Follow or Not?

Today's bible passage is once again from John 1. Jesus is collecting his disciples, and they are without question following him.
How amazing is that? Jesus tells them to follow and they just obey. How often do we just obey Jesus' commands. I know that I have on many occasions argued with God about what he wanted me to do, but these guys didn't argue they just dropped everything and followed. 
Not only did they just follow, but Philip went and got his brother and told him to follow Jesus too! 
We need to be open to whatever Jesus wants of us; we need to be ready to drop everything at a drop of a hat; we need to tell others about Jesus so that they too can follow his ways.
Lets be obedient to his call and share the love of Jesus with everyone. Let's follow him no matter what the cost, he gave everything for us, so why would we not want to give our all to him? 

In the beginning...

Today I've started John, and must admit I love the first passage...In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God...What a fantastic way to start a gospel. 
Right off the bat John is telling us that Jesus is...He wants us to know that Jesus has been and always will be; he was at the very creation of the world! How amazing is that! Jesus who created the world, was there at the earth's conception, came to earth as a man to sort out sin and die for the world. 
I think this is brilliant. I don't really need to add anything more. God is an amazing God, and chooses to take the punishment that we deserve. We must thank him; we must praise him; we must love him; we must honour him. 

We are not alone!

Today is my final day in Luke, it is also Jesus goodbye to his disciples. Things must have been really strange in this meeting. Jesus is there with his friends after being raised from death, and he's talking with them and sharing with them and also eating with them. I can imagine the disciples being a little shell shocked to say the least. They must have gone through a roller coaster of emotions, and little do they know what awaits them in just a short space of time!
Jesus explains things to them, he tells them that what has happened had to happen, he opens their hearts to the 'plan' and before they know it, he is taken back to heaven, back to his rightful place.
The great thing about this passage of scripture is that Jesus is even at this point preparing his disciples for what is coming. He tells them to wait together in Jerusalem as he will be sending  "what His Father has promised" Jesus was telling them that they were not going to go into battle alone! He was promising them help from above. We too have the very same promise today. We too can rely on God for help from above to go into battle for him. Jesus was speaking about the Holy Spirit and we need to realise that the Holy Spirit is as real and as relevant today as he was during the time of the early church.
Let's remember that we are not alone, that the Holy Spirit is here with us to guide us. Let's trust in him today and allow God to work in us and through us in the Power of His Holy Spirit.

Don't run ahead!

I've been thinking today about the fact that I'm ahead of my bible study and so am waiting for it to catch me up. This made me think about my walk with the Lord. 
If I try and get ahead of Jesus then things start to go wrong, but if I walk with him side by side, allowing him to guide my paths then everything fits. I'm not saying that I don't have problems, but I know that if I follow his lead then I can't go wrong.
While studying the passages from Luke I've also been reading in Joshua. This links in with my thoughts today, as in the first few chapters of Joshua we find the Israelites entering their new land - the Promised Land. Moses has died and Joshua has taken over the reigns of leadership. With God's instruction and guidance, Joshua lead the Israelite people over the river Jordan and into the land that they are about to settle in. God guides them all the way. Joshua leads them into battle after battle and God helps the Israelite people to defeat their enemies, BUT, only when they are following his lead. When they try and do things their own way and ignore what God has told them, then they loose the battle.
God has a plan and a purpose for all our lives. I believe that when we allow him to be our Shepherd, our guide, that even though we will still have problems, will defeat all our enemies, will win the race, will have the most amazing lives possible.  

Life path...

Today' bible passage once again comes from Luke. I read about the journey to Emmaus. In this part of Luke we see two travellers making their way to Emmaus after seeing their Lord die. They are probably feeling really disappointed and upset at what has happened, and so they are making their way home; they are returning to their old lives. Jesus meets them on their journey and shows them the scriptures as well as the fact that he is ALIVE! 
This made me think, about our journey with Jesus. We all have to start our journey somewhere, and thankfully, Jesus meets us all exactly where we are. He doesn't expect us to be perfect or wholesome he just asks us to be open. He doesn't ask us to go to church or even believe in God as he meets us where we are, in our sin and at our worst.
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. This means that whoever we are and however bad we might be, Jesus loves us and died for us. So wherever you are on your journey, don't worry, as Jesus loves you and died for you. Let him in, ask him to change you, I did and it was the best thing I ever did!

