hey guys
i am working on getting the messages posted- for now, i have a few here-
http://www.youtube.com/user/GloryTransforms
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Christmas party!
On Wednesday, December 17th, we will be having our Impact Christmas party!
When?
during our normal impact times, from 6:30-8:30
What will we do?
We will be having a short devotional, singing some songs together, and then having our annual white elephant gift exchange. If you have not done this before with us, what we do is all bring in a small (Very small, $1 or so) gift, wrapped, and you will put it in a pile, and through the course of the game, get the another present in exchange. Mostly we are looking for gifts that would be funny or goofy. You can bring a nice one, if you want! If you don’t have time to get one, don’t worry, we will have extra gifts on hand! But if you can, bring something out! Maybe someone will get stuck with whatever you bring!
You are also welcome to bring a snack or baked good for us to feast on, and a donation for our sponsored child.
Who is planning on being there?!
When?
during our normal impact times, from 6:30-8:30
What will we do?
We will be having a short devotional, singing some songs together, and then having our annual white elephant gift exchange. If you have not done this before with us, what we do is all bring in a small (Very small, $1 or so) gift, wrapped, and you will put it in a pile, and through the course of the game, get the another present in exchange. Mostly we are looking for gifts that would be funny or goofy. You can bring a nice one, if you want! If you don’t have time to get one, don’t worry, we will have extra gifts on hand! But if you can, bring something out! Maybe someone will get stuck with whatever you bring!
You are also welcome to bring a snack or baked good for us to feast on, and a donation for our sponsored child.
Who is planning on being there?!
Service Project!
On Saturday, December 13th, High Impact and Impact 678 will be combining for a service project. We will meet at the Firehouse at 10 AM and begin working on 2 projects. 1 team will be tasked with shopping for and wrapping presents for a family that has a great need. We will probably split the shopping team into guys and girls and let them shop for their own gender (that way they get things that people will actually like :). The other team will stay at the Firehouse (and church) and bake cookies to make trays for our neighbors that we will deliver later in the day. We will be done around 2:00.
Here is what we need from you:
1. We need to know if you will be in attendance.
2. We need cookie dough! In order save time and mess, we are asking the parents if they would be willing to send a batch of dough. If so, let us know what kind of cookies - we try to keep the variety limited. I recommend chocolate chip, peanut butter, snickerdoodle, chocolate with peanut butter chips, something traditonal. If you have your heart set on something else, I guess that's ok :)
3. We need baking supplies! If your parents are willing to send cookie sheets, cooling racks, spatulas, etc. that would be great. we understand the fear of not getting those things back, so we will be sure to keep a close inventory of them.
Please email us as soon as possible and let us know in what ways you or your children will be involved. If you have any questions, let me know. Thanks so much!
Here is what we need from you:
1. We need to know if you will be in attendance.
2. We need cookie dough! In order save time and mess, we are asking the parents if they would be willing to send a batch of dough. If so, let us know what kind of cookies - we try to keep the variety limited. I recommend chocolate chip, peanut butter, snickerdoodle, chocolate with peanut butter chips, something traditonal. If you have your heart set on something else, I guess that's ok :)
3. We need baking supplies! If your parents are willing to send cookie sheets, cooling racks, spatulas, etc. that would be great. we understand the fear of not getting those things back, so we will be sure to keep a close inventory of them.
Please email us as soon as possible and let us know in what ways you or your children will be involved. If you have any questions, let me know. Thanks so much!
Friday, November 21, 2008
Concert!
Hey guys! We are going to the Shane and Shane concert, December 5th! Cost is $12. We are leaving at 4:30. We need to know who is going by this coming Wednesday so we can order tickets, so leave a comment if you are going. Details are here-
http://www.itickets.com/events/211298/Barnegat_NJ/Shane_and_Shane_Christmas_Tour.html
Hope you can come!
Waking up to the war
31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Mk 8:31-33
Are you asleep tonight?
Asleep to what? What does this video mean? Children in chains? A hero coming and calling out to us to wake up, to fight a war. A hero who suffers to wake us up and set us free. Are you awake?
And how does this video relate to this text? Is there sleeping in this text? Is there someone who needs to be awakened and fight a war?
Yes. This text is about war. This text is about Jesus fighting the war that He is here to fight, and Peter missing it.
What is the war?
I want you to see how this text in Mark speaks of a war, and calls us to wake up to it. But let me explain something first, follow me while I give you a lot of info before we get into this text.
There is a war. The Bible speaks of a war that is going on all the time. That is why we are called soldiers as Christians.
Listen, Christian, you are called a soldier, do you realize that? Your goal is fighting, and fighting well. Too often we spend too much time talking about how others like or don’t like us, how others are serving us poorly, all kinds of silly things. Our goal is war.
Twice in the bible Paul calls other believers “fellow soldiers” (Phil 2:25, philem 2)
Paul says to Timothy-
3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. 2 Ti 2:3-4
We are soldiers. Why are we soldiers?
Soldiers are not needed in a time of peace, are they? You do not enlist soldiers for any reason but one- war.
And we are told we have an enemy. The bible speaks of an enemy, not an enemy of flesh and blood, but one that is unseen, but influencing the world around us, that in fact is called the “prince of the power of the air.” (eph 2:2) We need to realize there is an enemy that is wicked, and evil, and like a roaring lion, and we are to be taking up weapons against him.
This is the war I speak of, the war between God and the enemy.
The war is the enemy and his world system fighting to keep God from being loved, honored, and obeyed in you and those around you.
It is shocking to see how some believers live as if there is no enemy at all to be concerned about. The truth is, there is an enemy, and he is out to destroy you.
