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Monthly Archives: January 2012
Jan 31, 2012    |      Comments Off on Retweeting Jesus “RT@JesusChrist #13”

Retweeting Jesus “RT@JesusChrist #13”

“It is finished.” — JC
John 19:20 (NLT)

Surely you have used this phrase before? I have spoken this after completing a Final Exam, book report, doing the backyard or eating a a large pizza all by myself.

When is the last time you said, “It is finished?”

When Jesus says this, He speaks it from the Roman Executioner’s Cross just seconds before his heart beats its last beat. He has just spent the last 18 hours going through unspeakable torment. It is Finished, is a statement of a champion. And in this case…the meaning behind this phrase impacts every person on earth from the past and every person to yet exist in the future.

When Jesus says from the cross, or as I have been pretending, “Tweets” it from the cross. Every Roman follower of Jesus’ Tweets would have perfectly understood in context what He meant. Keep reading…

You see in the Roman empire the Death penalty could be carried out in several different forms. Crucifixion or beheading were the two most popular death sentences given to non-military law breakers. The Roman Empire wanted to be known as fierce and they also wanted to avoid being known as uncivilized. So they had a death sentence “program” that was swift yet brutal. Swift so as not to be too cruel and unusual, but brutal enough to warn a potential criminal that Rome meant business when it came to following their laws.

The military had a few death penalty ways about them that could strike fear in the heart of anybody and hopefully would prevent a potential law breaker from going through with his plan. Here are some of the ways a Roman Military person could be put to death if they caused Rome to be embarrassed or if they broke the military code of ethics. If while on night watch as a Roman guard, the guard fell asleep, and his superior officer actually caught him sleeping, the commanding officer would awaken the sleeping guard, have his clothes stripped off to his ankles, then light the clothes around his ankles on fire and the guard would be burned alive. (One didn’t want to fall asleep on duty. They didn’t have energy drinks then, either!) Another tactic that Roman Officers would use when trying to find the culprit in a military regiment that had “messed up,” was to line the whole group up along a tall cliff. The entire Roman Army Regiment would then walk to the edge of the cliff and literally, while standing, put their toes on the edge of the cliff, and of course, everybody would be looking down, fearful of what could happen. The Officer in charge of the regiment would walk behind each of the soldiers as they stood on the edge of the cliff and would be yelling at them to identify the person who “screwed up,” broke the law, or embarrassed Rome due to negligence. If there wasn’t anybody in the entire Roman Regiment that would “Nark” out the guilty person, then the Officer in charge would begin to walk behind the group and push one soldier at a time off the cliff and have the group watch this person fall to his death. The hopes of the officer was that somebody would finally point out the offender, or the offender would finally confess and then be pushed to his own death, saving the lives of the others in the regiment.

If there was no cliff to be found in the area then the Roman Officer would have his regiment of soldiers line up anyway. He would take out a cup that he carried with him for this very purpose. The cup would be filled with a mixture of Hemlock. Hemlock is a lethal poison. Whether you drink a little or a lot, it is going to kill you. (Hemlock is the poison in the story of Romeo and Juliet. It is also how Socrates was given the death sentence) This cup that the Roman Officer carried would be filled with the Hemlock mixture and was known as “The Cup of Suffering” in the Roman Empire. In the Roman Empire if an officer in charge had to use the cup of suffering there was only one rule…The cup had to be completely drank for the officer in charge to be satisfied that “the crime” committed was paid for. So imagine the Roman Regiment lined up. If the officer had an idea of who the offending soldier might have been he would place that soldier in the first position, the front of the line. He would give the cup of suffering to that first soldier. Now the soldier has a moral dilemma. The first soldier knows that he is going to die whether he drinks a little of this cup of suffering or if he drinks the whole thing. If the first soldier drinking from the cup of suffering only drinks a little, he then would have to pass the cup to the next in line. That next soldier would have to drink a little and then pass it on to the next. However…if anybody in the line wanted to spare the lives of everybody else, down the line, all he had to do was drink the whole cup of suffering himself. If the soldier chose to drink the whole cup of suffering, he would drink the whole cup, give the cup to the officer in charge and the officer would say, “IT IS FINISHED!”

Do you get what Jesus did, when He “tweeted” from the cross, “IT IS FINISHED!”

Jesus was saying, “I will take all the punishment upon myself and spare everybody else for all time past and future.”

However…please think about this with me…this is important…Just approximately 24 hours earlier, Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane and was begging His Father in Heaven to do what?

