pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: Christ


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Sharing Good News

Reading: Luke 10: 1-11 & 16

Verse 2: “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field”.

At the end of Luke 9 Jesus explains the cost of discipleship. One must lay aside all personal claims to self and the world to fully serve Jesus. It is a hard road to walk. As our reading today opens up, Jesus appoints 72 to go out to prepare for his visits. Towards the beginning of his instructions he says, “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field”. He immediately follows this up with “Go”! Because the harvest is plentiful, the workers were sent into the fields. This same scenario remains true today.

Jesus then goes on to describe the job ahead. He begins by saying he sends them out “like lambs among wolves”. He instructs them not to take anything with them but instead to rely on those who welcome them. If there is peace in the house and they are welcoming, the disciples are to stay there. Eat and drink what they provide. If a town is not welcoming, still tell them the kingdom of God is near, but then move on to the next town. Jesus closes his instructions by telling them that if the people listen to them, they are listening to Jesus. If not, they are rejecting Jesus and God. Then the 72 head out into the harvest field.

Undertaking the task of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ is similar today. We are to first trust God’s leading. We can expect some welcoming and some rejection. As we share the good news we should expect good hospitality from those who accept Jesus Christ. And, most importantly, as we go, we go with God.

This day and every day, may we seek to share the good news of Jesus Christ with those whom God leads us to.

Prayer: Lord God, lead me today to share the good news of your coming kingdom. Amen.


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In Our Focus

Reading: Psalm 16: 8-11

Verses 8 & 11: “I have set the Lord always before me… You have made known to me the paths of life”.

Not too long after beginning to really follow Jesus, one learns that life is better with Christ. No, one’s troubles do not just go away but the presence of the Lord makes the journey better. Our faith brings us hope, comfort, strength, peace… Through these experiences we come to know one of the truths that David states: “You have made known to me the paths of life”. Through our own experiences we too come to believe that Jesus is the only way to live and to eternal life.

Yet even though we come to know this as we mature in our faith, the reality is that we must make an effort to keep our faith in focus. In verse 8 we read, “I have set the Lord always before me”. I think the key word here is “always”. That means 24/7. To keep God ever before us – 24/7 – takes a lot of effort and a lot of discipline.

The effort is shown in how we connect with God. In our prayer life it must be more than a quick ‘thank you God’ here and a table grace there. Daily prayer must be intentional and should include praise, thanksgiving, confession, and petition (asking). Our study of the Word must also be more than superficial. For example, when we read the Upper Room or some other devotional, do we read the passage or just the key verse listed at the top? Reading the passage will add depth to our understanding. We must turn to the Bible for guidance and for direction as well. Another practice that helps keep our faith in our focus is fellowship with other believers. That is certainly public worship but it is also in small group or Sunday school settings. Talking about our faith and learning together are great ways to expand our perspective and to deepen our understanding of God’s word.

And then there is discipline. The daily and intentional attention to the means of grace requires discipline. Discipline is essential to the life of a follower of Jesus. It is too easy to put off the prayer time or Bible study or small group. It is an easy excuse to say I’ll do it later or I’ll catch up tomorrow or I’ll start going again next week. How would we feel if we lifted up an earnest prayer and God responded with “I’ll try and get to that next week”? May we strive to keep the Lord ever before us and in our focus. May it be so.

Prayer: Thank you God for my routine. There is no better way to start my day! Thank you for the regular opportunities to engage with you and with other believers. Blessings upon blessings! Amen.


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Way of Love

Reading: Galatians 3: 23-29

Verse 26: “You are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ”.

Paul grew up as a strict adherent to the law. His life was all about knowing the law and about living by the holy guidance of the law. But on one of his journeys to arrest more followers of Jesus, Paul encountered the living and resurrected Jesus. Paul came to a new understanding of faith. He no longer saw the law as the thing that defined or gave you faith. Instead Paul came to know Jesus as the source of faith and hope and life. Paul found his identity in Christ alone and he went to work to help all know this same reality. In verse 26 we read, “You are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ”. He goes on with a list – no Jew or Greek, no slave or free… – that really defines how God sees no limits. We are all children of God.

For Paul then, it also meant that through faith in Christ we are all connected to the promises found throughout the Bible. Because of this connection, Paul sees no division and sees a faith that is big enough to offer all the way to eternal life. This faith brings a freedom too. We no longer live under the law but instead live within a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Through this relationship we seek to follow or emulate Jesus. We will not be perfect as Jesus was perfect but we do strive towards his example of perfect love. Our love will fail at times but because we are clothed in Christ, he will always lead and guide us to love better. Things like fear or the concerns for worldly things like wealth and status and titles… can inhibit our love, but Christ within is always at work to help us love more. When we root our identity in Christ alone, then the way of faith is the way of love. May it be so this day and every day.

