Walk With Jesus

Romans 6:1 “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more kindness and forgiveness? vs 15 “So since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does this mean we can go on sinning?”

Recently I was talking with a young eleven year old girl (Hannah) and her mother about Jesus and the subject of sin came up. I said some people believe you can become a Christian and still live a sinful lifestyle, living no different from the world around us. Hannah said, “That doesn’t make sense. Asking Jesus into your heart is like a contract, you sign it by asking Him into our hearts. That (living a sinful lifestyle) would be like breaking the contract.” For Hannah it is a simple concept, when we choose Jesus, we should live like he did. We should try our best to live a life apart from sin.”

The Apostle Paul agrees with Hannah, his answer to the question, Does this mean we can go on sinning?  “Of course not! Don’t you realize that whatever you choose to obey becomes your master? You can choose sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God and receive his approval.” Romans 6:15,16  A great question and a simple answer, “Of course not!” Yet it is a truth that challenges us.  Our culture says everything is ok. Just do it. A hit song aimed at teenagers encourages them to have sex “Let’s go all the way tonight. Don’t have any regrets just love, you can dance until you die, “You and I, we’ll be young forever.” It is a horrible message a lie. Yet we also send a misleading message, a lie when we tell people only of the love of Jesus. “Just accept Jesus into your heart, and your golden, good to go. Jesus loves you and you will live with Him forever.” It is a tempting lie, we don’t want to offend people, we don’t want to turn them off. So we don’t tell them the truth. We tell them only half the gospel, some call it cheap grace. Jude vs 4 says this, “I say this because some godless people have wormed their way in among you, saying that God’s forgiveness allows us to live immoral lives. The fate of such people was determined long ago, for they have turned against our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

I will end with the chorus and two verse’s of a song titled, New Way To Live by Joel Hanson. Chorus “Arise there’s a new way to live, thought we were living but that’s not what we’ve been, we’ve been breathing out, we’ve been breathing in, but the question remains have we ever truly lived--verse-there’s more than one way a man can lose his life, might have a heart beat, but nothing left inside, he prayed a prayer maybe bent a knee, but he never walked with Jesus, and he never got free. Chorus again then verse--arise little girl Jesus said, take my hand and get out of your bed, come to life, you’ve been fast asleep, come and live, come and follow me.”

Misfortunes of Others

Matthew 14:13,14 “When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”

Jesus had just been told that John the Baptist had been beheaded. Hearing this Jesus must have felt anger, sorrow he just wanted to be left alone. So he got into a boat and went to be by himself. The crowds saw where he was going and they were there waiting for him when he arrived. This verse says that upon seeing the sick and hurting people he had compassion on them and healed them. Compassion is defined as concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others.

I was driving home from work the other day and I was having one of those days that I just wanted to be left alone. Anger was bubbling inside me, I wasn’t sure where it was coming from but I knew I wanted to be by myself. I then noticed a man trying to change his tire on the side of the road. I could see that he could not remove the wheel. I thought that’s too bad I’ve been there, done that. I kept driving.  About a 1/2 mile down the road I stopped, I had a bar in my trunk designed to remove stubborn wheels. I turned around, pulled up behind him and asked if he needed help. He said, “Ya another guy just left and he couldn’t get this off either.” I went to my trunk grabbed the bar, crawled under his car and within a minute we had his wheel off the car.  I saw the relief on his face when he heard the pop and the wheel was off.  He thanked me and I left. I was about a mile down the road when I realized my anger was gone and I was smiling.

I told my daughter this story and she said that is what the Pastor spoke about the past Sunday. She said he read the above verse about Jesus and the verses that follow in Matthew 14, about Jesus breaking the five loaves and two fish and handing the pieces to the disciples who then gave them to the people. The bible says 5,000 men plus women and children ate and where satisfied that day.

God has handed each of us gifts and resources that we are to use to bless the people around us. It can be something as simple as a crow bar that was lying unused in my trunk. Yet it was the exact tool that was needed to help a man stranded on the side of the road. It was lying unused and useless until I had felt the compassion, concern for his misfortune.

I was so blessed to have stopped that day. It also made me think; What gifts has God given me that are lying unused and useless locked away inside of me?

Faith of a Child

Matthew 19:14 But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.” And he put his hands on their heads and blessed them before he left.

