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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
For those of you who have been on this daily journey from the first day, today is the one year anniversary of the beginning of this “Walking with Jesus” pilgrimage!
What began as a simple request from a few friends that I lead them on a daily journey through God’s Word, with an objective to nurture our relationship with Jesus and our understanding of the Bible, has expanded to include hundreds of new friends all around the world who walk with us each day. Two “APP’s” miraculously developed by dear friends, have made “WWJ” easily available to the world through both Android and Apple technology. It’s amazing!
As of 26 April, “Walking with Jesus” has been received by people in 62 countries and 901 cities! I have no words to express my amazement at what God is doing. Thousands of people are able to have a private, daily encounter with God’s Word, and in some places like Communist or Muslim countries, privacy is essential. Others are using “WWJ” as a small group Bible study with friends. Still others, who have never been part of a church, are growing in their relationship with Jesus. So many different settings in which “Walking with Jesus” has become very special to a wide array of people. I’m glad you are one of them!
In my personal time in God’s Word, each morning I like to begin in the Psalms and today I was in Psalm 118. Listen to this: “This is the day the LORD has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it…Give thanks to the LORD, for His is good, His love endures forever.” (Ps. 118:24,29)
And then I noticed something in Psalm 118 this morning, I’d never noticed before… “O LORD, save us (Hosanna), blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD…With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession…” (Ps. 118:25,26,27) Do you see the Palm Sunday celebration of Jesus here, written 1000 years before Jesus rode on that donkey toward Jerusalem? Remember how that day the people waved palm branches and praised Him? Does that sound like Psalm 118:25,26,27?
Yesterday we looked together at John 5:1-15 and Jesus’ remarkable healing of a man who’d been crippled for 38 years. For just a few moments today, let’s look at what happened next, after that miracle, and then I have a story to tell you at the end of our time today.
Look with me at John 5 beginning in vs 16. Once again the Jewish leaders persecuted Jesus, do you see why? Notice what John reports that Jesus said in response: “My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I too am working…I tell you the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can only do what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does…” (John 5:17-19) Jesus was making it very clear…He was God the Son! He had come to earth to accomplish a specific mission, which God the Father had given Him to do. That mission required Jesus to be alert, everyday, to what the Father was leading Him to say and do.
May I ask, what is Jesus doing here on earth TODAY? And since Jesus is not physically here, how is He accomplishing the Father’s work here on earth today? Answer. . .Jesus is accomplishing His work THROUGH His people here on earth today! And what is that work of Jesus? Anything that will bring glory and honor to God the Father, and will push back the darkness of evil in our world!
All the miracles and other things Jesus did, and all His teaching of God’s truth were part of His God given mission to provide rescue to the human race from Satan’s grasp and the domination of evil here on earth. Do you see how clearly Jesus explained both that He is the Son of God, and that He was walking in lock step with God the Father, so whatever Jesus did here was exactly what God the Father directed Him to do. His disciples were watching very closely, learning to do the same. John and the other didn’t know it then but soon Jesus would be leaving them and entrusting them with carrying on His mission here on earth. And that privilege has been passed to every Christian since that day, so it now includes you and me!
My friends, I’ve chosen the theme “Walking with Jesus” because of Scripture like this, for Jesus invites us, you and me, to walk under His guidance and in His power, just as He walked under the guidance of His Father and in His Father’s power. Do you see that? That’s why Psalm 118:24 is so significant for today and everyday! What specifically is Jesus wanting to accomplish here on earth today. . . through YOU my friend, as you walk obediently with Him? Can you discern it? Will you put your heart and soul into it? Will Jesus empower you to accomplish it for God’s glory today, this week?
John continues with what Jesus said that day…it was radical! “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom He is pleased to give it. Moreover the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son…I tell you the truth, whoever hears My words and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life..” (5:20-24) Jesus was making it clear that as Jesus accomplished the mission for which God the Father had sent Him to earth, Jesus was given authority, by God the Father, to BE two very significant things for the human race.
First, Jesus would be the ONLY SAVIOR for anyone, saving them from sin condemnation and hell, and giving them eternal life with God. There would be NO other Savior!
And second Jesus would be the Perfect JUDGE for everyone. Eventually every person will stand before Jesus as ultimate judge, giving account for their lives, and how they have responded to God’s offer of Jesus as the ONLY Savior. Think about that my friends. What will accountability for a lifetime lived look like for you? And what have you done with God’s offer of Jesus to be your Savior?