“Father, Please take this CUP OF SUFFERING away from me!” Jesus begged His Father three times this exact request.

Understanding the Roman’s Cup of Suffering brings about a lot more depth of meaning to this whole situation doesn’t it?

Do you have a child or children? Can you imagine one of your children coming to you…and by the way…this child coming to you has been the PERFECT child, literally. This child whom you love so intensely begs you to not do something. But this something he is begging you not to do is so intensely painful and humiliating. How could you follow through and give the go ahead and then watch it happen to your child? You give the “go-ahead” to have your perfectly innocent child beaten to an inch of his life, stripped naked in front of everybody, you watch him get beaten over the head with clubs, they force a huge thorn crown down upon his bleeding head, make him carry his own cross through the streets while people spit and jeer him. You continue to watch the people throw your perfect child on top of the cross beam and drive nails into his hands and feet. Dislocating his shoulder or both shoulders. Laughing and jeering the whole time. They then hoist the cross, with him nailed to it, to an upright position where you have to watch your only perfect child literally suffocate to death, fighting for air.

I couldn’t do it. If I had to pick who was going to go through that kind of agony to pay for all mankind’s sins. And my choice is between my own perfect child and you…the one who sinned and brought this whole curse to a reality. I’m sorry…You would die. Not my only perfect child.

How much does the Heavenly Father love you? How much does the Heavenly Father love you that He chose for you to live and have His perfect son, His only child, pay the price instead?

REALLY…HE CHOSE YOU TO LIVE. HE MADE JESUS DRINK THE CUP OF SUFFERING INSTEAD OF YOU.

This is the way God desires us to be everyday of our lives. Sacrificial, Giving, Loving, Serving, Accepting.
That’s what He did for you. That’s what He did for me. By doing this, God demonstrated to us how much He loves us and accepts us without having us do a single thing to earn His acceptance. In fact the Bible says that while we were sinners, God absolutely accepted us by having His son die for us…again…while we were still sinning, we were accepted by God. By God giving His only Son as a replacement for us on the cross. (To drink the Cup of Suffering) It shows that you can’t do one thing to earn God’s acceptance and love for you. It is a gift. That gift was given when Jesus was placed on the cross instead of you. Oh, I wish all people lived in this kind of behavior. Let me demonstrate by inserting a diagram below.

The image I have inserted below is an image that demonstrates, perfectly, the difference between Love’s way and Control’s way. I wish I could say that I created the diagram. I did not. Credit is due to the Life Training Material we used to teach at Parkway Christian Church. If you would like to check this full material out then look up www.vcli.org. Vcli stands for Victorious Christian Living. They are headquartered in Phoenix AZ. The material is actually called S.A.L.T. (Seven Areas of Life Training) Its good stuff. The following thoughts are from this material.

God is Love. He COULD control, but He chooses to demonstrate his power and position by Love not control. Please be “self-aware” enough to know which way you live your life and lead the people you influence. Do you live/lead by Control or by Love?

As you can see, Love doesn’t make you earn anything. Love gives you total acceptance first. Love gives you an “A” and then allows you to earn an “F” if you want to. Love says, “I have AUTHORITY to make you earn my acceptance, but I am going to ACCEPT you first and show you how much I love you. When you know how much I love and accept you, you will feel AFFIRMED by be. As you feel affirmed by me, then you will desire to be ACCOUNTABLE to me and when you choose to be accountable to me, you acknowledge that I am an AUTHORITY in your life.

That is God’s way. That is the way God wants you to live and lead others. It will take you totally trusting in God as you live and lead this way.

People, who have a problem with God, usually think that God leads using the Control side of the diagram.
They have had either a controlling parent or too many controlling people in their life.
They have been forced to submit to the person in authority first. It goes like this…
Somebody, with power, demands that you follow their AUTHORITY, period. They do this by forcing you to be ACCOUNTABLE to their rules/style/ways. When you prove you are being accountable to their authority, then the person in authority will begin to AFFIRM you. “Keep up the good work, you are really catching my attention,” they say. As you keep up the good work because you want this person’s affirmation and you continue to work for their affirmation and you stand the test of time…you will finally be ACCEPTED by the person in authority.

How Horrible. Right? Thank God, that God and Jesus didn’t do this to all of us!

This is the way of corporate and worldly living. This is the way of control. People who control are living as if they are God. You agree, right, that ” all control” belongs to God?

