"First things first!"

Day #279

Scripture Reading:  Luke 9 - 10 …

What comes first in your life?  When you get up in the morning, what are your first thoughts about?  As you go through the day, what is it that motivates you to get up and to do your best at whatever you are doing? When you are facing problems, struggles and trials of various kinds, what encourages you and gives you strength and hope?  As you look to the future and growing older and facing death, what is it that offers comfort and peace?  The answer to all these questions and more is "the kingdom of God!"

Jesus began His ministry by preaching "the good news of the kingdom," and in His first sermon He said, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33).  As He sent out the twelve, and later the seventy-two, His instructions were to "preach the kingdom."  The "kingdom of God" is the REIGN of God over all things and Jesus came to call people to submit to God's reign over them.  God had promised to be the God of Abraham's descendants and all who have faith in Jesus Christ are now the "children of Abraham," children who acknowledge that Jesus is King, to the glory of God the Father.

To show His power, Jesus "gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and He sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick" (9:1-2).  At this time people had no idea who Jesus was, and Jesus eventually asked the disciples who THEY thought He was ... and prompted by the Spirit, Peter answered, "The Christ of God" - the promised Messiah.  Jesus explained again that the kingdom would come in a way they would have never imagined.  "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priest and teachers of the law, and He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life" (9:22).

Jesus continually taught His disciples that there was more to life than what they could see.  He fed the crowd food for their bodies, but they needed more!  Jesus called them to a deeper commitment to Him and to His kingdom than most were willing or able to give.  He said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.  What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?" (9:23-25).  This life is not all there is ... there is the kingdom of God!

The transfiguration was a glimpse of the glory of God's kingdom.  There were Moses and Elijah, representing the Law and the Prophets.  They "appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus" (9:31).  We even know what they were talking about:  "They spoke about His departure, which He was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem" (9:31).  In typical style, Peter wanted to stay there, but then how would the kingdom of God come?  As Jesus continued to preach and heal and as the crowds grew, the disciples argued about who would be greatest in the kingdom.  They didn't get it ... yet.  They were still thinking of an earthly kingdom, as many do today.

Opposition to Jesus was growing because of His hard teaching.  Some wanted Jesus for themselves, but they failed to understand that only those who were humble, who repented of their sin and who trusted in Him would be forgiven.  They could not know yet about the cross, about the perfect sacrifice for sin that needed to be offered to satisfy the justice of God.  They remained in spiritual darkness and missed God's grace.  Jesus called some to follow Him, but they were too busy!  Oh, how much like today these people were.  "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God," Jesus said (9:62).

Now on His way to Jerusalem, knowing what lay ahead, Jesus sent out the seventy-two.  "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field" (10:2).  Jesus will reap a harvest for the kingdom.  Every day His Word goes out and as Isaiah writes, it will not return empty but will accomplish the purpose for which God has sent it (Isaiah 55:11).  The seventy-two came back rejoicing because of their "success" in the eyes of men, but Jesus said, "Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven" (10:20).  

Generations had longed to understand God's plan to usher in His kingdom, but what the people of Israel and Judah had missed is that God was talking about more than a physical kingdom.  Isaiah and others talked about a new heaven and a new earth; they talked about the reign of the coming Messiah ... but the hearts of most were hard and their minds were darkened.  They could not understand.  They would not understand.  They had been told what to do:  "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" (10:27).  But they failed to see that they could never do it ... that they needed forgiveness ... they needed GRACE!!  They needed JESUS!!!!

Like Martha, they thought that by DOING things they could please God, but Jesus told her:  "Only one thing is needed"  (10:42).  The words of Jesus ... that's what Mary and Martha needed ... that's what the disciples and the crowds needed ... that's what you and I need.  The kingdom of God is present in the midst of those who draw near to God through faith in Jesus Christ as His Spirit works within us.  But there is MORE!!  Jesus tells us not to set our hearts on the things of the world, but to put first things first ... to put HIM and His kingdom first.  That's the point of the parable of the Good Samaritan and of all of Jesus' teaching.  "Seek FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness."  

