the Father send Jesus? To give forgiveness of sins. As the Father sent Jesus, he sends us- in what mission? To offer forgiveness of sins. Not that we have authority or power in judging what sins to forgive and what sins not to forgive, but rather we are now on mission as representatives of Jesus to declare on what terms (as prescribed by Jesus) that God offers forgiveness. I like what John Piper says concerning this verse, He equates it as saying “When you tell people about what Jesus has done, speaking His word, about His work, in the power of His Spirit, He is the one speaking through you, so that if anyone believes your word, He forgives their sins. And if any does not believe your words, He doesn’t forgive them. And since you are His voice and His truth, He speaks of you forgiving them, and you withholding forgiveness.” I think that’s right on; we are merely just a conduit through which Jesus speaks His message of forgiveness. 

 

Now, this is about to get real- let’s look at our man, Thomas, verse 24… (verses 24-29) Poor Thomas, we’ve given him the nickname “Doubting Thomas.” Of all the people mentioned in the Bible that doubted, made mistakes, and needed help in their belief- for some reason we single out Thomas and give Him the title Doubting Thomas. I mean, we don’t call Abraham, “Lying Abraham.” We don’t say “Depressed Elijah.” “Adultering David.” Even the other John, known as John the Baptist- Jesus said no one up until that time was greater than John- yet John doubted Jesus’ messiahship. From prison he sent word to Jesus asking, “Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?” (Luke 7:19) There’s the father of the boy tormented by a demon, who says to Jesus “I do believe, help my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24) One of the best of all time, occurs later when Jesus ascends into Heaven, and the scripture tells us “When they saw Him, they worshipped Him; but some were doubtful.” (Matt. 28:17) Now how do you watch Jesus flying up into Heaven and think, “Uh, I don’t know, I did eat some mushrooms at Fujiyama’s last night that seemed a little undercooked.” Maybe if we had eye witnessed Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, maybe we’d still wrestle time to time with doubts. It seems to be a pretty common theme throughout scripture concerning human nature, no matter what God has revealed. 

 

I imagine Thomas is hurt. He’s disappointed, frustrated, disillusioned. Maybe he’s given up on the relationships with the other disciples- maybe he’s feeling like “what’s the point anyway?” But perhaps there was a tiny ray of hope coming from his heart as the other disciples told Him they had seen Jesus. So, there he is, hanging out a week later, again behind closed doors (Even though the rest of the disciples had seen Jesus, His work of dispelling fear from them was still in process). And again, Jesus who is omnipresent (present everywhere at all times), reveals to them that he’s there in their midst. “Peace be with you.” I’d be like, “Jesus- you gotta stop doing that- you’re freaking everyone out.” But He was slowly weening His followers off of their physical dependence on Him, and ushering them into this idea that He is always present with them spiritually. And not only does He reveal Himself as omnipresent, He reveals Himself as omniscient (all-knowing). Knowing what Thomas had said in private to the other disciples, Jesus is like “I know what you said you needed in order to believe. And I want you to believe- so go ahead- touch my hands and my side.” Jesus didn’t judge, or make fun of, or demean Thomas- no, He gave Him a nudge towards the truth- so that his heart might also burn within him as did the hearts of the men walking from Jerusalem with Jesus.

 

As a result, in verse 28 Thomas answers Jesus saying “My Lord and my God!”  Thomas wasn’t cursing or taking the Lord’s name in vain as a result of being startled by a thought-to-be-dead man suddenly appearing- no, he had just received the bit of information he lacked in order to see the whole picture, the proof that Jesus was alive- and seeing that proof, could only mean that Jesus was God in human form. This is in complete contrast to the story of Paul and Barnabas, recorded in Acts 14, when a man was healed from not being able to walk, causing people around Paul and Barnabas wanting to worship them with sacrifices, and they called out to the people saying “…why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you...” (Acts 14:15) They refused the worship, but here Thomas worships Jesus as God, and Jesus accepts and receives it- why? Because He is God.

 

And then look again at what Jesus says concerning us, today, in the second half of verse 29 “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” You and I have an opportunity to be blessed- though we did not eye witness Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection- we are blessed through our belief. And again, our belief is not blind- we have historical evidence, scientific evidence, and we have the testimony of others, of Jesus Himself, compiled into this amazingly intricate, yet beautifully simple book we call the Bible.

