Journey With Us

if you love me, you will keep my commandments. John 14:15 The heart is important to God. Loveless service is not desired. The charge that the Lord had against His people was, that they drew near with the mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me Is 29:13. The heart seeks after its object of affection. It will do all that it can to seeks its happiness and joy. The question that we need to ask ourselves is, who or what is it that we supremel...y treasure? Do I treasure Jesus above all others? My answer must be no. I have failed to love God supremely and thus my service has been less than what God expects of me. Every day, I ask for mercy and forgiveness for not having loved Him as I ought to. I cry for a new heart that will prize Jesus more than all the others. Even as I see my failure to love, I live with the confidence that God is still working in me to make me into the person that He wants me to be a lover like Himself, who will love God and His people. How about you my friend? Come to Jesus and know what it means to have His love shed aboard in our hearts. JA

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms John 14:1-2 The realization that Jesus would be leaving soon seems to cause some angst among His disciples. They had been with Jesus for over 3 years and now His talk of leaving them is causing them anxiety. If he is gone, what about them? Jesus’s solution to anxiety and anguish is Believe in God; believe also in me. He wants us to trust Him when we are not sure wh...at the future holds. In my Father’s house are many rooms Jesus wants His distraught disciples to know that where He is going there is enough room for all. He is not going to abandon them. The parting is temporary, and it is for their good. They need to take Him at His words, for if it was not so, He would have told them. We have a God who cannot lie, we can trust Him to deliver on His promises. That is our confidence. The good news is that God chose to make His home with us so that we can have a home with Him forever. How about you my friend? Come to Jesus and experience the joy of being home with Him. JA

Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him John 13:16 The call to follow Jesus is a call to die to self and to join with Him in living out a life of service foot washing style of living. As servants, it is good for us to know how the Bible defines the word for us, so we under no illusion as to what is it that we are called. J.I. Packer writes:... Servant in our English New Testament usually represents the Greek doulos (bond slave). Sometimes it means diakonos (deacon or minister); this is strictly accurate, for doulos and diakonos are synonyms. Both words denote a man who is not at his own disposal but is his master’s purchased property. Bought to serve his master’s needs, to be at his beck and call every moment, the slave’s sole business is to do as he is told. Christian service therefore means, first and foremost, living out a slave relationship to one’s Savior (1 Cor. 6:19-20). What work does Christ set his servants to do? The way that they serve him, he tells them, is by becoming the slaves of their fellow-servants and being willing to do literally anything, however costly, irksome, or undignified, in order to help them. This is what love means, as he himself showed at the Last supper when he played the slave’s part and washed the disciples’ feet. When the New Testament speaks of ministering to the saints, it means not primarily preaching to them but devoting time, trouble, and substance to giving them all the practical help possible. The essence of Christian service is loyalty to the king expressing itself in care for his servants (Matt. 25: 31-46). Only the Holy Spirit can create in us the kind of love toward our Savior that will overflow in imaginative sympathy and practical helpfulness towards his people. Unless the spirit is training us in love, we are not fit persons to go to college or a training class to learn the know-how or particular branches of Christian work. Gifted leaders who are self-centered and loveless are a blight to the church rather than a blessing. Strong words, but a necessary reminder as to what it means to be a follower of Jesus. May God grant us the grace to follow Him. JA

If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example John 13: 14 -15 This act of Jesus is an example for the disciples to emulate. Primarily it was a lesson in humility. The act of foot washing, without a spirit of humility, is of no good. Pride divides and destroys; humility seeks to serve and build. As someone has rightly stated. Christian zeal without transparent humility sounds hollow even pa...thetic. Second, if Jesus could wash the feet of His disciples, there is no job that is too lowly for any of His followers to do. We are called to serve the other as our service to the King. Come to Jesus and experience the joy of serving with Christ. JA

Then He (Jesus) poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. John 13:5 In the middle eastern culture, the master does not wash the feet of his disciples, if anything, it would be the other way round. It is just not done! In washing the feet of His disciples, Jesus shatters all social norms and sets forth a new way of leading. For who is greater, the one who reclines at table, or the one who serv...es? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves Luke 22:27. Jesus here becomes a servant to the servants. He takes the role that was reserved for the lowliest of slaves. I have often wondered what stops me from following in the steps of my Master. Is it because I am not sure who I am? Is it I am too concerned about what others would say? Or is it my pride? One reason could be that we live in a world, where what we do is often the measure of who we are. This takes away the joy of living in freedom. We forget that it is not what we do that makes us, but the truth of who we are? The Bible tells me that we bear the image of God and that we are precious to our Maker. In finding ourselves in God, we can truly become humans again, setting us free to serve God and our fellows. Come to Jesus and experience the freedom that He alone can offer. JA