Jesus Christ came to destroy the works of the devil. That is what he was doing on earth, so says 1 john 3. He came to destroy the works of satan. You see, satan has been at work in the world to cause human beings to disbelieve God- to take their trust away from God, and place their trust instead in him, or in themselves. This would lead to the world being under the curse of death as a result of God’s wrath. Christ came to fight this war, to destroy the enemy, and he dealt the enemy a death blow at the Cross. The enemy was fatally wounded, and that is his condition now. But he is not yet dead. In the last gasps of breath he has before he dies he is still a powerful enemy against unaware Christians, and he is even more to those who are unbelievers, he is their father. Their slave owner. And we are here to continue the war that Christ started when he came to earth and lived and died and rose again.
Are you awake and involved in this war?
How much of your time do you spend on this war?
I will tell you now, you may not be awake, but you are involved. Your life is counting for one side of this battle, or the other. The enemy is working to dishonor God, and to kill those we love and bind them to hell forever, and you might be helping his cause. Are you awake?
Four things the enemy does not want you to know about the war
Let me share with you four things the enemy does not want you to know about this war.
And the first thing I want you to know, and the enemy doesn’t, is how you fight. And it relates to your heart, and all we have been talking about, concerning how your heart works. We have said that hearts do three things- they seek something of value, they give anything they can to get the thing of value that they see, and then they praise or make known the value of what they found. This, when done in relation to God, is what your heart is designed to do. It is also how you fight…
1- The way we fight the war is to live in such a way that we show off the value of Jesus Christ.
The first thing the enemy doesn’t want you to know how to do is how to fight. He wants you to get confused. He wants you to think that you fight by hating people. By just trying to follow rules. He has done this for years. Ever hear of the crusades? We are easily swayed into thinking that we can fight this war some other way then by showing the worth of Christ. But that is what we are called to do- you fight by showing off the worth of Christ. There is a word for this in the bible- it’s called be a “light.” We are to go into the world and show off the worth of Jesus to the world. That is light.
So how do we do that?
A- How do we show His worth? The way God has chosen to show off his worth is in the suffering of His children in His Name, for the world.
How do we do this? More about what this really looks like in real life in a bit, but for now, just understand that the means that God has chosen to fight this war, for us, is to suffer. The way we bring Christ to the world is to suffer in Christ’s name for the world.
How does suffering show Christ’s worth?
First of all, this should be easy to see. The things we suffer for are the things we love. Think about it- what have you suffered for? The best example I have of this is playing hockey when I was younger. We would play brutal games of hockey, and get tired and beat up and love every second of it. Suffering in that fashion was joyful, it was showing the worth of something- to me, hockey. Well, maybe more it was winning. But in any case, you see my point- we do suffer for what we treasure, and we do it with joy, and it shows the worth of that thing to us. So when we suffer for Christ, we display His worth.
There’s something more to it, too. Let me explain.
Paul says something really weird in Colossians. He says this-
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, Col 1:24
That sounds almost like blasphemy. What is lacking in Christ’s afflictions? And how does Paul think he can fix that? Well, it certainly isn’t that Christ’s sufferings lacked in that they were not enough. They were enough. So how do they lack?
The answer is found in Philippians, when Paul says the same thing about “completing what is lacking” in another context. He is talking about Epaphroditus, this guy who was bringing a gift from the Philippians to Paul. And Paul says that when he arrived, he completed what was lacking in the Philippians service to Paul. He says this-
25 I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, 26 for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. 27 Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. 28 I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. 29 So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, 30 for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.Php 2:25-30
What was lacking about the Philippians gift to Paul before Epaphroditus took it? Yes, only the presentation of it. He completed it by presenting it.
That is exactly how Paul was filling up what was lacking in Christ’s suffering. He was showing it to the world. The world has not seen the worth of Christ that you have seen, in that you know that Christ suffered for you. They don’t know it, they need to see it, and they will see it as WE suffer for them in His Name, they will see it in our persecutions and sacrifices. Understand, Christian, life on this earth will be suffering. It is the means by which God has chosen to show His worth. When others see us suffer for Christ, they will think “what is this Jesus that makes Him so beautiful to them, that they are willing to suffer for him?” And when we suffer for others, they will think “what drives this person to love like this?”
But why will our suffering for Christ bring war?
B- This will bring war because the enemy and his world system will always war against that which shows the worth of Christ.
While some will see our suffering and in that see the worth of Christ, most will see us showing off Christ and hate it. When we display Christ’s worth to the world, when we show He is more valuable to us than anything else, the world hates this.
Think- does the world hate this in you?
Remember I said that we are called to be lights?
20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. Jn 3:20
The world hates light because the world wants to forget about God, they don’t want to see His worth, they want you to join them in showing off the worth of the world.
Our tendency is to want to do this another way. Why suffer? Cant we do it some other way? No, it must be this way- we will have to show how much Christ is worth to us through our suffering. This must be because if we ever show off Christ’s worth- which is what we long to do, we will face persecution. Just imagine you fall in love with someone who everyone around you hates. Now, you have two choices- you can keep quiet about them, and never talk about them or show that you love them- which really wouldn’t be love, would it? Or you can express your joy in them and suffer for it. And then imagine you get together with them and they ask “why do you do this? It brings you such pain to talk about me and tell others you love me.” And you say, “but that even makes it more beautiful to do for you.” You see?
So, as long as we long to show off Christ, we will suffer, because the world will come against that, and try and keep it quiet.
But this works for our good- because as they try and keep us quiet about it, and we refuse, we will suffer more, and will be given by their refusal even more of a chance to show them Christ’s worth! This is just like the cross! Our refusal to honor Him gives him the chance to show off His worth even more!
