Cross My Heart Ministry

“…So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.” John 9:7b

Jesus employees an interesting method for healing the blind-since-birth man in John 9:

1. Dirt + Jesus spit = mud
2. Apply mud to eyes
3. Find Siloam Pool
4. Wash away mud

Why did Jesus use mud of all things? And then why did He send a blind man to find his way in the dark to wash in a specific pool?

• He could have healed him by touching his eyes.
• Or – he could have just healed him by speaking.
• Or – he could have just looked at him or nodded at him or just thought it and the man would have been healed.

We can’t know for sure, but I think Jesus was giving some time for FAITH to sprout in the man’s heart. One thing I’m picking up by following Jesus through John — He never gets in a hurry. (And I feel like I’m ALWAYS in a hurry!)

The man was given an opportunity to cooperate with Jesus. He had to choose to stand still while the mud was applied.  That could have been embarrassing or humiliating. Like the bully in the locker room picking on the weak kid by smearing something on his face.

That, of course, wasn’t the case here. And no one was holding the blind man there by force. He chose to stand patiently in front of Jesus and allow mud to be put on his eyes.  He couldn’t know for sure if this experience was going to turn out positive or not. Would he be the brunt of the joke? Would they all laugh and poke fun at him…or might he/could he/would he be healed.

It was a risk he was willing to take. He wanted to see. So if there was any chance at all that could happen, he was willing to take that chance. He cooperated with Jesus.

Isn’t that really the essence of real faith? Not really knowing, but believing Jesus?

This blind mind believed Jesus. He cooperated with Jesus. He stood there while the mud was applied. And then he obediently made his way to Siloam to wash.

His obedience demonstrated that a spark of faith had been ignited.

Faith says,  I believe. It’s not necessarily I know ….or I understand. I believe. That blind man believed he could be healed. And his belief prompted action and cooperation and obedience.

As followers of Jesus, are we willing to obey even when the instructions might seem embarrassing, absurd, awkward, or humiliating to the watching world?

John 9:7 records the blind-since-birth man’s obedience. After getting mud-in-the-eye treatment, he “…went and washed, and came home seeing.”

Obedience brings blessing. Every. Single. Time.

Have you tested this? Do you want to? Would you ask God for an obedience assignment for this week? If you pray this gutsy prayer, be ready to see how He provides and what doors He opens. And then ask Him for the courage to walk on through. Are you ready to be blessed?

But please remember – blessing in God’s economy looks very different from the way the world would describe it! This-blind-since birth man received sight. As followers of Christ, our reward might be spiritual sight or the removal of a spiritual blind spot.

The child of God knows obedience brings blessing!

Here’s the link to the complete teaching from last week on John 9:

http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/e/the-gospel-of-john-chapter-9lesson-9/

[Photo attribution: http://fralfonse.blogspot.com/2013_05_01_archive.html]

Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.
John 8:6b

John 8 opens with the Pharisees staging what they believe is a clever trap. They really think they’ve got Jesus this time. They haul in a woman accused of adultery and thrust her before Jesus and the group in the temple court. Quoting the Levitical law that demands stoning for adultery, they sneeringly bark out to Jesus, “…Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” (The text doesn’t say they bark out the words with a sneer, but that’s how I picture it playing out.)

If He doesn’t agree to stone her, He is failing to keep the Levitical law. But if He does say to stone her, He gets in trouble with the Romans because they are the governing authorities and only they can issue death sentences. It would also undermine His message of love and forgiveness. Jesus has been hanging out with sinners and if He goes on record by condemning one, His message will be discredited.

The whole episode seems questionable. First of all, both the law and logic say it takes TWO to commit adultery. Where’s the guy? Then there’s the mean-spirited public way they handle this. It’s all done for the purpose of trying to trap Jesus.

This is Jesus! Do they really think they are able to outwit HIM?

Have you ever been in what seems to be an impossible situation? Stuck between the proverbial rock and the hard place? Have you ever been placed on the hot seat – someone ever set you up for embarrassment? Have you ever been in a situation where you feel trapped – where you are in trouble no matter which way you choose?