Acknowledge Jesus Christ as your King and live to serve God.  Put first things first and your Father in heaven will use you to bring forth fruit for His kingdom  

"Father in heaven, I thank You for revealing the reality of Your kingdom through the words of Jesus and in the words of Moses and Elijah and the Prophets ... as well as the Apostles.  Fill me with Your Spirit, that I may continually set my mind and heart on seeking FIRST Your kingdom and Your righteousness, believing that putting first things first brings the peace and joy I seek and gives glory and honor and praise to You.  In Jesus' name, Amen"

"Your faith is only as good as its object!"

Day #278

Scripture Reading:  Luke 7 - 8 ...

Think for a moment about the people we read about in these two chapters ... people who saw Jesus as a man, heard Him teach, saw or heard about the miracles He performed and who ... BELIEVED!!

Now imagine Jesus saying of YOU:  "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel" (7:10).  This was a Roman centurion, a man in charge of a company of soldiers.  He himself had authority and knew what it meant to give an order.  Those around him respected him, even the Jews, because "he loves our nation and has built our synagogue" (7:5).  Now one of his servants whom he valued highly was sick.  You get the feeling that this servant was more than a slave, perhaps even a friend.  The centurion believed Jesus could heal him ... even from a distance.  What is most amazing is the humility of this man who was used to giving orders.  He saw in Jesus not someone to command to do something, but someone to ask.  Others thought he was worthy, but he himself said that he did not even consider himself worthy to come to Jesus, let alone have Him in his home (7:7).

How did this man, apparently a Gentile, get such faith?  From God!  True faith always points to God, not to the person exercising the faith.  Faith in the one true God is always a gift.  When Jesus raised the widow's son you see again that "they were all filled with awe and praised God" (7:16).  As Jesus went about doing miracles some people simply believed He was a great prophet.  But others looked for something more.  John the Baptist, who was now in prison and would soon be beheaded, began to doubt.  He had baptized Jesus and declared boldly, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!" (John 1:29).  Yet now, in prison, his faith wavered.  Was Jesus the Messiah, the One the prophets spoke about, the One they had been waiting for?

When messengers from John came, Jesus told them to look at what they were seeing ... who else could do what Jesus was doing?  Then Jesus says a curious thing:  "I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he" (7:28).  Jesus spoke often of the kingdom of God; in fact, that was the central theme of His preaching and teaching.  Why?  Because the central question of human history ... including the spiritual realm ... is this:  Who will REIGN?  Who will rule?  Those who are part of God's kingdom know the answer to those questions.

Satan rebelled against God because HE wanted God's position.  Adam and Eve knew that God was their Creator, but Satan's temptation was that they could eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and they wouldn't need God anymore.  They would be like God and could rule over themselves.  Those who want to rule over themselves will never put their faith in Jesus ... not really.  They might talk about it and pretend to believe, to have faith - but what they really want is for Jesus to serve THEM!  Here's the amazing thing:  HE DID!!  Jesus came as a servant and gave Himself as a ransom for those who believe.  But the sign above the cross was right:  He WAS and IS the KING of the Jews and of all the world!

The Pharisees couldn't see it, but a sinful woman could.  When she heard those words from the mouth of Jesus, "Your sins are forgiven. ... Your faith has saved you, go in peace," (7:48,50) how her heart must have leaped for joy.  Faith does that; it brings joy to the one who knows something special, something wonderful, something beautiful and amazing and grand has just been revealed to them.  And faith then produces "fruit."  Jesus tells the parable of the Sower and explains that God is continually sowing the "seed" of His Word and that only that which falls on good soil produces a crop.  It is God Himself who produces the good soil in the hearts of His chosen ones.  Good soil acknowledges that Jesus is King and desires to please Him, to SERVE Him ... not to earn His favor, but because we have already received it!