Now, ask yourself- Is the enemy keeping you quiet? Are you showing off the worth of Christ?
2- The enemy wants you out of the war, and He will do that by leading you to set your minds on the things of men, and keep them off of the things of God.
This is what is happening in our text today. Peter is being pushed out of the war, and is even trying to push Jesus out of the war, by having his mind set on the things of men, and not the things of God.
What does that mean? One commentary suggests that this could be translated as ‘you are not concerned with what God wants but with what men want’ or ‘you are not thinking as God thinks, but as men think.’[1]
This is helpful. Let me explain.
Peter here has just heard Jesus say that he will suffer at the hands of the leaders of the day, the very leaders he was challenging. And he says that they will kill him.
31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. Mk 8:31
This death of suffering seemed, at best, well, undignified. Why would Jesus say this about himself? Surely he would never let such a dishonoring thing happen to himself, certainly he would not allow himself to suffer at the hands of men. God would never chose to forward his purposes through the suffering of the son, right?
32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Mk 8:32
This is man’s way of thinking. Even worse, it is satan inspired thinking. From the beginning the enemy was trying to get Jesus to give up his plan to suffer to save the world. That is not wise from our perspective, we want to avoid suffering at all costs. So the enemy says to Jesus from the beginning- “don’t suffer. Just use your power and do it differently. Just worship me and avoid the pain. Avoid the humiliation.”
This humiliation, this is what Peter wants to avoid. He would be ashamed to suffer like that, he does not want Christ to suffer like that.
And Jesus rebukes Peter harshly, and then he explains-
33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
34 And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? 37 For what can a man give in return for his life? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Mk 8:33-38
Thinking the way God thinks leads us away from wanting to just make friends with the world, but instead leads us to want to suffer to show off the worth of Christ. It leads us to do what would lead us to be mocked by the world, and humiliated.
Would you be willing, right now, to be humiliated in order to show Christ’s worth? The enemy wants to inspire you to think “no way”, but God’s way of thinking says “yes, that is the perfect way to show it.”
Man thinks this- “do nothing to lose the applause of the world. Do nothing to lose it’s friendship. Seek to be served, seek to be exalted.”
God thinks this- “cut yourself off from this world, and it’s friendship. Die to it. Live as a stranger here. Serve them, suffer for them, and show them how beautiful Jesus is.”
Will we seek to preserve our comfort and life, or will we spend ourselves for Christ?
The enemy would love to make you say “forget all this, let’s just relax and enjoy the world.” Or,
“let’s somehow find a way to show off Christ’s worth that will not cost us anything at all. Do I really have to do something difficult?”
Do you think that way? Do you seek to find a way to follow Christ without having to really suffer? Do you feel ashamed of Christ? Or do you embrace that shame, and wear it with honor?
3- You will not fight to show off the worth of Christ unless you see the worth of Christ.
How can you think that way? How can you change and want to suffer to show the worth of Christ?
The cool thing is you will want to do what is difficult to show off the worth of Christ if you really see the worth of Christ. It comes back to that heart change we have been talking about, it comes back to those three things that hearts do.
True love always lays down it’s life for the object of it’s love.
You need to understand that fighting this war without loving Christ most is not what is wanted today. Do you know what a mercenary is? It is a soldier who fights the war not because they believe in the cause of the war, but because they are hired to do it. They have no heart in it, they have no real desire to see one side win, they only want to be paid. Some of you may be like that, you are in this war, knowing you are supposed to be showing off Christ’s worth, but man, it’s hard to do because you don’t see His worth. You do it though because you want something from God. Or because you feel it the right thing to do. This will not work.
You must see the beauty and worth of Jesus Christ if you are going to join the war to fight back all the forces that seek to dishonor Him, and if you are going to live a life that shows His value to the world.
And now, what will I tell you you should do if you want to see His worth? Yes, you should know this by now. I will tell you to run to the Cross of Jesus Christ, and upon that Cross look to the one who suffered so shamefully for you. Look at Him there, dishonored, rejected by men, twisting on the cross in agony, cut off from the Father, bearing shame and sin, think of Him there in all his loneliness. How lonely the cross was, it is the most lonely place in the universe. There are none with him, none for him. He is alone, forsaken. He is forsaken for us, He is cut off for us. Go to the cross and see the Jesus who loved you while you hated Him, see the love that forgives those who persecute Him, see the Jesus who longs to bring you underserved mercy. See the Jesus who longs to remove all anger, so that you might be comforted.
Unless you see Him there, in all His beauty, dying in your place, unless you see that He is the truest desire of your heart, you will not live a life that shows his worth no matter how hard you try.
The enemy wants you to try and live a life displaying his worth but never really believing in it, because you will be a hypocrite, and you will drive many away. The enemy wants you to be frustrated, and follow rules, and try and act the part, but never really see Jesus.
4- you will always be missing the war unless you train your mind to see it.
Even when we see His worth, we will need to train ourselves to be fighting this war. It is just too easy to miss where the war is being fought, because it is unseen.
So let’s ask- what does it look like to show off the worth of Christ? Because that is what fighting is, right? So how can we do it, how can we see chances for it? What does this mean in real life?
What does the enemy want you to avoid doing?
What can we be looking for in order to see the war, and fight?
1- If you see people in need, serve them.
Friends, look for the needs around you. You can look for the needs around you, and then sacrifice of yourself to go and help. For instance, when was the last time you talked to someone at Impact that you didn’t know that well? Do you know how often you simply go to the person you want attention from and talk to them? Have you ever thought of how you can show off Christ by sacrificing what you want and helping someone else?