https://youtu.be/pCifn9SzhMg

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. John 13:1 God loves the world and draws men and women to Himself, creating a new family for Himself. Even as the world loves its own, Jesus loves His people, and what we read here is that He loved them to the end. He was going to show the full extent of His love. Good Friday tells me about... this love. His love for His people is seen on the cross. The One who did no sin, knew no sin, and in whom was no sin; the spotless, blameless, Lamb of God was made a curse for us. Jesus takes upon Himself the sins of His people and dies on that Cross. This voluntary act of love opens a way for all who will come to Him in faith and repentance to have a new life of freedom and joy in Him. The Good in Friday is only because of what the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ make possible for lost humanity a new life. Come to Jesus and make this Friday, good for you. JA

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. John 12: 32 Jesus was telling his listeners the kind of death he would have. He would die on a cross and in His death, He would draw all people to Himself. The cross of Christ continues to draw His people to Himself. Everyone who belongs to God will come to Him; they will come to the Cross. For it is only at the foot of the Cross of Christ, one finds forgiveness for sins and the promise of a new life... in Christ. Come to the cross and know what it is to be forgiven. JA

Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. John 12:25 In God’s economy holding on to life is the sure way of losing it, while letting it go is the only way to keep it forever. What Jesus is trying to impress upon His listeners is the fact that unless we die to ourselves and live to God, we are lost. Jesus tells us that we need to be born again. We need to be re-created. We need the breath of life that God alone c...an give. The Bible tells us that we are dead people, dead in our sins. We are separated from God and hence separated from life itself. Knowing Jesus is knowing eternal life. Jim Elliot knew this truth when he wrote, He is no fool who gives that which he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. How about you my friend? Come to Jesus and experience the new life that Jesus alone can offer. JA

Lazarus come out. The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, Unbind him, and let him go. John 11:43 - 44 Jesus commands death! The grave could not hold Lazarus when the Author of Life calls for him from among the dead. The one whose body was already rotting is now alive! In God’s economy, everything has a time and place, all for the glory of God, wherein lies our very best. Nothing is... too difficult for the One who created us. The One who wove/knit us together in our mother’s womb. He is always on time. Remember however bad our situation or station in life stinks, God has not left the scene. He is able to turn around the stink into something beautiful and alive. The greatest privilege that humans can ever have is God inviting us to work with Him, in bringing about His eternal plans and purposes. Jesus could have raised Lazarus without the clothes that bound him, but he chooses not to and invites those around to untie Lazarus. That is the joy of the Christian. God wants us to work with and for Him. The thought blows my mind. How about you my friend? Do you feel more dead than alive with all that is happening in your life? Come to Jesus and experience the joy of a resurrected life. JA

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in His spirit and greatly troubled. John 11:33 Jesus knew what He was going to do; He was going to raise Lazarus from among the dead, but that did not stop Him from being a gracious, compassionate friend to Mary and the others, in sharing in their sorrow and grief. Jesus was deeply moved and greatly troubled. Even as He deeply shared in the grief of his friend, He is also outra...ged at what sin has done to humans. Jesus’s weeping with Mary and others is a picture of His great compassion for a people under the slavery of sin and death. He knew that sin would take many away from Him forever. The Bible says that God does not delight in the death of the wicked. His desire is that everyone comes to Jesus and experience life with Him forever, but He knows that it is not going to be true for many, for not all will believe in Him. How about you my friend? Are you heading towards a life without Jesus? Come to Him and experience the joy of being found in Him. JA

I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? John 11:25 26 Jesus in response to Martha’s hope that her brother would rise again on the last day, tells her that resurrection and life are found in Him. Whoever believes in Jesus, in other words, whoever is found in Jesus Christ will never die. In calling Lazarus, a rotting corpse, back to life, Je...sus in no uncertain terms offers us the firm hope that He indeed is the resurrection and life. Here we get a glimpse of the future reality for all those in Jesus Christ. Praying that you too will be found in Christ on the day when the dead in Christ will rise again to live with Him forever. JA

Then Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus has died, and for your sake, I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him. John 11:15 Jesus after having stayed two more days tells His disciples, let us go to the Lazarus’ house in Bethany. Jesus tells them that Lazarus is dead but strange as it may sound, He tells them that it was good that He was not there at the time Lazarus died and that it was for their benefit, so that you may believe. In times ...when God seems distant and silent in our loneliness and suffering, it is good to remind ourselves that God has a purpose. Remember, every situation in our lives are opportunities that God allows and uses to make us more like Jesus, and to help us to know Him a little better. The question we face when we go through tough times is, are we willing to trust Jesus, even as He works His purposes for our lives, for the building up of His people, and for His glory? Come to the One who gave Himself for us on the cross and lives today for His people. JA