Jesus Is For You

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

Revelation 1:17-18 ESV

King Jesus is alive and glowing with power, like the sun (Revelation 1:12-16).

He is sovereign, which means possessing supreme or ultimate power. He is worthy of our adoration, our worship, and our lives. But before all of these, he’s also worthy of our hearts.

Jesus is worthy of our worship and our lives—he’s also worthy of our hearts. Click To Tweet

Yesterday, we considered our response to King Jesus in light of the Apostle John’s reaction to him. He literally fell at Jesus’ feet “as though dead.” But what happened next?

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Give In Secret

In the Church, we tend to take giving in secret pretty seriously.

As we should. Jesus talks about it in today’s verse, after all.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said:

“But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Matthew 6:3-4 ESV

Now, let’s dig into Jesus’ teaching here.

First, an important rule for interpreting the Bible comes front and center. It’s understanding the marriage of two verb moods: the indicative and the imperative.

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Spiritual Father

The Case for a Spiritual Father or Mother

I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. (1 Corinthians 4:14-15 ESV)

Sports seasons are weird this year. The pandemic shut a lot down. However, there’s still a common story we hear about athletes every year. It’s a perfect analogy for the case for having a spiritual father or mother.

Have you ever heard about the gifted athlete who gets a big break into pro sports, only to ruin their career by doing something bad outside of the sport?

It might be a fight… Drugs… Or many other bad decisions…

Recently, a commentator on a sports program talked about athletes like this. He said they have major thing in common: they lack a father figure. They don’t have a guiding authority or mentor in their lives to keep them on the right track.

Just as those athletes need

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