​God thinks about you…a lot. How do we know this is true? 

Just look up, then look down.

We now know that there are at least 2 trillion galaxies without our known universe, each with an average of 200-400 billion stars. And you are just one of almost 8 billion people on a little rock rotating around a spark that is just one of those 200-400 billion stars in our galaxy.

This information might make you feel small and insignificant IF you had no hope in God or knowledge of His word. And yet, here is what God’s word says about those 2 trillion times 200-400 billion stars:

“He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name.” (Psalm 147:7)

Now, look down and consider the number of grains of sand you could hold in your hand. Then think of how many handfuls of sand there are at a beach. Then think of the number of beaches on earth. Then think of what God’s word says about those grains of sand:

“How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand…” (Psalm 139:17-18)

Why is what God’s word says about stars and sand significant? Because the number of grains of sand on earth is similar to the number of stars in our observable universe! And yet, God thinks about YOU more than the number of grains of sand on earth, more than the number of stars in our universe, even more than all the aspects of all creation combined—and His thoughts towards you are good!

He loves you! He can take you from a small, insignificant speck of dust to a co-heir with Christ—no matter who you are or what you’ve done. God loves YOU so much that He died on a Roman cross to rescue you—to pay your price for you—so that you can be elevated from a slave to sin to a saved, sealed, redeemed, and reconciled co-heir with Christ. Call out to Him today—He is willing and wanting to save!!

​Consider the great lengths God went to in order to express His love for humanity. He showed this love in a tangible way—“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). In 2 Corinthians, we read that “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin so that in Him we might become the very righteousness of God.” (see 2 Corinthians 5:21)

That’s an important reality to realize. Jesus didn’t just pay the debt of your sin and zeroed out your balance. He didn’t just credit your account His righteousness. No, He went even further—He made you INTO the very righteousness of God itself.

So if you are in Christ—be who you are!

In Christ, you are no longer a daughter or a son of Adam—you are now daughter or a son of God.

In Christ, you are no longer a sister or a brother of Cain and Abel—you are now a sister or a brother of Jesus.

In Christ, you are no longer a subject of the reign of sin and death through sin that came as a result of Adam’s disobedience—you are now a citizen of the reign of grace through righteousness to eternal life through Him.

In Christ, you are made into the very righteousness of God in Him!

Be who you are—in all places and at all times. And should you forget who you are—should you drift back to being a son or daughter of Adam and revisit the reign of sin and death—remember that God’s grace is greater than your sin. All of your sin collected and contained would only fill a thimble compared to the ocean of God’s grace.

​While we were at our worst, Christ died for us. While we were still sinners, God demonstrated His own love toward us. While we were unworthy in every way, God give us His one and only Son. Not only His Son, but peace, access to Him, hope, love, and His Holy Spirit. When we were at our absolute worst, God showed us how much He loves us by giving us all of this.

Think this through: God gave us all of this to us when we were the most ungodly, unworthy, and unrighteous. What Jesus did was so much more than paying your debt and crediting your account. Jesus not only gave you His righteousness, He had made you into the very righteousness of God.

How much more do you think He will do now that we have been made righteous—His righteousness? If He has given us such peace, hope, and love while we were His enemies, how much more will He give now that He has made us into His friends—His children?

His grace is truly amazing!

In Romans 5, we discover the gifts that Jesus is eager to give those who place their faith in Him: peace with God and access to God. These are essential to remember when circumstances tempt us to think that God is against us.

Paul knew we would encounter suffering. But he also knew that suffering produces perseverance, which produces character, which produces hope. This happens when we stand in the grace that God has given us and remember that God is for us, not against us. Trials, tribulations, difficulties, and bad days are NOT God being displeased with us or judging us. If you are in Christ, you have been justified—God sees you as sinless!

So the next time the devil reminds you of your past, stand firm in the grace of God and remind him of his future.

The next time the accuser reminds you of your sin and says, “Who said you could go to God?” remind Him that Jesus has justified you and has given you peace with God AND to God—then go to God and receive grace and mercy.

