Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God.” - Mark 12:24

Language defines how far we are able to think about things.

For example, if I said I loved you…you would know that I could possibly love you as a friend or , if the context was right, I might just really love you.

But what if I wanted to describe what I was feeling, which was even bigger and much more deeper than love?

Our language would have hit a brick wall because there is no way I could describe anything more because I don’t know anything bigger than Love.

Did you know Eskimos have 50 different words to describe snow? Snow is such a powerful part of their life they have to use just over four dozen words to describe it.

We try to explain what we see using language. But when Humans have seen God through the millennia, words have sometimes fallen short of describing God. In the Old Testament, God described himself to Moses as, “I AM WHO I AM.”

God is so powerful, so big, so expansive that mere words cannot even begin to describe him. Any word, any language, none describe God adequately.

None.

Are you experiencing the God who is powerful beyond words?

People are almost always shocked when I tell them following Jesus isn’t about certain things. Since I’m a fan of lists, and also since I have a few other blog posts I want to write today, here are the Top 5 things people are always shocked about what Jesus really said:

1. Following Jesus isn’t really about being better than everyone. A lot of people in the SuperAwesome Jesus Social Club certainly act this way, and a lot of people certainly like to talk down to even the most modest of sinners…but it’s not about talking down to people and being better than them.
2. Following Jesus isn’t about what you don’t do. I know if you see Jesus people picketing and boycotting for things such as alcohol, gay rights, etc. you can certainly get the feeling Following Jesus is about what you don’t do as much as what you do, but Jesus never said that!
3. Following Jesus isn’t about giving your money away to the Church. It seems like every Church/Televangelist/etc. is after your money. But that’s not true! Jesus told us to be very generous with what we are given, but following Jesus isn’t about being required to give money to any organization, just to those he calls us to give to!
4. Following Jesus isn’t about being normal or following a routine. If you are trying to fit in, be completely natural, and have a set routine every day…you aren’t following Jesus! Jesus called us to stand out, stand up, and live each day to it’s fullest for Him!
5. Following Jesus isn’t about hating. It seems like here in America, a lot of people are caught up on hating types of people, and they also claim to follow Jesus. But Jesus NEVER talked about hating being acceptable. So as surprising as it might be, if you hate someone, you aren’t answering the call!

Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. - Luke 14:12-14

Imagine, you had this secret backyard boys only club and you wanted people to join you so you can defend your backyard against the icky girls. This premise worked very well in the Little Rascals, just so you know.

To get people to join, you go up to them and you are nice to them. You do things for them, you act like their best friend…only to get them in your backyard club.

But if/when they don’t. What happens? Do you abandon them? Of course, because you are trying to build up your army to defend against the icky girls.

And when times get tough? You are going to get overran by the icky girls, because no one is truly committed to the cause but you.

The SuperAwesome Jesus Social Club could learn from the mistakes of the backyard boys only club.

And even more importantly, from Jesus.

You don’t love with an agenda. You don’t give with the expectation of a payment in return. You don’t sacrifice your time in order to be recognized.

You just…do…things.

No agendas.

Sometimes, life isn’t easy.

Sometimes, life hits you with a 10,000 pound pile of hurt, grief and pain.

Sometimes, life is just too much to bear on your own.

It’s when life hits you so hard, so fast, so tough that you start asking the questions which really don’t have answers. They are those questions which people try to answer with simple cliches which just never feel to be enough.

“Why God? Why me? Why them? Why now?”

It’s in those times you might even just start to question God.

You ask, “If you were really so good, why would you allow this to happen to me? To them? To us? Right now especially?”

No matter what you try to fit in for an answer, no matter how you might try to reconcile your questions: they persist. It’s in those times you try to find an answer, but it eludes you like a stranger in the night.

Sometimes, it takes us reaching the end of any other possible reason to finally reach the only conceivable conclusion: there has to be something more to this.

When we suffer the most, we truly begin to feel the need for something more to lean on. When we suffer, we find out nothing material — not even life itself — is reliable.

But when your breath evades you, and when life itself seems to be unreliable, God is.

That’s his guarantee.

The beauty about life is that we are going to go through times where there is nothing left to do but lean on something bigger than us, because there is nothing else which works.

In the end, life can be dark, cold, and just plain harsh. But it’s in  those times when you can find the beauty of a God who is certain in even the most uncertain times.

People have found throughout history there is nothing reliable about this life, even the beating of our heart deceives us.

We find nothing reliable about the material.

It’s beyond the material where the reliable one is.

And that’s what is most beautiful.

