Jesus – Page 2 – Pastor Barry's Blog

Broken bones and sacrifices…

Fortunately, I have never broken a bone in my body. Unfortunately, two of my girls did when they were just six-years old. Totally sad! The worst part about the last accident was that it happened about 36 hours prior to our Disneyland vacation.

My middle daughter was pumped for this trip. She had been taking swimming lessons and was going to finally conquet the “big” water slide. But those plans changed on the monkey bars last Wednesday evening when a tiny little hand slipped and my little girl fell awkwardly.

She is ok. The bone was set and a cast was placed on her arm. In fact, I think it weighs as much as she does!

But my heart is breaking for her. I am sad when I think of how she can’t swim this trip, or ride the roller coasters that she had been looking forward to riding. Yes, we have done special things and she is having a wonderful time, but it is still sad. However, she is resilient and is making the best of toting around a 10 pound weight in a sling around her neck.

I wish so much that I could take her place. I wish that it was my arm that was broken so she could run and play and ride the rides she wanted to ride. I wish that I could make it all better immediately. And most of all I wish that my little girl didn’t have to go through the pain that she went through last week.

Ever wish that in your life? For anything or anyone?

As a pastor, I can find a preachable sermon in almost anything. This is definitely no exception…

Jesus took the place for us. He paid the price and made the sacrifice so we didn’t have to. He endured the pain, the torture, and death so we could be made whole! Thank you Jesus for that ultimate sacrifice and brokenness!

Until next time…

Pastor Barry

200 Percent…

I wish I had a dollar for everytime I heard someone say, “I’m giving it 110 percent!” Really? What I remember from math class is 100 percent is 100 percent and you can’t have more than 100 percent of something. 100 percent is perfect. It is everything. It is complete.

At the expense of really not wanting to throw you a Jesus Juke – Let me tell you that I have discovered the one and only thing that can actually be (and is) 200 percent – Jesus.

Allow me to explain… Yesterday I was teaching from Hebrews to the Declaration! Youth. After explaining the authorship of that book, which modern scholars agree is not known for sure, and then settling on giving the name of “Phil” to this unknown author, we looked at the first few chapters. 1:1 – 4:13 to be exact.

Here is what we learned… Jesus is the Son, God is the Father, Jesus reflects God in everything, Jesus is far greater than the angels, and the angels are just a little greater than man (who was made in God’s image and is designed to reflect God.) Easy enough right? Wrong!

It was straight forward in 1:4 where we learned that Jesus is far greater than the angels, but in 2:9 we are told Jesus was a little lower than the angels….hmmmm….. Ok, follow me now. Who is greater than the angels? God. Who is lower than the angels? Man. Who are we told by “Phil” is both? Jesus.

Jesus is both God AND man – He is fully both. Therefore, if Jesus is fully both, by definition He is 100 percent God and 100 percent man, thus making Jesus the world’s first and only 200 percent being! Wow!

If God can actually make something that is greater than 100 percent just think of what else He can do. Really, that means He can do ANYTHING! The possibillities are limitless.

Now that’s a God I’m glad I know and trust. Do you? You can.

Until next time…

Pastor Barry

Easter Sunday (a.k.a. Picture Day)…

Yesterday was Easter – a busy day around our house! As a pastor, Sundays and the weekend are always busy, but when it’s Easter weekend the level of activity ramps up just that much more. You have to plan for Easter…

For example – just try and eat out after church on Easter without any reservations. You’ll find you are quickly relegated to the local Mexican Restaurant or your neighborhood McDonald’s. (Those are great places but definitely not what your wife would hope you would choose for Easter dinner.)

Easter morning arrives and we (the pastoral staff) have an awesome service planned. Today is the day that the “CEO’s” will be in church. And by “CEO” I mean the Christmas and Easter Only crowd – you know the ones you see in church only twice a year.

