Josh Benner

Author: the Josh Benner Blog

  • How is Jesus God? 4 life-changing truths from John 1:1-3

    How is Jesus God? 4 life-changing truths from John 1:1-3

    I was always a curious person. 

    Growing up, I didn’t go to church, but I always thought “there’s gotta be something out there.” 

    As a kid, I had cousins who were raised Catholic and who went to mass every week. They had a crucifix in their house, and there was this person on it. I didn’t know who he was, or why he mattered, or why he would be on display in someone’s house. 

    As a junior in high school, I took a humanities class where we spent a quarter of the year studying world religions. It was fascinating to me. 

    The idea of God made sense.

    The idea of a good and loving God made sense. But I didn’t understand where Jesus fit into that. I heard he died for our sins, but I didn’t understand the significance of that. 

    If you had God, then why did you need Jesus? 

    I didn’t know who Jesus was. I didn’t understand passages like John 1. It’s a passage that tells a lot about Jesus. And it’ll explain why he matters. 

    John 1 passage has some of the loftiest verses in the Bible about Jesus:

    John 1:1-2 says: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

    It can be so easy to read verses like those for a few seconds and just continue on with the rest of the passage. But it’s a mountain of meaning. 

    John 1:1-3 makes four affirmations that are four of the most fundamental truths that  you possibly can know about Jesus.

    1. Jesus is eternal 

    “In the beginning was the Word.” 

    John opens up by referring to Jesus as The Word. 

    I take it almost as a title for Jesus in the beginning of John. In the Old Testament, it is through the word of the Lord that God creates, speaks to his people, makes his promises, and points people to truth. 

    In Jesus, we see the ultimate disclosure of divine love, wisdom, truth and salvation, and so it is therefore fitting to refer to Jesus as the Word. 

    In the beginning was the Word. 

    That means that there was never a time when the Word was not. 

    And this is very important because right from the beginning of John, it confronts a common error that has existed in the church essentially since the time of Christ. 

    And that error is thinking Jesus is created. Or thinking that God made Jesus. Or thinking that he was a really good man who was given a promotion and became divine. 

    He was in the beginning. 

    This is something that John repeatedly emphasizes in his writings. 

    In the beginning of First John, he again speaks of Jesus’ eternality in the opening verse when he says: That which was from the beginning, (1 John 1:1)

    We also see John referring to Jesus as an eternal being in the beginning of the Book of Revelation. 

    In a vision of Jesus, John says: When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last

    Jesus is the first and the last. He is eternal. 

    He has always existed. This is something that will continue to unfold throughout this passage, but Jesus is not a created being. 

    2. Jesus has fellowship with God

    The verse continues “and the Word was with God.” 

    Another absolutely monumental and profound reality from this passage. Think about this for just a moment. 

    The Old Testament is filled with lofty language of the majesty of God. Rightfully so. Exodus 33, Moses wants to see the glory of God (Exodus 33:18). 

    God tells Moses in Exodus 33:20: you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live

    It’s because God is so vibrant, and righteous, and full of life that it is completely overwhelming for fallen and finite people. 

    But in that story, we see the glory of the Lord is revealed to Moses and Exodus 34 tells us that when Moses came down from the mountain, his skin was so radiant from beholding the glory of God that people were afraid (Exodus 34:29-30). 

    He shined so brightly that he had to wear a veil. 

    1 Kings 8, the Ark of the Covenant is brought into the Temple. And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, 11 so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord (1 Kings 8:10-11). 

    The glory of the Lord was so overwhelming that the priests could not stand to minister. 

    Isaiah 6, the prophet is given a vision of the throne room of God and he is terrified: 

    Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5)

    The presence of the Lord is completely awesome as you behold his glory and majesty and life. 

    If you’ve ever stood at a great waterfall, as the hundreds of thousands of gallons of water crash over the edge every minute, you can feel the power and rush of the water. 

    That’s awe inspiring in its own right, but it’s no comparison to encountering the eternal and almighty God of the universe. 

    And yet, with Jesus, we’re told that the Word was with God. Jesus can see God, he can behold the glory of God because he himself is glorious and righteous.

    In the beginning, there was fellowship with Jesus and God the Father. Not mentioned in this section, but also with the Holy Spirit. God did not make us because he was lonely or bored or because he needed us. 

    God had always existed in fellowship with himself. It is eternal and perfect. 

    This passage does not build the entire Doctrine of the Trinity by itself, but it’s very helpful in understanding a Trinitarian theology. 

