In Mark 12:15-17, the Pharisee are trying to get Jesus to say something they can arrest him for, mainly that Jews shouldn’t pay taxes to Rome. So they ask if Jews should pay taxes to Caesar or not. The whole problem of course that in Jewish culture carrying around a coin with an image on it, implied you worshipped that image. Remember the 10 Commandments!

‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image–any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.’

The  inscription on the coin said.“Caesar Augustus Tiberius, son of the Divine Augustus.” To Jesus, this would have been blasphemous,the coin claims that Augustus was god.

So Jesus say “Show me a coin“, which I wonder why didn’t Jesus just pull one out. Unless he wasn’t carrying one….which would imply that Jesus doesn’t worship Caesar. But who does pull one out, a Pharisee. They very people who are suppose to be leading others in their relationship to God.

There is this thought in the Mishnah, which is considered to be the first important work of Rabbinic Judaism[3] and is a major source of rabbinic religious thought and Rabbinic commentaries. “That Caesar Had stamped every coin in his image, and God stamped every human in his.”

Since Caesar had created the coins in his image he could at any time ask for them back, in the form of a tax. So Jesus states, that because people are made in the image of God, He could also at any time request them back.

So in a way it’s give to Caesar what ever is his, his money and the stuff you can buy with money, and then go give your self to God.

which adds some insight into the rich young ruler. That before Jesus would allow him to follow him, he said go sell everything you have and give it to the poor. maybe Jesus wanted to see whether he worshiped God or Caesar.

A interesting thought.

*Disclaimer

I apologize up front to anyone who is offended by referring the church to business practices. I know for some it makes the gospel sound harsh, static, shallow, and degrades the gospel into just another product.

I assure you this is not my intention. I’m not interested in comparing the success of the church to the success of Coca Cola. I merely want to use the Coca Cola model as a metaphor.

The Coca Cola Company takes soda seriously! They spend millions of dollars a years to equip their marketers to spread the word about Coca-Cola to every person on earth.

They have clear goals about what they want to accomplish, how they will get there, and how it will affect the world around them.

A company that started with one man one the payroll over 110 years ago, now does $50 Billion a year in sales, in over 200 countries world wide. It’s amazing how big one mans vision can get.

Coca-Cola’s advertising has had a huge impact on American culture. Everything from art, and music, to television. They were even the first sponsors of the Olympic games in 1928. And Interbrand named them the most powerful Brand on earth in 2006.

What separates them from other beverage companies may not be their product, but how they talk about their product. Their stated goals are filled with the love language of an English poet.

“…..We are on a journey, a bold journey that will never end….”
“….We are inspired by our simple desire….”
“….It is in our very nature to innovate, create, and excel….”
“….We are Passionate about shaping the world….”

At this point you might be wondering what does Coca Cola have to do with the church?

It’s simple. Coca Cola is so passionate about their product that as a company they all press towards the same goal, and it’s an enormous goal. Coca Cola will not stop until everyone on earth can say Coca Cola is their preferred beverage.

The Church also has an enormous goal. To preach the gospel to everyone on earth. They will not stop until everyone can say Jesus Christ is their Lord and Saviour.

Coca Cola use’s their “Manifesto For Growth”. The Church uses their “Great Commission”. Coca-Cola uses marketing, the church uses evangelism.

If you didn’t know any better you would think they make a beverage that provides people with eternal life, not just soda.

Here’s where it gets messy.

Can we as the church say we are as passionate about the gospel as Coca Cola is about soda?

is the majority of your budget spent on marketing (evangelizing)?

what is the majority of your time as a church, spent accomplishing?

Do our mission statements reflect as much passion as Coca Cola’s?

Are we doing the best job we can to take the vision on one man and spread it to every person on earth?

If people didn’t know any better would they think your church sold soda, or eternal life?

I realize some of these questions are uncomfortable and other seem just unfair. I know the language of “selling” someone eternal life is not flattering to the church, and it’s not meant as a jab, or to cheapen salvation. The point is to get you thinking about why exactly your church is in business. Are you selling product on a weekly bases, or are you just having people return for free refills?

Is all your effort as a Church being internalized? Making sure you have a nice building, slick programs, cool graphics, and a welcome desk. Not that those things are wrong when they are in their context. But the Great Commission calls for a more external faith doesn’t it? Serving your community, supporting mission, building relationships.

