Cross My Heart Ministry

“I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work  you gave me to do.”
John 17:4

Jesus, the Holy One of God, chose to willingly set aside His glory in heaven to be constrained by human flesh. Paul says this about Jesus in Philippians 2:8 —

“…he humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross!”

If Jesus is our example for how we are to bring glory to God, there’s pretty not much of anything left on the table.  We may not be asked to die physically (or we might), but how is God asking us to die to ourselves?

We were created to bring Him glory (see Isaiah 43:7).  That is our purpose.  And I’m convinced that devoting our lives to anything less will only result in dissatisfaction and frustration.

Are you being asked to step up, step out…or even step back for His Glory?

When we begin in the starting block embracing the basic truth that we were created for Him, then perhaps it’s easier to expect (and even look for) opportunities to make much of Him.

The child of God runs for the glory of God!

Here’s a summary of the five Run-the-Race Truths identified in John 17:

1.We run because we know Him.

2.We run for the glory of God.

3.We run in the power of the Word.

4.We run in unity.

5.We run so the world will know.

For the detailed teaching on each, check out the audio here:

http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/e/the-gospel-of-john-chapter-17-lesson-17/

“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
John 17:3

Eternal life is all wrapped up in knowing God. There is no other way to receive eternal life. It’s not enough to just believe Jesus is God’s son – even the demons do that. Real believing leads to knowing. To bowing and committing our lives to Jesus Christ.

I want to ask you a very direct and pointed question today: Do you know God?

DO YOU KNOW GOD?

Not just know about Him? Not just know Him through your mama or daddy. God has no grandchildren! We come to Him individually and on our own. It doesn’t matter if we have a perfect Sunday school record or if we tithe 20%. Serving in the church nursery or hosting the youth for Disciple Now or making casseroles and visiting the sick — all those kind acts of service may be the result of knowing Him, but they are not going to save us. Only Jesus can do that. Please. If there is any doubt in your mind, settle that today. Don’t put your head on the pillow tonight without knowing that if you don’t wake up here on earth, you will wake up in heaven.

Do you know the only true God? Do you know His son Jesus Christ? Do you know that you have eternal life?

If our salvation is secure — if we know God, then there will be the desire to want to live for Him. Our identity in Christ fills us with the desire to do all those things for Him – to go to Sunday school, serve in the nursery, visit the sick, make the casseroles, serve others in His name. It ceases to be a legalistic have to /must do/earn my salvation obligation … and instead is transformed into a get to/want to/joy to to in serving others. When we know Him, duty is transformed into delight.

Instead of a mere outward act to make me feel good or earn brownie points, our motivation comes from the inside. Our hearts have been changed and love works its way out and is revealed in our behaviors. Our acts of service are not completed to earn salvation, but they prove its reality. A changed heart on the inside transforms behavior on the outside.

Manufactured works that are generated in human strength are usually done to bring praise from others. But acts of kindness that are Spirit-prompted and the result of a changed heart bring honor to our Lord.

What is your WHY? Why do you run?

Paul challenges us in Philippians 2:12-13:

“…work out your salvation with fear and trembling,
for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”

Don’t you love this? God changes our hearts. He saves us. Our salvation is solely and completely the result of His working in our lives. And then as we cooperate in obedience, He works out what He put in. We choose to follow in obedience – to will and to act – in accordance with His good purpose.

(By the way — don’t be distracted by the “fear and trembling” in this verse. This doesn’t mean we have to be nervous or anxious as we serve God – it denotes instead a reverence and awe for our great and mighty God.)

As followers of Christ, we run because we know Him. That’s our why.

The child of God has eternal life.

That life is rooted and grounded and based upon knowing God by knowing His son Jesus. We receive eternal security not by just believing that Jesus is the Son, but by placing our faith in Him and turning our lives over to Him. We run our spiritual race because we know Him.

Next week: Run-the-Race Truth #2

Here’s the link to the teaching lecture for John 17:

http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/e/the-gospel-of-john-chapter-17-lesson-17/

“As you sent me into the world,
I have sent them into the world.”
John 17:18

Meet Balto, a Siberian Huskey sled dog pictured here with Norwegian immigrant Gunnar Kaasen. Balto became famous in 1925 when he was the lead sled dog in the final relay carrying life-saving medication from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska. This relay has come to be known as the “Great Race of Mercy.”

