Jesus is my Crown.

This morning I went to church with a very heavy heart.
I almost didn't go, but I know that I need fellowship.
So I went, expecting to be quite and to myself,
I just wanted to be with God.
Which isn't a bad thing,
but we were created for community.
We need each other because we were made that way.

As soon as I got to church love filled the air.
God made sure I knew I was loved.
He wouldn't have me be alone. :)

After the service began we took part in the Lord's supper.

I've never been more serious about this act.
It isn't just a ritual.
It's parallel of such a wonderful truth. :)

As we were taking the Lord's supper
I heard a young girl as her father several questions.
Children are so precious an innocent.
It's no wonder God told us to accept Him as a child.
After several questions she dropped the A-bomb.
"Why did He have to die?"

My heart sank.
Tears filled my eyes.
This is one of the most important questions
that any of us could ever face in life.
I don't know if you've ever truly spent time
meditating upon this question or not,
but if you haven't, I ask you to do so.

Jesus didn't just come to die to show His love.
Yes, that's what lead Him to do it,
but that is not why He "had" to.

I say "had" because Jesus in fact didn't have to.
We sinned.
He could have said too bad, you had your chance,
but love would have none of that.

So, what made death necessary?
Sin.
Because we each have chosen sin over God
we had offended God.
We have spat in His Holy face
and didn't really care.
Every time we sinned and knew what we were doing,
we might as well told God He isn't that important.

So sin deserves death.
It's Biblical.
We know that.
But our physical death did not satisfy the wrath of God.
We must be judged and punished.
People wrestle with this.
"If God is love how can He send people to hell?"
You're really asking the wrong question.
Because God IS love and is perfectly just,
sin MUST be paid for.
If God just closed His eyes and ignored our sin
He would be and unholy and unjust god.
But He isn't.
So it had to be atoned for.
And our animal sacrifices weren't cutting it.
In my life, there probably aren't enough animals in
all of the world to atone for me.
So Jesus, being blameless came
and died.
Ever wondered why Jesus was under so much pain and stress?
Many people were martyred and rejoiced.
Jesus, was sweating blood.
He felt forsaken by God just as David did in Psalm 22.
Why?
Jesus wasn't just dying.
He literally was taking our judgment.
He took on the entire worlds sin,
and accepted the judgment and punishment that
you, me and the world deserved.

And the power and love of God
was STILL greater than our sin.

Jesus is my Crown.
Because of Him I have life.
And best believe I'm gonna let people know. :)

Christ Jesus

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. John 1:1-3

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. Colossians 1:15-17

Christ is God. He has everything. He has all power and authority. He rules everything because He created it. He can do what He pleases.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:5-8

Think about this.

Jesus is God.

If He wanted, He could have left us in our sin and sent us to hell.

He had the right.

We messed up. We chose sin over Him.

BUT.

Even though He had all the right to judge us and send us to be punished, being God, He humbled Himself.

GOD HUMBLED HIMSELF, to the point of being a servant.

God left heaven, came to earth, lived a perfect life, endured hardships, pains, sickness, long days, everything.

Why?

To die.

He was obedient unto death.

For what?

He was blameless.

For our sin.

The very God who created us and told us what not to do is the same God who came and DIED to forgive us.

Do you get that?

There is NOTHING more beautiful than that.

Nothing.

Praise God.

