The Story Continues

John was standing with two of his disciples,
and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said,
“Behold, the Lamb of God.”
The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus.
Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them,
“What are you looking for?”
They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher),
“where are you staying?”
He said to them, “Come, and you will see.”
So they went and saw where he was staying,
and they stayed with him that day.
It was about four in the afternoon.
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter,
was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus.
He first found his own brother Simon and told him,
“We have found the Messiah,” which is translated Christ.
Then he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said,
“You are Simon the son of John;
you will be called Cephas,” which is translated Peter.

John 1:35-42

I love the sequence of events here:
1. John acknowledges and points out Jesus as the Messiah to his own followers.
2. They immediately leave John and follow Jesus.
3. Jesus begins a relationship with them by asking, “What are you looking for?”
4. They want to know more about him, “Where are you staying?”
5. Jesus invites them to come closer, “Come, and you will see.”
6. They follow the invitation and stay with him.
7. They are so excited about what they have discovered that they tell others.

How does that play out in your life?
1. Who pointed you to Jesus?
2. How did you follow him?
3. What are you looking for in following Jesus?
4. What do you want to know about him?
5. How does Jesus invite you to come closer?
6. Do you follow that invitation?
7. Who do you tell about Jesus?

Who Are You?

This is the testimony of John.
When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to him to ask him, “Who are you?”
He admitted and did not deny it, but admitted, “I am not the Christ.”
So they asked him, “What are you then? Are you Elijah?”
And he said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?”
He answered, “No.”
So they said to him, “Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us?
What do you have to say for yourself?”
He said: “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert,
‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”
Some Pharisees were also sent.
They asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?”
John answered them, “I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize,
the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.”
This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

John 1:19-28

Who are you?

We struggle with this all of our lives – and we define ourselves in so many ways:
My parents are….
I am a (profession)….
I live in …..
I am a (religion/organization/etc)….
A disease or a challenge may define us.

In today’s scripture John starts out by saying who he is not. Especially in our young adult years, we do a lot of that, struggling to find our own identity.

It takes looking into others’ eyes, especially those of God, to see who we really are.

All the things that happen to us help to make us who we are but at the deepest core of us, we are created and loved by God. That is our deepest identity.

From there we figure out how we are to be “the voice of one crying out in the desert: Make straight the way of the Lord.” If we aren’t doing that, we haven’t figured out who we truly are.

For Journaling….

Who are you?

How do you look into God’s eyes to see who you are?

How do you proclaim God in your life?

What do you hear God saying to you?

What do you need to see?

As Jesus approached Jericho
a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging,
and hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what was happening.
They told him,
“Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”
He shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!”
The people walking in front rebuked him,
telling him to be silent,
but he kept calling out all the more,
“Son of David, have pity on me!”
Then Jesus stopped and ordered that he be brought to him;
and when he came near, Jesus asked him,
“What do you want me to do for you?”
He replied, “Lord, please let me see.”
Jesus told him, “Have sight; your faith has saved you.”
He immediately received his sight
and followed him, giving glory to God.
When they saw this, all the people gave praise to God.

Luke 18:35-43

“Lord, please let me see.”

What is it you need to see?
– Your own worth in God’s eyes?
– God’s presence in others?
– How God is touching your life?
– God’s mercy?
– How I need to change?
– (fill in your own need…..)

Jesus is asking you what you want Him to do for you. Tell Him.

“Have sight; your faith has saved you.”

For Journaling…

Lord, please let me see ……

I am afraid to ask for ……

I hear God saying to me….

Temptations

Jesus said to his disciples,
“Things that cause sin will inevitably occur,
but woe to the one through whom they occur.
It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck
and he be thrown into the sea
than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.
Be on your guard!
…
And the Apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”
The Lord replied, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you would say to this mulberry tree,
‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”

Full reading – Luke 17:1-6

Jesus knows the world we live in – “Things that cause sin will inevitably occur”. Jesus knows the devil is real and alive and kicking! Jesus is not condemning us because we are tempted – but he does come down hard on those who do the tempting.

We can be the tempter through our actions, our words – or our lack of actions or words! Jesus is talking especially here about children – and they are watching us as adults constantly and taking it all in! You are tempter when you swear in front of them, when you cheat in front of them, when you do angry things in front of them, etc. etc. etc.

Jesus challenges us to “Be on your guard!” about what we are doing….. and who we might be tempting.

We can’t stop temptations from coming – but we are in control of what we do with them. And that’s where Jesus’ comment about faith comes in. If we really believe that God is on our side and is here to help us, then God’s strength is ours when it comes to fighting those temptations. We can tell the devil to go to hell – and he has to!

For Journaling…

The next time I am tempted, I am going to….

I need to fight especially the temptation to…

I hear God saying to me…

Holy Temple of God

Do you not know that you are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
If anyone destroys God’s temple,
God will destroy that person;
for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.

1 Corinthians 3:16-17

Each of us are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in us.

Wow. If we really believed that and accepted that, what a different world this would be!!

If I am the temple of God, then each person I meet or deal with is the temple of God. No matter who they are, what they believe, how they vote, what church they go to (or don’t go to), what ethnicity, what social status, etc. etc., they are the temple of God.

“If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.”

Destroying God’s temple – another person in this case – involves a whole lot more than destroying their physical life. We kill each other with our words, with our actions, with how we treat them. We destroy reputations. We tear apart other’s self-esteem. We rip apart other’s lives and relationships.

