Encouragement – Page 16 – Thoughts from a Crosseyed Jesus Freak

Christian Living, Encouragement, God, Life

From Mountain Tops to Valleys: How are You Spending Time With God

Recently, I’ve been reading through the gospel of Mark. The other day, I came to Mark 9 and the story of Jesus’ transfiguration. You can read it here if you’re not familiar with it. I absolutely love how you can read a familiar passage over and over again, and still find something new in it each and every time. There is a reason why the Bible is called the Living Word.

So, as I read through the passage this time, there were a few different things that jumped off the pages at me. And none of them were about what takes place on the mountainside, which is usually where we all tend to focus our attention when reading this story. As Jesus, and the three disciples that are considered to be Jesus’ inner-circle, Peter, James, and John, come down the mountain, they are met with a commotion.

A crowd had gathered, and since Jesus was up on the mountain, the crowd was asking His disciples to heal their sick. There was a man that brought his son who was possessed by a spirit, and Jesus’ disciples were unable to heal the boy. When I’ve read this in the past, I always wondered why the disciples were not able to perform this healing. They had been given the ability to heal earlier in Jesus’ ministry, but they couldn’t successfully handle this situation.

Jesus’ response in verse 19, which reads, “‘You unbelieving generation,’ Jesus replied, ‘how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”’ was something I thought was directed at His disciples.

But when I read through the passage this time, I realized that it’s actually directed at the crowd, and those that didn’t believe Jesus was who He said He was. After healing the boy, and when they were away from the crowd, Jesus tells the disciples that this spirit could only be driven out by prayer.

So while the disciples were not able to heal the boy, it may have actually been because those around the situation didn’t believe that they could do it, not because the disciples didn’t have the ability or the faith to drive out the spirit.

The other things that jumped out of the text at me this time was a parallel that I see from the life of Moses, and a lesson we can learn from it. There is a time when Moses is up on the mountainside as well, getting the Ten Commandments from God (you can read that story here). He’s gone for a long time, and the Israelites get restless waiting on him. In fact, they fear that Moses has been killed by being that close to God. They turn to Moses’ brother Aaron and convince him to make them a golden calf to worship since they didn’t think Moses was coming back.

When Moses comes down the mountain, he finds the community of the Israelites in a commotion, worshiping a golden idol instead of worshiping God, who had just brought them out of slavery in Egypt. And he doesn’t react to well to the situation. He breaks the tablets that have the Ten Commandments on them, and eventually has to carve them again himself.

But here we have Moses and Jesus, both on a mountainside for an extended period of time. And when they come down the mountain, they walk into a commotion of unbelief. I love seeing parallels like that in the over-arching story of the Bible. But more than that, I love it even more when I can relate to and learn from those moments as well. And there is a big lesson we can learn from these parallels.

Jesus and Moses had been isolated on a mountainside in the presence of God. Jesus had three of His disciples with Him, and was visited by Moses and Elijah, while Moses was alone with God, but both were definitely times spent with God with no distractions from the world. Think about times when we feel closest with God. Times that we get to spend with God without much distraction from the world. Whether it be just times that we are just able to really focus on our relationship with God, times that we get out of our normal routine at a retreat, camp, conference, or mission trip, or however we are getting closer to God. Unfortunately those moments don’t last forever.

There is an ebb and flow to life. And we don’t always get to stay on the mountain top. It would be great if we could, but life gets in the way. When Moses and Jesus were on the mountainside, they had to physically come down. And when they did, life and commotion was waiting for them. When we have those mountain top experiences, those times that we are closest to God, it is not going to last. Not because we don’t want it too, but because attacks always come when we are closest to God.

In other words, when we are experiencing those mountain top times with God, we should know that eventually the valleys are going to come. We know this. We’ve experienced it time and time again, especially if we have been Christ followers for any length of time. But it is encouraging to actually see Jesus has experienced this Himself. And how He handled the situation should give us a clue how to handle it ourselves as well.

He grieved the unbelief and the pain that the valley brought. But He didn’t let it stop Him. All to often, when we come off the mountain and experience the valley, it can knock us for a loop. It can completely stall our relationship with God. We get depressed or we focus too much on the valley. In other words, we react like Moses and break the tablets. Jesus didn’t let it knock Him off His path. He healed the boy through His reliance on God.

We need to realize something. Even when we are in the valley, we can still focus on our relationship with God. We can either focus on everything that is going wrong, and let the junk of this world get us down even more, or we can continue to focus on God. It’s up to you. God is always there. He wants to meet with us. But do we make the time for Him, especially when it is hard to do so? When we are in the middle of a mountain top experience, it’s easy to focus on God. But when we come down from that, and life starts to get in the way again, what do we do?

For far too long in my own life, more than I would actually like to admit, my default was to just roll over and let life get in the way of my time with God. But that’s not what I want. And I have worked long and hard in my life not to let that happen anymore. What about you? Join me in focusing on God, in the good and the bad times.

