Passionate About His Presence With You
So he [Jesus] made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” John 2:15–17 Your identity is birthed out of the reality that you are perfectly loved and perfectly accepted by Christ — the author and sustainer of life and the one appointed to judge the world – which includes you. You were...
Read MoreMardi Gras Makes Me Sad
Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him. After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” Mark 1:9–15 Mardi Gras...
Read MoreUp Close and Personal
A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. Mark 1:40–42 Jesus did not have to touch the man to heal him of his leprosy. He could have said, “hey, stay right there, I don’t want to risk my becoming ceremonially unclean by you coming to close . . . you are healed,” and the guy would have been just as healed. Why did Jesus touch him if he did not have to, especially and if all of...
Read MoreIncarnating God’s Greatness
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:28–31 Jesus came as God in the flesh, the incarnation. When he ascended to the father he handed off that...
Read MoreThe Authority of God – A Gift to the World
They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. Mark 1:21–22 Authority is influence. What does it mean to speak with authority, to be influential? Where does that authority or influence come from? Likely it is tied to one of four things:: position or title, technical expertise, relationship, or spiritual depth. Positional Authority is seen in roles like parents, teacher, and bosses. They have the ability to tell someone...
Read MoreIrresistible Invitation To Justice
As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Mark 1:16–18 At the beginning of Mark’s account of the life of Jesus, he tells the story of Jesus going to synagogue, reading from the Word of God and announcing his job description: proclaim good news to the poor. proclaim freedom for the prisoners recovery of sight for the blind, set the oppressed free, proclaim the year of the Lord’s...
Read MoreKicking Comparison
“For you created my inmost being;you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well… all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Psalm 139:13-16 Hi friends! (From Becky Watson) Have you been able to identify some areas in which you find yourself bound up by comparison? Are you identifying those thoughts and kicking them out of your head, replacing them with renewed focus on the bigger picture of who and what you are living for? Don’t let Satan...
Read MoreWhat, you too?
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Matthew 2:9–11 I need you in order for me to become the person I say I want to become. I need to hear your story so that I can know that although I might not have the same struggle as...
Read MoreYour Story
Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you...
Read MoreDo Not Be Afraid – Do Not Miss Christmas
But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.Luke 1:30–33 With all of the movies we see and books we have read, the idea of someone being alone and then experiencing the appearance of a being in their midst is not a shocking one to us. But what if that really happened to you? Imagine...
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