Or what about those in your life who are lonely? Or oppressed? Where is there injustice in your life? People being picked on? Prejudice? How can you step in and help? Let your heart break for those who are in need, and then go and help them. The problem is your mind is so trained to only be concerned for yourself, and so you miss the war. You could show Christ’s love by showing mercy to those in need around you. Do you want Him to be seen?
The amazing thing about our God is that he has called us to show Him to the world, and to fight this war, not by hating and harming, but by loving and serving. The way to fight the enemy and to win the battle is not to argue with every non Christian you see, but to love them enough to suffer with them, and then to share with them the hope that you have.
2- Do not be entertained by what Christ died to set you free from.
Christ died to set you free from lust, and profanity, and all sort of evil. Do you have places in your life where movies and songs and shows use such things to entertain, and you are entertained by them? How can you be entertained by the things Christ died for? How does that show His worth? It does not, it dishonors Him. When the world sees you avoid evil, you will suffer for it, but you will be able to tell them why.
But for many of you the world has trained you to think wrongly. You just accept evil, you think it’s ok to be close to it. You think it’s not a problem to love what the world loves. You need to repent of this, and use this as a chance to show Him off! Are you repelled by the things that dishonor God?
3- Fight sin with all your might.
You do not show Christ’s worth when you chose sin over Him. Remember, we sin when we believe that the pleasure of the sin is greater than the reward of obedience. And the reward of obedience is Christ! So when we obey we are saying “ I believe Christ is worth more than that pleasure, I believe He is more pleasurable. I believe He is more satisfying.” And in that we show His worth.
4- Seek after Him with all your might.
Remember, our hearts give up everything to get what we treasure most. Do your hearts do that? Does the world see you desperate to get to know God more? Does the majority of your time look like time that is spent seeking Him and His glory, or your own? Listen, just ask this question of what you are doing- “How does this show off the how much God is worth to me?” If you can not answer that about what you do, why are you doing it? Seek help to find a way to make it honor Him! But first, ask why you have done it. What has been the motive?
The way we fight the war is to live in such a way that we show off the value of Jesus Christ and His gospel.
Do you see it? You need to look at the chains the enemy is binding you with, and then turn and see Jesus, laying, bleeding, dying for you, and fall in love with Him, and grab the chains and pull them off, and fight! Are you willing to fight for His worth?
Are you ok living in a world that mocks Him? Will you join them, and mock Him as well, being entertained by what he died for, by showing off the worth of the same things that they live for?
Are you willing to lay down your life and fight for the cause of Jesus Christ?
[1]Bratcher, R. G., & Nida, E. A. (1993], c1961). A handbook on the Gospel of Mark. Originally published: A translator's handbook on the Gospel of Mark, 1961. UBS handbook series; Helps for translators (265). New York: United Bible Societies.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Message from Oct 29
Mark 8, 9:2-8
Seeing His glory
22 And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. 23 And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see men, but they look like trees, walking.” 25 Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”
Peter Confesses Jesus As the Christ
27 And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” 29 And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” 30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.
Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection
31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
34 And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? 37 For what can a man give in return for his life? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
9 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”
The Transfiguration
2 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. 5 And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” 8 And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.
Mk 8:22-9:8
Who likes a show off?
Typically we don’t like it when someone tries to show off. We look down on people who seek to make themselves look good all the time. When someone is trying to gain praise for themselves we are offended, aren’t we? In fact, we consider it a bad thing to be proud in that way. They are so self consumed, so wanting to see themselves exalted. Self-exaltation is not something good, is it? If someone came over your house and said “Let me do you a favor for the next hour. Let me talk to you about how great I am”, you would quickly find a excuse to end the visit. There is nothing worse than someone who is just all about themselves.
Now, if that is true, if we hate it when someone tries to gain praise for themselves, and see it as a bad thing, then when we come to God we should find Someone who never seeks praise for Himself, right? I mean, we don’t like it, it is looked down upon and even forbidden to gain our own praise. So God certainly is not all about just gaining his own praise, right?
But we find the opposite. Why? God is not just always, it seems, concerned about his own praise, but he seems to even demand that we praise him. What are these demands for praise? What kind of a God runs around saying “you better praise me, you better worship me, you better say nice things about me, you better say how good I am!”- what is that about? It could seem, well, kind of pathetic, couldn’t it? Why does He need our praise?
Here we have in this passage Jesus showing off His glory. Why? It’s an odd thing to do- “Come up here to the top of this mountain with me so I can show you how great I am.” Isn’t this exactly what we should not do? Why does He do it?
I want to explain to you why Jesus does this, and why this act here is one of the most loving things Jesus can do. It is not selfish, it is not unloving- this is extraordinarily loving of Him! Why?
Reviewing the truth about our hearts
Last week we talked about our hearts. We said or hearts all do three things. Do you remember?
1- they seek something of value to be near
2- they want to get more of that thing of value, and enjoy it, and will sell everything to get it.
3-they want to proclaim the greatness of the thing they find.
And I said that this is exactly what God created us for. He created you with hearts that work this way for a reason. Your hearts are built to seek value and want it and enjoy it and proclaim it.
In fact, I would say this- the greatest happiness any human can have, in fact the happiness you long for and try and get- is a happiness that comes from your heart doing these three things. You desperately want to be happy by finding something of value, getting and enjoying it, and proclaiming and singing it’s praises. You are made for this- you all are worshipers. You were made to be. You were designed to exalt the worth of valuable things.
What valuable thing this week did your heart show it was wanting, and near, and valuing?
What did you talk about?
What did you spend your time on?
What did you think about all alone?
These are the things our heart values, these are the things we worship. We value them, we enjoy them, we want to praise them. This is the design of our hearts.