So…I say…THANK GOD that God leads us using the Love side of the diagram. God accepts first. How wonderful.
The Cup of Suffering that was given to Jesus proves it.

“IT IS FINISHED.”
That means you don’t HAVE to have control. God’s got that part.
ACCEPT first.
God didn’t force you to make Him your Authority.
Why do you make others bow to your Authority? (If you do.)

God’s Got your Back.
(Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Live like God in all your ways and He will take care of the rest.) That’s my version of Proverbs 3:5-6.

Accept first. Love first. Trust first. You really didn’t EARN anything in your life that you have. You might pridefully think you did. But everything is a gift from the Lord. Everything.

Our School Teachers are a perfect demonstration point on this. Depending on the teacher’s personality and whether or not they are power hungry, they can start you, as a student, with either an “A” or an “F”. The grades work out the same either way in the end.
Everyday you can tell the attitude difference between the teacher that accepts you first and teaches as if you have an “A.” Versus the teacher that has the attitude of not accepting you first and you come into class with the teacher seeing you as a student starting with an “F.” Its an obvious difference and everybody knows it except the teacher.
Which teacher is better to sit under as a student?
Which teacher do you actually WANT to learn from ?
Which teacher really is better at teaching?
Get it?

It Is Finished!
You don’t have to control anything.
Live for others like Jesus lives & died for you.

In your marriage, does your spouse start the day with an “A” or an “F”?
In your workplace, do those “under” you start their job with an “A” or an “F”? (BTW…Jesus washed the feet of those “under” Him.)
In your parenting do your kids start the day with an “A” or an “F”?
In your friendships do your friends start each day with an “A” or an “F”?
In your everyday life as you drive, do totally dumb drivers get to start with an “A” or an “F”? Ohhh…that’s a hard one for me! Can you tell? LOL
Shopping for Groceries does the lady slapping her kids at the check out counter start with an “A” or an “F”?
Waiting in line…wherever…did the guy that cut in line start with an “A” or an “F”?

Give people in your life an “A” first and then you’ll be following the example of Jesus Christ. Fully accept first. Then work from there.
How they treat the “A” you gave them is up to them. There comes a time where that “A” starts dwindling to a “B” or a “C”…its then you and I need to confront the offender…if you wait until they get an “F” to confront…well…that’s just a tough meeting! Its hard work. Never quit working on it. We all have shortfalls. If we follow the teaching of Jesus to treat others like we like to be treated, then hopefully that gives us a few more “A’s” in our pocket to hand out to others. Make sense?
Can I help you with anything?

All right…I can finally say about this long blog…
“It Is Finished!”

Jan 30, 2012    |      Comments Off on Retweeting Jesus “RT@JesusChrist #12”

Retweeting Jesus “RT@JesusChrist #12”

“I am Thirsty.” — JC
John 19:28

Again, Jesus could have never physically tweeted this message out on His own. His hands were nailed down. If Jesus had the new iPhone 4S He could have used the text to speech feature or just had Siri take care of the Tweet on His behalf. I’m going to guess Jesus would have used technology to His advantage if He had had it back in His day. I don’t want to have too much fun with this thought because it is such a serious moment in Jesus life.

When Jesus sends this message out…I think He literally dies in the next 1 to 2 minutes after saying one more thing. His last statement/tweet will be covered in tomorrow’s blog post.

So what did He mean with this message. “I am thirsty.” The simplest idea is just what it is. He was just stating a fact. He was dehydrated. He had been through a living Hell in the last 18 hours. Sheer humiliation, degradation and torture. A simple drink might have given Him just a bit of comfort. But I don’t think this is what Jesus meant by saying “I am thirsty.” Jesus is all knowing…He knew He was a minute or 2 away from death and that a literal drink of water would have been worthless.

Another idea is that Jesus was so focused on the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament that He was fulfilling another prophecy to help others down the road be able validate Him as Messiah by how many prophecies about the Messiah Jesus actually fulfilled. By the way, there are more than 300 prophecies that were written about a coming Messiah thousands of years before Jesus ever walked the earth. Jesus fulfilled everyone of them. One of those prophecies is found in Psalm 69:21 “for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” So when Jesus says, “I am Thirsty,” you can read the rest of the story, the soldiers actually offered him a drink that had vinegar in it. So, this could be a reason why Jesus sent out the message of “I am thirsty.” Just a little way to prove He is the Messiah, the Son of God, the Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
But I think I have a better idea.