It's Sunday!

Today I cheated a bit with my bible study. I was only meant to read a small section of Luke chapter 22, but I felt compelled to read the whole Easter story today on Resurrection Day. What an awesome passage of scripture. The death & resurrection of my Saviour.
While the world was having Easter egg hunts and eating chocolate, I and many other Christians were celebrating the fact that Death has been overcome and that we are forgiven! 
When Jesus died on the cross, he took the punishment for the sins of the whole world. That means that everything that we've ever done and are going to do was on the shoulders of God. Jesus took our place, he paid the price for sin. AND...then he conquered death, and rose back to life. He made it possible for us all to have communion with God. He made it possible for us to be part of his family. He tore the curtain in two and allowed us access to God himself. Easter is not about eggs, its not about chocolate, its not about shopping, its not about school holidays, its not about spending time with family, its not about doing the garden or washing the car. 
Easter is about God coming to earth and humbling himself as a man, being brutally murdered on a cross, being placed in a borrowed tomb, coming back to life and restoring the relationship between God and man. That's what Easter is truly about! 

If you don't know Jesus as Lord and Saviour then you can make that decision right now. Jesus died for everyone and so all he asks is that we believe. 

The Last supper...

When we think of the last supper we immediately think of the communion table. We remember the bread and the wine and what it represents to us as Christians, Jesus body broken for the world and his blood shed for the sins of mankind.
When I tell any story I always try and imagine what it would've been like to be there. I can imagine the mood at the dinner table being very mixed. Firstly, you've got Jesus washing everyone's feet and Peter getting out of his pram about it, you've got some of the disciples trying to work out who is the greatest, plus you've got Judas who is just about to betray Jesus and so is probably on edge, not to mention the fact that Jesus is saying things like, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” & “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you." 
We can learn so much from this scene. Jesus shows his disciples how to be humble and how to serve one another by washing their feet and he tells them that they should do the same - this includes us! When was the last time we humbled ourselves?
Then Jesus has to deal with the dispute of who is the greatest. He explains that to be great you must be the least of all. So many of us want to be great, want to be famous, want to be the best of the best. However Jesus tells us that to be great in the eyes of God means that we must be the person that serves, the person that is the least. When was the last time we put someone else first and not our own agenda? 

BUT most of all let's remember that just after this meal Jesus is arrested,tortured  and crucified for the sin of the whole world. Jesus knew what was going to happen, and yet he still chose to do it for me and you. 

The sign of the times

Reading in Luke chapter 21 today, and to be honest its not an easy passage to think about. Jesus warns the disciples and us of what is to happen. He warns that persecution will come, that wars, earthquakes, famines and fearful events will happen in the end times.
Some believe that we are living on borrowed time, that we are in the end times now. I look at what is going on in the world and when I read this passage I must admit it makes me think that we are living in the end times too.
Jesus warns us so that we will be prepared, so that we can look at the signs and know that we need to get ready.
This makes me concerned about the people that I know that don't know the Lord. If we are in fact living in the end times then why are we not doing everything possible to help our loved ones come to know about Jesus?
It's Good Friday today, and after our morning service we walked through our town and had a small service in the town centre. As we were all there singing hymns and reading scripture, people were just going on with their shopping and with their daily routines without even a thought for Jesus. We need to take every opportunity to share the gospel with our communities, with our friends, with our families that don't know Jesus. If we are living in the end times, then we need to be ready, but also we need to try and help those we love to be ready too. Let's not miss any opportunity - let's share Jesus with everyone we meet.

"Preach the gospel at all times, use words if necessary" 

What do you have to give?