    God is triune. 

    Jesus was with God. 

    Something else that matters is that this passage is showing distinction between Jesus and God. 

    Jesus is not simply God the Father coming into the world. 

    Rather he exists in fellowship with God. There is no dysfunction in the Holy Trinity. Only perfect unity. 

    That’s something that’s really hard to wrap our minds around because we’re sinful and fallen. Our relationships and families have dysfunction. Even good relationships, we still have times of hurt or disagreement. It’s all we see and all we know. 

    And so it is hard to imagine a perfect relationship where there’s no keeping score, where there’s never any resentment or bitterness. Where there’s no sin. 

    But really that says a lot about us as people. That we’re so dysfunctional and hurtful and sinful that a perfect relationship almost seems weird to us. 

    Jesus has a perfect relationship with God and that in itself is helpful in understanding the restoration that Jesus brings into the lives of people. 

    Jesus died to mend the broken relationship. But it’s because there is perfect fellowship within the Trinity that this is possible. 

        3. Jesus is God

    The text continues “and the Word was God.” 

    The central theme of John’s Gospel. The Lordship of Christ. 

    Something to consider…

    This would have been such a radical idea in the first century. 

    There’s a prayer that Orthodox Jews recite daily, in many circles, multiple times a day that’s taken from the book of Deuteronomy. 

    It affirms both that there is one God and also gives the command to love God. 

    Deuteronomy 6:4-6

    4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

    Everyday, multiple times a day reciting these words. The Lord our God, the Lord is one. It was, and is, at the very bedrock of the Jewish belief system. 

    And John was Jewish. And Jesus was Jewish. 

    Yet without contradiction, right off the bat in his testimony of who Jesus is, John says “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” 

    John believed and here affirms that Jesus is God. 

    That is the Orthodox view of Christianity throughout the history of the church. 

    Jesus is God. 

    He’s a person of the Trinity. 

    Borrowing from Wayne Grudem in his book Systematic Theology: 

    Historical, Orthodox, Biblical Christianity believes the following

    There is one God. 

    God is three persons. 

    Each person is fully God. 

    Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

    Again, you can’t build an entire theology of the Trinity from this passage alone. But this passage affirms that Jesus is God and also that there is distinction between Jesus and God. 

    You might think “that’s so hard to wrap my mind around.” 

    You’re wrong. 

    It’s impossible to truly wrap your mind around. You’re not God. We don’t have to know exactly how it’s simultaneously true that we have one God, who is three persons, and each person is fully God. 

    But the Bible affirms all three of those statements. I mentioned a few minutes ago that the belief in one God was central to Jewish belief. 

    It’s central to Christianity too. We also believe in one God. But God is triune. 

    Throughout his ministry, we see Jesus showing his divinity through his miraculous signs. 

    We see his victory over death. We see his perfect and holy life. He’s God.

    All of this taken together in our passage we see: that the Word was with God shows there relationship and distinction. 

    That Jesus is God shows his divinity. 

    Again, this matters tremendously. 

    And we have all of these affirmations right from the beginning of John’s gospel. 

    If Jesus were not God, then he would not be a worthy sacrifice for our sins. If he were just a great man, he would still be fallible. If he were just a great teacher, he could still be wrong . If he were just a great leader, he would still be finite. 

    But he is the perfect God of creation. He entered into a sinful creation to redeem humanity. 

    It also matters because if Jesus were less than God, then not only would he be unworthy of our worship, but the very act of worshipping him would be blasphemous.

    From the beginning of the Ten Commandments. 

    Exodus 20

    2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

    3 “You shall have no other gods before me.

    We’re told elsewhere in the Bible that God is a jealous God. But the gospels show people worshipping Jesus. He never corrects them or deflects worship when that happens. 

    That is either blasphemous or warranted. There’s no middle ground. 

    John’s Gospel is that it constantly confronts us with absolute claims with Jesus. Chief among them is that Jesus is God. 

    That’s an absolute claim. It’s either true or it’s not. If it’s true, the only response is to believe in him, to worship him, to trust in him. If it’s not, the rest of this gospel is meaningless and blasphemous. 

    4. Jesus made everything 

    Verse 3: All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

    Again this is speaking to the divinity of Jesus. All things were made through him. All means all. 

    The ground, the trees, the sand of the beaches, the stars in the sky, the air we breathe, the materials we use to build things, all of it was made by Jesus. 

