(1 John 3:1-19) Jesus is the absolute greatest thing we can share with the world around us. We are called to love Jesus with all our guts and give His love away to the world around us. Genuine love is revealed in our actions as we live out the Word of God in our daily lives. It's sacrificial and goes out of our way for others. Love is action.
In Acts 1, after Jesus' death and resurrection, He appeared to the disciples for 40 days before He ascended to heaven. During this time, He further instructed and spent time with the disciples. Jesus promised the disciples they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them. He gave them instructions to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. After Jesus ascended to heaven, the disciples returned to Jerusalem united in prayer. Prayer is vital. Jesus ...
In Luke 24, Jesus reveals His resurrected self to His followers and disciples. They were frightened at first not realizing what was happening. Jesus pointed each of them to His Word. His Word brings comfort, confidence, strength, wisdom, and joy as well as literally everything we need to follow the lead of Jesus in our lives to His will for our lives. Jesus spent time with people because He wants us to experience Him. He wants us to know Him, experience His presence, and lead other to the joy of...
In Luke 23, Jesus, the Son of Man, who was 100% God and 100% human offered Himself at the Cross for each and every one of us. He did it all just hoping we would choose to repent and humbly surrender to His offer as Lord and Savior of our lives. Pilate and Herod found no reason for Jesus to be crucified. They found Him innocent. The crowd won and they ultimately gave Him up to be crucified in a crushing death, for each of us. Barabbas means "son of the Father". We are Barabbas. Barabbas was set f...
In Luke 22, Jesus ate His final meal with His disciples. Communion is a form of worship and remembrance of Jesus' sacrificial' life. The Bread and Cup is the antidote to the sin issue because Jesus Himself is the Bread and Cup. Jesus gave it all so we could have the option to receive Him and the life that He offers now and for all eternity. As we unite and take communion together, remembering all that Christ Jesus has done for us. We are called to participate in how Jesus lived His life on the e...
(1 Corinthians 13; Galatians 5:16-26)God's love is faithful, loyal, sacrificial, and unconditional. It is the Lord's mercy, faithfulness, goodness, and steadfast never-ending love. It's the love that intervenes on behalf of us and comes to our rescue. Love is not a feeling or emotion, it's an intentional action. You'll never truly know what love is if you don't truly know WHO love is.
In Luke 21, Jesus warns His disciples and us today through His Scriptures, to stay alert, be ready, be on guard, and watch for the signs of His return. Do not be caught off guard or surprised. He wants our minds to be ready and not dulled from drunkenness, worries, or distractions. The enemy wants us distracted, unaware, and fearful. The phones in our pockets and purses make it easier than ever for him to accomplish his schemes to pull our attention away from Jesus. We need to have guards and pr...
In Luke 20, the scribes, chief priests, and religious leaders wanted to get rid of Jesus so they asked Him many questions trying to trap Him. Jesus discerned their craftiness in their questions and was slow to speak, using great wisdom when answering them. He answered so well, they no longer dared to ask Him anything. The enemy will try to send people our way to try to shake our faith in Jesus. Through the power of the Holy Spirit within us and the Word of God He's given us, we are filled with a...
In Luke 19, Jesus was traveling through Jericho and a rich and very hated tax collector named Zacchaeus climbed up a tree so he could see Jesus. Zacchaeus was a sinner who was desperate for Jesus. He had desperate faith and came to radical repentance. He invited Jesus into his home, his life, and his heart. As a result, his life changed for eternity. He welcomed Jesus joyfully and eagerly. He wanted Jesus - desperately - more than anything and everything. We aren't called to live a religious gam...
In Luke 18, Jesus tells a parable of a persistent widow who kept asking a non-caring, non-Christ following judge for justice. He finally gets so annoyed with the woman that he gives her justice. The Lord tells us to pray without ceasing. He wants to hear from us. He hears every prayer. Unlike this uncaring judge, He loves us beyond comprehension. He wants good things for us. If this uncaring judge answered this widow, how much more will our Father, who loves us with never-ending, immeasurable lo...
