ReTURN

How do you typically respond when someone gives you a gift? When someone does something nice for you? When someone pays for your meal when you go out to eat?

As you think about your response, let's take a look at the response of ten men healed of leprosy. As Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, ten outcast lepers called out to Him to come & help them. Jesus met them, healed them & told them to go tell the priests & show them the miracle that had taken place. They went, were healed & seemingly continued on their way.

However, ONLY ONE returned to Jesus. Only one came back to thank Jesus for what He did. Only one praised God for the miracle in his life & threw himself at the feet of Jesus in humility & gratitude. Only one returned.

So what about you? Who are you in this story? Has Jesus changed your life & you have simply gone on your way? Never to return? I think that might be the case for many of us. We get what we want from Jesus in salvation, but we never live it out. We rarely go to church, open our Bibles, or even pray. We have altogether forgotten about the miracle done in our life. We have gotten so excited over the blessing, we have forgotten WHO has blessed us.

But Jesus wants us to RETURN. He wants us to truly follow Him & be just like Him. Jesus tells us in Luke 14:27 that "anyone who does not carry his cross & follow me cannot be my disciple." The cross of self-denial. The cross of making Jesus more in our lives. The cross of obedience to Him & His word.

When the lone leper did return, Jesus asked him about the other nine. Is Jesus asking about you? Is Jesus asking where you have gone?

Come back to Him. ReTURN.

JV

DO Something

Question: what is your FIRST thought when you see a homeless person? When you see someone dirty & covered in filth? When you can smell someone? When you see someone with a cardboard sign on the street corner?

Unfortunately, most of us think: "Go get a job." We don't have much compassion & certainly seem to look the other way as we drive past the dirty man with a cardboard sign asking for food.

HOWEVER, the Bible calls us to have a completely different attitude. In fact, 1 John 3:17 tells us "if anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?" Huge callout. If you have no compassion or love for those in need, can God's love really be inside of you? Absolutely not. James 1:27 tells us "religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." The call to love those in need. The call to provide & take care of those who lack.

But HOW? Great question. There are so many ways to ACT out God's love. You can go find a person in need & give them some clothes & food. You can go minister to & love a homeless person. And you can even do it with the click of a mouse. Below are just SOME of the many ways to get involved in taking care of the poor, orphaned & widowed. To take care of those in need. Check these out:

1. Invisible Children --> is a media-driven organization with a mission to expose & help end the war in northern Uganda & it's affect on child soldiers. http://www.invisiblechildren.com
2. TOMS Shoes --> is a shoe company with a great & simple mission: With every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need. One for One. http://www.toms.com/
3. Call It Captivate --> is a clothing company started by Bryce Avary of The Rocket Summer to encourage people to give to others in need. When you purchase an item they give 25% or more to a mission YOU decide. http://www.callitcaptivate.com
4. Blood:Water Mission --> is a grassroots organization that empowers communities to work together against the HIV/AIDS and water crisis through creative social action. http://www.bloodwatermission.com
5. Food for the Hungry --> is a child sponsorship program designed to walk with churches, leaders & families in overcoming all forms of human poverty by living in healthy relationship with God & His creation. http://www.fh.org/

So you see, it's actually quite easy to ACT. It does us no good just to know about these things. James tells us in 2:14-17 "what good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, 'Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."

You cannot ignore the call. You have to ACT. You must have action. You must go.

DO something. 

JV

T-Shirt Design

So I have this really awesome top-secret graphic designer named Jeremy Teff, my brother-in-law, and he helped design us a dad-gum sweet t-shirt! So what I want you guys to do is check out the designs below & cast your vote for your favorite color scheme. You guys already voted on the design, so now you gotta pick a color. Holler your thoughts at me & the voting booth will close next Wednesday night!

JV

The "I-Minus" Cross

Take a look at or imagine the cross. Now separate the two beams. What two shapes come to mind when separated?

The first shape to make from the vertical beam is the letter "I". Then the horizontal beam brings to mind the "minus" sign. Thus, we can refer to the cross as the "I-Minus" cross. The cross of self-denial. The cross of denying what you want. The cross of denying what you think you should be happening in your life. 