    He made every person. Each of us has billions of cells in our bodies. Incredible complexity and structure just within our own bodies. The universe is incredibly big. 

    I thought this was a fun exercise. So the distance between the earth and the sun is 93 million miles. 

    If that distance was represented by the width of this one sheet of paper, the distance of our entire galaxy would be a stack of papers 453 miles high. 

    One stack of papers a mile high is about 15 million sheets of paper. Times 453 miles. With each sheet of paper representing 93 million miles. 

    And that’s just our galaxy. 

    There are one hundred billion galaxies. 

    If you could have an atlas of every galaxy in the entire universe and each page represented an entire galaxy, and if you spent just one second on every page and continually turned pages in the atlas, it would take you more than 31,000 years to flip all the way through the atlas. 

    The universe is incredibly, unfathomably big. 

    There are more stars in the sky than there are grains of sand in all the beaches of the world. Yet there are more trees on earth than there are stars in our one galaxy. 

    And that’s just looking at the amazing size of of our universe. There is amazing creation within our world. 

    New species of animals are still being discovered. And they’re not all insects or really small animals. 

    Since 2000, there have been new species of primates discovered. We don’t even yet know everything on our own planet. 

    Yet Jesus made it all. 

    There are other passages in the New Testament which speak to this fact. 

    Colossians 1:16: For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

    We see this language as well in the opening chapter of the Book of Hebrews.

    Hebrews 1:10 referring to Jesus says: 

    You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,

    and the heavens are the work of your hands;

    Jesus is the creator. He made everything. 

    And John states it both ways. 

    He made everything.

    And also there’s nothing that he didn’t make. 

    All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

    He’s a mighty God. 

    It’s a lofty passage. It’s a confrontational passage. You affirm these truths or you don’t. 

    Our society often likes to treat Jesus as something you can take or leave. 

    Gravity isn’t something that you can take or leave. 

    Arithmetic isn’ t something that you can take or leave. 

    Breathing isn’t something that you can take or leave. 

    Jesus isn’t something you can just take or leave. Jesus isn’t just a nice person or a nice idea. He’s the Lord of creation. 

    Many cherry pick certain teachings. Others treat him as a great teacher or a great religious leader. 

    Jesus isn’t one good teacher among other great teachers. He’s God. 

    The sages of other major religious traditions were born. Buddha wasn’t there in the beginning. Mohammad wasn’t there in the beginning. 

    But in the beginning was the Word. 

    There have been great leaders in the world who have influenced nations and movements. Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Gandhi. Some like to just act like Jesus was a wise peace maker who came with a good message. 

    He’s so much more than that. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word created all things. 

    Thanks for reading! If you liked this post, please share and subscribe. 

    This post is the second in a series in studies on the Gospel of John. For more passages in this series, please click here.

  • Jesus is the God of creation and new creation – Exploring John 1:1-18

    Jesus is the God of creation and new creation – Exploring John 1:1-18

    Photo courtesy of Unsplash @Greg Rakozy

    Jesus is the Lord of creation and new creation.  

    I’m going to highlighting a few words and phrases in this opening prologue to John.  

    “In the beginning.”  “Word.”  “Life.” “Light.” “Darkness.”

    Just to name a few.  

    These are all found both in John 1, but also in Genesis 1. 

    The Word of God

    Opening phrase of the Gospel of John: In the beginning was the Word. It’s the same way in which the Bible opens up, the first words in Genesis are: in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1).

    John starts with: in the beginning was the Word.  Now, it’s interesting that John says “the Word.” 

    He doesn’t say “in the beginning was Jesus” or “in the beginning was the Christ” or “in the beginning was the Lord” but “in the beginning was the Word.”  

    But, in the beginning was the Word. 

    Given that in the Old Testament, God’s word is tied to creation, salvation, healing, and deliverance, the incarnation of Jesus is God’s greatest and most spectacular form of expression to the world. The Word is an appropriate title for Jesus because it is through this Word that we have ultimate truth, eternal life, future hope, assurance of God’s promises, and God’s greatest revelation of himself to the world.  

    And we learn from our passage this morning that this Word was in the beginning.  

    This Word is not some abstract idea or force. This Word exists. 

    Life

    Verse 4: In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

    Two more ideas that are found in creation. Life and light. Both of these ideas will also be significant themes in John’s gospel. Let’s start with life. Nearly half of the New Testament usages of the word life come from John’s writings.  