Remember the story of the Samaritan Woman at the well? If you do not, you can read the whole story in John Chapter 4 of the Bible. There is a critical thing Jesus says to this Samaritan woman on that hot day. I’ll put some of the story right here, but to read the whole story just read John 4.

JOHN 4:7-15 is as follows…(I removed some sections that aren’t pertinent to my point to save space)
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

This story reveals a lot about Jesus. He had such a confidence about Him, but was never arrogant. He was very direct, but never offended secure people. The woman at the well must have been secure, she sure pushed back on Jesus. It seems like this back and forth banter between the two had a bit of intensity to it. (I would have loved to have been there to witness this conversation.)

Anyway…Jesus basically is saying to the woman. “I am living water.” Accept what I want to give you and you will never THIRST again. Jesus was saying…as other passages in the Bible say…that He is the ultimate way to fulfillment. What is true fulfillment? To be close to God the Father.

Think about it…if you are really close with God the Father. He is in your presence every moment of every day. What do you lack? Nothing. For in the closeness of God, you recognize that nothing else satisfies. God is the ultimate fulfillment. Be tight with God and you will “thirst” for nothing.

So Jesus is hanging on the cross. This is his 6th of 8 tweets that He sends FROM THE CROSS. Tweet #11 that we covered yesterday said, “My God, My God, why have you ABANDONED me?”

So in real time…as Jesus tweets, “I am Thirsty,” it was only moments after He cried out the question of why God abandoned Him.

For the very first time in Jesus’ existence (Jesus has always existed, He was NOT created…Jesus has been with God in eternity for ever.) So…for the very first time EVER…Jesus finds Himself away from His Father…utterly alone. Jesus says to the woman at the well, if you are close to the Father, you will never thirst again!”

So…all alone…on the Cross…carrying the sins of everyone including yours and mine…seconds from Death…difficult to breath…the only way He could truly communicate what He was experiencing was to say, “I am Thirsty.” (If you don’t understand why Jesus was all alone because God HAD to abandon Him, go back to “RT@JesusChrist #11…I explain it there.)

Another passage in the Scripture comes to mind as I think about a lack of God and thirst being the same thing. Psalm 41:1-2 says this, “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for God, the living God.”

Are you Thirsty?

Is it fair for me to say that when you have times of coveting (wanting what others have) you are thirsting for something deeper than stuff? When you find yourself wanting a bunch of things, consumed by materialism, keeping up with the Jones’, greed, etc…is it possible you have drifted from God and are “thirsty?” When you find yourself grasping and fighting for attention, love, positional power…I think its because you have drifted from God and you acting out of being “thirsty.” The solution is in Jesus Christ and drawing close to Him, remembering what He did for you, remembering that the Lord is the one who defines you and fulfills you. Not things of this world. Don’t confuse your thirst.

What have you found yourself day dreaming about lately? Day dreaming about something is not necessarily wrong. But what if you start placing your hopes and happiness based off of things you want. (If I only had “_________________” THEN I would be happy.)

If you have been thinking that lately about things other than God…You may as well be saying, “I am thirsty.”

So what is the answer?
Do you need to get close to God again or for the first time?
Do you need to commit to a local Christian church where you are taught the Word of God and challenged to be Holy?
Do you need to start reading God’s Word on a daily basis? (God’s Word is The Holy Bible…only.)
Is there a habit/sin that is keeping God from drawing close to you because your sin is keeping you away from Him? (Read 1 John 1:9)
Can you think of anything right now that you need to change to be more like Jesus Christ?

Make a commitment today to change it. Tell somebody you trust that you are going to change. Choose to be Holy. Nobody else will make this change for you.
If you need to, I hope you will make the change. If you do not make the change…You might spend the rest of your life…

THIRSTY.
How may I help you?

Jan 29, 2012    |      Comments Off on Retweeting Jesus “RT@JesusChrist #11”

Retweeting Jesus “RT@JesusChrist #11”

My God, My God, why have you abandoned me? –JC
Matthew 27:46 (NLT)

Are you a person of Integrity?
Is God a God of Integrity?

I don’t know the answer to the first question above, and I must say that I have only a very few things that I am absolutely positively for-sure about. The answer to the second question is one. Not only does God have integrity…He IS integrity.

Buckle in for this study. Its a long one. But its the foundation for all of Christianity. Its not one that we can just “cheap” our way through.

Understanding that God is all about integrity is the foundational understanding that is required to begin to comprehend what Jesus is saying when He tweets, “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me.”