Today's offering comes from Luke 21 and is the story of the widows mite. I love this story, I always think it's so amazing how Jesus notices her in the hustle and bustle of the temple. This little old lady is doing her best for God, which is unnoticed by everyone but God. Everyone else at the temple wouldn't have seen her putting her last few coins into the pot, as she wasn't important to them, but to God what she did was really important.
This always makes me feel good, especially when I feel ignored by others. I know that no matter how unnoticed I am that my Heavenly Father sees everything; he knows everything about me and knows what I do and what I don't do. He sees the work I do at work and the work I do at home; He sees when I'm sad and when I'm happy; He sees when I'm worried and when I'm not; He knows everything there is to know about me! I need to remember that what God sees is far more important than what others think they see.
This also means that we have a problem. If God sees everything we do and don't do, then we need to make sure that everything we do, we do for the Glory of God. We need to make sure that everything we do, is done to the best of our ability. After all, Jesus gave his best for us, so, why would we not give our best for him? Think about it...do we give our best to God, or do we have an attitude of that'll do? Let's be like the widow and give all we have to God and see what he will do...I can guarantee it will be amazing! 

Its a testing time!

In Luke chapter 20 Jesus is tested by the teachers of the law. They try to trap him so that they can arrest him for breaking God's laws. They didn't believe that he was the Messiah and so they needed a way to get rid of him and discredit him, so at every given moment they tried to trap him.
People can be like that today. They are afraid of the truth and so instead of looking at the change in someone after becoming a Christian they try and discredit them.
Jesus never said being a Christian would be easy, he had to go through all the stuff that we go through and more. We need to remember that Satan doesn't like it when someone is brought into the Kingdom and so we have to rely on God to help us through the testing.
We need to remember that whenever we feel that we are being tested or going through a rough time, that Jesus went through more. We need to remember that when times are hard Jesus is with us and we are never alone. We need to remember that when we are in God's will for our lives that trial and testing will come, as Satan doesn't want us doing God's work. When we are tested we can praise God, as we are only challenged because we are in God's plan.  

Easter - what do you think?

Today's passage in Luke is the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The people are welcoming their King by shouting, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord'  but in only a few days later the shouts of joy change to "Crucify him! Crucify him!"
This made me think about the whole thing that Easter has become. It has become something that no longer celebrates the King overcoming death and paying the price for sin, but instead it has become all about eggs, chocolate, bunnies and overindulgence! We no longer celebrate Jesus and welcome him into our lives, but now instead we celebrate the fact that we have time off work. 
I put Easter into Google images and was bombarded with bunny and egg pictures! To get a picture of anything Christian I had to put into the search engine, Christian Easter! 
We used to be a Christian nation, with Christian values and taught Christian beliefs in schools. We are now a nation of agnostics, of secularism, of anything goes as long as we don't force our beliefs on others. 
How are we going to welcome the King of Kings and Lord of Lords this Easter? Are we going to be like the crowd on the way to Jerusalem singing our praises for our King, or are we going to be like the crowd a week later not recognising who Jesus really was and is? 

 

Let's be a life changer!

I'm sorry I haven't written for a couple of days, but things have been really busy with our Big Easter Blessing mission, and I needed to just stop!
Anyway, I'm back now and still in Luke. Today's passage is about one of my favourite bible characters - Zacchaeus the Tax Collector.
I love this story and have told it so many times. Zacchaeus is not a popular man, in fact during the time of Jesus he would've not been on anyone's Christmas card list as tax collectors were hated with a capital H!
Jesus doesn't hate him though, he just loves him. This is how we should be. I'm sure we can all think of someone that we don't really like or don't have anything in common with, well that person is our Zacchaeus, and that is the person that we need to love just a little bit more! On a similar note, there are people that don't like us or feel that they have nothing in common with us and so that means that we are Zacchaeus to them!
Jesus spends time with Zacchaeus, he shares with him and talks with him and Zacchaeus' life is changed forever. Jesus' invested in Zacchaeus and made a difference in his life. We need to do the same, we need to invest in people so that we can make a difference in their lives. The only way we are going to bring the Kingdom into the lives of the lost is if we take the Kingdom to them. We need to go to those that need help and help them, and not just help the people we feel comfortable with - Jesus came for everyone, not just the nice, the clean, the rich but he came for the sick, the poor, the drunk, the tramp, the smelly, the person that makes you feel uncomfortable! 

