Sorry for the delay in getting this posted. I actually did my read last night and intended to get it posted this morning, but I got caught up in the chaos of the morning and then was off to work, so my morning did not go as planned.

Previously in the Daily Read, we get John’s version of the crucification and resurrection. In this passage, we see Jesus’ directives many times to his disciples. And since we are reading his Word, we too are disciples. We must put our faith into action:

Then Jesus said to him (Thomas), “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29

We have “seen” and believed, so we must seek out those that have not. For some people, Jesus’ death and resurrection mean that they have been forgiven for their sins and that’s it for them. “Good job Jesus! You have forgiven me and I will go to church on Sundays to pay tribute to you and feel better about myself.” But, that is not what he intended. As true disciples we must go out and help others to find what we have found. To absolve Peter of his denying him three times, he asks him three times if Peter loves him:

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” + “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” + Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” + Again, Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?” + He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” + Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” John 21:15-16

Jesus asks Peter one more time and Peter is hurt by the questioning, but in the end, Jesus responds with “Feed my sheep.”(v.17) The point Jesus was making was to be good with him, Peter needed to share his knowledge with others. Get out and feed the sheep. Bring others into the fold. To really follow Jesus, we must not be content that he went through his death and resurrection just for us. We must go out and share what we know with others. Now let’s go feed the sheep! Read on…

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Previously in the Daily Read, Jesus prays for himself and his disciples. While this passage also contains details about his arrest (with an interesting side note I will touch on in a moment) and Peter’s denial, the real message in this read was about Jesus’ prayer.

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” John 17:20-21

Jesus prayed for you and me over two thousand years ago! Isn’t that awesome? The disciples message has lasted that amount of time and continues today. What other evidence would you need to know that the Word is true? But, from this passage, we must know that we are now the disciples and this is our job, to spread the Word.

Our message today at church touched on this and Pastor Greg did a fantastic job with it. To put this in business terms, we need to find qualified leads. We need to invest time in a few people and help them find Jesus. While it is great when somebody wants to spread the Gospel, but gets a little overzealous in reaching others, it can do the opposite. We must invest the time to gain trust in our friends that our non-believers so that when we turn them to his Word, they trust us to do right by them. Our testimony doesn’t mean a whole lot if those we are telling it to don’t know us. Getting back to the business analogy, get the quality lead and you will have a customer for life. So go for the few and get the great. Plant your seeds in the fertile soil and see God’s love blossom in people your really care about. You will both be better off for it.
Finally, I found it very John’s take on Jesus’ arrest very interesting as it differed from the first three books of the New Testament. In those, Judas pointed out who Jesus was. But in John’s version, Jesus knew what was going on and basically turned himself in to spare his disciples. I have to tend this version to be true as John was there first hand and the other versions may have been embellished for dramatic effect. Either way, we can love Judas to fulfill Jesus’ destiny to be our savior. Read on…

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Previously in the Daily Read, Jesus speaks on a range of emotions including joy, grief, hate and most importantly love. Jesus tells his disciples how they will and what they can expect after his death. As you would expect after death, their grief will have a range of emotions.

But more importantly, Jesus tells them to follow his most important command:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so must you love one another.” John 13:34

Jesus gave his disciples many instructions for living after his death, including to continue believing him and know him, the Father and the Spirit. But even that is not as important as his instruction to love each other that he repeats two more times:

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he may lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:12-13

“This is my command: Love each other.” John 15:17

If I were a disciple, I would be like “Got it!” But it is important and seemingly easy, but is it really? There are bound to be people that you hate or dislike immensely. But even they need to loved from afar. Plus, you don’t need to love them for who they are, but who they aren’t. Love them for the challenge that the bring to you. And pray for them.

Jesus didn’t say “Appreciate everybody’s company”. He said “Love each other”. So you don’t have to like them or who they are. Just love them for who they are, whether you agree or disagree with them personally. God made us all different so that we may appreciate and learn from our differences, not hate each other for them. Now let’s go out and love each other. Read on…

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Alright, I have hit the wall! I am really tired from staying up to do some work last night and this is going to be short and sweet tonight.

Previously in the Daily Read, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead and the Pharisees plotted to kill him. Now while the resurrection of Lazarus is significant, I found my verse today comes from the end of the passage:

“For I did not speak on my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. I know his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.” John 12:49-50

Isn’t it great how we have been given this same gift by the Lord? Do you really think that what you say just comes from you? No way. When taking Jesus into your heart, you are given the gift of his words. Plus, if you dig into his Word as we have, this only increases his voice in yours. I had a great day with the words that He gave me yesterday in my meeting. I know his plan for me will be great, so I am not sweating it either way. It is so great to take part in His plan. Read on…

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Previously in the Daily Read, we have the best story of Jesus’ healing a blind man and his explaining of his shepherding the flock. Both of these passages are great and it is difficult to choose which to focus on. Pastor Greg did an awesome message on the blind man that can now see, so I am going to focus on Jesus being the gate for sheep:

Therefore, Jesus said again, “I will tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture.” John 10:7-9

We are his flock and we are saved through him. This still holds true today. But what I really loved about this is how he spoke about those not in the gate, yet:

“I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” John 10:16

Being that we are not truly sheep and living, breathing and speaking human beings, it is our job to help gather those other sheep as we are here to serve him. Also, I enjoyed how he said that “they too will listen to my voice”. Isn’t it amazing that when we submit to his greatness, we hear that voice?

