Saturday, May 28, 2011

72. He Thinks You Rock

Matthew 11:11


You have doubts sometimes, right? You wonder if all this Jesus stuff is for real, and when you read the Scriptures you sometimes get confused and wonder if it’s a book that can be trusted, right? Sometimes you just don’t know if you’re really saved, right? I mean, come on... we’ve all had doubts like that. There are times when even the strongest, most veteran missionary on the front lines wonders if he can really entrust his heart to this One we call on. We all struggle with doubt from time to time. The only people who just cruise right on through this life, with no doubts whatsoever are people who either live in a bubble with no real problems or else they are just the world’s biggest liars and phonies. Here’s the thing: when you have doubts, the Enemy jumps in your face and says, “What?! You’re doubting Jesus? You suck! You are the suckiest pile of suck that ever even thought about sucking!” And before you know it, you slink down into a depression of inactivity because you think Jesus is so disappointed in you for having doubts. Well, Satan is a lair, and he’s mean. That thing about you sucking is a big, fat lie. Scratch all that! Here’s the truth - Jesus knows you have doubts and He loves you anyway. One time a guy named John was in prison and he started to have some doubts, so he sent some guys to question Jesus, saying, “Are you really the One?” Jesus didn’t throw His hands up in disappointment and declare that John sucked! In fact, He said, “There’s never been anyone as cool as John, ever.” That’s the way Jesus sees you - even in your doubts.

71. He's Not Finished

John 11:25-26


Just wait. That’s the only thing I can say for some of you guys out there: Just wait. I know it’s dark, I know you’re waiting on the slightest little glimmer of sunlight to break in through the night that you’re walking through - you’re so discouraged, you’re so frustrated and confused and it seems like everything goes as horribly wrong as it possibly can at times. I know. I know that where you are can feel hopeless, but hear me on this: it’s not hopeless. You see, if you know Jesus, you have hope. You may not have anything else in this world, but you have hope. You may not have a loving and supportive environment, you may not have a voice in your life, you may not have the power to change the hard things going down right now, you may not have any money, you may not have any prospects for change whatsoever, but you have hope. One time two sisters lost their brother to a terminal illness. They had specifically asked Jesus to heal Him and Jesus didn’t even bother to show up. (Some of you know how that feels) After their brother had been dead four days, Jesus finally came into town and one of the sisters went off on Him, saying, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died!” Jesus said anyone who knows Him would never really die and then He raised the brother from the dead! Jesus isn’t finished with your story yet. Don’t change the channel before He gets to the finale, because it’s worth the wait! He’s not through yet; and in the end, He’s going to blow you away. Trust me: where ever you are, just wait.

Monday, May 23, 2011

70. He Wasn't About Himself

John 13:3


Have you ever had one of those people in your life that is completely selfish all the time? You know, where it’s all about them? Maybe it’s a boss, a teacher, a parent or even a best friend, but you know what I mean, right? There are people who use their authority or power to get what they want for themselves, period. Every situation is about them. Every action and reaction by everyone in their life is only important in the way that it affects them. It’s as if everyone in their lives exists to please, promote and provide for them. Here’s the thing: just about everyone is this way to a certain extent. What I mean is, we are all selfish. If someone shows you a group picture that you’re in, where are you looking first? At you! That’s right... everyone else could be cross-eyed and covered in bird droppings, but as long as you’re looking good, that picture is the BOMB! To different degrees, every one of us is all about self. Except Jesus. He was about others all the time. He was the one person who had the right to demand complete servitude from every breathing thing; and yet, on the night He was betrayed, He took off His clothes, grabbed the towel of a slave and washed His friends’ feet. How did He do it? How could the most unfairly dissed person ever be so selfless all the time? Wanna learn Jesus’ secret? Here it is: Jesus knew who He was. Period. He knew what the Father thought of Him, so He didn’t have to do anything to prove it. When you know who you are, you can be about something besides yourself.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

69. He Calls You His Friend

John 15:15

How many of the dumbest things you’ve ever done have come straight from a place of insecurity? If you went through and listed a few of the biggest, fattest, most ridiculous regrets from your life, how many of them could be traced back to you feeling down on yourself in some way? I know that in my life, every messed-up relationship, every immature cruelty and every out-of-bounds sexual disaster were all because I was insecure and wanted to know if anyone liked me, wanted me or thought I was cool. My thought process was something like this: “If I’m crazy enough, or go far enough down this road, then people will want to know me. They’ll want to be my friend. The girls will want to be with me.” Now, in Sunday school they might tell you, “Boys and girls, this doesn’t actually work. No one thinks you’re cool because you’re bad or crazy or wild.” Let me just say, that’s not actually true. It really does work. It works like a charm. If you’re bad enough and wild enough, you’ll be the talk of the town and some people will want to be your friend just because of your reputation. The only problem is, it’s not worth much. They’re not really your friend, are they? They’re just latching onto the rep. And soon, it’ll all be over and you’ll be 35 with a mortgage and it’s just not cool to be drunk all the time anymore. You know, Jesus calls you His friend, but it’s not because you’re cooler than other folks. He calls you His friend because He deeply, honestly loves you from the heart. You can’t earn or lose that kind of friend.