(Galatians 2:11-21) Everyone is good enough for Jesus and He wants everyone to come to Him with humble, repentant hearts - just as we are. There are no human requirements for salvation. The only requirement on our part is to surrender to Jesus as we are, heart and soul, knowing He truly is the one and only Lord of all. It's faith alone that does it all because Jesus did it all. It is finished.
In Luke 17, Jesus taught about what it looks like to truly forgive. If we repent, we are forgiven. Jesus already paid the price and His Blood covers all. In the same way, when someone repents to us, we need to forgive. Jesus died on the cross reuniting our broken relationship to the Lord. When we choose to repent and surrender to Jesus, heart and soul, we are a part of His Kingdom instantaneously. We are citizens of His Eternal Kingdom. We can experience His love, His presence, His wholeness, Hi...
In Luke 16, a rich man who lived his life selfishly, pridefully, and greedily died and found himself in hell. A poor man, who lived simply trusting the Lord through every outcome, died and found himself in heaven. Even while suffering in hell, the rich selfish man wanted the poor man to serve him. Jesus desires every person on the face of the earth to repent and humbly surrender to Him, heart and soul. He wants every soul on the face of the earth to experience His goodness, kindness, wholeness, ...
(Acts 20:16-38) We can share the Gospel of Jesus right where He has placed us, right where our boots are. Proclaiming the love of Jesus is the overflow of sharing in the Life of Jesus - living out His Word. Paul was certain of the eternal goodness and grace that comes with being wholeheartedly all in for Jesus and his live proved it.
In Luke 15, Jesus reveals His divine and incomprehensible love for each and every one of us. He pursue us to follow Him, to hear His voice, and to truly listen to His voice. He truly doesn't want to lose a single soul and desires every last one of us to humbly repent and follow Him. He took our stones of judgment and offers us His eternal life instead. He feels the burden, the passion, and the love for every single person on the face of this earth. When a lost soul repents from sin and turns to ...
(Acts 16:11-34) Worshiping the Lord is a lifestyle, not a "todo" list. No matter what is going on in life, we need to keep trusting the Lord for every outcome, keep praying, keep praising His glorious Name, and keep spreading His salvation message. The Lord is with us in every step and we can trust Him wholeheartedly with every exhale.
In Luke 14, Jesus tells a story about guests responding to their invitation to a wedding banquet. Guests were invited to attend the banquet, but the guests who were invited gave lame excuses as to why they could not attend. The excuses were tied to their possessions, their work, and their personal affections. These are still the excuses people make today to not join Jesus at His Table now, and for eternity. People are too busy, want to work more to buy more things, have work to do to buy those t...
In Luke 13, Jesus continues in His loving compassionate ministry of healing and caring for people. He taught a lesson about the fig tree, seeds, and yeast. It's not about the size of the seed as much as it's about what is imprinted within that seed by God to become. God has a purpose and plan written within us. He has written talents, wisdom, and personality within us - His imprint - of who we are and who He created us to become. If we nourish His seed within us with His Word and prayer and comm...
In Luke 12, Jesus encourages us to be ready, be awake, be aware, watch expectantly for Jesus because He is returning - sooner today than yesterday. Jesus became flesh so He could connect with us personally and we can connect to Him. We need to keep our lamps lit and oil full by spending time in the Word of God, in prayer, and in communion with Jesus. When we make Jesus a priority, our lives change for His glory and our eternal good. We fall more and more in love with Jesus as we become more and ...
In Luke 11, Jesus gives us a living example of what prayer looks like and how to walk out life in radical active faith fully surrendered to the will of the Father. The Lord's Prayer isn't just some words we recite. If we are just reciting words by memory and not from the heart, there's no point. Jesus gives us an outline of what it looks like to acknowledge and stand in awe of our Almighty Father in reverence to His holy Name and Character. He shows us how to surrender our will to carry out the ...