An epidemic of diphtheria had broken out in Nome, several children had died, and the lives of hundreds of other children were endangered by this highly contagious disease. The life-saving serum was carried 674 miles by relay teams that involved 20 mushers and 150 sled dogs. The dangerous journey across subarctric terrain took 5 ½ days as the rescuers faced brutally cold temperatures, a blinding blizzard, and wind chills as low as 70 degrees below zero.

Today the famous Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is held annually in March and runs a similar path to that taken by the rescuers. Unlike the Great Race of Mercy, the Iditarod is a sporting event.

As followers of Christ, we need to remember that our mission is also a great race of mercy. We have a life-giving message that can bring hope for eternity to those who will perish otherwise. Living the Christian life is not a sporting event or a game, but a serious responsibility.

Jesus’s longest recorded prayer in Scripture is found in John 17. This is the prayer He prays just before He is arrested. In it He prays for Himself, for His disciples, and He prays for you and me – those who believe through their message (v. 20). The gospel has been relayed to us – -generation by generation – -and we, too, must be faithful to pass on the truth.

As Jesus prays, He is preparing to pass the baton of responsibility for carrying the gospel message forward on to the disciples.

Take time now to read John 17. Be blessed as you hear Jesus the son pray to God the father. Jesus has left heaven’s throne. He has willingly chosen to set aside His glory to put on human flesh. He has walked the earth for 33 years, the last three devoted to teaching and ministry and preparing His disciples. Now as He is heading to the cross, as He prepares to entrust the truth to be carried on, He chooses to prepare Himself and his disciples by praying.

Jesus is about to face the most horrific death ever put upon anyone. He is about to face not just the grueling physical death of crucifixion, but the heaviness of carrying the weight of the sin of the world upon Himself. And He prepares for what He knows is coming…by praying. Let’s listen to His prayer with attentive and grateful hearts, as we are challenged to consider how prayer is also the best way to prepare ourselves to run our race well and complete our assignment.

In the next few weeks I’ll be unpacking five Run-the-Race truths found in John 17. I hope you will continue to read along and PRAY about how you can run your race well!

Here’s the link to the teaching lecture for John 17:

http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/e/the-gospel-of-john-chapter-17-lesson-17/

Photo attribution: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunnar_Kaasen

“Remain in me, and I will remain in you.
No branch can bear fruit by itself;
it must remain in the vine.
Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”
John 15:4

The word remain is used not once or twice, but ELEVEN times in the first ten verses of John 15. Perhaps Jesus, knowing what was ahead for the disciples, felt a sense of urgency to underscore the importance of remaining.

We, too, face difficult and challenging circumstances. And, like those disciples then, the means for us to survive as His disciples today is to remain. Remain in HIM.

What season describes your life today?

Spring-like hopeful expectancy? Are you anticipating the joy of exciting things to come – birth of a child or grandchild, a son getting married, a new job, new ministry or fresh start?

Maybe you are in a summer of harvest – God is using you to bring forth fruit in abundance. You are experiencing the joy and delight of seeing the Spirit of God take the Word of God and yield fruit in your season. You’ve been used by Him to win another person to Christ. You are teaching or serving or loving in His name and life is good.

Are autumn’s beautiful colors on display in your life? Are others drawn to you because of the seasoned beauty of a life lived well?

Maybe life just now is cold and barren. You’re experiencing the harshness and bitterness that sometimes comes to our souls as we abide on during a season of pain and loss. But keep in mind– that tree in winter – it’s not dead. It’s just dormant. Spring will come again to that tree and spring, Sister Friend, will come again to your life.

These seasons don’t necessarily align with our physical age – although each passing year does bring new and varied experiences. Every generation cycles through these seasons of hope, joy, contentment, and pain over and again. We may experience each multiple times even in a given month. We can carry on through each seasonal challenge because we remain in Him.

Our remaining in Christ brings hope and peace through every season, every trial, every circumstance.