Prayer: Lord of all, be my all in all. Root me firmly in Jesus Christ alone. Water my roots with the Word and nourish my soul by your Spirit. Shape me with your hands and mold me to be more and more like your son. Be my all in all Lord God. Amen.


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All Over Town

Reading: Luke 8: 37-39

Verse 39: “Return home and tell how much God has done for you”.

Fear has been a common theme this week. Elijah’s fear drove him into the wilderness. Fear runs throughout this passage from Luke 8. Fear led the townspeople to first bind the demon-possessed man and then to drive him away when he kept breaking the chains. The demons inside the man fear Jesus more than another fear – being sent back the the Abyss. The townspeople fear Jesus, asking him to leave rather than risk the change he may work in their lives. The man who was healed also faces fear once again. It is the same fear that Elijah must have felt after he encountered God and was being sent back to the work of prophet.

The man only sits for a little while at Jesus’ feet before those who had driven him away come to drive Jesus away. He seeks a new community with Jesus and his disciples, begging to go with them. But God has a different plan for his newfound life. Instead of coming along, Jesus says to him, “Return home and tell how much God has done for you”. Jesus reminds the man of the power of God that has just brought him freedom. The man who had long been captive to demons was now free. The power of God is enough to lead him to do just what Jesus asked him to do. The man returned to his town and “told all over town how much Jesus had done for him”.

The truth of a changed life makes a powerful witness. The words of healing and restoration that come from the one who was made whole again can change lives. We have all found freedom in Christ. Our story may not be about being freed from something that possessed us, but it might be. It might be about the freedom we found in surrendering control to Jesus. It might be about the new life we found when we let go of our anger or pride or greed. We have all found freedom in Christ. We all have a story to tell that shares how much Jesus has done for us. May we claim our story and may we too share it all over town.

Prayer: God, thank you for grabbing ahold of me and making me new again. I was once lost, but you found me too. May I ever share the good news of what Jesus has done and continues to do for me. Amen.


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Trinity Sunday 2019

Reading: John 16: 12-15

Verse 12: “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now hear”.

Today is Trinity Sunday on the church calendar. It is the day we recognize and celebrate the Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Christianity is unique in its understanding of “God in three persons”, as the hymn goes. The Trinity is a difficult thing to try and explain and to fully understand. To exactly pin down the roles of the three is also hard. Father, Spirit, and Son are three in one. A similar earthly example is that I am at once a son, a father, and a husband. I am only one but I function in three mostly distinct ways within my family unit. Each role is distinct yet at the core of each is the essence of who I am. The Trinity is similar. Each has a fairly distinct role yet all three share common characteristics such as love, grace, compassion…

Because the Trinity is three expressions of God, there is a unity amongst them. Jesus speaks of this unity in today’s passage. Speaking to his disciples, Jesus says to them, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now hear”. I’m sure God thought a similar thing when he last spoke through Malachi, the last Old Testament prophet. Jesus then goes on to explain that the Holy Spirit does not speak on its own. Jesus himself also spoke of his connection back to God. In several passages, Jesus alludes to the fact that all he does and says is based in and is done through God, not on his own. The Holy Spirit will continue to speak after Jesus returns to sit at the right hand of the father. All that the Spirit speaks is rooted in the common core that together is represented by the Trinity.

On our faith journey, we each experience all three persons of the Trinity. We experience and come to know God and Jesus through the Bible and in the moments when we can feel their presence in our lives in tangible ways. We also learn of the Holy Spirit in the Bible and then most often experience the Spirit in the whispers, nudges, reminders, and convictions that help us faithfully walk out our faith. The three in one connects to us in many ways, each a part of our experience of faith. Thanks be to God for the dynamic power of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in our daily lives. Thanks be to God.

Prayer: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thank you for your presence in my life. For the love and care rooted in the Father, for the example of these lived out in Jesus Christ, and for the moment by moment presence of the Spirit that helps me to live these out, thank you three and all! Amen.


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Spirit Presence

Reading: John 16: 12-15

Verse 15: “The Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you”.

As one looks at the scope of the Bible, from the beginning in Genesis to the end in Revelation, one constant that we see is God working to be in relationship with humanity. Because we are imperfect, we throw curves into God’s plans. This does not deter or weaken God’s desire to be in relationship with each of us, his children. God just finds another way to draw us into relationship.

In the beginning, Adam and Eve walked and talked with God. They were tempted and sinned, creating a physical separation between humanity and God. The spiritual connection remained. For many years God spoke to his people through prophets and visions and dreams. Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and many others were used by God to help his chosen people live in relationship with God. After the last prophet, Malachi, spoke there was a long period where the people did not hear from God via prophetic voice, yet they still had the Torah or law to guide their lives. Then, after about 400 years, a voice was heard in the wilderness. John the Baptist came, preaching a baptism of repentance to prepare for the coming of the Lord.

