"If We Walk In The Light As He Is In The Light"-------- No Problem

"If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also.  If anyone serves me, him My Father will honor."   (John 12:26)

He was "born" to lead.  You and I were born to follow.

Try this: "If anyone serves Jesus, let him follow Jesus; and where Jesus is, there Jesus' servant will be also.  If anyone serves Jesus, him/her...Jesus' Father will honor."  By the way, the word, "honor," here does not mean as in puffing up.  It means, "I value at a price."  O, Father, may it be!

When we were wondering about the call to Berlin in 1998, our text is the verse which came to me.  It is as though Jesus were saying to me, "I have many friends, sons and daughters, and servants.  I am many 'places' for them.  For you, I am in Berlin."  Now some would have some theological questions about this, to which I am open to discuss.  But the reality of this verse, a verse which I read at least every quarter, can not be challenged, nor taken from me.  Do you have such "words" from our Lord Jesus?  Are you walking in a, "If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me"?

Now this is not an "isolation" teaching, nor a "seek-your-own-unique-ministry" word.  You and I are not individualists in the American or humanistic sense; we are members of Jesus' Church, the Church of which He said, "I will build My Church," note, "My Church."  In his Life Together, Bonhoeffer says, "Thus all singing together...must serve to widen our spiritual horizon, make us see our little company as a member of the great Christian Church on earth....Whether our church is large or small, it represents only a tiny part of the Church on earth."  I did not go, and do not go to Berlin, nor Washington, DC, nor North Korea as "my ministry."  Wherever you and I go, how and whom we serve, it is, yes, as a "tiny part of the Church on earth," but nonetheless as a member of Jesus' Church.  This of course does not in any way diminish the importance of what we do as individuals, rather it greatly magnifies our "work."  I pray that you and I always remember that we are an integral part, one with Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit, in His Church.  All of us who are following our Lord Jesus Christ, members of His Church, can say with Nehemiah, "I am about a great work."  It's a "following-Jesus" work.

You may feel alone today and relatively insignificant as a Follower of Jesus, such a small "cog" in a great "wheel."  We are small, but think and worship for a moment on our text, a Word of Jesus to you, right there and wherever you live and work.  Today I can hardly think of a greater reality, following and serving Jesus, serving His Church, serving the World.  Those who are such have Father's approval and approbation, "I value at a price."

Father, in Jesus' Name, I greatly desire Your, "I value at a price."  Amen. 
************************
Will be in DC again next month, and are targeting Berlin/East Europe for March of 2015

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day 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

If You Need Gladness, Ask For It

"Rejoice the soul of Your servant, for to You, O Lord, I lift my soul." (Psalm 86:4)

The NASB says, "Make glad the soul of Your servant."  It's a real problem for many people this time of year, so much hub, bub, so much fussing and fretting about parties, gifts, traveling, etc.  I really don't think that you and I can be, "glad/rejoice," if the gladness and rejoicing is not from and in Jesus.

Oil prices are plummeting, Russia is sliding into economic chaos, and North Korea is at it again, while many Americans are cowering in fear.  Yet anyone whose trust is Jesus Christ can pray with the psalmist, can pray "expecting" that Jesus will, "Rejoice (make glad) the soul of Your servant."

There are times when a person feels the need for such a request; gladness and rejoicing seem to have slipped away.  The prayer is in the "God-Breathed" Word.  Pray it.  Pray it often.  The hymn says, "In seasons of distress and grief, my soul has often found relief...."  How?  My soul "has often found relief" in Jesus, in our communion, His very Presence with and in me. 

There is "relief" today from whatever is the opposite of, "rejoice," and, "glad."  It is nowhere, it is in no one, but Jesus.  Nestle. 

Father, in Jesus' Name, You are my rejoicing and gladness.  Amen.
********************
Brief note on yesterday's DC Mission:   jhs58.blogspot.com
Use Google to access the site.  I noticed today that Yahoo doesn't take you there.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day 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

"Fools Gold"

"I am the living bread which came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever....Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death."  (John 6:51 & 8:51)

I read this every quarter and never grow tired of the "voice" of Jesus to me. 

We hear much of depression, particularly this time of year.  Depression is a disease of me-ism.  Now I do not for a moment take it lightly; I have seen what it does to people.  But I can tell to you that when we think of ourselves we can very easily get depressed; when we think of Jesus, His Words and great Promises, we can very easily get blessed.

If depression ever reared its ugly head in my life, I could always trace it to thinking about me, usually what I did not have or was not "experiencing."  This will lead to divorce in marriages, estrangement from family, friends, and just deeper and deeper depression.  There are many drugs out there upon which millions of people around the globe are depending.  Whatever those medications do, they are like the "fools gold" of the old West America.  One of the realities of "fools gold" is that it will be attracted by a magnet.  "Real gold," however, "will show no effect when placed next to a magnet."  Interesting.  When we are "attracted" by some thing which we do not have yet greatly desire, we are drawn to it like a magnet.  The only problem is that when we analyze it, as the analysis of fools gold, we discover it is not "the real thing;" it's unreality.  Chasing unreality will feed depression.  Such a life style will find us attracted to that which is false, worthless, empty, unfulfilling.

There is a "magnetic" effect in unreality.  The sin nature will always desire something more which we do not have, but greatly want.  When Jesus said, "if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death," the word for, "see," means to "contemplate, gaze on for the purpose of analyzing."  This is promise of great deliverance from uncertainty, fear.  Yet we can also say that if we, "contemplate, gaze on for the purpose of analyzing," Jesus Christ, we will not, "gaze on," that which feeds fear, anxiety, depression.  Quite simply, when you and I, "....fix (gaze) our eyes on Jesus," they cannot be "fixed" or "gaze" on anything else.  Jesus' Person, His Power, Presence, release, "joy unspeakable and full of glory."  This is "gold medicine."  All else is "fools-gold-medicine."

Father, in Jesus' Name, You and Your Words are my continual deliverance.  Amen.
*******************
Please pray for tomorrow's DC Mission.  I will be getting back fairly late.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day 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

God In A Feeding Trough

"Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated, 'God with us.'"  (Matthew 1:23)  

The Baby in the manager was, "Immanuel, God with us," no more, no less, and there is a very real sense in which it cannot be "more or less."  There is nothing "more" than God Himself, and there is nothing "less" than a helpless baby, a baby lying in an animal's feeding trough (somehow "manger" does not sound quite as lowly).  This is how the Living Triune God chose to reveal Himself fully to the human race, "How silently, how silently, the Wondrous Gift is given."  As someone has once said, "God became a baby."  This is Christmas.  This is a "Very Merry Christmas."

This time of year has so many different "challenges" for so many different people.  It is a sad time for those whose remembrances of "Christmas Past" are not good.  I propose to those who are enslaved in sad memories to think of "Christmas Future," the "Second Great Christmas," if you will, "that Day," of which the Bible speaks when our Lord Jesus will appear to all, not to be debated, but as in, "every eye shall see Him."  Whatever your past Christmas', whatever your present Christmas, your future "Christmas" is even better.

Father, in Jesus' Name, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."  Amen.
*********************
Please pray for the DC Mission, December 17 

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day 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