IMPRESSED?

Posted on August 21, 2021 by randscallawayffm

We are easily impressed with people who do good things, who give generously, who go out of their way to help in their communities without really know who they are.  We don’t really know their true motives behind the goodness.  We believe only in what we see, right?

The question of the day: Are we impressed with Jesus?  He does good.  He was a great teacher.  He loved all people. Think about it.  Take all the time you need.

We remind ourselves of where yesterday’s passage left off.  Jesus was in Samaria had stayed for two days on his trek to Galilee.  Jesus stayed to spend time with new believers as a result of one conversation with one hopeless woman at Joseph well.  This one woman had come in the middle of the hottest part of the day so that she wouldn’t have to see other women in her community who knew her well and were not impressed with her lifestyle. She was the brunt of men’s jokes and sarcastic rebukes by the righteous.  Others thought she deserved what was dished out to her.  But Jesus didn’t.  He came with truth and delivered it in love and who He was changed her life.  (Go back and read the story, it’s worth a reread!)

Her energetic testimony of “come and see the One who knows me and everything about me” led her community to beg Jesus to come and stay with them.  They were not only impressed with Jesus, the loved and accepted Jesus for not only what He did but for who He was. Remember the last line in yesterday’s passage.  “We’ve heard it for ourselves and know it for sure. He’s the Savior of the world!”

So, I ask again as I ponder John’s passage today, are we merely impressed with Jesus for what He as done?  Or do we love Him first for who He is as Savior and Lord of our lives?  There is a difference.  Knowing that difference transforms our lives.

John—God’s Love

John 4:43-54, MSG

43-45 After the two days he left for Galilee. Now, Jesus knew well from experience that a prophet is not respected in the place where he grew up. So when he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, but only because they were impressed with what he had done in Jerusalem during the Passover Feast, not that they really had a clue about who he was or what he was up to.

46-48 Now he was back in Cana of Galilee, the place where he made the water into wine. Meanwhile in Capernaum, there was a certain official from the king’s court whose son was sick. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and asked that he come down and heal his son, who was on the brink of death. Jesus put him off: “Unless you people are dazzled by a miracle, you refuse to believe.”

49 But the court official wouldn’t be put off. “Come down! It’s life or death for my son.”

50-51 Jesus simply replied, “Go home. Your son lives.”

The man believed the bare word Jesus spoke and headed home. On his way back, his servants intercepted him and announced, “Your son lives!”

52-53 He asked them what time he began to get better. They said, “The fever broke yesterday afternoon at one o’clock.” The father knew that that was the very moment Jesus had said, “Your son lives.”

53-54 That settled it. Not only he but his entire household believed. This was now the second sign Jesus gave after having come from Judea into Galilee.

THINK ABOUT IT…

Jesus has arrived in the region where He was raised as a child.  The Galileans were impressed with his changing water to wine to save their friends’ wedding celebration but had no real clue as to who he was and didn’t seem to care…for they “knew” and judged him as a child and nothing more.  They only believed in what they could see.

At this moment, I am now remembering Jesus letting us know that is not really believing at all. “Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed” said Jesus to a doubting Thomas. (John 20:29 NKJV)

Back to the story of faith displayed…

An officer of the King’s court comes to Jesus asking for his son to be healed.  It would appear that Jesus is testing his faith to see if the official is merely impressed with Him or really believes He can heal his son.  “Unless you people are dazzled by a miracle, you refuse to believe.”  Friends, like me, are you stopped cold by that indictment by our Savior?  I ask myself, am I only impressed with Jesus when He does what I want in my life? 

Do we really believe what we say we believe about God really real?  Or are we merely impressed?

Bottom line of the story:  The official BELIVED.  Jesus merely said, “Your son lives.”  The official went home believing in the One and Only who could save his son.  His son lived. 

Pause here to take this in.  Let us move from being impressed to being overwhelmed by who Jesus is and like the Samaritans said, “We’ve heard it for ourselves and know it for sure. He’s the Savior of the world!” 

Wow.  Believe and be saved!

Lord and Savior,

I believe.  I believe you saved me from all my sins.  I believe you are the Savoir of all who come to you, seeking your saving grace.  I believe that you are alive and well, helping us each day while walking with us.  I believe you are Lord of my life.  I believe Your Holy Spirit guides, corrects, leads, comforts and encourages us with each step we take on this earth.  I believe you are coming back again.  Yes, I believe.  I always will and will always give you praise and thanks for who you are and what you have done in  my life.

In Jesus Name, Amen.  I believe.

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SENT

Posted on August 20, 2021 by randscallawayffm

Randy and I live in a small city in the Midwest.  It is only a short drive to see hundreds of acres of land brimming with corn, beans and wheat.  Only yesterday, we remarked how healthy and green the beans are right now.  Rain was provided at the right time this year.  It looks like a “bumper crop” is in store for the hard-working farmers.  We also know from having small vegetable gardens in our past that tilling the ground, planting, waiting for rain, protecting the crop from insects and fertilizing for greater yield is only part of the process.  In a few months, the harvest will be ready.  The work of preparation and growing will end in the harvest that will sustain their living.  Through the winter months, true farmers dream of when they can begin the process again. 

When it is harvest time, farmers know and prepare.  It is all hands on deck!  Many farmers help each other pull in the harvest.  Some hire others to help during harvest season only.  Some rent the equipment necessary to harvest quickly and efficiently until they can afford to own the equipment.  Farming is big business.  Harvest is the reward for the hard work from sun up to sundown. 