The next time you endure a trial or difficulty and Satan tempts you to think that it’s because God is mad at you, remember that nothing in all of creation could separate you from the love of God.

God is using suffering to produce in you the priceless qualities of perseverance and endurance, which will produce strength of character structural moral integrity, which will eventually produce hope.

So stand, dear friend—not on your own two feet, your own merit, or your own strength. Stand firm in the grace God has given you!

​Jesus loves Thomas and Mary and John—the three people we meet in John 21 who encountered Jesus in real and tangible ways. Jesus met them right where they were at. They all saw and believed.

And yet, Jesus loves you as much as He loves them. He says Himself that there is a special blessing for those who have not seen and yet still believe. He freely gives a special blessing—a gift of faith—for those who have not seen, but who have heard God’s word. And that’s because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17).

We have the blessing to open the Bible week after week together, and day after day with Him to read the things that were written so that we can have the hope of resurrection and the help to find faith in Him.

In the pages of the Bible, we encounter the One who can forgive us, the One who loves us, the One who tells us the truth, and the One who gives us purpose.

These things have been written…”that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” (John 20:31)

As Jesus approached Jerusalem the week leading up to His crucifixion, death, and resurrection, He wept. Not for the horrors that He would encounter that week. No, the Prince of Peace saw the city of peace and was overwhelmed with sorrow because they did not have peace with God.

Though the multitude cried “Hosanna!” that day, a few days later they would cry “Crucify!” and fail to recognize that God had come to them to give them peace. Because of that rejection, destruction came when the Romans completely destroyed Jerusalem.

Have you recognized Jesus coming to you to seek and to save that which was lost? One day, we will all have to stand before God alone. He will inspect your heart to see if you have peace with God.

If you don’t know the things that make for your peace and haven’t received Jesus, the coming destruction will be eternal—eternal separation from God. But it doesn’t have to be that way! This is why Jesus came—to save you from destruction.
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You can ask Jesus today—right now—to forgive you of your sins, to fill you with His Spirit, and to make you a brand new creation in Christ. Cry out to Him and He will save you! Trust Him as your Savior and follow Him as the Lord of your life.

Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
–Genesis 15:6

Apart from Jesus Christ, Abraham is the most famous and widely known person mentioned in the Bible. He is given so much literary real estate throughout the scriptures—not just his life, but his faith in God.

In fact, faith is the word that is most often associated with Abraham. It’s the very quality that is necessary to please God (Hebrews 11:6). It was the faith the Abraham obtained and implemented so much by him that he would be called God’s friend on three different occasions.

But here’s the interesting thing about Abraham—there was nothing extraordinary about him. Even though Abraham was and is so highly regarded by so many, there was nothing uniquely special about him, as compared to others in scripture, like Moses, Joshua, David, Daniel, or Ezekiel. It’s his ordinariness that makes the life of faith accessible to everyone. He simply and merely believed God—and his belief was accounted to him as righteousness. It was this belief that gave him an everlasting hope–a hope that is an anchor for the soul.

That faith and hope is accessible to us—right now! You may never be a great lawgiver like Moses, a smart military leader like Joshua, a brilliant king and psalmist like David, an incredible statesmen like Daniel, or one of the greatest prophets like Elijah—but you can be a person a faith like Abraham.

You see, Abraham was just a man—and God met with him right where he was at. Not only that, God gave him His word and a covenant to conform His word. It was by these two immutable, unchanging, and eternal things that Abraham had every opportunity to believe in God and to believe God. ​

We too have God’s word and His covenant so that we can believe Him. Like Abraham, the covenant God has made it one-sided. We have no contribution in it—only the opportunity to believe God.

The solution to the greatest quandary in all of history is found in Romans 3. How could God be a loving Heavenly Father and an absolutely righteous Judge at the same time? We are absolutely sunk unless God can solve this. And He did! Only in Jesus could God be absolutely just AND the justifier of those who have faith in Him.

Think of it this way: one day, an absolutely just judge has his son on the docket. His son is guilty and his punishment is a $50,000 fine or 5 years in jail.