 

Thomas shouldn’t be known as “Doubting Thomas.” He should be known as the “one who overcame doubt,” or the “one who allowed Jesus to conquer his doubt.” More than likely, Thomas still had many questions, as I’m sure the other disciples had as well. But Jesus didn’t answer all of their questions there in that moment. His presence- His revelation to them was enough to get them started on their spiritual journey of seeking God for the answers. And John, the author of this account, used the story of Thomas as the crowning proof of the work of Jesus and the crowning proof of the work Jesus wants to do in the life of the reader. Look at what He says in the last two verses of the chapter… (John 20:30-31)   

 

The very purpose behind John writing his account is so that you and I as the reader, would believe in the reality of Jesus, and may have true life (eternal life) as a result of knowing the truth. The book of John is written for doubters! Find yourself questioning? Heart wandering from the Lord? Read the book of John and remind yourself who Jesus is, what He did for you, and what He wants to give you. You might be asking, how can I even trust that what John writes is true? Let me answer that question by asking, what would John have to gain by lying? Did he and the other writers make up claims to boost their own authority, power, or wealth? No, what we find is actually the opposite. Sticking to their claims made them outcasts, persecuted, and poor. Most were killed for their claims. Would you be willing to die for a lie? JD Greer, the Pastor of Summit Church based in Raleigh says this: “Imagine Peter—he’s out fishing after Jesus dies and he says, “I know! Let’s tell everyone that He resurrected! And we’ll get to be the leaders of this new religion. Except, let’s teach everyone that Jesus’ Kingdom is not of this world, and so we’ll give away all of our money; and when other people try to kill us, we won’t fight back. And maybe, just maybe, if we’re lucky, we can all get martyred through painful, humiliating deaths.” And all the disciples are like, “That’s a GREAT idea. Yeah. ME FIRST!” That just doesn’t seem that plausible to me.” I think he’s right. We have solid reason to believe every word that John and the other writers have written.

 

We have solid reason, evidence, proof, to trust Jesus with our questions, fears, and doubts. He has wounds in His hands and sides to prove His love and trustworthiness. Maybe you’ve been hurt- even abused- by the church, another believer, a pastor, who has misrepresented Jesus. Maybe there are some dots that aren’t connecting as you read His word. Maybe some of the stories recorded sound outlandish. Maybe you haven’t been able to answer a skeptic’s questions. Maybe the diminishing popularity of Christianity has you questioning if you really believe the authority of God’s word. I want to encourage you to consider that Jesus is in fact real and present. He is fully aware of and wants to walk with you through your questions, fears, and doubts. He wants you to find answers, so that you would be filled more fully with his Holy Spirit, so that you then would be better equipped to fulfil the unique mission and purpose He has for you, in bringing about His peace to others. There are answers out there- after all, He is the author of truth. I believe He wants to help you overcome your doubts and help you seek out answers concerning His truth.

 

My prayer for you today is that you would be completely honest with Jesus about your questions and doubts. And that you would choose to seek answers in Him- in His word- digging deeper, rather than pulling away, as we often do. Ask another believer to walk with you through the process of pressing into Jesus further, ask someone to walk with you through the process of seeing that His presence is manifested in every room of your heart.

Addicted to my Phone!

Mid-week Devotional
Addicted to my Phone!

Pastor Wes

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Transcript

In 2007 the iPhone was introduced to the world. Smartphones had been around for a little while, but they were given a massive boost that year with the introduction of Apple’s new product. Back then, I remember having very little interest. My normal, “dumbphone” worked just fine, and if I needed to sit down and work with a computer- I’d sit down and work with a computer- not stare at a tiny little screen. If I needed to mark something on my calendar, I’d pull out my pocket calendar and pencil- not trust some digital device to handle it for me. And I resisted, and resisted- for years- and then around 2012 I was given a smartphone for my work. It was pretty fun, having the world at my fingertips- but I remember my eyes feeling unaccustomed to the light and uncomfortable with looking at this small, handheld device. However, I ended up never going back to a dumbphone. It’s convenient to check emails on the go, have voice to text, use a little data to get something done if away from the internet, have calendars/reminders/alarms, GPS.