What you read throughout the Gospels are stories of those whom God chose and called to Himself through the testimony of His Spirit.  How do you know when the Spirit of God is at work?  People will be drawn to Jesus and will put their hope, their trust, their FAITH in Jesus.  The mind that has been renewed, the heart that has been changed, the will that has been transformed, the eyes that have been opened will see in Jesus more than a "miracle-worker" ... but a Savior.  Those born again by His Spirit will see Jesus as He is:  the eternal Son of God who was the perfect "God-man," Who gave His life so that we may live and Who now reigns over all things at the right hand of the Father in heaven.  We put our FAITH in Jesus because there is no higher object for true faith.

People trust in other people or in things or in themselves, but it all disappoints.  Only Jesus is worthy of our faith.  The disciples still didn't understand who He was as Jesus calmed the storm.  "Where is your faith?" he asked them (8:25).  "In fear and amazement they asked one another, 'Who is this?'" (8:25).  They would eventually know Him ... really know Him!

You see, faith must KNOW its object.  Everyone who receives spiritual healing from Jesus believes because they see Him for Who He IS:  God in the flesh, the Messiah, the Savior, the Christ, the KING!!  He is the One who commands demons and they obey.  He gives orders to storms and they disappear.  He raises the dead back to life.   Is this how YOU see Jesus?  A woman touched the hem of His garment and felt His power.  A young girl is brought back to life and returned to her family.  Don't say or think, "I wish I could have been there."  Read the testimony of those who WERE there!  

Some people say their "faith" isn't strong enough to weather the storms of life, but the truth is, the problem is not their faith, it is the OBJECT of their faith.  When you know Who Jesus is and put your trust in Him, you will have the faith that can "move mountains!" 

"Father, I KNOW Jesus because You have given me Your Spirit and revealed the truth to me in Your Word.  Your grace has opened my eyes and changed my heart and made me SEE and I give my praise and thanks to You, today and every day.  Without You, I am nothing, but through Jesus I am Your child!  My life is Yours and I trust in YOU!!  In Jesus' name, Amen"

"A new way of thinking … and acting …"

Day #277

Scripture Reading:  Luke 5 - 6 …

Encountering Jesus changes everything in your life … because encountering Jesus changes YOU!  Your life cannot go on as it was before, or as the world lives it, if you know Jesus as your Savior and Lord and His Spirit lives within you.  It's just not possible.  Even before His Spirit had been poured out, those who encountered Jesus saw something … heard something … different.  Other teachers had come and gone.  Other religions had entered into the world and the people of the nations around Judah worshiped other gods.  The Romans who ruled over Judea had a myriad of gods, as had the Greeks before them.  Many of the Jews had long since given up on their heritage of faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Then came Jesus …

For most of the Jews, worship at the temple was more of a tradition than anything else.  Most of their priests and teachers of the law were self-righteous hypocrites, trying to manipulate the people into coercing God to deliver them from the Romans and their other enemies.  They didn't realize that their worst enemy lay within their own hearts.  The God they claimed to believe in was not the God Who had revealed Himself to Moses on the mountain or the God who had promised that David's line would produce the Messiah, the Anointed One, the KING!  Their God was an impotent deity who seemed to have disappeared centuries before.  Then came Jesus …

… and the people and their religious leaders didn't know what to do with Him.  Luke introduces each new section in these chapters with words like, "One day …  One sabbath … One of those days …"  Jesus was just beginning His earthly ministry, and His teaching, as well as His miracles, was raising a stir among the people and among the religious leaders of the Jews.  He had gone to Nazareth and the people of his home town had tried to throw Him off a cliff.  His message was a radical one to the ears of those who believed that God's attention was exclusive to them.  Yet it WAS God's intention to keep His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and to the remnant He had chosen from Israel.

So it began "one day" with Jesus getting into Simon Peter's boat.  It must have seemed harmless enough, but when they caught such an amazing amount of fish Peter knew something was different about Jesus.  "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" Peter cried (5:8).  Peter, James and John were all there that day to witness something … what, exactly, they could not yet know.  Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men" (5:13).  And because the Spirit was at work, they left everything and followed Him (5:14).  Just like that their lives would never be the same!

