An Upside-down Kingdom

The road to Emmaus

While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them.  But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him.

 (Luke 24:15-16 NASB)

 After the death and resurrection of Christ, he appeared to two of his disciples on the road to Emmaus.  The disciples did not recognize Jesus. Why?  They were not looking for an upside-down kingdom.

As the two disciples were walking along that road, they were very sad (v.17).  They had hoped Jesus would free Israel from Roman oppression.  They had envisioned an earthly kingdom that the Messiah would establish. They were looking for a triumphant king (v. 21) and not a suffering servant.  

Jesus explained why he had to die (v. 25-27), yet they were still clueless. That night at supper, Jesus blessed the bread and broke it, and the eyes of the disciples were opened.  They had that aha moment that only the Holy Spirit can give to us.  The breaking of the bread represented the brokenness of Christ. That evening the two disciples started to understand that the realm that Jesus was promoting was not of this world. It was an upside-down kingdom where the poor could actually be rich, and the weak could be strong, and those who are the least, were the greatest. The scales had fallen off their eyes, and they realized they must lose their lives rather than keep them. It was better to give than receive, and their purpose was to serve and not be served.

It was a paradigm shift in the lives of these two disciples. You cannot see Christ without being changed, yet, at times he is hidden from us.  Have you missed seeing Christ because you were not looking for him in an upside-down kingdom?

Image used with permission by Microsoft.

Ken Barnes the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/

Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com

            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

Come and have Breakfast

Jesus *said to them, “Come and have breakfast.”(John 21:12a NASB)

Peter Denies Christ

After the resurrection, Jesus manifested himself to his disciples on the Sea of Tiberias.  When the disciples, including Peter who had failed him so miserably, came into shore from fishing, Jesus said, “Come and have breakfast.”

Have you ever failed someone?  You feel such shame, and you can hardly look them in the eyes.  Peter, the one who had so boldly proclaimed his alienage to Jesus, had so publically forsaken him.  Peter meant it when he said that he would die with his Savior, yet he was not able to live up to his words. When we fall short in life, we fear the day that we will be confronted with the consequences of our actions.  Peter must have been dreading that enviable question from Jesus, how could you have done it?  He might have been thinking about the moment he would look into the eyes of Jesus. It would be worse than any lecture he could receive, yet something very different transpired.

It was not a question, a lecture, or the look, but an invitation to come and have something to eat.  It was a gesture of acceptance and desire for relationship. Jesus was not taken back by Peter’s earlier words.  At the time, he knew he could not live up to them.  Jesus accepted Peter as he was not as he should have been.  In doing so, Jesus was taking him from what Peter was to what he could be.

On that beach that morning Peter looked into Jesus’ eyes and felt no shame, only love, and acceptance.  Has Christ ever said to you, come and have breakfast? It will change you from what you are to what you can be.

Image used with permission by Microsoft.

Ken Barnes the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/

Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com

            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

The Eye of the Storm

Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

 (Philippians 4:7 NLT)

Sometimes as a Christian, everything seems to be swirling around us.  Disappointments and discouragement, financial or relationship problems seem to be all around us in every aspect of our lives. God has a way of giving us peace that we cannot understand in the midst of the storm.

During Hurricane Florence, the new reports were all over TV.  In one news clip, the reporter could hardly remain upright because of the wind. In less than a half-hour, the same reporter stood in relative calm with the sun starting to break through the clouds. The news correspondent was in the eye of the storm. This is very similar, at times, to walking with God.  Everything seems to be falling apart around us. We are experiencing emotional turmoil, yet, deep down there is a sense of calm or well-being. We should not be feeling this way, but we are. We are experiencing what the Bible calls, “God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.” 

Why, as Christians, do we sometimes feel this peace and at other times do not?  Part of the answer comes in the previous verse (v.6).  The Apostle Paul instructs us that we are to pray with thanksgiving. Why is praying with thanksgiving so important? It shows we believe God is the same in good times and in difficult ones.  It reveals that we know that God is still in control.  He can alter the situation or change us in it, or as is most common, do some of both.

It is possible to pray and fret at the same time. God does not cause all our circumstances, but he does allow them. Accepting God’s sovereign will give us peace in the eye of the storm.

When we are in trying times, we should remember the lyrics of Ryan Stevenson's song, "Eye of the Storm."  

In the eye of the storm
You remain in control
 And in the middle of the war

 You guard my soul
 You alone are the anchor
 When my sails are torn
 Your love surrounds me
 In the eye of the storm

Image used with permission by Microsoft.

