He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:44-47)

Hope you are inspired by the concepts and are reminded of how much of everything important to us hinges on Jesus’ resurrection!

Paul summarizes his ministry this way, and puts an exclamation mark on what is depicted here:

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God —  the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David,  and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 1:1-4)

So if God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — are involved in our lives, and if the Lord speaks to us, then how does He do it and how can we can be sure it is really God and not some selfish desire or some worldly wisdom or some evil spirit trying to deceive us?

Ah! Two good questions. I’ll give you a response, but leave it to you to do some digging in Scripture to deepen your understanding and to discover God’s truth for yourself. (Try these ideas out and work through the Scripture references!)

How does Jesus speak to us today?

• While we sleep! (The Bible talks about God ministering to us while we sleep. I encourage you to read the article, While We Sleep.)
• During our times with our church family! We forget that church is more than filling pews and following a worship order. Jesus is present (Matthew 18:20) and through the power of the Holy Spirit, our worship becomes more than a sharing of words (1 Corinthians 5:4). Our songs are Spirit-filled messages where we speak to each other (Colossians 3:16; Ephesians 5:17-19). Those who speak are to do so as speaking the very words of God (1 Peter 4:11). So what is preached, what is said to encourage us by friends, the loving confrontations we help each other face in Bible study, and the messages we sing to each other are one way Jesus speaks truth and hope into our hearts!
• During our everyday life experiences. God is at work in us, speaking to us when we read His word, when we hear repeated thoughts from multiple sources, and through the well-timed note, phone call, or card we receive from a friend (Philippians 2:13; Romans 8:28).

What are some other ways you think the Lord may have spoken truth into your life?

But how can we know it is really from the Lord and not from some other source? Aren’t we taught to “test the spirits” to see if what is being said is true? (1 John 4:1-6)

Here are some ways to test to see if what we hear the Lord communicating is really from Him:

Know Jesus. Get into the Jesus story and recognize what has the ring of truth from knowing what the Lord said and how He lived (John 10:1-4; John 10:27; read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John).

Pray for the Holy Spirit’s help in knowing what is truth and knowing Jesus’ will. The Holy Spirit is given to us to help us know the truth from error and to recognize what is from God and from some other source (1 John 2:20-27;  1 John 3:23-24;  1 John 4:1-6; John 14:16-18; John 14:26; John 15:26; John 16:12-15).

Do what Jesus says to do. Not only is Jesus’ truth self-validating when it is lived by His disciples (John 8:31-32), but Jesus promises to reveal Himself to us and come make His home with each of us (John 14:19-23).

What are other ways that you believe we can discern what is truly from Jesus and what is from some other source?

I was truly blessed and challenged by Catalyst One Day event on Monday, but was immediately thrown way behind on my weekly and worn out by the long day coming right after Sunday. Through this crazy week, which involved speaking on legalism on Wednesday night and jury duty mess today and several picky things not working as they should — ah, the darkside “blessings” of technology — I have felt a nagging hunger to come back to these words Jesus told me to pray. The prayer I need, however, is not a quick run through the following words, but a passionate experience of the words I’m praying!

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.

For or yours is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever. Amen.’”

I know “daily bread” in this prayer is talking about our daily food needed for survival. However, I have hungered to spend unhurried time in the presence of God, to be fed by His word, and to be nurtured by the Holy Spirit all week. While I’m all for condensing key thoughts to Twitter-sized bursts, my heart needs more.

In Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness, the Lord confronted the evil one with words that remind me that as necessary and vital “daily bread” is to me, I have a deeper hunger for a more sustaining bread:

It is written: “People do not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

Studying to prepare messages for other people, time in the Word to fulfill a reading plan, and quiet time to begin or end the day are all vital. Even more important is recognizing my need for heaven’s “daily bread”:

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:32-35).

While I need to know the words of God from Scripture, I must not forget that my spirit craves and my soul needs this “Bread of Heaven.” My heart yearns for Jesus even when I don’t recognize it. And in those weeks where schedules are crazy, expectations are high, demands are pressing, and many small things go wrong? Ah, in these kinds of weeks I need to know and experience Jesus more.

O God, please feed me with this “daily bread” today.

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.

For or yours is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever. Amen.”

If there are any two messages that have been my passion over the years, it would be these two things:

• We are called to live both the character (holy & righteous) and the compassion (love & social-justice) of God
• We are called to follow Jesus, so the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John) should be the most worn parts of our Bible

Today, as I shared a message centered around the book of Ruth in the Old Testament, I was reminded again of how important the faithfulness of one person matters. Without Naomi refusing to give up, without the loyalty of Ruth and her desire to follow the One True God, and without the social concern of Boaz, Jesus would have come from a different set of ancestors. These people, each in their own way and own situation — Naomi a broken Jewish widow, Ruth a widowed foreigner trying to be faithful to Naomi, and Boaz a farmer/businessman who followed God’s law and provided for the poor — proved faithful. And using their faithfulness, God wove together a display of His Kingdom on earth.

Our choices, our faithfulness, our character & compassion matter and are part of God’s Kingdom coming “on earth as it is heaven.”

[Jesus said] “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.

For or yours is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever. Amen.’”

“The devil does some of his best work behind stained glass.” This quote is from Eugene Petersen’s book, The Jesus Way. I am not sure why it is so easy to lose sight of true kingdom work Jesus wants to see happen and focus on our petty churchland silliness. But I know that I am often part of both the process and the problem of this silliness. I don’t believe the answer is to completely dump or give up on organizational church. Petersen put it this way:

We must not try to be more spiritual than Jesus in this business. Following Jesus means following him into sacred buildings that have a lot of sinners in them, some of them very conspicuous sinners. … A spirituality that has no institutional structure or support very soon becomes self-indulgent and subjective and one-generational.

