He Cares: Jesus Series

   Matthew 10:29-31 "Are not sparrows sold for very little? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. The very hairs on your head have been counted. Fear not. You are worth more than a flock of sparrows."

   This passage isn't that confusing. Most people comprehend what it is saying but some still don't understand it. It's like one of my favorite quotes, as a teacher says, "I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you." Knowing something and understanding it are two different things. Like I can know what rocket science is but I don't understand it at all.

   God created everything. He loves his creation and cares for it; but, because of sin, it is depraved. That doesn't mean he doesn't care about that little sparrow when it is gone. Yet, that sparrow was not made in the image of God.

   Humans were made in the image of God. He loves us and wants a personal relationship with us. In fact, he loves us so much he knows intricate details about us. He knows how many hairs there are on your head. That's saying something because, I don't know about you, but when I was little and had long hair I had many tangles and a lot of hair would get pulled out.

   Anyhow, it's hard for us to understand how God would care about us. I mean, he's God and he is holy. We are not holy, we are sinners. Yet, God loved us enough to sacrifice his son so we could have a relationship with him.

   Some of us cannot understand how we could be good enough for God to love us that much. The truth is we are not good enough, and will never be good enough for God... on our own.

   The only way we can have that special relationship with God is by admitting we are sinners, believe Jesus died for our sins, and confessing that Jesus is Lord. Then we can have a personal relationship with God.    Yes, God loves us before we have that relationship with him. But, he cannot be with anything that isn't holy. That's why, though he loves us, if we don't confess our sins and that Jesus is Lord we cannot have eternal life with Him.

   That means that:

      If you are not a Christian and have not accepted Christ as your savior, you will go to hell. I know that sounds harsh but it's the truth. Good deeds do not get you to heaven. No one is good, not one (Romans 3:9-31). If you want to have eternal life with Christ, who loved you enough to die for you, then you need to ask God to forgive your sins and confess Jesus is your Lord.

      If you are a Christian then you need to continue to get to know God. It's like this, if you really like someone of the opposite sex you aren't just going to walk by them every day. If you love that person you are going to want to get to know them better. God knows you and loves you. He wants you to know him better. The way to do that is to spend time with him. Pray and get into the Word. Also, tell others about Christ so that none will perish but all will have everlasting life!

   Image from here.

I'm First: Jesus Series

   Mark 10:31 "The first will be last and the last first."

   One day I was with my students and they were getting in line. My students were running and shoving to be first. There interesting thing was we had just had a bible lesson about serving and showing love to others. I walked out and I said, "why are you shoving and running to get in line." One child said, "I'm hungry and I wanted to get to lunch first." I then quoted this verse. I said, "Jesus said, 'the first will be last and the last first.'"

   Now, you can picture the children's confusion about this. Some adults are even confused by this. If you are in last place in a race, how can you come in first? If you have ever seen the movie Cars it's almost like, how will turning right get you to go left? It's the opposite, how can you win?

   If you think about it from the world's standards then it doesn't make sense. But, in God's standard it does. Think about Jesus. He is the Son of God. He was there at the beginning of the universe. He is so great that he should be first for everything right? Wrong, at least in his eyes. Jesus didn't come to show how great he was. He came to serve. Most kings, leaders, and fake gods expect to be served. Jesus was different. Many times Jesus was tired and wanted to rest but crowds would come and, instead of sending them away, he would preach. He would change his plans to go heal someone who was sick. And, he showed us that he is the ultimate servant by taking our sins and being sacrifice.

   If this world was all that there was then being first may have some merit. But, we know that this isn't the end when we die on earth. Anything we earn here is temporary. The only things that truly matter are our souls. We are called to serve others so that many will be saved. By putting others first we will show them the love of God.

   In the movie Cars that I talked about earlier there's a hotshot new racer named Lightning McQueen. He is all about winning until a series of events change his perspective. Just as he is about win the Piston Cup (championship trophy) he stops right before the finish line. It didn't make sense to me when I was a little child. I wanted him to win. Instead he went back to help an older race car, who crashed, cross the finish line because it was his last race. Lightning understood that that trophy wasn't important in the long run. Serving others and showing them love is.

   So, do you only think about yourself? Do you serve others and put them first? How can you put someone else first today?

   Image from here.

Turning the Other Cheek: Jesus Series

   Luke 6:29 "When someone hits you on the cheek offer the other as well. When someone takes your coat let him have your shirt too."

   Let's say that you are walking down the street minding your own business when a random person comes up to you and slaps your face. What would you do? Would you stand there in shock? Would you hit the person back?

   This is the situation that Jesus is talking about in Luke 6:29. We are to show love to that person who hit us. We are to show love to the person who takes something from us (that could be something physical like a coat or something intangible like credit for something you did).

   There's a movie that came out many years ago called The Buttercream Gang. In the movie The Buttercream Gang is a gang who does good things for those in the community. One day their leader, Pete, has to move to the city. While in the city, Pete changes. He begins to make bad decisions and falls in with the wrong crowd. That's when he is sent back. When he comes back the Buttercreamers are excited because they think he will join them again. Instead he creates a gang that steals, lies, and cheats. Scott, the new leader of the Buttercream Gang starts to try to fight back. That didn't work, it only made things worse for him and for others. Finally, after Scott got some advice he decides to turn the other cheek. In fact, he even tells Pete he loves him. Pete then threatens to take Scott's bike. He asks Scott if he will still love him then. Scott gives Pete his bike. Pete is astonished as Scott walks away.