The greater the value, the greater the joy
And get this; the greater the value of the thing you find, the more joy you will have in it, and in expressing it’s value. Think about that. For instance, there is a measure of joy in valuing baseball and being excited over a team doing well and praising that team. There is a greater joy in valuing a person that we are in love with, and gaining joy from being near them, and in talking about them, and that joy is much greater than the joy of valuing baseball! But what if we found something of the greatest value, of such a value that it made even the people we love seem insignificant and small? What if we could find that thing of great value, and enjoy it, and praise it?
And of course you know I am speaking of God- and this is what our hearts were designed to do. And if the amount of joy we will have is equal to the worth of the thing we are valuing, then the greatest joy we can have is if we have hearts that value God, and enjoy Him, and praise Him. You see this? It is life changing to get this!
So to sum up- we have hearts that long to find something of value, and get and enjoy that thing, and praise it. The greater the value of the thing we find, the greater the joy our hearts will have in getting and enjoying and praising it. God has the greatest value, so to have God as the object of our heart’s valuing, to have Him as our treasure, this would bring the greatest joy.
A loving thing to do – giving us Himself
So, keep thinking. If I really love you, if I really really do- what should I help you do if I want to see you really happy? Yes, I should help you see the value of God, so that you can value Him, want to get more of Him, enjoy Him, and praise Him. That is what I need to do. If you love those near you, if you really love them, what will you do? Will you help them value you most? Value lust most? Value popularity most? What will you help them value most? God, right? That would be the most loving thing you could do- to get them to tie their hearts to God- to get them to see the real value that He has, because for as long as they are setting their hearts on things much less valuable than Him, they are destined to never have joy as they were meant to have it. So, the most loving thing I can do, and you can do, is to try and show how valuable God is to others so that they set their hearts on Him and enjoy Him and praise Him. Right?!
So then, what is one of the most loving things that God can do?
You see, God is in a unique position. God knows that your heart was designed to find something of great value and enjoy it, and the greater the value of what it finds, the greater the joy that you will have, he knows that. And so if God seeks to make you happy, and then sets out to search the universe for the most beautiful, valuable thing He can find, what does he end up finding? Yes, Himself! So the greatest gift God can give you is Himself.
This is why it is good for Him to exalt Himself, but not good for you to do it. You are not that valuable, compared to God! It is wrong- even sick- to exalt ourselves and put ourselves in places to get others to latch their hearts to us. But it is not wrong for God to do it. God should do it- it would be unloving of God to give us anything but Himself. Think about that! The most loving gift He can give is Himself.
If a great chef came up with this really great recipe for this wonderful desert, and then decided they never wanted to share it, that would not be loving, would it? In the same way, God, when he sees that He is the most valuable thing in the universe, and that we have the greatest joy when we find the thing of the most value, would be unloving to hide from us His beauty.
He must show off His greatness to us, He must display His beauty. This is loving of Him.
We have this weird idea of love- we get the wrong idea that love is when someone makes a big deal over us- they love us when they make much of us. Think about it- when we do think someone loves us? They make a big deal over us, they think about us, they want to be with us, etc. But that is not true for God- for God it would be unloving of Him to make much of you. For God to love is to make much of Himself.
Taste and see!
This changes how you see God’s commands in the bible to worship. He is not a sad old man, wishing someone would say something nice about him. He is actually doing something nice for us when he commands us to worship Him, because a command to worship Him really is a command to enjoy Him! God is always working for His own glory-
9 “For my name’s sake I defer my anger,
for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,
that I may not cut you off.
10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for how should my name be profaned?
My glory I will not give to another.
Is 48:9-11
25 “ I, I am he
who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,
and I will not remember your sins.
Is 43:25
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. Eph 1:4-6
And this working for His glory comes out in His commands as well- we are commanded to praise Him, to worship Him alone. From the commandment to have no other Gods before Him to the commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
These are not the commands of a God who is afraid he will lose the love of those he needs and have no one left to praise Him! This is a God who is commanding us to do what will bring us the most joy- to enjoy Him! This is right- to admit His worth. This is just. Understand, it’s not just the fact that it is for our joy that he does this. He DOES really deserve to be honored, and as a just and honest God he MUST demand that we praise Him. To demand we praise anything else would be idolatry! But it wonderfully is not just the right thing to do- but He has set up the universe in such a way that the right thing to do is the thing that would bring us the most joy! It is for our joy!
Our heart’s long to do this, because this is where we will find joy-
11 You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Ps 16:11
4 One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.
Ps 27:4
This is what we want- to find that which has the greatest value- Him! And then enjoy Him forever, and make Him known forever! And he invites us to enjoy Him! Do you see the love in this? When He puts on display his value, He is doing what is most loving!
Think of all the ways he has put in display His greatness! For you to enjoy it! Think of how the world around you constantly shows you Him! Think about the fact that He gives you His word to see Him in! Think about His Son coming to earth to reveal to us the Father! Think about this very night- God is at work to show you His worth, that you would be able to enjoy Him more!
8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
Ps 34:8
This is what we are called to do- taste, and see!
Having no taste for Him
But- what if you don’t see it?
What if we understand this, but when we look at God, when we taste, we don’t seem to find anything of all that much worth. This is where most of the world is. They see Him every day all around them in creation. They hear of His Son’s work. And they don’t see that he is good. What then?
All is not lost if that is you. You don’t see His value like you should? Neither did these disciples.
That is what this text is about tonight. And what God does in response. Look with me at Mark 8 and all that is going on.
First, we have Jesus feeding the crowds miraculously. After this, the Pharisees, who don’t see who Jesus is, demand a sign. As if the feeding was not enough. Jesus, in disgust, leaves them, telling them they will get no sign. He has just put on display His greatness, and they missed it- and they want him to perform for them. They cant see his value. They wont believe.