Monday, May 16, 2011

68. He Chose You

John 15:16


Have you ever felt left out? Like everybody gets the guy but you? Have you ever known the feeling of scrolling down through everybody’s facebook status and they’re all hanging out, but no one’s calling you? Have you finally gotten up the nerve to ask that girl out, only to have her tell you no? To put it more bluntly, do you know how it feels to be unwanted? We live in the kind of world that tells you that in order to be wanted, you have to be pretty enough, thin enough, strong enough, wealthy enough and smart enough. In other words, everything in life becomes a race that you have to win in order to be something to someone. I can still remember standing in a line at recess in the fourth grade while Carlos Rivera and Greg Kimmell picked kickball teams. I waited and waited for one of those guys to want me on their team when all of a sudden they called the name of a girl standing beside me! I’m not gonna lie, being picked after a girl at kickball in the fourth grade was a difficult moment for me. And then I met someone who wanted me, not because I kicked home-runs, but just because. I wouldn’t have the nerve to believe this about Jesus if He hadn’t said it, but He did. He chose me. He wanted me. He chose you too. The Bible says He picked you before He made the world. Eons before you were ever born, Jesus wanted you. The cool thing is, this means Jesus didn’t want you because you were awesome, and He doesn’t un-want you when you’re not awesome. He loves you because He just does.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

He Spat On Folks

Mark 8:23


Have you ever felt angry with God? Be honest, now... You ever felt dissed by God or mistreated by Him? Have you ever earnestly prayed for years for something difficult in your life to change only to have God step in and make it worse? There’s no use throwing up your hands in praise and saying “He is good all the time and all the time He is good” if you don’t really believe that. In fact, if there is a creeping little pocket of anger against God down in the depths of your heart, I think God would rather you pull that thing out into the light and deal with instead of singing songs you don’t really believe. Here’s the deal: God isn’t afraid of your confusion or anger at Him. In fact, He has forever enshrined the angry rants of a guy named David within His Holy Scriptures. It you don’t believe me, go read some Psalms. God loves truth and He’s not afraid to hear the truth of how you feel about Him. And let’s face it, sometimes when you’re dealing with God, the things He does can look pretty messed up. One time Jesus met a blind man who wanted to be healed. Jesus took the man by the hand, led him out of the village, and then spit on his face. Can you imagine what he felt like? He had prayed for years to be healed and finally Jesus comes in and spits on His face?! It doesn’t seem cool to us, but it’s how Jesus chose to heal him. Jesus is always working for your best, even when it feels like spit in the face, but be honest with Him. It’s what He wants.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

66. He Nicknames You

Revelation 2:17


Do you know how it feels to be defined by your past? You know, you did some thing, you got busted, there was a lot of shame involved and now, no matter what you do, everyone in your life sees you through the lens of that one thing. You start to feel as if it’s deeper than just having done that thing... it’s like you are that thing. You know what I mean? Everyone in your life paints you with this one brush. It’s almost like being branded or named after your past sins. Some of the guys I work with literally have their past tattooed all over themselves. They physically can’t get away from who they used to be. Their mugshots have been on the newspaper and television. Their parents, friends, spouses and kids see them as criminals, period. Being defined by your past can be a desperate feeling. It makes you want to give up trying to be anything different than who you were because that’s really who you are now, right? Wrong. Your past does not define you. If you have believed in Jesus, you are not who you were. You’re something completely new. One thing I absolutely love about Jesus is that He was constantly giving people new names. He loved to nickname people. He called a guy named Simon, “Rocky.” He called these two explosive brothers, “The Sons Of Thunder.” He raised a little girl from the dead once by calling her, “Little Lamb.” Jesus gives people a new start. He says He has a new name for you, too. It’s not your past. It’s a whole new thing. One day you’ll see it... a white stone with a new name, for a new you.

