Welcome to Psalm 119, the largest chapter of the Bible. But of course, that’s fitting because it’s the chapter about the Bible . It’s a love poem giving tribute to God’s word, for a whopping 176 verses!  We know that words are powerful. A will and testament, can immediately change someone’s life for the better. Yet, one sentence in a dispatch at wartime can devastate a military family with the words, “We regret to inform you that your son was killed in action by enemy forces.” Words have power.  Shakespeare claimed that the pen is mightier than the sword. And consider that for every word that Hitler penned in his manifesto entitled “Mein Kampf”, five hundred people died. That is the power of words, but the Psalmist knows that when the words are God’s words, there is an immense power; where one 176, just won’t do it justice.So the Psalmist breaks this incredible Psalm into twenty-two sections, one section for every letter of the Hebrew alphabet. And if you look at the pages of your bible, you’ll see a symbol and a foreign word, like Aleph hovering right over verse 1. Aleph is the equivalent in Hebrew of our letter A.  The Psalmist gives tribute to God’s word, by playing with the Hebrew alphabet, to show that when God takes those twenty-two letters and arranges them, the power is immense! Twenty-two sections of eight verses. And all eight verses in each section begin with a corresponding letter of the Hebrew alphabet. That’s right, all eight verses begin with the aleph, or the letter a. In the second section, you’ll look down you’ll see the Hebrew letter Beth, right before verse 9. Then verses 9 through 16 all begin with the Hebrew letter Beth, the equivalent of our letter B. As we jump into the Psalm, we’ll get to see what happens when God arranges those letters into his manifesto. And each section marks out a place on our journey with the word of God. Each 8 verse section is a progression of the Psalmists journey deeper into the word. And it’s a real journey, complete with highs and lows, lulls, trials, pains and joys.  It starts off in verse 1, with the Psalmist saying, “Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord” (Psalm 119:1).  This takes us back in our mind how the book of Psalms itself starts off in Psalm 1 verse 1,  “Blessed is the man” (Psalm 1:1).  The psalmist is looking at the life of someone they really admire, someone who is following God. Someone who is “walking in the way” of the Lord, and they think, “Man, I’d really give anything to have that person’s life. To be blessed like that.” Maybe you’ve felt that, looking at a hero of the faith, or someone you really admire, and you want the walk with God that they have, but you feel like a child looking at the Christmas display in a department store window; on the outside, looking in, but feeling powerless to do anything about it, to push through to the other side.  But Psalmist knows the secret; their relationship with God came through their relationship with His word. Verse 2 says,  “They keep his testimonies. Blessed are those who keep his statues.” (Psalm 119:2) That word there, “keep” means, to cling to. To clutch dear to the heart, clenching with a white-knuckled grip as if it’s the most important thing to you in the world. And it is. And notice that he uses a synonym for God’s word, “testimonies”. There are eight different synonyms for God’s word in this Psalm, and 175 out of the 176 verses use them. This one refers to the journey itself. God’s testimonies are the stories of other people’s journeys with God through his word. Like when God spoke to Abraham, and Abraham believed God, and it was credited to Him as righteousness. All because he believed God’s words. And that’s a powerful testimony. And the same was done for you by the way, because you heard God’s words and believed. You believed the testimonies of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, maybe Paul, other eye witnesses, and you believed. Faith came through hearing, hearing the Word of God.  Think about it, your relationship with God in many ways has been your relationship with His word. Even as far back in the garden, Adam and Eve had to trust God’s word, but they didn’t. They trusted the words of the serpent more. That’s our struggle every single day. Whose word are we going to believe. God’s, or someone else’s? Back to our Psalmist’s journey in Psalm 119- He sees that blessed person, and how they live God’s word, and in verse 5, he wants what they have. “Oh, that my ways were steadfast
 in obeying your decrees! Then I would not be put to shame when I consider all your commands.” (Psalm 119:5-6) The shame of disobedience. That’s not blessedness.  But he knows, he knows that rather than staring at the ground in shame when the worship starts, he could be gazing up, singing his lungs out, belting out praising God for his transformed life, and in verse 7, his longing turns to determination.  “I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws! I will obey your decrees!” (Psalm 119:7-8). That’s tough talk. But he means it.  The only problem? He knows himself well, because after the pledge to obey God’s decrees, he eeks out, “Do not utterly forsake me!” (Psalm 119:8). That’s like saying…”I’m going to go for it this time!!!! But, uh God….please don’t give up on me.” As we move on to the next section, verses 9-16 where the next 8 verses begin with the Hebrew letter Beth, or the equivalent of our letter b, his journey with God through his word continues, with all the twists and turns, just like your walk and mine.  In the second stanza, or octrain, he starts off pondering in verse 9,  “How can a young person stay on the path of purity?” (Psalm 119:9) He knows that it’s not going to be easy. But he wonders, how do they do it? He answers his own question, “By living according to your word.” (Psalm 119:9). Sounds simple right? The answer is simple, but living it is complicated. That’s why we still have 167 verses to go on this journey.  But I think you’ll find it fascinating. The fits and starts, the determinations and defeats. If our relationship with God is largely a relationship with His word, then all of this is par for the course. It’s normal.  Let me say this, your walk with God, ups and downs, twisting around, turning inside out, is normal.  So, in this second octrain, the language shifts from I will, to I have. In other words, in the first stanza the psalmist is saying “I will keep the law of the Lord.” In the second stanza here, he’s seeing change, like someone going to gym, and altering their eating habits sees a change in the mirror;  it’s inspiring but it’s tough. It's hard work. And the psalmist knows this is a marathon, not a sprint. I mean, it is 176 verses.  But let’s look at some of the other synonyms for God’s word you’ll encounter in Psalm 119. He uses the words: Law, Statues, Precepts, Ways, Decrees, Commands, and Word. My favorite is Statute. It literally means to “cut into” or inscribe. If you remember, God wrote his commandments on a tablet of stone, literally inscribing them with his finger, carving them into stone as a permanent, well, statute. Statute means something that will never change. Something eternal. That’s why Jesus said, “heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away”.  A word like command is important. They were the 10 commandments. Not the 10 suggestions. Precepts, speak of a scientific principle. Something you can bank on, depend on. Something with predictable outcomes. God tells you in his word how life works. So, when you ignore God’s words, don’t be surprised when life stops working right.  Your journey with God is intricately linked to your journey with his word. And I can’t wait to take you on a journey through the entire Psalm. And there is a part two to this chapter. And why not? Look, 176 verses, and I tried talking to the team for 22 parts, but the team said no. So I’ll see you next time where we continue the journey of the Psalmist with the word, through the word.