Christian Living, Encouragement, Life

Sports, Early Mornings, and Spending Time With God

I’m a huge sports fan. If you know me at all, you know that. I often write about sports and how it correlates to my relationship with God. Often, different sports or sports analogies make it into my sermons as illustrations. If it wasn’t for live sporting events, my wife and I probably would have gotten rid of our satellite tv subscription long ago for Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime video. To say that sports are a big part of my life may seem like somewhat of an understatement.

Sunday morning of this week, I knew that my favorite English Premiere League soccer team was supposed to be playing on television. The problem was, because of the time difference between England and New Mexico, the match was supposed to start at 5:00 AM local time. Another thing you might know about me is that I am a night owl, and not much of a morning person. I have gone through attempts of becoming more of a morning person, and was doing well for awhile. That is until I got a little under the weather a few weeks ago, and my sleep patterns returned to my normal stay up late and sleep in when I can.

ManU I don’t often get to watch Manchester United play, however, so I decided I was going to attempt to get up at 5:00 AM and watch the match. With the match on that early, it would give me plenty of time to watch it and still get to church at my normal time, so why not give it a shot. I’ve tried this before, never on a Sunday, but ended up going back to sleep even while trying to pay attention to the match.

I set my coffee pot Saturday night before going to bed, so that coffee would be ready when I got up at 5:00. I knew that was one of the only ways this was going to work. And this time it did work. I woke up, and actually stayed up. It was great. The match didn’t turn out the way I would have liked it. It ended in a draw. But I was able to enjoy watching ManU play.

I had a very sobering realization while watching the game though. I’ve tried in the past to wake up early and actually schedule spending time with God before I start my day. But it never works out. I either completely zone out or just go back to sleep. Then, by the time I actually get my day going, everything else that I have to do for the day jumps in and often, I don’t get to spend uninterrupted time with God. Here I am, getting up early for a soccer match, but I can’t make myself get up and spend time with God, who having a relationship with is so much more important than watching sports. Talk about realizing a huge change needs to happen in my life. That was a sobering realization.

Here I am, getting up early for a soccer match, but I can’t make myself get up and spend time with God, who having a relationship with is so much more important than watching sports.

Now, I don’t want to go any further before I say that I have always tried to spend time with God. It is a priority, and often I do that through music and meditation throughout the day. But realizing that I often let other daily tasks get in the way of spending a dedicated time of just me and God took me a little by surprise. I focus on God and His word so much because of my job, preaching and teaching the Word of God, that I don’t always remember to take the time to spend time with Him for my relationship with Him.

I’m guessing that I’m not the only one. Our human nature often gets in the way. We get distracted with other things that are more tangibles, and forget often that we are neglecting what should be the most important part of our day. We focus on God throughout the day when He pops into our heads, but we forget to have that dedicated, one-on-one time with Him. We need to make sure we are making time for Him in our lives, even if it’s just a few minutes a day.

And I’m not trying to argue that it needs to be the first thing you do in the morning. If that is what works best for you, then that’s great. But different times of day may work better for different people. I just have realized if I don’t do it early in the day, I let other things get in the way of doing it later, not because I don’t want to spend time with Him, but because I get distracted and just simply forget to carve out that time. So, I’m going to attempt to start getting up earlier than I need to again, and spend time with God before the rest of my to-do list starts taking priority.

In fact, I did just that after watching the soccer match Sunday morning. I spent time in God’s Word and in prayer before I started the rest of my day. Getting up early is not something that I really enjoy, but it is something that I am going to attempt to make a habit so that I can really focus on my relationship with God. Will you join me? Again, I’m not necessarily talking about getting up early, but in making spending time with our Father a priority in our lives.

Christian Living, Encouragement, Newspaper

You Are Enough

If you’re anything like me, you have times in your life in which you wonder if you are enough. Am I good enough? Do I make enough money to support my family? Do I excel at my job? Do my friends like me? Am I a good husband/father? And if you are really honest, am I good enough for God to love me?

It’s human nature. Most of the time, we are our own harshest critics. We compare ourselves to others and think that we can never live up to what we see in the person next to us. The problem is we don’t see the full picture of the person we are comparing ourselves to. Think about it. When you compare yourself to someone else, it’s like looking at their highlight reel and comparing that to all of your negatives, because we only see what that person shows publicly.

One of two things happens when we do this. We either see people that we constantly think are better than us, thus pulling ourselves down into negative, depressive thoughts. Or we go to the complete opposite side, and try to find people that we think we are better than. “Well, I’ve never done that, so I’m in pretty good shape”.

If we fall into this trap, as Christ followers, one other thing happens. We start thinking that we have to earn God’s love and salvation. It becomes a balancing act. We look at all the negative things in our life, and try to make sure we have more positive things to outweigh the negative. When we do that, salvation, and a relationship with God becomes dependent on us, not Him. In other words, we make it more about us than Him.

We think we are either good enough that we are going to earn God’s love, or we look at ourselves in such a negative light that we think that God could never love or care about someone like us. Neither are correct. We cannot earn God’s love. He loves all of us equally. In His eyes, we are enough. That doesn’t mean He’s not concerned with our sin. Of course He is. But we can never earn that forgiveness. It is freely given through a relationship with Jesus.