In Jesus, God took an extraordinary step. God chose to take on flesh and to walk among us in the person of Jesus Christ. Living in and amongst humanity, Jesus revealed what it looked like to see God’s love lived out. He also experienced what it was like to be tempted and to feel emotion. During his ministry, Jesus taught and healed and lived in relationship with us. Jesus chose to engage the lost, the broken, the outcast, the marginalized, and others who were considered sinners in order to help them also have a relationship with God. Jesus set the example for what it looked like to live out God’s love in this world. Upon departing he commissioned all who would follow him to do the same, going forth into the world to make disciples of all peoples and nations.

When it came time for Jesus to make his final departure, he promised that the “Spirit of truth” would come. This Spirit would continue to guide and lead Jesus’ followers, filling the disciple with all that is needed to walk in relationship with God. Jesus told them and tells us, “The Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you”. Dwelling in our hearts, the Spirit is the constant presence of Jesus, ever revealing God’s will and love to us. With the Spirit in us, humanity is once again able to live out our relationship with God a physical and tangible presence within our hearts. The Spirit walks and talks with us daily, empowering us to go forth to share the good news of Jesus Christ with a world in need. May we do so today.

Prayer: Loving God, thank you for returning to walk and talk and live out daily life with me, with all of your children. Through the Spirit, you are as close as my next breath. Lead and guide me today to share your love with those in need of knowing your love. Amen.


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Joy and Peace

Reading: Romans 5: 1-2

Verse 2b: “We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God”.

In the first part of Romans 5, Paul writes about the peace and joy we find through faith in Jesus Christ. The peace we feel comes because we have been “justified by faith”. To be justified means to be made right with God. This is an ongoing process, one that happens over and over. Paul goes on to explain that it is through Jesus that we find access to the grace necessary in the justification process. It is Jesus’ grace that says his love is greater than our sins.

Because we experience grace, we are forgiven people. Because we are forgiven, we experience a peace that the world does not know. People living outside of a relationship with Jesus struggle with feeling peace in their lives because they do not know grace. The lack of a vertical relationship with God impacts their horizontal relationships with their families, friends, co-workers… The inability to receive and extend grace and mercy and forgiveness limits and hampers their relationships. Peace with others and with self becomes an elusive target. Soon joy is harder to find as well.

As people of faith, we know both joy and peace through our relationship with Jesus Christ. It is something that should be and usually is evident in our lives. The peace that passes understanding and the joy in the midst of difficult or challenging situations is something the children of the world notice. When asked what makes us different, when asked have joy or peace in those unlikely times, we must be ready to share our story of faith. It is through our story that we invite others to know Jesus, the source of our joy and peace.

Verse 2 concludes with these words: “We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God”. We have hope in Jesus Christ, the glory of God. We rejoice because we know the end of the story. Whether we are thinking of the end of our own story or of the end of humanity’s story, we know that eternal life awaits all who profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We rejoice in this truth. Jesus brings us joy and peace in this life and in the life to come. Today may our joy and peace help another to know our truth.

Prayer: Jesus, my savior and my hope, thank you for the joy and peace that comes through knowing you. May these blessings flow out of my life and into the lives of those who need to know your joy and peace. Amen.


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Joy and Sorrow

Reading: Proverbs 8: 1-4 & 22-31

Verses 22-23: “The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works… I was appointed for eternity”.

Proverbs 8 opens with wisdom calling out. It then speaks of why mankind should seek wisdom and of how we can use wisdom. Then, in verse 22, we find a shift. Read through New Testament eyes we read wisdom as Jesus Christ. Hear Jesus’ voice in verses 22 and 23 as we read, “The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works… I was appointed for eternity”. Before the creation of the world that we find in Genesis 1, Jesus was with God. In this Genesis account we also read that when the darkness was still over the surface of the deep, the Spirit of God was “hovering over the waters”. In the beginning, the Trinity was there.

Verses 24-29 contain a simple reminder of the creation story. Jesus was there before the oceans, before the mountains, before the fields, before God marked out the deep, before the clouds… When God “marked the foundations of the earth”, Jesus was there. Like God, there is the eternal nature to Jesus.

In verses 30 and 31 we catch a glimpse of the relational nature of Jesus. He was the craftsman at God’s side. He was filled with delight and rejoiced in God’s presence. Jesus also rejoiced in God’s creation and he delighted in humankind. When I consider these thoughts, both joy and sorrow come to my heart. I rejoice because this is how I see Jesus living out his earthly life. He rejoiced in interacting with and ministering to people. Jesus loved one and all. This is an extension of what he felt as creation began and continued to unfold as he was at God’s side. But there is also a little sadness for me. In spite of his great love for us, that was not enough. Jesus had to die for the ones he loved. On our own we could not and cannot overcome sin. So in love he gave himself for us. Jesus’ love is so much greater than our love. While I am a little sad that he had to, I am so very grateful that Jesus Christ loved me that much. Thanks be to God.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the beautiful world that you created. Thank you for my place in it. More than that though, thank you for the gift of your son, who went all in for me and for all of humankind. Thank you God. Thank you. Amen.