Jesus uses this agrarian analogy to teach the disciples how to “harvest” people who are being prepared by God to receive salvation and grow in relationship with God.  God prepares hearts to make a decision about loving Him.  God rains down many opportunities for people to hear Truth. I’m taken in by what Jesus tells his disciples about the Samaritan “fields” that they are walking through on their way to Galilee.  These Jewish men normally would not have given the people of Samaria even a glance.  Samaritans were deemed “unclean” people.  Samaritans didn’t have much love for the Jews, either.  But Jesus changes the “field of play”, changing their way of thinking.  Jesus is always the gamechanger!

Read and pause to think about what Jesus is saying to his crew:

  1.  “I do the will of the One who sent me, finishing the work he started.”  It was and always will be the work of God that we are invited to be a part.  His work.  His will.  His harvest.
  2. “I’m telling you to open your eyes and take a good look at what’s right in front of you.”  Opportunities to join God in His work to reconcile all people to Him is just beyond our doorstep, in our community, where we do business and shop for supplies to sustain us each day/week/month.  God, open our eyes to the harvest you have prepared for your Kingdom!
  3. “These Samaritan fields are ripe. It’s harvest time!”  God may lead us to whom we least expect.  Believing friends, we need to always ask God who, where, what to say, and when to say it with the guidance of His Holy Spirit.  Jesus left his disciples (and us) His Holy Spirit sent from God to help us do His work of harvest.  God sends us, opens our eyes wider still, and equips our willing, flexible, pliable hearts, minds and souls for His harvest work.  Our part is to be teachable, laying down our will for His will, just do what He says.
  4. “Without lifting a finger, you have walked in on a field worked long and hard by others.”  It is no coincidence that Jesus encountered a Samaritan woman of bad reputation in the village nearby along with her own hopelessness to meet Jesus, talk with Him and be filled to the brim with His Truth at Joseph’s well.  Jesus, sent from God, changed her attitude, her life and consequently her behavior.  He let her know He was indeed the Messiah who knew her well. 

One Woman.  One Testimony changes everything.

From her witness, many believed!  One woman meets Truth and becomes a harvester with the God of Hope all because of Jesus.  Her community was changed because of her blessed transformation.  And the village response?

“We’ve heard it for ourselves and know it for sure. He’s the Savior of the world!”

John—God’s Love

John 4:31-42, MSG

It’s Harvest Time

31 In the meantime, the disciples pressed him, “Rabbi, eat. Aren’t you going to eat?”

32 He told them, “I have food to eat you know nothing about.”

33 The disciples were puzzled. “Who could have brought him food?”

34-35 Jesus said, “The food that keeps me going is that I do the will of the One who sent me, finishing the work he started. As you look around right now, wouldn’t you say that in about four months it will be time to harvest? Well, I’m telling you to open your eyes and take a good look at what’s right in front of you. These Samaritan fields are ripe. It’s harvest time!

36-38 “The Harvester isn’t waiting. He’s taking his pay, gathering in this grain that’s ripe for eternal life. Now the Sower is arm in arm with the Harvester, triumphant. That’s the truth of the saying, ‘This one sows, that one harvests.’ I sent you to harvest a field you never worked. Without lifting a finger, you have walked in on a field worked long and hard by others.”

39-42 Many of the Samaritans from that village committed themselves to him because of the woman’s witness: “He knew all about the things I did. He knows me inside and out!” They asked him to stay on, so Jesus stayed two days. A lot more people entrusted their lives to him when they heard what he had to say. They said to the woman, “We’re no longer taking this on your say-so. We’ve heard it for ourselves and know it for sure. He’s the Savior of the world!”

HOLY PAUSE

What is my testimony? 

How has my life changed, transformed because of knowing Jesus?

Who do I tell?  Ask God.

Lord and Savior,

You are indeed the Savior of the world.  You have transformed my life and you are still changing my way of thinking which results in changing the way I live, respond and behave.  Show me the field you want me to go.  I trust you will equip me to do what you want when you want it so others will find and follow you, too.  Thank you, Lord, for the honor and privilege to be invited to Your Harvest Work, in Your Name, for Your glory.

In Jesus Name, Amen

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WHAT REALLY COUNTS

Posted on August 19, 2021 by randscallawayffm

We love to count.  It is one of the first things we were taught to do as toddlers.  “How many fingers are you”, we say to little ones.  We count how many minutes we have to get out the door for work or school.  We count how many minutes we have until school is over for the day or our work is finished and we punch out on our timecards.  We count how many minutes until mealtime.  Then, on the way home, we count the minutes it will take to prepare the meal, eat it, clean up after it, then get the kids to bed so we can begin the process all over again the next morning.  We even count after setting the alarm with how many hours/minutes we might have to sleep if we close our eyes and drift off right then!  I could go on, but you get the picture.  Yes, counting seems to be an inbred, human habit.

We count in every part of our lives.  Today, we are given a perfect example of counting from the Pharisees in the first part of our story that many might miss because we quicky jump to the familiar and powerful “woman at the well” story.  These words leaped off the page for me this morning and made me laugh out loud!  The religious leaders COUNTED the baptisms John and Jesus disciples performed!!  What?!  They didn’t count to report on a statistical report as all churches do today, but they counted to keep score!  (Do we do that?  Surely not!) The Pharisees counted for the sole purpose to cause division among the new believers!  They pitted John against Jesus–and Jesus’ group was winning. 

The Pharisees turned a Holy Moment of commitment into a competition. 

Satan loves it when we count and compete in order to divide the saints.  Ouch.

Jesus would have no part of this “counting for competition” and left the area.  In our story, Jesus explains what God counts.  Not only is Jesus the “living water” that quenches our spiritual thirst forever, knows our hearts, and restores our relationship with God; we should not and cannot miss what counts with God in daily living for Him.