Next he gets into the boat with the disciples, and that is who this section is really all about. His followers don’t understand. He is in the boat and he warns them not to be like the Pharisees- he says “watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees.” They are confused, and Jesus says to them “Do you not yet understand?”
Then we have this really weird story- Jesus heals this blind guy, but it’s not normal. There he is, surrounded by the disciples, the disciples he just said still do not see who He is, they don’t see His true worth. And so he takes the blind man, and touches him- and he sees- but not completely-only in part. Then he touches him again, and the man is fully healed. This is just like the disciples- they see in part, but not all the way. This is shown in the rest of the section. Next, Jesus asks “who am I”, and Peter seem to get it right- you are the Christ. But then just sentences later is telling Jesus that he will never suffer on the Cross, and Jesus calls him satan. He still doesn’t see. He sees in part, but not the whole. He understands some of the worth of God, some of who Jesus is, but not the whole thing.
Seeing only in part
This is some of you- you see in part, but not completely. You understand it, and you believe it- but you don’t taste His goodness. Are you like that tonight? You see in part? You hear this talk about his value, and enjoying Him, but that part you don’t see. You see the part that he is God, and that He died for you, but there is no good taste, no real valuing?
Do you want to see the whole truth of who He is?
Understand, Jesus healed the man, and he saw in part. But how was he healed all the way? Yes, by Jesus! Jesus finishes the opening of the eyes.
And the same with the disciples-
He takes peter, James and John, and just literally shows them. He reveals His glory to them. He continues to show Himself to them, He continues to show His worth.
Jesus is this day willing to continue to put on display His value to you. The way to be healed of your blindness is to keep being exposed to His glory, until finally your eyes see it.
4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.2 Co 4:4-6
The light is shining, he constantly shines it- keep seeking it out. He will open your eyes. Beg Him to do that tonight.
Look upon his value now-
Understand- God is so loving that he puts on display his worth to us- but not just that- we would be cut off from his worth forever. Just think of how sad it is that you right now might not even be able to see His worth, the worth of the one your heart is designed to see the worth of. How messed up we are! What penalty do we deserve for having spent our lives enjoying the value of other things, and thinking that He has little value at all? This has put us under his wrath. We are cut off from Him, separated because of sin.
The sad thing is, even if we see his worth, we cant do number two and three- we cant get more of Him and enjoy Him. We are cut off! We were kicked out of the garden- we can not get to the one who is most valuable- and so we can never get the thing that would bring us the most joy. Can you imagine what joy would be ours if we could get him- his worth is infinite- and so our joy would be infinite as well! And the amazing thing about the Cross, it isn’t that it gets us out of hell, it is that he brings peace between us and Him, so that we can once again have him- we can get to Him, we can have what our hearts now see the value of- we can enjoy Him forever!
The cross! The good news is that you don’t have to do anything to fix this, he does. And the very way he fixes it shows His worth! The fact that He would die for you while you did not value Him, this is love, because it shows off His worth! The Cross shows the worth of God- it puts on display how beautiful His love is, and his mercy, and his justice. And the Cross makes a way for you to have Him forever!
Keep looking!
Where is he at work to show you His worth? Are you looking for it? Are you trying to see it? For your joy, I beg you- look for it! Seek to see it! Have you even looked tonight?
Jesus is transfigured before us- He is showing His worth to us. Where can we go to see it? To His word! I beg you, friends, flee to His word, and seek to see his beauty and worth- seek to see Him! Look to the Cross and see how beautiful He is- then, let your heart go to Him, and believe the truth- the truth that He really is welcoming you to have more and more of Him forever, and to enjoy more and more of Him forever!
What a great gift He has given you! He has given you the greatest gift that could ever be offered to anyone- the most valuable thing in the universe is offered to you right now- Himself- and it is not free for Him, to offer it to you took the cross! This is the love of God! This is His value!
Taste and see that the Lord is good! And live in such a way that you show the world that you value Him most, and live in such a way that you help them value Him most too!
Seeing His glory
22 And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. 23 And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see men, but they look like trees, walking.” 25 Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”
Peter Confesses Jesus As the Christ
27 And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” 29 And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” 30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.
Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection
31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
34 And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? 37 For what can a man give in return for his life? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
9 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”
The Transfiguration
2 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. 5 And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” 8 And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.
Mk 8:22-9:8
Who likes a show off?
Typically we don’t like it when someone tries to show off. We look down on people who seek to make themselves look good all the time. When someone is trying to gain praise for themselves we are offended, aren’t we? In fact, we consider it a bad thing to be proud in that way. They are so self consumed, so wanting to see themselves exalted. Self-exaltation is not something good, is it? If someone came over your house and said “Let me do you a favor for the next hour. Let me talk to you about how great I am”, you would quickly find a excuse to end the visit. There is nothing worse than someone who is just all about themselves.
Now, if that is true, if we hate it when someone tries to gain praise for themselves, and see it as a bad thing, then when we come to God we should find Someone who never seeks praise for Himself, right? I mean, we don’t like it, it is looked down upon and even forbidden to gain our own praise. So God certainly is not all about just gaining his own praise, right?
But we find the opposite. Why? God is not just always, it seems, concerned about his own praise, but he seems to even demand that we praise him. What are these demands for praise? What kind of a God runs around saying “you better praise me, you better worship me, you better say nice things about me, you better say how good I am!”- what is that about? It could seem, well, kind of pathetic, couldn’t it? Why does He need our praise?
Here we have in this passage Jesus showing off His glory. Why? It’s an odd thing to do- “Come up here to the top of this mountain with me so I can show you how great I am.” Isn’t this exactly what we should not do? Why does He do it?
I want to explain to you why Jesus does this, and why this act here is one of the most loving things Jesus can do. It is not selfish, it is not unloving- this is extraordinarily loving of Him! Why?
Reviewing the truth about our hearts
Last week we talked about our hearts. We said or hearts all do three things. Do you remember?
1- they seek something of value to be near
2- they want to get more of that thing of value, and enjoy it, and will sell everything to get it.
3-they want to proclaim the greatness of the thing they find.
And I said that this is exactly what God created us for. He created you with hearts that work this way for a reason. Your hearts are built to seek value and want it and enjoy it and proclaim it.
In fact, I would say this- the greatest happiness any human can have, in fact the happiness you long for and try and get- is a happiness that comes from your heart doing these three things. You desperately want to be happy by finding something of value, getting and enjoying it, and proclaiming and singing it’s praises. You are made for this- you all are worshipers. You were made to be. You were designed to exalt the worth of valuable things.
What valuable thing this week did your heart show it was wanting, and near, and valuing?
What did you talk about?
What did you spend your time on?
What did you think about all alone?
These are the things our heart values, these are the things we worship. We value them, we enjoy them, we want to praise them. This is the design of our hearts.
The greater the value, the greater the joy
And get this; the greater the value of the thing you find, the more joy you will have in it, and in expressing it’s value. Think about that. For instance, there is a measure of joy in valuing baseball and being excited over a team doing well and praising that team. There is a greater joy in valuing a person that we are in love with, and gaining joy from being near them, and in talking about them, and that joy is much greater than the joy of valuing baseball! But what if we found something of the greatest value, of such a value that it made even the people we love seem insignificant and small? What if we could find that thing of great value, and enjoy it, and praise it?
And of course you know I am speaking of God- and this is what our hearts were designed to do. And if the amount of joy we will have is equal to the worth of the thing we are valuing, then the greatest joy we can have is if we have hearts that value God, and enjoy Him, and praise Him. You see this? It is life changing to get this!
So to sum up- we have hearts that long to find something of value, and get and enjoy that thing, and praise it. The greater the value of the thing we find, the greater the joy our hearts will have in getting and enjoying and praising it. God has the greatest value, so to have God as the object of our heart’s valuing, to have Him as our treasure, this would bring the greatest joy.
A loving thing to do – giving us Himself
So, keep thinking. If I really love you, if I really really do- what should I help you do if I want to see you really happy? Yes, I should help you see the value of God, so that you can value Him, want to get more of Him, enjoy Him, and praise Him. That is what I need to do. If you love those near you, if you really love them, what will you do? Will you help them value you most? Value lust most? Value popularity most? What will you help them value most? God, right? That would be the most loving thing you could do- to get them to tie their hearts to God- to get them to see the real value that He has, because for as long as they are setting their hearts on things much less valuable than Him, they are destined to never have joy as they were meant to have it. So, the most loving thing I can do, and you can do, is to try and show how valuable God is to others so that they set their hearts on Him and enjoy Him and praise Him. Right?!
So then, what is one of the most loving things that God can do?
You see, God is in a unique position. God knows that your heart was designed to find something of great value and enjoy it, and the greater the value of what it finds, the greater the joy that you will have, he knows that. And so if God seeks to make you happy, and then sets out to search the universe for the most beautiful, valuable thing He can find, what does he end up finding? Yes, Himself! So the greatest gift God can give you is Himself.
This is why it is good for Him to exalt Himself, but not good for you to do it. You are not that valuable, compared to God! It is wrong- even sick- to exalt ourselves and put ourselves in places to get others to latch their hearts to us. But it is not wrong for God to do it. God should do it- it would be unloving of God to give us anything but Himself. Think about that! The most loving gift He can give is Himself.
If a great chef came up with this really great recipe for this wonderful desert, and then decided they never wanted to share it, that would not be loving, would it? In the same way, God, when he sees that He is the most valuable thing in the universe, and that we have the greatest joy when we find the thing of the most value, would be unloving to hide from us His beauty.
He must show off His greatness to us, He must display His beauty. This is loving of Him.
We have this weird idea of love- we get the wrong idea that love is when someone makes a big deal over us- they love us when they make much of us. Think about it- when we do think someone loves us? They make a big deal over us, they think about us, they want to be with us, etc. But that is not true for God- for God it would be unloving of Him to make much of you. For God to love is to make much of Himself.
Taste and see!
This changes how you see God’s commands in the bible to worship. He is not a sad old man, wishing someone would say something nice about him. He is actually doing something nice for us when he commands us to worship Him, because a command to worship Him really is a command to enjoy Him! God is always working for His own glory-
9 “For my name’s sake I defer my anger,
for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,
that I may not cut you off.
10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for how should my name be profaned?
My glory I will not give to another.
Is 48:9-11
25 “ I, I am he
who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,
and I will not remember your sins.
Is 43:25
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. Eph 1:4-6
And this working for His glory comes out in His commands as well- we are commanded to praise Him, to worship Him alone. From the commandment to have no other Gods before Him to the commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
These are not the commands of a God who is afraid he will lose the love of those he needs and have no one left to praise Him! This is a God who is commanding us to do what will bring us the most joy- to enjoy Him! This is right- to admit His worth. This is just. Understand, it’s not just the fact that it is for our joy that he does this. He DOES really deserve to be honored, and as a just and honest God he MUST demand that we praise Him. To demand we praise anything else would be idolatry! But it wonderfully is not just the right thing to do- but He has set up the universe in such a way that the right thing to do is the thing that would bring us the most joy! It is for our joy!