 

For a long season of time my family didn’t have internet at our home, and we were really thrifty on our cell phone plan, so, that equated to our data/internet usage on the phone being very limited. We’d make a list of things that we needed to accomplish on the internet, and do them at our places of work- before or after work. And then came the year 2020… schools closing meant students needing to be at home online and we ended up getting internet. From that point and moving forward, there were no longer any limitations holding us back on internet usage at home. And because of all the events and unknowns, it was somehow really comforting to check the news very often. What happened today that I need to be aware of? A Google news feed, what does Fox say about it, what are people hearing on Facebook, is this true, is this false, I better send this text, respond to that text, someone might be needing me… And all of a sudden, I realized I might be becoming really close to being addicted to my phone. The light emanating from it no longer hurt my eyes as it did years ago, but rather my eyes almost craved looking into the screen. My thirst for knowledge seemed unsatisfiable, I felt there was always something pulling me towards getting something done using my phone. I wanted to check it first thing in the morning when I wake up, to check it throughout the day, to check it before and after dinner, to check it right until the time I attempt to go to sleep.

 

Listen, church- we are worshipping beings. Every single one of us will choose to worship someone or something. We will worship knowledge, money, power, intelligence, fashion and style, convenience, recognition, skills, love, beauty, thrills, happiness, social media, Facebook “likes,” sex, pain killers, drugs, alcohol- all of these can become worshipped “idols”- or we can choose to worship our Creator. Now idol worship doesn’t always look like it used to, or like it does in other cultures around the world- with candles lit and people bowed before a statue. Rather, most often idols are erected through the things we spend the most time thinking about, the things that our hearts and minds are drawn toward, the things that we do habitually. Idols are put up through our desires and longings. And not only are we worshipping beings, but we are habitual beings. We are creatures of habit. And often the habits we form, end up determining who or what it is that we worship.

 

Perhaps you can relate to what I was saying about my cellphone addiction. Perhaps you are wrestling with other potential idols that are calling to you- calling for your attention, desire, love, and focus to be elsewhere, somewhere other than rested and stayed on the Lord. And we wonder why our hearts are often so restless. Listen to what Isaiah 26:3 says: “The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, Because he trusts in You.” In other words, God will give peace to the mind that is steadfast on Him, trusting in Him. I like the way the New King James version says it: “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.”

 

As believers, we want that peace of God- so how do we keep our mind steadfast and stayed on Him in the midst of such a chaotic and distracting world that offers so many idols to worship? Paul, writing to believers at the church in Rome, says this “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”  Paul wouldn’t have written this if it had not been possible that believers could conform themselves to the world. We, even as believers, can tend to be conformed, imaging those in the world around us, instead of imaging the one whose image we were created to bear. In realizing that we all can be prone to conforming to the world, Paul says rather be “transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Even believers, who have had all their past, present, and future sins forgiven through the sacrifice of Jesus, have need for the renewing of the mind. And how do we renew our mind? Through new habits. New habits that recalibrate, re-focus, draw our hearts away from the world, and re-center us on the truth, work, application of God’s word presented to us in the Bible. And as we do this, not only does the promise of peace from Isaiah 26:3 become obtainable, but as Paul states, through renewing our mind we can prove what the will of God is.

 

I want peace and I want God’s will to be clear in my life. And so, I am putting new habits into place that will focus me less on my phone, and more on the LORD. Will you join me in that effort as well? Identify and observe the things in your life that, without a change of habit, could very well become idols that enslave and create addiction, causing you to conform to the world, and miss out on God’s peace and will. Choose to renew your mind daily, even multiple times daily, through habits that cultivate worship of the One who is the only One, worthy of our worship.

Processing Life’s Difficulties

Processing Life’s Difficulties
John 20:1-18

Pastor Wes

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Transcript

It’s been really fun over the past several weeks walking through the gospel narrative, recalibrating our hearts and minds, as we focus on the author and perfecter of our faith, Jesus Christ. It’s wild how many modern day, current issues are addressed in just the simplicity of the gospel. The truth, the meaning, the work, the application of what Jesus did and said- in His life, death, and resurrection- is absolutely timeless and so applicable to our daily lives. As we continue through the narrative in John 20, I trust this morning that God will make His word relevant, piercing, and powerful to you right now in whatever life situation or season you currently find yourself in.