Who is your Zacchaeus? We all have one! 

Go and find him and change his life! 

 

Where are you going?

Today's scripture was once again in Luke. Jesus speaks about heaven and hell and about two different people, a rich man and a beggar called Lazarus. In the story Jesus tells of the rich man ending up in hell and Lazarus ending up in heaven. The rich man is in so much agony that he asks for Lazarus to help him. He then asks for Lazarus to warn his family so that they don't end up in the same torment.
This is a really hard thing to think about. No one wants to imagine anyone in a lost eternity of torment, especially family, but realistically we can't drag someone into heaven, they have to choose for themselves.
When I became a Christian first, one of my favourite songs was by Nicole C Mullen. It speaks about the fact that we can't rely on the prayers of others, we can't rely on 'grannies angels' This is very true. While we can pray for those nearest and dearest to come to know Jesus, we can't make them believe what they don't want to, equally, they can't rely on the beliefs of others to gain them entry into the Kingdom.
So what do we do? How do we get our nearest and dearest to know the truth? How do we get our families to know that if they don't know Jesus then they are going to a lost eternity? How do we get anyone to know this? We need to love them, we need to show them, we need to tell them, we need to continue to pray for them.  

ETERNITY IS A LONG TIME!  

Who is your master?

This is a tough question posed in Luke 16. Who do I serve? Do I serve the stuff or do I serve only the Lord? Do I crave the things of the world or do I crave the things of God? 
I'd like to be able to answer both questions that I crave only what God wants for my life, but I think if I really want to be honest I think it can depend on what mood I'm in - which is honest but not good!
What if Jesus had said, well I don't really feel like dying so I'm not going to bother, then where would we be?
This is not just a tough question, it is a reality for many people. There are people that are so consumed by consumerism that they are in debt. We are a fast food generation that has to have it NOW! We can't wait and save for it, we have to have it because someone else has it and it looks good.
I can remember when I bought my i phone, I must admit I was really excited, and couldn't wait for the package to arrive. But is that really how God wants me to be? Does God want me to be driven by earthly things? The answer is NO!  
There's also another way to look at this too - how do we spend our money? Do we spend it wisely, do we save it or do we squander it as soon as we have it? God doesn't want money to be the centre of our lives, but likewise he doesn't expect us to be wasteful. He doesn't want us to be mean and he doesn't want us to be over indulgent. Our money isn't our money, our house isn't our house, our car isn't our car....etc...Everything we have belongs to God. We are only on this planet for a short while, so we are only borrowing things from God. Therefore if we are using his money to spend, spend, spend then we are not honouring God. 
Think about it today...Do you long for the next gadget? Do you long for your new car? Do you wake up at night dreaming about the next shopping spree? When was the last time you chose to give something away and bless another human being? What would Jesus do? Think about it - you never know what God will do through you! 

The lost is found!

Todays reading is in Luke 15. Jesus speaks about various items or people that are lost and the owners looks for them or in the case of lost people waits for them to return. 
I'm so glad that God waited for me. He saw me go my own way for many years but he still waited for that day when I would return to him and ask for his forgiveness.
How brilliant is that? The creator of the world would wait for me to be ready, and not force himself on me, but allow me to come to him.
God will never force himself on anyone. He wants everyone to know him, but he will never make anyone believe in him! He is not a dictator! 
I guess I just want to thank Jesus today for his patience with me. 
If you are reading this and you don't know Jesus as Lord of your life, then he's patient, he'll wait for you. BUT - don't leave it too late as one day Jesus won't be so patient as he will then judge the world for all the sin, and then its over! 

The cost...