    In Genesis, life is created. The animals that walk the earth, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, culminating in God’s creation of man in his own image. All life is created in Genesis.  

    And here, in referring to Jesus, it says that life itself is found in him.  

    He’s the creator of life, the sustainer of life.  He’s the giver of true life. Life in himself.  

    The best known verse in the entire Bible. John 3:16. Jesus refers to eternal life when he says  “God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  

    That’s the life that Jesus came to bring. John 10:10, Jesus says that he has come so that his people can have life and have it abundantly.  

    And it’s the life that can only come through Jesus. John 14:6, he says: “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the father except through me.”  

    And he has authority to say these things.  

    Because…

    In the beginning was the Word.  And in him was life.  And he made everything.  And he’s God.  

    And so John begins his gospel by talking of the God of creation entering into creation to make his new creation.  

    Light

    Next theme of creation that’s found in John. Light.  

    In Genesis, the first thing that God calls into being is light. 

    Genesis 1:3-4  And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good 

    Light is a symbol for life, salvation, and the presence of God. In Revelation 22, the final chapter of the Bible, a book also written by the Apostle John, in pointing to God’s coming kingdom, John talks of heaven and says:  

    They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light (Revelation 22:5). 

    The light of God displays his glory and presence. Yet John takes it to a fuller meaning.  

    In John 8:12, Jesus will say:  I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life

    Light is contrasted by darkness. Darkness in John refers to evil and sin. Darkness is the opposite of light both metaphorically and literally.  

    In Genesis 1:4, we’re told that God separated the light from darkness.  John chapter 1 says that “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”  

    Again, John keeps pointing back to creation to show us a new creation that Jesus is bringing into the world.  

    The Word became flesh

    Perhaps the climax of this entire introductory prologue of John’s gospel is found in verse 14:  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

    The language returns to using the word Word. And it says that this Word, Jesus, became flesh and dwelt among us. The God who created the world entered his creation.  

    What a profound reality that is. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. 

    In creation, before the fall, there was fellowship with God. It was paradise.  

    And yet Adam and Eve sinned. Cast out of the garden. But here in John, we see that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus came into our fallen world. Because he loved us. Because he’s gracious. Because he’s good. He is the eternal God of creation.  

    New Creation

    And he came to bring a new creation.  

    In the opening of John, we see the groundwork being laid for that which was lost in the fall to be regained through the gospel. Paradise was lost due to sin, but in the beginning of John, we see that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Darkness came into the world because of sin, but we see that Jesus is the true light. Death came into the world because of sin, but in Jesus, there was life.  

    Not just anyone is capable of doing that. But Jesus isn’t just anyone. He was in the beginning. Jesus is the eternal God of creation who brings a new creation. He’s here to give you a new life. He overcame the darkness by living a sinless life. He brought life through his own death. He restored the relationship by being forsaken.  

    All of it was his work.  

    He invites you into a new life, a new covenant. He gives you a new heart.  

    The Apostle Paul said that anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. (2 Cor. 5:17). In John 3, a man named Nicodemus. He’s intrigued by this teacher and ministry and he wants to learn more. Jesus says that we must be born again.  

    On the night before he was crucified, he told his disciples to love one another, and he called it a new commandment.  In the closing sections of the Book of Revelation, John talks of seeing a new heaven and a new earth. He records Jesus saying that he making all things new. (Rev. 21:5).  

    When we trust in Jesus and are born again, Jesus does bring a new creation. He does make something new. He makes a new person. 

    Jesus is the Lord of creation and new creation.  

    Have you trusted in Jesus? Is he your Lord and savior?  

    There is no other way to God, there is no other way to life, there is no other way to forgiveness, there is no other way to heaven than through Jesus.  

    He is a mighty God.  

    And it takes the might of God to bring new life to sinners who were dead in sin.  You can’t make yourself alive. But Jesus can. Because in him was life.  You can’t make yourself worthy. But Jesus has. John 1:12-13: 

    To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 

    You can’t earn your way to heaven, but Jesus came from heaven to earth. The word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14).  

    And the present reality is eternal security and a heavenly hope. But it points forward still to the greater new creation that Jesus has promised and is bringing into the world.  

    Because a Christian is forgiven, to the glory of God. But the world is still fallen. We are still surrounded by darkness, and fall into sin. We have eternal life, but still face worldly death. But Jesus is bringing an ultimate and final new creation into his world.  

    He’s putting it back together.  

    He promised to bring restoration. And he is.  