Through that relationship, we should be changed. We should continue to strive to be better, to be more Christ like, not because we have to earn God’s love, but because we love God and we know He loves us. Whether you are a Christ follower or not, I want you to pay close attention to these next few words. God loves you. He wants a relationship with you. You can never earn His love. It is free. But you can turn from His love by not accepting His Son, and by not repenting of your sin.

You are enough. God’s love for you makes that possible. He just wants what is best for all of us. I want to share two passages with you.

John 3:16 states, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Paul writes in Romans 5:6-8, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Stop trying to do this on your own. Stop comparing yourselves to others. God loves you. He sent His Son to die for your sin. Give Him your life. That’s what really matters in this life.

thoughts-from-a-crosseyed-jesus-freak

Christian Living, Encouragement, Life

Guilty as Charged

It’s no secret that I’m a huge sports fan. I’ve written about March Madness here recently, and you’ll regularly see me write or post about Tennessee Volunteer Football (only a few months away!). But my love of sports goes way beyond that. I like just about any sport that you can think of, and, my wife will confirm, sports are generally on our television. Golf is no exception. I realize that many people have no love for watching golf. But it intrigues me. I don’t watch every round of every tournament by any means, but when it’s the major tournaments, that’s what is going to be on my television.

Last weekend, the LPGA made headlines with a controversial ending. I wasn’t watching it, but the first women’s major tournament of the year was being played. I found out about the headline from a fellow minister and golf friend, Dustin Fulton (If you are in the Omaha, NE area, you should check out his church, Restore Community Church). He posted about the controversy surrounding Lexi Thompson, and the circumstances that led to her losing a three stroke lead and eventually losing the tournament in a playoff, all because a fan at home got involved.

How did a fan get involved? On Sunday, during the fourth round, a fan saw a replay from the day before in which it appeared Lexi didn’t place her ball in the correct position on the green after marking it. We are talking about a fraction of an inch. No one, including Lexi caught it at the time. She made the putt, went to finish her round, and signed her scorecard. The fan at home, with the ability to watch it over and over again, saw what they thought was a rules violation, e-mailed the LPGA, which opened an investigation. They then decided to enforce a four shot penalty on Lexi for something that happened the day before. Here’s a video of the incorrect ball placement.

Four shots, two for playing from the incorrect position and then two more for signing an incorrect scorecard due to the first violation. That’s incredibly harsh. By the letter of the law, it is correct, but come on. She was penalized almost 24-hours after the fact, for something that she didn’t even realize she had done. On top of that, it wasn’t the people charged with officiating the tournament that caught the violation. It was some fan at home that had no business involving themselves in the tournament. The rule is there so you cannot gain an advantage by placing your ball in a better position. But we’re talking about fractions of inches here. So close that the player didn’t even realize what had happened.

So, while Lexi was waiting to play the 13th hole of her final round, she was approached by a rules official and told that she would be assessed a four shot penalty. At the time, she had a three shot lead, so she actually fell to one shot off the lead with this ridiculous ruling. Most would have crumbled and just gone through the motions. Not Lexi. She fought back and ended up tying for the lead at the end of regulation before losing on the first playoff hole.

I personally think it’s a shame that someone who was not even supposed to be involved in the tournament (a fan sitting at home) had a direct effect on the outcome. Again, the letter of the law stated that Lexi was at fault. But I don’t think the spirit of the law was met.

This all got me thinking about life in general. We have violated “the law” in a bunch of ways, some in ways that we have no idea that we even did anything wrong. And by the letter of the law, we are guilty. The penalty described by the law for sin is death. Even when we don’t necessarily realize that we have sinned. And we have an accuser who is calling in, telling on us. And again, by the letter of the law we are guilty. Paul states in Romas 6:23,

23 For the wages of sin is death…

Unlike the story of Lexi Thompson, we have a thing called grace. It is a free gift, offered by God to anyone that is willing to accept it. We accept the gift through faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. And the best part; He’s already paid the price for our sin. We are covered by His blood from His death, burial, and resurrection. By the letter of the law we are guilty, but by the blood of Jesus Christ, we are FORGIVEN! That’s why I am thankful that this life is not fair. It’s not fair that someone else take my place for my sins, but God’s grace does just that. And Satan can accuse us as much as He wants, God see the cleansing blood of His Son on us. Just look at Paul’s entire though from Romans 6:23. He writes;

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

thoughts-from-a-crosseyed-jesus-freak

Christian Living, Encouragement, God, Life, Ministry

Community: Passionately Pursuing Jesus Together

A few days ago, I wrote about passions. How as Christ followers, we should be passionate about following Him and carrying out our mission. We can have other things that we are passionate about, but Jesus should be something that we undoubtedly have a passion in our souls for. Around the same time, I came across an article that stated we should not rely on our passion for ministry, because passion can run out. After reading the article in disbelief, I discovered that it was written by someone that I have never agreed with on anything that he has written, and his argument against passion is just added to the list. Let me explain.