Is this the side of the gospel that we are exporting to the rest of the world?

Maybe the best way to measure The churches success is to ask this question.

Would more people in your community notice if your church closed it doors or if the local gas station quit selling coke?

I think the majority of people live in the margins of life.

We feel as if we have just fallen short.

We’re not good enough, smart enough, rich enough, important enough, and so we define ourselves by our circumstances.

You know what I love about the Gospels.

They are full of stories of how Jesus steps into the margins of peoples life and pulls them out, and gives them hope, and restores their value.

Maybe it’s a reminder for us that no matter how broken, or worn out, or dirty we get, Jesus is never to busy to acknowledge us.

After all one of the reasons the pharisee hated him was because he choose to spend his time with those the empire and the law choose to marginalize.

So tell me what you think?

Gravity of Breathing [3] Tension

Tension | Oxford American Dictionary |
1 the state of being stretched tight
• a strained state or condition resulting from forces acting in opposition to each other.

2 mental or emotional strain
• a relationship between ideas or qualities with conflicting demands or implications

*There is no use of the word tension in the bible.

So how do you study something that isn’t even mentioned in the bible?

You have to study the concept. Define what you mean and search until you hit something that relates.

Tension is the idea of who you are and who you could be
of wanting to do good and always coming up short

Trying to walk and live like Jesus says
and always reverting back to being selfish and needy

Trying so hard to be the perfect Husband and father and Employee
yet saying something harsh when what was needed was sympathy
raising your voice when what was needed was mercy and grace
and exaggerating the story when what was needed was truth.

How do you deal with tension?
Between who you are and who you could be

How can we be one person on Sunday
and someone else during the week

How can we be one person at work
and someone else at home

How can we be one person when we’re around people
and someone else when we’re alone

How is it that we can be living in a small part of heaven on earth, and in a instant a piece of hell on earth invades

There must be some tension inside of Judas, A pull between who he wants to be, and who Jesus wants him to be. I don’t think Judas ever intended when he became a disciple to betray Jesus and hang himself. He never wanted to go that far.

It’s a thin line between disciple and betrayer.

It’s human to feel tension, as long as the result brings you back to God. The temptation when we feel tension is to immediately disconnect from God and rely on ourselves.

Judas was there for:
the feeding of the 5,000 // John 6:12
When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over.
Peter walking in water // Matthew 14:33
Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Lazarus raised from the dead // John 11:15
and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

Jesus gives him authority // Mt 10:1
He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

We try so hard to make Judas the villain, pure evil, Satan in human form. We want so badly to make him less human so we can’t see ourselves in him. In reality Judas had good intentions when he started following Christ just like all the other disciples. He saw, he heard, he felt, and he did the same things all the other disciples did.

so what happened to Judas to pull him apart.

Matthew 26:14-16 Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests 15and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty silver coins. 16From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

It’s human to feel tension, as long as it brings you back to God

Then Temptation is when we feel tension to immediately disconnect from God and rely on ourselves.

The results were tragic for Judas.

So How do you deal with Tension?

Support on Judas / not my ideas
Scholars surmise that Judas may have been the only Judean among the twelve disciples of Jesus. This alone could have caused him to feel somewhat superior, as Judeans considered Galileans to be country dwellers or “bumpkins.” When Jesus gave him charge of the money box, it may have additionally boosted his ego.

Judas is often identified as a Zealot, an attribute held by only one other disciple, Simon the Zealot. We know that Judas was probably a Zealot by his surname, Iscariot. Researchers believe this is a form of the title sicarii, meaning “dagger-men,” a group of ultra-Zealots who carried a knife with them at all times to be prepared to assassinate traitors and capitulators. In English, we could call him Judas the Daggerman.

Though motivated primarily by socio-economic and political factors, the Zealots also had prophetic ideas driving them. They believed that if they turned Israel back to God and incited war against the Romans, the Messiah would arise to lead them and establish His Kingdom. This “understanding”resulted from misinterpreting many prophecies concerning Christ’s teachings. In short, the Zealots ignored many of the prophecies regarding His first coming and completely mis-timed those about the second.

Initially, Christ’s message probably aroused great excitement among the Zealots and their sympathizers. His early public teachings, in which He rarely mentions having to die for the sins of the world, seemed to fit their expectations of a Messiah who would turn the people back to God. The accompanying miracles, healings, and casting out of demons only added to their “proof.” Here was a righteous Jew, a descendant of David, who could lead them to victory over the Romans and usher in God’s Kingdom.