Petersen makes this observation after pointing out how much time Jesus spent in the synagogue and Temple in his day.

But we must not allow ourselves to grow complacent and only offer one option of “church” — sometimes called, God in the big box — for folks trying to find God. While there is a level on which it seems incredibly difficult to try, our church feels called to offer Home Gatherings as well as multiple assemblies to reach the people of our community. These groups all have the same mission and vision. We all share in combined services several times a year and shared ministry days together. Yet we are able to offer different places for folks to connect with Jesus’ people in worship, community, and service.

How is that sustainable? On a strictly human level, I don’t think it is sustainable.

At a divine level, however, we believe it is sustainable through the work of the Holy Spirit. Yet for us to hold together and be the Body of Christ and not just an alliance of different groups, we are going to have pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done … in us here on earth in our generation for your glory!”

When Thomas, the so-called “doubting disciple,” finally met the resurrected Jesus, he gave us words to pray this prayer in a different way. This simple prayer affirms our submission to the Lord’s way and the Lord’s will. Thomas’ five words acknowledge the authority of Jesus over all of our ways:

“My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).

Amen!

The focus this week is on how Jesus led people out from where they were – danger, hunger, brokenness, rejection, bondage – to a better place. A good shepherd leads his sheep to still waters and has them rest in green pastures. He restores their souls. Even in difficult times, even during the long dark valley of the shadow of death, the good shepherd stays with his sheep and leads them out to find food and leads them in to find safety. I wonder which is hardest for most real shepherds and most spiritual shepherds, leading them out to pasture or leading them back to safety?

The Key Scriptures

• John 10:3, 9-10
• Psalm 23
• Ezekiel 34
• Luke 9:23-26

Please share the link to any online pictures, YouTube movies, or video clips of sheep or shepherds or Scripture graphics you think illustrate the main focus of this week’s passages! What are the differences between driving cattle and herding sheep? Share your own ideas on how to listen to the Shepherd’s voice! What are some examples of this principle? Please share any video clips or YouTube links that you think may help us better understand this principle.

The focus on this message is Jesus. Jesus is God’s chosen Shepherd for His people. Jesus enters by the gate to sheep pen. He doesn’t sneak His way in, but comes in as the approved Shepherd. Jesus comes as descendant of David and Abraham, two of the three great shepherds of God’s people. Jesus is the promised great prophet like Moses, whose teachings help pastor God’s people. God saw His people scattered, harassed, and abandoned, and sent the only One who could truly Shepherd His people, Jesus, the Great Shepherd of God’s sheep.

The Key Scriptures

• John 10:1-3
• Matthew 1:1
• Acts 3:22; Acts 7:37
• Hebrews 13:20
• 1 Peter 2:25; 1 Peter 5:4

Inputs and Ideas

Share your own ideas on Jesus as God’s chosen Shepherd. Why is this important? Do you have any video or drama ideas that illustrate how Jesus is God’s chosen Shepherd? Why is it important to you that God sent Jesus to be both the Lamb that was slain and also the Chief Shepherd of His sheep? Please share the links to any online pictures, YouTube movies, or video clips of sheep or shepherds or Scripture graphics you think illustrate the main focus of this week’s passages!

The focus on this message is on the blessings of sheep having a good shepherd, especially when they have “The Good Shepherd!” This is the introduction to the series on having “A Heart Like the Shepherd.”

The Key Scriptures

• Psalm 23
• Isaiah 40:10-11
• Hebrews 13:20

Inputs and Ideas

Share your own personal stories on how the Lord has shepherded you or quotes, videos, or stories from the Old Testament on how God shepherded His people. Please share the link to any online pictures, YouTube movies, or video clips of sheep or shepherds or Scripture graphics you think illustrate the main focus of this week’s passages!

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind”; and, “Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Luke 10:27).

The key to loving our neighbor is really loving God. We become like what we love. Or in the case of Jesus’ statement, we ultimately become like the One we love!

Of course pet “owners” are repeatedly kidded that they look like their pets. The following dog owners seem to validate that premise!

While this is humorous and makes for good light night show faire, we have all experienced the deeper reality behind the truth. Recently I sat with several others and listened to a son, a daughter, and several grandchildren talk with admiration and love for their recently departed grandmother. A friend of mine ask them how this dear lady had impacted their lives. Each of them could share something significantly good that they had as part of their lifestyle that they picked up from their mother and grandmother. They had become like the one they love!

This is crucial because I believe that the foundational reason we serve our neighbors is because of our love for God. As His love transforms to be more like Him, we are going to go about “neighboring” those around us. Since Jesus is the clearest example of what it means to “love our neighbor,” so the more we know and admire the Lord, the more we are going to be transformed to be like Him (2 Corinthians 3:18).

To better get a sense of how Jesus loved his neighbor, let me share a few places to look and learn more about Jesus. Make a list of all the different kinds of people Jesus served — take a quick scan of the gospels to remind yourself of all the different kinds of people Jesus’ life touched in a redemptive way (Matthew 8:1-38; Mark 9:1-50; Mark 3:1-64; Luke 7:1-50 are a good start). Now give the following questions an opportunity to work in your life!

What do you think the message is for you and how you are to “neighbor” others based on Jesus’ example?

So what’s the point of all of this?
How would you describe what “neighboring” others means in your daily life?

What leads you to keep from “neighboring” those who need our help?

What makes it hard “neighboring” others you may not know?

What makes it hard “neighboring” those you do know?

I really would love to get your responses on this! Have a great week.