           

Pastor Dave led us through the end of John chapter 19 last week, and I absolutely love how John narrates in detail the acts of Joseph and Nicodemus, who up until this point had been secret, fearful followers of Jesus. I love the encouragement they offer to us as they, in the midst of extremely unfavorable political, social, economic, and spiritual times- in witnessing Christ’s death- they were somehow emboldened to fearlessly ask for Jesus’ body, and then they chose to unashamedly cart around 75 pounds (or 100 pounds as in Roman pounds as some of your Bibles might read)- either way- they were carting around a ridiculous amount of embalming spices, not giving a rip about what anyone else thought. May your love, passion, commitment to Jesus be just as bold, and in whatever areas your heart is tempted towards fear, may the work He did through His life, death, and resurrection embolden you to new levels of sincere passion- following Him publicly, no matter what the world thinks.

           

Now the other gospel accounts give us the details that after these two men prepared Jesus’ body for burial, they then laid Jesus in a new tomb that Joseph had bought for himself, and then Pilate gave orders for that tomb to be guarded, and sealed. And by sealed, more than likely what that meant was “sealed” as in how a letter used to be sealed with a hot wax stamp. After the wax dried and the letter was sent, one could easily detect if it had been opened or tampered with along the way by evidence of the wax seal being broken. Of course, in this case it would have been a lot more wax and a much larger, giant stamp that placed a seal over part of the rock and part of the rock wall. There in that sealed tomb, Jesus remained for 3 days. If you have interest in exploring further the subject of, on what day Jesus was crucified and how many days it was before Sunday, do a search online for Last Supper Chronology Glady Branch, and you’ll find teaching on that subject.  

           

Look with me now in John 20, starting in verse 1. (verses 1-10) So, Joseph and Nicodemus had come out from being secret believers, and had wrapped Jesus in linen wrappings along with the 75 pounds of spices, and then Mary comes three days later to add additional fragrances on Sunday morning. To her surprise the seal is broken, the stone covered tomb has been opened, and she assumes the Romans or someone else has moved the body. She runs back and gets Peter and the “other disciple whom Jesus loved,” which is the author John’s way of saying himself- in a humble third person description- although maybe not too humble since in verse 4 he mentions that he was much faster than Peter when running. Although John beat Peter there, John admits that it was Peter who entered first and noticed not just the linen wrappings, but also that the face-cloth was rolled up separately. I’m sure in the moment, these guys had a nervousness, and high alert awareness, and were taking in every detail that might clue them in on what had happened there. If the body had been taken, it would have made much more sense that the wrappings wouldn’t have been there. After three days of body decay, no one in their right mind would have thought it a good idea to mess with and take off bandages from a bloodied, three-day old corpse. They would have just grabbed the mummified corpse in one bundle and hauled it off. The rolled-up face covering set aside was a sign of intentionality, it wasn’t a sign of some sick persons or raging beasts stripping the corpse, tearing off bundles of bandages- no, care was taken in neatly rolling up a face covering that was no longer needed.

           

And John, in verse 8, lets us know that when he saw this evidence, he believed. Though he and all the disciples were previously told Jesus would be crucified and then resurrected, it was taken as a misunderstanding or an impossibility, and there in that moment, John recalls, that was the moment of his true belief. I hope that you too, can recall that moment of true belief- not necessarily when you started going to church, or when you learned about Jesus, but that moment when you really got it- and put your whole faith, trust, hope in Jesus. For John, that belief was a bit of a process. John had heard Jesus’ teaching for about three years, eye witnessed His many miracles, but here in this moment it all clicked, and he believed. If you’re wrestling with what that moment looked like in your life, then I encourage you to reach out after the service or during this week to have a conversation with either Pastor Dave or myself. So then, in verse 10 we see John and Peter, just matter-of-factly head home. In stereotypical male fashion, they were like “Well, nothing to see here. What else can we do? Let’s go home.” In contrast, Mary’s reaction is a little different- verse 11…       

           