How are you continuing on today by choosing to remain in Him — come what may?

You can hear this week’s teaching lecture in its entirety:

http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/e/the-gospel-of-john-chapter-15-lesson-15-and-16/

Photo attribution: www.vectorstock.com

Everyone recognizes the brilliant physicist Albert Einstein and his famous equation E = mc² (even though many of us have no clue what it means). The story is told that while traveling on a train, Dr. Einstein was unable to find his ticket when the conductor came by. He frantically looked in his pockets, briefcase, seat beside him, but to no avail. The kind conductor reassured him, “Dr. Einstein, I know who you are. We all know who you are. I’m sure you bought a ticket. Don’t worry about it..”

The conductor continued down the aisle and then turned to look back before passing on to the next car. He was horrified to see the great physicist down on his hands and knees looking under the seat! Rushing back quickly, he reassured, “Dr. Einstein, Dr. Einstein, don’t worry, I know who you are. No problem. You don’t need a ticket. I’m sure you bought one.”

Albert Einstein responded, “‘Young man, I too, know who I am. What I don’t know is where I’m going.”

As followers of Christ, who have confessed our sin and turned our lives over to the Lord Jesus Christ, our destiny is eternity. We know where we are going. Jesus promised us in this week’s text in John 14:

“In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.
I am going there to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me
that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”
John 14:2-4

This passage reassures us that no matter what comes, we can walk in peace because we know how it all ends.

Living in this world does sometimes brings trouble – angst, anxiety, worry. But Jesus gives the opposite. Our life in Him brings HIS peace.

This world is not the end all for the follower of Christ. This is just a shadow of what will be. We do have sweet times of blessing and joy with each other, with our family, and with the body of Christ. But none of that will compare to what it will be like in heaven when we are worshipping Jesus and freed forever from the struggles and challenges that come with this world.

We can walk in peace now because then we will be with Him!

You can hear this week’s teaching lecture in its entirety:

http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/e/the-gospel-of-john-chapter-14lesson-14/

My husband LOVES Pawn Stars, the reality show on the History Channel featuring business at the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In one episode a man brought in a violin he had found in an old chest in a barn he had recently purchased. After dusting it off, he discovered the word Stradivarius inscribed on the inside. He brought it to the pawn shop –of course, hoping to discover it was genuine – meaning it could be worth millions of dollars.

An expert was called in to examine the near-perfect instrument. He relayed the sad news. No, it was not a Stradivarius after all. Just a cheap imitation produced not in the early 1700’s, but 200 years later in the early 1900’s. His final words to the disappointed owner,

Just because something has a label doesn’t mean it’s real.

In John 13 Jesus demonstrates His genuine love to the disciples, using a basin and a towel.

The creator of the universe, the Savior of the World, the King of Glory, chose the indignity of washing the dirty, stinky feet of a group of guys who had been walking in sandals on dusty roads.

Jesus doesn’t just tell them to love one another, He demonstrates what that looks like. He was modeling love and mercy and grace.

It’s noteworthy that Judas, the betrayer, also received a foot washing. Jesus knew Judas would sell Him out, but He still chose to wash His feet. Extraordinary!

The example of Jesus means our acts of love and mercy are not conditional on whether the recipient is deserving. The focus is on the one extending the grace and mercy.

In fact the more innocent the foot washer and the more guilty and undeserving the washee – the greater the example of Christ-like love on display.

I might (on a good day) submit to washing the feet of a friend who loves me, but it’s uncomfortable to even think about doing such a humble task for someone who has criticized, condemned, or just been right down mean to me.

Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet,
you also should wash one another’s feet.
I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
John 13:14-15

Jesus didn’t just tell us to love – He showed us how. He wants us to extend love and grace and mercy to dirty, undeserving people – -just like He did.

And we can — not because we’re so great, but because His greatness lives in us through the Holy Spirit.

Foot washing for us might be extending forgiveness. It might mean staying in a hard marriage. It might mean serving a demanding relative. It might mean forgiving a friend who has betrayed you.

“I can’t do that!” you say.

Yes, you can. Because He lives in you. He will equip you for what He calls you to do.