Friday, May 6, 2011

65. He Kept His Wounds (2.0)

Warning: I Stole This


So, last week I wrote a post about why Jesus kept His crucifixion wounds. I liked it. It was a good little post and looking back on it, I still think it works. (If you haven’t read it yet, click here: He Kept His Wounds) But something happened after writing that post that must be addressed... I got pwned. That’s right, pwned. As many of you know, I’m a pastor at a sweet little church in East Tennessee filled with some of the sweetest folks around. One of the very sweetest of these is a senior in high school named Lauren. Last week, when I asked my high school friends the question, “Why do you think Jesus kept His crucifixion wounds?” I assumed that they would quietly sit and wait for my talk or else give a few suggested answers I had already thought of. But no... Lauren said something that had never occurred to me. When she said it, my jaw hit the ground. It was so deep, so cool and so insightful that I decided to steal it from her and rewrite my post. That’s right, I stole it from her. (Don’t hate! And also, don’t worry - I encouraged her, built her up and told her she was awesome and that she was about to be robbed!) - But as my dear friend Unka Glen once told me, “All the best preachers steal. There’s no shame in my game!” So without further ado, here’s that ‘Fairest Of Ten Thousand’ post as it ought to have been written - with Lauren’s earth-shattering insight stolen from her without apology:

  1. He Kept His Wounds (version 2.0)


Hebrews 11:16


“You should be ashamed of yourself.” - Oh man, don’t you HATE that sentence?! It makes your head droop down and your heart sink low, and the worst part is that it’s basically true, right? I mean, we’ve all done and said so many things we should be ashamed of, no one would blame us if we just stopped getting out of the bed in the morning. You might think, “How can I bear to show my face after all I’ve done and said, and don’t even get me started on all I’ve thought!” But wait just a minute. before you decide to hang it up because you think you’re basically worthless, consider this: Jesus kept His crucifixion wounds after He was raised from the dead. Did you know that? I mean, the unbelievable power that conquered death could have eradicated every mark left by the spikes and the spear, but He decided to keep them. Have you ever asked yourself why He kept those wounds? Now, I don’t know for sure, but what if... just what if He kept those wounds as a way to say, “I’m not ashamed of you.” What if the permanent scars on the body of our eternal Lord are His way to say to you, “Stop feeling ashamed of yourself. I’m not ashamed of you. I’m proud to have you for my very own.” You know, one time I sat in front of the proud mother of a star tailback in a crowded college football stadium. She wore his jersey and shouted his name, and everyone could see why she was proud. But Jesus loved you at your worst and will wear your number forever. He’s nothing short of proud to be your Savior.

Monday, May 2, 2011

64. He Wasn's Selfish

Luke 9:24


You know what every single person in the whole stinking world thinks? They think, “If I just had then I would be happy. Now, everyone mentally fills that blank in with different stuff... Some want Ferraris, some want sex, some want nations to bow at their feet and some just want a quiet night at home with a book and a bowl of ice cream. But as a whole, we humans think that happiness comes from getting what we most want. The thought is: If I take care of me, I win. Newsflash: it doesn’t work! The richest and most powerful people in the world are some of the most wretched, confused and depressed souls who have ever lived. Scratch all that. Flip it upside down. Jesus said that pleasing yourself will never give you life. In fact, He said it would make you lose your life. Jesus was and is the King of the Universe, and He could have had it all, but He became poor and served everyone all the time. He said giving your life away actually gives you life and makes you happy. Now follow me on this: if you invent a game, you get to make up the rules, right? You get to say what scores points and what is out-of-bounds. Jesus made the world. He gets to say how it works. Jesus invented the human heart and He is the one who determines what things will make it happy and what won’t. If you live your life trying to get yours, you will be miserable. My friend, try this: ask the Lord to show you someone you can serve. Give your heart to that person and I guarantee you’ll feel something new: joy.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

63. He Kept His Wounds

John 20:27


What are you supposed to do when your life is completely dark and God is totally silent? You ever felt like things have gone miles beyond bad to what seems like the worst possible end, only to find that praying feels like pointlessly shouting at a brick wall? Trust me, I know how that feels. On one of my darkest days, I can remember driving down a backroad highway, tears running down my face and just slamming the pedal down and screaming at the top of my lungs to what felt like no one, “Where are you, and WHY is this happening!?!” In those moments, how are you supposed to know that God loves you, or that He’s even there? You can’t see Him or touch Him, so what are you supposed to do? Well, friends, it’s in those moments you have to remember. Paul told Timothy, “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead.” You want to know something really cool about when Jesus came back from the dead? He kept His crucifixion wounds. On the third day, He came back to life, renewed, powerful, indestructible, but He chose to keep the scars in His wrists, side and feet. Why would He do that? He was and is perfect in every way, but remains marked by those wounds. Here’s the deal: I think those wounds are like trophies or memorials of the fight He fought to have us and the victory He won. They’re like tattoos. He never wants anyone to forget that He paid to have us because of love. Never forget those wounds. When everything is dark and you aren’t sure of anything, remember and tell yourself this: Jesus died for me and that means He loves me.