How would you feel?

Mark chapter 1 verse 7 says, “And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.”

Have you ever thought about that statement, I mean think of what John is saying about Jesus? I have read this verse many times, but today I had to take a step back and think about it. How would you feel if you where the one to introduce Jesus Christ to the world? What words would you use? How would you feel to be the one chosen for such a job? I think John got it right, as he introduce Jesus to the world.

“Hey everyone I know you come out to see me, I know you think that I’m special, but I have an announcement to make. You see I’m just a messenger, just a supporting actor. To be honest with you I’m not worthy to even be mention in the same breath as the one to come. “

 I think we often miss what John is saying. We miss the fact that when Jesus was first introduced to the world, we hear of his Holiness. John was saying that Jesus is so Other than us that we aren’t even worthy to stoop down and untie His sandals!!!!”    The first picture we get of Jesus is how Awesome He is, how set apart he is from us, from John. Even though people look to John as someone special, John made sure we understood that Jesus Christ was the one. John made sure that we understood who this God-man is. Yes we are just supporting role players, and John made sure we knew how unworthy we are to be in the same play as the Lord, JESUS CHRIST. 

The God of my Salvation

Life is a funny thing to figure out at times! As I sit on a plane flying home from Dallas, I’m reflecting on the great time I had shared the past two days with a young man I have had the privilege of discipling. As I sat and talked with Jordan and his wife Brandi, and we talked about life, our faith, about friendship, and about the greatness of our God! I was overwhelmed with gratitude and thankfulness. I thought about when I turn on the news and here how bad things are in our country, how the world is falling apart, how there is nothing left to hope in, I have the God of all creation who cares for me. I understand what the writer of Habakkuk was feeling when he wrote the words below.

Habakkuk 3:17-19

17 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,

18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

19 GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places.

I understand because that's how I feel, even though things look hopeless, there is the God of hope. Who will give you the things that matter in life, like friends and family who love you.  A God who will give you hope when the world only feels despair, who can bring clarity when the world only senses confession. Yes I can say I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God thank you for be able to make me makes sense of the craziness of life and the hopelessness that it can produce. Thank you for being my hope,

Your Son

Don  

But you are a Chosen Race

One thing I am coming to understand is this; in life it is often hard to see myself as God sees me. This may be due to the fact that I often allow my failure and my sin to define me. If you are anything like me, it is hard for you not to be defined by such things. So when I read a passage like 1^st Peter, chapter 2 verses 5-10 I have to take a step back and remind myself of the truth of whom I am.

         Verse 5 starts out by saying “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you my proclaim the Excellencies of him who called you.”

I have to say to myself, that the creator of the universe sees me differently that I see myself, he sees me forgiven because of what Jesus Christ did for me on the cross. When I accepted Jesus Christ as my savior everything changed. All my sins, past, present, and future were forgiven and will never separate me from God. I’m not saying that I don’t have to fight against sin, I do. But I now fight against sin knowing that I can over come sin, because Christ has over come all things. I also now fight sin, not out of fear but out of love for the one who loves me, and who died for me.

When I remember these truths, I remember who I am in Christ and that I am not defined by my sins or my failures, but will only be defined by my God. I am His and he will never let me Go

The Overseer of your Souls

I am thankful,

It’s been about 5 years, since I have taken a vacation, and as I sit here looking out the windows of a rental home in West Virginia, I am thankful. This morning as I read 1st Peter chapter 2, I am overwhelmed by the greatness and the kindness of my Savior Jesus. I have come to realize that the Christian life is a very difficult one to live, but that because of Jesus I can now live my life, not controlled by my passions, but controlled by my God. And as I read 1^st Peter I know that it won’t be easy, but that it can be done, and I know that even if I have to suffer while trying to live for Christ, He is worth the suffering. At the very end of chapter 2 Jesus is called the Overseer of your souls. I thought about that title, for all who have placed their faith in Him, He is now the caretaker and Overseer of their souls, and for that I am thankful. For who better, could ever care for my soul, than the one who created my soul.  