I spoke at a small church in Forbes Minnesota this past Sunday and I was blessed to meet a young boy named Herald. At the end of the service his mother walked up to me and told me that for the last 40 minutes I had her 8 year old’s sons attention. He was listening to my message and throughout the message he was asking her questions.
One of my points that day was that we have to bring the name of Jesus into our everyday conversations, a friend of mine had once told me that we all have a box of things we talk about when we are with certain people in our lives. When we get together we take about things in that box, whether it be sports, work, world events, politics. If something is not in that box of comfortable conversations we hesitate to bring it in. So I said, “We have to bring Jesus into the box!” His mother told me how Herald then asked her, “How do we put Jesus in a box?”  I met up with Herald and his parents outside the church about 10 minutes later and I told them I was  pondering Heralds question. I said it’s great how children aren’t afraid to stop you and ask questions, “Wait how do you do that? What do you mean? How can you put Jesus in a box? Herald’s dad then told me how he has a hard time bringing Jesus into his conversations. This lead to a great conversation about sharing the gospel with the people we know. Heralds dad had the same question as Herald, he just didn’t ask it.

I spoke at another church and my topic was the faith and obedience of Joseph, the husband of Mary. I quoted Matthew 2:13 “After the wise men were gone and angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. Get up and flee to Egypt with the child and his mother, the angel said. That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother.” I asked the congregation how many of us would pack up leave everything we know and just go? I young girl raised her had and said, “I would.”

Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Children take us at our word, they take God at his word. Jesus says go and they want to go. Jesus says share my good news and they want to share his good news. My daughter was in fourth grade  and she was concerned her friend was going to go to hell so she shared with her friend about Jesus. She called me up that night and told me about their conversation.  A friend just shared with me how his two young sons will ask relatives or friends, “Why don’t you believe in God? They take God at his word, they cannot fathom why others do not.

The Gospel is a simple message children take it at face value and believe. The question is, do we?

Dry Bones

Ezekiel 37:1-5 The Lord took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones. He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?”

“O Sovereign Lord,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that. Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

I recently spent a day on the Brule River with my nephew. When we were getting ready to launch the kayaks he showed me a tattoo he just had done on his arm. It was not yet complete because he told me it was all the pain he could handle at one time. As we were paddling down the river he told me of the meaning behind the tattoo. A bottle of booze and a skull representing death. Stars representing the party scene. A pirate ship just because it looks cool and to be added next a cross with the word life.  “I have the same problem as my dad. I can’t handle drinking and this tattoo is to remind me where drinking and parting will lead me,” he said. The rest of the trip we talked of life and a little about the Lord.

 We had an awesome time on the river that day, the water was high and the rapids were exciting. We were able to enjoy the beauty that God has created. Yet for the next couple of days I kept thinking of the statement my nephew was making with his tattoo. I knew I wanted to write this article about him. As I started reading my bible this morning the first chapter I read was Ezekiel 37, I read through verse 14 and suddenly I realized I had just read what my nephew has tattooed on his arm, not with words but with pictures. I am sure he has never read this verse yet God gave him this vision.  A skull,
dead dried bones , people dead in their sins. The cross with the word, Life. I felt blessed and encouraged to know that my nephew recognizes that many of the things of this world, (sin) lead to death. That he knows that Jesus represents life through what he did on the cross. Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

Detestable In God's Sight

Luke 16:15 He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.”

I have recently been reading of what went wrong in Germany in the 1920’s and 30‘s. What allowed a man like Adolph Hitler to gain power?  What events caused the German people and the church to follow Hitler? What caused the German people to look the other way regarding the atrocities being done in the name of the state?

Germany was considered a Christian nation. In 1933 there were 14,000 Evangelical pastors. Sadly, thousands of these pastors swore their personal allegiance to Hitler, 800 did not and were arrested, some sent to concentration camps others executed.  Did the people cry out in protest?  Erwin Lutzer in his book Hitler’s Cross said this, “The majority of the people, including the professing Christian, no longer believed that Christianity was worth suffering for, much less dying for. They were willing to substitute Mein Kampf (book written by Hitler detailing his political ideology) for the Bible in exchange for jobs and the greater glory of Germany. “What people value is highly detestable in God’s sight.”

In 1945 the German dream had ended and Germany was lying in ruins. Helmut Thielicke ,a German pastor, said this to his congregation. “Denying God and casting down the cross is never a merely private decision that concerns only my own inner life and my personal salvation, but this denial immediately brings the most brutal consequences for the whole of historical life and especially for our own people. God is not mocked. The history of the world can tell us terrible tales based on that text.”

Casting down the cross. Hitler wanted to blend Christianity with the Nazi Agenda. He would not tolerate Christians who worshiped Christ exclusively. Hitler changed the name of Christmas to Yuletide, Christmas Carols and Nativity plays were banned from schools and Easter was turned into a holiday that celebrated the arrival of spring. Hitler knew that by removing the cross, Christianity would loose it power. Paul said this, “I know very well how foolish the message of the cross sounds to those who are on the road to destruction. But we who are being saved recognize this message as the very power of God. As the scriptures say, I will destroy human wisdom and discard their most brilliant ideas.” 1 Corinthians 1:18,19. Lutzer ends his book with these words, “The cross reminds us that the battle is not so much between church and state as it is within our own hearts. If Christ has all of us, if the Cross stands above politics and the world as Bhonheiffer has reminded us, we shall overcome regardless of the costs.”