This judge has a reputation of being a just judge who gives everyone a fair trial. But for those who were guilty, he would deliver the maximum sentence allowable by law. Do you see the quandary? If he threw the book at his son, he would violate his character as a loving father. But if he was lenient in his judgment toward his son, he would violate his character as a righteous judge.

The judge calls a recess to think things over. Everyone is wondering how will he solve this seemingly unsolvable situation. Once seated, he looks at his son, lifts his gavel, and delivers his verdict: “Guilty. Maximum sentence allowable by law.”

But then the judge stands, removes his judicial robe, steps down from the judicial bench, walks over to the bailiff, and writes out a check for the full amount. He pays the full penalty himself and solves the quandary of being absolutely just and the justifier.

This is what God did for us in and through Jesus—and so, so much more! He took off His royal robe, stepped down from His throne, lived an absolutely righteous life, and then died an absolutely horrible death in order to pay our penalty the maximum penalty allowable by His law in full. In doing so, God showed Himself to be an absolutely righteous judge AND a Father who forgives and paid our penalty Himself.

God doesn’t grade on a sliding scale for His entrance exam into heaven. It’s only pass or fail—and in order to pass, you need to get 100% right, 100% of the time. If you’re wrong even once, you fail and fall short of God’s standard.

What is God’s standard? We can look at just ten of God’s commandments to test ourselves. Have you ever…
…loved anything more than God?
…given more devotion to something?
…used God's name as cuss word?
…worked all seven days in a week?
…treated your parents poorly?
…harbored hatred for someone?
…looked on another with lust?
…stolen—anything?
…lied?
…wanted something that wasn't yours?

Well, how’d you do? Did you pass or fail? Remember, there’s no sliding scale. You either keep and fulfill God’s law completely your whole life, or you have broken God’s law at some point in your life. And if you have broken His law, you’re guilty.

Religious rites, rituals, or ceremony cannot deal with that guilt. To say that any religious rite saves or even contributes one bit to your salvation is to say that Jesus’ sacrifice was insufficient.

But there is hope! It’s not found in religion—it’s only found it Jesus. Only Jesus through His finished work on the cross saves. Come to Him and acknowledge that you have broken His perfect law. Be willing to turn from your sins, then believe that Jesus Christ died for you on the cross and rose from the grave.

You can ask Jesus to become the Lord of your life by praying a prayer like this:

Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. In Your Name, Amen.

How in awe of God’s mercy would you be if you constantly looked to Jesus and compared your righteousness to His? How much compassion would you have for those who are struggling with sin if you were looking at the Lord, bearing in mind how much He’s forgiven you, instead of looking at others?

In his letter to the Romans, Paul is trying to help us see the bad news (we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory) so we can appreciate and cherish the good news (we can all be justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus).

This news (both good and bad) is for the overtly immoral AND the intentionally moral and the really religious. God extends His mercy to all—those who have been running away from Him and those who have been trying to earn His favor, all the while looking down on others. When we forget that it is by grace we have been saved, we become like the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son, who became angry that his brother was receiving love from his Father since he felt he was so much better.

But the Father corrects His mistaken oldest son and us in the process—we can’t earn God’s love or His righteousness. Hear the Father’s heart: “You are always with me, and all that I have is yours.” Because when you are secure in who you are in the Lord, it frees you from seeking self-righteousness and makes you ready for God’s service.

The wrath of God not a knee jerk reaction. It is revealed for the purposes of producing repentance. Often, the wrath of God is letting you have giving you over to what you wanted more than Him.

He will hold on as long as possible, knowing there are very real consequences of sin. But God cannot and will not override our free will. The Father, unfortunately, has to let go.

And then what?

Consider the heart of Jesus, who receives sinners and eats with them (Luke 15:1-2). The religious rulers saw this as an affront. From their point of view, Jesus was spending time with people who deserve God’s wrath.

And yet, these religious rulers didn’t understand the true nature and character of God. They didn’t comprehend that they were sinners too—just as much in need of a Savior. To help them, Jesus told three parables to illustrate the true nature and character the true heart of God towards sinners (Luke 15:4-32).

