The Final Goal: The Answer To Our Problem
Read: John 14:1-6
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me. – John 14:6
Ten stadiums, 31 days, 32 teams, 63 games, 736 players, a potential 3,789,909 spectators and more than 26 billion television viewers will make up this year’s World Cup tournament. But there will only be one winner. Practice, prediction and preparations will only go so far. In the end, it is certain that only one team will win.
Similarly, there are countless different opinions on how to live life well, and they all cry for our attention with convincing voices. So many opinions are driven by a sincere desire to please God and attain a lasting relationship with Him. But when things come to an end—when we face death once and for all—what certainty can we have that we’ve lived our lives as we should have?
The words of Jesus give us the answer to that question. There’s only one way to have a relationship with God. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
That might seem like an arrogant claim. But why not read the gospels and ask yourself: Who else can do what Jesus does? Who else has the answer to our sin problem?
Jesus Christ is the only certainty, both in this life and for our eternal future. —Jon Lindsay
He saved us, not because of the righteous things
we had done, but because of His mercy. —Titus 3:5
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Loading ...ODJ: Christ comes incognito
“Come and have some breakfast!” Jesus said. None of the disciples dared to ask Him, “Who are You?” They knew it was the Lord (v.12).
READ: John 21:1-14
The board game Articulate challenges players to help their teammates guess the object, action, or location they’re describing without saying it outright. You can’t give the first letter of the word or say what it rhymes with, and on “all play” rounds you have to work fast as your description may help another team win.
The way to win Articulate is to play with someone you know really well and exploit your shared experience. “We visited this place in 2006,” you say. “India!” your wife replies, as you win the point. “When you do this in the kitchen, I always laugh,” your wife says. “Dance in my underwear!” you say, and win the point! You win by alluding to what no one else could know.
At the end of John’s Gospel, we find Peter, John, and some other disciples fishing on the Sea of Galilee. They cast their nets all night but the fish elude them. Then a man on the shore calls out to them (John 21:4). “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat,” He says (v.6). They follow directions and can hardly haul in the catch.
Suddenly, a flood of memories fill John’s mind. Three years before, on this same sea, Jesus had performed an identical miracle, calling John and his friends to discipleship (Luke 5:1-11). “It’s the Lord!” he cries—solving the puzzle, winning the point!
Something similar had happened to Mary Magdalene (John 20:11-16) and to a couple on the Emmaus road (Luke 24:30-35)—Jesus appearing incognito. But with just a word (“Mary”) or an action (breaking bread), they suddenly knew who He was.
Jesus can come to us incognito—an oblique figure on the horizon. Yet with a word, an action, an allusion to shared experience, we recognize His ways and cry out, “It is the Lord!” —Sheridan Voysey
Can you remember a time when you didn’t “see” Jesus, but “knew” He was working in your life—answering a prayer, working through some circumstance? How did you realize that it was Him?
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(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5) Loading ...ODB: show up before you speak up
July 9, 2010
READ: Matthew 5:11-16
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father. —Matthew 5:16
There was a time when a certain West coast city may have been one of the most hostile places to the gospel in America. Posters in coffee shops advertised witchcraft meetings where you could learn to cast a spell on your enemies.
It was such a challenging environment for churches that they struggled to get building permits from the city council. And there was a lot of “woe is me” talk among church leaders. Until a group of pastors began to meet to pray regularly and then decided to take the love of Jesus into their city. They started a ministry to the homeless, to those suffering with AIDS, to teens at risk. Faithfully and intentionally they brought the love of Jesus to the needs of hurting people. Before long, the city agencies started calling on them for help. Better yet, the churches started growing as people responded to the gospel in action.
Which proves the point: Sometimes you’ve got to “show up” before you speak up. No one really wants to hear what we have to say about the love of Jesus until they’ve seen it in our lives (Matt. 5:16). Then even the most ardent opponents to the gospel may just be glad you’re in their town, their office, or their neighborhood. And then you just might be able to tell them about Jesus. —Joe Stowell
When you share the gospel, make sure you live the gospel.
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...The Inner Conflict
By Rohit Chacko, India
The guidance of the Lord was clear:
“Why do you seek your own glory?”
He rebuked, “Seek it not,
For you shall lose your life.
Only in Me is there eternal rest!”
But the devil tempted the poet in words,
“Dear sir, look beyond, the world awaits!
Just bow a knee and your fame shall soar—
The horizons of your knowledge will grow leaps and bounds
Soon, better verses shall you distill.”
Then the Lord decreed aloud,
“Not by your skills,
Nor by your ability shall you succeed,
But by My Spirit,
And My Spirit alone.”
My soul was thrown in high distress.
I searched through tomes of misguided truth.
My torment increased thousands over thousands!
The more I looked to knowledge,
Greater my agony became!
Satan mocked my destitution,
And so did all the hordes of the fallen.
My dreams and ambitions lay crippled in the dust.
Only then, did I recall the words of the Lord—
‘Why do you seek your own glory?’
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What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving
with which he labors under the sun?
Ecclesiastes 2:22
If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it.
But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.
And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world
but are yourself lost or destroyed?
Luke 9:24-25
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