We know the crowds will be bigger and everyone wants the service and the day to be excellent – not just the pastors. All you have to do is watch the parade of people dressed to the nines with their new Sunday threads. This seams to be the day that new suits, hats, shoes, dresses, sweaters, and shirts make their debut. So much so that I have secretly taken to calling Easter by it’s other little known name – “Picture Day.”

It’s no different in my house. I know that it’s a special day because my daughters have new dresses, new shoes, and new accessories. Even the hot rollers have appeared on the bathroom counter just waiting for their role in this special occasion. In fact, I have to confess, I picked out (and wore) a tie for the day…

Everyone is dressed – the car is loaded – the camera is grabbed – and off we go!

This is where the picture day part comes in. Easter is a special day in the church. In fact it is THE day in the church. So it is natural that we do things extra special on this Sunday. The kids have a small program, the choir sings, baptisms are scheduled, eggs are hunted, brunch is served, and everyone is dressed to impress!

But as I sit here this Monday morning after Easter I am actually kind of disappointed. Not in my Easter experience – it was incredible and the service was amazing! But I sit disappointed because next week isn’t Easter. The cameras won’t be there….the “CEO’s” won’t be there….the fanfare won’t be there….

“Picture Day” has come and gone for another year. As a pastor this severely disappoints me! Why does it have to be that way? Why can’t we as a church strive to have every Sunday be “Picture Day?”

Let me challenge you….let’s take it a week at a time….let’s make this next year a year of 52 Sunday’s all being treated as “Picture Day’s.” The day that you roll out the very best to worship a risen Savior! The day that everything is excellent….

Now that would be cool!

Until next time…

Pastor Barry

“Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com”

Helpless but not hopeless…

One of the privileges I have as a pastor is being able to teach in small group settings. Yesterday, during one of these groups, we were discussing some of the insights found in the 8th Chapter of Luke. Specifically, we looked at a couple of stories where Jesus healed in response to faith – the woman who had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding and the synagogue leader Jairus whose daughter lay dying.

Two different people. One man. One woman. One rich. One poor. One respected. One shunned. One powerful. One powerless. One approached Jesus from the front. One snuck up from behind. I think you get the picture. So there I am as a reader, imagining Jairus having his people clearing the crowd as he strides up to Jesus, while the woman is dodging and weaving and perhaps even crawling just so she could touch Jesus’ garment….

But, no matter their differences, one thing made them equal…. Their FAITH! Both had an unmistakeable hope that Jesus could help them if they could only get to Him and fall at His feet!

What an amazing posture….falling at the feet of Jesus. Here are two utterly helpless individuals doing absolutely the only thing (albeit best thing) remaining for them to do. Fall at the feet of Jesus. They were helpless but they were definitely not hopeless!

Where are you today? Do you feel helpless? The good news is that no matter who we are, no matter what hand life has dealt us, and no matter what we have done. Jesus is there to give us hope. The only thing we have to do is make our way to Him and fall at His feet…

Until next time…

Pastor Barry

The Next Level…

Recently a good friend of mine (pastor Connie Wheeler) tweeted a very reflective thought – “Why would you invite someone to follow Christ if you have no intention of leading them to the next level?….”

A great question! Why would anyone invite someone to follow Christ if they then aren’t willing to follow through with what that looks like? What does it mean to share with someone the love of Jesus and then not show them? What does it mean to say Jesus will change your life and then not help them in their journey?

We have to ask ourselves, “Are we as the body of Christ really doing what Jesus has asked us to do, are we making a difference in someone’s life and in this world we live in? ” What came to mind was the song by Josh Wilson, “I Refuse.” A song that basically says we are to live out our faith, no matter what we are given, and no matter what our circumstance!

If all of us would do this – THAT would be taking it to the next level!

Until next time…

Pastor Barry

P.S. – Here are the words to that song.