And after each parable, Jesus reveals the joy God has for a sinner who repents. This is God’s heart towards every one of us because all of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.

This is so important to remember as we work our way through Romans 1. Whether we are overtly immoral, intentionally moral, or really religious, we are all sinners. So we all need to repent. Just turn around and come home, like the prodigal son.

And as we do, we’ll find a Father rushing to welcome us and ready to receive us.

Have you repented? Have you retuned? You can right now. Just acknowledge that you have sinned. Be willing to turn from your sins (repent). Then believe that Jesus Christ died for you on the cross and rose from the grave.

You can ask Jesus to become the Lord of your life by praying a prayer like this:

Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. In Your Name, Amen.

Throughout his letters, Pastor Paul openly and specifically thank God for the churches, the pastors, and the people to who he was writing. He specifically thanked God for their faith, love, and hope (among many other things). These are the things that blessed and impressed Paul. 

Unfortunately, these are not always the qualities by which a ministry or a minister is measured today. Success or failure is usually measured by nickels and noses or buildings and budgets. 

But is that what God is looking for? Are those the metrics that God would use? No!

And it’s very important to our ministry that we understand that fully. We have never desired to grow numerically. We have only desired to care for and cultivate the people who are coming. Hoping that if we do that well as unto the Lord, that we would see the qualities of faith love, and hope—just as Paul did so that we can do just as Paul did—refresh the hearts of believers and proclaim the Gospel to all!

You may have never heard of a man named Mephibosheth. It’s not the most common name for a man. However, there are lessons to be learned through this man that are common to us all.

Mephibosheth was tragically crippled because of a fall when he was young. This accident resulted from a misunderstanding of the heart of King David. Convinced that the king didn’t have his best interest at heart, Mephibosheth lived a life far from the king in isolation and fear.

But then, the king called him into his courtroom—not to kill him, but to show him kindness because of a covenant the king made with Mephibosheth’s father, Jonathan.

Not only did the king show Mephibosheth kindness, but also invited him to sit at the kings table continually as one of the king’s own son’s with full rights and privileges.

Do you see the metaphor in the life of Mephibosheth? Have you been spiritually crippled by a fall—a personal sin or perhaps because of someone else’s? We are all crippled by THE fall of original sin—leaving us isolated, broken, and ashamed, thinking that the King doesn’t have our best interest in mind. And yet, because of a covenant He made, He wants to show your kindness, and mercy, and goodness!

What is keeping you from answering His call? Oh, how He wants to bless you and show you His kindness and invite you to sit at His table continually with full rights and privileges as His own adopted son or daughter! Come to Him, today!

In the final chapter of the Gospel of Mark, we encounter some unlikely heroes who accomplished bold and courageous acts of obedience.

Joseph of Arimathea was a prominent council member and secret disciple of Jesus. He asked Pilate for Jesus’ body to bury in a tomb and fulfilled prophecy.

Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome purchased spices and waited until daybreak to rush to the tomb of Jesus to anoint Him. They didn’t give thought about the stone blocking the entrance to the tomb until they were on the way, but simply faithfully desired to minister to Jesus in His death.

These people took courage and did what they could do. That’s what gloriously ordinary people of God do when they serve a God who is anything but ordinary. They take courage, and they do the next right thing. They take courage, and they do what they can.

Maybe you feel gloriously ordinary. Take heart—you are in good company! Keep taking those steps of courageous faithfulness. You may never know on this side of eternity just how much of a difference those simple acts of faithful obedience have made.

Jesus was accused and abused, afflicted and oppressed. And yet, He was innocent of all the charges brought before Him. He could have defended Himself, but chose not to. At any moment, He could have ended it all with just a word…and yet He didn’t.

Why?

It wasn’t just to fulfill prophecies recorded centuries before in Isaiah 53, Psalm 22:16-18, and Zechariah 12:10 (among many others).

