DIVINE JOY

Joy is just what Jesus intends for you. It is His goal that joy will be a vital part of your life. Hear His words: “I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.” (John 15:11) Jesus comes to bring you the joy of God. Becoming the-best-version-of-yourself may involve some struggle and pain, but it will most certainly be defined by joy. Why? Because you are doing exactly what the Lord of the Universe intends for you. Better still, He introduces you to the Holy Spirit, who completes you and makes you whole on the journey. Knowing God the Father, God the Son in Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit completes you with divine joy. This is why you are here. To be in relationship with the One who made you, He who loves you, and He who will sustain you to the very end and beyond. The world may offer brief moments of happiness here and there, but it cannot offer deep, real joy… Jesus Joy is eternal and powerful. 

-- Allen R. Hunt in “Nine Words”

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WE ARE FAMILY – Part 1

“So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when He adopted you as His own children. Now we call Him, ‘Abba, Father.’ For His Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.” (Romans 8:15-16 NLT)

Part of the normalness and significance of churches for the New Testament writers came from the association of these groups with homes. Houses were not only the context for these gatherings, they provided an essential perspective on what living as Christians meant. Christians were family and… this experience mirrored the heavenly reality.

The New Testament almost always used the Father/Son image to explain the relationship of Jesus and God. It was, therefore, natural to describe Christians as adopted into this family (e.g., 1 Thessalonians 1:10; Galatians 4:4-6). Thus Christian growth was a matter of maturing from infancy to adulthood (Ephesians 4:11-16; Hebrews 12:4-9) and of learning to relate to each other intimately and responsibly as in an ideal family (e.g., 1 Corinthians 8:11-13; Galatians 6:10; Colossians 3:12-14; 1 John 2:28 – 3:3). 

-- Mark Strom in “The Symphony of Scripture: Making Sense of the Bible’s Many Themes”

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ENLARGING THE SOUL

[From the cross Jesus prayed,] “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You. For You granted Him authority over all people, so that He may give eternal life to all those You have given Him. Now this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only TRUE God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.”  (John 17:1b-3)

One who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the one who simply plods around this narrow globe… The most excellent study for expanding the soul, is the science of Christ, and Him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity.  Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify one’s whole soul, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity. 

-- Adapted from Charles H. Spurgeon 

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EXPERIENCING GOD

“Now this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.”  (John 17:3 NIV)

When the spiritual dimension is strong in a church, members are able to experience God. They discover that God isn’t just “out there,” that God is “above all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:6) As members become more open spiritually, they become more open to an intimate relationship with each person of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They have an intimate encounter with the Trinity, even if they don’t necessarily describe this encounter in Trinitarian terms. They come to know God more than speculate about God. As a result, they also grow in their ability to encounter and experience God in Scripture, others, their own hearts, and the events of life. 

-- Adapted from N. Graham Standish in “Becoming a Blessed Church: Forming a Church of Spiritual Purpose, Presence, and Power”

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THE FATHER AND THE SON

In Matthew 11:27, Jesus said:  "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him" (NASB).  Jesus meant that He and God are one and the only way for a person to come into relationship with God [the Father] is through Jesus [the Son].  The apostles understood this to be His meaning, for in Acts 4:12, Peter says of Jesus Christ, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

This truth eliminates the possibility that Jesus might be some vague manifestation of an impersonal God.  It eliminates the possibility that He could be classified merely as a "good and wise man" who walked the face of the earth and loved people.  It shows that Jesus is either the true God, on whom we must focus, or He was a colossal fraud, and the countless thousands who have suffered and died for Him down through the millennia made a horrible and tragic mistake.

-- Stephen Arterburn and Jack Felton in “More Jesus, Less Religion”

#5050

THE TRINITY

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."  (Matthew 18:19-20 NIV)

Our motivation for living the Christian life is the love of the Father. Our model in life is the example of the Son. The means by which we live this life is the power of the Holy Spirit.

-- The Alpha Course


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GOD IN CHRIST

In the Gospels God spoke through His son -- Jesus… The disciples would have been foolish to say, “It’s wonderful knowing You, Jesus; but we really would like to know the Father.”

Philip even said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” (John 14:8)

Jesus responded, “Don’t you know Me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me? The words I say to you are not just My own. Rather, it is the Father, living in Me, who is doing His work.” (Jon 14:9-10)  When Jesus spoke, the Father was speaking through Him. When Jesus did a miracle, the Father was doing His work through Jesus.

Just as surely as Moses was face-to-face with God at the burning bush, the disciples were face-to-face with God  in a personal relationship with Jesus. Their encounter with Jesus was an encounter with God. To hear from Jesus was to hear from God.

-- Henry Blackaby and Claude King, quoted in “His Passion: Christ’s Journey to the Resurrection”

#4300

FINDING THE GIFT THIS CHRISTMAS

“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the LORD.”  (Luke 2:11 NIV)

In your searching may you find the gift of the warm embrace and acceptance of the Father. In that embrace and acceptance may you find the gift of the freedom and the path of the Son. In that freedom and path may you find the gift of the guidance and strength of the Holy Spirit. In the birth of the Babe in a manger may you find the gift of the Savior of the cross.

“And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.”  (1 John 4:14 NIV)

-- Rev. David T. Wilkinson


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GOD WHO IS TRIUNE

The Trinity is what we have if Jesus Christ is indeed God with us, God as God really is.  The Trinity shows that God is in relationship, that God is constantly, relentlessly relational, outgoing, and incarnational.  We can have new church starts, growing churches, and an expansive Kingdom of God because we have a God who is Triune.  The Trinity designates God as communicative, loving, relational, and on the move.

-- U.M. Bishop Will Willimon from an online interview

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