Mary, in perhaps stereotypical female fashion, is obviously more emotionally engaged, and is processing through everything. Guys typically often want to avoid the emotions and processing, and are often quick to move on to the next thing, or deal with fear/pain/stress with distractions, but gals are often better at digging deeper, processing, being patient to properly connect with the present emotions and life circumstances. And I believe that there is good purpose in God wiring men the way He did, and women the way He did. But look at the amazing encounter Mary was able to experience as a result of her soaking in the weight of the moment. (Verses 12-16)

           

Because Mary wasn’t in a hurry, because she didn’t stuff her emotions, because she was present in the moment, she was given the honored privilege of being the first one to see the resurrected Christ. He met her right there where she was, and asked her two very important questions- “Why are you weeping?” and “Whom are you seeking?”. I believe that as Jesus met Mary there in her difficult moment, He wants to meet you in your difficult moment. But you just can’t brush past it. You can’t just get up and go home immediately when you encounter confusion, stress, hurt, fear. No- whether guy or gal- you need to take a moment, as Mary did, and look at the situation dead in the eyes, absorbing the heaviness, honestly assessing the situation, and let Jesus met you there. And I believe that if you are still long enough, Jesus wants to ask you the same questions. “Why are you weeping- what is it exactly that your heart is breaking over?” You know, sometimes we feel confused, stressed, hurt, fearful and we attribute those negative sentiments with some surface level situation, and yet the true root of our negative sentiment lies deeper. We must stop, dwell in the moment, and ask ourselves, “What is this really about? Has my pride been hurt, my expectations crushed, my goals delayed, my trust broken…” And as we dig deeper, closer to the root, Jesus wants us to see that the bottom of the root is even deeper than we imagined, so He asks us the follow up question “Who are you seeking?” Ah ha…. who… 

           

So often the confusion, stress, hurt, and fear we experience through our pride being hurt, expectations crushed, goals delayed, trust broken- so often those negative sentiments result from us seeking the approval of man, or from seeking the glorification of ourselves, or from placing our desires and hopes into the wrong things and into the wrong people. If only you could realize that the longing of your heart, the seeking of rest for your soul, the hope for fulfilment- can only be satisfied by the One who created you- the One who chose to reveal Himself to the world as Jesus Christ.

           

Unfortunately, instead we often get lost in a sea of “I want to get to this place in life, I need more money, I need to find what makes me happy, I need to find good friends, my schedule just needs to be overhauled, if only that person would say they’re sorry, if I could just get rid of this bad habit, if only my spouse would…” And Jesus is over here calling out “Do you know why your heart is really restless? Have you thought about who it is you are really seeking?” Look at Mary’s response again, verse 15… 

           

Look at what’s going on here. The problem is, or at least what Mary thinks the problem is, is that someone took Jesus, which then resulted in her not knowing what was going on, crushing her expectations, causing emotional trauma. Look at who she slightly casts the blame to- to Jesus Himself! It’s like she says “I am upset because someone crushed my expectations and that someone just might be you, gardener man.” That’s interesting because we actually often do the same thing. We miss the deeper root problem, and just skip ahead to placing the surface-problem-blame onto others, and quite often we place the blame on God Himself. “God if you just hadn’t of let that happen, if only you would do this miracle in my life, if only you would make things easier, why won’t you allow me to achieve this thing…” And we place the blame of our negative experiences and sentiments on the very one who wants to help us process those experiences and sentiments.

           

Not only does she unknowingly question/accuse Jesus, her solution is that if He indeed is responsible, she will then go and get the body, attempting to fix the situation, attempting to handle this surface level problem on her own. Can you imagine Mary being able to handle a dead man’s corpse on her own, by herself, anyway? Mary’s reaction is so true to our human nature, we often want to blame God, and then resort to fixing the problem our self. God sees us in our self-absorption, He sees us in our hurt, He sees us in our fears and He is calling out “Do you know the true source of your hurt? Who is it that you are desiring?” And often our response is “God, You allowed this bad thing to happen, so I might not be able to trust You. I tried You and You let me down. I’m going to take steps on my own apart from You to try to help myself.” And in His mercy, He attempts to snap us out of it, saying “Mary!” “Wes!” “Dave!” “Wake up, it’s me! You are weeping, you are hurt, fearful, stressed because you need more of Me! It is Me you are longing for! I am not the source of your hurt, I am the answer to your hurt- I am life’s answer you are looking for!”