If God is Integrity…AND God has created some rules or laws for life, then God must follow His own rules or He wouldn’t be integrity…if He isn’t integrity then He isn’t God.

One more “foundational point” we must understand. Be patient with me in this teaching part. (Don’t get frustrated as you read this…keep reading and really put your thinking cap on.) Its important to understand the most essential parts of God are not just Integrity, but also His CHARACTER.

Character is WHO you are.
Integrity is HOW you live.

Character and Integrity are so closely linked. Just like the spelling of WHO & HOW. They are the same, yet different.

The Character of God is best described in these words. PERFECT/PURE. This character trait about God is what makes Him the best law giver/law creator/law follower/law officer/law judge. This is what makes Him the final authority. Because of this Perfection/Purity trait of God, God WILL NOT be in the presence of sin. Its really not that He won’t…its just impossible. It would be like saying you are going to take a little light and mix it with a little darkness. It would be like saying you are going to take intense heat and mix it with extreme cold. Its impossible. You just would end up with something totally different. The Bible is clear. God is the same, yesterday, today and forever.

Its important to understand this Integrity and character of God to fully grasp this Tweet of Jesus’.

If God is perfection/integrity/character/purity…this means then, when God creates a law, He must follow it Himself. So in Leviticus we can read about God creating the very first laws. The Core Law that God creates…which means…every other law stems from it, is Leviticus 17:11 “Life is in the Blood.” You can see how important this is even in reading about it in Genesis 9:4. “Life is in the Blood,” is best demonstrated when God says to Cain…after Cain killed Abel…”Cain, your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.” I didn’t know that blood has a voice. Think about that. That paints a clear picture about “Life is in the blood.” The 2nd Core law that God creates is found in those same passages. “It is the blood given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible.”

I don’t think there can be any disagreement with you and me on this…. God IS Integrity/Character! God is Pure.

So when God uses HIs purity through Character and Integrity to form some basic principles of life…we end up with God laws. God Laws are things that God asks of us so that when we do them we live full lives that are healthy and Character and Integrity and Pure, which allows us to stay in His presence. When we chose to not follow God’s laws then we brought the opposites of Character and Integrity and Purity. God knew this would happen. He knew we would sin. (Sin is a term that simply means to miss the mark. Think archery…aiming at the bulls eye, but missing…Sin.) God is our Bulls Eye. God IS Perfect/Integrity/Purity. And because God is Perfect/Pure He knew if we sinned, He could no longer be in our presence because of His purity. He wants you to be close to HIm all the time. He loves you that much. So in His wisdom He created a way for us to be “Pure” again. God said that if life is taken (“Life is in the Blood”), then we could be made pure again so that God could then be with us again. So in the Old Testament times, God said that if a person sins and thus is separated from God, then we could take an animal, kill it, put its blood on us and then we would be considered pure again. (Its okay to say its a weird system, but it is how God designed it.) So, be careful saying its weird! LOL

Now…to the Tweet of today. Jesus is hanging on the cross. Why? Because God determined that animal sacrifices where not working like He wanted it to work. (We are a stubborn people!) I should only speak for myself…but I’m speaking for you too. 🙂

We all have sinned which separates us from God. Animal blood isn’t doing the job in restoring us back to God. So God has to make a decision. The sin has to be paid for. What does that leave God as an alternative if animal blood isn’t working? The answer, Human blood. (You don’t even have to be a vampire for that statement to get your attention.)

This new reality puts God in a real dilemma. The Bible says that God is a God of Justice & Mercy. Justice requires payment, mercy requires no payment. God loves you so much. God understands that you will be lost to Him forever if He makes you pay your own price for your own sin, which would be Justice. Giving all your blood to pay for your sin…would kill you and God would lose you as you died to pay for your own sins. If God lost you because you “justly” died to pay for your sins, God’s mercy would go unfulfilled. But if God just gives you Mercy, then He can’t have you close to Him because no blood would have been paid for your sin, thus you are still imperfect/impure. God still loses you. So how does He solve this dilemma?

God looks to His right while on His throne in Heaven and sees HIs only Son sitting there with Him. The Father knows that Jesus helped create mankind and everything else. The Father knows that there is a Spiritual side of Jesus that most of us humans don’t fully understand. God sees the answer to the great dilemma. He sees how the price could be paid with blood and at the same time be able to completely fulfill His own Justice nature and His own Mercy nature. He literally could “kill two birds with one stone.”