I do not mean to make lite of anyone’s profession when I say this. But ministry and preaching every Sunday is not an easy thing to do. If you haven’t done it personally, realize that you might just not understand what all goes into it. And that’s fine. Again, I’m not arguing that my job is any harder than anyone else. But it is difficult. And I don’t think I could do it week in, week out if God had not given me a passion for preaching His word. That’s why I changed from Youth Ministry to Preaching, because God changed my passion. I still really enjoy working with and being around teenagers. But my passion is preaching His word week in and week out. Without that passion for Jesus and for preaching His word, I don’t think I could handle all the demands that ministry and preaching have.

But that is not what I want to focus on in this post. It was just something that got me thinking. You see, in my last article about passion, I stated again that passion for Jesus and learning more and more about Him should be paramount. I heard about a 12-year old this week that is doing just that, and it gave me a renewed hope. Our Wednesday night Kid’s ministry lost one of our own a couple weeks ago. His family moved out of state. The last week he was here, we cancelled Adult Bible Study, and the Kid’s ministry along with myself threw him a going away party. The teachers, on their own, got together and bought him a teen study Bible, we played games, and ate pizza.

My wife told me after this past Wednesday night that the Kid’s ministry must have really had an impact on our friend that left. You see, the week before was spring break, and we don’t do any Kid’s programming that week. But this past Wednesday, our friend who now lives in Michigan, called one of the teachers and asked if he could participate in the Bible lesson time over the phone. Even better than that, we know that he was truly listening, as he was apparently answering questions after the lesson time.

Now, it is my heartfelt prayer that our friend can find a group to connect with in MI, not because we don’t want him in our group, but because he needs to be in a group that he can connect with face to face. But the fact that he has been impacted enough to want to continue learning even over the phone is pretty incredible. He has a passion building for Jesus in his heart, and it shows.

Passionately Pursuing Jesus Let me ask you. Do you have that kind of passion for Jesus that you would call so that you could be a part of a lesson? Do you have a group of people that you have connected with so much that you would do anything you could to continue connecting with them? That’s what the local church is supposed to be. That’s why I love the idea of small groups, even if you’re in a church that could be classified as a small group itself.

My wife and I have a group that meets at our house. Right now, it’s just four of us, but we hope to expand that. Actually, the prayer is that we can reach our neighbors through this group. But for now, it’s just the four of us. And I can tell you this. I miss it terribly when something happens and we are not able to meet one week. Sometimes we meet and just talk about life. Other times we actually do a session of a Bible study. Sometimes it’s both. But here’s the thing. We, as Christ followers, have been built to be in community. And that community should be together more than just an hour or two on Sundays.

Following Jesus passionately means finding a community of Christ followers to be connected with. That’s why I have a passion for the local church as well. The Church has a lot of flaws. How could it not, it’s run on earth by flawed human beings. But it is the Bride of Christ, and a community meant to help each other walk as Christ followers. If you are in the Carlsbad area and don’t have a church that you gather with regularly, we would love to have you at Central. If you are not in the Carlsbad area, please find somewhere that you can join a community of fellow Christ followers!

thoughts-from-a-crosseyed-jesus-freak

Christian Living, Encouragement, God, Ministry

The Most Loving Thing You Can Do…

There is a growing trend that I’ve been noticing for a while. If you’re honest with yourself, you’ve probably seen it as well. Some of you maybe have even gotten caught up in it. I get it. It’s easy to do, and our human nature wants us to believe it. But I believe it is a dangerous trend that can end up hurting more people than we could ever help with it. What is it? It’s the idea that everything is alright, nothing is as bad as we could make it out to be, and in the end, God’s love wins.

Let me say one thing before I go any further. Yes, in the end God’s love wins, but not in the way that many are trying to argue now. God wins in the end. But for us that means we have to be in a right relationship with Him. There are going to be those that, through their decisions, do not end up on the right side of eternity. Jesus went to the cross for our sins, and it is through His blood that we have a chance at a relationship with God. But that means making Jesus our Lord and Savior. That means attempting to live the life that He has laid out for us. That means loving others as our selves and becoming servants.

There is a picture of a church sign that has been circulating through social media the past few days. I’ve seen in pop up a few different times from different connections I have. At first glance, I was all for it (even though I truly do have a disdain for church signs, because most do more harm than good). It reads, “Just love everyone I’ll sort’em out later. —God”. While I agree with this on the surface, I think there is a deeper meaning that people are trying to take out of this that, in the end, is just plain wrong.

Love Everyone

Yes, we are supposed to love everyone. I agree with that wholeheartedly, even though I understand that some people are just down right hard to love at times. That’s ok. God never said it was going to be easy to follow His commands, just worth it. The deeper part of this, however, is a potential issue. With society the way it is today, I see people taking this as saying “Never correct anyone, never disagree with someone, live with tolerance, even if they are doing something that is completely opposite of what the Word of God says.” In other words, there is no right and wrong, so just love each other and God will sort it out in the end.

