The Son

A belated Happy Father's Day to all the dads & men who happen to stop by here. Yesterday, as you might imagine, was filled with all kinds of fatherly activities and mischief so I wasn't able to get on here and write what I'd originally planned. But, better late than never.

I was awakened yesterday to a whiny boy being quietly shushed by his mommy & sister, who were trying to "surprise" me with a couple father's day cards & gifts. Jake, for whatever reason a 3 year old does, was whining and throwing an almost tantrum about...you know, I don't think we ever knew. Perhaps it was that he didn't have a cup of coffee waiting on him as he arrived in the kitchen. Maybe it was because Golden Grahmans don't have soft, chewy marshmallows in them.

More than likely, he probably got up on the wrong side of the bed.

In any event, I heard the soft commotion begin to make it's way toward the bedroom and Kaitlyn, Jake and Mommy entered with a tray of orange juice and 2 bagles (sliced in half, making it 4 slices) topped with cream cheese and a bag of goodies for me. I sat up and read the cards from the kids and my wife, thanked them and gave them each a kiss and held out my hands so Jake could give me the gifts he'd already unwrapped.

They'd gotten me a cool pen & key ring from the Christian bookstore along with a new Bible. It's an NIV translation that is also called an "archeological Bible". It's got all kinds of maps & commentaries, both in it and on a CD-ROM that I can't wait to really dig into.

Oddly enough, the 4 bagel slices with cream cheese I'd had a few minutes earlier were now whittled down to only 2. The children also had rings of cheese residue surrounding their mouths. Coincidence? I think not.

So, I hopped up and got ready for church and was out the door within about 35 minutes. Early choir time for me as the rest of the fam followed later.

The big service was great, as usual. Pastor Floyd gave a great sermon on "investing your time" which I'll talk about later, perhaps tomorrow or Wednesday. I don't want to belittle his message but it was one of those "life changing" and "motivating" sermons that had a big impact on me and I can't wait to share it with you.

It was our lesson in our connection group (read: Sunday School class) that has me fired up this morning.

My dear friend and Christian brother Julio taught from Colossians about who Jesus is. And it really got me thinking about that topic.

Who is Jesus?

There seems to be a great hub-bub today about that very topic. So-called historians and teachers disagree over who Jesus is, with every answer ranging from a good man, a teacher, a prophet, ONE of God's children (this is a new one to me), a man and the one and only Son of God. If you are a Bible-believing Christian, as I am, here's what I was shown in yesterday's lesson. They are scriptures of not only truth but encouragement when I consider how insignificant I am by myself but how loved and perfected I become through His shed blood. So, who is Jesus?

Let's look at the first passage, Colossians 1:15-20. Without posting the entire thing, here's what it says about Christ.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, the creator of everything in heaven and on earth, the visible and invisible; He is before all things and He holds ALL things together. He is the head of the church, He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead...

"so that He may come to have first place in everything."

Pretty impressive list. But wait...there's more.

Hebrews 1:3 says "He is the radiance of His (God's) glory, the exact expression of His nature, and He sustains all things by His powerful word."

Think of this as you look at your own child today. That child is the exact expression of YOUR nature and an expression of your love for your spouse, with your spouse. Christ is that perfect expression of God's love for us, given so that we may be presented to Him as acceptable. How does this happen? I'm glad you asked.

Colossians 1:21-22

"And you were once alienated and hostile in mind because of your evil actions. But now He has reconciled you by His physical body through His death, to present you holy, faultless and blameless before Him (God)."

Colossians 2:14

"He erased the certificate of debt with it's obligations that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it out fo the way by nailing it to the cross."

I don't know about you but that last line really gives me a sense of excitement and a heart of gratitude. Christ took the penalty set for you and me, He took that penalty upon Himself, paid that debt that WE owed and put it up there on that cross to remind us of what He did on our behalf but also, more importantly, of the sheer/extreme depths of His love for us. For it is by His death on that cross that we are free today from bondage. We can claim victory through Christ's selfless sacrifice on that horrible cross, believing on Him this very day.

Julio then said something that really invigorated me for the remainder of the day as well as now as I review these notes. He said "imagine the power we have available to us through Him".

Have you ever stopped to think of something that awesome? Not only do we have power but we also have privilege to come to the throne of the Creator of this universe, any time, any place and have converstation with Him. We can praise Him, cry out to Him, worship Him and lift up the name of His ONLY begotten Son.

The Name that the Bible says is above all other names, so that at this name, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father!!

Aw yeah...I'm ready to have some church!!

Have a great week!