Todays scripture is Luke chapter 14. Jesus talks about the cost of being a disciple. There are many people in this world that believe it will cost them to follow Jesus, it will cost them their freedom. I believe that by following Jesus I am freer than I have ever been.
Many people believe that being a Christian is restrictive, but I don't feel the same way. People believe that they will have to give stuff up, but in fact when you come to know the Lord you don't want to do the same things, you don't want to get drunk or be the same person you were before, in fact you just want to live your life pleasing God and trying to help others know him.
I guess there is a cost for being a disciple as people don't often like you and many non believers don't trust you, but for me being a Christian is the most amazing thing that I have ever done.
I couldn't and wouldn't want to go back to my old life without God. I can't imagine my life without God and wouldn't want to imagine my life without him.
If you are reading this and thinking the only thing stopping you believing is the restrictions, then don't worry as there is no restrictions just freedom in the cross of Jesus. When you accept him as Lord of your life you are a new creation; the old you is gone and you are now accepted into the family of God; there is nothing that you could've done that would stop Jesus from loving you or dying for you.  

Who do you judge?

Today's passage of scripture is in Luke chapter 14. Jesus is talking about being inclusive and not exclusive. He talks about inviting people into our homes that we wouldn't normally, he says, "invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind."
I must be honest I can't ever remember doing this and it has really challenged me. However, I have been thinking about this in a church sinario. How often do we invite new people into our lives? How often do we speak to people at church that are not in the same clique? I know that churches can be a cliquey place, and for some people not a friendly place! How sad is that?
Who are we to judge? Why wouldn't we talk to someone that has just come to know the Lord? Just because someone has a colourful past doesn't mean that we should ignore them! Just because someone has a different bank balance to us does that mean we shouldn't talk to them? NO! Jesus came to save the lost and so we need to get with the programme - we need to be inclusive and not so exclusive. We need to love people as Jesus loves us.
We need to stop judging people by their past, by their looks and start looking at people the way Jesus does. 
REMEMBER... 
"For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you" 

                             SO IF WE ARE JUDGING OTHERS THEN WE WILL BE 

JUDGED THE SAME BY GOD! 

 

First & Last

Today's reading is in Luke chapter 13. The part of the passage I want to think about is just one verse - "Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last."
We all want to be the best at things, we all want to do well, but I believe that God wants us to be humble. I believe that Jesus tells us to be like servants and that in fact those are the people that will be first in Heaven. How amazing is that?  
To be great in the sight of God, we must become nothing in the eyes of the world. That's not to say that we don't try our best, but it does mean that we have to be humble and gracious and just serve the Lord for no other reason than we love him and want to see others love him too.
We should have no hidden agenda's, we should just be servant hearted, following Jesus example.
If it's good enough for the King of Kings then its good enough for us. Let's face it, Jesus left the splendour of heaven just to give us the opportunity to have Salvation. Without Jesus going to the cross, then we would be going to a lost eternity! He was humble for us, so we should be humble for him! 

Are you ready?

I've been continuing my readings in Luke, and its a difficult one today. In Luke 12 Jesus is talking about being ready for his return. That got me thinking, if Jesus returned tonight would I be ready? If Jesus returned tonight would you be ready? 
This is really serious, we need to keep a short account with him, we need to make sure that we are living as we should be, we need to make sure that when Jesus comes back to take his bride that we as his bride are clean and with lamps that are lit!
This is quite a difficult thing to think about.  The thought that at one point you are sat writing your blog and then bang - our Saviour has returned and its game over!
As Christians we need to make sure that we are ready, we need to tell others so that they too can get ready. I believe we are living in the last days and that the coming of our Lord is sooner than we think. The earth is 'groaning' under the weight of sin and there are so many things happening that Jesus himself warns of.
Lets make sure that we are ready and lets make sure that we take every opportunity to share the good news of the gospel, as lets face it, we may not have as long as we think! 

Don't Worry! Be Happy!

