FROM THE INSIDE OUT
Last night Josiah and I joined the Jr/Sr small group for their costume party. We had a lot of fun. The students went all out with their costumes I was pretty impressed. Josiah and I went as ninjas. All day he asked if it was time to go to the party, literally every 15 minutes. He was so excited and I think he had fun hanging out with the older kids! Here are some pics from last night!
“‘Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home.[a] If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?[b] 3When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.’” v. 1-4
Audio Adrenaline captured this passage a couple of years ago with a song called “Big House” enjoy!
Well today at Josiah’s soccer game Stephanie and I both learned that we are very competitive. Josiah has been playing soccer this year and has come a long way. From the first game of crying on the sideline and not wanting to go in to the kid that typically scores 4 goals a game.
Well today, was way different. Josiah set out the first quarter and then played the rest of the game . . . well he was on the field. It’s almost as if he was in another world. He was more interested in playing airplanes and superheroes than soccer. I know there is a lot going on in our lives and the last thing is for Josiah to feel he messed up, but as a dad, I tried to get him to focus on the game without being one of THOSE parents. You know what I mean, yelling at every thing they did or didn’t do.
It was hard to see him play the way he did today, but I think I learned more about myself than he did about soccer! So he had an off day . . . everyone has them!
“Now Jesus was deeply troubled,[a] and he exclaimed, ‘I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me!’” v. 21
Being betrayed is difficult and comes in many forms. It was hard for Jesus to deal with also. The Greek here says that Jesus was troubled in his spirit. This whole chapter shows Jesus human side with grieving for Lazarus and now being hurt by one of his disciples. Sometimes the people who are closest to us hurt us the most. But the way we respond to this is what is important. Yes, it is hard and hurtful, but how can God use it to bring glory to His name. Jesus knew this had to happen, and for the process of his Crucifixion to take place. He knew that the pain he was going through right now would soon turn into the salvation of those who believed in Him and repented from sin.
Not that we bring salvation to others, but the way we react to hurtful situations says a lot about us and provides an opportunity for us to seek God’s strength during the hurtful time. When we let God take control, He provides the comfort we need to get though the toughest of situations and allows us to let others see God in us. Easy to say . . . Hard to do. Father help me be better at this!
Several People have been praying and asking about us so I thought i would let everyone know our status.
We think we have made it out of the tuff days of Jackson’s recovery. Days 4-7 were really hard, especially at night. Jackson who normally takes meds very easily and drinks like you wouldn’t believe, started to refuse everything because his throat hurt so bad. Thankfully, Nana has been here for the duration of Jackson’s surgery and recovery. It is so helpful having an experienced Mother (not to take away from my wife at all, but Nana thought of stuff that just showed her experience of raising 3 kids). It will be sad to see her leave tomorrow, maybe she will stay through Sunday, who knows!
Josiah has been a great big brother. He prays everyday for our house to sell and for Jackson’s throat to heal. This week he has memorized Hebrews 13:8 and just today we started working on John 14:6. So when you see him ask him what his memory verse is. He is very excited about doing this and also asks every morning if we can have our early time. That’s what Josiah calls my quiet time. Today he joined me. It was so awesome! I think God is going to use Josiah in a big way!
I have been developing new habits when it comes to my health. I have totally cut out cafine. Which is huge for a guy that would drink coke for breakfast, at every meal, and late into the night. With this and adding a walking regiment to my week i feel better and have lost about 10 pounds. While I walk I have been listening to some podcast of Steven Furtick, Perry Noble, Ed Young Jr, Erwin McManus, Matt Chandler, and Andy Stanley. It is still knew but I am loving it and being challenged and inspired.
Stephanie will celebrate her B-day on Tuesday. She deserve way more than I can give her, but maybe we can celebrate with a date night. It would be good just for us to be able to get away without the kids and be able to focus on each other for a couple of hours. Lord knows all of our attention has been on other things over the last couple of weeks. We had such a great time in Cali to come home to such a intensly stressfull and scary time with Jackson.
We continue to pray that God would be our provider. He has been so good to us so far and as I listened to Perry Nobles talk during the one prayer series I want to live dangerously for Jesus. I want to be a person that focus on what God is going to do next with great excitement and expectation.
“Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end.[a] 2 It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas,[b] son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 34 So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, 5 Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.” v. 1-5
Josiah is joining me this morning for what he calls our early time. A time where we talk with God and read from the Bible. So Cool!
Jesus knew His time on earth was coming to an end. He knew that Judas had already made sold him out like we talked about yesterday. There are s lot of things that Jesus could have done. But even until His final days he was a servant to all. We see this in the way he spent his last meal with his disciples. Taking on a servants role Jesus washes their feet. Why is this significant! 2 reasons,
1. It teaches the Disciples Humility. They felt unworthy to have Jesus wash their feet. In fact Peter tried to refuse to have Jesus wash his feet. Jesus shows once again that He cam to serve not be served. By doing this He is teaching his disciples the importance of serving others in love.
2. Jesus is commissioning the Disciples for ministry. Not only are they learning about humility, they are hearing Jesus tell them to remember the things they have talked about and share that with other.
We have been given the same charge. Jesus wants us to look at this example and serve other in love and share with them the Good News.
“Then Satan entered into Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve disciples, 4 and he went to the leading priests and captains of the Temple guard to discuss the best way to betray Jesus to them. 5 They were delighted, and they promised to give him money. 6 So he agreed and began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus so they could arrest him when the crowds weren’t around.” v.3-6
What does it mean that Satan entered into Judas? Great question! It simply means that Judas was driven by a different voice. Instead of listening to the voice of Christ, the voice he had heard for the last two-three years, he listened to a different voice. It was the voice of deception and this voice would cause him to sell out Jesus for some money, leaving him in misery and shame, and causing him to hang himself.
When we listen to the wrong voice we too will make wrong choices selling out Jesus for something else. We have to be careful who and what we listen to. The enemy is deceptive and knows how to spin things to cause us to question or justify our actions. Instead, we have to learn to resist that voice and that temptation so we can continue to live and enjoy the life Jesus died to give us.
Don’t be a sell out! Listen to His voice and Live for Him Boldly!
“But when the Son of Man[a] comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. 32 All the nations[b] will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.” v. 31-33
God will separate his obedient followers from pretenders and unbelievers. The real evidence of our belief is the way we act. To treat all persons we encounter as if they were Jesus is no easy task. What we do for others demonstrates what we really think about Jesus’ words to us: Feed the hungry, give to homeless a place to stay, look after the sick. How well do your actions separate you from pretenders and unbelievers? ~ NLT Life Application Study Bible notes
Josiah is starting to memorize scripture with me. We have been in a series called HABITS on the weekend with our students. One of the HABITS that has been weak for me is memorizing scripture. So, I asked Josiah if he wants to do memorize some verses with me, of coarse he said yes. He is so good he already has our first verse down. Here is his translation of Hebrews 13:8
“Jesus Christ is the same the other day, and today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8
He is doing so good and it is cute that he says the other day instead of yesterday. I am excited to see how far this goes for both of us!
“He gave five bags of silver[a] to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip.” v.15
When you look at this verse alone it may not make sense as to why it is important, especially when this passage is a reference to the coming back of Jesus. But verse 15 is right where you and I are. We are like these servants that were given bags of silver, however, we have been given different talents, gifts, and resources. God has given these things to us trusting that we would use them by investing in others. But the neat thing is . . . He hasn’t given us more than we can handle. That may sound weird when we think of it in these terms but when you begin to ask the question, how am I handling the things God has given me. This one question opens up our lives to see just how faithful we are with the things we have been given.
The NLT Life Application notes today are so challenging,
The master divided the money among his servants according to thier abilities. No one recieved more or less than he could handle. If he failed in his assignment, his excuse could not be that he was overwhelmed. Failure would indicate only laxiness or hatred toward the master. The bags of silver represent resources we are given. God gives us time, gifts, and other resources according to our abilities, and he expects us to invest them wisely until he returns. We are responsible to use well what God has given us. The issue is not how much we have but how well we use what we have.
How will i use today, tomorrow, next week and next year the things God has given me? It’s not about resource inventory, its about the condition of my heart. Father, I want to maximize the things you have given me to bring much return for your Kingdom so one day you can say,
“‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together![a]’” v. 21