Here’s the problem with that. If someone is going against the very Word of God, and you don’t try to help them see where they are wrong because you love them, that is the very opposite of love. And that is where I am afraid our society is heading. There are differences in how we need to react to others depending if they are fellow Christ followers or not. I’ve written here before about how we can never expect a culture that doesn’t claim to follow Jesus to live by the morals that we try to live by. And that is very much true here as well. Pointing out to someone that they are not living according to the Bible when they don’t claim to be trying to follow Jesus is not the best way to go about this.

But think about it. You wouldn’t let someone walk into the path of an oncoming bus that they didn’t see just because they don’t see it would you? That’s why we need to be building relationships with others and introducing them to Jesus. If not, they are just walking into the path of destruction.

Penn Penn Jillette is one of the members of the duo better known as Penn and Teller. They have a very famous show in Las Vegas, where they perform regularly. Penn is a very outspoken atheist, but I came across a video he posted a few years ago on Youtube that opened my eyes to something profound. In the video (which you can watch here), Penn describes meeting a man from the audience of one of his shows. The man gives Penn a Gideons pocket edition New Testament, and tells Penn about Jesus. In the front of the Bible, the man has written contact info down so that Penn can contact him to ask questions if any arise from reading.

Now Penn states directly that he knows there is no god, a point that I disagree with wholeheartedly. But he goes on to talk about how much respect he has for the man that approached him. He says that he has no love for any Christian that doesn’t try to share their faith. Penn goes on to use the analogy of a bus, saying if you see a bus coming that someone else doesn’t, you do everything in your power to pull them out of the path of the bus. This is where it gets really interesting. He says if you believe in God, heaven and hell, how much do you have to hate someone to not try to tell them about it.

Penn Jillette makes one the best arguments for evangelism that I’ve ever seen. Not only is it not loving to not share your faith with someone that doesn’t have a relationship with Jesus, an atheist claims that you must hate someone not to do so. Think about that? Love everyone and God will sort them out later. How can you love someone and just sit idly and watch them go to hell?

How much do you have to hate someone to not share your faith with them?

Now, there is another side of this that we need to deal with as well. What about fellow Christ followers? Just love them. Never correct them. Never call each other out for sinful behavior, right? It’s not that simple. In Jesus’ most famous sermons, recording in the early chapters of Matthew, and known to us as the “Sermon on the Mount”, Jesus addresses judging. I’ve heard this passage used countless times trying to say that we should not judge each other. And while there is some truth in that, it is not entirely what Jesus is talking about. In Matthew 7:1-5, Jesus is recorded as saying;

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

I hear most people talk about how can we judge someone else when we have our own sin. And that is true. Jesus asks how can we help our brother get the speck out of his eye with a log in our own. But most stop there. Jesus continued. He said to take the log out of our own eye (get rid of the sin) and then we will see clearly to remove the speck from out brother’s eye. In other words, we are called to help one another remove sin from our lives. Not just let each other continue in sin with a log in our eyes.

So I would say the same thing about our fellow Christ followers. How much do you have to hate them to not try to help them correct sin in their lives? It’s not judging them, it is loving them. God even disciplines us because He loves us. Sometimes He uses others to point out where we’ve go Love Everyone ne wrong. But make not mistake about it, His discipline comes from a place of love.

“Just love everyone I’ll sort’em out later.—God” I’m fine with that, as long as you realize this. Sometimes, the most loving thing you can do for someone is point out that they are sinful and in need of a loving Savior.

thoughts-from-a-crosseyed-jesus-freak

Christian Living, Encouragement, God, Life, Preaching

A Light Shines in the Darkness

As I woke up one morning this week, the news flashed across my iPhone screen about another potential terrorist attack, this time in London, England. As I type these words, five have been confirmed dead, including one police officer. There are at least 20 injured. The person responsible for the attack is thought to have acted alone, and is also dead. We see this all too often anymore. Every time we turn around it seems some kind of violence is happening in our world, rather it be nation against nation, terrorism, or individuals against each other. There is no doubt about the fact that we live in a dark world. I’m not sure if it is actually getting darker, or if it’s just because the world is so connected through technology and we hear more about what is going on. But there is no doubt that we live in a dark and dying world.

Just here in Carlsbad, we are reminded almost daily how dark and broken our world is. We see a city that has the potential for a bright future, but we also see a city with a bad drug and alcohol abuse problem. In the past few weeks, friends of mine have lost close friends suddenly. There are many other things I could type, but I think I’ve made my point. This world seems to be lost in darkness.

There is light, however, we just have to where to look for it. When we see the void in our lives because of the darkness, we try to fill it. That’s why drug and alcohol abuse are so prevalent. That’s why there is so much violence in this world. But, like I said, there is a light. There is something to fill that void that we feel in our lives. That light is Jesus Christ. We’re in the middle of a sermon series here at Central called “I AM Jesus: Who Jesus Claims to Be”. In this series we are looking at what is called the “Seven I Am Statements” that Jesus makes in the book of John. One of those statements that He makes is “I Am the Light of the World”.

