Jesus is the Truth. The Bible quotes Jesus as saying that He is the Truth. So if it is between the world’s truth or Jesus’s Truth, who are you going to believe? If it is between Jesus’s Truth and man’s truth, who are you going to believe? If you are looking for answers will you go to Jesus or man? Its pretty simple for me, Jesus is The Way and The Truth. The answers are in the Word of God and Jesus is The Word. And guess where you find the Word…….in the Bible. You may not like the answers you get from the Bible, but they are The Truth. Jesus cannot speak anything but The Truth because He is God. The problem that affects mankind is that too many people listen to too many people and not God. People, even those with good intentions, are still just people. We the people need to hear truth spoken by The Word (Jesus) who is the ultimate Truth. If we want our lives to be rich with purpose and meaning there is no other way.

John 14:6 – I am The Way, The Truth and The Life…………

In reading author Brennan Manning I came across the following statement….”the gradual transformation from an attitude of self- hatred to a spirit of self=acceptance is what occurs in the process of ‘trying’ to be honest. Paradoxically, the human spirit soars in the daily endeavor to make choices and decisions that are in Christ Jesus, not who we think we should be or who somebody else wants us to be”. This kind of sums it up when it comes to our self identity. I think we all are tempted all the time to be someone we are not. It is very difficult to find out who we are and not fall into the trap of being a person we are not. When we discover that our identity is in Jesus Christ and him only a whole new life begins to unfold right before our eyes. It doesn’t happen overnight, but a “gradual transformation”, or as Romans 12:2 says…”a renewing of your mind.”

Romans 12:2 – Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —–His good, pleasing and perfect will.

The following message of Easter is taken from a writing by N.T. Wright…..”The message of Easter is neither that God once did a spectacular miracle but then decided not to do many others, nor that there is a blissful life after death to look forward to. The message of Easter is that GOD’S NEW WORLD HAS BEEN UNVEILED IN JESUS CHRIST AND THAT YOU ARE INVITED TO BELONG TO IT. And precisely because the resurrection was and is bodily, albeit with a transformed body, the power of Easter to transform and heal the present world must be put into effect both at the macro level, in applying the gospel to the major problems of the world, and to the intimate details of our daily lives. Christian holiness consists not of trying as hard as we can to be good but of learning to live in the new world created by Easter, the new world we publicly entered in our baptism. There are many parts of the world we can’t do anything about except pray. But there is one part of the world, one part of physical reality, that we can do something about, and that is the creature each of us calls “myself”.

I have spent most of my life going to church. I have attended different churches during my life and I have never been in a church that didn’t add something to the Grace of Jesus. Accepting and believing that Jesus is God was not enough. The church and its religion taught that Jesus’s love and forgiveness was conditional. I had to earn it. It was about works and giving money. The more you did for the church and the more money you gave the more you were accepted by God. Thanks to one church and much pursuit by me I learned the truth that Jesus accepts us unconditionally……Right now, right where we are and if we will believe this then its a new beginning in our lives as we learn about who Jesus really is through prayer and pursuing him by reading the Bible and the books written about him. Its true that one needs to be careful what he reads and who he listens to, but if one does it right a whole new purpose and meaning begins to unfold before him. No strings attached, just listen to the word of God (Jesus) and trust him. Remember that Jesus plus nothing equals everything………..

In the Book of Revelations in the Bible Jesus talks about standing at your door and knocking. We have to open the door and ask him in. If we do, its a new beginning in our lives as we begin the process of learning about this fascinating and awesome person who is God……the great I AM. He is the creator of heaven and earth….He is the one true God. He is the Way and The Truth. What amazes me is that most people will not open the door and invite him into their lives and begin this awesome process of knowing God. He is standing at our door knocking and most of us literally say go away like he is a solicitor or something. The beauty of Jesus is that He won’t go away. He will keep knocking, even if we ignore him. The creator will always be there knocking on our door until the end of time. My advice is to OPEN THE DOOR!

Rev 3:20 – Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in and eat with that person and they with me.

Through time the true Jesus and His message has become “cluttered” by the words of man. A good definition for clutter is…..Living with a overwhelming and unmanageable environment that negatively affects one’s mental and emotional wellbeing. So how do we get through all these false words, false theologies, and many many different religions proclaiming they are the way? Good questions. I point to the cross. 1 Corinthians 1:18 says, “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God”. So many people with so many ideas of who Jesus is and so many ways in which we should worship Him and how we should believe in Him. It leads to mass confusion. No wonder so many people have a bad attitude towards Him. I don’t even like being called a “Christian” because of all the bad images it conjures up. I am a man who believes in God and Jesus is my God. I believe in the cross where Jesus died an awful death and took upon the world’s sin….my sin. I am forgiven, not perfect and I believe it. AMAZING GRACE!!

Does God condemn us…….No he does not. Author James Bryan Smith writes, “God has chosen to accept what we regard as unacceptable.” Now that is good news. Even if we feel condemned by our own hearts, God is greater than our hearts. Thus Bryan Smith writes, ” if God does not condemn us, then who are we to condemn ourselves? Are we greater than God? Is our insight greater than God’s?” Of course not! His acceptance should lead us to self-acceptance. If God accepts us just as we are, then it is ours to do the same for ourselves. And that’s the Truth!

1 John 3:20 – God is greater than our hearts and He knows everything.

Self-Salvation is impossible. I believe churches today lead people to believe that if they live a good moral life and do the right things they can achieve self-salvation. But if this is true we will not believe in the one who sacrificed his life for our sins. The one who is the way and the truth. The one and only God. The great I AM…….Jesus Christ. Writer Tullian Tchividjian put this in perspective when he writes, “I wish I could say I do everything for God’s glory. I can’t. Neither can you. I wish I could say Jesus fully satisfies me. I can’t. Neither can you. What I can say is Jesus fully satisfied God for me. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves, not just acting in a righteous way, but being righteousness himself. So that we might become the Righteousness of God.” How can we not love a God like this?

2 Corinthians 5:21 – For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Do you ever feel like people are always judging you like your friends, parents, employers, etc. Even the church is pretty good at judging and condemning people although they claim they are not. Well, here is the good news, there is no condemnation in Jesus Christ. He came to save us, not to judge or condemn us. When he was crucified and died on the cross, his last words were “it is finished”. These words ushered in the New Covenant. The Gospel of Jesus Christ which is salvation, redemption, unconditional love, forgiveness, grace–These words describe the purpose of Jesus’s epic death and resurrection. It may sound to good to be true, but it is true, very true. Jesus is the living God. The Way and the Truth. All who believe are saved by his gift of grace. He is not your judge, but your loving Father in heaven. His is a rescue mission. Now that is Good News!

Romans 8:1 – Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who belong to Jesus Christ.

God Bless you as we begin a new year……….

Its 2024 and our communities and world are in turmoil. Our leaders are not leading, the families are fractured and in general we are in serious moral decay. As we look for solutions, the one place our leadership and people do not look is to JESUS. He is our only hope and we turn away from him. I believe what God told Israel thousands of years ago is true today..”God said, “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways then I will hear from Heaven and I will forgive their sin and heal their land.”   2Chronicles 7:14.

We all need to pay attention…..AMEN