​He didn’t put a stop to the suffering He experienced because of you. You are the joy that was set before Him. You are the reason that He endured. You are the joy—His joy—for which He endured the cross. It was for you that He endured so that He might have fellowship with you forever.

An unreasonable, irrational, and unhealthy assessment of our own ability to be independently awesome is such a difficult thing to let die, isn’t it?

We all secretly want to be the hero of our own story—able to muster up through sheer force of will, all the right answers, and all the right choices. 

And yet…more often than not, we are anything but awesome independently. All of our bluster ends in failure, which we tend to gloss over so that we can give it another go next time. But in our own strength, it really doesn’t go any better next time.

Hopefully, the failure Peter experienced in Mark 14 can be our teacher so we can learn to be dependent rather than independent, wise rather than foolish. We can choose to learn these two complementary truths: apart from Jesus, we can do nothing (John 15:5), and we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength (Philippians 4:13).

In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was pressed—not like the olives grown there. He was crushed by the weight of what was to come. In fact, the scripture tells us that He was troubled and deeply distressed. His soul was exceedingly sorrowful, even to death (Mark 14:33-34).

This reminds us that Jesus is fully human—just as He is fully God. It was part of His human experience to feel sorrow and sadness—so much so that He felt He might die. And yet, Jesus was sinless. He was perfect.

This also shows us that it isn’t a sin to be sad, troubled, or sorrowful—it’s part of the human experience. Jesus was facing something so awful—to be a sin offering to receive the full wrath of God—that He was deeply distressed by it.

He understood what was about to happen and asked His Father if there was another way His will could be accomplished. “Nevertheless,” Jesus prays, “not what I will, but what You will.” (Mark 14:36)

​This is part of the human experience too—for a human whose heart has been gripped by the goodness and holiness of God. For God has promised that the trouble, distress, and sorrow of this life is not the end of the story.

In Mark 13, there are things Jesus says that speak to what the apostles would go through. There are things Jesus says that speak to what tribulation saints will go through. And there are things Jesus says that speak to what we are going through right now.

To each, Jesus gives the same instruction—take heed. Pay attention! Read the Bible. Talk to God—ask Him how He wants you to function in your daily responsibilities, in your workplace, and in your relationships. Talk to Him about everything. 

If you have made Him the Lord of your life, you are a part of His kingdom. He loves you and wants to use you. He has radical things for you in the smallest bits of faithfulness that will ripple on into eternity that you might never know about until you are with Him for all eternity. 

Trust Him. Love Him. Serve Him. And actively wait for Jesus in the meantime, for He is returning soon!

​God wants your heart.

He doesn’t desire automaton obedience, or a willingness to go to the penalty box when you mess up. You can do that without having a relationship with God. 

He wants YOU. 

He wants to walk in fellowship with You. He wants to walk in love with you where obedience and sacrifice aren’t even on the forefront of your mind. He desires a fellowship of love, because love fulfills the law. Loving God and loving your neighbor—on these two hang all the law and the prophets (Matthew 22:40).

Jesus wants genuine worshippers with no agenda other than simply loving the Lord and loving neighbors out of the overflow of fellowship with Him.

Are you trying to earn His favor? Are you making vain attempts to garner His affection? Stop—there is nothing you can to do that could make Jesus love you any more than He does right now.  Come to Him. Walk with Him. Abide in Him.  Love Him with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. Then enjoy fellowship with Him now and for all eternity.

God wants to enjoy the fruit of our fellowship with Him. It angers Him when people pretend to be His people, but have no fruit or heart for Him, His representatives, or His Son Jesus.

We see this truth in the context of Jesus’ words and actions in Mark 11:12-12:12. We witness a series of actions and hear words of Jesus that show and tell us that God is angered when fruitless sinners pretend to be His people and yet have no heart for Him. In their pretension, they even end up treating those who truly are His people and His own Son Jesus poorly.

If you find yourself pretending to follow Jesus, but without the fruit of His fellowship, don’t make the same mistake the religious leaders of Jesus’ day made. They heard His warning, but did not heed His call to come to Him. Their mistake was walking away from Jesus when they didn’t like what He had to say. But Jesus won’t turn anyone away who comes to Him. He wants fruitful fellowship with you. Come to Him today!