There is so much packed into this one statement that we actually took two weeks looking at it. Jesus actually makes the statement twice, once in John 8 and then again in John 9. The setting for these claims are related, but there is enough difference in them to take them one at a time in our sermons. In John 8, the setting is the Temple. Specifically the Court of the Women, in front of the collection areas for the offering, probably early during the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus is teaching in the courtyard, and as usual, a big crowd has gathered to hear Him. This setting is important, because on the first night of the Feast of Tabernacles, the Courtyard of the Women is illuminated with four giant candelabras.

It is said that the Temple would be aglow from all over Jerusalem during this ceremony. It is likely either during this time, or the next day, when it is still fresh on everyone’s mind that Jesus made His first “I Am the Light of the World” statement. In John 8:12, Jesus is recorded as saying;

12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Think about that. Jesus is saying, possibly with the backdrop of the Temple being illuminated in a great way, that He is the light of the world. Not the Temple. Not the Pharisees who made it almost impossible to follow God, not even Moses or Abraham. He is the light of the world.

As impressive as the Temple had to be illuminated the way it was, Jesus is saying, “I shine a light in the darkness of this world, and only through Me can you see”.

After this conversation that eventually ended with the Teachers of the Law picking up stones in an attempt to stone Him, Jesus is with just His twelve disciples. They come across a man that had been blind from birth and the disciples ask Jesus if it was because of the man’s sin or his parents’ sin that he was blind (The Jews, at this time, believed that one could sin in the womb, and therefore thought that this man could have caused his affliction. I don’t have time to go into too much detail with this now though). This led to Jesus making His second “I am the light of the world” statement. This time around, it was just the twelve disciples and the man Jesus was getting ready to heal that was present for the statement. John 9:1-5 records the event this way;

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

Jesus continues and heals the man, however, this is done on the Sabbath and that gets the Pharisees all in a twist again. They cannot understand how someone “from God” would “clearly” break the Sabbath. But you see, Jesus knew exactly what He was doing. He was continuing His teaching from the Temple from the previous chapter. He used the physical blindness of the man he healed to lead in to a discussion on what He considered an even bigger issue; Spiritual blindness.

He’s basically saying to the Pharisees, and to us, that we are spiritually blind. But through Him we can receive our sight. Jesus knows the darkness that is in the world, but He has the cure. In His own words, He is the light of the world. The Pharisees bring in the man healed of blindness and question him. They are not satisfied with his answers, and eventually kick him out. That’s when Jesus enters the picture again. John 9:35-41 records the rest of the story;

35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

36 “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”

37 Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”

38 Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

39 Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

There is no question what Jesus is claiming here. He is claiming to be the Messiah. He is claiming to be the Son of God. And He is claiming that only through Him can we truly see in this dark and dying world. That is because He is the light of the world. That is because only through Him do we have a relationship with God the Father. You want to fill the void of this life? You want to see clearly in the darkness? John, continuing the thought of Jesus as light in this world, writes in I John 1:5-7;

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

Encouragement, God

What One Over-Zealous Dad Reminded Me About God

This season of college basketball has been exciting. We are down to the final sixteen teams vying for a National Championship, and there really doesn’t seem to be a clear cut favorite in my opinion. Yes, I hope that Kentucky will win out, but there are at least eight teams that have a legitimate chance to win it all. The next couple of weekends should be really exciting to watch.

March Madness

There has been one thing this season, however, that has been really frustrating and distracting. And it doesn’t even have anything to do with a player, team, or coach. It’s a father of one of the best players in college this year. LaVar Ball, the dad of UCLA Bruins star Lonzo Ball, has really made this a miserable season if you pay any attention to the sports world. He can’t keep his mouth shut, and it is embarrassing. Lonzo is arguably one of the best players on the college level this year, and any parent should be proud of his effort on the court. But his dad takes it a little too far.

LeVar has gone on record numerous times over the course of this season, making ridiculous claims about his son, and about himself. He has claimed that his son is, at this moment, better than two-time defending NBA MVP Steph Curry. He actually said that they should switch Lonzo and Steph, and that that would make the Golden State Warriors better. He has stated that if his son is going to sign a shoe endorsement contract, then the number to start at is $1,000,000,000. That’s One Billion.

LaVar, who played in college himself, averaging 2 points per game, stated that he would destroy Michael Jordan in a game of one on one, both being in their prime. When other NBA greats stepped in to call him out on this unbelievable statement, he argued that he would beat them too. And most recently, he got personal with LeBron James, stating that his sons (he has two more that are still playing high school ball) are set up better to succeed than LeBron’s kids. That prompted LeBron to go on record stating to leave his kids out of it.

Basically, Mr. Ball thinks really highly of himself and his kids. I’m all for having confidence, but this is more about ego than it is confidence. He keeps running his mouth, and personally, I feel that he is actually hurting his sons’ futures. Think about the NBA teams that might want Lonzo to play for them. They are going to have to think long and hard about whether they want to put up with LaVar. No matter the talent of Lonzo, if I was a coach or owner in the NBA, I wouldn’t want to put up with his dad unless there were some major steps taken to ensure that LeVar was not interfering.