I Refuse

Sometimes I, I just want to close my eyes

And act like everyone’s alright

When I know they’re not

This world needs God, but it’s easier to stand and watch

I could pray a prayer and just move on

Like nothing’s wrong

But I Refuse

I don’t want to live like I don’t care

I don’t want to say another empty prayer

Oh, I refuse to sit around and wait for someone else

To do what God has called me to do myself

I could choose not to move

But I Refuse

I can hear the least of these, crying out so desperately

And I know we are the hands and feet of You, oh God

So if You say move, it’s time for me to follow through

And do what I was made to do

And show them who You are

I don’t want to live like I don’t care

I don’t want to say another empty prayer

Oh, I refuse to sit around and wait for someone else

To do what God has called me to do myself

I could choose not to move

But I refuse

I refuse to stand and watch the weary and lost cry out for help

I refuse to turn my back and try and act like all is well

I refuse to stay unchanged, to wait another day to die to myself

I refuse to make one more excuse

I don’t want to live like I don’t care

I don’t want to say another empty prayer

Oh, I refuse to sit around and wait for someone else

To do what God has called me to do myself

I could choose not to move

But I refuse

Power Wash…

Have you ever had the opportunity to power wash something? It is incredible. I felt like Tim Taylor on “Tool Time!” The energy, the power, the brute force in which dirt and moss were no match for the air compressed water shooting through the wand of fury! Now granted there are side effects…mainly you tend to get soaked…but I kind of imagined I was standing near Niagra Falls (even though I have never been there) taking in the beauty and majesty and power of water as the mist settled in around me drenching me through and through.

Ok – I know this is an over-the-top poetic representation of a very mind-numbing task, but it really was fun! And it gives you a ton of time to think.

For example, I naturally thought about all the references of water in the Bible. Water in the Bible frequently represents life – new life. It provided an escape route for the Israelites out of the dessert. It provided life for Elijah as he drank from a creek. It provided a place for John to mark the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. And it even gave a talking point for the Jews and Samaritans to find common ground at a well. Everywhere you look throughout the scriptures water was powerful, it was significant, it was important.

So there I was a week or so ago…power washing my driveway and patio because I live in the Pacific Northwest and it is damp, and here, moss doesn’t just grow on the north side of trees…it grows on everything! It was time to make everything clean and shiny again!

The metaphor was so obvious as I watched the grime and crud and years of ugliness being stripped away to reveal the beauty of the original stone work.

This is exactly what Jesus does for you and me. Our lives can tend to build up a film, a gunk, an overall growth of ugliness if we don’t allow Him to “wash” us. Now this is more than just taking a baby wipe and scrubbing a little bit. Sure that makes you smell good, and most of the dirt is removed, but a power-wash is what we all need. A washing from the life giving water from Jesus.

We need to allow Jesus to really get at the buildup in our lives. That buildup is of course – sin! And let me tell you – it can be really hard to let go of things that are making our lives less than they should be – a representation of God. We were made in the image of God or Imago Dei – and that is the image that needs to be restored…

In the fourth chapter of John, Jesus is talking to the woman at the well and tells her in verse 14, “But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” And again in John chapter 7 Jesus promises this living water. He says in verse 37, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.”

And so there I was stripping away moss and dirt from the stonework around my house, all while praying that Jesus would continue to keep the build up of sin from my life…

Why? Simply because it is the Imago Dei that I want people to see in me! There is nothing more beautiful in life than that!

Until Next Time…

Pastor Barry

All things orthopedic…

It will always be interesting to me to see how quickly plans and agendas can change. Take for example today, I had planned on writing about the “Great I Am.” It was an inspiring weekend and I wanted to share some insights that I discovered. However, this morning in the office has been anything but inspiring, and I would rather tell you about the mundane….

To keep a long story short – I have knee pain. More specifically, I have torn cartilage and some beginnings of arthritis. It has been hurting for sometime and so I started the process of having it looked at. This is where it gets interesting. Don’t get me wrong – I am extremely happy that I have health insurance – but the way managed health care is operating I shutter at the horror of a nationalized government regulated health care system.