           

Mary didn’t recognize Him at first, as He had a new body- just as we, along with all the rest of His followers, will be given a new, repaired, fresh body when we are resurrected. But she recognized His voice when He personally called her name. Often, we miss and don’t recognize Jesus’ movement, His working, His presence. We often blame Him for what appears to be bad, only to later realize that it was Him working actually for our good. And He is calling out to each of us individually, asking us to recognize Him as the loving, healing, forgiving Jesus that we know Him to be in our heart of hearts.

           

Look again at Mary’s response to Jesus calling out her name, in verse 16, she responds “Rabboni!” meaning “Teacher!” She could have responded “Lord!”, or “Jesus!” but instead she calls out “Teacher!” As we sort through our heartaches, and we answer the question of what and who it is we are seeking, our response to Jesus’ personal revelation to us must be “Teacher! Teach me. Jesus, take the position of teacher in my life! Show me the root issues, instruct me in how to deal with them, help me to know You are not the source of the problem but You are the source of the healing, teach me how to hope in You alone.”

           

In between verses 16 and 17 it appears Mary embraces Jesus, or is bowed at His feet clasping onto Him, and Jesus says in verse 17… Many have wrestled with the reason Jesus said these words to Mary, some have suggested a close embrace would have been inappropriate between a glorified-body-Jesus and a tainted-by-the-world Mary, but that conclusion doesn’t really make sense- if Jesus was somehow tainted by Mary’s clinging He would have prevented her from doing it altogether, not just stopped her after the fact. Some might suppose that anyone touching Him in any way would have been inappropriate- but later Jesus tells Thomas to touch his hands and side. I think what makes the most sense is that Jesus was bringing some sort of closure to that moment of processing emotions. We commended Mary earlier for not being in a rush, for absorbing the heaviness, and doing the heart introspection that gave way to Jesus engaging with her. But after taking time to process emotions, there comes a time to move on. There was mission, purpose, destiny for her to move on into from her pain. She was to be the very mouthpiece that announced the good news of Jesus’ life, and thus the hope of life for all of mankind. Jesus tells her, “Stop clinging, and go tell my brothers I’m alive and I’m ascending to the Father that is also your Father, to my God that is also your God.” And the very next verse 18, says…     

           

Isn’t that a picture of what our engagement with Jesus looks like as well? We’re to bask in His presence, embracing, clinging to Him, sharing intimate moments with Him, meeting with Him intensely up on the mountain top, but then He sends us down into the valley to be on mission for Him- we are to announce to others that He is very much alive and that His Father can be their Father, and that even from the place in Heaven He has ascended to, He is still calling out and seeking relationship with every person in this world.

           

Perhaps too, Jesus, in telling her to stop clinging and then immediately saying He was going to ascend to the Father- perhaps in that, He was bringing some closure also to the physical aspect of His relationship with men and women. He was moving Mary on to the idea that He would be present with her in a different way- that she would need to learn to embrace Him spiritually rather than physically. She would need to learn to engage with Jesus in a spiritual manner, as you and I are learning to engage with Him, being that He (for the time being) does not walk among us in physical flesh.

           

Maybe even right now, you are hearing Jesus call your name- not in a physical audible voice, but in a spiritual, quiet voice inside, tugging on your heart in some way. I hope that you sense His desire to address with you any confusion, doubt, fear, hurt, stress that you might be experiencing. I want you to think about a negative sentiment or challenge you have experienced recently, or are currently experiencing. Think about your reaction, your emotion, and think about the situation that appears to have caused that reaction and emotion. Take a moment and think about that challenge, or challenges, you are facing. If it helps, you can bow your head and close your eyes. Whether the thing you are processing has been caused by others, or has been caused by past personal mistakes, or whether it is a result of us living in a fallen world- Jesus wants to help you walk through this thing. I challenge you to ask yourself, and prayerfully ask God, “What aspect of this situation does Jesus want me to see that I am not currently seeing?” Go ahead and even do that now, I’ll give you a few moments to process that. And then I want you to follow up that question with “To whom, to where, to what, am I seeking resolution?” This might be an opportunity to repent of not seeking first the Lord concerning your situation, or maybe it’s an opportunity to remind yourself and renew your trust in Him afresh. Either way, may you hear Him speaking to you, guiding you, and strengthening you in the mission and purpose He has for you.