As Jesus began to travel from town to town the news about Him spread quickly.  "But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed" (5:16).   In order to make it clear to them that He did not come simply to heal people's bodies, Jesus took the opportunity to declare to the paralytic, "Your sins are forgiven" (5:20).  Before He healed him, Jesus said, "That you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins …"  (5:24).

This was Jesus' mission … and He said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (5:31-32).  While Jesus is concerned about our physical needs and has compassion for those who are suffering, it was to bring forgiveness and to heal us spiritually, to give new life, that Jesus came to give Himself as a ransom on the cross.  When the Pharisees asked Jesus why His disciples didn't fast, He spoke about His being the Bridegroom and explained in a parable that NEW things require NEW hearts and minds and attitudes.  The Pharisees and even the disciples were used to the old way of looking at things and it would require the Spirit to change their hearts and minds and move them to believe in Jesus!

The Sabbath was a sacred thing to the Pharisees, but they had made it a burden rather than a joy, a true day of rest that pointed to their Creator. Jesus boldly declared, 'The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath," (6:5) and in Mark 2:27 adds, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” The Sabbath pointed to God's resting on the seventh day after creation, and Jesus was present to declare that in Him men could become a NEW creation.  HE was, in fact, the new Sabbath, as He invited people to come to HIM to find REST for their souls (Matthew 11:28-30).

People long for spiritual rest in this world in which we occupy every moment of our existence, but true rest can only be found in Jesus.  He makes all things new for those who come to Him through faith … a faith produced by the very Spirit of God as people hear God's Word, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and FOLLOW Him!  

Jesus preached what some call His "Sermon on the Plain," which included some of what He had preached in His "Sermon On the Mount."  He warned those who were rich, well fed and seemingly "enjoying" life that there was more to life than they thought.  There is joy in following Jesus Christ, and His "yoke is easy and His burden is light" as we live by faith … yet life in this world requires the discipline to SEE things and to DO things differently.  It requires loving your enemies and doing good to those who take advantage of you.  It requires being merciful, compassionate and forgiving - when you don't feel like it.  It requires self-examination, which is always uncomfortable but necessary if you are going to be an ambassador of Christ's kingdom.

In His "Sermon On the Mount" Jesus warned that not everyone who called Him, "Lord" would enter the kingdom.  Here he says, "a good tree will bear good fruit."  Those who know Jesus as Lord will live a life that displays His power to those around them.  They will build their house on the ROCK so that when the floods come it will stand.  Jesus offers a new life with a new way of thinking and a new way of acting.  Follow Jesus and THEN He will make you a "fisher of men!"

"Father, I worship You today because You have given me life in Jesus!  Though I confess that I still foolishly give in to temptation and sin against You, yet in my heart I long to be like Jesus.  Help me by Your Spirit to learn more and more from Your Word so that I may be a good tree that bears good fruit.  Fill me with Your Spirit so that I may be an instrument to bring others to You, in Jesus' name, Amen"

"Be excited about Jesus!!"

Day #276

Scripture Reading:  Luke 3 - 4 ...

Day after day people lived and died for centuries as God prepared the world for the coming of the One promised since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden - the One who would defeat the power of Satan and raise those who were spiritually dead to life.  Nearly the entire population of the world lay in the darkness of false gods and superstition and the destructive power of sin.  Only a few, a remnant of the Jews, believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and were looking for the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior ... and even they did not understand that their worst problem was not the Romans but their own sin!

In reading the first two chapters of Luke's Gospel you are struck immediately with the supernatural events of Jesus' birth ... but then 30 years pass by.  Only one incident from Jesus' childhood is recorded by Luke in Chapter 2.  Then, silence, as the Jews - and the world ... waited.  Then, suddenly, "the Word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the desert. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (Luke 3:2-3).  God's plan to save people from the coming judgment, when He pours out His wrath on mankind, would now begin to unfold in the brief ministry of John the Baptist.

