The Multiplicity of 'All'

You remember the occasion when Jesus fed the 5,000?

We find the story in the Book of Mark. Chapter 6.

Jesus saw the great crowds and compassion on them.

And He began to teach them many things.

It got very late.

And the people got very hungry.

So Jesus' disciples came Him and said

"It's really late. We need to send everyone out of

here so they find something to eat."

Jesus said "How about if you feed them".

I can just see the look on their faces.

"Huh? What do you mean we feed 'em.

We don't have any food

and we certainly don't have the cash."

"Well, how many loaves do you have"? asked Jesus.

"Go and see."

They scoured the place and came up 5 loaves.

And oh yes, 2 fish.

A couple of things here.

Give everything to Jesus.

Don't withhold anything.

If the disciples would have withheld the fish

and just paid attention to the loaves, because that's

what Jesus asked for, the miracle would have not been the same.

Today, we would only be talking about the 5 loaves and

whatever the remaining basketfuls would have been.

Remember this.

Write it down and never forget it.

Whatever we withhold from God, He cannot multiply.

Give Him everything, He can be trusted.

RP

Grace, Not Judgement

Jesus went to the Temple early in the morning

and a crowd soon gathered.

He sat down and began to teach them.

However, the session was soon interrupted

by the teachers of the religious law and the Pharisees.

They had found a woman caught right in the middle

of an affair and either she, her partner, or both, were married.

They dragged the woman in front of the crowd,

(probably barely dressed, if at all) to publicly humiliate her

and trap Jesus at the same time.

“The law of Moses says stone her. What do you say?”

Jesus stooped down and began writing

in the dust of the Temple stone.

What did He write?

The Bible doesn’t say, but here are some thoughts.

This is not the first time Jesus had written in stone.

Remember the Ten Commandments? Jesus wrote those.

And now He was being lectured about the very law

He had written some 2,000 years earlier.

Students lecturing the master is hardly new.

People have been arguing with God for a very long time.

But I love the response of Jesus. He says (paraphrase)

“Alright fine. You can stone her, but here’s the deal.

You who have never lied, cheated, cursed,

had a lustful thought, or any other sin, you be the first one to throw.”

Then, He went back to writing in the dust,

and slowly, one by one, they all left.

Now, the religious elite were the ones being publicly humiliated.

But, check out what Jesus does next.

He turns to the woman and asks “Where are your accusers?”

“They’ve all left”, she said.

Don’t miss this now.

Jesus then said “Neither do I (condemn you), go and sin no more.”

Unfortunately, in the church we all too often say,

“Go, don’t sin anymore and we won’t condemn you”.

But that’s not Jesus.

Jesus is fully aware the law condemns.

He wrote the law.

Jesus is fully aware the laws brings judgement.

He wrote the law.

Jesus is fully aware the law brings death.

He wrote the law.

But we are no longer under the law.

We are under grace. Romans 6:14

“So now there is no condemnation for those

who belong to Christ Jesus” Romans 8:1 NLT.

Satan is your only accuser.

You are forgiven in Christ and have been freed

from the penalty of sin by what Jesus did on the cross.

Worship Jesus knowing we stand before a

Throne of Grace and not a Throne of Judgement.

RP

The Secret to Revival

So, I've been reading this book.
About revivals.

Revivals that have have happened all over the world
over the past 150 years.

I discovered a common thread in all of them.
The secret, if you will.

Ready?
Here it comes.

Prayer.

Every revival began with prayer.

Wow.
So simple, yet so profound.

We have prayer at church.
And it's important prayer.

We pray for Aunt Betty's herniated nail
on the third toe of her left foot.

We pray for Uncle Joe's gout that seems to
really flare up this time of year.

Don't get get me wrong, I'm concerned about
Uncle Joe and Aunt Betty.

But I really don't want to take up valuable time
with the saints on Sunday morning to pray about
worries of the flesh.

This time is incredibly important.
Incredibly valuable.

There is a higher use of prayer when the saints are gathered.

The Bible talks about the "fervent prayer of a righteous man..."

The righteous part has been taken care by what Christ accomplished on the cross. We are righteous, not by what we do, but what He did on our behalf.

Sorry for the digression. Back to topic.

When was the last time we had fervent prayers?

It certainly wasn't over cousin Edna's corns.

God is concerned about people's souls.
And He is fully aware of our, toes, knees and hips.

His concerns are eternal.

How about this?

How about humbling ourselves before our God and
fervently begin praying for revival.

That's where revival begins.

Coming together as believers and
pouring our hearts out for what really matters.