God decides to command His only Son, Jesus, to leave their “gated community” and become a human, starting as a vulnerable infant, growing into a grown man while remaining perfect and then give all His life blood to pay for the price that Justice demands and yet show His favorite creation, us, mercy at the same time. Jesus pays for the sin(Justice) and we don’t have to pay for our sin.(Mercy) Then Resurrect His only son and everybody wins. Mercy and Justice are fulfilled. (I love it when a plan comes together!)

Jesus says to His Father…”Your Will Be Done.” And God planted His only Son into the womb of a wonderful young woman named Mary. I hope you know the rest of the story. If not, start in the book of Matthew in the Bible and read on!

Fast forward approximately 33 years and we arrive now at this Tweet of Jesus. “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?”

Jesus knows the answer. We do to. God put all our sin on Jesus. Every bad decision I’ve made. Every selfish thing you’ve done. Imperfections. Character-less-ness. Impurities. Integrity-less-ness. ALL ON JESUS. That is a lot of “Nasty” put on the shoulders of Jesus. With all that imperfection now ON Jesus…God, the Father, must retreat His presence from Jesus. Jesus feels it so intensely, He cries out, “Why have you abandoned me?!” I think Jesus was upset. I think He was thinking…’Geez…I came to earth, I lived as a human, I have been beaten, humiliated, spit upon, I did everything you asked me to…Perfectly!…Couldn’t you just stick with me to the very end, Father?” “Why do you abandon me now?”

God so abandoned/retreated from the sin that was on Jesus in this moment, that the Bible records that it goes DARK for three hours. (Not a problem if its evening…but it is NOON!) Can you imagine the News headlines? Total chaos.

In the absence of God is the presence of darkness. (I wonder if in this moment, Satan is laughing?) It seems, at this moment in world history that the devil is winning. But its all a plan that God has knit together. We are so blessed to have the Bible that gives us the end of the story now.

God has Jesus bleed out all of His only Son’s blood to fulfill His own created laws and rules. Now…I have frequently wondered about why God chose this time in all of world history to have Jesus come and die…why did He choose the era He did?. This is the timeframe where the Roman Empire was ruling the world and their death sentences where horrifically cruel…brutal. He could have chose to have Jesus come more in this time frame. Lethal Injection or the Electric chair seem less cruel and unusual as a death sentence. Why did He God choose the era where Crucifixion was the form most used? (A guess?…God knows that we are drawn towards the dastardly, bloody, vicious story. Its why traffic slows down when an accident happens…everybody is trying to get a peak at the bloody scene.) This scene where Jesus is brutalized, will forever be branded in our brains and memory banks. It happened 2000 years ago…here we are still talking about it! So….

How much does God love you? How much does God love you…that He chose to do that to His one and only true son so that He may get you back?

What a huge price. God retreated and abandoned Jesus for a time, so that He may draw you back into a relationship with Him. When God had a choice to kill His only Son or Kill you to pay the price.

He chose you.

Maybe today you could show somebody in your circle of influence that kind of love. When you do…maybe they too will draw close to God.

What a purpose you have as you live today.
Show the love of God to others by being holy and pure.
Show the love of Jesus Christ by sacrificing your own will for God’s.
You’ll never be alone. God says He will never leave you. Jesus says He will be with you always.
Have a great day.

Jan 28, 2012    |       2 comments

Retweeting Jesus “RT@JesusChrist #10”

(To Mary) Woman, here is your son. (To John) Here is your mother. — JC
John 19:26-27(HCSB)

Awkward. What a strange message for Jesus to share publicly. Yet, because Jesus said it publicly with other people hearing…I chose to make this one of Jesus’ “Tweets.”

Imagine the scene. Jesus is on the cross. He is literally about to die. He is looking out at the people and He sees His mom. His mom is Mary (do I really need to write that?) She is crying (I assume) and is standing next to the disciple named John. The Bible describes John as, “the one whom Jesus loved.” Is it ironic to anyone else that the book of JOHN is the only book in the Bible that actually says that “John is the disciple whom Jesus loved?” In case you don’t know…the author of the book of John and the John referred to as the one whom Jesus loved…is the same person. John, wrote that about himself! There has got to be a good story in there somewhere. Someday we can ask him.

