A devotional thought: In John 17.20-26, we get to see Jesus' heart for us when Jesus starts praying for all the people who will believe the Word from the Disciples. Jesus has a lot of things that He prays for on our behalf. But we can also be super encouraged because we know that Jesus prays everything that God wants Him to pray, so we know that this prayer for us will be answered with a yes. This can give our youth group and even our whole church some serious hope, because the first thing that Jesus prays for is unity, a deep relationship with each other that reflects His relationship and unity with God the Father, because Jesus says in vv.20-21, "I'm not just asking for them [i.e. the disciples], but also for those who believe into me through their message, that they would be one just You, Father, are in Me and I in You, and that they would be in us, so that they world would believe that You personally sent me!" Jesus is praying that we will have unity, that all believers would have relationships so close and unified with one another that it reflects the tightness that Jesus has with the Father. He wants us to be just as one with each other as a church as He is One with the Father--and we can say that the Two with the Holy Spirit are ONE GOD! In the same way, because of Jesus' prayer we know that not only is our unity possible, but it is already in process! God is answering Jesus' prayer! But Jesus does not stop there, no. Jesus wants us to be tight with the Father and Himself! He wants us to be just as close with Him and His Dad as possible! Jesus is praying for us to be close to Him and His Father! Thus, not only does He us to be close to each other, but also He wants us to be close to Him and His Dad! How awesome is that! Jesus wants us close to Him and to His Dad, and He is praying exactly what His father wants Him to pray and He is filled with the Spirit so it is likely that He is even praying as the Spirit is leading/wanting! The whole Godhead wants us to be close to Him and to one another! Indeed this prayer seems like it is going to answered, just a little. However, Jesus also has a purpose in this close relationship for us and that is His Own glory and testimony--Jesus wants the whole world to believe that Jesus really did come from God the Father because of looking at us and seeing our unity and our relationship with Him and His Father! Talk about awesome! The Lord will use our closeness to one another and to Him to show the world that Jesus is legit! Thus, since we know what Jesus really wants to happen in the Church, in our youth group, then let's pursue unity and a closeness to God and Jesus and even the Holy Spirit who lives in us now, and indeed as we become more unified and close to God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit, our Lord and Savior's prayer will be answered. God works in history to answer prayers, so our effort will really be His whole plan to answer His Son's prayer! So as we become more unified and closer to God we are in a way part of God's answering Jesus' prayer! That is pretty cool! The point is that unity is something that we will have to work hard for and closeness with God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit will also take hard work, but that both these things are what God the Father wants, Jesus wants, and the Holy Spirit wants--these two things JESUS prayed for! We have the prayers of Jesus backing us up, so our youth group and our church has a great hope for the future! That Hope is Christ Jesus Himself, who is our High Priest now that He died for our sins and shed His blood and rose from the dead to atone for us and give us eternal life! Our Hope is in the fact that what we long for we have had Jesus praying for since before He even died on the cross for us! As hopeless as it seems, in Jesus and His prayer for us, there is our solid and steadfast hope! and on top of that hope we have the added hope that as Jesus' prayer is answer Jesus' purpose will be accomplished: people will believe that He is really from God. We are part of giving Jesus the Glory, so let's humble ourselves and unite and draw close to God for Jesus' glory!
Much Love,
May God grant us Grace, Peace, Hope, Faith, Love, Encouragement, Unity, and Closeness to Him
Pastor Anthony
Where you can find the True Triune God presented boldly with a caring heart, and where you can also find a smattering of my poetry, devotions, sermons, and social commentary.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
The Doctrine of Limited Atonement/Particular Redemption
The Doctrine of Limited Atonement/Particular Redemption: A rich man walks into a doughnut shop and sees a bunch of doughnuts that are all equally nasty looking, stale, cold, and rotten. He has enough money to buy all the doughnuts, but he just wants a dozen doughnuts of the 50 that are left. So he picks 13 that he wants: $13.50 after tax. He throws down a $100 bill for the 13 doughnuts he picked. He could have bought all the doughnuts, but he just buys the 13 he wants and went in to get. No more, no less, even though he could have paid for them all. His $100 doesn't buy him all of them because he only wanted 13. He just pays for the doughnuts he picks.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Present in our Pain He Planned for our Best and His Glory (John 11.1-46ish)
A devotional thought: Jesus often has a bigger purpose that we understand when He brings about utterly painful hardships in our lives, but that does not mean He does not love us, nor does it mean that He does not care or feel our pain right along with us, just ask John when he recalls what Jesus did and said when Lazarus got sick and died. He says that Jesus new what was going to happen and refused to heal Lazarus because it was ultimately for God's glory and for His disciples faith (John 11.4, 14-15). But He did love Mary and Martha even though He planned for them to experience some intense pain, and even Lazarus who would die (verse 5). It is easy for us to be like Mary and Martha when we go through some intense hardship. They knew Jesus could have solved the problem, but they also knew that He did not. They seemed to think that Jesus didn't care and blamed Him for their brothers death. You can still hear their confused sobs bleed through the pages of John 11, "Lord, if you would have been here my brother wouldn't be DEAD! (v.21 and v.32)" in other words, "You could have stopped this!!!" There words hide the same question our words do; "How could You do this? Why would You want this? Don't You care about me, about us?" He also see them crying, just as He sees us in our troubled tears and pain-filled hearts. But Jesus' response is what shocks us, because this is the same Guy who planned this whole situation--what does He do? He cares. He cares hardcore. "He became deeply moved and He felt His emotions swirl inside Himself" (v.33). Then as He sees all their tears, "Jesus burst into tears" (v.34-35). He cries, and He cries hardcore. He will then go and raise Larazus from the dead, ultimately bring to pass His perfect plan from the beginning, which was that the sickness would not result in death but be for God's glory, so that the Son of God would be glorified through it" (v.4). But not before we suffer and He suffers with us. Our suffering and His suffering with us confirms that He does love us! For indeed how much He must love us if He who planned all the bad stuff to happen also cares about how we experience it, so the point that He Himself shares in our pain and feels all the churning emotions that we feel. Jesus is with us in our pain and He is using that pain not just to bolster our faith but also to bring the Glory to Whom it belongs. Therefore, we should be encouraged that no matter how much pain Jesus Christ plans to come our way, it is for His purposes and He will not leave us in the mess alone, without sympathy. He Himself will feel what we feel. This is still true. Jesus gets what we are going through and cares deeply for us, no matter what happens. But He cares too much about us to leave our faith where it was at and He care too much about His Father's glory and even His own glory to not send our way what much be for His Glory and our best. Take courage, youth group, we suffer, but we don't suffer alone and we don't suffer without purpose. We are part of a plan that brings God the glory and us deeper and better faith! I love you all very much.
Grace and Peace and Comfort be yours in Jesus Christ
Pastor Anthony
Grace and Peace and Comfort be yours in Jesus Christ
Pastor Anthony
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