John—God’s Love

John 4:1-30, MSG

The Woman at the Well

1-3 Jesus realized that the Pharisees were keeping count of the baptisms that he and John performed (although his disciples, not Jesus, did the actual baptizing). They had posted the score that Jesus was ahead, turning him and John into rivals in the eyes of the people. So Jesus left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee.

4-6 To get there, he had to pass through Samaria. He came into Sychar, a Samaritan village that bordered the field Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was still there. Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. It was noon.

7-8 A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, “Would you give me a drink of water?” (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.)

9 The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, “How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (Jews in those days wouldn’t be caught dead talking to Samaritans.)

10 Jesus answered, “If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water.”

11-12 The woman said, “Sir, you don’t even have a bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get this ‘living water’? Are you a better man than our ancestor Jacob, who dug this well and drank from it, he and his sons and livestock, and passed it down to us?”

13-14 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life.”

15 The woman said, “Sir, give me this water so I won’t ever get thirsty, won’t ever have to come back to this well again!”

16 He said, “Go call your husband and then come back.”

17-18 “I have no husband,” she said.

“That’s nicely put: ‘I have no husband.’ You’ve had five husbands, and the man you’re living with now isn’t even your husband. You spoke the truth there, sure enough.”

19-20 “Oh, so you’re a prophet! Well, tell me this: Our ancestors worshiped God at this mountain, but you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place for worship, right?”

21-23 “Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem. You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews worship in the clear light of day. God’s way of salvation is made available through the Jews. But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you’re called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter.

23-24 “It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.”

25 The woman said, “I don’t know about that. I do know that the Messiah is coming. When he arrives, we’ll get the whole story.”

26 “I am he,” said Jesus. “You don’t have to wait any longer or look any further.”

27 Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked. They couldn’t believe he was talking with that kind of a woman. No one said what they were all thinking, but their faces showed it.

28-30 The woman took the hint and left. In her confusion she left her water pot. Back in the village she told the people, “Come see a man who knew all about the things I did, who knows me inside and out. Do you think this could be the Messiah?” And they went out to see for themselves.

WHAT GOD COUNTS…

“It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.” –Jesus

Then woman responds with, “I don’t know about that” but she soon learns that she has been with Jesus, the Messiah and will begin to see what really counts with God.  Jesus loved her, taught her what really counts with God and gave her so much hope that her sarcasm soon turned to joy by the end of the conversation!  She left her old life for a new life with what really counts for eternity!  Wow! 

We do know that her “Come and see” testimony led a village to Christ!

HOLY PAUSE…

What do we count in our own lives as important? 

Do our lives reflect what counts with God, permeating our lives each day?

Do we worship God with all that is in us in every part of our “counting” day?

Do we reserve our worship for special occasions only?

Are we sarcastic? 

Paul helps us understand what daily worship of God with our very lives entails;

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you”.  Romans 12:1-2, MSG

Maybe we should stop counting and competing as the world does and ENGAGE with what counts with God by the power of His Holy Spirit. 

Dear Lord and Savior,

Wow, you are so good and patient!  What a great teacher you are as well as the One who saves us from our sins along with world thinking, counting, and behaving.  We certainly have not arrived, but we have learned more about what counts with you again today.  Thank you, Lord.  Continue to transform me to be all you created me to be.  I love you with all that is in me.  I’m yours.

In Jesus Name, Amen Worship God in Spirit and Truth.  You know

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THE BRIDEGROOM’S BEST MAN

Posted on August 18, 2021 by randscallawayffm

My husband officiated many weddings in his calling as a Pastor.  Many times I helped with the music, stand by to help and watch—and pray.  After weeks of premarital counseling, the stage would be set for the wedding ceremony.  The night before the big event, a rehearsal would take place.  The rehearsal was always the most interesting as Randy would tell nervous attendants where to stand and what their role was in the wedding party. 

Randy actually enjoyed working with the kids who were trusted to throw flower petals or carry a pillow with fake rings. He worked to make them feel at ease and made it fun for them.  In one memorable wedding, twin boys gave us quite a show without anyone else in the audience knowing what was going on.  In the rehearsal the night before Randy told the energetic four-year-old twins to stand on their mark after coming up the aisle of the church.  He put a piece of tape on the floor to indicate their “spot”.  He made their spot special only to them.  The twins were so proud of “their spot”.  During the wedding, they obediently came up the aisle, looked for their spot and jumped on it as if a little force might nail them into place.

As the ceremony carried on, we watched as the “ring bears”, (as they called themselves), drop their pillows quite a few times.  In picking up them up, they technically never left their “marked with an x spots”.  One foot was always planted on the x to recover what was dropped.  Over and over again the boys did amazing calisthenics and body stretching but always left one foot on the x.  The marriage ceremony was completed.  The bride married to her groom.  That couple is still married today.  Those twins now have children of their own.  Yes, weddings are fun and interesting.

John the Baptizer uses the analogy of a wedding party to explain to his followers his part, his role, in the wedding of the ultimate bride and groom.  He is the “best man” to the groom.  John explains that he is “simply the one sent ahead of him to get things ready. The one who gets the bride is, by definition, the bridegroom. And the bridegroom’s friend, his ‘best man’—that’s me—in place at his side where he can hear every word, is genuinely happy.”  John is not jealous of Jesus.  He knows his part and is humbled and honored to be the “best man” in the eternal wedding of Christ and his Bride.  As believers in Christ, we are the Bride of Christ.  Jesus, The Bridegroom, will come for His own and take us home to be with Him forever. 

A Wedding is not Complete without Gifts, right?! 