Judas must have been thrilled. Jesus the Messiah had chosen him to be one among His twelve — and had appointed him treasurer too. Surely, he would be a mighty king in the New World Order that they would establish. It was more than he had ever hoped or dreamed.

Yet at some point, Jesus’ message began to change. He frequently told His disciples that He would die—by crucifixion, of all things—and that this was a main reason for His coming. Judas began to notice that Jesus’ references to the Kingdom contradicted his own ideas of it. How could this be right? Daniel had prophesied of the Messiah’s coming at this time to set up the Kingdom that “shall stand forever” (Daniel 2:44; 7:13-14, 27; 9:24-25). Jesus, Judas thought, must be a false Messiah.

Support

John 6:67 - Show Context

“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

Mt 10:1 - Show Context

He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

Mt 11:1 - Show Context

After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.

Mr 14:43 - Show Context

Just as he was speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, appeared. With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders.

Mt 20:17 - Show Context

Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them,

Mt 26:16 - Show Context

From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

Mr 3:14 - Show Context

He appointed twelve–designating them apostles–that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach

Mr 4:10 - Show Context

When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.

Mr 6:7 - Show Context

Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits.

Mr 9:35 - Show Context

Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.”

Mr 10:32 - Show Context

They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him.

Lu 8:1 - Show Context

After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him,

Lu 9:1 - Show Context

When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases,

Lu 22:3 - Show Context

Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve.

John 6:67 - Show Context

“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve

Gravity of Breathing [2] Heavy

John 11:21-37
21 Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.

22 “Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”

23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,

26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

27 She said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world.”

28 When she had said this, she went away and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”

29 And when she heard it, she got up quickly and was coming to Him.

30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him.

31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and consoling her, when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

32 Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.
33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled,

34 and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”

35 Jesus wept 36 So the Jews were saying, “See how He loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?”

Greek

John 11:33 When Jesus saw Mary Weeping

[2799, Klaio=To mourn for the dead, to lament]

John 11:35 Jesus Wept

[1145, Dakruo= To weep, To shed Tears]

Even though both Mary and Jesus cry, they have different meanings, and are caused by different things. Marys tears come from the death of her brother Lazarus, she is filled with grief and lost, and is mourning his death. Jesus on the other hand displays a more subtle kind of crying. When know people saw him, but it’s means more of to shed a few tears.

I have heard this story taught my whole life that isn’t it beautiful that Jesus is crying because he misses Lazarus his friend, and this story shows the humanity of Jesus and God to have compassion on mankind.

I don’t think that’s what’s going on here. We learn in verse 1-6 that Jesus knows Lazarus is sick, and even says “this sickness will not end in death, but it’s for the Glory of God” He then waits 2 more days before he even leaves to go see him. By the time Jesus gets there Lazarus has been dead for 4 days, and Jesus doesn’t even flinch. He’s calm and cool and has everything under control. Notice Jesus doesn’t cry when he talks to Martha, and it’s not even just Mary crying, but Mary and the crowd of people that move Jesus.

It then says he was troubled [33] [5015, tarasso= to cause one inward commotion, take away his calmness of mind]

Something about this scene takes Jesus calmness away, it can’t be just Lazarus death, and it seems like we’re missing details between verses 33-35, it gets choppy. All we know is that the atmosphere is heavy because people mourning a friends death. Death isn’t black and white for the people still living, it’s the emotional color palette of every gray imaginable. It was heavy

So it Jesus isn’t mourning, then theres only two other things I think cause tears.

1. Physical pain

2. Pressure

Oxford American Dictionary [Heavy]

1 of great weight; difficult to lift or move

2 of great density; thick or substantial

5 mentally oppressive; hard to endure : a heavy burden of responsibility.

Have you been there?

You know those moments in life, where you can’t wash another dish, you can’t take the trash out again, you can’t pick up another toy off the floor, you can’t have that conversation one more time, you can’t work another hour. Have you had a moment when the atmosphere is heavy. It’s so heavy and thick, and it’s not black and white, is all the shades of gray, and it almost feels like it’s pushing on your shoulders, but your scared to tell anyone because it might change the way they see you. So you just push it aside and keep going, and moving, and working, and living. And there comes a moment where you stop, and something about life, something about silence pokes a little hole in your side, and you start to spill all over the floor.