What’s the point of this Tweet? Its pretty simple. In Jesus’ time where Hebrew Culture ruled the day…Jesus was Hebrew…Yes…Jesus was a Jewish man. That would mean He wasn’t white. That would mean He wasn’t black. He would have more likely been very…what we call…tanned. Dark thick hair. He was Jewish from the Mediterranean area. Dark eyes. But…I suppose I could be completely wrong. Maybe he really could have looked just like Jim Caviezel. We know his mom was Jewish. But His real Father….well…Genetics wouldn’t matter! I can’t wait to meet Jesus face to face and see what He really looks like. Maybe He really did have blonde hair and blue eyes. LOL

Back to the Hebrew thing here. In Jesus time and in the Hebrew Culture it was the husbands job to be the head of the household. The husband was the provider. If something happened to the husband, then the first born son would be responsible to step up and be the head of the household. If the new head of the household died…then right on down the line to the next oldest son. The next oldest son would take responsibility for the family in all areas. If there were no more men in the family to take this responsibility it would be passed to a different man in the family, maybe a cousin…if there were no other family men, the responsibility could be passed on to a friend of the family. You get the idea.

So this instance in time, where Jesus is sending this “Tweet,” has several angles to it. First…in my opinion…it proves that Joseph, Mary’s husband, has passed away. We don’t know for sure. We have no record of Joseph after the instance where Mary and Joseph can’t find Jesus for 3 days, and when they finally find Him, He is in the temple area speaking to the religious leaders…Jesus was about 12 or 13 then. After Joseph and Mary find Jesus, there is no mention of Joseph again. Nothing. Maybe God took Joseph’s life for losing Jesus? LOL…just kidding. See how I think? LOL

So in this Tweet, where Jesus is saying publicly to Mary….”Here is your son.” And to John….”Here is your mother.” I think this demonstrates that Jesus is the head of the household. The oldest son. I suppose its arguable that someone could say that Jesus is the Son Of God and can do whatever He wants…and He didn’t have to be the oldest son to give this Tweet. That could be true. But I see a theme throughout the Bible that Jesus honored culture and respected law.(He didn’t have to.) I’m pretty convinced that Jesus is head of the household here and is making sure that His mother will be cared for when He is gone. Now…Jesus had brothers and sisters. But it seems they weren’t on the scene. So, i think Jesus was asking John to step up and take care of His mother. We won’t know for sure until we physically meet Jesus someday. I’m sure we’ll ask and get a clear answer from Him then. How cool with that be?

The other, and more important point about this Tweet of Jesus being sent out while Jesus is on the cross…It shows that Jesus was continually focused on Promoting the progress and purpose of others. If there was ever a time for Jesus to say. “Hey…Everybody! This is about ME!” Then this was the time. Yet His focus was to make sure the people He was leaving behind would be cared for and loved. He was concerned about others. In fact, I can think of only one time where Jesus thought about himself. Its the time in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus begs to have “this Cup of Suffering” taken away from him. For a few moments, Jesus thinks about himself and begs for His Father to get Him out of the crucifixion. This thinking didn’t last long. Immediately after asking His Father to take away this pressure….He bowed and submitted and began to promote the progress and purpose of God/Others by saying…. “Not my will be done, but yours.” (If you want to watch a full message I preached on this very subject on video about this “cup of suffering” then click on this link, its the video titled “Cup of Suffering.”) PLEASE NOTE: If you leave this sight right now to watch the video without reading the rest of this blog because you intend to come back and read it later, the parts you have not read are all underlined. It should be easy for you to return and know where to “pick up” your reading right where you left off!

Jesus cared right up to His very last heart beat. He cared for you. He could have come off that cross and settled the score right then and there. He could have come off that cross right there and shut everybody up and prove His Lordship. He could have called on the angels with swords drawn to free Him from the cross and they would have obeyed Him. He could have worked any miracle He wanted to. Right then. How tempting it must have been. But He didn’t. He honored the wishes of His Father and stayed on the cross and kept His mind on others. He knew it was better to die to for you and your cause than it was to think only about His own feelings.

Jesus continually focused on the needs of others. Not his own. I love the phrase “Promote the Progress and Purpose of Others.” Its easier said than done.

There is no phrase that better describes the focus of Jesus.

Today…as you pursue your check lists and live in your rituals…would you pay attention to others around you? When you get to the office or wherever you work…God will already be at work there. Join Him. Open your spiritual eyes and see the spiritual needs in the people around you during your day today. Be the one who joins God in His work today and get to the business of promoting other people’s purposes in life. When you and I fully do that…That’s when Jesus has a way of bringing it all back around on us.

That is truly living.