We destroy God’s temple and don’t think another thing about it because it suits our purpose.

And God weeps, as surely as He wept at the death of His Son.

For Journaling…

When I think of another person being the temple of God, I …..

When I think of me being the temple of God, I….

I hear God saying to me….

What’s my excuse?

One of those at table with Jesus said to him, “Blessed is the one who will dine in the Kingdom of God.”
He replied to him, “A man gave a great dinner to which he invited many.
When the time for the dinner came,
he dispatched his servant to say to those invited, ‘Come, everything is now ready.’
But one by one, they all began to excuse themselves.
The first said to him,
‘I have purchased a field and must go to examine it; I ask you, consider me excused.’
And another said, ‘I have purchased five yoke of oxen and am on my way to evaluate them;
I ask you, consider me excused.’
And another said, ‘I have just married a woman, and therefore I cannot come.’
The servant went and reported this to his master.
Then the master of the house in a rage commanded his servant,
‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town
and bring in here the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame.’
The servant reported, ‘Sir, your orders have been carried out and still there is room.’
The master then ordered the servant,
‘Go out to the highways and hedgerows and make people come in that my home may be filled.
For, I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my dinner.'”

Full reading – Luke 14:15-24

What’s your excuse?

What happens inside you when your heart hears God’s invitation to spend time with him? To read your bible for just a couple of minutes? To listen to Christian music? To just sit and enjoy God’s presence in nature? To just have a conversation with God about your concerns or your joys or just what is going on in your life?

What’s your excuse?

Do you really understand what it is – or who it is – you are putting off with your excuses?

Maybe the greatest thing we can understand is that it’s not God or what I am doing…. God is inside of our hearts so we take him with us into whatever we are doing! Whether it’s doing dishes or changing a diaper or waiting on customers or teaching or manufacturing something or (put in what you are doing), God is right there with us!

What’s your excuse for not paying attention to him?

For Journaling…

My excuse for not paying attention to God is….

I can change that by….

I hear God saying to me….

Banquet of Your Time and Attention

On a sabbath Jesus went to dine
at the home of one of the leading Pharisees.
He said to the host who invited him,
“When you hold a lunch or a dinner,
do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters
or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors,
in case they may invite you back and you have repayment.
Rather, when you hold a banquet,
invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind;
blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.
For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Luke 14:12-14

We can take this literally and think about who we invite to eat at our homes.

But how about looking at the banquet of our time and attention? Who do we invite there? Only those we are comfortable with?

Or are we selfish even with our time and attention? Yes, we need some time alone for connection with God and ourselves but God also comes into our lives in others.

How do you handle interruptions or unexpected people appearing in front of you? When you are on a mission in the grocery store or Wal-Mart or wherever, you are going to run into people. Is the banquet of your time and attention open to them?

The phone rings when you are intent on your agenda. Is the banquet of your time and attention open to whoever is at the other end of the phone line?

In church, in a theatre, in a restaurant, at a meeting….. is the banquet of your time and attention open to whoever is around you?

It just amazes me how many people walk out of a church feeling that no one there saw them or paid any attention to them. It breaks my heart when I hear someone tell me of being ignored and/or not listened to within their own family. How open is the banquet of your time and attention?

For Journaling…

The banquet of my time and attention is open to…

I refuse to invite …

I hear God saying to me….

Wow!

From the rising to the setting of the sun
is the name of the LORD to be praised.
High above all nations is the LORD;
above the heavens is his glory.

Psalm 113

Next time you are outside or near a window, REALLY look at what you see…..

Who but God can create the colors you see?
Who but God can create the diversity of what you see?
Who but God could create such detail – so much of that you cannot see!
Who but God can be constantly re-creating what you see?

Let the joy of the amazing love that creates all you see fill you!

Awesome God!!!

For Journaling….

When I look at what God has created, I feel….

I take care of all God gives me by…..

I hear God saying to me…..

Giving and Receiving

Which of these three, in your opinion,
was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?”
He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.”
Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Full reading – Luke 10:25-37

The reading today is the Good Samaritan.

It’s so hard to treat someone you don’t like with mercy. Whether that’s a personal dislike or a prejudice or a societal thing, there are people we really don’t want to be merciful to.

Let’s flip that – there are also people who really don’t want to merciful to us either.

While we are flipping things – there are also people who want to be merciful to us. There are those who really sincerely, out of the goodness of their hearts, want to do something for us.

But we let our pride get in the way and deny them the opportunity to give.

That old adage “It’s more blessed to give than to receive” is sometimes not true – sometimes the greatest gift we can give to someone is to let them help us. That also is mercy.

For Journaling…

I refuse to be merciful or to help ……

I refuse to let others helps me because…..

I hear God saying to me….

But first I have to….

As Jesus and his disciples were proceeding
on their journey, someone said to him,
“I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus answered him,
“Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”
And to another he said, “Follow me.”
But he replied, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.”
But he answered him, “Let the dead bury their dead.
But you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.”
And another said, “I will follow you, Lord,
but first let me say farewell to my family at home.”
Jesus answered him, “No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God.”

Luke 9:57-62

God is saying to you, “Follow me.”

What are you insisting on doing first?

For Journaling….

I keep telling God I have to go do ….. before I follow Him in prayer.

I keep telling God I have to ….. before I follow Him.

I hear God saying to me…..