To this truth, John the Baptist testifies; “The One that God sent speaks God’s words. And don’t think he rations out the Spirit in bits and pieces. The Father loves the Son extravagantly. He turned everything over to him so he could give it away—a lavish distribution of gifts. That is why whoever accepts and trusts the Son gets in on everything, life complete and forever!”

Isn’t this a wedding we should come to as the Bride of Christ—ready to be His forever?  Yes!

John—God’s Love

John 3:22-36, MSG

22-26 After this conversation, Jesus went on with his disciples into the Judean countryside and relaxed with them there. He was also baptizing. At the same time, John was baptizing over at Aenon near Salim, where water was abundant. This was before John was thrown into jail. John’s disciples got into an argument with the establishment Jews over the nature of baptism. They came to John and said, “Rabbi, you know the one who was with you on the other side of the Jordan? The one you authorized with your witness? Well, he’s now competing with us. He’s baptizing, too, and everyone’s going to him instead of us.”

27-29 John answered, “It’s not possible for a person to succeed—I’m talking about eternal success—without heaven’s help. You yourselves were there when I made it public that I was not the Messiah but simply the one sent ahead of him to get things ready. The one who gets the bride is, by definition, the bridegroom. And the bridegroom’s friend, his ‘best man’—that’s me—in place at his side where he can hear every word, is genuinely happy. How could he be jealous when he knows that the wedding is finished and the marriage is off to a good start?

29-30 “That’s why my cup is running over. This is the assigned moment for him to move into the center, while I slip off to the sidelines.

31-33 “The One who comes from above is head and shoulders over other messengers from God. The earthborn is earthbound and speaks earth language; the heavenborn is in a league of his own. He sets out the evidence of what he saw and heard in heaven. No one wants to deal with these facts. But anyone who examines this evidence will come to stake his life on this: that God himself is the truth.

34-36 “The One that God sent speaks God’s words. And don’t think he rations out the Spirit in bits and pieces. The Father loves the Son extravagantly. He turned everything over to him so he could give it away—a lavish distribution of gifts. That is why whoever accepts and trusts the Son gets in on everything, life complete and forever! And that is also why the person who avoids and distrusts the Son is in the dark and doesn’t see life. All he experiences of God is darkness, and an angry darkness at that.”

Heavenly Father, Lord and Savior,

Thank you for loving us so much You came to save us, restore us, heal us, and make us holy to be your Bride forever.  Thank you for being with us, not leaving us on our own but being accepted as one of your own to be protected, loved, valued and continually provided for in this life and in the one after with you face to face.  Thank you, Lord.

In Jesus Name, Amen

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THE REAL CRISIS

Posted on August 17, 2021 by randscallawayffm

When we were children there was nothing more fun than playing Hide and Seek with our friends.  However, before we could walk and talk, a prerequisite game is learned called Peek-A-Boo.  Parents tease their babies by first putting their own hands over their faces for a nano second.  Parents then take away their hands with shouts of, “Boo!”  “I see you!”  We all do it, we all did it.  These games seem primal to our being.  Hiding and seeking are part of our generational DNA.  When we stay in hiding, it becomes a problem—a crisis, really.

It all began with Adam and Eve, the first humans, made in God’s image, by God Himself.  God loved his created humans.  God gave them all they would ever need.  God also gave them free will to make choices.  God wanted to simply be loved back by His created because they chose to love Him, not because they were forced to love Him.  God’s wisdom of love asks, what kind of love is that?  Forced love is no love at all.

Adam and Eve walked with God in the Garden with no reason to hide—until they chose to turn from God to evil who enticed them to follow their own way, which ultimately was evil’s way to follow him into darkness.  They did.  God knew they did.  God came to walk with them as usual but they could not be found.  They hid from God.  Here’s where the real crisis of heart begins for the world. 

But God had a plan from the beginning of creation.  That Plan was Jesus.  Jesus came into the world to shine a Light in the Darkness, to save the world from all sin, to make a way for us to walk with God again.  “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, NIV) 

Those who do not believe remain hidden in the darkness that leads only to death.  Jesus explains the real crisis of faith to a religious leader who is questioning Jesus, Son of God, with what seems to be a tiny faith sliver of God in him.  Jesus sees the heart of Nicodemus and takes loving time to answer his questions while warning him of the real crisis at hand in the lives of people.  “This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God.” –Jesus

Nicodemus came to Jesus under the cover of darkness but walked away with a decision to make. 

John—God’s Love

John 3:1-21, The Message

Born from Above

1-2 There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. Late one night he visited Jesus and said, “Rabbi, we all know you’re a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren’t in on it.”

3 Jesus said, “You’re absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it’s not possible to see what I’m pointing to—to God’s kingdom.”

4 “How can anyone,” said Nicodemus, “be born who has already been born and grown up? You can’t re-enter your mother’s womb and be born again. What are you saying with this ‘born-from-above’ talk?”

5-6 Jesus said, “You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.

7-8 “So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be ‘born from above’—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.”

9 Nicodemus asked, “What do you mean by this? How does this happen?”

10-12 Jesus said, “You’re a respected teacher of Israel and you don’t know these basics? Listen carefully. I’m speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing secondhand here, no hearsay. Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you procrastinate with questions. If I tell you things that are plain as the hand before your face and you don’t believe me, what use is there in telling you of things you can’t see, the things of God?

13-15 “No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man. In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.

16-18 “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

19-21 “This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.”

We have a real crisis decision to make. 

Do we walk with God in the Light of Life? 

Do we choose Jesus as our salvation who sets us free to love God like He loves us?

Do we love each other in the Light of His love for us?