Todays scripture that I have been reading is Luke 12. Jesus tells us that God looks after all of us. He explains that if God can look after the birds in the sky and the flowers in the fields then why wouldn't he look after us. 
We have so many worries in life today. We worry about the things that are going on around the world, such as wars, poverty, earthquakes, terrorism and so on, not to forget whats going on in our own lives, such as family issues, money problems, job situations and I could go on and on with a list of worries that happen to many of us in todays climate. BUT no matter what...Jesus is Lord! 
I know that its not easy to put your trust in someone else sometimes. I know I can quite often be a person that will do it myself so I know its done instead of asking someone else to do it and then find out at the very last minute that I have to do it as they haven't. God is not like that. He loves us with an unending love, with a passion, so much that he died for us! He took our punishment! He wants us to trust in him and know that the things of this world are temporary and that he will provide for our needs - not wants - needs!
I know that I have a really busy schedule at the moment, and each day I get up with lots of things in my head of what I need to do next. I have lists attached to my desktop so that I don't forget things, but God will never let me down. Whenever I have been in situations like this before, God has always been there to guide me and to prompt me what to do. I know that I need to trust in God today to keep me on track. What about you? I know that I have to trust in God for many things including praying that he will use me to speak into the lives of the children I meet today, including answering my prayers for my family and friends that don't yet know him! Are you going to trust him for something today? Thats all he asks!

 

On the inside...out

What am I like on the inside? Do I care more about what others think than about what God thinks? In Luke 11 Jesus confronts the Pharisees about what they are like inside as they care so much about their outward appearance. They are so busy keeping the letter of the law that they have forgotten who they serve, they have forgotten their first love.
I guess we can all be like this sometimes. We are all so busy trying to look the part that we forget that God sees what we are really like. Everyone else sees the outward stuff, but God knows everything that we think, everything that we do in secret. This has really challenged me today. It's not that I have secrets, but I do believe that I need to make sure that what I do on my own glorifies God as much as what I do in front of others. I need my life to be completely God's. I need to not be worried about what others think and make sure that my first priority is God and what he thinks. 
We all need to make sure that our first priority is our Lord, and put him in the centre of everything.  

Seek and see what you'll discover...

In Luke chapter 11, Jesus tells us..."Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." 
How often do we forget this statement made by Jesus? We all need to realise that Jesus is just a prayer away. We are so busy panicking about situations, that all we need to do is seek the will of God. I know personally I sometimes forget this promise. I need to focus on Jesus and not worry about the stuff.
Jesus says ask and it will be given to you... so if we don't ask then we won't get! I'm not saying that we should be asking for silly things, but we should be asking God his will over our lives so that we can ask for the things that we need and that Glorifies him. 
Jesus says seek and you will find...if we don't seek God's will then we are not going to know what he wants us to do.
Jesus says, knock and the door will be opened...Jesus knocks the door of our lives and when we open the door to him he comes in and the journey of a life time begins. Jesus will never force himself on anyone, we have to invite him in. God wants to be part of all of our lives and we need to open the door of our hearts to the Saviour of the world
There are lots of promises in the bible.Jesus promises that he will never leave us or forsake us, to name just one. We need to grasp the word of God and hold onto the promises in it, we need to seek the Kingdom of God and allow God to impact our lives as well as the lives of those around us!

What do people see?

I was reading Luke 10 the parable of the Good Samaritan and something struck me about it. What do people see when they see me? Do they see someone who walks by the world and ignores everything, or do they see someone that is like Jesus. Do they see someone that cares for others or do they see someone that is so wrapped up in church stuff that nothing else matters.
The Levite and the Priest didn't want to get involved, they chose to walk by the injured man, but in fact it was the person that no-one would have ever thought would help him, his enemy. 
As a Christian I should emanate the love of Jesus, and if I'm not then there is a problem. I know that I'm not perfect, and I know that I quite often don't get this right, but I really feel that I need to try harder to show others Jesus. I need to be salt and light and not horseradish (which tastes disgusting). I believe that we are all capable of being like the Levite and the Priest in the story, afraid to go into situations that we feel uncomfortable with, but through the help of Jesus we can be like the Samarian that risked his life to help another, we can look out for those people that need our help and be a kind word of comfort, we all need to be Jesus to someone.  

Are they listening?