Now I told you I had a story… two stories actually, and both relate to one flight on September 11, 2001. A friend of mine is a pilot and was scheduled to pilot UAL 93 that fateful day. He and his wife have one son. This man’s relationship with his father was very special and he worked hard to also have a similar relationship with his young son. Flying took him away from the family often for extended times.
That Monday 9/10, my friend felt he needed more time with his son, so called United and was granted a different flight for Tuesday morning, which allowed him time for breakfast with his son, and drive him to school, then he headed on to JFK for his later flight. You may recall UAL93 was the plane which crashed in a Pennsylvania field with hijackers at the controls, that Tuesday, 9/11! You can perhaps imagine how my pilot friend felt when he heard the news!
I received an email from him today, reminding me of that. His son is now married, and also a pilot like his dad, and they often reflect on how a dad followed the urging of the Spirit of God in his heart to change flights that day, to have a little more time with his son.
But what about the other people on that UAL93 flight? Why didn’t the Holy Spirit lead them to change flights or do something to escape that disaster? That’s a fair human question isn’t it? Let’s link it to John 5 and what we’ve seen yesterday and today. Yesterday Jesus healed a 38 year cripple who sat surrounded by blind and lame people at the pools of Bethesda. As far as we know Jesus did not heal anyone else there that day. Then later when religious leaders found out it was Jesus who healed the man, they berated Him both for doing that healing work on the Sabbath, and for claiming to be the Son of God. Do you see it?
The healing of that one man provided Jesus the platform and opportunity to explain some radical truth about Himself and God the Father, and His mission to provide spiritual rescue and eternal life to any who would trust in Him. John recorded it, and it has been translated into hundreds of languages, and millions of people have trusted Jesus for their eternal salvation! Jesus was at work that day, fulfilling the mission God had led Him to accomplish that day, for God’s glory and life-changing impact on millions of people through the years.
Let’s relate this to UAL93 on Sept. 11th. On that flight was a Christian man, who like my pilot friend, was trying to live his life alert to the daily guidance of the Holy Spirit. That man’s name was Todd Beamer. He was a businessman, a graduate of Wheaton College. You may recall he is somewhat famous for leading other passengers in charging the cockpit of that flight, to try and defeat the hijackers and regain control of the airplane. His famous phrase “let’s roll” has become a rallying cry for many courageous enough to sacrifice their lives in trying to help others. If you visit the Wheaton Campus today you’ll see a building named after him and an exhibit describing his life and challenging the student body to make their lives count, in living obediently to the leading of Jesus, even if it means the sacrifice of their lives to help others.
Wheaton College has been a campus where many men and women have felt called of God to serve Him in world impacting ways. Billy Graham was a student at this small College and the Billy Graham Center on the campus today receives thousands of visitors from around the world, providing a fresh perspective on how God used this humble man to bring the Gospel to millions of people around the world.
Over the years Jesus has called out hundreds of men and women from Wheaton College as courageous ambassadors of Jesus, using their lives and their vocations to bring the hope and help of Jesus to the world, and in some cases at the cost of their own lives. Jim Elliott was one of those, remember that name? January 8, 1956 Jim and four other Christian men were speared to death by the vicious Auca Indians in the jungles of Ecuador.
They could not speak each others languages, and for weeks Elliot and his friends had attempted to befriend them, even though they knew this tribe was well known for its violence. Their death that day resulted in a great wave of young missionary volunteers rising up to reach this tribe and other similar jungle tribes in many uncivilized parts of our world. Today, many of those tribes have been radically changed by the love of Jesus, and they are civilized with schools, medical care, and of course churches!
Do you see, my friends, the privilege and power of living what Jesus said and did in John 5? God is always at work in our world, and He accomplishes His life giving work in our day through people like my pilot friend, or Jim Elliott or Todd Beamer. What is Jesus attempting to accomplish through YOU and me today?
I’ve given you two links in my notes today…the first, an article giving the powerful story of Jim Elliott and his famous quote “he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
The second link is a three minute video clip from the film depicting Todd Beamer’s fateful moment of decision to lead the charge on flight UAL 93 in attempt to save all the people on that plane, by regaining control of the cockpit..
Oh Jesus we thank You for the power of what John has recorded for us in John 5. Your miracle of healing, and the power of Your words that call all of us who have trusted You for our salvation, to consider that You and God the Father are always working, and today You are wanting to work through us, Your people!
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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