When we love sacrificially and illogically, we love like Jesus. How can you and I take up a proverbial towel and basin and live love this week?

You can hear this week’s teaching lecture in its entirety:
http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/e/the-gospel-of-john-chapter-13lesson-13/

Photo attribution: http://www.history.com/shows/pawn-stars

www.

We type these three letters multiple times a day.

We seldom stop to think what they represent – world wide web. We only know that they take us to lots of places and people and information all over the world. WWW is the link to the information age and a tool used by billions of people everywhere every single day.

Let’s transform www to represent: worship, work, and witness.

Let’s examine the lives of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in John 12:1-11. Let’s be inspired by how each of their three living examples challenge us personally to devote our lives to a daily WWW – worship, work, and witness.

• Worship –>Mary
• Work –>Martha
• Witness -> Lazarus

Mary Worships

Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume;
she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair.
And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
John 12:3

The parallel passage in Mark says she “broke the jar.”

Mary broke the jar! She held nothing back. She didn’t come in with a teaspoon. She didn’t pour out a drop or two. She was all in!

Are you ready to break the proverbial jar?  Break a few less-than-important appointments? Where are you holding out on God? Where is He calling you to be “all in?”

Martha Works

Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor.
Martha served…
John 12:2

Martha served. Martha’s work was her worship. Her love for Jesus prompted her to use her gift of cooking to serve Jesus.

How has God equipped you to work in His Kingdom? Your spiritual gifts, your abilities, your personality, and even your life experiences – are all resources making you uniquely you and equipping you for the Kingdom work God has for you.

Lazarus Witnesses

Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there
and came, not only because of him
but also to see Lazarus,
whom he had raised from the dead.
So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well,
for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus
and putting their faith in him.
John 12:9-11

Lazarus died, was in the tomb four days, and Jesus raised Him from the dead. (See John 11) That passage is all about Jesus, “the resurrection and the life.” Bringing back Lazarus demonstrated His power and authority over death. The miracle proved He was God.

Lazarus’ life is living proof that Jesus is God Almighty. It wasn’t anything Lazarus did – after all, he couldn’t save himself or bring himself back from the grave – it was all about what Jesus did in Lazarus.

Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead and that act made many believe – as it says here in verse 11 – “for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him.”

It was Lazarus’ identity with Jesus that made him a witness.

Every one of us who identities with Jesus has a story. Every one of us who has placed our faith in Christ has a testimony. Every one of us who has acknowledged – I am a sinful woman, my sin deserves death, but Jesus gave me life. Because of Jesus, I have been rescued from sin and eternity for me has begun. I may die physically, but my identity in Christ ensures my place in heaven for eternity.

Lazarus didn’t do anything. In fact, look what verse two says that while Martha was serving, Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him.

Lazarus was just hanging out! Being a witness wasn’t about what Lazarus was doing – it was all about his identity in Christ. It was all about what Jesus had done for Lazarus and in Lazarus. People were drawn to Lazarus because of Jesus.

As we type www countless times per day and as those three letters take us to a variety of places and people, let’s pray that the Holy Spirit reminds us with each click to keep the main thing, the main thing.

How do you and I get to worship, work, and witness today?

You can hear the complete teaching on this topic by going here:

http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/e/the-gospel-of-john-chapter-12lesson-12/

Photo attribution: http://www.digitallanding.com/improve-your-att-internet-service/

“This sickness will not end in death.
No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son
may be glorified through it.”
John 11:4

Making sense of any hard thing that comes into our lives must begin with this premise:

We are here to bring glory to God.

I’m not a theologian. I can’t answer those hard questions about whether God allows bad things to happen, whether they are His permissive will or the result of our free will.

In our western culture, first-world mindset, we want answers and explanations. Sometimes we demand them as a condition of continuing to serve God. We want reasons to help us process these hard things. Some want to tell us that “everything happens for a reason.” But I’m not sure I can go there.

When Lydia was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, life as we knew it changed forever. Managing this disease came with a steep learning curve. It was overwhelming at first.

It’s easier now, but I hate seeing my daughter live with multiple sticks with a needle every day. I hate seeing her take 4-6 shots a day. I hate knowing she is insulin dependent. Without insulin, Lydia will die.