In Luke 10, Jesus reminds us of what matters in our daily lives. No matter how busy the calendars look or how long the lists or lists of lists are, we need to take time apart and sit at the feet of Jesus. We need to remain corded to Him in prayer and spend time in His Word. We need to know the God of the Word to spread the God of the Word to those around us. We do that by meditating on the Word of God - daily. We do that by praying that our wills be fully and wholeheartedly surrendered to the Lo...
In Luke 9, Jesus reveals more of His glory to His disciples as He teaches them and prepares them for the continuation of ministry after His death and resurrection. Jesus has all power and authority and its through His power and authority we are able to share the Gospel message of salvation to the ends of the earth - one person at a time. Jesus tells us we need to pick up the cross and follow Him: daily. Everyday we wake up and join Jesus on the mission of glorifying Him and spreading His offer o...
In Luke 8, we see the peace and life that comes through personally experiencing Jesus. Jesus repeatedly shows us how to surrender and humbly submit to the will of the Father. Abiding in Jesus and His will glorifies Him and leads us to peace, joy and life that can only be experienced through Him. Jesus carries us through the storms and is the only One who can truly calm the waves. It's up to us to choose to trust Him in wholehearted surrender and desperately follow His lead with all our guts and ...
In Luke 7, Jesus reminded the crowds what God can do. Jesus has overflowing compassion for the people around Him. He was present and available to serve. He became a part of humanity for us. People who encountered Jesus personally responded immediately to His power and glory. When you truly encounter Jesus personally, it leads to an immediate response and radically amazing faith.
(Acts 14:8-28) We can choose to be an encouragement, like Barnabas. We can't choose our circumstances or how other people behave, but we can choose how we respond. When you choose to intentionally live every day falling more and more in love with Jesus, you will make a difference in the world around you. Revival begins with each of us. Revival begins by living wholeheartedly, in full surrender, to Jesus.
Jesus shows that He is Lord of all, including the Sabbath. Jesus took time away to rest and spend time alone with His Father. Jesus gave us a living example of what it looks like to walk out His Word. He wants you to rest in Him, abide in Him, and let Him move through your life. Trust in Jesus and allow Him to fill you with His love and grace. When you rest fully in Jesus, abiding wholeheartedly in Him, you will minister from that place of rest and through His power - the power of His Spirit - a...
(Acts 9:1-19) Jesus came to save us and wants us to share with others that He has saved us so they know they too can be saved. Jesus pours out His grace in our lives and wants us to share that grace forward. It's up to us to choose to accept His offer, open His Book, and listen to His voice with open hearts. It's up to us to say yes, get up, and follow Jesus - heart and soul.
In Luke 5, Jesus walked forward in His ministry and performed miracles. People were drawn to follow Him and give Him praise. From fishermen to the man with a serious skin disease, from the paralyzed man to the tax collector, they all came to a place of humility before the Lord and were transformed from the inside out. They experienced Jesus' presence and power and got up. They were impacted by Jesus and got up to follow Him and testified to others about His life-saving power working in their liv...
In Luke 4, Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the wilderness. The devil took this moment to tempt Jesus in 3 specific ways. Each time, Jesus resisted the temptations by standing firm in the Word of God and the God of the Word. He quoted Scripture and the devil departed. Every day we face temptations. Temptations are resisted with the power of the Word of God. We need to keep God's Word written deep in our hearts so we can easily identify the lies of the devil and replace those lies with the Truth of...
In Luke 3, John the Baptist paves the way for Jesus. He traveled around the Jordan River preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin. Jesus came to the earth from heaven and took on human form to save us from our sins. When we humbly repent and surrender our hearts and lives to Jesus, His fire begins to transform our hearts cleansing us from the inside out. Jesus came to give life, righteousness, redemption, and grace. He came to offer us life so we could become alive in who He ...