Praying for the lost souls that are driving by our churches
(while on the inside we concern ourselves with music styles,
the length of our services...and gout).

My heart longs to be joined with other saints-
pouring our hearts out to a living God
fervently praying for revival.

Will you join me?

"If my people called by my name,
will humble themselves and pray..."

RP

The Verse That Changed Everything

Jesus left that part of the country and returned with his disciples to Nazareth, his hometown. 2 The next Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. They asked, “Where did he get all this wisdom and the power to perform such miracles?” 3 Then they scoffed, “He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us.” They were deeply offended and refused to believe in him.

Previous to this passage, Jesus had walked on water,
cast out demons and even raised a young girl from the dead.

So He heads back to His hometown.
Nazareth.

He went to the synagogue to teach.
And the people were amazed.

Amazed!

Then somebody said, "Hey, wait a minute. This is Joshua.
You know, Jim and Joe's brother. You gotta be kiddin'."

"He ain't who we thought He was."

And their view of Him changed.

There's the problem.
They had the wrong idea about Jesus.

They made the HUGE mistake of not recognizing who He really was.

Been there. Done that.
I'm still probably nowhere close to understanding His real identity.

But I can say this.

My view has definitely changed over these past few months.

Here's what I read right out of the Bible.

Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. Colossians 1:22

Game-changer!

When I realized He took ALL my sin, before I even committed them...
Received ALL my punishment, before I could be judged...

I had a new appreciation.

I quit waiting for the other shoe to fall.
It already fell.

I stopped living in fear of judgement.
Jesus took my judgement.

Thanks be to Jesus Christ!!!

My whole view of Jesus was changed by one incredible verse.

I read the Bible differently now.
I pray differently now.
I worship differently now.
I seek differently now.

You get the point...

I'm beginning to see Jesus as He really is.

Not a judge.
A Savior.

A Savior in every possible way.

Amazing!

RP

The Secret Place

I have a secret place I go...to pray.

No one knows where it is and until right now, no one even knew that I have such a place.

Not even my wife.

I go there for two reasons.

I need Him today.

Right now. At this very moment.

I need Him in my tomorrows.

Unless I meet Jesus face to face today, I'm going to need him today...and tomorrow.

And my tomorrows will come.

What will they look like? I don't know.

But here's what I do know.

I will live in the fruit of this moment.

What I do today...the seeds I'm planting, will be fruit somewhere in my future.

I pray.

I seek.

I worship.

But not for just today.

But for my future.

I can't change my past.

I can radically change my future.

I'm going to my secret place now... and someday I will live in it's fruit.

RP

Boldness

The first week of August, I went to a revivalist event in Chicago.

I have been praying for revival for quite some time now.

I've been praying for revival in the Restoration churches.

I'm not sure we're listening.

To be a revivalist, you must be sold out. 100%.

You must loose your own identity and take on the identity of Jesus.

You must be bold and have the Holy Spirit working actively in your life.

That's really the key.

Boldness.

The willingness to look like an idiot for the sake of Christ.

Not caring what others think, but what does Jesus think.

Not a single person I might unimpress has the ability to give me

what Jesus has already given me.

I'm not concerned about what others might think.

The people in the book of Acts were astonished by the boldness of Peter and John.

And they were "uneducated".

If only we could be so dumb.

Satan has set up shop right in our back yards.

Do we boldly oppose him?

We speak against him and his works ... at church.

Do we boldly fight against his schemes?

Isn't that the what we are to be about as the called out ones?

To fight against and rescue others who are still caught in his lies.

I hope at the end of my life people will say of me, "that dude was a radical".

Or better yet, "That dude was a revivalist"!

A Huge Crop

13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.” Mark 4:13-20 NIV

I've pondered this parable many times over the years and to be quite honest, it kinda depressed me.

I always saw myself as thorny soil at best.
Not producing much. Distracted.

I mean I've tried to be produce, but not much yield.

Then the Lord showed me what is the most important lesson of the parable.
It's really quite simple, but very profound.

(Sometimes the Lord just has to spell it out for me. I don't get it on my own.)

Here it is.

I get to choose the kind of soil I am.

How could I have missed that? ... and for 30 years.
I mean really, it's right there!

When I hear the word and accept it and produce a crop, I am good soil.

So how do I produce a crop.
That's simple also; I ask for it.

Keep reading the the rest of Mark chapter 4.

It's all there...

Don't you think the Lord Jesus Christ wants us all to be good soil and produce huge crops?

Do you think He's Ok with any of us being fruitless?

35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

It is my quest to first be a 30 fold... then 60... then 100... then.........
I've asked. He will honor.

And you?.....