As I was thinking about the Ball family and all of this earlier today, I did draw a parallel that I had never thought of before. And while it is not exactly the same, there is enough to it make the connection. Let me say this. LaVar goes too far in trying to promote his son. He talks too much, and brags too much. But he sees greatness in his son. He sees someone with a great potential.

God sees us doing great things for the Kingdom, even though He knows that we are going to mess up.

And I have to think that that is what God sees when He looks at us. God is not out there bragging more than He should. But He sees something that He created, and looks on us with pride. He sees us doing great things for the Kingdom, even though He knows that we are going to mess up. Look all the way back to the Creation account in Genesis 1. God says that it is good after each of the first five days, meaning that what He created those days was good in His sight. Then the sixth day arrives and He creates man in His own image. Genesis 1:27-31 records day six;

27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. (emphasis mine)

What was different on the sixth day? He created mankind in His own image. We have the image of God living in us, and because of that, God looks on us with pride. That doesn’t mean that He is not going to hold us accountable when we sin. He did that even with Adam and Eve in the garden. He kicked them out of His presence because He could not be around sin. But He also had a plan to bring all of us back into His presence from the beginning as well. And that plan was Jesus Christ.

And that plan was Jesus Christ.

It’s Jesus willingly going to the cross that convinces me beyond a shadow of a doubt that God sees potential in us. He has pride in us, even though we sin. And He willingly sacrificed His son on the cross to pay the debt of our sins that we could never ever pay on our own. He continues to see our potential as well. How do I know that? He allows us to be a part of His work on Earth, when He could easily do His will without us. He gives us free will, meaning that we can betray Him, and many of us do. But that free will also gives us the potential to love God with a true love that only appears through free will.

It’s Jesus willingly going to the cross that convinces me beyond a shadow of a doubt that God sees potential in us.

Parents discipline their children out of love and wanting their child to reach their potential. So yes, there can and will be consequences when we sin. The author of Hebrews reminds us that God does discipline us, but it is out of love. Hebrews 12:7-11 reads;

7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

He disciplines because He loves, and because He loves, He see potential in us. Even in your sin, I want you to remember how much God loves you, and what He has done for you through His love. He has had a great patience with all of us. LaVar Ball no doubt loves his son. I’m just grateful that God has a different way of showing His love for us instead of bragging and making claims that can’t be backed up. Paul put it this way in Romans 5:6-8;

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

thoughts-from-a-crosseyed-jesus-freak

Christian Living, Encouragement, God

Where Does Your Passion Lay?

Humans are created to be passionate. We all have different passions and that is what makes us unique. But what we have in common is that we should be passionate about something. Some are passionate about sports. Others are passionate about food. Still others are passionate about reading or writing. As Christ followers, it is my prayer that at least one of your passions is our mission of sharing Christ with others, and being transformed more and more into His image daily.

Let me back up just a moment and tell you what got me thinking about our passions. Back at the end of February, while I was thinking through and working on our churches March newsletter, I was trying to figure out what to write about. I remembered that just a few days before, February 23, was the “Shine the Light on Slavery” day. You see, there are more people in slavery and human trafficking today than at any time in history. When I realized that I had just posted about this, trying to shine a light on a very broken part of our world, I thought what better topic to cover in our newsletter.

End It

Em passion My first thought was to write the article, but also to contact a friend of ours that has spent years researching and fighting this epidemic. I thought it would be good to get some statistics from her to help the article out. Then I had one of my best ideas I’ve had in a while. Why write the article myself when I could ask Em to write it as a guest post for Thoughts From a Crosseyed Jesus Freak and our church newsletter? I called Em, and while she was excited for the opportunity, she had too much going on to be able to write the article for March. We agreed that she would write it for our April newsletter.

This past weekend, she sent me her first draft, and we are in the process of editing and proofing it now. But this whole process is what has got me thinking about passion. Em is passionate about ending human trafficking and sexual exploitation of people. And you can tell from her writing. I won’t go into too much detail now because I don’t want to take away from her article that will come out sometime next week.

Here’s the deal. When you are passionate about something, other people can tell. When there is a passion in your soul for something, it takes a prominent place in your life. For Em, she has spent time overseas, working with girls that were rescued from the sex slave trade. She looks for opportunities to raise awareness anywhere and everywhere she can about this issue. And she does it because of an even bigger passion in her life. Her ultimate passion is Jesus Christ. She does all she does about human trafficking because of her relationship with Jesus.

When there is a passion in your soul for something, it takes a prominent place in your life.

I try to live with the ultimate passion in my life being Jesus as well. That’s why I preach. He’s the best thing that has ever happened to me, and because of that I have a passion of preaching His word, trying to introduce others to Him. Jesus is why I write here on Thoughts From a Crosseyed Jesus Freak. I have a passion for writing, but it’s not just because I like to write. I like to shine a light on Jesus and help others in their walk of faith.

