LK23

Saving faith is not a formulaic prayer. It is not a card you filled out at a middle school retreat. It is not something you have to renew like you would a driver's license. It is an attitude of the heart that says, "I am guilty and I need you, Jesus, to have hope!". This simple gospel transcends color, culture, and language barriers. This simple gospel overcomes any sin, any skeleton in the closet, and any catastrophe of our past.

Set yourself low and Christ high today. Consider your sin, hate it, and "repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out, that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19). Be like the criminal in heart. Encourage believers and non-believers alike with the simple truth of the gospel.

--Shane Kelly

Lk22

What are you willing to argue about in the presence of Jesus Easter week?  The disciples chose, "which one of US is the greatest!"

Luke records in this chapter that the disciple went from arguing about which one would betray Jesus to which one of them was the greatest!  These arguments are not even separated by a single verse.  How absurd.

Jesus has just washed their feet, shared the final supper with them and given them clear instruction in His final hours.  They totally missed it.  As do we.  It is Easter week.  Are you arguing and distracted by foolish things?  I know I am.

Let's focus!  Easter is upon us.

Mk16

Fear has lost its place in our hearts! Most no longer fear God.  Few think of God when asked, "What do you fear?"  It is reflected in the way we live our lives without regard to God's desires and purposes.

The thought of Jesus being alive front the dead brought fear to Jesus' own mother and sister.  In fact, they were "trembling, astonished and overwhelmed"!  Jesus had conquered death!  His power was unprecedented and He had now accomplished all that God had sent Him to do.  Mary, His own mother, could say nothing because she was afraid!

As we come to Easter we need to realize that we are dealing with a powerful and holy God.  He is not about looking nice in our Sunday best, He is about conquering sin and death for us all.  His desire is to give us life, which begins with faith and radically changes everyday thereafter.  He is not a God to be secure around when we are not living for Him.  If you don't fear Him, I doubt you actually know HIm.

We fear our earthly fathers when we know we are living outside of their desires.  Why would we not fear our heavenly Father when we are living outside of His desires?  Each one of us will give an account to God.  He is a risen Savior!  He is to be feared.

Just saying.

Mk15

This week is Easter week!  Live your life to please Jesus.  Who knows, maybe it will be this Easter that Jesus chooses to return.  Wouldn't that be awesome!  Talk about a busted bracket!!!

I always have wondered what Jesus' siblings were thinking at His crucifixion.  Mark tells us their names, but doesn't give much detail about them other than they shared the same mother.  Their names were James, Joses and Salome.  We know that James became a leader in the church and wrote the book of James, but what about the others?  I haven't heard much about them.

Something to study someday.

For now, think about Easter.  Maybe there is brokenness in your family that needs to be healed.  Maybe there is a sin that you have been hiding that needs to be revealed.  Maybe there is a bitterness that you have been nursing that needs to be let go of.  Whatever it is, choose to obey Jesus this Easter.  He is alive.

Mk14

Everyday God gives us opportunity to stand for Jesus.  Will you speak up for Christ today or will you deny Him with your words or actions?

In a sense, we all have betrayed Jesus.  Every disciple deserted Him and, like them, we all have times of doing the opposite of what we know Jesus would have us to do.  The disciples struggled with both a desire to follow and a desire to run!  They knew they wanted to stand for Jesus, but they were captured by the fear of man. 

In my opinion, the disciples had a pretty good excuse to be afraid!  Even though Jesus had told them that the worst that could happen is that they would die, they actually were afraid to die!  They were watching Jesus being illegally and brutally beaten and slaughtered!  Standing for Jesus could have literally cost them their life!

What will it cost us though?  Why are we so cowardly to stand for Christ?    The answer to this question is that we care more about what others think than we do about God.  I suggest that is a poor way to live.

Live to please Jesus.

Mt28

If you will listen, you can hear the voice of Jesus saying "Good Morning" to you.  It was the first words He spoke after He was resurrected and it should be the first voice we hear each morning when we get up.

I have never thought about this fact, nor had I ever noticed the response of both Marys when they heard and saw Jesus after He was resurrected.  They came up to him, took hold of His feet, and worshiped Him.  This should be every believer's response every morning.

Hear Jesus say, "Good Morning" to you today and begin your day worshiping Him.

Mt27

Jesus cried out to His Father as God so we could cry out to God as Father! Jesus referred to God as God only once…when He was dying on the cross!  He cried out, "My God, My God why have You forsaken Me?"

Have you ever felt like you have been abandoned by God?  Have you ever prayed and felt as though God was not hearing your prayers?  Have there been times of extended silence between you and God?  I know I have had times like that.  For me, it always has something to do with my sin or my inconsistency to seek God.