    And as sure as he brought that at his incarnation, he will bring it finally and totally at the consummation of his kingdom.  

    All around the world, every hour of every day, people are coming to faith in Jesus. A miracle is happening, a recreation is happening in people’s souls. People are overcoming areas of sin, because of the work of Christ. Lives are being transformed by the gospel. People who don’t know Jesus are being impacted by the love of his followers.  

    And Jesus continues to work. 

    Thanks for reading! This post is the first in a series in studies on the Gospel of John. For more passages in this series, please click here.

  • The American Gospel and the meaning of Easter

    The American Gospel and the meaning of Easter

    Statistically, we know that the vast majority of Americans believe in some form of a higher power. There are relatively few who are atheists. Since people do believe that there is something, and since it’s so easy to think of the majority of Americans as Christians, many simply attach themselves to Christianity.

    But what does it mean? Christianity?

    For so many, we call ourselves Christians but then never pray, or read the Bible, or go to church, or experience fellowship with other believers, or show any actual desire to have a relationship with Jesus. Without these, how can a person be Christian?

    We live in a culture where it is accepted to be a “Christian” so long as we have a faith that is extremely passive, watered down, and without conviction. In the eyes of the world, when we have a faith that actually impacts the way in which we live our lives, we’re labeled as extreme, strange, ignorant, or bigoted. For people who actually have faith, they’re thought of as being “really religious.”

    I argue that to be religious but not really religious is to be religious, not really.

    Contrary to popular opinion, the gospel isn’t that we just need to be a “good person.” To say that this was the basis of the message of Christ is a complete misunderstanding of the New Testament because He never says nor implies that our moral goodness is the thing which will save us. In fact, the point of the gospel is that our own actions cannot save us.

    All of us sin, and our sin separates us from God. But we are saved because of God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. That is the heart of the gospel. That we need Christ. Some might not like that because it’s exclusive. But the gospel is meant to be inclusive. Jesus died for all who will accept His gift of grace.

    Throughout the history of the church, there have been those who have unfortunately distorted the gospel or misused it. We can point to events like the church’s Crusades or her Spanish Inquisition. In modern times, we hear of abuses within the Catholic Church, and radicals like the Westboro Baptist Church who protest funerals. It’s easy to look to these things and to become disgusted with Christianity.

    But if Christ really died and really rose from the dead, the fact that people distort the message doesn’t change the reality that He came to forgive you of your sins. It’s not the message of the gospel that is the problem. The problem is man’s selfish usage of the gospel.

    But why should we be Christians? In our daily lives, we see people who claim to know God but who are hypocrites…

    That’s the point!

    Man is sinful! We are immoral. We were incapable of morally cleaning ourselves up.

    We needed a savior.

    And a savior came, and died, and rose, and lives.

    Some may argue, if there is a God, why does He allow people to tarnish His message?

    It’s because people aren’t spiritual robots. We are willing, moral beings. And there are people who choose to do morally egregious things in the name of the gospel. But that isn’t a shortcoming of the gospel. Like a shinning light, it clarifies the darkness of our hearts and shows our desperate need for grace.

    Some may want to live as Christians, but feel that they can do a better job on their own, instead of through organized religion. But the idea that you can be a Christian apart from church contradicts the teachings of Christ. Certainly, there are bad churches. But there are also a lot of very good, Christ-centered churches. One bad experience, or years of bad experiences are no excuse for someone whose trying to live as a Christian to ignore church.

    In discussions about religion, I’ve often times said that the gospel is either the most important thing in the universe, or it is completely irrelevant. Jesus was the God who died for our sins, or He wasn’t. If He was, we should worship Him. If not, then He is useless to us. The idea that Jesus might have just been a great moral teacher contradicts Jesus’ own teachings. His message revolved around Him being the savior of the world. If He lied about that, He cannot be a great moral teacher.

    So what do you believe? Where do you stand with Jesus? Was He God or was he just some guy?

    Jesus said “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for you souls.”

    No matter what you’ve done, no matter who you’ve hurt, no matter what addiction is suffocating your life, no matter what dark thoughts you have, it’s nothing so great that the risen Lord cannot forgive you.

    But where to start?

    As I’ve already said, I think it comes down to prayer, studying His word, getting involved in a good church, fellowship with Christians. Jesus said that we are to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” If you do that, I believe that God will lead you to truth.