What are we hiding in the dark? 

What are we seeking?

Isn’t it time to stop playing games and walk with God in a growing intimate relationship with Him?

Are we interested in truly and exclusively living our lives to please God? OR do we fall to merely pleasing the world around us, who pull us in all directions, distracting us from God with evil’s desire to destroy us?

Am I seeking the Light or hiding in the dark? 

Pause, reflect, pray.

Lord and Savior,

Hallowed is Your Name, May Your Kingdom come and reign in us and all around us.  May Your Will be done in every detail of our lives on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day a revelation of your glory and power.  And forgive us our sins as we forgive those wo sin against us.  Lead us not into temptations but deliver us from all evil and evil’s schemes to bring us down and send us into darkness.  For you have all power to bring us into the Light of our perfect Love.  You want to help your created and beloved.  You are the Victor over all.  To YOU be all glory, honor and praise forevermore!

In Jesus Name, Amen.  I believe. 

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BELIEVING BOTH

Posted on August 16, 2021 by randscallawayffm

It is always refreshing, calming and satisfying when you work for a company or with a group of people with great goals, a big picture focus, a written mission with ways to achieve that keeps everyone on the right page as you grow together in strength as a team. 

When we work with anyone in life who knows where to go and what to do that is best for everyone around them, it gives us confidence to take more risks in getting the work accomplished.  We love to hang around with people who love well and have like goals.  We love to build with people who love to build.  We love to help with people who love to help others.  We love to love because God taught us how to love well by first loving us.

“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

God loved us first–and from the beginning of Creation, He had a plan to save us because of that love.  That plan was Jesus.  Jesus gathers a team who is beginning to see the larger picture, get a glimpse of God and gain insight into the mission Jesus has in mind.  They follow Him because what He says matches what has been written in Scripture.  The disciples who love and believe Him form a bond with Jesus that cannot be shaken or broken.  They watched the Son of God clean the Temple of cheating merchants and are reminded that this was a “house of prayer”.  They watched him deal with those in power with words of Truth and wisdom from Scripture that they would ponder and remember later.

“They then put two and two together and believed both what was written in Scripture and what Jesus had said.”  When we truly believe what Scripture says and match the words to who Jesus is and believe in Him, we become part of the team of new understanding.  We begin to take on His character.  We begin to realize that what the world says is opposite of what God says.  Our minds change, our hearts soften, and our souls become more willing to follow exactly what He tells us to be and do.  Our will is truly being undone as we pray for His will to be done.

Yes, everything changes when Jesus enters in and transforms us to be all God created us to be.  It is then that God invites to His work in ways that grow our faith and strengthen our resolve and commitment to love Him back forever.  Our greatest need and passionate prayers are to love others like He loves us.

John—God’s Love

John 2:13-25, The Message

Tear Down This Temple . . .

13-14 When the Passover Feast, celebrated each spring by the Jews, was about to take place, Jesus traveled up to Jerusalem. He found the Temple teeming with people selling cattle and sheep and doves. The loan sharks were also there in full strength.

15-17 Jesus put together a whip out of strips of leather and chased them out of the Temple, stampeding the sheep and cattle, upending the tables of the loan sharks, spilling coins left and right. He told the dove merchants, “Get your things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a shopping mall!” That’s when his disciples remembered the Scripture, “Zeal for your house consumes me.”

18-19 But the Jews were upset. They asked, “What credentials can you present to justify this?” Jesus answered, “Tear down this Temple and in three days I’ll put it back together.”

20-22 They were indignant: “It took forty-six years to build this Temple, and you’re going to rebuild it in three days?” But Jesus was talking about his body as the Temple. Later, after he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this. They then put two and two together and believed both what was written in Scripture and what Jesus had said.

23-25 During the time he was in Jerusalem, those days of the Passover Feast, many people noticed the signs he was displaying and, seeing they pointed straight to God, entrusted their lives to him. But Jesus didn’t entrust his life to them. He knew them inside and out, knew how untrustworthy they were. He didn’t need any help in seeing right through them.

JESUS SEES RIGHT THROUGH US…

Jesus knows all that dwells in our hearts and minds that guide our behavior.  And He forgives all that is not of Him when we ask.  So, relax and be honest.  God loves a sincere, humble heart.  For this thought alone, let us stop and thank Him!  Ask for forgiveness for the times we fail to please Him, but move on with new learning from it and celebrate what changes He is making in us with worship to Him. 

Remember, Jesus loves us no matter what.  He loves us so much; He died and rose again for us.  Jesus is who he says He is and does what He says He will do.  We can count on Him.  Jesus sees right through us and wants to help us in those areas of our lives that need Him.  There is nothing we do that will stop Him from loving us.  Wow.

Lord and Savior,

Thank you for forgiving me of all my sins.  Thank you for teaching me to learn from the failures.  Thank you for cleaning up my messes.  Thank you for transforming me daily.  Thank you for your patience, for I have clearly not arrived yet!  I need you ever hour of every day.  Thank you for Your Holy Presence, your love, mercy and amazing grace.  You are my Living Hope.

In Jesus Name, Amen

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WHATEVER HE TELLS YOU, DO IT

Posted on August 14, 2021 by randscallawayffm

Weddings are fun—for all who attend but have nothing to do with the planning and implementing the plan.  Until the last guest leaves, the bride and groom are wary, nervous, unsettled, concerned for every detail being perfect.  Most hosts want to appear that they have it all together in front of their guests.  Who doesn’t want to be known as a host of great parties?  But the purpose of celebrating the marriage of two people who love each other, vowing to live together in holy matrimony forever, can be lost in the details.