But Jesus never sinned!  He never had a moment in which He strayed from the Father's path.  Even in His death on the cross, He was walking in complete obedience.  Yet, He cried out this desperate prayer!  For the first time, His Father had literally turned His back on HIm to look away from the sin that was being placed on Jesus.  Jesus felt in that moment a brokenness He had never felt from all eternity.  His prayer was a desperate cry!

I believe it was this moment that Jesus dreaded more than anything.  He was separated from God for a moment, in order to bring us to God permanently.  He cried out to His Father as God so we could cry out to God as Father.

Be grateful today.

Jn21

The thing about following Jesus is that you actually have to FOLLOW Him.  He is not willing to follow you wherever you want to go.

It is crazy how helpless the disciples seemed to be without Jesus.  In fact, Peter took some of the disciples and went right back to his old way of living…fishing.  He met Jesus when he was fishing and left his business to follow Jesus.  I suppose he thought his life as a disciple was over, so he went right back to fishing.

If I were Jesus, I would have taken the moment to rebuke all of these disciples!  What were they thinking?  Hadn't they just seen the risen Savior?  Didn't they remember what Jesus had told them to do?  But Jesus just calmly instructed and challenged them again.  He knew these men would, after being filled with His Spirit, soon change the world.

He challenged them again, "Follow Me."  That challenge is for all of us today.  The christian life is not about knowing what to do or where to go.  It is not about having a set agenda to live for and a goal to pursue.  It is about following Jesus every day.

Get following today.

Jn20

What is your lame excuse for NOT believing in Jesus! Don't be a fool...believe. The tomb is empty and the living Savior continues to change lives. Don't let a foolish excuse keep you from trusting in Jesus.

Thomas must have been from Missouri. He said he would not believe unless he had a personal viewing of Jesus post resurrection. He stated almost with boldness, "Unless I touch his nail pierced hands and feet and put my hand into His side, I will never believe!" What a foolish statement! Had He already forgotten all Jesus had done? It was only because of God's kindness that Thomas got a personal appearance of the resurrected Lord.

Are you like Thomas? What is your lame excuse? Why would anyone still refuse to believe after so much evidence has come forward. Jesus has changed and continues to change lives daily. Because of His resurrection, His life has been multiplied millions of times through confessing believers. Don't let your excuse and fear keep you from placing your faith in Jesus today. He will change your life.

Listen to these words of Jesus spoken to Thomas. "Don't be an unbeliever, but a believer." John wrote his entire gospel for this purpose, "that you may believe Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name."

Jn19

The fear of man will bring about personal compromise!  Live one life.  Live to please God.

Pilate found no fault in Jesus, but because of his fear of man he handed Jesus over to be crucified!  The text even says that he was suspicious that Jesus actually was who he claimed to be and that he was afraid even of Jesus.  Yet his fear of others caused him to act according to their desires.

Joseph of Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus, acted primarily out of fear of man.  It says, he kept his loyalty to Jesus a secret because he "feared the Jews".  He was unwilling to go public with his faith because he didn't want it to effect his status before his countrymen.

Fear of man causes us to do many things!  Generally it encourages us to disobey God.  Jesus taught us to fear God and to live according to His commands.  It is a difficult challenge, but it is worth it.

Live in the fear of God…not man.

Jn18

Do you know these relatively unknown biblical names, with two fantastic stories!?  Malchus & Barabbas.  Malchus was the slave of the high priest who had his ear cut off by Peter and replaced by Jesus in the midst of Jesus' betrayal.  Barabbas was a criminal condemned to die that was released instead of Jesus the morning before Jesus was crucified.  What were they thinking?

We don't have much biblical writings on these two men, but I can't help but think they were two of the final stories Jesus wanted to write before He was crucified.  Imagine the pain of a severed ear only to have it totally replaced and healed in a moment by Jesus.  What would that have been like?  In a moment you barely escape death and lose an ear.  In the next moment you are touched by the King of the universe!  Did he believe?

And what about Barabbas?  He was a violent criminal condemned to die by crucifixion.  Instead of dying, he was set free because of Jesus.  One moment he was on death row, and the next he was totally free.  All because of Jesus.  What was he thinking?  Did he believe?

And what about us?  In a sense aren't we just like these men?  Haven't we been touched and set free by Jesus?  I think we have.  We should celebrate this reality today.

Jn17

Jesus did not define "eternal life" as living forever.  He defined it as "knowing God through Him".  Do you have eternal life?

Rarely will you find anyone who will define eternal life outside of the context of "living forever", but Jesus defined it quite differently.  Think about it.  He knew that everyone will live forever; either with Him or without Him.  God created man to be an eternal being.  We tend to put the emphasis on the "eternal" part of the equation and Jesus definitely was interested in the "life" part of the equation.

Maybe a better question would be, "Do you have life?"  When Jesus saw men without forgiveness, He saw walking "dead men".  Even though they had physical life they did not have "eternal life".  In fact, they were doomed to "eternal death".