Let’s see how Jesus responds.

The Pharisees are staging a spectacle. I picture the scene with a lot of emotion, a lot of loud voices, words of condemnation. Outrage. Meanness. Yelling. And a crowd looking on watching it unfold like a made-for-TV drama.

But Jesus refuses to jump in the ring with them. He doesn’t play their game.

We see a huge contrast between their behavior and his. Calmness. Patience. Peace. All seem to describe the attitude and countenance of our Lord. He seems un-phased by their demands. He’s just calmly writing in the dirt with his finger. (Lots of conjecture on the part of theologians through the years about what He was writing, but since the text doesn’t tell us, we can’t know for sure.)

Perhaps He was giving time…allowing for emotions to settle and tempers to recede.

They tried to illicit a response from Him but He didn’t cooperate.

Have you ever been in a situation where you responded badly? Can you remember a time you allowed the behavior of someone else to bring out the worst in you? All of us can probably think of a situation that we regret. A situation where we would like a do-over. (Maybe even one from this very week!)

Whether it was a whiny two-year-old throwing a tantrum, a mouthy teenager demonstrating disrespect, a critical mother or mother in law, or maybe a rude waitress or a customer service person that was not only not helpful but right-down mean.

If our responses are dependent upon the behaviors of those we are responding to…then that means we are more controlled by a two-year old or a teenager or a waitress than by the Spirit of God living in us.

The behavior of others should not affect the way we respond.

I’ve gotten it wrong enough times that I know from where I speak. It’s a lesson I’ve learned and re-learned and then I find myself in remedial class again and again. Who controls the child of God?

In movies, they keep doing “re-takes” until they get it right. And in life, God often offers new opportunities for us to live out the truth we are learning. The Christian life is not about always getting it right, but owning up to it when we get it wrong. Sometimes our assignment is to go back and make it right. Own it. Apologize for it. Receive forgiveness and move on.

Jesus modeled incredible self-control, patience, and godliness in a time He was being set up. Next time someone sets us up (or pushes our buttons), maybe taking some time (or writing in the dirt) before responding would be a good plan.

Here’s the link to the complete teaching lecture covering this passage:

http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/e/the-gospel-of-john-chapter-8lesson-8/

Photo attribution: https://boldlyproclaimingchrist.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/writingindirt.jpg

“Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” John 6:5

Our Lord often used questions as he taught, giving his disciples an opportunity to reason through the answers as he patiently, gently, and kindly led them to find answers.

5000 men (most likely 10,000 or more when adding in women and children) had gathered that day and as Jesus taught, the day grew long and the people grew hungry. The disciples wanted to send the people away to fend for themselves, but Jesus had something else in mind.  He would not only be filling empty tummies, but filling up hearts and minds with powerful truth.

The question was posed to Philip, but it seems all the disciples heard it.  Maybe Philip was the numbers or finance guy in the group.He replies to Jesus in verse 7, “Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite.”

He counted noses, did the math, and figured out it would require a whole lot more money than they had to feed the crowd.

Phillip looked at the proverbial glass and saw it way more than half empty.  Philip chose to focus on what they didn’t have, what wasn’t available to them.  We are defeated when we choose to focus on what we can’t do, what we don’t have, where we are unable, unqualified, and ill-equipped.

When a need comes before you and me, do we automatically look at our own proverbial glass half empty – is it easy then to come up with reasons why we can’t? Is God giving us a task too big for us on our own?  A task that requires Him to equip us?

We know that apart from Him, we are nothing. We know that our salvation is completely dependent upon Him and not ourselves.  So – why do we think our lives living out our salvation can be done on our own?  Just as we needed Him to save us, we need Him to live as saved women.

The Gospel was for that day — and it also is what equips, encourages, and enables us for this day!

Instead of being like Phillip and focusing on what we don’t have, perhaps we should be more like Andrew and look at what we do have. Back to the proverbial glass again – Andrew sees it at least a little bit full. Far less than half – he sees just a smidgen – but at least he sees something. He acknowledges there is a little bit available.