Jesus attended a wedding with the His newly formed group of disciples—and his mother. Yes, only a few days from inviting men to join Him in His work, they attend a wedding.  Since Jesus’ entire family and his disciples were invited, Jesus’ mom must have known the hosts of this wedding well.  They may have been related in some way.    We don’t know for sure of the connection, but we do know it concerned her that they might run out of wine with the threat of humiliation for planning poorly. 

Jesus’ mom also knows her son well and knew that He could help.  We moms are fixers, right?  So, Mary jumps into action behind the scenes to save the party from embarrassment.  Jesus tries to tell her, this isn’t the time, but being Son of Man, out of deep respect for his mother, he complies with her request to help the hosts.  It occurs to me that Jesus is following the commandment of God, “Honor your mother and father” at this point.  I’m sure Jesus consulted with His Father in heaven before performing this first miracle.  So, Jesus, Son of God, honors his mother’s request.

“Whatever he tells you, do it.”  Mary tells the servants not to question but to do whatever Jesus tells them to do. They obey.  The celebration goes on.  (Camp on this thought.  Take all the time you need.)

John—God’s Love

John 2:1-12, The Message

1-3 Three days later there was a wedding in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there. Jesus and his disciples were guests also. When they started running low on wine at the wedding banquet, Jesus’ mother told him, “They’re just about out of wine.”

4 Jesus said, “Is that any of our business, Mother—yours or mine? This isn’t my time. Don’t push me.”

5 She went ahead anyway, telling the servants, “Whatever he tells you, do it.”

6-7 Six stoneware water pots were there, used by the Jews for ritual washings. Each held twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus ordered the servants, “Fill the pots with water.” And they filled them to the brim.

8 “Now fill your pitchers and take them to the host,” Jesus said, and they did.

9-10 When the host tasted the water that had become wine (he didn’t know what had just happened but the servants, of course, knew), he called out to the bridegroom, “Everybody I know begins with their finest wines and after the guests have had their fill brings in the cheap stuff. But you’ve saved the best till now!”

11 This act in Cana of Galilee was the first sign Jesus gave, the first glimpse of his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

12 After this he went down to Capernaum along with his mother, brothers, and disciples, and stayed several days.

THINK ABOUT IT…

“…you’ve saved the best till now!”  The host’s affirming words to the bridegroom leap off the page for me this morning.  Think about it friends, “The Best” has come to save the world!  The celebration of the coming of the Lord has just begun.  Jesus gives the wedding party a first glimpse of His glory.  The servants were the first to see and recognize His power.  Isn’t that so like Jesus?  The lowly servants are the first to see His power?  And for his new friends, his disciples, they reached a new level of belief just watching Him work!

What takes our belief to higher levels? 

Do we look for the glory of God each day?  (God is always at work!)

Are we in awe of Jesus power at work in us?

Do we tap into His power available to us to do what He invites to be and do?

Do we ask God each day for what He wants for us to do? 

Whatever He tells you, do it…Do we?

God sent His Best. Yes, The Best saved the wedding day, but His real mission is to seek and to save the lost, to bring Light to dispel darkness and to show who God really is with how much love He has for His created.  In the image of God, we were created. We are created to worship God in intimate relationship.  The Best will provide the Way, represent Truth and give Life to all who believe.  Yes, The Best is yet to come.  Stay tuned to this gospel of John!

Lord,

Thank you for stories of you, your family, your friends in common, human, cultural celebrations that show you are in all of life.  You truly delight in all the details of our lives by the evidence of this event’s miracle.  You are God.  You are always at work in us and all around us.  Help us to see your glory at work all day long today with grateful hearts!  Thank you!  Thank you for Your Presence!  You are the Best!  There is no one like you.

In Jesus Name, Amen

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WHAT ARE YOU AFTER?

Posted on August 13, 2021 by randscallawayffm

The search is over!  You finally found exactly what you were looking for to complete your longings!  You run to show and tell your family first, then your friends, then anyone who will listen!  Your search for perfection for you as you envisioned in your mind is over.  You are ecstatic.  No one can wipe that smile off your face!  So what is that?

So, what or who were you searching for to fulfill your life’s dream, to check off one more item on your bucket list, that person to marry or that perfect job?  What are you searching for?

What are you after, says Jesus?

John—God’s Love

John 1:35-51, The Message

(Emphasis mine)

Come and See for Yourself

The next day John was back at his post with two disciples who were watching.  He looked up, saw Jesus walking nearby and said, “Here he is, God’s Passover Lamb.”  The two disciples heard him and went after Jesus.  Jesus looked over his shoulder and said to them, “What are you after?”

They said, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

He replied, “Come along and see for yourself.”

They came, saw where he was living, and ended up staying with him for the day.  It was late afternoon when this happened.

Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John’s witness and followed Jesus.  The first thing he did after finding where Jesus lived was find his own brother, Simon, telling him, “We’ve found the Messiah” that is, (‘Christ’).  He immediately led him to Jesus.

Jesus took one look up and said, “You’re John’s son, Simon?  From now on your name is Cephas” (or Peter which means “Rock”).

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee.  When he got there, he ran across Philip and said, “Come, follow me.” (Philip’s hometown was Bethsaida, the same as Andrew and Peter.)

Philip went and found Nathanael and told him, “We’ve found the One Moses wrote of in the Law, the One preached by the prophets.  It’s Jesus, Joseph’s son, the one from Nazareth!”  Nathanael said, “Nazareth?  You’ve got to be kidding.”

But Philip said, “Come, see for yourself.”

When Jesus saw him coming he said, “There’s a real Israelite, not a false bone in his body.”

Nathanael said, “Where did you get that idea?  You don’t know me.”