Our heart’s long to do this, because this is where we will find joy-
11 You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Ps 16:11
4 One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.
Ps 27:4
This is what we want- to find that which has the greatest value- Him! And then enjoy Him forever, and make Him known forever! And he invites us to enjoy Him! Do you see the love in this? When He puts on display his value, He is doing what is most loving!
Think of all the ways he has put in display His greatness! For you to enjoy it! Think of how the world around you constantly shows you Him! Think about the fact that He gives you His word to see Him in! Think about His Son coming to earth to reveal to us the Father! Think about this very night- God is at work to show you His worth, that you would be able to enjoy Him more!
8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
Ps 34:8
This is what we are called to do- taste, and see!
Having no taste for Him
But- what if you don’t see it?
What if we understand this, but when we look at God, when we taste, we don’t seem to find anything of all that much worth. This is where most of the world is. They see Him every day all around them in creation. They hear of His Son’s work. And they don’t see that he is good. What then?
All is not lost if that is you. You don’t see His value like you should? Neither did these disciples.
That is what this text is about tonight. And what God does in response. Look with me at Mark 8 and all that is going on.
First, we have Jesus feeding the crowds miraculously. After this, the Pharisees, who don’t see who Jesus is, demand a sign. As if the feeding was not enough. Jesus, in disgust, leaves them, telling them they will get no sign. He has just put on display His greatness, and they missed it- and they want him to perform for them. They cant see his value. They wont believe.
Next he gets into the boat with the disciples, and that is who this section is really all about. His followers don’t understand. He is in the boat and he warns them not to be like the Pharisees- he says “watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees.” They are confused, and Jesus says to them “Do you not yet understand?”
Then we have this really weird story- Jesus heals this blind guy, but it’s not normal. There he is, surrounded by the disciples, the disciples he just said still do not see who He is, they don’t see His true worth. And so he takes the blind man, and touches him- and he sees- but not completely-only in part. Then he touches him again, and the man is fully healed. This is just like the disciples- they see in part, but not all the way. This is shown in the rest of the section. Next, Jesus asks “who am I”, and Peter seem to get it right- you are the Christ. But then just sentences later is telling Jesus that he will never suffer on the Cross, and Jesus calls him satan. He still doesn’t see. He sees in part, but not the whole. He understands some of the worth of God, some of who Jesus is, but not the whole thing.
Seeing only in part
This is some of you- you see in part, but not completely. You understand it, and you believe it- but you don’t taste His goodness. Are you like that tonight? You see in part? You hear this talk about his value, and enjoying Him, but that part you don’t see. You see the part that he is God, and that He died for you, but there is no good taste, no real valuing?
Do you want to see the whole truth of who He is?
Understand, Jesus healed the man, and he saw in part. But how was he healed all the way? Yes, by Jesus! Jesus finishes the opening of the eyes.
And the same with the disciples-
He takes peter, James and John, and just literally shows them. He reveals His glory to them. He continues to show Himself to them, He continues to show His worth.
Jesus is this day willing to continue to put on display His value to you. The way to be healed of your blindness is to keep being exposed to His glory, until finally your eyes see it.
4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.2 Co 4:4-6
The light is shining, he constantly shines it- keep seeking it out. He will open your eyes. Beg Him to do that tonight.
Look upon his value now-
Understand- God is so loving that he puts on display his worth to us- but not just that- we would be cut off from his worth forever. Just think of how sad it is that you right now might not even be able to see His worth, the worth of the one your heart is designed to see the worth of. How messed up we are! What penalty do we deserve for having spent our lives enjoying the value of other things, and thinking that He has little value at all? This has put us under his wrath. We are cut off from Him, separated because of sin.
The sad thing is, even if we see his worth, we cant do number two and three- we cant get more of Him and enjoy Him. We are cut off! We were kicked out of the garden- we can not get to the one who is most valuable- and so we can never get the thing that would bring us the most joy. Can you imagine what joy would be ours if we could get him- his worth is infinite- and so our joy would be infinite as well! And the amazing thing about the Cross, it isn’t that it gets us out of hell, it is that he brings peace between us and Him, so that we can once again have him- we can get to Him, we can have what our hearts now see the value of- we can enjoy Him forever!
The cross! The good news is that you don’t have to do anything to fix this, he does. And the very way he fixes it shows His worth! The fact that He would die for you while you did not value Him, this is love, because it shows off His worth! The Cross shows the worth of God- it puts on display how beautiful His love is, and his mercy, and his justice. And the Cross makes a way for you to have Him forever!
Keep looking!
Where is he at work to show you His worth? Are you looking for it? Are you trying to see it? For your joy, I beg you- look for it! Seek to see it! Have you even looked tonight?
Jesus is transfigured before us- He is showing His worth to us. Where can we go to see it? To His word! I beg you, friends, flee to His word, and seek to see his beauty and worth- seek to see Him! Look to the Cross and see how beautiful He is- then, let your heart go to Him, and believe the truth- the truth that He really is welcoming you to have more and more of Him forever, and to enjoy more and more of Him forever!
What a great gift He has given you! He has given you the greatest gift that could ever be offered to anyone- the most valuable thing in the universe is offered to you right now- Himself- and it is not free for Him, to offer it to you took the cross! This is the love of God! This is His value!
Taste and see that the Lord is good! And live in such a way that you show the world that you value Him most, and live in such a way that you help them value Him most too!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Long lost relatives!
Just a few highlights of the relatives found so far! Dont forget to send a few pictures to me if i dont have a good one of you yet! thanks!
Have fun- and remember, give thanks these are not real people! See if you can guess who was combined to make who!
Have fun- and remember, give thanks these are not real people! See if you can guess who was combined to make who!
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