   This is a perfect example of turning the other cheek. If someone is stealing from us, we are called to love them. I've heard of stories where people are being stolen from and they give that person whatever they ask for and more. You may be saying, "what if we have to give all of our things away?"

   Matthew 19:16-30 talks about the rich man. He asked Jesus what he should do to gain eternal life. Jesus says to keep the commandments. The rich man said that he has kept them. Then Jesus tells the man to sell all he has and follow him. This story tells us that all of the things of this world don't matter. All of the earthly things are temporary. And, all of the things we have are not ours, they are God's. He gave them to us. Why can't we give to others what God has given to us? That is how we will turn the other cheek, show that we are different, and show the love of God.

   So, have you turned the other cheek when you should? Do you cling to your earthly possessions too much? How can you show God's love today?

   Image from here.

They Are Watching

  One day I was at my job as a preschool teacher. A child came up to me, let's call him Bob, and said another child, let's call him Dan, yelled in his face. I asked Bob, "how did that make you feel?" No sooner did I ask that then Dan started crying and walked over to my co-worker, let's call her Amy, and said Bob had yelled in his face. 

   I looked at my co-worker and said, "You ready?" She nodded. I walked up to her and yelled, "Amy!" She said, "ow, that hurts my ears when you do that. Please do not do that." I said, "I am sorry, I did not realize that hurt your ears I will not do it again." Meanwhile, the students were watching this whole exchange just stared at us after we finished. I said, "now you go."

Bob walked up to Dan and yelled, "Dan!" Amy and I began laughing. Bob had done what we asked. He copied us exactly as we had done it. 

   This situation is a great example of how much children learn from us. They watch us to learn how to talk, solve problems, care about others, tie their shoes, and much more. Many times though we are not the best examples. 

Ephesians 6:4 says "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." There are times when life gets away from us. We get stressed and busy. That's when we forget that we have a responsibility. 

   We are called to bring children up in discipline. That doesn't mean yelling at them. It means showing them how they should act. It means we are to emulate Christ in all we do. That is not always easy but it is what we are called to do. We shape the future each time we interact with children. What kind of future do you want to see?

   How do you act when children are near? Are you being a good role model to others? How can you bring up the next generation of children in a Christian way?

Image from here.

Leaving the 99: Jesus Series

   Luke 15:4-6 "If one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does he not leave the ninety nine in the open pasture and go after the missing one till he has found it? How delighted he is then! He lifts it onto his shoulders, and home he goes to call his friends and neighbors together. 'Celebrate with me!' He cries. 'I have found my lost sheep.'"

   This passage starts a series of parables by Jesus, 3 to be exact. It all started because of the Pharisees grumbling about how Jesus was welcoming and eating with sinners. That's when Jesus tells them these parables in order to show them how important everyone is to him.

   Shepherds were very low when it came to the views of society. But, Jesus used this parable to reach the uneducated man so they would understand what he was saying. Jesus said that a man lost 1 sheep out of 100. Now, when I was little and heard this passage for the first time I was like, " first, how does he know he has only 99 sheep? That’s a lot of sheep to count! Second, he lost 1 sheep but if he leaves what might happen to the other 99 sheep? If I were him I would stay to keep the rest of the herd safe." But, that's not Jesus' point.

   From what I hear, sheep are not that smart. If I was that shepherd I probably would have been concerned about the one sheep getting hurt; but I would have also been afraid that my other sheep would leave or be attacked. That's the point though; I'm not a perfect shepherd: Jesus is.

   We are Jesus' flock of sheep. He loves and cares about each one of us. He doesn't want any of us to stray from him. If one of us leaves him he loves us enough to go find that one. Then when he comes back with that one he lets it rejoin the flock. If another sheep would leave he would do the same.

This is Jesus' point: he came to save us all. We are all sinners in one way or another. If we stray from him he doesn't just let us go. He gets us back. We are his bride. He loves every one of us and wants us all to be saved. It doesn’t matter if we have been saved for years or only a day. He loves us all equally. He, and the angels rejoice when a lost sheep is saved. We should rejoice and want to help save the lost sheep/people too.

   So, are you lost and needing to be saved? Do you know anyone who needs to be saved? What can you do to spread Jesus' love today?

   Image from here.

Who is Your Master?: Jesus Series

   “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Matthew 6:24

   In this passage Jesus is discussing how anything we have on earth will be gone. Everything physical is temporary. I'm not a fan of money. Oh, I know it keeps society in order and it's nice because we don't have to barter and trade anymore, but it annoys me. It's not necessarily the actual bills that annoys me, it's the importance we have put on it. In America, we have created idols. Some of us idolize television, celebrities, video games, and money. An idol is anything that is more important to us than God. Many people obsess over having more money so they can have more things.

   Our verse today says, "No one can serve two masters." If we love something more than God then it has become a master over us. Let me give you an example from the secular world. Once there was a man named Scrooge. He lost everyone he loved because he loved money more. He would pay his employees very little. He would not use coal to warm his buildings. He even ate very plain food so that he would save money. Then he was visited by 3 spirits who changed his perspective. He began to give to others, both his time and money. Scrooge realized that in the long run money didn't matter.

   We cannot take money with us to heaven. The only things we take to heaven is our soul. While we are here it is our job to grow in God and show his love to others. That's how we show our love to him. That's how we serve him and not idols.

   So, are you serving something other than God? How can you follow him? Will you show his love for others today?

   Image from here.