This is the day that the Lord had made—we will rejoice and be glad in it!

God is just as concerned about today as He was the day His Son rode into Jerusalem on a lowly donkey as the Suffering Servant. We have no idea how many holy crossroads we pass through over the course of a day.

He has prepared good works for us to walk in from before the very foundations of the world. And these good works could be just as consequential as Jesus riding in on that young donkey. For God saw this day and He knew this day was coming.

He longs to show himself strong on your behalf—this day and every day that He graciously gives you! So let us walk through our day with eyes open and a soul excited for what God has prepared, planned, and prophesied for us, and our families, and our fellowship.

This is the day that the Lord had made—we will rejoice and be glad in it!

If we want to be servants of Jesus—in the church and especially in the home—we must be a servant, not a ruler. We need to serve knowing that there is nothing beneath us.

We must also limit our liberties in love so that others do not stumble and to forgive others as Christ has forgiven us. Following His example, we are to forgive the people we are serving again, and again, and again, and again—even as they sin against us again, and again, and again, and again.

In all of this, remember that little ones are listening and learning. The secret to being a servant leader is found in preserving the tender heart of a little child, leading them with such care and tenderness that nothing would be a stumbling block for them. In doing so, we preserve, protect, enhance, and bless them.
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This is the model Jesus gives to us to follow. It wasn’t something He just said to do, it was something He did. On the very night He was betrayed, He did was no one else was willing to do—Jesus humbled Himself and washed His disciples feet.  It’s His example that we should all want to follow as His disciples—not just in the church, but especially in the home.

esus is so patient with us, isn’t He? He was patient with the disciples too—even as they were arguing and disputing instead of actually ministering and serving.

To make matters worse, they were arguing and disputing about who would be the greatest—or which one of them was the most important person, as the Children’s Bible renders it.

They were arguing about all of this right after Jesus—the Suffering Servant—told them plainly that He would be betrayed and killed and then rise again on the third day.

But instead of firing them all on the spot, Jesus sits down and calls them to Himself. He doesn’t rebuke them for their desire to be great, but He ministers to them and helps them. He simply teaches them (and us) where true greatness can be found—in service. True greatness is found in being a servant—in serving those who can’t serve back, the “least of these”.

But Jesus didn’t just define greatness—He made it accessible to everyone. Everyone has the capacity and invitation to become great in the Kingdom of God as the servant of all.

We are passionate people, aren’t we? We can find something to fight about or argue over with each other in seconds. But what do we want to be found doing when Jesus comes—serving and ministering, or arguing and fighting?

The disciples had this experience as Jesus came down from the mountain after His transfiguration. In Mark 9:14, we read how Jesus noticed the scribes disputing with the disciples while there were people who needed help.

Wasting time arguing instead of serving is one of the most often made mistakes as servants of Jesus. It’s a trap—it saps our energy, grieves the Holy Spirit, and robs those around us who need our help. It’s something we are to avoid (see 2 Timothy 2:23, Titus 3:9, and Ephesians 4:29-32).\

So instead of wasting time arguing and fighting, invest time in prayer and fasting so you can serve those around you by bringing them to Jesus.

While mountaintop experiences with God are amazing, we eventually need to get down. It’s true that we are to regularly and habitually seek the Lord in solitude, we are not to remain there. We are not intended to spend our lives in solitude.

We are to be in the world, but not of the world—because that is where God has sent us. He needs us to be the salt and light in the world that is suffering in and because of darkness.

So like Peter, we realize it is good for us to be here—with Jesus, in retreat from the world, getting clarity about who He really is. But Jesus will eventually lead us back down the mountain, into the places and next to the people who need to hear the hope that only Jesus can give them.

Take the time to seek the Lord in solitude and enjoy those times of refreshment and clarity on the mountaintop with Him—so that you can come back down and serve those who are lost, broken, and hurting with what He has given you.