I'm in Luke chapter 10 today. Jesus has just sent out 72 of his disciples to preach the good news, to preach the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus sends them out with this warning,  "He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me."
This is huge! It really hit me that when people laugh at me they are not just laughing at me they are laughing at Jesus; when they talk about me and say horrible things about me they are doing the same to my Saviour; when they ignore me and the gospel I share then they are ignoring Jesus too. I know that this is probably really obvious, but I'd never really thought about it like this before.
Each time I go into a school and talk about Jesus and the children don't listen or even laugh at me they are laughing not just at me they are laughing at Jesus -that's serious.When I tell others about how amazing God is, when they choose not to listen to me that means they are choosing to ignore Jesus. This makes me really sad, but, it will never stop me from telling others the gospel. In fact it makes me want to tell people even more. 
Let's make people listen, lets try and make people understand that Jesus is the only way, and that even if they think what we believe is barmy, if they reject our message, they reject God himself. 

Who's the greatest?

Who is the greatest? This is what the disciples asked Jesus in Luke 9. Jesus told them, "For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest.”
Does this mean that we shouldn't try to better ourselves? Does this mean that we shouldn't be ambitious? No I don't believe this, but I do believe that if we put those things before Jesus then we are on a slippery path. 
I believe that we should always want to do our best, in fact I try to do the best I can in everything I do, however, if this becomes the centre of everything then we are trying to be great and that means that we are taking the glory instead of giving it to God. 
Jesus came to serve, he humbled himself and came to suffer and die for me.  I need to do likewise, I need to humble myself and serve God. God wants to reach a lost world and we are the plan, so therefore we need to humble ourselves and do as Jesus did. We need to put our agenda's aside and just love God and love others, and let our future's be in His hands. Let's face it, there is no job more important in this life than showing someone else the road to Jesus. We can do that in whatever job we do, let's stop wanting to be the greatest, let's stop taking control of things and hand the reins over to the Creator of the Universe - He Knows what he's doing - trust him!

Who do you say I am?

Todays passage is Luke chapter 9. Jesus is with his disciples and asks them who they believe he is. Peter replies, "The Christ of God"
This made me think about who I believe Jesus is. I believe that he is my Saviour, he is my rock, he is my Lord, he is my King, he is my creator he is the very centre of my life. I know that there is 'no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.' 
The thing is, others don't know who Jesus is. Others just think he is a swear word, or a historical figure or even believe that he's not real at all. 
Let's face it, in the time of Jesus there was a similar problem. The leaders of the Temple didn't believe in him and he did miracles before their very eyes, the Roman Soldiers didn't know who he was as they nailed him to a cross, Judas thought he was someone else so he handed him over to the authorities.
Who do you say Jesus is? Is he your Saviour and Lord? If not, WHY NOT? He is the creator of the universe; he created us to be in a relationship with him. We owe him everything, so if you don't know him why not make the decision to get to know him. Jesus is wanting to be a part of your life, and all you have to do is ask, and I can guarantee he will show you how real he is. Jesus is the Saviour of the world, lets get to know him better, lets help others to know him too!

Let's take the chances!

Today I was reading the first part of Luke 9. Its the bit where Jesus gives the disciples a go out on their own. He sends them out in Power and gives them the authority to do exactly what he did. He sent them out to preach the Kingdom of God and so off they went. It says that they went from village to village preaching the gospel and healing people as they went.
Do you know the amazing thing about this story? We are also sent out with the very same power and authority to do exactly as Jesus did! YEY! That is really amazing!
I guess the thing I was really struck with was the fact that even though we have the same ability as the disciples we don't really do what they did. I can't remember ever going around praying for people to be healed! I don't even go out in the streets telling people about Jesus. I know I go into schools, but its not quite the same as telling random people in the street!
That also made me think, do I make every opportunity count for God? Do I make sure that when I can tell someone about the fact that Jesus loves them I actually do? Or do I chicken out? I must admit I don't always grab every opportunity. I know that I need to be braver as the opportunity I miss could've really made a difference in their life. I need to make sure that I remember that being brave and telling someone that they need Jesus and being laughed at is better than not telling them and them going to a lost eternity.
Lets remember that Jesus is with us and we have nothing to fear. If we loose friends through telling them about God then it is better to loose them in this life than for eternity. 

ETERNITY IS A LONG TIME! LETS NOT WASTE IT!