“Hey, Jesus, here’s a kid with a couple of fish and five little biscuits – it’s not much but…here it is.”

Just a tiny bit of lunch – enough for a little boy.  Just a wee bit of faith demonstrated by Andrew.  But the resources were offered up.  The smidgen of faith was directed at Jesus.

On our own, we are never enough. The task is too great, the needs too many. If we are relying on ourselves to be the need meet-er, we go from being overwhelmed to feelings of disappointment, defeat, and despair. Our insufficiency must drive us to Him who is all sufficient.

We are not, but He is. We are lacking, He is complete. We cannot.  He can.

The woman of God looks to Jesus to meet needs.

Are there needs in your life and in the lives of those you love that seem overwhelming?  Impossible?

Are you trying to meet a God-sized need with human effort? Are you a glass half-empty person like Philip – pulling out your calculator and crunching the numbers to prove the task impossible?

Are you a glass half-full person (or just a smidgen full) like Andrew taking inventory and offering up to Jesus the pitiful amount you do have with an expectant heart of faith?

Where do you take inventory and find you don’t have nearly enough– not enough patience… not enough love….not enough courage…not enough time or talent….how about enough FAITH? Are you willing to take what you do have and offer it to God, acknowledging it is not nearly enough from you…but trusting in faith that He will fill in what is missing.

Do you believe Jesus can?

Listen here for the entire teaching lesson from John 6 to find out how He provided food (and leftovers) for the hungry crowd:

http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/e/the-gospel-of-john-chapter-6lesson-6/

Photo attribution: www.friarmusings.wordpress.com

When Jesus saw him lying there
and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time,
he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
John 5:6

A strange question for Jesus to ask a man who has been lying by a pool for 38 years hoping to be healed.

The question is posed to a man who needs physical healing, but this same question is asked to every man and woman with a spiritual application. All of us are crippled, broken, and needy spiritually. Jesus asks us the same question – Do you want to get well?

Calling to Jesus for healing requires first acknowledging you are sick. If sin is described as a sickness, we are all terminal. We are powerless to heal ourselves.

If I were diagnosed with cancer, I know I can’t by an act of my will or my effort make the cancer go away. I would need treatment. I might need surgery. Or, I can ask for a miracle. We can no more cleanse ourselves of sin than we can cleanse ourselves of cancer. We need Jesus. We need Him to do what we can never do for ourselves.

Do you want to get well?

Do you want ultimate healing – spiritual healing? The healing we all need from sin can only be received through Christ. He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).

I know some would argue, “But what about the good people in this world? Would a loving God condemn a good person to hell?”

The reality is we have done that all on our own. It’s the love and grace of God that rescues us from the choices we have already made for ourselves. And if doing “good” could alter our course, who gets to decide what “good” is good enough?

If our good could be good enough, then why did Jesus have to die?

Are you willing to gamble eternity on what you think? Are you comfortable coming before God on your own merit? Or would you rather come with Jesus as your advocate, your shield, your intercessor? I praise God that I know it’s not Laura that gets Laura into heaven. It’s not Laura that God will see on Judgment day. It’s Jesus that He will see. My identity is in Christ and that’s what guarantees my destiny.

It’s not about what you do – it’s all about who you know on Judgment Day. Do you know my Jesus? Do you want to know Him? Do you want to get spiritually well? Do you want it to be, as the hymnist wrote, “well with your soul?” Then call upon Jesus. Answer His question:

Yes, I want to get well!

The complete teaching lecture for John 5 can be found here:

http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/e/the-gospel-of-john-chapter-5lesson-5/

Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well.
John 4:6b

Surely I’ve read this passage many times over the years. But somewhere between pondering Jesus’ words to Nicodemus in John 3 and moving on to His encounter with the Samaritan woman in John 4, I completely missed this little phrase.

Jesus was tired.

Do you, like me, find it reassuring and comforting to know we serve a God who knows what this journey in this life is like? Jesus knows what it means to be weary. We serve a God who not only hears us and loves us, but who has been there.