Luke points out that John was the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy in Isaiah 40:3-5:  "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord ... And all mankind will see God's salvation."  In a few sentences Isaiah sees the entire plan of God, from John the Baptist to the reign of Jesus Christ when He returns in glory.  He could not have known yet about the cross and the intervening time when the Gospel would be proclaimed through all the earth, but the Spirit of God revealed to him that repentance was necessary to come to God.  Sinners could not come before a holy God ... they must turn (repent) from their sin and turn to God in obedience.  "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance" (3:8).

John warned the Jews not to count on their heritage:  "Do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.'  For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham" (3:8).  The people thought John might BE the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One, the KING! But John declared, "I baptize you with water.  But one more powerful than I will come ... He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire" (3:16).  John was preaching good news, but he was not preaching ... GRACE!  He called them to turn from sin and offered a new life, but without the power of the Holy Spirit, people couldn't repent, wouldn't repent.

Then came Jesus, and as He was baptized the Father Himself testified, "You are My Son, whom I love; with YOU I am well pleased" (3:22).  Who was this Jesus?  Matthew had given the genealogy of Jesus through his earthly father, Joseph, but Luke now gives His genealogy through His mother, Mary.  Significantly, both genealogies meet at DAVID and lead through Abraham and Noah, all the way back to Adam.  Like Matthew, Luke validates Jesus' credentials to BE the promised Savior.  The promise was made to Abraham and passed through the centuries through Judah to David and through his line all the way to Jesus.  People who talk about Jesus as though He was just a random prophet do not understand the truth and significance of His lineage.  This IS the Messiah!!

Now the plan of God takes on a new level.  God had laid out the battlefield in Genesis 3:15 as He cursed Satan, "I will put enmity between you and the woman and between her Seed and yours. He will crush your head and you will bruise His heel."  God declared victory over Satan immediately after he had tempted Adam and Eve.  Satan had won many individual and even national victories for several thousand years and he had never found a man he couldn't tempt ... but he had never met JESUS!!  As Chapter 4 begins we find another account of Jesus, full of the Spirit, being tempted by Satan in the wilderness.  Here comes Satan, waiting until Jesus was physically as weak as a man could be ... but not this time!

Jesus began His ministry by defeating the power of His enemy ... of OUR enemy!  This clash of Jesus and Satan would be played out over and over throughout Jesus' ministry, and is still being played out today.  But the Gospels declare Jesus' ultimate victory, which would come, finally, at the cross.  Jesus went to Nazareth and immediately declared Who He was by quoting Isaiah 61:1-2 and saying, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing" (4:21).  The Jews who were there did not understand ... could not understand ... yet.  In the darkness of their sin they couldn't imagine that this man, whom they knew as the "son of Joseph," could be the Messiah - the answer to their greatest need.

How like that are so many still today? In spite of the testimony of all of Scripture and of those who are filled with His Spirit who know and declare that Jesus IS the Christ, so many ... so many still reject the testimony and continue in sin and face the coming wrath of God.  How sad!  But how thankful those who believe must be, that God has opened our eyes to behold Jesus as He IS:  the eternal Son of God, our Savior and our Lord!!

Jesus entered the war not just to fight, but to WIN!  He cast out demons and healed the sick.  When the demons declared Who he was, saying, "You are the Son of God!", Jesus "rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because THEY KNEW He was the Christ" (4:41).  Isn't that incredible and sad at the same time?  The demons knew who He was, but the people were blind ... they could not SEE!  Jesus had much more work to do before He went to the cross:  "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent" (4:43).

As you read these things praise the Lord and be excited as you read the testimony of Luke and the other Gospel writers.  It is Jesus' story, and as one of His followers, YOU become part of it!!

"Father in heaven, I rejoice that the One I know as my Savior and Lord is the Christ, the One Who has power over the very author of evil!!  Through the power of Your Spirit, Who now lives in ME, I rest in Your grace and declare victory over sin and death through faith in Him Who sits on His throne at Your right hand.  Empower me daily for service in Your kingdom, in Jesus' name, Amen"