Revitalize Your Church

  "Something greater than the temple is here." -- Matt. 12:6 "Something greater than Jonah is here." -- Matt. 12:41 "Something greater than Solomon is here." -- Matt. 12:42 Here, Jesus claims that. . . He is the place where people meet God -- the center of sacrifice and worship He is the point of the Old Testament prophets and the fulfillment of their prophecies. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is saying that he is . . . Greater than your worship tradition (your preference) Greater than your political stance (your perspective) Greater than your leadership skill (your performance)

  “ That I may know Him," -- Father grant the longing that burns within me as a quenchless fire: For in these words what wondrous depths lie hidden, embracing all I need or can desire.   “That I may know Him " -- this is life eternal, not to possess a gift apart from One who is the fount from which all true life springs, and whom to know is heaven on earth begun.   “That I may know  Him" -- not in name or theory, This brings no         power to stand amid earth’s strife. No; I will know Him as my living Savior,  the very strength and center of my life.  -- Freda Hanbury Allen, from  That I May Know Him, a beautiful collection of spiritual poems published in 1904.

"Whenever the church becomes self-conscious and self-centered, she fails to accomplish her real divine calling.  Her highest glory is to be seen only in the revealing of her Lord."  -- A. B. Simpson

  Lionel Whiston shared this powerful thought in his book on John's Gospel:, Through the Eyes of Love :  “When I first started reading John’s Gospel in preparation for this book, I struck impasse after  impasse. For hours I sat without writing even a paragraph that was satisfactory. I phoned my son in  St. Louis, telling him of my dilemma. “I can’t master this Gospel of John,. I feel powerless before it.”    His answer was perceptive and provocative: “John’s Gospel presents Jesus as the Christ and you can’t master the Son of God. You can only let Him master you.”  I had come seeking to understand and conquer, but instead, Christ had conquered. He has shown me myself and I have felt understood, loved, forgiven and empowered. With reverent awe, I can say, like Thomas, “My Lord and my God.”

There are a lot of opinions out there about who Jesus is or was. Some say he was just a man, whose deity was merely an exaggerated construct of a power-hungry emperor. Others claim that he never existed at all. Some say that he was a great humanitarian, a good teacher, or a Jewish prophet. The cyclone of varying opinions concerning Him can be blinding. But who is Jesus, really? We’re about to launch into a new series  at Hayward Wesleyan Church that will take us into the unfathomable depths of that question. Like a canoe voyage down the river into the heart of the unknown, we’re going to pursue a compelling vision of Christ through the gospel according to John, as we venture into a place of new discoveries – an untamed wilderness of truth, filled with wonder after breathtaking wonder. This will be no passive journey, or luxurious cruise. This will challenge you. Initiate you. Provoke you. And compel you to decide what you believe about Christ. So bring your Bible, a pen, a...

"Holiness is not for our own personal benefit -- but that others may see Jesus." --Matt Ohime

On July 29 1971, James Irwin accomplished something extraordinary, which hardly anybody in history in history has ever done. Every little boy and girl dreams of it – but very, very, few have actually experienced it. Care to venture a guess as to what James Irwin did that day? He was the first guy to drive on the moon! I remember, as a child, watching it on black and white television, although I also recall fidgeting a lot. It took a loooong time before the action started. As the commander of Apollo 15, Irwin had the privilege blasting off to the moon and driving the first Lunar Rover – sort of like a four wheel drive dune buggy. Va-room! Can you imagine what that must have been like? No traffic jams! No parking problems on Main Street! No stop signs! No pesky pedestrians! No patrol officers! It must have been a blast! Someday, they’ll probably dub Jim Irwin the “Patron Saint of Four Wheelers.” While on that historic mission, Irwin said that he had never felt so close to God. Experienci...

The first and final thought of Jesus was thought about God -- Adolph Schlatter This thought provoking quote was in "Beginning with God" a Beliefnet post by Scott McKnight

Swedish Church Unveils Lego Jesus It took them one and a half years and over 30,000 lego pieces. At least you can give them credit for being creative!

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In John 9, we find the story of the man who was blind from birth. 1) The Neighbors saw him as a beggar 2) The Disciples saw him as a sinner 3) Jesus saw him as a man -- a person with potential. The method of healing: mud on the eyes. That hurt!! Have you ever had dirt or sand in your eyes?? Ouch!! Sometimes, when Jesus begins a healing process, it HURTS! Jesus used dirt -- why?? Maybe. . . 1) Humans created from earth. A creative process. 2) Symbolizes the "earthly things" that blind us. 3) The beggar was treated like dirt. Maybe he thought of himself as dirt. And Jesus took dirt and made a miracle out of it. Pool of Siloam was a Mikvah -- a place of ritual cleansing. Jer. 17:13 -- The Lord is the hope ("MIKVAH") of Israel. John 8 -- Springs of Living Water! Jesus, Himself, is the cleansing place! Two times you can't see: 1) When you're in the dark. 2) When something is in the way The blind man saw Jesus -- via a process: 1) Saw him as a stranger --...

Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, grant us peace

"I remember coming back from a very long tour.... On Christmas Eve I went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. ...It had dawned on me before, but it really sank in: the Christmas story. The idea that God, if there is a force of Love and Logic in the universe, that it would seek to explain itself is amazing enough. That it would seek to explain itself and describe itself by becoming a child born in straw poverty... a child, I just thought: “Wow!” Just the poetry. Unknowable love, unknowable power, describes itself as the most vulnerable. There it was. I was sitting there, and ...tears came down my face, and I saw the genius of this, utter genius of picking a particular point in time and deciding to turn on this. Because that’s exactly what we were talking about earlier: love needs to find form, intimacy needs to be whispered. To me, it makes sense. It’s actually logical. It’s pure logic. Essence has to manifest itself. It’s inevitable. Love has to become an action or something concrete. It...

I've found Steven Scott's, The Greatest Words Ever Spoken , to be a valuable ministry resource. Scott has collected all the recorded sayings of Jesus (via the Gospels) and has catalogued them by topic. It makes for a fascinating read. . . everything Jesus said about you, your life, and everything else! Putting this volume together must have been quite an undertaking. . . as merely attempting to read it through has proven daunting. It's more of a reference book than a "read-it-straight-through" type. More on Steve Scott here

Firstborn of Mary, provocative preacher, itinerant teacher, outsider's choice; Jesus inspires and disarms and confuses whoever he choses to hear his voice. -- Iona Community Josh posted this beautiful poem at Front Porch Life.

"Was Jesus a pacifist?" A friend asked me this last week. How would you respond to that question?

Some great posts about last week's "Bones of Jesus" documentary. Ken Schenck, The Bones of Jesus? Ben Witherington, The Jesus Tomb? Scott McKnight, Was Jesus Married? One More Time Brian D. Russell, The Tomb of Jesus: A Missional Opportunity Pastor Rod Pickett, Tomb Hoax

Check out Steve Harvey's Introduction of Jesus.