If you don’t have a home church, why not try any of the following Churches online? They are all GREAT churches and are worthy of a watch!  All times are CST:

NewSpring Church (Anderson, SC)
http://www.newspring.cc
10:30

LifeChurch.tv (Edmond, OK)
http://www.lifechurch.tv/live
11:30, 1:00

Elevation Church (Matthews, NC)
http://www.elevationchurchlive.com/
7:00

God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. – Matthew 5:4

Have you ever been so crushed by something that the world just seems to stop for awhile? Maybe it was kind of like you just can’t go on, no matter what you do?

I’ve been there.

Everyone has.

Jesus knew, before anything else, that we were merely mortal. Being mortal, we are faced with a real inconvenient truth: we are going to die.

I know, it sounds emo-ish…but it’s so true. Death is the gigantic pink elephant in the room everyone wants to ignore.

But death is certain. It is coming. Every…single…second….you draw closer.

What Jesus knew, is that we have to not look at life that way. Jesus chose to bless those who mourn, not because of the certainty that we all face death, but because of what full and abundant life represents.

Our calling is not to look at life as a mere process. It’s a calling to look at life as only the beginning of something much bigger. Life is about anticipation of greater things to come at every turn.

People we love leave us too soon. Bad things happen to good people.

It has been that way, it will always be that way.

But while life could be measured in what we lose, it should be measured in what we can gain.

Jesus is reaching out his hand, even when times are tough. He’s asking you to take that step.

Don’t be afraid.

There is comfort there.

What is Church about?

Is it about us? Or is it about us serving the world?

The real question is: is life simply about us, or about the God who created everything seen and unseen?

That is the crux of the matter. Church isn’t about us, it’s not about what we can get out of it. It’s not about what we prefer. It’s not about us at all.

When Jesus talked of the Church, he talked about a group of people out in public doing stuff.

Stuff like loving, giving, serving everyone who needed it. Lets face it: is the whole culmination of the infinite God of the Universe nothing more than a social club designed to serve it’s members?

The reason why it isn’t, is because there is something bigger at work. If God is who he said he was, and if Jesus was who he claimed to be…then what Jesus said and what a lot of us are doing are so fundamentally disconnected something has to give.

The first step? Realizing it’s not about us, it’s about him.

It’s time for us all to step up.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven. - Matthew 5:3

What a strange, strange way to start the longest Sermon recorded in the Bible.

There is a lesson to be learned from how he started his Sermon. Jesus did not condemn people for being bad, he didn’t tell the world it was going to hell.

Instead, Jesus started off the Sermon on the Mount with blessings, but his first one was very significant. He told everyone they had it.

The Greek word Jesus uses for poor is ptochos which means lacking in anything. Basically, Jesus is telling those who have nothing to offer with their spirit that the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

Seems to go against common religious attitudes don’t you think?

Jesus blesses the poor in spirit because they are so poor that they have no problem recognizing they have a dire need: they are really, really bad and God is really, really good.

Jesus told this to a crowd which was made up of religious people, non-religious people, Jew and Gentile alike. His message to all of them: even if you are the worst person on earth, you have a chance if you realize your need for him.

If you are holding back today because you don’t think you are good enough for it, Jesus just told you that you are not only good enough…you are blessed.

So what is holding you back? Don’t let the details get in the way!

Have you ever wondered why?

Why are we here? What is our purpose?

If there is a God…why us? Why now? Why this?

If so, you are not alone. A lot of people are constantly wondering this very thing. Philosphers have debated over it. Great scientists have tried to measure it. Cinema and other art has tried to express it.

What is it?

It just might be what we are here for. It might just be why it is us, why it is now.

It might just be the compilation of work from a God who is bigger than anything we can fathom and more powerful than anything we could even begin to imagine.

Perhaps, if there is such a God, there are no accidents. Perhaps this God who lives outside of space and outside of time is really in control. Perhaps this God is really interested in us figuring it out.

And maybe, just maybe tonight is your night to discover another small piece of it.

What piece of it are you being shown right now?

For everyone will be tested with fire. – Mark 9:49

Our lives aren’t guaranteed to be easy.

Things aren’t going to be a walk in the park.

Jesus guarantees that we are going to be faced with troubles. We can’t be surprised about them. We can’t wonder why trouble has found us. We can only do what Jesus recommended: put ourselves down on solid rock.

At the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said this:

When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash. - Matthew 7:27

The symbolism here is huge. Jesus just gave the longest recorded sermon in the Bible and concluded it with a warning: bad times are coming. If you aren’t rooted on something real, you aren’t going to make it.

Is your foundation solid? Are you ready?

Life is coming.