John 6:1-21

V.1 "After this" Because this is mentioned obviously we should know what happened before. From the end of John 5 to 6 up to 6 months had passed. This story is part of the synoptic gospels so it's in all four of the gospels. Upon looking at the others we find that this is after Jesus sent the disciples out to preach and heal. They have been gone about six months so Jesus is taking them to a desolate place to allow them some downtime. They are most likely tired, despite their excitement from all that happened, and Jesus is wanting them to rest and tell about their experiences.
V.2 But a large crowd, easily 20,000 people, had started following Jesus; but only because of the signs He had done.
V.4 This verse may seem out of place but it's important in knowing the time of year, also this is the second of three passovers during Jesus' ministry.
V.5 Jesus saw the crowd and asked Philip (this was his hometown) where they could buy food for all these people. *Numbers 11:13
V.6 Of course, Jesus knew it wasn't impossible, but He wanted to test His disciples and see how much faith they had.
V.7 Philip states that 200 day's wages wouldn't feed all these people even just for each to get a little.
V.8-9 Andrew, Simon's brother, state that a boy had a little food but went on to say "what are they for so many?" *Numbers 11:22
V.10 Jesus had them sit down in groups
V.11 Jesus blessed the bread with this prayer: "Blessed are you God, King of the Universe, Who brings forth bread from the earth." Think about this. Jesus used a prayer and stated that God is the one who brings forth bread and what was Jesus doing? He multiplied bread. He created it. Certainly what they had wasn't enough. So Jesus, in saying God creates and brings bread while doing it is Him stating He IS God. *They got as much bread and fish as they wanted.
V.12-13 He told his disciples to gather up the leftovers. 12 full baskets. The parallel of this story and Moses (notice the references to Numbers) is wonderful. 12 baskets? 12 tribes of Israel? 12 doubting disciples? You draw what you feel. There are hundreds of lessons from that.
V.14 When they saw this the people said, "this is surely the prophet who has come into the world!" Deuteronomy 18:15-20 Goes back to Moses again. God told Moses about Jesus that long ago. :)
He promised He would come from Moses' seed also, and Jesus did. *Matthew 1:1-17
V.15 Jesus knew the people were about to take Him and try and force Him to be king of Rome. Jesus' kingship on earth was spiritual, not physical. So, despite the temptation of having power, Jesus withdrew from the people. *After this the disciples for the first time acknowledged Jesus as the Christ. *Luke 9:18-20 and Mark 8:27-30

V.16-17 The disciples started back across the sea again without Jesus because He was spending time alone praying to His Father.
V18. The sea had become stormy as it frequently did because of it's geographical location.
V.19 Then they see Jesus walking on water (Mark 6:48 He meant to "pass by" them. Greek: parerchomai just as God "passed" by Moses giving Him a glimpse of His glory! *Job 8:9) yet when they saw Him they did not recognize Him in the darkness and storm. They thought He was a ghost. Matthew 14:26 tells they actually cried out in fear.
V.20 Jesus said, "it is I; do not be afraid." The Greek phrase used: ego eimi actually is translated I AM.
Verses 19 and 20 are so important. In the Old Testament it is made clear ONLY God has authority and power over creation. Psalm 29:10-11, and *Psalm 107:28-30 and Jesus was WALKING on water in the middle of a storm! Three to four miles! Also, when Jesus uses I AM to identify Himself He is saying the same thing God the Father used in Exodus 3:14 when telling Moses who He was.
V.21 They immediately took Him onto the boat and the very moment they did they arrived safely at their destination. **Psalm 107:28-30 again. :)

*Jesus sent His disciples away to pray. Even Jesus' number one priority was spending time with God. Is it ours?

*Even after that much time they did not recognize Jesus during the storm. Ever have a hard time seeing God during a storm in life?

*Peter, walked on water. He didn't sink until he took his eyes off of Jesus and looked at the mess around him. Where is your focus?

*Even when Peter lost faith he still knew who to call on. Not only that, Jesus still took his hand and lifted him up. :)

Love.

Christian.

If you say this word in other places, most embrace you.

But in America, this word makes most cringe.

Why?

The image of Christianity in America is much different than the image of the Christ we claim to follow.

When people not of the faith in America are asked what they think when they hear the word Christian, things like:

Homophobic, hypocritical, judgmental, and many others come to mind. Don't get me wrong, the world will hate us.

It hated Jesus.

But nobody ever accused Jesus of hating people.

Why?

He didn't.

And He made it known.

We grade sin.

Then we draw a line around us.

If someone jumps that line or exceeds the weight on that sin scale we don't want to love them anymore.

What. The. Crap.

Have we not read any of Jesus' words?

How about the Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus teaches us that sin is sin.

Having an affair is equal to watching porn.

Murdering someone is equal to being angry without cause.

So.

Is it really sin we hate?

If it is why are we so "okay" with ourself?

I am not minimizing sin.

I'm questioning the love we so for our brothers and sisters.

The ONLY people that Jesus ever scorned and got on to were the ones who thought they had it all together. The ones who believed they were better than everyone else.

He never, ever judged or condemned an honest sinner.

So.

Do we really wanna be like Jesus?

If we do then we seriously need to change this cycle.

People need love.

They need it.

It doesn't matter what they have done.

They still need love.

We all do.

And we are called to love them as ourself.

"So whatever you wish others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law of the Prophets. Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is HARD that leads to life, and those who find it are few." Matthew 7:12-14

If the way and amount we LOVE looks the same as the world,

we are not loving the way Christ did and called us to do.

Dare to be different.