Have you ever cried for no reason, just because your due?

What if Jesus is feeling the pressure of responsibility, feeling like he has to do everything.

Maybe there’s part of Jesus that feels the heavy pressure of being saviour.

of people wanting him to put on a show

of people doubting his identity

of people grumbling behind his back

of people trying to set him up

Lazarus death is the foreshadowing of Jesus death, it’s this single moment that puts the crucifixion in motion. It doesn’t take a lot of faith to believe in someone who can raise people from the dead. So the scriptures say the people who saw believed, and then there were some who went to the pharisees and told them what they saw and from that time the pharisees and high priest plotted to kill Jesus.

What if Jesus in this moment he realizes he has to go to the cross, he can’t walk around raising everyone from the dead, he can’t heal everyone, he can’t protect everyone, he can’t feed everyone, he can’t keep teaching and explaining, he can’t save everyone! But the pressure of living this life where everyone around him pulls on his heart strings, including the people closet to him, to try and make him move in their behalf is stacking on his shoulders.

Maybe I’m part of those people, who’s only response to God is
“Lord, if You had been here, this wouldn’t of happened”
“If you loved me, then you’d save me from this”
” If you were real, then why don’t you do something”

Maybe we need to learn to stop avoiding heavy moments in life because those are moments when God moves.

Maybe because it’s the only time if life were we stop moving long enough for God to break us.

When was the last time you felt heavy?

Gravity of Breathing [1] Tired

John 4:6 (New International Version)

6Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

•Why is Jesus tired?
is it just from the long walk? Then why doesn’t it say that the disciples are tired too? After all this is John’s gospel, why not say and we were all tired.
I don’t think the point of saying he’s tired is to stress how hard their journey was, these are men who walked everywhere. And I don’t think tired refers to just being physical.And If he is just tired why would he send all 12 disciples away, why not send 9 and keep the inner 3 so he could haveintamate time with them. The only time we see Jesus alone in the gospels is when he’s praying/ interacting with God. Then in Jewish culture disciples would never leave their rabbis feet unless he commanded them. So it’s clear that they didn’t decide to leave Jesus, Jesus commanded them all to go.

Greek
the word tired in greek is kopia/w (2872, kop-ee-ah’-o) it means to grow weary, tired, exhausted (with toil or burdens or grief).
This word comes from the word kopov/ (2873,kop’-os) to cause one trouble, make work for,
and from ko/ptw (2875, kop’-to) to beat one’s breast for grief, this same word is used in Luke 8:52

52…Now they were all weeping and lamenting (2875, ko/ptw) for her…
even the word journey in this verse comes from a root word (3598, odo) that means more then just travel it means a way of thinking, feeling, and deciding.
So this word is much more than just physical tiredness, It’s an emotional and spiritual fatigue. Some versions say Jesus was weary

Oxford American Dictionary
Weary=feeling or showing tiredness, as a result of excessive exertion or lack of sleep

So it goes from
…and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey

to
…and Jesus, growing weary, tired, and exhausted from thinking about burdens and griefs, because people were causing trouble and making work for him. Began to show emotional and spiritual fatigue from his excessive exertion of energy.

It’s that point in life when everything becomes heavy, your lungs start to swell, your breathing gets harder. There’s no easy way out. Even simple problems at this point feel like someone standing on your shoulders. And the first moment who have to stop, and breathe, you slump against the wall and slide to the ground with your eyes closed.

Have you ever been stuck under water?
It doesn’t take long to feel the pressure of not having air. You start to panic, and all you can think about is getting to the surface, “I just need one breath”

I think Jesus is experiencing a moment like that

Which is great news for us, it means it’s ok to feel like this, we’re not less of a christian.
Christ feels like this and he doesn’t stop being Christ.

So What happened to make Jesus feel this way

John 4 Jesus Goes to Galilee

1Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2(although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were),

3He left Judea and went away again into Galilee.

So Jesus spends sometime in Judea baptizing, there must of been People crowded around waiting to be baptized. When the Pharisees hear this they become jealous, that anyone would follow someone other than them. So they take notice that Jesus is baptizing more than John. They making it about stats. Who’s got the higher numbers, I imagine them going between both camps spreading venom about who’s better, and causing all kinds of discord. They want nothing more than to cause trouble. Jesus realizing what their doing becomes frustrated and just leaves. They have turned something beautiful into a game. So he wants to go back to Galilee away from the Pharisees.