As diseases go, there are much worse diagnoses that could be given. I know that. But this was the crisis that God brought into the Macfarlan Family. This was the situation that He used to teach me and to help me understand a little about hard things.

I rose to the challenge in the hospital. I took notes, I studied. I asked questions. I made lists. I was going to be the best mom ever in caring for my baby. But after getting home, I just melted. I fell apart. I curled up in a fetal position and I cried out to God, “Why?”

God could have made it all go away. He could regenerate her pancreas and un-do the damage caused by whatever virus attacked and caused her to have juvenile diabetes.

But God was silent. He could do it. But He chose not to.

That was my crisis of faith. That place where I learned that we live in a world with many consequences that come as a result of the fall of man in Genesis 3. God had to make me see that diabetes wasn’t in the garden.

And neither was cancer, birth defects, heart disease, and dementia. (We can add divorce, bankruptcy, depression, and an unending list of other challenges that many deal with daily.) Those times of hurt and pain and disillusionment make us ask questions that can drive us mad – questions that we can’t truly find answers to.

So what we must do is cycle back to what we do know. We declare what is truth:

• God loves us.
• He loves those that we love.
• He created us for His glory.
• He is for us!
• He understands our pain because He saw His own son suffer.

When we come to accept that we are here to bring glory to God,  our paradigm shifts. We can begin to look at our circumstances through a different lens, or from a different perspective.

I want to be willing to lay down the Laura lens. The lens that sees my life through the near-sighted perspective that God’s love is defined by comfort and safety and health. I want to exchange it for an eternal lens that offers a more far-sighted perspective – one that sees how our great God can and will use all things for HIS glory. A perspective that enables me to hear from God what Isaiah heard:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9

Aren’t we glad we serve a God we don’t always understand? I mean really…? A God that Laura Macfarlan’s human brain could always predict and fathom would not really be much of a god. I’m grateful to serve a God whose ways are higher than those of this world, whose thoughts are higher than my own.

It’s all about Him. We were created for His glory.

I’m not saying this is easy. But as we begin to embrace this perspective, life takes on a shade and purpose that transcends the here and now. And it changes everything.

• It changes how we view life.
• It changes our look at bad things.
• It changes the way we see people.
• And it even changes the way we pray.

I find myself learning and then re-learning what this means. God keeps reminding me that He is the master and I am the servant. And that means I must pray HIS will to be done and not my own. And I can’t even presume that I know His will or what He wants. It is abundantly freeing to simply pray the prayer that never fails, “Thy will be done.”

This new view of praying for God’s glory will prompt us to pray bigger, more expansive prayers. Prayers that go beyond mere physical healing, but prayers that draw others in. Prayers that want all those affected to be impacted spiritually. Prayers that want God to be made much of – prayers that God will be glorified. Prayers that see hard things as greater opportunities to bring glory to Him.

The woman of God knows God will use all things for His glory.

We begin with the basic truth – our existence is to bring glory to God.

It’s not about me and it’s not about you. It’s all about Jesus.

If we begin there, it becomes perhaps a little easier to put challenges, heartaches, disappointments, tragedies, suffering, and difficulties, into an eternal context.

Could these painful, hurtful events actually serve a great purpose – the purpose for which each of us was created – to bring glory to God.

How do you and I need to open our hearts and minds to see that our great God can and will use ALL things – even sickness and disease – for His glory?

You can hear the Mother-Daughter sharing from Lydia and myself on the topic of hard things and Lydia’s living-with-diabetes testimony here:

http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/e/mothers-others-2014mother-daughter-testimonies-of-laura-lydia-macfarlan/

(We presented this at a Mother’s Day event two years ago.)

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This post comes from a portion of the teaching lecture for John 11. You can listen to the full teaching here:

http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/e/the-gospel-of-john-chapter-11lesson-11/

We will study John 12 this week. If you are local (Siloam Springs, AR), please join us at First Baptist Church on Thursday, January 14t, at either 9 am or 6:30 pm. If you are out-of-town, you are invited to study on your own and then listen to the teaching lecture on line.