In August I scheduled an appointment (for September) with my primary care physician so I could get a referral appointment with an orthopedic surgeon. I spent all of ten minutes in the doctors office and that included the blood pressure check from his nurse. Anyhow, he ordered a set of x-rays (for what I don’t know) and I was done. A day later, the referral came along with the quote “because the x-rays were inconclusive” which is what I told the doctor when he ordered them – (I’d done this before).

It then took took 2 full months to get an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon, another 3 weeks for an MRI, another 2 weeks to get back into the orthopedic surgeon, and then finally surgery was “tentatively” scheduled for February 28th. And I say “tentatively” because when I called today they told me I was “tentatively” scheduled for March 21st….Holy Cow was I frustrated. It’s not that I am looking forward to my 4th surgery on my left knee, but having gone through this previously, I know something has to be done.

But despite all my emotion (I really felt like crying…and on Valentine’s Day of all days) I had a real peace. I was reminded of what Jesus had done for me and that my hope is in Him and not man. Yes, the pain is real, which serves to remind me that if our hope is in man and his systems then we will (at some point) be disappointed. But if our hope is in Jesus we will never be disappointed!

After hanging up the phone I was reminded of the lyrics to the song Everlasting God.

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord

Our God, You reign forever
Our hope, our Strong Deliverer
You are the everlasting God
The everlasting God
You do not faint
You won’t grow weary

You’re the defender of the weak
You comfort those in need
You lift us up on wings like eagles

Just what I needed to be reminded of today…and FYI – the doctor called back and I am “un-tentatively” scheduled back on the 28th!

Until next time…

Pastor Barry

Where is your heart centered?

Earlier this week I was reading the story about Jesus healing the ten lepers. The story where all were healed but only one came back to thank Him AND to worship Him… We can learn so much from that one leper, not just about being thankful but about where our hearts should be centered.

His heart was centered on Jesus – on who Jesus was – and on what Jesus had done. The lesson we learn should learn is that when we are focused on what Jesus is doing, we will be absorbed into knowing who He is, and when we are absorbed into knowing who He is – we will become like Him! It is this complete absorption into “worshipping” Him that leads us into having a heart centered on Him and a heart like His.

But what does having a heart like Jesus’ or a heart centered on Him look like?

In my religious tradition we define this as holiness, sanctification, christian perfection and perfect love. These are terms that have long caused confusion for clergy AND non-clergy alike, mainly due in large part to the difficulty of defining and applying this concept to everyday life.

But we have to…So let’s try…

In order to have a heart centered on God it follows that one must be set apart for God. John Wesley understood the Christian to be a holy person set-aside for God as shown in verses such as Exodus 19:10 and 1 Peter 2:9. To be set apart for God is to be made holy!

But what does “being set apart” look like? If we know that love is the center of Wesley’s understanding, then this love must be the true test of holiness. Out of love we are to emulate Christ. Out of love we are set apart. Out of love we are holy.

Love is what caused the healed leper that returned to Jesus. Love is what caused him to see who Jesus was. Both Jesus’ love for him and the leper’s love for Jesus fueled their actions. Love is what should fuel our actions.

We are told that Jesus’ wept two times in the New Testament – once when his friend Lazarus had died and the other when He was looking over Jerusalem and was broken because the people just didn’t get who He was. It was His passion, His compassion, His brokenness, His love that caused Jesus to weep at these times. It showed where Jesus’ heart was – it showed His heart was broken.

So perhaps, we should ask ourselves, “Who do I weep for?” I bet the healed leper was weeping when He saw what had happened and realized who Jesus was…

So let me end with this thought…

It is only after we are broken and weeping for a deeper knowledge of Christ, for our families, our neighbors, our community, and our churches, that we develop a heart centered on God and therefore become “set apart” for God.

Where is your heart centered today?

Until next time…

Pastor Barry