When our Lydia was diagnosed with Type 1 (Juvenile) diabetes, we spent several days at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. After being moved from ICU to the floor, we began climbing the steep learning curve to figure out our new “normal.” Keeping Lydia alive depended on us knowing how to check blood sugar, calculate carbs, and administer the correct dosage of insulin. Stressful would be an understatement to sum up those days. As the nurse who was training us left the room one afternoon, my little emaciated 11-year-old (who had at that point not pondered a career path or college major) bolted upright in bed and said, “I’m going to be a nurse when I grow up – the person helping a kid figure this out needs to know what this feels like!”

We serve a God who knows what living in this world feels like.

We serve a great God – one who left His throne of perfection and majesty and peace and came to a world filled with pain and hurt, a world of tired bodies and trying people.

We can be grateful that we pray to a God who knows what being tired – and being rejected, being criticized, being misunderstood, misrepresented, unappreciated, unacknowledged, disrespected, disregarded (and any other word beginning with mis, un, or dis you can think of). He experienced it.

He is not only the God of up there — Beloved, He is the God of down here. He knows what THIS feels like.

The woman of God knows Jesus understands.

Here’s this week’s teaching lecture from John 4:

http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/e/the-gospel-of-john-chapter-4lesson-4/

[Photo attribution: http://fxmedcenters.com ]

He must become greater; I must become less. John 3:30

In John Chapter 3, John the Baptist uses the analogy of a wedding to explain his devotion to Jesus. He describes His Savior as the bridegroom and compares himself to a guest at the wedding – having complete joy when he sees his friend.

I love John’s wedding analogy! We all know the wedding is all about the happy couple – no one goes to a wedding to draw attention to self. John describes the friend as “full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice.”

We can hear his voice, as we read His Word. We can sense Him speaking to our hearts as we press in before Him in prayer.

Do you know this joy? John says, “That joy is mine, and it is now complete.” This is confirmation of our identity in Christ when we yield the reigns of our life to Him. It’s what Jesus described to Nicodemus earlier in this chapter as being “born again.”

Continuing with the wedding analogy means the “wedding day” is our “born again” day – we receive a new identity in Christ. What comes next is the living in this new identity. That part of our story is not a moment in time, but a continual, joyful (and sometimes painful) journey. It’s one of becoming less…as our desire more and more is to have Jesus become more. Our desire is to make much of Him — to yield, follow, listen, obey, and be transformed. For those who don’t know Jesus, this sounds legalistic, confining, and unnerving. To the follower of Jesus, it is joy unspeakable.

If you are a follower of Christ, how are you allowing Him to work in you and through you? Have you given Him authority over your thought life? Have you checked in with Him on your schedule for today? Do the words on your tongue reflect the change to your heart?

Have you decided to make much of Him today? Are you intentionally praying for more Jesus and less you?

My hubby traveled to Russia on a mission trip in 1993 and brought home a set of Russian nesting dolls. As you open each one, a smaller replica is inside and each gets smaller and smaller. Perhaps this is a great picture of our journey with Jesus. We begin thinking pretty highly of ourselves, but as we walk with Him, we begin to shrink. Our desire becomes more and more to make much of Him and not ourselves.

He must become greater, I must become less.

Are you seeing these changes in yourself? Are you sensing a shift in your thought life and your desires? Is God transforming you through His Word and His Spirit?

I Peter 1:23 says, “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.”

Is the spirit of God using the Word of God to bring daily transformation in your life?

If you are not a follower of Christ, would you consider your need for Him? Perhaps like Nicodemus (whose story is found earlier in John Chapter 3) you need to come to Jesus with your questions. He will provide answers. I’m praying today is the day you are “born again” –the day you choose to acknowledge that your sin means you need a Savior, the day you can say with John (and with me), “That joy is mine, and it is now complete.”

Here’s the link to this week’s teaching lecture:

http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/e/the-gospel-of-john-chapter-3lesson-3/

{Photo attribution: http://legomenon.com/russian-matryoshka-nesting-dolls-meaning.html }

When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
John 2:3

 Even in the first century, weddings were a big deal. The festivities would go on for not just hours, but for days. And to run out of wine would be a major social faux pas – a hugely embarrassing social blunder — so when Jesus’ mother Mary sees the problem, she decides to act.