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Sharing Our Story

Reading: Acts 2: 5-21

Verse 17: “In the last days, I will pour out my Holy Spirit on all people”.

In the opening chapter of Acts, Jesus ascends to heaven and the disciples choose Matthais to replace Judas, once again bringing the number of disciples to twelve.  Just before ascending, Jesus tells them that they will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem and that they will be “my witnesses… to the ends of the earth”.  Acts 2 opens with the coming of the promised Holy Spirit.  It enables the followers of Jesus to speak in other languages.

In today’s passage,they speak in the languages of all those Jews who have come to see what the violent wind meant.  It meant come and hear the good news of Jesus Christ – at least that’s what God purpose for it was!  Amazed and perplexed by what is happening, they asked one another, “What does this mean”?  This was a totally new experience for everyone involved.  Some question what is going on, forcing Peter to stand up to offer an explanation.

Peter connects back to the Old Testament scriptures and to the prophet Joel.  Peter is using what they are familiar with to help them understand what they just experienced.  Peter is an excellent evangelist.  Evangelism 101 tells us that if we want to share Jesus Christ with another, we should first get to know their story.  Jesus also usually followed this basic pattern as well, often getting to know another’s needs.  So we are in good company if our first step of evangelism or mission is to begin to form a relationship with the other.  Peter has a basic relationship with his audience, being a Jew himself.  Sometimes this is the case with us too.  When we share our faith story with someone we know, we usually know some of their story.  In these cases, we can tie our story into their story.

In Acts 2, that is what Peter does.  He uses Joel’s prophetic words to explain what has just happened there that day in Jerusalem.  Joel predicted it, the Jews know the prediction, and now they have witnessed it being fulfilled.  Peter connects the dots to show how God is at work in the world and in their lives.  When we have the chance to share our faith story, we too must connect the story of what Jesus has done in our lives with the vision of what He could do in the life of the one we are ministering to.  This day, may we seek an opportunity to be a witness to our faith, opening the door for another to take a step of faith.  May it be so.

Prayer: Lord God, help me to find opportunity today to share my faith.  May my story connect with another, helping them to step towards a relationship with Jesus Christ, your Son.  Amen.


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Fill Us, Holy Spirit

Reading: Acts 2: 1-4

Verses 3-4: “… tongues of fire… came and rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit”.

Tomorrow we celebrate Pentecost Sunday in many of our churches. It is thought of as the birthday of the church. Two different groups were gathered in Jerusalem for two different reasons. The disciples of Jesus were gathered, waiting for the arrival of the promised Holy Spirit. Jews were also gathered, there to celebrate the Feast of Weeks. This annual festival fifty days after Passover was known as “Pentecost” in Greek. These two groups would be gathered under one roof as the loud noise, sounding like a “violent wind”, draws them together.

For the disciples who were gathered, they experienced something extraordinary. In verses 3-4 we read, “… tongues of fire… came and rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit”. With a tangible and very visible sign, that which Jesus promised arrived. The gift that will teach and remind also gives the gift of speaking in many different languages. This remains one gift that the Spirit gives to those who follow Jesus.

I am currently at Annual Conference – the yearly gathering of United Methodist churches. My Annual Conference consists of the UM churches in South and North Dakota. Last night we had our “Celebration of Life in Ministry” service. In worship we celebrate the ministry of those no longer with us. We celebrate those who have graduated and those becoming provisional members and those being ordained as elders or deacons. It is a wonderful night of celebrating ministry. It begins with a welcome from a clergy from another denomination. Last night it was an Episcopal priest that our Bishop met while visiting the Standing Rock Reservation. This special guest represents our ties as the larger body of Christ, together under “one roof” as the Bishop put it in his message. Near the end of worship our Bishop always invites those whose hearts have been warmed, those perhaps feeling a call to ministry, to come forward.

As the Bishop prepared to give the benediction, the Episcopal priest asked to speak. He spoke of how our two denominations are close – Methodism was “birthed” by the Episcopals. And he spoke of how his heart was full and was warmed by this movement of the Holy Spirit among us and in our hearts. He spoke of how we are under one big roof – drawn together by God. Yes, God was once again at work in a very tangible and powerful way, speaking once again into our hearts. This day I look forward to having the Holy Spirit speak in my heart once again. May it be so for you as well.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for filling my heart as well last night. Thank you so much for loving us so much that you work on being in relationship with each of us. Fill me up again today, Lord. Amen.