What can I do for you today to help promote your progress and your purpose?
If you ask…I will do whatever I can.

Jan 27, 2012    |      1 comment

Retweeting Jesus “RT@JesusChrist #9”


“I assure you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” –JC
Luke 23:43

For just a moment I considered not using this statement for this “Retweeting Jesus” Blog series. I thought to myself, “what a strange tweet that would be to receive.” I thought to myself, “Jesus wouldn’t Tweet this out for the public to read…He was just talking to one of the criminals on the cross next to Himself.”

But then I got to thinking…resulting in what is written below…

This could be a Tweet that He sent out! “I assure you, today you will join me in Paradise.”

At first I thought about this retweet at just a surface level. I thought about how Jesus wouldn’t want to Tweet this for all the public to read, because it sounds like a false promise to some or maybe even many of the recipients. He wouldn’t want to assure someone on accident about Paradise/Heaven and give them some kind of false hope about their eternal home. Right?

But here’s the deal. In this series, and with combined thinking about Jesus and His Twitter followers…there wouldn’t be any accidental false promises being received by anyone who actually received the Tweet. Because anybody who receives the New Tweet that He would have sent would be a “Follower.” To receive a Tweet Message from Jesus means that you ARE a follower of Jesus.

The Bible is clear. To be a Follower of Jesus you must be someone who does the will of the Father. I blogged about this in RT@JesusChrist #6.

If Twitter were a real thing back in Jesus’ day someone wouldn’t be able to search for “JesusChrist” and then just click follow for the heck of it. In this one case…there would be special circumstances. Jesus is the Son of God, the King of Kings, the eternal Judge, the Lord of Lords. To follow Him, you must do what He says. Jesus was clear about this when He was a real man walking around in what we call the Middle East or Mediterranean area today. Here is a reminder of the some of the things He said…

“Why do you call me Lord, when you don’t do what I say?” Luke 6:46
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father.” Matthew 7:21

Jesus’ brother seemed to unknowingly write a “Twitter Rule about Jesus.” James wrote “Do not merely listen to the Word of God and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” James 1:19. If I could rewrite that statement (Just pretending…I have no desire to change God’s Word) for the purpose of making it an official Twitter rule about clicking the “Follow” button of Jesus on Twitter…it would look like this. As you click the “Follow” button to follow JesusChrist and thus receive His Tweets, a window would pop up saying this. “If you click the follow button you are stating that you are a true follower of Jesus Christ. A true follower of Jesus Christ does not just receive His Tweets only, a true follower of Jesus Does what Jesus Tweets…If you accept this reality then please check the box and click “Follow Jesus.” You will receive a confirmation that says, “Following Jesus.”

For fun I almost want to add to the sentence above….”Jesus will then literally move into your heart and soul and go with you everywhere you go, He will be “watching.” (Insert haunting laugh here.)

No faking being a follower of Jesus Christ. We can’t fake the King out.

So…this Retweet. “I assure you today, you will be with me in Paradise.”

There’s no false promise in this Tweet. But you ask, “What if I don’t die today? Then how could I join Him in Paradise TODAY?”

Jesus said, “Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done, on EARTH as it is in Heaven.”

If you don’t die today and thus can’t LITERALLY join Jesus in Paradise/Heaven today. Jesus’ assurance of joining Him in Paradise today, still stands true. Jesus lives in you and is asking you to bring paradise on earth. (Thy Kingdom…that is paradise…come on earth as it is in Heaven.)

“I assure you today, you will join me in Paradise.”

What are elements of Paradise? Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control…among many other wonderful things.

Can you, TODAY, choose to be a person of Love? Can you, TODAY, choose to be a person of Joy? Can you, TODAY, choose to be a person peace?Can you, TODAY, choose to be a person of Patience? Can you, TODAY, choose to be a person of Kindness? Can you, TODAY, choose to be a person of Goodness? Can you, TODAY, choose to be a person Faithfulness? Can you, TODAY, choose to be a person of Gentleness? Can you, TODAY, choose to be a person of Self-Control?

Jesus lives in you. He says He will be with you always. If you choose today to live the qualities of Paradise/Heaven, then you literally bring Heaven to Earth. You literally bring God’s will and His Kingdom on Earth and live it out TODAY.

You agree that Jesus is and will be at work on earth all day today right? So if you choose to join Him today in His work and His ways, then you will be with Jesus today…doing the things of paradise.

“I assure you, Today you will be with me in Paradise!”

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