How do you and I solve problems? What do you do when something comes up that needs resolved? Phone a friend? Make a Facebook post inviting comments? Visit the self-help section at Barnes & Noble? Do a Google search? Join a support group or seek professional counseling?

Nothing wrong with any of those options, but – as a follower of Christ – shouldn’t prayer be a first response?

Mary simply brings the issue to Jesus – the essence of prayer.

She didn’t tell him what to do or how to do it. She simply laid the problem before him.

She didn’t hang around to make sure Jesus followed through, she didn’t try to oversee how it was done, and she didn’t give specifics on white or red wine. She simply placed it before him and then she stepped back in confident faith and trust.

Mary has modeled for us what it looks like to bring our concerns, problems, and burdens to the one who can fix it all.

(And, incidentally, perhaps prayer was a lifestyle choice for Mary. It’s interesting to note that the last time Mary is referenced in scripture is Acts 1:14, where we find her joining with the disciples and other early believers – men and women – where they “all joined together constantly in prayer.”)

We know prayer is important, we believe in it, and would all raise our hands high if asked, “Who is for prayer?” But if a follow-up question asked if you and I have prayed regularly and consistently in the last month or week…or this morning….I think we would all probably agree there is room for improvement.

William Carey, British missionary to India, had this to say about prayer:
Prayer – secret, fervent, believing prayer – lies at the root of all personal godliness.

We may KNOW prayer works in our heads, but do we BELIEVE in our hearts that it is powerful and effective? Believing (and not just knowing) will result in ACTION.

Prayer may or may not change our situation, but it will often change us. And, if we believe William Carey, it will grow us in godliness.

Can we grow in our prayer life? Is it possible to learn to pray? I think it is.

Luke 11:1 says, One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray…” (emphasis added)

Two key points can be gleaned from this verse:

1. Jesus Himself prayed to the Father. If the holy, perfect, sinless Son of God felt it important to pull away and pray, then surely, prayer is important for us.
2. Prayer can be learned. The disciples said, teach us to pray.

Would you ask Him for an opportunity this week to lay it before Him?

• The “it” might be your calendar that has too little white space.
• The “it’ might be your checkbook that has too few zeroes.
• The “it” might be a too low white blood count number or a too high cholesterol number.

It might be relational, financial, mental, physical, or emotional. it might involve a co-worker or a family member or a ministry partner. It might just be you — your own personal character flaw or besetting sin that needs corrected. But whatever or whoever, would you turn to Jesus and trust Him with the outcome?

We can do what Mary did – “here’s the problem Jesus — They have no more wine.”

“Here’s my calendar Jesus – I have no more time.”

“Here’s my blood work Jesus – here’s my checkbook Jesus…here’s my marriage, my child, my whatever.”

Would you give your whatever to Jesus and then wait in expectation — in confident faith – to see what He does.

The child of God brings her burden to Jesus.

Here’s the link to the teaching this week covering John 2:
http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/e/the-gospel-of-john-chapter-2lesson-2/

(Photo attribution:  videoblocks.com)

“I am the voice of one calling in the desert…’Make straight the way for the Lord.’”  John 1:23b

The Gospel of John introduces John the Baptist early in chapter 1:

“There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John.”
John 1:6

(By the way, if you find it confusing to distinguish between John and John the Baptist as you read the book of John, just know that if the character is referred to by name – John – it will always be John the Baptist. The author of the text never refers to himself by name, but only as the “disciple whom Jesus loved.”)

Both Mark and Matthew provide some interesting details in their gospels about John the Baptist, revealing he wore clothing made of camel’s hair, a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.

Reading those words prompts an image of Phil Robertson in my mind’s eye. (I can’t know for sure, but I think Phil would be honored to be compared to John the Baptist!)

Regardless of what he looked like, John the Baptist clearly knew his mission for coming: “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ’Make straight the way for the Lord.’”