Since the garden of Eden, we have been at war. Good verses evil. I will end with quotes from two of God’s Apostles. Peter tells us this, “So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while. These trials are to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. ---your faith is more precious to God than mere gold.” 1 Peter 1:6,7 And these are the words of Paul, “For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ.They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.” Philippians 3:18-21

Scratching The Surface

John 21:24-25 “This is the disciple who saw these events and recorded them here. And we all know that his account of these things is accurate. And I suppose that if all the other things Jesus did were written down, the whole world could not contain the books.”

The Pastor in the church I attended this past Sunday spoke of this verse and what he said humbled me. I read through the Bible a number of times each year and I thought I had a good grasp on who Jesus is. I would say that I was prideful in my knowledge of Jesus. The point the pastor made is that John probably knew Jesus better than or as well as anyone who has ever lived, yet even he says, “I suppose that if all the other things Jesus did were written down, the whole world could not contain the books.” That is a lot of books, thousands of books have been written about Jesus. John and every other disciple could have spent every waking second of their lives writing about Jesus and they could not come close to defining all he is and all he has done.

As I was sitting there in church I felt a little like Job, the last we hear from him in the book of Job he says this, from the Message Bible; “I babbled on about things far beyond me, made small talk about wonders way over my head. You told me, 'Listen, and let me do the talking. Let me ask the questions. You give the answers.' I admit I once lived by rumors of you; now I have it all firsthand—from my own eyes and ears! I'm sorry—forgive me. I'll never do that again, I promise! I'll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor." Job saw God in a whole new light in the Amplified Bible it says, “but now my spiritual eyes see you.”

I was humbled for I have only scratched the service of who Jesus is. David’s words to his son Solomon were, “Get to know the God or your ancestors. Worship and serve Him with your whole heart and a willing mind.” God says to Hosea, “I want you to know God.

I recently read a testimony from a 92 year old man he said this, “My life has become beautiful because I’m getting to know God. For 40 years I worked on bettering myself through a man-made program, but then you began to teach me from the bible and I came to know Christ. I would not have had anything to live for if I hadn’t become a Christian (at age 87). I wanted to die. I have changed, and now I talk to God every day and He helps me.”

Learn from God firsthand, not crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor. Read the Bible from beginning to end and be amazed at who this Jesus is!

The Dead Sea

John 4:13 “Jesus replied, People soon become thirsty again after drinking this water. But the water I give them takes away thirst altogether. It becomes a perpetual spring within them, giving them eternal life.”

A perpetual spring within us, living water, The Holy Spirit.  Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit will come and live within us. He will give us strength, rest, peace, joy and eventually eternal life.  What a promise!  Yet what happens if we take and take and never give from this perpetual spring within us?   We become like the Dead Sea. A land locked body of water into which rivers flow in, but none flow out.   It takes but never gives. The result is a lifeless sea, there are no fish or creatures living in or around it’s shores. It cannot take away thirst. To drink of it’s waters would result in death, not life.

It is the same with us, if we never give or look outside of ourselves, if we become self-centered, we cease to feel alive. Norman Vincent Peale wrote, “As a matter of fact, many are actually ill as a result of nothing but self-centeredness. When you lose yourself, letting your personality flow outward, your life takes on creative joy and even health.”  He goes on to tell the story of a wealthy man who thought he was sick, he had three nurses on round-the-clock duty. The man’s doctor asked Mr. Peale to give the man a dose of outgoing Christianity. Mr. Peale decided to give it a try and as he was sitting with the man he noticed an elderly woman struggling to move a chair.  Mr. Peale suggested to the “sick” man to help her with the chair. The man groaned and put up a protest but he did go and help the woman move the chair.  When he sat back down he said, “You know I actually got a kick out of that.”  Mr. Peale was in the same hotel about a year later and upon meeting the man again he found him to be full of life and energy. Mr. Peale asked him to explain it. He reminded Mr. Peale of when he helped the elderly woman. “That little service made me feel so good that I began looking for other opportunities to do something for people, just little things.  Then I found a few bigger services to render. One thing led to another until, strangely enough, I began to feel so much better that, finally, I came to the day when I saw myself. I got a clear view of how I was destroying my life by self-centeredness. By living in a more outgoing manner has made me a healthy man, he declared.”

Is your faith land locked? Does your life resemble a healthy body of water or the Dead Sea?  Jesus said in John 10:10  “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”  Take these words of James and apply them to your life, “So you see, it isn’t enough just to have faith. Faith that doesn’t show itself by good deeds is no faith at all---it is dead and useless.”  James 2:17 Let us look outside of ourselves and give life giving water to those around us who are thirsty.  As a result you “will have life and have it to the full.”