Today in John chapter 5 where Jesus helps the powerless and tells the powers that be who's really holding the power. When I was a kid in the 80s, there was a film that perfectly summed up the powerlessness that all kids feel when they desperately want something but lack the power to obtain it. In the classic holiday film, Christmas Story, Ralphie knows what he wants for Christmas. The official red rider carbine action 200 shot range model air rifle but every time the grown-ups are repeatedly telling him, “You’ll shoot your eye out” and refuse to help him and fulfill his fantasy of obtaining his holiday Holy Grail, kids everywhere all over the world share Ralphie’s gut punch of powerlessness in their own lives. We've all known what it's like to be powerless well, John chapter 5 opens up with a paralyzed man who had yearned for the same thing for over 38 years. But was powerless to fulfill his wishes for healing for four decades. John sets the scene in verse 2, “Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie-the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for 38 years. 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?” Does that strike you as an odd question? Do you want to be well? But Jesus’s questions often tell us more than the person's answers. You see Jesus is exposing some obstacle, that the man doesn't think he can overcome. Remember he feels powerless, and he speaks it in verse 7, “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me to get into the pool when the water is stirred. While I'm trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Did you detect a bit of self-pity there? I have no one to help me, someone else goes down ahead of me. There was a superstition about the pool of Bethesda, that when the whirlpools suddenly swirled that an Angel stirred the water, healing the first one in, the problem was there were two pools and you never know which pool the whirlpool would form in. So, the huddled masses, laying by the pool day in and day out would suddenly claw and jockey for position to plop over the side as soon as that water moved and that's hard to do if you're crippled, almost impossible and definitely dangerous if you're paralyzed. “I have no one to help me, someone else goes down ahead of me,” perhaps he'd even given up hope, giving up on trying, even giving up on praying. But Jesus tells him to do something to do be impossible verse 8, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk. At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.” Jesus is allowing the man to experience what faith is. It's when you trust God despite your circumstances in “getting up” as Jesus tells him, that that man was bypassing his own ability or inability or anyone else even to help him and simply placing his faith in the words of Jesus. But if you think it’s shocking for Jesus to tell a man who can't move to get up and walk. Imagine what he tells him before he leaves, stop sinning or something worse will happen to you. Now that might sound weird but keep in mind that certain diseases like syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease could cause blindness and paralysis and Jesus is telling the man not just to walk in this passage but to walk differently from now on. But Jesus is the one who's actually about to go on trial for being a Sinner. We're told that Jesus heals on the Sabbath and for the religious teachers, that made Jesus a lawbreaker. To be clear the Sabbath or to us Saturday, was a day off work to worship God, but the religious leaders had distorted it into a cosmic killjoy on the calendar where everyone just sat around like the lame man and did nothing. The religious authorities roll in and begin picking on Jesus for healing a man paralyzed for 40 years on the Sabbath. Let’s look at that again. Jesus heals a man paralyzed for 40 years and all they can think about, is Jesus did it on a Saturday. Verse 17, In his defense Jesus said to them, “My father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” For this reason, they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. “My father is always at work” Jesus drops a bomb on them here. He tells them it's not actually him doing the miracles but the father who's working on the sabbath. In other words, Jesus is saying, hey guys, God broke the Sabbath not me. Yahweh is a Sabbath breaker; I'm only working when my father is. If you've got a problem, take it up with him. No wonder the passage says they tried all the more to kill him, they're asking him who do you think you are? In verse 27 he tells them, I'm the Son of God, I'm your judge. He is given authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out and those who have done good will rise to live and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. Jesus knows he's dropping bombs that are leaving them in shock, that's why he says “don't be amazed” in verse 28 but they were amazed, he was claiming to have the same authority of God himself, he was also claiming they were standing in the presence of the judge, they would meet after death. All who are in the graves will hear his voice. Here they thought they were judging him. You see they rolled in as the religious authorities ready to judge Jesus for breaking the Sabbath, healing on the Sabbath and yet they became the ones on trial, they were being the ones judged at that very moment, they just didn't realize it. The irony. Like the Pharisees, we live our lives thinking we are in a position to judge Jesus, but quite the opposite. It's he who judges us. Jesus turns the tables on them putting them on trial. Trial for what? They will be judged he says for not believing who he is. The judge the Son of God, the Son of Man, but Jesus knows they won't just take his testimony about himself as fact. So, in verse 31 he says “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true. “If I testify about myself” Jesus knows he can't act as his own defense attorney, your honor as my first witness I'd like to call myself. Jesus knows they need witnesses. How you convince someone of something they don't believe? You call on authorities they respect and trust. This happens in advertising all the time, which commercial sounds like it has more weight to you? We think our toothpaste is the best or four out of five dentists recommend such and such toothpaste. The four witnesses Jesus uses to testify and calls to his defense are John the Baptist, the miracles they witnessed, the father's own voice at boom from heaven it is baptism and lastly the scriptures themselves. Let's walk through these four briefly. Verse 32 Jesus calls his first witness, “There is another who testifies in my favor” and in verse 35 he identifies it as John the Baptist. “John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light” but then in the next verse Jesus calls his second witness, miracles. Verse 36, “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish-the very works I'm doing-testify the Father has sent me. The works are miracles, were an even more powerful testimony according to Jesus about his authority and in verse 37 Jesus calls his third witness the father's voice from heaven where God turned the amp up to 11 verse 37, And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. This happened when the father's voice boomed from heaven, “This is my beloved son” at the baptism where John the Baptist was there it was heard by a huge crowd, but Jesus has a fourth and last witness to call him verse 39 the Old Testament scriptures and this one is like a bullet between their eyes. Verse 39, You studied the scriptures diligently because you think by then you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. Wow, that's an airtight case. Jesus says yet you refuse to come to me that you might have life. The chapter ends with the Pharisees in suspended animation, leaving this conversation and their eternal destinies unresolved. Just like people do, every day. Despite the evidence of Jesus’s transforming power, change lives, miracles, history and even the scriptures themselves be it the testimony by witnesses or fulfilled prophecy. People still today remain unconvinced, paralyzed as it were and unable to change their lives all because like Jesus said, “They refused to come to me.” The chapter closes out and the story moves on, but you don't have to. Why not weigh the evidence today and consider if you haven't, to come to him that you might receive eternal life.

Today we trek with Jesus on a round trip to Samaria where Jesus meets some desperate people who are almost out of hope. Have you ever been so desperate that you put a plea out into the universe? Feeling hopeless, abandoned, unheard, unseen and unloved can lead people to do desperate things, like dropping a message in a bottle as a plea for help and then casting it out into the ocean. Perhaps today people use social media or graffiti, but how desperate would you have to be to fling a message out to anyone who would listen? Sending a message in a bottle is the last hope that someone, anyone will care, and psychologists tell us that when someone is that desperate, their message in the bottle is like a type of prayer. To anyone out there who will feel my pain, who will maybe care enough to stop and hear me who might listen and then the message goes on. They don't think anyone realistically will ever answer but just knowing someone out there could possibly care is enough. In John 4 we meet a woman who's been so let down and abandoned by everyone she's ever trusted in. Perhaps she too, sent her prayers into the universe, like some send messages in bottles. She could have never believed that God would answer her by sending Jesus to sit down, right next to her, in a chore that she did every day. The chapter starts by telling us Jesus’s popularity was hoping so he blew out a dodge or Judea, where John the Baptist was to head back home for Galilee, but verse 4 adds something odd about his journey. “Now he had to go through Samaria.” We'll come back to that in a minute because that's odd but let's keep reading verse 5, “So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.” Noon! That's the hottest part of the day, nobody came to draw water at the wells on the hottest part of the day, unless of course they wanted to avoid everyone else, here she comes in verse 7. “When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” His disciples had gone into the town to buy food, the Samaritan woman said to him, “You're a Jew and I'm a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Have you ever gotten used to somebody judging you? Jews judged Samaritans and she's just used to it here, so when Jesus asked for a drink, he was breaking all social custom and she's a bit taken back that he's not acting racist. Jews were normally rude to Samaritans like her. A Samaritan by the way, was a half Jewish half Assyrian created by northern Israel seduction to paganism hundreds of years before. When the Israelites had gone to the dark side and started worshipping Pagan idols, they intermarried with the foreign Assyrians who conquered their land. You see in a way they were a symbol of judgment. Not only had they lost their identity and religion as Jews, but they were also a living warning of compromise to be despised and avoided by most Jews who still worship the true God. But Jesus wasn't most Jews. Remember that statement, “but he had to go through Samaria.” If you told a Jew that someone had to go through Samaria, that you would say, “no you don't” and “why would you want to?” So, why did Jesus have to go there? Was this woman the reason that Jesus had to go through Samaria? There's something we're not being told here; it's like he had gotten her message in a bottle. Verse 10 and see Jesus’s response to her question. “How are you a Jew asking me for a drink?” Verse 10, “Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it