John the Baptist knew who he was … and he knew who he wasn’t. When asked if he was the Christ, he responded, “I am not…”

Then he was asked, “Who are you?”

His answer reveals he clearly knew where he was to serve (the desert) and he knew his assignment, “Make straight the way for the Lord.”

How would you describe the desert? Dry, desolate, empty, lonely? Surely, that would describe the heart condition of many people in this world — people who desperately need the hope and purpose that can only be found in Jesus Christ.

John knew his job was to “make straight the way” — to smooth out the proverbial (or maybe even literal) wrinkles that trip folks up on their journey to find Jesus. Perhaps to move away the barriers to belief or eliminate the excuses and explanations that trip folks up.

Maybe it’s even our own behaviors and lifestyle choices that bring those wrinkles. That’s a sobering thought. Are folks looking at our lives as Christ-followers and seeing hypocrisy or a lack of love and compassion? Are they seeing a walk that doesn’t match up with the talk? Do those looking on see a watered-down faith that fails to translate to action? Does my life point others to Him? Does my life make others curious about Him? Do my words, attitudes, actions, and behaviors make others want to know more – prod them to ask, “Why do you do what you do?”

How can our choices smooth out some wrinkles in the desert today?

{Here’s the link to the full teaching lecture for John 2:
http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/e/the-gospel-of-john-chapter-1lesson-1/ }

Mary Kay Beard grew up on a farm in Alabama. She learned to shoot a gun while rabbit hunting with her brothers. But as she got older, she took a greater interest in firearms, becoming an expert in everything from a .22 to a .357 Magnum.

As a young woman, she married a man that she met on a blind date, only to discover months later that he had a secret life; he was an expert safecracker. He taught Mary Kay everything he knew. Soon, the newspapers were referring to the shotgun-wielding Mary Kay as the “Bonnie Parker of Alabama” for a string of robberies that landed her on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List. Arrested in June of 1972, at age 27, she quickly collected 11 federal indictments and 35 charges against her.

She was convicted of grand larceny and armed robbery. She would spend a total of six Christmases behind bars.

Mary Kay came to terms with Christ through volunteers who visited her in prison and a Gideon’s Bible in her cell.

God’s Word changed her heart. God used His Word to begin an amazing transformation of a broken, bitter criminal into a beautiful woman of faith and service.

God used His Word to change Mary Kay Beard into a woman of God. She would go on to found Angel Tree, a powerful ministry of Prison Fellowship – used to bring love and hope to children of the incarcerated.

Mary Kay Beard was sitting in an Alabama prison cell. She pulled out the Gideon Bible she had at first shoved away. As she thumbed through the pages, her eyes fell upon these two seemingly obscure verses hidden in the book of Ezekiel:

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you;
I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees
and be careful to keep my laws.
Ezekiel 36:26-27

Like Mary Kay, we, too, need God to soften our stony hearts…make us tender to Him….and then move us to embrace the working of His Spirit. We need Him to give us both the “want to” and the “ability to” follow Him and to live by the truth of His Word.

As we immerse ourselves in the Word of God, you and I will be changed from the inside out. It’s an inside job and according to Mary Kay Beard, every bank robber knows that’s the best kind!

The woman of God is transformed by the Word of God.

He did it for Mary Kay Beard and He can do it for you and me, too.

Are you ready to be transformed? Would you pray that you are – that He would give you the desire – the “want to” — to be transformed by His Word?

If you are ready to embrace all He has for you — ready to ask the Spirit of God to take the Word of God and begin/continue/jumpstart your transformation, I want to invite you to join us in the weeks ahead as we journey through the Gospel of John.  Each week I’ll make a blog post from my teaching the previous Thursday at First Baptist Church in Siloam Springs, Arkansas.  (If you are local, come on and join us in person!)

Otherwise, you can read along with us, or go deeper by downloading the daily study from Joy of Living here:

http://joyofliving.org/product/gospel-of-john-adult-study-english/

I’ll also be posting the link to the weekly teaching lecture on the FBC site.  Here’s the introduction:

http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/e/the-gospel-of-john-introduction-1441423049/