Introducing Jesus Christ......

This is what I mean by getting so caught up in who Jesus is that you get so overhwelmed words cannot do justice to the matchless and majestic name of Jesus!!! Steve Harvey is no apostle Paul but at the end I believe he felt the same thing. Check it out

Eternally pleased

In Colossians 1:19,20 It says that God was pleased to have all his fulness dwell in Christ. This kind of pleased is timeless. God was eternally pleased to share deity with Christ. So Christ is the Son of God in an eternal sense sharing in all of the divine attributes and power.

Not only was God eternally pleased to have all of his fulness be permanently at home with Christ he was also eternally pleased to reconcile all things to himself. The word reconcile means to restore to original unity or harmony. Colossians 1:20 says he did this by making peace or binding together all things to himself through his blood. He died so that the whole universe could be bound together and made right in relationship with him. That is an amazing God and a powerful image of Jesus.

Nothing must distract from Christ

There's a story about Leonardo Da Vinci painting the last supper. In Leonardo Da Vinci's famous painting of The Last Supper, our Lord's hands are empty and there's a story behind that.
Da Vinci dedicated three years to this painting, determined that it would be his crowning work. Before the unveiling, he decided to show it to a friend for whose opinion he had the utmost respect.
The friend's praise was unbounded. 'The cup in Jesus' hand," he said, 'is especially beautiful." Disappointed at once Da Vinci began to paint out the cup. Astonished, the distinguished friend asked for an explanation. 'Nothing," Da Vinci explained, 'must distract from the figure of Christ."
Da Vinci focused attention solely on Christ by removing the distraction of the cup. Having removed the cup, he had to do something with the hand. The left hand was already outstretched just above the table, lifting, as if to bless and command. Now the right hand, also empty, was also outstretched invitingly.

This is the image of Jesus that I want us as a church to be inspired and fueled by. Not just a Jesus who is blessing and commanding but a Jesus who is inviting us into loving relationship with him. I don't want anything to distract from that image of Jesus.

Bearing fruit in good works

What is a good work? This has puzzled me. In the scriptures we are exhorted many times to do good works (Matthew 5:16, Ephesians 2:10, Titus 2:14) I believe the key to figuring out what good works are is located in Titus 3:8. There Paul encourages Titus to constantly teach the right doctrine so the church can be devoted to good works. Then he says these things are good and profitable for all men. Good works are what is good and profitable. Many times we only think of good works as connected to full time ministry or some church activity but good works are bigger than that and often times happen outside the four walls of the church. Babysitting for a single mom, feeding the homeless, signing petitions against unjust laws, helping out at the boys and girls club can be defined as good works and followers of Christ ought to be leading the way. This is what it means to bear fruit in good works or to be fruitful and multiply in good works.

Mary's sacrifice

Last week the sermon was Living a Life Worthy of a Mother's sacrifice. Here is a quote that fully describes the sacrifice of the greatest mother of all time-Mary the mother of Jesus

Abba Isaac said once I was sitting with Abba Poemen and I saw that he was in ecstasy; and since I used to speak very openly with him, I made a prostration before him and asked him, 'Tell me, where were you?' And he did not want to tell me but when I pressed him, he replied: My thoughts were with St. Mary Mother of God, as she stood and wept at the cross of the Saviour; and I wish that I could always weep as much as she wept then.-Sayings of the Desert Fathers

I don't think we can understand the depth of Mary's emotional sacrifice. She knew that he was God in the flesh. To see the torture that he was put through must have been unbearable. If we could only see it the way she saw it maybe our lives would be lived differently in light of the cost of redemption. We could not only weep as Mary wept but live as Mary lived. We could face every situation with the attitude of Mary in Luke 1:38 "I am the Lord's servant ," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said."

Gathering the broken pieces

After Jesus fed the five thousand his disciples gathered up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces. I kind of see that as a parallel to the "leftovers" of quotes, illustrations, and material that did not go into the sermon but still can be used to build up others and encourage them to go deeper in the word. That's what this blog is all about. Gathering the broken pieces and giving them to the world.