was who asked you for a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” “Sir,” the woman said, “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank for him in himself, as also his sons and his livestock?” If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him. This is Jesus saying if you knew who “I was” you'd ask me for the water I have, and I'd give you something better than a bucket of water. I'd give you living water. Living water was a spring of rushing water that flowed up from the ground and never stopped flowing. I love her response. How would you give me a drink? She said, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. In other words, a strange guy talking to me at the well, you don't even have a bucket. Then she seems to tease him. Are you greater than our father Jacob? If only she knew how much greater he was. Jesus had said, if you knew who it was who asked you for a drink you would be asking him. Jesus knows she's thirsty and this well isn't going to bring her any more satisfaction than her life had up to this point. You see she had been as the bucket she used verse 13, “Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Whoever drinks the water I give will never thirst. This struck a chord in her as deep as the well she was standing. Verse 15, “The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water so I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” She gives in. Jesus tells her to go call your husband and come back. Verse 17, “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you've had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you've just said is quite true.” “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.” She was quick to answer, “I have no husband,” this was a source of shame for her and Jesus was quick to reveal that he knew her long history with the love of every one of those previous men that had left her high that's right you see their love for her and run out like an old well and here was this prophet telling her there is a fountain of living water that can spring out of your heart, a love that never fails. Each time she'd hoped, in a love that would last that well ran dry with each new man. It's possible she stopped even believing in love that lasted forever. A love that was always flowing like living water and endless spring of unconditional love. She catches herself here beginning to hope again, beginning to believe that someone could really love her, but suddenly she remembers, “Wait I'm a Samaritan this prophet and this God he worships will reject me” she thinks his fountain of living waters must be a segregated drinking fountain bearing a sign for Jews only. So, she says it before he does in verse 20, “Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus’ answer in verse 23 is not what she expects. “Yet a time is coming and has now come when true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in Spirit and in truth.” The woman said, “I know that “Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you-I am he.” Talk about the reveals of the century! It's me, I am he. This was no chance meeting. No wonder Jesus had to go there; God had been seeking her. He had just said it, “the father seeks worshippers.” He'd answered her message in a bottle where she dropped prayers down that well hopelessly rejected and unloved. Wishing the love of somebody would fill her heart once and for all. But something Jesus said that the time was coming when it didn't matter where you worship. She must have staggered, the father seeks worshippers like me? It's the same for you. Every prayer you’ve thrown out into the universe has been heard. It's mattered to God because you matter. You being here is a no chance encounter. Think about that for a moment and like this woman take it in. I really hate to interrupt this moment but right then the disciples blunder onto the scene and in verse 27 and they're all thinking why is he talking with her? She of course didn't wonder anymore, she knew it was because she was loved and desired. Obviously, her real thirst was quenched because verse 28 tells us “Then leaving her water jar” Satisfied now by something deeper she tells the entire village about Jesus and when they meet him, they call him the Savior of the World. Not just the Jews, did you catch that? Jesus was the Savior who had come for everyone, Jews, Samaritans and you. The chapter ends in verse 46 with another story of an official who was on the wrong team, but salvation was for him too. He desperately seeks Jesus out as his son is dying and Jesus responds to him too. You can read about that on your own. Two tragic stories in this chapter, two desperate people, one savior for them both. These were just two messages in bottles put out to God and God answered them and showed up just in time, as if he'd been seeking them out. He answered their desperate pleas and my friend, he'll answer yours. Why not send him a message in a bottle today by maybe praying to him for the first time.

Today we look at one of the most quoted chapters in all the Bible. And what a chapter it is. John 3:16 is found here. I don't know about you but getting to John 3 feels like the crystal blue lake at the end of a long hike, it's clear yet deep waters invite us to plumb the depths of this amazing chapter. Now Jesus talks about water a lot in this chapter, so are you ready take a dip and jump in? Verse one, “Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you're a teacher who's come from God. For no one could perform the signs you're doing if God were not with him.” Can you hear the angst? You must be from God, the signs the miracles, but how? Nicodemus was a man of status within the Jewish religion, he knew stuff. But in this passage, we're going to see that he didn't understand stuff. Jesus’ responses seem to confuse him even more. In verse 3, “Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless they are born again.” “How can someone be born when they're older?” “Surely they cannot enter the second time into their mother's womb to be born!”  There's the how question from Nicodemus. How would you describe the mysterious things of this Spirit? Spiritual things? Simple, you keep it simple. You explain the spiritual things by using natural things that people already know about. To explain deep spiritual things Jesus doesn't expect us to have theology degrees or have gone to seminary. Nicodemus had lots of theological training, but it wasn't helping him understand Jesus here. Instead, Jesus backs up and speaks to Nicodemus like you would a child. He uses word pictures. Look at verse 5, “Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless they're born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, “You must be born again.” The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you can't tell where it comes from or where it is going. So, it is with everyone who's born of the Spirit.” The wind, water, being born, you and I have all experienced these things. Here's a statistic, one out of every one person on the planet has experienced birth. And for all of Nicodemus’s knowledge of religious things, it was experience and spiritual things that he was lacking. He knew what wind was, he knew what water was, he knew what it meant to be born. But it wouldn’t get him into the kingdom. Jesus isn't speaking about wombs and babies, he's telling Nicodemus that entering the Kingdom is like being made completely new, starting over, like a baby, being born, and it has to be experienced. We said that reading this chapter is like jumping into a clear crystal blue lake. You jump in and it’s refreshing, it's simple, it’s clear, but Nicodemus gets a shock to his system as his body temperature hasn’t adjusted to the cold. In versus 9, Nicodemus is shocked. “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? Again, Nicodemus knew things, he just didn’t understand Spiritual things. Jesus continues, “Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven-the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” That last part, “everyone who believes may have eternal life in him” seems straightforward, but now Jesus may have lost the rest of us, I mean what's the snake on a pole stuff? Well, Nicodemus knew well and couldn’t misunderstand. Nicodemus knew it because he read it in the Old Testament. Back in numbers, Gods people rebelled against him. So, God sent poisons snakes to bite them, in hopes that his people would turn back and repent and follow him again. As the poison flowed through their veins, all they had to do to be saved was look at a bronze serpent that was lifted high on a wooden pole and that one look would reverse the poison and save their lives. In the same way Jesus said, “So the Son of Man must be lifted up”. It would be another piece of wood and instead of a bronze serpent on it, Christ himself would be hanging there. That picture leads John into one of the most beautiful promises in all of scripture. That gives us much hope to those who look to Jesus to be saved, as it did for those who looked in Moses day.  John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for the fear that their deeds will be exposed. No matter how many times I hear this scripture, those words have life and power in them. Enough to change your eternal destiny. In verse 19, “This is the verdict” in other words this is the way it is, this is the conclusion, the sentence is already passed. Light has come; salvation is here. Men are dying in darkness and in less they turn to Jesus they will die in their evil. In verse 20, “they will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.” It’s possible Nicodemus had deeds he didn’t want exposed. We all have something to lay down. Something to let go off. For Nicodemus, it might have been clinging to his power, reputation, prestige and knowledge. Like a child who wants to learn to swim under water but that’s afraid to stop clinging to the side of the pool. Remember, Jesus wants Nicodemus to experience the depths of who God is. For Nicodemus, his position and knowledge were like a child’s floaties getting in the way of discovering the deeper things of God. Anything we cling to that keeps us from knowing God is as silly as a grown man wearing floaties at the pool. What’s holding you back from the light? Only you know what you’re still clinging to that keeps you from the light.  Moving on, we come across John the Baptist who also has something to give up and lay down. His followers. He and Jesus are baptizing each other, and John's followers complain that everyone's going over to follow Jesus instead of John looking verse 27, “To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, “I'm not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.” The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.” He must become greater, and I must become less! That's what it all comes down to right? We know that if we follow Jesus, he becomes greater, and we take second place. That's hard. It was hard for Nick but a welcome relief to John. John saw himself as the best man at the wedding. Happy to see Jesus and the people he loved connecting and John interjects his commentary into the conversation again, echoing the Baptist claim that he must become greater, verse 31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Whoever has accepted it has certifies that God is truthful. That word “certified” means to sign your name. Like signing your name on the dotted line, it's a recognition like Nick had that everything Jesus is saying must be from God, even if I don't understand it. And accepting his words is certifying that God is truthful. It's like signing my name, I agree and certify that this is true. What about you, my friend? Do you know things like Nicodemus? But are struggling to understand things or are you ready to sign your name today on the dotted line?

