Powerful Word

After Jesus' resurrection from the dead he appeared to two disciples who were traveling on the road to Emmaus.(found in Luke 24:13-35) The disciples were saddened by the events of the previous few days because they didn't understand. Jesus anonymously comes alongside them and listened to their contemplations about the events surrounding His crucifixion.

Then Jesus is going to teach them. He is going to show them the truths about what happened, about himself, about who He is and what really happened.

It is at this point that Jesus had a variety of powerful tools in his arsenal to explain and show. He is, afterall, the resurrected Lord. He has conquered the grave and sin and death. He is the God of creation. He could have shown them the power that He exhibited in creating the world. He could have explained what it felt like to be risen from the dead. He could have chosen so many different avenues. But what did He choose?

Look at verse 27, Luke 24:27 "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself."

Jesus chose to use scripture. Specifically, the Old Testament scripture. He makes an incredibly profound statement. The message of the Old Testament is about Jesus. And, that message, found in scripture, is fully sufficient for explanation and understanding into the person and work of Jesus Christ.

What is true of the Old Testament is also true of the New. And, this is where it comes to hit home for us. We have everything we need to facilitate our relationship with God in His Holy Word. The scriptures are not just a book. If Jesus uses the scriptures the way He did, we would be wise to follow His example.

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Lord of the Sabbath - Who Is Jesus

The fourth of the ten commandments relates to the Sabbath. God’s people in the Old Testament were required to set aside this one day to honor God as a reminder that every day they were to live in such a way to honor God. I don’t want to talk about Sabbath issues, but want to point out something about the relationship between the Sabbath and Jesus.

Exodus 20:8-11 is the commandment for Sabbath keeping. It is fairly lengthy in comparison to some of the explanations of the other nine commandments. The scripture explains to us the importance and source of the Sabbath. To summarize: the Sabbath is rooted in God’s creation. He created and order this world and the seventh day represents the completion of God’s creation. The Sabbath is created by God for man. The Sabbath is for man to honor God. The Sabbath is not as much about a day as it is about God.

The Sabbath became a huge issue for the Israelites.

Hold that thought: now let me take it another direction.

Who is Jesus? That is really the pivotal issue that differentiates true Christianity from various other religions, doctrines, and systems.

Biblical Christianity is clear that Jesus is THE ETERNAL GOD.
Not everyone holds to that. In fact, other religions all say something about Jesus but stop way short of affirming He is THE ETERNAL GOD.

Islam – Jesus is a prophet
Judaism – Jesus is a good teacher
Mormon Theology – Jesus is divine, a god, but not THE ETERNAL GOD.
Jehovah’s Witnesses – say something very similar to Mormon theology.
Atheism – Jesus was a great man.

How do we determine the answer to the question, who is Jesus? The best approach is to look at what Jesus claimed about himself. Did Jesus claim to be THE ETERNAL GOD?
Now, fast forward to the New Testament and Jesus. The religious leaders hated Jesus. One of the constant confrontations that occur is caused by things that Jesus does on the Sabbath.

One of these incidents occurs in Matthew 12:1-8. Jesus and his disciples did something on the Sabbath and the Pharisees throw a hissy fit. How could Jesus do such a thing? Jesus gives a clear argument and concludes with this statement, Matthew 12:8 For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

The disciples and Pharisees would understand this statement as shockingly clear. Jesus is claiming to be the creator of the Sabbath, the owner of the Sabbath, the One to whom worship is due on the Sabbath. It is not just a claim to divinity, it is a claim to be THE ETERNAL GOD. The 4th commandment is based on THE ETERNAL GOD’S creation of the world. Jesus says, I am He. Jesus never claims to be a separate God. This is an admission that He is the God of the Old Testament. And, He is the God of the New Testament and the God that has always existed. Wow!

How do the Pharisees understand and respond to Jesus? They want to kill him. They don’t want to kill him because he claims to be a good teacher or prophet, or just a divine person. But, because He claimed that He is THE ETERNAL GOD.

Here is what that means for you: You cannot accept Jesus as just a good teacher. You must accept and live your life in such a way that recognizes and honors the truth that Jesus is THE ETERNAL GOD.

An Example To Follow - Dr. Jack MacGorman

Today was the first day of my last year of course work for my DMIN program at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. At the beginning of each semester a guest is brought in to address the entire program. Today it was Dr. Jack MacGorman.

I had Dr. MacGorman for a class on 2 Corinthians when I was working on my masters in 1998. Today, he gave some incredible insights and a fantastic example for me to follow.

Dr. MacGorman is 89 years old. Here are some of the highlights that stuck out to me from today.

Here is a quote from Dr. Mac about his age, "Anyone indebted to God for his mercy and forgiveness as I am needs a long life to say, 'thank You'". Wow! What an incredible perspective and truth.

His testimony is something like this. He was born in Nova Scotia in 1920. In his early 20's he desired to go to a prestigious college and get an advanced degree in Liberal Arts. But, he contracted a serious illness and became severely ill. He was in a hospital for months in excruciating pain. While in that hospital he realized that his greatest need was not for a baccalaureate degree from an esteemed university but a Savior to rescue him from his sins.

As he recounted his salvation story he was visibly moved with a sincere gratitude and joy. It seemed like the initial joy of salvation had never diminished in over 65 years!

As I sat there listening to this 89 year old saint testify to the scriptures, the faithfulness of God, with sincere humility it was striking. I have seen lots of elderly people who seem to check out on their faith and desire to work and serve the Lord. Dr. Mac was truly grateful that the Lord had seen fit to give him life, and he was not going to waste that opportunity. He was going to use it to glorify His Lord. I pray that I can follow that same type of example.

He taught on the difference between law and grace from Galatians and it was powerful. Maybe I'll share some more in a later post

Relax, It's Summer

Not hardly! There is always something going on, and I think I like it that way.

Here's a taste of what has been going on:

The other day I walked into the living room to find all of my ladies with an open Bible diligently reading, studying and answering questions in a bible study workbook. I love to see things like that! This summer Michelle has two outreach, discipleship bible studies going on at our house, one for each age group of our girls. It takes a lot of effort, organization, patience, and prayer to disciple and reach out to these girls. I am amazed at her faithfulness to the great commission. My daughters have a great example of what a woman of faith looks like.

I am busy with church and with preparing for my two weeks of seminary study. This summer we are intensivley studying the parables. There is a lot of work that goes into my seminary class. Some of it is more enjoyable than other parts. But, what I thoroughly enjoy is being pushed and challenged to dig deep into God's Word and learn from it and learn how to apply it in my life and ministry. I will be slammed and exhausted at the end of the my summer class, but I am sure that I will have grown and benefited greatly.

Other things: the girls are staying busy this summer doing volleyball stuff, and diving team, violin, piano,lots of reading, and even some math work. We do have a short vacation planned before school starts and I cherish those family times.

It is important for us to make sure that we have appropriate balance in all of these things. Sometimes that is hard to achieve, but I feel like we are on the right track.

I praise God that the life of a Christ follower is never dull!

Great Commission Project

Every day for a week First Baptist fed lunch and shared Christ with about 125 kids. Here is what that looked like.