Now, when Jesus traveled it wasn’t a group of guys just walking silently from point “A” to”B”. He used that time to talk to and teach his disciples. He probably spent all day explaining why he decide to leave. Imagine 12 men confused about why they just left when people where waiting for them to baptize them. Jesus is not only irritated at the pharisees but frustrated that the disciples don’t get it. So after walking for several hours in the middle east sun, they stop atSychar to rest. Jesus sends his 12 off and for the first time in maybe days he was alone. So what does he do? he sits down to rest, to gather himself.
Now this story isn’t even about Jesus being tired, John 4 is the story of The Woman of Samaria. Which is a great story, but towards the end of the chapter his disciples come back.

31Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, “^(AL)Rabbi, eat.”

32But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”

33So the ^(AM)disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?”
Something has happened here

Jesus was so tired he just wanted to be alone, and know he seems to be fully charged up. The disciples are again confused because there is no way a Samaritan gave him food. Jews and Samaritan didn’t interact. And Jesus says

34…, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.
I think there is an important truth in here.

When we get to points in our lives where we are hardly holding on, and life is crashing into us.

God seems to be so far away, and all you want to do is close your eyes and wait until morning.

Jesus says its not about just surviving if that’s how you see life, life will crush you. It’s about finding out what God made you to do, and doing it.

Do you need hope? need some energy? need something good to happen?

Starting doing Gods will, advance the kingdom, preach the good news to someone else
when life becomes all about you, that’s the time to serve someone. to give of yourself.
Maybe when your tired the best thing to do is find someone else whose tired and serve them.

Read This // Matthew 19:16-22 (The Message)

The Rich Young Man

16Another day, a man stopped Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” 17Jesus said, “Why do you question me about what’s good? God is the One who is good. If you want to enter the life of God, just do what he tells you.”

18-19The man asked, “What in particular?”

Jesus said, “Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as you do yourself.”

20The young man said, “I’ve done all that. What’s left?”

21“If you want to give it all you’ve got,” Jesus replied, “go sell your possessions; give everything to the poor. All your wealth will then be in heaven. Then come follow me.”

22That was the last thing the young man expected to hear. And so, crest-fallen, he walked away. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and he couldn’t bear to let go.

Watch This // Slides

Launch Slides ( numbers below match their slide number)

Comments

1.-4
From Adam to Noah is 10 generations, in that period things had gotten so out of control that God had to wipe out mankind. He didn’t even think he could salvage us, in his mind the flood was the only answer.

Again with Abraham god wants to wipe out entire cities, and Abraham begs God not to on the account of the few righteous people who do live there.

When you live under the law, life become black and white. It leaves no room for a God who loves or has mercy, because that begins to make things gray.

You don’t have to teach your kids how to lie, steal, and be selfish. There is something in us that already understands those things. The things we have to teach kids is how to share, forgive, and be compassionate. All the things that God reflects.

5-7
I don’t see Jesus in the gospels talking about getting saved and taking it easy for the rest of your life. I see a Saviour who wants us to deal with our junk, now. To strive to live the best passable life we can on earth. Christian should be committed to doing everything we can to bring a glimpse of heaven to earth.
Even with Judas, I think Jesus wanted to save him from destroying himself. Jesus knew his heart when he called him. He knew his love of money, and yet Jesus appoints him as the treasure. I think it was either to fuel his greed, or feed this repentance. Jesus gave Judas the chance to repent up untill the last kiss.

8-12
The Pharisees are always trying to catch Jesus breaking the law so they can hold it against him. It’s interesting I can’t find a place where Jesus rejects what they believe, he’s always rejecting how they live. In the sermoun on the mount Jesus says ” I didn’t come to do away with the law, I came to add to it”. Jesus is much more concerned with our hearts. He wants to save our hearts from turning us into Pharissehs.

And if we as christians would start to believe we are the people Jesus and Paul claims we are. Then it will begain to change the way we intereact with world. Maybe we don’t have to spend so much time pointing out peoples flaws in an attemp to show them God’s love. Maybe we could just focus on living the live God says we can have, and let the Holy Spirit do his job of convicting.