In John chapter 2 today Jesus goes public and makes a grand appearance. Why is it that sometimes God works so suddenly and secretly, but other times His work is out in the open? Well, you could ask the same question about Jesus here in John 2. Two miracles in chapter 2, one secret, the other for all to see. The difference timing. Let's dig into the chapter and see how it unfolds and why. Verse 1, On the third day, the wedding took place in Cana in Galilee. Jesus's mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” Have you ever bit off more than you could chew, when you were supposed to come through and everybody else was counting on you but in the end you couldn't deliver? Coming up short and letting people down is a terrible feeling. Like forgetting to bring your wallet when you promised to treat somebody to coffee or a meal. It's hard to shake that kind of shame. These guests had come hungry and thirsty. This poor young couple, their marriage day was meant to mark the happiest time of their lives, but it was quickly becoming the most embarrassing and shameful day that they had known so far. And if you were there and you knew who Jesus was what would you have done? Mary thought he ought to do something, so she springs into action and by action, I mean she went to Jesus to solve the problem. The problem was the timing. Verse 4, “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied, “My hour has not yet come.” “His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Mary knew that this was a wedding and not Jesus’s Messiah coming out party. She knew it wasn't about him and about the couple, so she ignored his protests and it's not his time to go public and turns to the servants, like a mom would, ignoring him and saying do whatever he tells you and it's good that she said that last part. Do whatever he says because what he was about to tell them to do seems strange. You see there were six stone water jars used for ceremonial washing; everyone who is at that party would have washed using that water. What is ceremonial washing for anyways? In the Jewish religion you had to wash your hands and face frequently before you ate, it was a bogus rule that the religious leaders made-up, but it was good hygiene. These jars would have been used right before the wedding feast, so water would have been ladled out to wash all the guests’ hands. So Jesus says to them fill them back up, so they filled them up back to the brim but then Jesus asked him to do something even stranger in verse 8, “Now draw some and take it to the master of the feast.” Draw some out and take it to the master of the feast! Now you have to imagine you're one of those servants and you were told to do whatever Jesus said you basically filled up a tub with bath water and now you're being told to ladle some out and give it to the boss, the master of the feast, the one you're trying desperately to please one who could fire you and the one who probably knows really good wine. Read verse 9, “And the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you who saved the best till now.” You have saved the best till now, Jesus blew everyone's expectations, they expected mediocre wine but Jesus gave them the best they've ever had and here's the thing only the servants were let in on the joke this was secret nobody else knew what Jesus had done and John sums up the effect that it had in verse 11, “What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.” A small miracle revealed to a small number of people, but it had a big splash. Despite Jesus attempting to hide his glory though, heaven was breaking through, in fact it was coming to earth. Despite Jesus's glory being veiled by his flesh, people were beginning to see the light shining through the cracks, but whereas this was something Jesus wanted kept private since it wasn't yet his time his time was coming. The feast of Passover would be the place where Jesus would make his grand appearance. You see in the story of the wedding of Cana of Galilee, we see Jesus giving in to what his mother wants, but the story we're about to read is about Jesus being consumed with what his father wants. The chapter jumps locations to Jerusalem. Let's catch up with what happens. “When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money.” Small town boys in the big city. They were probably in awe of the temple a towering masterpiece of gold and stone built for worship but surrounding it, the hustle and bustle of “people selling cattle, sheep and doves and others sitting at tables exchanging money.” I want you to place yourself in the sandals of the disciples as they milled through the crowds, their eyes were wide open taking in the sights sounds and smells, hmm this smells the aroma of spices incenses burning in the temple, meat barbecuing, the pungent odor of feces and urine of livestock, the wet hides and the smell of blood and slaughter. The sounds of sheep bleeding, goats and bulls bellowing animals panicking, the flutter of wings and the clinking of money heard among the rabble of voices shouting, haggling over prices getting angry shouting insults. Somehow it seemed less to the disciples like a place of worship and more like, well it's hard to put a finger on but something seems wrong to them, something is off. Suddenly a loud echoing bangs, as tables thunder on the stone pavement, cages clattered to the ground freeing birds with a flutter of wings and the unmistakable sound of coins clinking across the flagstones and the scramble and mad dash of people rushing in to grab as much as they can and that all changes with the crack of a whip, then one voice rises above the white noise screaming, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father's house into a market!” The second he said it; you could see it. That was the word it was like a market. People were using God to make money. The disciples realized at that moment that in their awe and wonder of the big city, they lost track of Jesus, last time they saw him it looked like he had been weaving strips of leather together, the whip. Then they remember something from their childhood. In verse 17, “His disciples remembered that it was written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” This seems personal for Jesus he even calls God his father and that alone was shocking, Jews just didn't talk like that, nobody felt they had the authority to call God, Father. Authority is exactly what's called into question in verse 18, by the religious leaders. “The Jews then respond to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will rise it again in three days.” They replied, “It has taken 46 years to build this temple, and you're going to raise it in three days?” But the temple had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. Destroy this temple and I'll raise it again in three days. If Jesus shocks them with the cracking of a whip and turning over tables. Jesus claiming he could rebuild the temple was like dropping a bomb in Jerusalem. John interrupts this normally scheduled story of Jesus with a spoiler alert. Jesus is going to die at their hands but the temple that Jesus will raise miraculously, will be the body they killed. Raising a temple in three days it took 46 years to build would be impossible but hey raising the dead to life would be even harder, but it wouldn't be unbelievable. In fact, John tells us that the end of verse 22 that his disciples believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken but it wasn't just them that believed. Look at verse 23, “Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name.” Maybe you're thinking it's his time, he's in Jerusalem, he's coming out as the Messiah he's ready to rule and you'll be right for thinking that and John knows what you're thinking so he says in verse 24, “But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.”  This is a foreshadowing of what would happen at the same feast three years later but all good stories have foreshadowing and this is the greatest story ever told so let's leave it there and pick it up again in our next chapter. Let me ask you today, it was Jesus’s time, is it your time? Time to believe?