For today, I join Eddie in his send off: Just thoughts. Read on…

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Previously in the Daily Read, Jesus makes the folks of Galilee and Judea uncomfortable (I love when he does that!) with the Truth. When he tells the disciples to eat of flesh and drink of his blood that they will be filled with the Spirit, some disciples (not the Twelve) can’t take it a run off. But it is in Judea that he reveals himself and they don’t believe him!

Then Jesus, still teaching in the Temple courts, cried out, “Yes, you know me and where I am from. I am not here on my own, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.” John 7:28-29

The people of Judea did not believe who Jesus said he was. And we probably think that about people that we know. We know who they are and where they are from, but that does not mean that they are not capable of great things. By knowing Jesus, we are all capable of miraculous work on any given day. Sure, we won’t be healing invalids anytime soon, but it can be helping a nonbeliever to believe, assisting somebody in need or other good works. So don’t discount anybody because they can give of themselves at anytime.

“I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge.” John 8:50

Glorify Him and you too can make miracles happen. Read on…

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Previously in the Daily Read, we learned the power of testimony. For most Christians, finding Jesus Christ came by learning of his power from somebody, whether it be a parent, friend, coworker, pastor or somebody else. A new believer hears the testimony of another believer because that is the most trusted source for this information. That, and we cannot physically hear it from Jesus himself as they did in the time of the New Testament. But even then, the most powerful testimony came from another:

They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” John 4:42

Like the Samaritans, this holds true today. We hear from somebody else the Good News, then we seek it ourselves. If the Samaritan woman that Jesus had met at the well did not go and tell her neighbors, they would not have known for themselves. It was her testimony that led them to find Him. Now, Jesus could have went to town himself and gotten on a soapbox, but as he adds, that would not have been as powerful:

“If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid.” John 5:31

Not only did Jesus need his disciples to carry on his work, but he needed them to tell their people as witnesses of his great power. Jesus was the most powerful man to walk the planet, so how could humans relate to him? They couldn’t. But by having their own walk with him and share in his journey, they could understand. Would the Samaritans have listened to the testimony of a Jew? Absolutely not, but when it was one of their own, they listened, gave it a chance and found the ‘Savior of the world.’

Doesn’t sound much different than what we can do now, does it? We are all disciples and we can tell others about our journey with Jesus. That is our purpose and what we are here for. Especially when church can get in the way (click here to see what Tony Morgan blogs about what Andy Stanley says on this)!

So let’s all be like the Samaritan woman at the well! Testify! Read on…

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Previously in the Daily Read, the apostle John (not to be confused with the Baptist) writes down his reflections of being with the Son of Man. I really enjoyed the style in which this is written because John is not writing a biography as is the first three books of the New Testament, but he has written a more narrative reason to believe in the Jesus. It is also very elegant in its style:

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

Now, of course, if you are reading the first three chapters of John you have to highlight John 3:16, made famous with its painted signs at American sporting events through the 70′s and 80′s:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16

First of all, whoever started that grassroots campaign is genius! I mean, nothing sums up taking Jesus into your heart than that one. Brilliant, plus, you have to look it up! Great, now a person has to cruise through the Bible and might pick up other verses. I have to say that was awesome. But, I am off the point. My point is this: with this verse, you may recruit those to the flock that have not found Him, but the next verse is just as important:

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” Luke 3:17

If you ask a nonbeliever why they don’t attend church, more than likely you will hear about the hypocrisy of church people. They might say that those people condemn things that they may take part in and that they don’t want to be around people like that. Which brings another great point, it is not for us to judge, as there is only one judge, God. When we deal with people, we need to be like Jesus and not condemn them for their actions, but try to help them and save them with God’s help. Let’s kick open that door to eternal life for them! Read on…

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Previously in the Daily Read, Jesus is brought to the cross, crucified and then resurrected. He comes back, and in this book, not only visits the women and his disciples, but he appears in the flesh to Cleopas and a friend. But, the verse that stuck out for me this read was:

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34a

Here was a guy who was being tortured, beaten and pinned to a cross and he is asking for the forgiveness of those that are doing this to him! And we think that we have bad days? Everybody has been at the bad end of somebody else’s actions, but we must use this verse to remember to forgive those that may do wrong against us. If Jesus can do it under these circumstances, then we most certainly can in our everyday lives. Perhaps I should make little stickers for our rear view mirrors for the daily commute.

Read on…

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