Instead of seeing a church full of hypocrites, we will begain to see a church full of broken people.

13-15
In these parables, it’s not just about the surface level. There are deep truths that wil change the way you see Jesus. The great thing about Jesus is he uses thes parables to make points. It you hear it and walk away, you only get one level. It you make some time and ask some questons, and dig and give it some space. It takes you somewhere else.
A relationship with Jesus is meant to be daily, a daily struggly, and wrestling with what God’s word means.

I need Jesus to save me from my ego
To save me from thinking I always have the answer
To save me from thinking I’m better than other people
To save me from thinking I can do it on my own
Answer This //
Do you think there’s a better way to live?

What do you need Jesus to save you from?

Read This // Ephesians 2:1-10 (The Message)
1It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. 2 You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. 3 We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us.

4 Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, 5 he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! 6 Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah. 7 Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. 8 Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! 9 We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! 10 No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

Watch This // Slides

Launch Slides ( numbers below match their slide number)

1. Most people don’t go to church because they are afraid they have to change before they can go. The reaction People have to church is that their not good enough to be a Christian so why go at all. That’s like saying I’m too dirty to take a shower. That’s the whole reason you take a shower, to get the dirt off. The church is not a museum of saints, but a hospital for sinners.

2. When you view God as a dictator, it removes any form of relationship. So the only way to please him Is by keeping all the laws and commandants. So the only way to convince someone to become a Christian is to prove there is a God, by being perfect. “See I’m perfect, and God can make you perfect too”.

3. As if we are ants and God is the bully with the magnifying glass. The problem is that if God is just waiting for us to mess up so he can wipe us out, we’d already be dead.

4.Being a Christian for me use to be about what you weren’t aloud to do.
You can’t:
… smoking
… swear
… drink
… having sex
… listen to secular music
… watch R rated movies
… go to bars or clubs
… be friends with people who are not Christians

5. But everything Changes when you change your belief about God. The reason the world sees a angry God is because to many Christians are angry, about something I assume. But Jesus talks about a God that loves, and cares, and feels our pain. He compare God to a loving father, that works in the best interest of his children. About how he loves to give his kids gifts, and loves when they spend time with him. It doesn’t sound like he wants to squash us.

6. it’s less about trying to prove God exist and more about telling People What Jesus has changed in me, and inviting them to experiencing that. It’s about being ok with who God made you. The gospels talk about how we are his workmanship. God takes great delight in creating each one of us differently.

7.Luke 5.31 says Jesus didn’t come to save the Perfect (Righteousness) he came to save those who know they need a saviour. Notice in the gospels what hacks Jesus off the most isn’t the poor people, or the uneducated. It’s the Religious know it alls. The Pharisees who use their education and religious power to make others feel shameful about them selves.

8. Col 3 …Your old life is dead..
instead of beating your self up because you messed up, slipped, caved in whatever it is, maybe the thing to do is to hit your knees and declare to God ” that’s not who I am, That’s a habit or addiction of my old self, That persons dead..”

9. It doesn’t mean we get a free pass to sin. Like Paul says you don’t sin more just so you can receive more grace. You have a responsibility as a follower of Christ to pursue the very best God has for you.

10. The disciples didn’t go around trying to prove the existence of their God. They spent there time talking about this transformation that happens inside of you when you become a Christ follower. They invited people to walk with them in their pursuit of God.

11. when you ask Jesus to be your Saviour, The first thing he does is erase all your debts. Scripture says you literally become a “New Creature” something that’s never been created before. You still have your physical body, but whats living on the inside is reborn, remade, restored into something new.

12 If we could save ourselves, we would of done it by now.

13. I spent my whole high school life trying to force myself to be perfect, I thought I had to, to be a “Good Christian”. I spent 4 years walking around with my head down feeling guilty because I could never be good enough.
If you take all that energy you used trying to stop doing things, and focus it on what you could be doing. I’m convinced you’d see more growth in your life.

14. Isn’t our biggest fear about following Jesus that we aren’t good enough.

What happens when we fall, when we say something we didn’t mean, when do something that hurt a lot of people.
The beautiful thing about Jesus is he can use us in any condition. Even Paul says he was the worst of the worst, but because of the grace and mercy of Christ look at what God did with his life.

Answer This //

Do you really think God is waiting until your perfect before he can use you?

Why do Christians feel like it’s not ok to have problems?