Chapter 1 Part 2, we get to meet Jesus for the first time and also meet some people who also met Jesus. Have you ever been around someone who gives off an awe-inspiring presence and you can't quite put your finger on it. There are certain people we meet in life who have what psychologists call a magnetic personality. You don't know why you feel what you feel but you suddenly feel out of your depth like they're giving something off but somehow, they make you feel little in awe of them. Some people get this feeling when they meet someone famous. We're not talking about fame today, we're talking about the feeling you get when you actually meet someone, and they slightly unnerve you and you don't know why. Well today we will encounter six different people who met Jesus and were in awe of him they weren't struck by his fame because he wasn't famous yet, besides this is bigger than fame. They were struck by who he was the Messiah. John picks up in chapter 1:14 where we left off and I'd like you to follow along with me as we read, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” The word became flesh and those few short words, John takes us from the epic creator of the universe who created space-time and matter and puts him in a human body this is the transition verse from the first part of John chapter 1 where Jesus is the epic creator of the universe to now being a guy who for the rest of the chapter is going to walk around meeting people. The Word, the eternal one himself, became flesh and made his dwelling among us. Now there is a cool word picture here, John uses the word dwell as if God were camping out, pitching a tent among us. In the Old Testament God famously met with Moses in a tent known as the tent of meeting, that’s because God's glory or radiance was too bright for people to handle. Looking at God would be like looking directly into a million Suns and it would kill you dead. So, God met inside of a tent and covered his glory, so he could meet with us and it wouldn't kill us. This is what John is saying here about Jesus taking on flesh, that's why John continues in verse 14, we've seen his glory the glory of the one and only son. It's like John saying his glory may have had a tin of flesh over it but he still couldn't hide who he was. To understand how powerful this is, let's remember the design of the Tabernacle or the tent where Moses met with God. Do you remember how God told Moses to design it? Well from the outside it was covered with the skins of animals but on the inside, it was a tent made-up of three different colors of cords woven together red cords, blue cords and purple cords. Why those three colors, let me ask you; when you think of the skin in those three different colored cords what does that remind you of? Well as a paramedic, I've done a lot of human anatomy, and I can tell you what the inside of a human body looks like. Oxygenated blood vessels are red, unoxygenated blood vessels are blue and mixed vessels are purple. Doesn't that kind of sound like a human body? Three colors of cords, like our arteries and veins and then all your veins and arteries are covered over with skin to hide it. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Here's the kicker. For God to be able to meet with people he had to first deal with their sins and to do that they'd sacrifice an innocent lamb at the tent of meeting outside of it, who is a symbol of someone innocent dying in their place and absorbing the judgment of God to take away their sins, so God could meet with people face to face. And that brings us to John the Baptist, are first person in this chapter who beholds Jesus’s glory and calls him the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Look at verse 19-34, the wind is blowing across the Jordan and out pass the reeds waist deep John the Baptist pauses and awe, as he sees Jesus approaching. Verse 29, The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!” Skip ahead to verse 32, “Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit of God come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him, and I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.” John the Baptist says, “I didn't know him.” His glory was covered with flesh. In other words, Jesus seemed to be like anyone else John baptized, but now John the Baptist identifies and testifies this is God's chosen one. John saw his glory; we beheld his glory. But like one preacher said, John the Baptist job had been to announce the way point the way and get out of the way and John's gonna get out of the way but first he points the way to two other of his disciples who start following Jesus instead those two are John and Andrew the next to see Jesus’s glory. Let's read about it verse 35, “The next day Jesus was there again with two of his disciples when he saw Jesus passing by John said look the Lamb of God”, when the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus turning around Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” What a question. It seems to put them on the spot. What do you want? When Jesus turns and asked the disciples what do you want? They seem to be like deer in headlights. I don't know why they answer, Lord where are you staying ? Perhaps they just blurted it out or maybe they wanted to have more of a conversation and find out more and where like, Lord we can't talk here about things could we go somewhere else? If Jesus suddenly asks you today what do you want? What would you say? Perhaps you're asking yourself this deeper question today and like the disciples you're following behind Jesus, by being here trying to see what he's about listening to what other people like John the Baptist say about him, not sure what all this Lamb of God stuff is all about but still intrigued. If that's you, be encouraged Jesus has these brief encounters with people but then makes himself available. Look at verse 39, “Come”, he replied, “and you will see.” So, they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.” I love the little eyewitness details like this, it was about four in the afternoon. It lets you know this actually happened somebody actually really experienced it this, is John's story. So, from there we see Jesus called Simon and gives him a new name Peter then in verse 43 we meet the final two disciples in this chapter that behold Jesus’s glory, “The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” Philip like Andrew and Peter was from the town of Bethesda. Phillip found Nathaniel told him, “We have found them Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote-Jesus of Nazareth, son of Joseph.” Did you notice that word found again we have found the Messiah and then finding fellow and then Philip found Nathaniel. John likes the word found here everybody thinks they found Jesus but who's finding who really in these passages? Verse 47, “When Jesus saw Nathaniel approaching, he said to him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” “How do you know me?” Nathaniel asked. Shocked that Jesus although they've never met knows who he is. Back to meeting famous people, what would you do if the next time you met a famous person or like I'm one of your biggest fans and they said, “Hey is this that you?” I follow you on Instagram, you’d feel shocked like Phillip here. Like how do you know me? Why did you even take the time to find out who I was? Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Then Nathaniel declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.” And Jesus tells him, “You will see greater things than that.” Friends we will too, as we keep reading and we keep beholding his glory that though it's veiled in flesh just can't be hidden.

What's the most restful you ever feel?  Is there that place that you can put your feet up, pour a favorite beverage, spread out, and just feel complete and utter peace? Maybe beside a misty morning lake, hot coffee mug in hand, watching the sunrise over dreamlike bluish-purple mountains?  Psalm 91 verse 1 tells us what that place was for the psalmist, that it was in God himself.  Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. Rest. A requirement for body, soul, and mind, yet, ironically, one of those most valuable things in life that can't be bought. Rest comes from feeling safe, secure. And the psalmist puts it in this term, whoever dwells in the shelter of the most high, finds rest.  It's like coming in from a battle and that heavy door slams behind you. You're safe. You're secure. No arrows can hit you.  You can take your armor off.  You can rest. Resting in the shadow of the Almighty, the psalmist declares in verse 2,  “I will say of the Lord. He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.” (Psalm 91:2) Surely, he will save you from the Fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence.  Fowler's snare, deadly poison, hidden dangers that I can't possibly see, but God can. Surely, he will save you. Those who have God as their refuge can be confident that although there are plenty of dangers that they can't see on a daily basis, there's nothing that escapes the notice of their protector, their God. Verse four,   “He will cover you with his feathers and under his wings, you will find refuge.His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.” (Psalm 91:4)  His faithfulness will be your protection. Powerful stuff there. A shield, something to hide behind. A rampart, something to lift you up above it all. We all struggle from time to time with an area that we're having difficulty trusting God with.  Do you have an area like that, where you're struggling with your faith, wondering if He's faithful, if He's going to be there for you?  Verse 5 tells us we've been given 24-hour care.  “You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.” (Psalm 91:5-6) That's round the clock security, day and night. These are the things that are used in warfare, by the way. When a city is besieged, the enemy might use arrows, but also the weapons of fear and terror, through propaganda, and even disease.  Secure within the fortress, you have nothing to fear. As Winston Churchill said to the British public during World War II, we have nothing to fear but fear itself. With that warfare mentality, the psalmist continues by taking us right onto the battlefield, where we're swinging a sword, dodging arrows. Verse 7. “A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.” (Psalm 91:7).   King David knew this personally. He would watch people on his right and his left drop like flies. Yet, David would remain untouched, miraculously, God shielding him from danger. Even if you and I lack this confidence, Satan knows it very well about you. So let's pick up the thread to see what we often forget, but Satan never does.   No disaster will come near your tent, for he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. They will lift up their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. If those last two verses sound familiar, that's because Satan nearly quoted it verbatim to Jesus. Note that I said nearly. Ever the twister of Scripture, Satan misquotes this from the top of the temple, when he's telling Jesus to jump down.  “If you are the Son of God, he said, throw yourself down, for is it not also written? He will command his angels concerning you to lift up their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone” (Matthew 4:6). Well Hard to argue if you don't actually know the scripture, but Jesus knew it Well after all he wrote it he knew that Satan left out the phrase in verse 11 “in all your ways.” And that little phrase makes all the difference. So, this wasn't a throw yourself off of cliffs kind of scripture. This was a trust God in your everyday life kind of scripture. Satan misquotes this verse to get Jesus to test God. All that it would prove if anyone jumped off of the temple wasn't whether or not God was faithful, it was whether or not they were really stupid.   But the scripture isn't done telling us we have reason to trust in verse 13. “You will tread on the lion and the cobra. You will trample the great lion and the serpent.” (Psalm 91:13). Again, I have to pause here and talk about the snake handlers. You know I do. Let's just put it in the stupid things people do like jumping off cliffs category. There are a group of people who have taken to holding rattlesnakes while they worship to prove how much faith in God they have. They're a small number of people and their numbers keep shrinking due to poisonous snake bites. I know you're shocked, but they needed the phrase “in all your ways” and also to respond to Satan's temptation to see if they really trust God with “do not test the Lord your God.” So, don't go buying any lions to tramp or snakes to cuddle any time soon, okay? Just trust Him every day, in your everyday life, seriously. But now, we come to a precious verse where it's not people speaking, or even Satan misspeaking. In verse 14, God Himself speaks.  “Because He loves me, says the Lord. I will rescue him; I will protect him for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.” (Psalm 91:14-16).  If you've ever wondered what God really wants from you, it's your love. Trust is a part of love.  I Do the small trust part, and God does the heavy lifting part.  Because He trusts me, I will rescue Him. I will protect Him, for He acknowledges my name.  That means simply looking up to God, right where you are and saying, God. This is tough. I'm placing all of this in your hands because I'm not strong or smart enough to handle this and trying to would just be foolish verse 15   “He will call on me and I will answer him.” (Psalm 91:15). So, God says if we call, he answers It might not be a verbal answer. For example, you might say hey God I don't know what to do and rather than a voice from heaven telling you where to go You might find circumstances changing behind the scenes as you go in all your ways remember Conversations and situations that God is aligning in your favor in other words God's answer might simply be to line things up. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver and honor him if I simply know that God is with me That's enough. It's like having my dad there His strength it's going to be okay because my dad's here. I don't have to worry. I can just trust this isn't just a one-day thing. This becomes a lifestyle thing that becomes a life and that life, well, it lasts for a lifetime. Verse16  “With long life, I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.” (Psalm 91:16). Life is prolonged deliverance. Certain honor assured. I will show him my salvation.  There's a little hint here that God is going to sometimes let you in on the secret, like occasionally he's going to show you a behind the scenes look. Not always, but every once in a while, you'll have a talk with your dad, and he'll tell you what he's been thinking. He'll instruct you on how to think, how to act, what he was doing. Occasionally God will do that with you. He'll show you, his salvation. How he saved you in that moment when you prayed, and he answered how he delivered you but not always, he won't always tell us and that's a good thing. There are plenty of things. We probably don't want to know but to God, just trusting Him in our day to day is enough. And that is what He wants us to know.