We know that Jesus set the ultimate example of self-denial ON the cross. Jesus set the ultimate example when he began sweating blood in the garden as He prayed to the Father to let this burden pass from Him, yet still only asking for God's will to be done. Jesus set the ultimate example when he was stripped naked, beaten & then scourged 39 times with a whip that tore off His skin, tissue & muscle from his backside. Jesus set the ultimate example as He was being mocked as a king; given a robe, staff & a crown of thorns that was beaten into his skull. Jesus set the ultimate example as he walked, crawled & carried the cross to the eventual place of His death. Jesus set the ultimate example as stakes were driven into His hands & feet, & then elevated to be mocked & insulted. Jesus set the ultimate example as He willingly suffered hours of pure agony on the cross before eventually giving up His life. 

For Jesus, the cross was all about "I-Minus" & self-denial. The cross was all about denying His wants & needs. The cross was all about putting God's will ahead of anything else in His life. The cross was all about thinking of YOU & ME. The cross was all about Jesus taking on the sin of the whole world & taking it the grave. The cross was all about taking YOUR place. The cross was all about offering forgiveness of sin & new life as the perfect sacrifice was slain. 

But what is the cross for you? Is the cross just something to wear? Get a tattoo of? Or maybe to have a decorative wall in your house? Or, to you, is the cross all about "I-Minus" & self-denial? 

Jesus tells us in Luke 9:23 that "if anyone would come after me, he must DENY himself & take up his cross DAILY & follow me." Jesus makes sure we understand the cross is all about self-denial by His words & example. So are you living up to the standard of the cross? Are you denying yourself DAILY? Obeying God's will & word more than yourself? 

John 3:30 also tells us "He must become greater. I must become less." It should be becoming increasingly obvious Jesus wants more of Him in our lives than ourselves. That Jesus wants us to follow Him more than we follow ourselves & the pattern of this world. 

So don't ever forget the price paid for your life. The price that paid the forgiveness of your sin. Take up the cross. Deny yourself. Follow Him. 

JESUS > you

JV

Carried to the Table

In 2 Samuel 9, we learn all about a character named Mephibosheth. Son of Jonathan & grandson of Saul. A man born a prince & grew up only learning how to be a king. A man with a strong heritage & with everything at his fingertips. However, a man that was crippled. A man who couldn't walk. A man that was no longer heir to the throne & a man in hiding to stay alive. A man crushed, broken & crippled.

2 Samuel 9 opens with David asking who he might show favor to in the house of Jonathan. Now Jonathan was David's best friend & when Jonathan helped protect David's life from his father Saul, David made a covenant to always protect Jonathan's family. A covenant that went against the traditional grain when overtaking the throne, which usually entailed killing all family members & servants of the former house.

So on this particular day, David calls for Mephibosheth. Calls him into his presence & decides to bless him. To give him land, servants & the ultimate prize of a seat at the king's table. A place reserved only for the king himself & his sons. A seat of royalty & honor. And David restores to Mephibosheth all that he was due to receive as king & more.

Now understand how much like Mephibosheth you are. Because of your choices & sin, you have been left broken & crippled. You have been in hiding because of your shame & filth. Yet God is calling you out! Calling you to come into His presence so that he may bless you & give you a place at His table. Calling you to be forgiven. Calling you to become whole & clean. Calling you to be restored in His presence. Just like David, God is seeking you to give you more than your old life has given you. More than this world could have ever satisfied, God will restore to you so much more.

Yet, you have to be carried to the table. Just like Mephibosheth in his broken & crippled state had to have been carried into the presence of the king & carried to his place at the table, so must you. And there is only ONE who can do that. Jesus. He will clean you, forgive you & carry you to the table of the Father. Just as He carried the cross to forgive your sins & give you new life, He will carry you to a life restored. A life no longer broken. A life complete.

But you have to let Him. You have to understand only He can do it. Jesus tells us in John 14:6 "I am THE way...no one comes to the Father except through ME." Jesus is the way. The ONLY way. Become whole. Become clean. Become complete. Become new. Let Jesus come into your life & forgive your sins. Let Jesus carry you to the table.

JV