What good news.

Wow, what good news. I listened to this sermon twice, and feel like I could listen to it again and again, so the truth and implications could settle in more each time. The first time I just listened, and I think missed a lot of it. The second time, I took notes, and now I see...Jesus. The reality of who He is changes everything and offers so much hope. It's hard to come up with words. I'm just so...thankful. Here are some of my thoughts as I listened:

I wrote down some of the questions he asked, I feel like these are so important for us.

We are a community following Jesus, we say, with a heart for the city. It's an important question to ask - who is Jesus, this One we seek to follow?

In this new challenging time and place, who do you say I am?

I had to stop and answer this second question in this time we are currently in. It's a good question. I hear Jesus tell me He's a refuge and a fortress, One who sees and cares, and offers help in this time of trouble. Help for today - real, tangible help, when no one else really can. The pictures of Jesus approaching those with illnesses no one else could heal, who when asked for help, says He's willing, and reaches out, touches, and heals. In this new challenging time and place, I say He is the Healer, and the One who helps. 

Who we say Jesus is is going to influence our dreaming of what can be done in ministry in the city.

How are we to introduce Jesus? What words, titles, names can we use? 

To hear John's description, "the one who comes from the Father's heart, and the one who in word and deed reveals the nature and character of that heart; the very one who fills and infuses human life with the very life of God, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."  So good. I'm so thankful this is who Jesus is. I love that John spent his life pointing everyone to look!

And this pastor's description: "the conquering lamb, who breaks the back of evil; the suffering lamb, who exchanges places with sinful humanity; the passover lamb, who delivers from slavery and death; the scapegoat, who bears the world's infections into the wilderness, inaugurating the eradication of sin and making room for the kingdom; the lamb, the final sacrifice. The lamb, who takes away the sin of the world." 

Praying to be someone who never stops answering the question of who Jesus is, in every situation, every change, every question, every worry - so that my heart knows and trusts Him rightly, and so I can be someone like John, who shows others who Jesus is, just how good He is. 

Struck by the implications the pastor left us with:

1) It is safe to be in the presence of Jesus. We can dare come forward with our sin. For everything has been done to deal with sin. There is NO condemnation. It's safe to come out of hiding.

2) It's possible to change. The power of the great addiction has been broken. The deeply rooted patterns can be uprooted. We can change! There's no longer an inherent necessity to give in to sin. It's not perfectionism, it's HOPE! It's His victory. Yield to the victory.

I hear the implications, and they're bringing me to Jesus today. I want to sit in this truth everyday until my heart knows it.

"Will you now help us understand these words, and more than understand, will you help us live in the reality to which these words point."