Welcome friends to Psalm 23, The Lord is my shepherd. The 23rd Psalm is elegant, iconic, classic and powerful. Perhaps the most beloved work of poetry in the history of the world. The Psalm of David, “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.” What is it about these words that can move the heart so simply, so powerfully? Perhaps it's the relationship we long for, the Lord is my shepherd. David sings and every line echoes with contented confidence and when he carries that contentment without fear through the valley of the shadow of death, we can't help but long for what he has. For a musical rendition I recommend John Foreman's “The House of God Forever” and the band Miqidem, sings Psalm 23 in Hebrew, both are deeply moving. Verse 1, “The Lord is my shepherd I lack nothing”, it is one of the most sublime statements in all of scripture, to look to the creator of all the universe, the weaver of your very DNA. Seeing him your shepherd, your provider, protector and the guide of your life. I lack nothing, that tiny statement delivers a whole world of contentedness. Not that I have everything I could imagine, but I have God, and he's got me, I'm good. It should be noticed that the first statement cannot be claimed by just anyone, for the shepherd relationship works two ways. The sheep follows a shepherd, the description that follows is testimony to that relationship. Sheep belong to the shepherd, they are owned not wild. Also poignant is the order of Psalm 23, immediately after 22, the Psalm of crucifixion, the shepherd lays down his life for his sheep, it's the foundation of our trust. Verse 2, “He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.” What a picture that is, so tranquil it nearly invites you in. Green pastures, like in Ireland and springtime but it's not just the pasture. It's the protection, sheep are vulnerable. They will not lie down until they feel secure. With my shepherd on guard, I relax. You know those rare moments when you know you're safe and you actually enjoy life the way it was meant to be enjoyed. He leads me beside quiet waters, no dangerous torrents, cool and quiet waters to restore and refresh. So what's the metaphor here? Some see God's word in the green grass and the refreshing of the Holy Spirit in the quiet waters. You might see more still, that's the beauty of poetry and perhaps my favorite line of all, “he refreshes my soul.” Other translations say, “he restores”, what a wonderful thing to do. The human soul can be weighed down with worries harassed by fears, torn apart by grief. Just plain exhausted with life. He refreshes; he restores. The Hebrew word was used for righting a sheep that had fallen onto its back. Sheep lack the muscle to right themselves and a flipped sheep is wolf prey for sure, but the shepherd restores. Our shepherd restores a broken, tattered and flipped-over soul. Back in verse 3, “He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.” Path guiding is crucial, no creatures are more prone to wander than sheep, nor more lost when they do. All we like sheep have gone astray. If you've ever been truly lost and desperate to find the way, the right path is a treasured commodity. He guides us on them, again and again. There are two meanings here for his namesake. God's name represents his character, he guides me because that's who he is. He is faithful, for his namesake also means that my actions affect his reputation. I represent him and he shows me the right paths so I could better represent his righteousness. The first 3 verses have been somewhat idyllic and somewhat idealistic. David well knows that the right paths are not always pretty green pastures, so in verse 4 “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” The song turned sharply from lush pastures into shadow and threat. The land of Bethlehem where David kept sheep, sits on a hill surrounded by hills, guiding sheep to pasture meant traversing valleys, darker shadowed even dangerous. The Hebrew word for darkest valley carries gloom and terror and just a subtle change in Hebrew pronunciation given the translation you likely recall, “valley of the shadow of death.” Though the word death is not explicitly there, the feeling is, for every dark shadow in life looms toward that final shadow. That's why these words have been spoken over more hospital beds, funerals and gravestones than any others. Does verse 4 truly offer comfort or simply placate the grief? That depends on how honestly, I can sing verse 1, “to my shepherd, even though I walk through” there is a knowing in that dark valley that deep sense of awareness that the shepherd still guides, and he will see us through. David has reason for his faith, I will fear no evil for you are with me. Eyes off the shadows, eyes on the shepherd, he's with me, don't stop, keep walking, Emmanuel, God is with us. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Rod and staff are the shepherd's tools for leading. The shepherd prods a sheep toward good pasture, we quickly learned to associate that slight discomfort with his faithful guidance, we learn to trust it. That crook atop the staff is great for catching a sheep standing obliviously and dangerously close to a ledge, ever been there? The rod was for guidance but also for correction, the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and the staff doubles as a weapon for protection. When I see the wolf watching from the hilltop my eyes dart back to the shepherd staff and find great comfort. I have deep appreciation for the word comfort, in the Bible it is often used for the consoling offered to one grieving. Here it is not a soft pillowy sort of comfort but the shepherd's strength and care that provides safety, the firm boundaries delivered by rod and staff, the Holy Spirit is our comforter and he works in our lives very much like a shepherd's rod and staff guiding, convicting, correcting, protecting. Verse 5, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” I must confess this line has long confused me, why would I want to picnic in the company of enemies? David has previously expressed great fear and frustration with enemies. Yet here in Psalm 23, David’s heart is transformed, he is safe, he is content, the Lord is with him. God prepared a table, that's an invitation to relax and enjoy food, to enjoy the company of your host. The Lord is indeed a gracious host and perhaps the most surprising part of it all is in fact the presence of enemies. As a warrior David knows that you don't stop to enjoy food when the enemy is near, yet here is David's enemies still in view but hard at peace, able to fully enjoy the hospitality of his Lord. Wolves watching but the sheep nibbles away at the grass trusting the shepherd to protect. Something I figured out, I can't afford to wait for my problems to go away, to enjoy life, trust God and enjoy the table. In verse 5, “You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” There is goodness in these words, a sense of deep gratitude. It is that moment when you look around at life and see all of it God has given you. Suddenly, you realize how distracted you were with all that could go wrong and you lost sight of what you have; my cup overflows. The picture is of a gracious and generous host, welcoming you. The sort of host who really wants you to enjoy his generosity. That one's a life lesson for me, one that I too easily forget. Enjoy grace, enjoy God's grace, open your heart to enjoy it and you'll find your heart running full over with plenty spilling over to share all around. As the Psalm closes, David looks at the feast before him with gratitude overflowing, he lifts his eyes heavenward. In verse 6, “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.” What a blissful place to close, chased through life by the Lord's goodness and love and a contented confidence for all of forever to come, I will dwell at home and at peace, in the House of the Lord forever.