    It’s not a self help message. Belief in the gospel isn’t a promise that you won’t have financial problems, or illnesses, or family issues, or countless other stresses and frustrations. The gospel is that you get God, and no matter what else is happening in this life, His truth will strengthen, and give purpose, and sanctify you.

    Maybe you’ve lived your entire life and said you were a Christian, but you’ve never really had faith. The gift of grace and the offer of salvation is just as real for you today as it is for a person whose never thought about the gospel.

    It’s easy to associate Christianity with a bunch of rules and a list of things that you can’t do anymore. If you truly accept the gift of grace by faith, no sin can separate you from God’s love or from the forgiveness that you have. A true faith in the gospel will also result in a transformed life. Certain things will become less appealing. But acting a certain way and following a particular list of rules is not what makes you a Christian. If it were, you would be earning your salvation which would have made Christ’s rising from the dead pointless!

    However, a person who is a Christian who has faith will have a life that is changed and will naturally live differently. This transformation is what shows that the faith is genuine.

    On the first Good Friday, when Jesus suffered that horrendous death for our sins, the Bible says that two other condemned criminals were also crucified with the Lord:

    39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” 
    -Luke 23:39-42

    Two condemned thieves found themselves condemned with Jesus. Both were guilty. One wanted Christ to work on his terms, the other recognized his guilt, and through faith sought forgiveness.

    All of us our guilty.

    Which thief will you be this Easter weekend?

    Thanks for reading! If you liked this post, please share and subscribe!

    Originally posted April 6, 2012

  • Sermon – Vision 2024

    This week, we have a baby dedication, a baptism and testimonies about the saving work of Jesus Christ. We also look forward to 2024 with a new vision for the church.

  • THE only resolution that matters for 2024

    Originally published December 31, 2014

    At the beginning of each year, millions of Americans make new year’s resolutions. Common resolutions include eating healthier, saving more money, quitting smoking, or learning a new skill. All of those are great things.

    But the reason why we create new year’s resolutions is because there are areas in our life where we know we should be doing something and where we aren’t. Maybe it’s something we’ve tried and failed at before, but new year’s gives a sense of optimism. I think before we focus on anything else in 2024, our resolution should be to start (or continue) living each day for God.

    We can feel like we want to get all of our ducks in a row before we can make time for faith. There are always reasons to not pursue God. There are always things that come up, difficulties we have. If we wait until everything is perfect before we do something, it never happens.

    We might want to wait until things settle down at work, or we might have an area of our life where we know we’re falling short and we don’t feel like we can be as serious about faith. We might think “I can’t do it now. I drink way too much.” Or “I can’t do it right now, I have too many anger issues, I have this area that is out of control.”

    But it’s not about taking care of ourselves first and then developing faith. God meets you where you are. No matter what struggles you’re in, no matter what imperfections of your life or places of darkness you have, God wants you to pursue him. this. moment.

    I think a lot of people get it backwards.

    Someone might know that he or she wants to get more involved in church or to get more committed to faith and it doesn’t happen. Or you’re coming to church but you know that you’re just going through the motions. For some of us, we haven’t picked up the Bible in weeks. For others, we haven’t really prayed to God on our own in months.

    For many of us, we do have faith. We do believe that Jesus is God and that he died for our sins. But the hustle and bustle of life makes us complacent. When we have the time to focus on faith, a million other distractions compete for our time. And it’s always going to be easier to turn on the tv or the computer than to pick up a Bible.

    The Greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, strength, and mind and to love your neighbor as yourself. To love God with everything you have. It was never meant to be a passive thing that we do on the side.

    Maybe there’s a part of your soul that knows that you’re not pursuing God like you should. You know that you have the gifts to grow with God and to love and serve others and to build up God’s Church, but you just can’t seem to get started. You look to that future you and know you’d be happier, you know it’s what God wants.

    But you’re never going to get to that point if you don’t start making God your priority. If faith isn’t something that’s developed, and we’re not pursuing God, then our relationship with him will never possibly be what it could be.

    As I said, any number of resolutions can be beneficial for us, but there’s no better use of our time than continually making God our first priority. If you know in your heart you haven’t been doing that, then make 2024 the year you prioritize your relationship with God.

    For all of you, I hope that it can be a year where we start that new career, or where we see healing in that broken relationship. I pray that those of us who are healthy can see that continue in 2024 and that those of us who have health issues can see healing and God working in their lives. But most importantly, the hope is that from this moment, the first day of 2024 to this same time next year, that this year can be a time of getting to know God better, to serving more, and loving more.

    Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe!