Jesus

"I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me....He who has seen Me has seen the Father....Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me....For without Me you can do nothing....The Spirit of truth...will glorify Me."  (Jesus)

 

"....Without Me you can do nothing."  Yet, increasingly Christendom tries.  The, "nothing," spoken of in our text is not just for religious, church things.  "Nothing, " means just that.  People may say, "Well, man has done quite a lot without Jesus."  Really?  "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up."  And make no mistake; this includes any "church" activity which does not intentionally put the seal of Jesus' Name on it.  Religious systems from earliest times have used the term "god" to speak of their particular deities.  Muslims, for instance, use the term "god," and say such things as "god, the merciful," etc.  But the god of which they speak has nothing to do with the God of which I speak.  He is the One spoken of by the angel to Joseph, the One revealed in Jesus the Christ, Who is, "Immanuel, God with us."   

 

You may have heard of the Christian school teacher who asked a third grade class, "What is gray, fury and lives in trees?"  A boy replied, "Well, I know the answer must be Jesus Christ, but it sure sounds like a squirrel to me."  It's no joke.  There are elements in fundamental Christianity whose theology is that ridiculous.  That sort of "theology" is just simplistic and escapist, even unholy and denies the Creation of the Creator.  There are squirrels, buildings, stars, sun, and moon.  But the Bible does tell us, "[Jesus] is before all things and in Jesus all things hold together."  Without Jesus no molecules would, "hold together," to keep you, me, the universe in existence.  This is not fanatical, simplistic theology.  It is the very Nature of the Universe.  Church: Beware!  Do not speak of such things lightly, or without awe and reverence.

 

Jesus said of the Holy Spirit, "He will glorify Me."  If you and I want the Holy Spirit to do His mighty work, maybe the church should speak less of revival, worship, prayer, giving, etc., and speak more of Jesus Christ.  "And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ.  This is the true God and eternal life."   

 

Father, in Jesus' Name, I confess that I just would not know Who You are without Your coming to me in Jesus, Your greatest Gift to me.  Amen.

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When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2