Recently, through some of the sermons I’ve preached, books I’ve read, and the writing challenge I just completed, I’ve developed another passion. One that I should have had for a long time. But I have a passion for trying to get to know my neighbors and building a relationship with them so that I can, along with my wife, share Jesus with them.

Scripture is filled with passionate people. Some of those people had their passions in the wrong place. Think Saul of the Old Testament, and even Solomon. They ended up being passionate about the things of this world. And it cost them in the end. Paul, once he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, became passionate about spreading Jesus to anyone and everyone that would listen to him. Jesus’ disciples, minus Judas, became passionate about taking the gospel to the ends of the earth as well. And believe me, their passion was real. I don’t have time or space to go through all of it here, but only one of the apostles died a natural death after a long life. That was John. All of the others were tortured and martyred for the passionate following of and teaching Jesus.

Scripture is filled with passionate people.

One story sticks out in a vivid way, however, when I think of passion for Jesus. That’s the story of the first person killed for his faith in Jesus. In other words, he became the first martyr in Christianity. That’s the story of Stephen. You can find it recorded in the book of Acts. Specifically in the sixth and seventh chapters. You can read it here and here if you’re not familiar with the story. Let me give you a short synopsis before I wrap up. Stephen was chosen to be a servant. He was helping by taking care of some widows, but he was also sharing his faith. No one that would challenge him could actually stand up to his arguments. The religious leaders of the day (the Sanhedrin) seized him and put him on trial. Stephen boldly told them the history of the Jews and stated that they killed Jesus, who was the Son of God. And because of this, they killed him. His passion was Jesus, and it didn’t matter what he faced in opposition, he stayed focused on Him.

What about you? What are you passionate about? There is nothing wrong with being passionate about food, or sports, or reading etc. But is that your only passion? If people were to look at your life, could they tell that you were passionate about Jesus because of something that you do with your life? And I don’t just mean “going to church on Sundays”. Is there something in your life that you do because of your passion with Jesus, and it costs you something? Time, money, friendships, just some of the things a passionate relationship with Jesus could cost you. But it is so worth it in the end. I can’t imagine doing anything else with my life.

What about you? What are you passionate about? There is nothing wrong with being passionate about food, or sports, or reading etc. But is that your only passion?

So let me ask you again. What are you passionate about? Don’t have a good answer right now? Figure it out and start putting your passion to work for Jesus Christ. It was His passion for you that led Him to the cross. Return His passion. It might cost something now, but I promise it is so worth it.

thoughts-from-a-crosseyed-jesus-freak

Christian Living, Encouragement, Newspaper

The Most Intriguing Stories

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Usually you hear that phrase around Christmas, but as a college basketball fan, I could use it for this time of year. The NCAA March Madness basketball tournament has started. For the next three weeks, college basketball is going to dominate my television. In face, as I sit here and type this in my office, I have a screen set up to watch some of the games as I’m working.

There are just always so many good story lines that take place during what we call March Madness. There are teams that you expect to dominate opponents and do so. Then there are the teams that end up being the unexpected Cinderella teams that capture most of our hearts as they perform at a level not expected from a small school. It’s competitive. It’s intriguing. But it’s not what I mean when I say “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.” Don’t get me wrong, I love this basketball tournament, but there is something that makes this time of year better than college basketball.

You see, we are just a month away from Easter. While Christmas is the time of year that we celebrate Jesus becoming God in the Flesh, which is definitely something to celebrate, it means nothing without Easter. Easter is the time of year that we focus in on what Jesus did for us on the cross. Our sin has caused a debt that we cannot pay ourselves. So Jesus willing went to the cross to pay our debt for us. And God honored His sacrifice by bringing Jesus out of the grave. That’s Easter. That’s what we celebrate. And it is the best storyline in history.

God honored His sacrifice by bringing Jesus out of the grave. That’s Easter. That’s what we celebrate. And it is the best storyline in history.

In reality, as Christ followers, we should celebrate that every day of our lives. I would like to think that most of us do. But we especially celebrate each year when Easter comes around. It usually matches up with the Jewish Passover week, as that is when Jesus went to the cross, so unlike Christmas, the date changes. The most wonderful time of the year fluctuates. Just in case you don’t have it on a calendar somewhere, Easter Sunday is on April 16 this year. If you don’t have a church home to celebrate Easter this year, we would love to have you join us at Central Christian Church at 10:30.

There really is no better time of year in my opinion. A time that we focus specifically on what Jesus did for us on the cross. I don’t know what you believe. I don’t know if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior. And I don’t know if you attend church regularly. But again, I want to extend an invitation to you. Not just to church on Easter Sunday, although that would be a great start. But I want to extend an invitation to sit down over a cup of coffee and talk about who Jesus is and what He has done in my life. If you have questions and are not really sure what you believe, please let me know. I would love the chance to talk with you. E-mail me at kraig@crosseyedjesusfreak.com.