West High AVE

Today is one of those days, when life just seems empty. As I sit here and look out my window, the street sign looks back at me 5^th St NW and West High Ave. And I ask myself, Lord what is my purpose, what is it that you want me to do in this small town of New Philadelphia. And as I sit here and talk with God, there are no great revelations, no awesome moment of clarity, no that’s what Im called to do. No all I here is silence. So I sit and I look out my window, not knowing what it is that I’m wanting God to say to me. But I do know that my God is able to speak in the silence that often times all God wants from us is our hearts. And maybe that’s what God is showing me, that don I see all the things that you do, but right now just sit and be with me. Just look out your window and know that I am God. Just know that I (God) love you with and unrelenting love. Know that when your feel alone, I feel your heart and I am here for you. When you feel afraid I will fight the battles for you. When you don’t know what to say or do, its ok I am still your God and I wont let you go. So I sit here and in the silence and even though I don’t hear God. I know he would tell me its ok Don I know all that you feel and your heart will again sing, just not today. 

WHY

Have you ever wondered why God did it? Why did God give us the Gospel, the good news, the news that even though we were without hope, Jesus came and died and rose again so that all who call on His name will be saved. What is it about us that makes us so special. What could we have to offer a perfect, holy, righteous God? Well the answer is nothing. God did not do it because we were worth it or that we could offer him something . God did it because he loves us. He knew that there was nothing about us that deserved the gospel, the good news. Nothing about us that deserved the gift of Jesus Christ. But God the father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, did it anyway, because they love us. In Ephesians 2:4-7 the bible states "but Because of his great love for us, God who is rich mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions , it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. Do you see it? God did it because he loves us. He chose to love us and it is because of his great love, he gave us life. We are the recipients of the great love of God, so thats why he made a way for us, Why he died for us, and why one day he will come back for us. God the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit love us so much that they brought us to themselves. Don't ever think, there was something in us that deserved The Good News, but God love us so much that he gave himself so we could be with him.

Thank you God for loving us that much.

Don 

A Letter to my Friends

One of the things I love so much about the bible, is how often it speaks to my heart, and what’s going on in my life. And lately my life has been a little odd. You see often time I love to go to a coffee shop, or MacDonald’s for coffee in the morning and to read my bible. But it seems that recently my reading has invited others to come over and give me their opinion about, God, or Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, or a verity of other things. Most of the conversation is good, many people just want to see what I’m reading, or they ask me to pray for someone they know and is in need of prayer. But recently the interruptions have been more aggressive and challenging. Take this morning, a man ask me what I was reading, and I told him, I was studying Jude, because it was what I was teaching my Sunday morning class. At that point he said that God and Jesus were God alone, but that the Holy Spirit was not God, and furthermore, the Holy Spirit was not even a person, but was just the spirit of the father and the son. Now you have to understand, these types of conversations seem lately, to be the norm. Just a few days before I meet with and old friend and he told me that he no longer believes that Jesus was God, that only God the father is God. Another friend told me that he now believes that all roads lead to God so all religions are true. As I have been reading the bible, I now realizes that the bible tells that these things will happen. I’m not saying that I know where each person that comes up to talk to me about these things, stands. Some may be just trying to figure it all out, some may just have bad understanding of God and His word. But the bible says in Jude 18 “In the last times there will be scoffer, following their own ungodly passions. And I do believe that. As I have been reading Jude and 1^st John I know that people will deny the person Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. People will add too or take away from the word of God. But as it states in Jude:20&21 But you beloved, build yourselves up in your most holy faith, and keep yourselves in the love of God. That's what we are called to do, to contend for the faith and to build ourselves up in the most holy faith. I know that God is allowing me to have these conversations, so that i can see the scope of the problem. Our faith, and our God are under attack, so lets stand for Him and his word, because he has done so much for us.

P.S. today remember this truth

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever Amen.