Jesus said, “You’ve become a believer simply because I say I saw you one day sitting under the fig tree?  You haven’t seen anything yet!  Before this day is over, you’re going to see heaven open and God’s angels descending to the Son of Man and ascending again.”

THINK ABOUT IT…

Imagine Jesus, looking over his shoulder with those loving eyes of mercy and grace, asking you and I, “Seriously, what are you after in life?”  Think about all the time we spend in search of something to add to our collections, searching always for the perfect thing to bring us joy and contentment.  When found, does it last?  Usually, not for long.

When we find what we are looking for we immediately text or post on Facebook, right?  We tell anyone who will listen standing nearby at home or at work, “Guess what, I found it!”  And then you show them.  But in our humanness, the receivers of our news of material acquisitions are actually jealous and envious and find it hard to share in your news…UNLESS…your news includes them.

Jesus is Good News for everyone!  The excitement of Andrew running to tell his brother, Peter, is contagious.  Our own hearts race at reading this passage, right?  Our minds are filled with amazement as this news of Jesus spreads quickly.  Imaging talking with the One, in person, and realizing who He is!  Yes, everyone in this passage runs excitedly to their family with “Come and see!”  The search for the One is over.  It is Jesus!  Jesus is the Messiah we have all read and heard about and have been waiting for!

John the Baptizer points out who Jesus is, the Passover Lamb of God, to the two men intently watching John preach.  “He is the One”, John shouts, “who will save the world”.  Two men now look in the direction of Jesus and then run to Him.  Over His shoulder, Jesus asks a very important, profound question of these interested searchers;

“What are you after?”  What becomes “who” in their lives.  They suddenly want to be where he is and do what he does.  So, they asked where He was staying.

Jesus follows up their question with, “Come along and see for yourself”.  Jesus is not just telling them where He is staying momentarily, He will be teaching them a new lifestyle. 

Friends, I don’t think this meeting was by accident!  These men were searching for meaning and significance for their mundane, Roman oppressed lives.  They became curious about John’s unorthodox preaching. So, they went to see for themselves. I believe they were called with readiness to listen to John’s message.  God prepared their tuned ears to hear John clearly with 20/20 vision to see Jesus as the One.  God knew them well, so Jesus knew them.  God knew their abilities as “excited tellers” as well as their willingness to follow.  God ended their search with finding Jesus.

What are you after?  Who are you after in this life?  This is a question Jesus is still asking each one of us daily.  What we truly believe will be expressed in our actions and behaviors.  So, Jesus continues to ask, What are you after with who are you living for as witness to the world? 

If you are after peace in troubles, forgiveness of all sins of your past and present, love like you have never known before, along with mercy and grace, then your search is over.  Jesus is the One!  Run after Jesus who is life eternal!

Believe and be saved.  Then go and tell…

Lord,

I love You with all that is in me.  I love how you speak into my heart as I read Your Word.  I hear your Holy Spirit more clearly when I take time to camp and meditate on Your Word with open eyes with ears to hear.  Now take what I have learned and help me, by your power and leading, to live it out loud.  My confidence is You, only You, dear Jesus.

In Jesus Name, Amen

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GOD IS GOD, WE ARE NOT

Posted on August 12, 2021 by randscallawayffm

Have you ever been mistaken as the “one in charge” as you work to follow the boss’s orders?  Those who work diligently to please the boss from a place of awe and respect, take their assignment seriously with great dedication.  They learn from the boss what is expected.  They begin to immolate the character of their boss so well and confidently that sometimes others begin to assume you are the boss! 

As leaders, we are often mistaken as the “one in charge” at times because of our dedication to accomplishing the purpose given to us.  But we are not in charge.  We take our orders and direction from the One who is.  God alone is in charge.  We are not.  He is God.  We are not.

We can learn from the Playbook of Life—God’s Word for lessons in establishing who are and who we are not.  John the Baptist knew who was in charge, knew the “boss” well, heard what He said, immolated His character, and carried out his purpose given to him by God.  John knew he was not God, not His Son, and not the prophet Elijah come back to life.  He was John.  His parents, Zachariah and Elizabeth, were told by God to name him John.  They obeyed. God was in charge from his birth.

John grew in the character of God, preached the words of God, lived an unorthodox lifestyle, but always knew who was in charge.  God.  He was not.  John knew that his mission was to prepare the way of the One and Only—Jesus, Son of God.  Jesus—The Word made flesh.  Jesus, God in flesh, who moved into the neighborhood of humanity to save the world from their sin.  “…my task has been to get Israel ready to recognize him as the God-Revealer.”

“I’m telling you, there’s no question about it: This is the Son of God.” –John

John—God’s Love

John 1:19-34, The Message

Thunder in the Desert

19-20 When Jews from Jerusalem sent a group of priests and officials to ask John who he was, he was completely honest. He didn’t evade the question. He told the plain truth: “I am not the Messiah.”

21 They pressed him, “Who, then? Elijah?”

“I am not.”

“The Prophet?”

“No.”

22 Exasperated, they said, “Who, then? We need an answer for those who sent us. Tell us something—anything!—about yourself.”

23 “I’m thunder in the desert: ‘Make the road straight for God!’ I’m doing what the prophet Isaiah preached.”

24-25 Those sent to question him were from the Pharisee party. Now they had a question of their own: “If you’re neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet, why do you baptize?”

26-27 John answered, “I only baptize using water. A person you don’t recognize has taken his stand in your midst. He comes after me, but he is not in second place to me. I’m not even worthy to hold his coat for him.”

