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/