Jesus came so that we could have life.  True life.  Eternal LIFE!  Eternal life begins when we place our faith in Jesus.  It begins with birth.  Remember Jesus said, "you must be born again."  This is life, to know God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent.

LIve strong today.

Jn16

The conviction of the Holy Spirit is on all of us.  Some of us are actually listening.  Learn to listen and obey.

It will never be easy to follow Jesus.  It would be impossible without the help of the Holy Spirit.  I love the daily conviction of God's Spirit in my life.  It is often hard to obey, but I pray it never becomes difficult to hear.

Without the conviction of the Holy Spirit, I would be lost.  He daily guides my life and leads me to act in a manner more compliant with His will.  After 3 decades of listening and obeying, I would hope that I would be way better than I am.  Unfortunately, it is still a daily struggle to follow Jesus.  Fortunately, it is a daily struggle.

I love the conviction of the Holy Spirit in my life.  He truly is the "Helper & Comforter" that Jesus promised!

Jn15

God's desire for our lives is that we would be connected to Him in such a way that our lives would reflect His character.  There is no way for this to happen apart from an intentional effort on our part to stay connected to Jesus and His word.

Stay intentionally connected!

Jn14

If you were to describe the Holy Spirit in one word, what would it be? Jesus chose Spirit of "truth".  He primarily referred to the Holy Spirit as another Counselor, but He used "truth" to describe what He is.  I find that interesting.

In chapter one we hear John's description of Jesus.  He says that Jesus was "full of grace and truth."  In this chapter Jesus says, "I am the Way, the Truth and the LIfe."  Later John will write about Jesus' desire that his disciples are sanctified by truth, referring to God's word as "truth".

As believers, "truth" should be a primary way in which the Holy Spirit is evident in our lives.  We should speak, act and have a reputation of being full of the Holy Spirit.  That necessarily means that we would be full of truth.

It is crazy to me the number of men and women who actually believe that compromising "truth" is somehow acceptable to God.  In my opinion, God works with broken tools, but He always works with tools who are willing to speak, act and live by the "truth". It is living by the Spirit.

I hate lying!  I am confident God hates it as well.  

Jn13

"A new command I give to you: Love one another. Just as I have loved you." The command to love was not new.  The command to love as Jesus loved was quite new!  No one had ever loved like Jesus loved and no one will ever love like Him again.  This is a fact.

How then can Jesus command us to "love, just as I have loved"?  Wouldn't that be like saying, "Walk on water, like I walked on water."  Even if I wanted to and was willing to try, would I ever be able to walk on water like Jesus did?  NOPE!  I could not.  If that is a fact, how can Jesus command us to "love like Him"?

When Jesus said "like Him" He was not referring to "exactly like" Him.  He was using "like" in the same way that we use it.  The command was to love in a manner that put other's desires and needs above mine.  It was a command to be humble and to serve.  Jesus' example was not a lesson on "how to be God", it was a lesson on how to love like God loves.

Whenever we choose to act and behave toward others in a manner that truly has their best interest in mind, we are loving "just like Jesus".  It is the way of love.  Jesus set a new standard that He commands us to follow.

Tough challenge

Jn12

Many did not believe in Jesus because they loved approval from men more than approval from God! (vs. 43) Wow.  I have never seen that verse so clearly as today.  Right in John 12 we have an example as to why people were rejecting Jesus.  They knew to follow Christ would give them less value before men.  They desired the approval of man more than the approval of God!

It convicts me about how I truly live.  Who's approval do I hope to get today?  Is it man's or is it God's.  

I pray it is the latter.

Jn11

Have you ever thought about what makes Jesus angry?  Twice in this chapter John records, "Jesus was angry."  At what? Why?  It is also in the middle of these two accounts of Jesus' anger that we have the shortest verse in the bible, "Jesus wept."

Generally, when we think about Jesus being angry we think about the "cleansing of the temple."  In this case, His friend Lazarus had died and it was a response to his sister Mary crying and the Jews coming with her crying.  In both verses that describe Jesus' emotion of anger, it also describes how he kept that anger within Himself.  His anger was not apparent to those around him.  In fact, what others saw was Jesus weeping.

But why was he mad?  John doesn't give any commentary on this.  He only states it as a fact.  I believe He was angry at sin and death!  He never created man to sin and He never desired for us to taste the ugliness of death.  Death was a result to sin.  Death was the enemy Jesus came to destroy!  He destroyed death through His resurrection, but when He encountered it in His lifetime, it made him angry.

Death was not a part of God's original plan.  Jesus came to give life!

Jn10

Anyone who claims that Jesus did not claim to be God has never read the bible!  If Jesus is not God, then He is a liar and no one should follow any of His words.  Since He is who He claimed to be, we are fools to not obey His commands!

Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice and they follow me."  Are we hearing and following the voice of Jesus today?