John seems to struggle a bit to know how to introduce the creator of the universe to us. How do you introduce somebody from whose fingertips dripped the universe itself? How do you put into words a summary of somebody who created words and thoughts? How do you do it in a limited space of time? Speaking of time, He invented that too. In the beginning of time it was precisely where John takes us. Let’s read how John introduces Jesus in versus 1.  “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.” He was with God in the beginning, through Him all things were made.” The word was with God and the word was God! Back in the beginning in Genesis 1:1, the Bible opens stating that God made the heavens and the earth. Here John states Jesus is that same God that created the world. Do you see what I mean by John being in awe of who Jesus was or is? John knows he can't begin Jesus’s story in a stable with Jesus being born in a manger, those humble beginnings the other gospel writers started with. But how to put what he knows into words? John knows he's speaking about God himself, coming in human flesh, but how does he find the right words to convey the awesomeness of that? Have you ever been frustrated by your own words or your inability to find just the right word to express yourself? John finds the word! But one word won’t do. So, he uses two. Light and life. He takes us back to the dawn of creation, back when a word caused everything to exist, but what that word caused was life and light. Verse three, “Through him all things were made” but then John drops a bomb in verse four, “In him was life and that life was the light of all mankind”. John sees Jesus as the word that is spoken into our souls causing light to ignite and stream across the chaotic void of deep dark blackness in each one of us. Just like the first word spoken by God, “let there be light,” those words illuminate darkness of creation and so Jesus is the word that illuminance our own personal darkness. “In him was life.” John shifts from talking about physical life and light, to speaking about spiritual life and light and before we go any further it's important to know that for the rest of the book John will record Jesus speaking about spiritual things by using objects that we can see in the world around us. He does this because finding the right words can be tricky and cause confusion, so Jesus uses word pictures. It’s the use of something you already understood to teach a completely foreign concept. That's why John is using light and life to describe how Jesus changes things when you finally get him, when you finally understand and get that right word. He was the word. Light and life is what flushes in your life. We feel the heat on our skin when we walk from the shade into the sunlight. We know what that feels like. But we also feel the power of miracle whenever we watch an animal or a human give birth to a new life. There's nothing quite like either of those feelings but to be around Jesus was the closest thing to it, in the spiritual realm. In Him was life and that life was the light of all mankind. He's like the light to your darkness; he's the life to your death and he's that word that you've been struggling for and when it finally comes to you everything makes sense. Light. Life. The Word. John uses something we physically know to help us understand something spiritual. That's why Jesus used examples from the physical world to help people understand spiritual things. For example, when Jesus sits on a well. He tells a woman coming there to draw water he can quench her thirst with living water, her response in John 4 is, “you don't have a bucket”. She heard water and thought physical. When he was speaking about something that would fill her spiritually. Just like then, people still misunderstand Jesus a lot. Another example, John records Jesus conversing with Nicodemus he's a religious guy and Jesus tells him you must be born again. Nicodemus says, I'm an old man, what am I supposed to crawl back inside the birth canal and go for a second ride? That's impossible. Jesus says, I'm speaking to you of physical things that you don't understand, how will you understand if I speak to you of spiritual things. Words again that are so easily misunderstood. That's where John struggles for real in the next verse 5 of chapter 1, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness  has not overcome it.” Let’s ask a question. Does it seem to you like Jesus is used to being misunderstood? Don’t worry if you have misunderstood God, the Bible or even Jesus. If you don’t quite understand a lot of what we are going over, that’s ok too. Jesus can take it; He is patient, and He knows this is all new to you. Here’s another question. What would you do if you were God and people were constantly misunderstanding you? God sent the law, misunderstood. God sent the prophets, misunderstood. Would you keep using more words to be understood, keep throwing more words out even though you’re being more misunderstood each time than the time before? Maybe you would, if you found the right word. Maybe Jesus was the right word to help those in the dark understand who God was.  Maybe Jesus is like that word you search for when all other words fail to express, you’re meaning. Light helps see and words help us understand. For this reason, verse 9 John calls Jesus the true light which gives light to everyone.  Read that again, “The true light that gives light to everyone”, but if Jesus gives light to everyone how come some still can't see him? If the light shining all around and you can't see it's because you're blind.  Let's keep that in mind as we read the next verse and John introduces another character. “There was a man sent from God whose name was John he came as a witness to bear witness about the light.” Doesn't that sound odd to you that someone has to bear witness to the light? I mean when a light is on you either see it or you don't. You don't need someone to tell you when the light is shining? Do you? Again yes, if the person's blind and that might be just another clue to why John presents Jesus as that perfect word for God, to express himself to a blind world because when you're blind and you can't see the light, you can still hear the words. Words can still reach those that are blind, and Jesus was that word, remember that speaks into our darkness. Later John will introduce us to a man born blind, who couldn't see Jesus, but heard his voice, recognized Him as savior of the world and had his eyes opened physically as well as spiritually. But that wasn’t the case with everyone in John. Verse 10, “He was in the world, and through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him” Can you hear John struggling again? It’s like he’s in shock.  “The world was made through him, but the world did not recognize him.” It just didn’t make sense. But John ends in a high note in verse 12, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” “To those who receive him.” Like that word you’ve been searching for, that’s all you need to become spiritually reborn. I'm glad he didn't say that you have to fully understand everything. Even scholars wrestle with the enormity with what’s here. Nobody expects anyone to come to this for the first time and get it completely. But John is weaving multiple themes in this introduction; light, life, darkness, being born of God and it will build as we go through John's book. Let's just take it in for a second. The poetry the enormity of who this is that John is introducing and what he offers us, Life.

John is all about seeing Jesus for who he is. Have you ever wondered why some people can see Jesus and others can't, some people can see him so clearly and talk about him like he's right there while others he's just a historic figure some name in a book. How can two people seem so differently? Well John seemed to have that question too. So, in this book John impacts that question one story at a time and tells us about people who encountered him but still couldn't see him for who he was, but then suddenly like the sun blazing over the horizon he dazzles them with his light and transforms their whole world as they truly see him for the first time. Over the years people have called spiritual experiences like this enlightenment and in different religions it means different things but in John's gospel Jesus himself is the light seeing Jesus equals enlightenment. Check out John 1:9 , “The true light which gives light to everyone was coming into the world he was in the world and the world was made through him yet the world did not know him he came to his own and his own people did not receive him”. The fact that some people can't see him means that despite the light shining brightly they are in a personal darkness in short they're blind, John 1:5 says “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not understood”, what does he mean by the darkness has not understood the light have you ever been the only one who can't see something whether it's the genius of hit song that everyone else is crazy about or the brilliance of the film that everyone loves but you could take or leave then you'll appreciate John's unfolding of people finally seeing and appreciating Jesus. It’s like they get him, maybe you're not there yourself and if that's the case you're in the right place here because John says at the end of the book in chapter 20:30-31, that he wrote this gospel just for you. Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not recorded in this book, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah the son of God and that by believing you may have life in His name. John wants you to believe these are written so that you may believe. It's amazing that John is thinking of you and me and not only that he's expecting us not to believe it just because he says it. In other words, he's not expecting us to believe in something irrationally. Throughout the book John, will actually parade witnesses’ eyewitnesses who give their accounts and put the evidence in front of us. Then John says, “I've written all of this so that you may believe”. I want you to make a judgment for yourself: whether or not Jesus is the savior of the world, the son of God. You and I can make a rational decision and yet have it also be a spiritual one. But in that same verse John also tells us that he didn't put all that Jesus did in the book; verse 30, “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not recorded in this book.” The fact that all the stories aren't in there tells me that John carefully crafted a string of testimonies and conversations to show people seeing the light in hopes that little by little our eyes too will begin to adjust to the light slowly and we'll begin to see who Jesus is for ourselves. That's the first clue to understanding why some people come to see Jesus and others don’t. We often come to see Jesus through testimonies or eyewitness accounts of others. It can be difficult to try to describe Jesus to someone who doesn't know him. It's kind of like trying to describe color to someone who's born blind how do you do it? You get creative, you might tell them that red looks to the eye what warmth feels like to the skin and the shade of blue it looks like how cold feels. It's an abstract way to describe something new by relating it to an experience they already know. That's why John uses the experiences of others to tell us who Jesus is. The first witness is a man called John the Baptist. John 1:6, listen to how John presents him. “There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.” Throughout this book we'll meet a whole cast of characters who had their eureka moments of discovery with Jesus when the lights turned on inside their own hearts and souls. Some of these testimonies come from people who were searching, while others were caught off guard. People like me or you are surprised by the light breaking in on our own personal darkness. For example, at the wedding of Cana of Galilee, an emergency reveals Jesus to an unsuspecting crowd. While the disciples, those who were closest to him gradually have Jesus revealed to them. First by listening to the testimony of John the Baptist but then getting to experience him for themselves and that's part of this you'll begin to experience Jesus personally as you read these accounts from others. For those 12, the light gradually dawns on them until finally it has an apex moment in a boat in the middle of a storm of all places where Jesus miraculously calms the storm they're panicking about. These are hardened sailors but Jesus stands up faces the wind and the waves about to capsize the boat and says peace be still. They huddle up in fear and whisper, who is this that even the winds and the waves obey him? We'll meet Nicodemus, who secretly seeks out Jesus behind the scenes to get answers. We also hear the testimony of a rejected woman at a well, questioning if true love even exists. After every love she hoped for in the world, left her as dry as an empty bucket but when we leave her, her heart is a wellspring overflowing with God's love for her. And like all true stories, the book of John has a dark side riddled with broken people chewed up by bad decisions and cast off by those who can't bear to look at them. We'll meet a woman who's caught in the act of adultery but hears the words we all longed to hear from God, “I do not condemn you”. There are many more who will testify in John, but we'll hear their stories as we journey together in this book. The key verse of this book is found in John 3:19, “this is the verdict light has come into the world and men love their darkness for their deeds are evil.” So that's it, a final puzzle piece to help solve the riddle about why some come to Jesus and others don't. When John says, this is the verdict it's like a gavel coming down, a conclusion has been reached, and it rings with finality. This is the verdict; light has come into the world. John says the light is shining, it's been shining since Jesus came. It's not always a case of those who can't see, it's often a case of those who won't see. John continues that the light is there, but men love their darkness. The book of John will leave us to make our own judgment or personal verdict. Can we see? Will we see? Who do we think Jesus is? Which character of all the encounters with Jesus will we be the most like? Will we ponder like Nicodemus, if he's worth giving everything up for? Will we wander away from him like the crowd of 5,000 who didn't think he could satisfy them or thought he asked too much? Will we hate him like the pharisees and seek to eradicate any trace of him in our lives? Will we be frustrated with him like Judas who couldn't force him into his own mold? Will we be like the man born blind who could see for the first time? Or like Lazarus who trades death for life? Or like Andrew and John who gives up everything to follow him? All of them faced the same testimony of Jesus that we’ll read, and, in the end, they testify to us, who he is. John leaves us to make our own judgment. Who is Jesus to me? We will ask that same question throughout this journey. Who is Jesus to you? What do you do with the testimony you've just received?

Ash Wednesday | Intro to Lent Today we embark on a journey through Lent. For the next forty days, we’ll travel together through every chapter of John’s gospel, and each weekend we’ll explore some of the beautiful psalms that have marked Lenten celebrations for centuries. Christ followers have celebrated this season as far back as 325 AD, and today millions of believers set aside this time to draw near to God, and we are joined by tens of  thousands  of believers all over the  world  taking this very journey  with Jesus  through John and Psalms! Let’s take a look at the road ahead of us to see—what Lent is, why it matters, and how it can deepen your walk with Jesus. Let’s start with the basics. What is Lent? Lent is a 40-day season leading up to Easter, a time when Christians around the world prepare their hearts to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. It’s a season of reflection, repentance, and renewal—a time to slow down and focus on Jesus’ sacrifice, our need for Him, and our hope in His victory over sin and death. But why 40 days? Well, that number is pretty significant in the Bible. Think about it: Moses spent 40 days on Mount Sinai in the presence of God (Exodus 34:28). The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years (Numbers 14:33-34). And most importantly, Jesus fasted in the wilderness for 40 days (Matthew 4:1-2). That’s the key connection. Lent mirrors Jesus’ time in the wilderness—His time of fasting, temptation, and preparation before launching His ministry. Just like Jesus set aside 40 days to seek the Father and resist temptation, we set aside 40 days to draw closer to God, to repent of sin, and prepare our hearts for Easter. Now, I know what some of you might be thinking—“Isn’t Lent just a Catholic thing?” Great question! While it’s true that Lent has been historically observed in Catholic, Orthodox, and some Protestant traditions, it’s not just for one group of Christians. The heart of Lent—seeking Jesus, repenting of sin, and preparing for Easter—is for every believer. Lent isn’t about earning favor with God. It’s not about checking a religious box. It’s about stepping back from the noise and distractions of life to refocus on Christ. How does Lent work? Traditionally, Lent is 40 days long, not counting Sundays. It begins on Ash Wednesday and ends either on Maundy Thursday or Holy Saturday, the day before Easter. The traditions around Lent vary, but the heart of those traditions is a devoted season of drawing near to God.   What else do Christians do for Lent?  There are three main spiritual practices during Lent: Fasting – Giving up something to make more room for Jesus. Prayer – Seeking God more intentionally. Giving – Serving others as a response to God’s love.  Fasting: One of Lent's most well-known traditions is fasting. But what exactly does that mean? Fasting is simply giving up something good for a greater purpose—to remind yourself that Jesus is better. Or put another way, it’s giving something up to make room for more of God. It could be food, social media, entertainment, caffeine—anything that tends to take up too much space in your life. Now, why fast? Because it creates hunger—not just physical hunger, but spiritual hunger. Giving up something that’s a normal part of your life reminds you of your need for God. It helps you depend on Him more fully. Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness. And when the devil tempted Him, Jesus responded: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”   – Matthew 4:4 Fasting isn’t about proving how spiritual you are. It’s about saying,  “God, I need You more than this.”  So, if you’re considering fasting for Lent, think about this: What’s one thing in your life that might be distracting you from God? Maybe it’s your phone, your Netflix binge, or even a certain food. The goal isn’t just to give something up—it’s to fill that space with Jesus. And a great way to bring Jesus into your space is our next Lent practice:  prayer.  When Jesus went into the wilderness, He wasn’t just avoiding food—He was spending time with the Father. Lent is an opportunity to do the same. It’s a time to slow down and talk to God. Maybe for you, that means setting aside extra time each day to pray. Perhaps it means journaling your prayers or praying Scripture. Whatever it looks like, Lent is a great time to develop a deeper, more consistent prayer life. James 4:8 says,  “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”  That’s the heart of Lent—to draw near to God. So here’s a challenge: If you’re giving something up for Lent, replace it with time in prayer. Every time you feel the craving for whatever you gave up, let it remind you to pray. And Lent practice number three is giving—also called “almsgiving.” But don’t get stuck on that old-school word. It just means generosity—using your time, money, and resources to serve others. Isaiah 58:6-7 says: “ Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free… Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house?” Lent isn’t just about  personal  sacrifice—it’s about  outward  love. As we fast and pray, we’re also called to open our eyes to the needs of those around us. So here’s something to think about: How can you practice generosity during Lent? Maybe it’s donating to a ministry, serving at a local food pantry, or simply being more intentional in loving the people around you. Now, Lent doesn’t make God love you more. It’s easy to turn something like fasting and prayer into a religious performance, but that’s not the point. The whole purpose of Lent is to prepare our hearts for the gospel—to remember that Jesus already did the work. Lent leads us to Good Friday—the day Jesus went to the cross, following that, Easter Sunday—the day He conquered sin and death. Lent reminds us of the long road that Jesus traveled for our sake—and that we don’t earn salvation, we receive it. Ephesians 2:8-9 says,  “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Lent is not about proving yourself. It’s about drawing near to the One who already proved His love for you. So, as we step into this season, here’s a challenge for you: Ask God what He wants to do in your heart. Is there a sin you need to repent of? A distraction you need to remove? A habit you need to build? Decide on a Lent commitment. What will you fast from? How will you pray? How will you serve others? Keep your eyes on Jesus. Remember—Lent isn’t about obligation. It’s an invitation to draw near to Christ. That’s why we chose John’s gospel for our daily reading. We know how the story ends. Lent may be a season of reflection, but it leads to resurrection. It leads to Easter morning when the tomb is empty, and Jesus is alive. So, let’s walk through this season with our hearts fixed on Him.