Rejoicing shapes your whole life
What is rejoicing? Rejoicing literally means “feel or show great joy or delight”. Rejoicing is the CHOICE to speak out loud what good things Jesus is doing in your life: to thank him for his faithfulness, love, and provision.
Thus Paul writes in his letter to the church in Philippi, “Phil 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Paul will go onto say, in the same paragraph, to set our minds…to think upon…whatever is true and noble and right and pure and lovely and admirable.
Why? Because whatever we set our minds upon….whatever we think about…that becomes our goal. What we focus on shapes us. What we focus on becomes what we love. What we focus on becomes what we want.
Any athlete or businesses owner or creative type will tell you that what you focus on is what you will achieve.
So Paul is saying this: All of my achievements are rubbish…garbage…compared to knowing Christ. Because I want to know Jesus…to truly know who He is and what He’s like, I’m going to choose joy. I will rejoice. I will continually focus all my thoughts on what Jesus is doing right….what Jesus has done for me in the past. Saturated and surrounded by these reminders of his goodness, prayer will be easy. In fact…it will be like I’m praying without ceasing.
So may the Holy Spirit fill you with more and more joy this week. May you choose to speak out loud what you’re grateful for, what you’re thankful for…choosing joy and focusing on what is true and lovely and admirable. And may the peace of Christ guard your hearts in this weary seventh week of quarantine.
I love you all!
Pastor Andy
AN UPSIDE DOWN KINGDOM
WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?
Luke 10:25-37
What Jesus accomplishes for you
Mark 15:37 Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last.
God the Son, who suspends the earth in its orbit is suspended upon a cross until he dies. God the Son, who fastened all things together in creation is fastened to the cross until it kills him. But the horror of Jesus’ death and the darkness that eclipsed the land is overshadowed by a truth more profound and more hopeful than anyone could imagine.
When Jesus died on the cross he was strong enough to hold onto our sin and our death so that these died with Jesus. When Jesus died, the power of sin and death died too. The condemnation of your sin is smashed. The cruel fate of you always being enslaved to your sin has been demolished. The hopelessness of death’s inevitable victory is now destroyed. This is why Paul writes, “Where, o death, is your victory? Where is your sting?” It’s gone.
Jesus has drained the power of sin and death on the cross. You’re free to choose life. You’re no longer a slave to sin—you are free. Your identity is no longer in what has been done to you or the mistakes you’ve made—that old identity has died on the cross. Death no longer defines you. You don’t have to rage and war in this life to get everything you possibly can…as though this life is all there is…for you have the eternity of heaven ahead of you.
So fall on your knees. Talk to your Savior. Pour out your heart to Him. Receive His incredible gift of salvation. Receive His forgiveness, his compassion, and his love. Filled with Jesus’ brand new life, you are now free to give everything you’ve received away to your family, your friends, and even your enemies.
Why is Good Friday “Good”?
ENTER GOD'S STORY THIS WEEK
by Pastor Paul Dugan
Stories are powerful. We are all being shaped by stories – stories that have been told to us by our families, our culture, and by ourselves. Marketers spend billions to paint pictures of the “good life” and put us into those pictures, IF we just consume their products and services. Whether we like it or not, whether we are conscious of it or not, we find our identity in stories. But not all stories are good for us. Stories can leave us disillusioned and enslaved, less than fully human as God intended us to be. But there is one Story that is grand and true enough to make sense of all our stories, the Story of God in Scripture. We believe the Bible is one unified Story leading to Jesus. And the whole Story comes to climax in the events of this week, the week we call “Holy.” As the church rehearses these events each year, we are re-grounded in God’s liberating Story of redemption. We are reminded why there is hope beyond our brokenness. I invite you to enter the Holy Week Story this week. Here’s how to begin:
First, let’s zoom out. Click here for a Bible Project video on how Jesus’ final week fits in God’s story of the Messiah.
Pray for the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to Jesus.
Read Luke 19:28-40
Put yourself into the story. What do you think your response would have been to seeing Jesus ride into Jerusalem that day? Cheering? Skeptical?
The crowds chant from Psalm 118:26. Read the whole psalm. What is “the stone the builders rejected” in Psalm 118:22? What kind of Messiah do you think the crowds expected? What kind of Messiah are people looking for today?
Talk to God about how you see Jesus. Lay your expectations down before him. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you eyes to see Jesus for who he really is this week.
Read Luke 19:41-48
Jerusalem means “city of shalom.” But Jesus weeps over the city, wishing its inhabitants really knew the way to peace. But they would miss it. Sadly, the city and the temple would soon be destroyed by the Romans.
Shalom means wholeness. What are some ways you seek to find wholeness apart from Jesus?
Do you ever weep for others to come to know God’s shalom? Ask Jesus to help you see your city through his eyes.
Read Isaiah 56:3-8 and Jeremiah 7:1-11, the passages Jesus quotes as he un-clutters the temple. How is Jesus living into these stories?
What clutters your temple- the place where God wants to meet you? Practically speaking, how can you create sacred space in your life for him this Holy Week?
What clutters your life from making space for ‘outsiders’ to meet God with you?
Ready to take the next steps in the Holy Week journey?
Click HERE for the devotional guide, Jesus’ Final Week (IVP)
DON'T PANIC
When your ‘shelter in place’ starts to sink
CURE FOR CABIN FEVER
An encouragement from Pastor Paul
Psalm 46