Ken Barnes the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/

Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com

            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

Sabbath Keepers

Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.  So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!”(Mark 2:27-28 NLT)

False religion is always a perversion of true faith. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day had set up a vast system of rules regulating what people could not do on the Sabbath day.  Jesus appeared and told the people what they could do, not what they couldn’t do. The Sabbath was meant to serve the people, not the people to serve the Sabbath.

The law was ultimately to benefit man, not the reverse.  Jesus used David’s eating of the showbread (vs. 25-26), which was not permitted by the law, to illustrate this point. Matthew Henry wrote about these verses, “Ritual observances must give way to moral obligations, and there are things that may be done out necessity that otherwise may not be done.”  If your son or ox falls into a ditch (Luke 14:5), will you not pull them out, be it on the Sabbath or any other day? 

Legalism takes what God meant to be a privilege and turns it into an obligation. It was meant to bless us, not us performing to gain acceptance. The Pharisees had turned a joy into a chore.  When our relationship with God starts to wane, keeping rules takes its place.  The keeping of the Sabbath is a sacred practice if followed as intended. What God had designed to refresh them, the law keepers had made into an exercise of works righteousness.

Is the Sabbath you are keeping making you feel physically or emotionally more rested or tired? If the latter is true, you may be a Sabbath keeper.

 Image used with permission by Microsoft.

Ken Barnes the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/

Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com

            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

Dream Small

 

“If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones.”

 (Luke 16:10a NLT)

In our Christian journey, we can go the through life with our eyes on the big things and miss the small ones.

Josh Wilson sings a song called “Dream Small.” The lyrics to the chorus read like this. “Live well, loving God and others as yourself. Find little ways where only you can help.  With his great love, a tiny rock can make a giant fall. Dream small.”

In the Christian life, we can often develop a bad case of horizonitis. We keep our eyes so focused on that spiritual pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that we miss the little acts of service that God places directly in front of us.  It is not as if we should not work toward our goals.  The song continues, “Of course, there is nothing wrong with bigger dreams, just don’t miss the minutes on the way.”  We can be so concerned about where we need to go for God, that we miss the joy of blessing others in the journey along the way. The big things we do for God start out as small acts of obedience. Our Lord, in the parable about the mustard seed (Mark 4:30-32) teaches us that a large tree grows from a seed of the smallest variety. Mountains are not instantaneously cast into the sea by great faith. It is a little faith in a great God that initiates the process.

Do you have great dreams?  Praise God?  Just don’t forget that those little acts of service along the way are not delays, but are small pieces of your great dream.  If you are faithful in a little, you will be faithful in much. Dream small!

Image used with permission by Microsoft.

Ken Barnes the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/

Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com

            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

GPS and God's Positioning System

In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:6 NASB)

GPS, or Global Positioning System, is the mode of preference for finding directions.  God has his own way to direct our steps, God’s positioning system. Unlike GPS, God’s directions are always perfect. 

I had no idea which way to go!

Navigational Satellites

Recently, on my job, I found myself in a very rural area of Virginia.  Suddenly, I got a message on my phone that said that I was no longer connected to the server for my GPS.  I had apparently lost the signal from the cell tower which connected my phone to the server.  The GPS could no longer pick up the signal from the three satellites that pinpointed my location.  I had no idea how far to drive or when to turn left or right. Fortunately, I had a compass on the dashboard of my car. I had a vague idea of the direction of my next destination and navigated accordingly.  Eventually, my phone reestablished the connection, and I finally arrived at my destination. 

There are similarities and some significant differences in how GPS and God give us direction.   They are both based on faith. Using GPS, when I leave in the morning I don’t really know where I am going, other than an unknown address. When I reach my objective, I don’t really know where I am. When I arrive back home, I do not know where I have been, yet I do my job every day.  How? It’s by trusting my GPS.  It’s the same with God.  If we acknowledge him, by looking to and trusting him, God has promised to guide our steps.

Conversely, the two are very different.  GPS gives us details of turns, distances, and times of our trip.  God’s leading generally gives us an initial direction, the turns are not made know to us until we arrive at them, and due to things that God is trying to do in our lives along the way, the time of arrival is often significantly underestimated.

The last difference is the most significant.  Unlike GPS, which is not perfect and sometimes gets confused, God never does.  Though at times it does seem like we are disconnected, God is always there.  Are you acknowledging God in all your ways? Then expect him to guide your steps.

Image used with permission by Microsoft.

Ken Barnes the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/

Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com

            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com