28 These conversations took place in Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing at the time.

The God-Revealer

29-31 The very next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and yelled out, “Here he is, God’s Passover Lamb! He forgives the sins of the world! This is the man I’ve been talking about, ‘the One who comes after me but is really ahead of me.’ I knew nothing about who he was—only this: that my task has been to get Israel ready to recognize him as the God-Revealer. That is why I came here baptizing with water, giving you a good bath and scrubbing sins from your life so you can get a fresh start with God.”

32-34 John clinched his witness with this: “I watched the Spirit, like a dove flying down out of the sky, making himself at home in him. I repeat, I know nothing about him except this: The One who authorized me to baptize with water told me, ‘The One on whom you see the Spirit come down and stay, this One will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ That’s exactly what I saw happen, and I’m telling you, there’s no question about it: This is the Son of God.”

THINK ABOUT IT…

We cannot get so wrapped up in the work God have given us to do that we begin to think we are in charge of His work.  We are not.  We are His servants who ask what God wants first then obey because of our great love for Him.  He is God.  We are not.

God saved us from all our sin by sending His Son Jesus.  Jesus saves.  We do not. God assigns us to go, tell, teach others about Jesus.  We, like John, point the way to God through Jesus Christ, His Son.  God is in charge.  Always.

It helps to remember God’s Word to the prophet Micah about what God wants daily from us:

“O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”  “Micah 6:8, NLT

How do we walk humbly with God, knowing He is in charge?  Paul tells us: “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”  Romans 12:1-2, The MSG

Lord,

No question about it, You are God!  Your servant, John the Baptizer, taught us how to live dedicated lives to you.  He taught us to speak your words boldly as you give the words to us.  He showed the world the way to your Son, always knowing that You were in charge.  He lived humbly.  He knew his purpose and fulfilled it even unto death.  He told spoke Truth and pointed everyone to the Person of Truth.  Truth is You.  Yes, You are God and we are not.  Continue to teach us.  Lead and guide us.  Thank you, Lord.  Show us what you want from us today.

In Jesus Name, Amen

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COME, SEE, BELIEVE THE LOVE OF GOD!

Posted on August 11, 2021 by randscallawayffm

“In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, God is presented as speaking the creation into existence.  God speaks the word and it happens:  heaven and earth, ocean and stream, trees and grass, birds and fish, animals and humans.  Everything, seen and unseen, called into being by God’s spoken word.

In deliberate parallel to the opening words of Genesis, John present God as speaking salvation into existence.  This time God’s word takes on human form and enters history in the person of Jesus.  Jesus speaks the word and it happens:  forgiveness and judgment, healing and illumination, mercy and grace, joy and love, freedom and resurrection.  Everything broken and fallen, sinful and diseased, called into salvation by God’s spoken word.

For, somewhere along the line things went wrong (Genesis tells that story, too) and are in desperate need of fixing.  The fixing is all accomplished by speaking—God speaking salvation into being in the person of Jesus.  Jesus, in this gospel account, not only speaks the word of God, He IS the Word of God!

Keeping company with these words, we begin to realize that our words are more important than we ever supposed.  Saying “I believe,” for instance, marks the difference between life and death.  Our words accrue dignity and gravity in conversations with Jesus.  For Jesus doesn’t impose salvation as a solution, he narrates salvation into being through leisurely conversation, intimate personal relationships, compassionate responses, passionate prayer, and—putting it all together—a sacrificial death.  We don’t causally walk away from words like that.”

This above introduction to the book of John was delivered by Eugene Peterson, a well-known theologian, pastor, and passionate Bible scholar whose life’s work was to put God’s Holy Word into the language we speak and understand today.  He spent his life as a pastor translating and paraphrasing God’s Word in ways those he pastored could relate and internalize so they could grow in more intimate relationship with God.  We applaud his work.  We will use The Message as we read through the book of John, Jesus’ beloved disciple, who wanted the world to believe in Jesus and realize the extent of His love.

Let’s begin…

John—God’s Love

John 1:1-18, The Message

The Life-Light

1 1-2 The Word was first,
    the Word present to God,
    God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
    in readiness for God from day one.

3-5 Everything was created through him;
    nothing—not one thing!—
    came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
    and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
    the darkness couldn’t put it out.

6-8 There once was a man, his name John, sent by God to point out the way to the Life-Light. He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in. John was not himself the Light; he was there to show the way to the Light.

9-13 The Life-Light was the real thing:
    Every person entering Life
    he brings into Light.
He was in the world,
    the world was there through him,
    and yet the world didn’t even notice.
He came to his own people,
    but they didn’t want him.
But whoever did want him,
    who believed he was who he claimed
    and would do what he said,
He made to be their true selves,
    their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten,
    not blood-begotten,
    not flesh-begotten,
    not sex-begotten.

14 The Word became flesh and blood,
    and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
    the one-of-a-kind glory,
    like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
    true from start to finish.

15 John pointed him out and called, “This is the One! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. He has always been ahead of me, has always had the first word.”

16-18 We all live off his generous abundance,
    gift after gift after gift.
We got the basics from Moses,
    and then this exuberant giving and receiving,
This endless knowing and understanding—
    all this came through Jesus, the Messiah.
No one has ever seen God,
    not so much as a glimpse.
This one-of-a-kind God-Expression,
    who exists at the very heart of the Father,
    has made him plain as day.

Jesus, Son of God, sent to save the world from sin, all because of God’s unconditional, relentless love for His creation.  Can we get an amen?  Can we raise a hallelujah or praise with grateful hearts?  Yes, and Amen!  “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

Believe and be saved.

Lord,

Teach us about your love and help us to realize the depth of your love for us in the coming days ahead.

In Jesus Name, Amen

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