Jesus the Light Global Ministries Roxas Church

04/04/2021

04/03/2021

21/02/2021



God Gets You
You and I have a lot in common. We have stumbled in life—in morality, honesty, integrity. We have done our best, only to trip and fall. Our finest efforts have left us flat on our backs. We have broken hearts, weary spirits, and fading vision. The distance between where we are and where we want to be is impassable.
So what do we do? Where do we turn? I suggest we turn to one of the sweetest promises: “For our high priest [Jesus] is able to understand our weaknesses” (Hebrews 4:15 NCV).
God became flesh in the form of Jesus Christ. He was miraculously conceived, yet naturally delivered. He was born . . . yet born of a virgin. Had Jesus simply descended to earth in the form of a mighty being, you might respect Him but never want to draw near to him. After all, how could God understand what it means to be human?
On the other hand, had Jesus been biologically conceived with two earthly parents, you might draw near to Him but you wouldn’t want to worship Him. After all, He would be no different than you and me. But if Jesus were both—God and man at the same time—then you have the best of both worlds. Neither His humanity nor deity compromised. He was fully human. He was fully divine. Because of the first, we draw near. Because of the latter, we worship.
Does this promise matter? It does if you ever wonder whether God understands you or listens to you. The one who hears your prayers understands your pain. He never shrugs or scoffs or dismisses physical struggle. He had a human body. He gets you.
He was so human He could touch people. So mighty He could heal them. So human He spoke with an accent. So heavenly He spoke with authority. So human He could blend in unnoticed for thirty years. So mighty He could change history and be unforgotten for 2,000 years. All man. Yet all God.
Yet if Jesus never sinned, how could He understand the full force of sin? Simple. He felt it more than we do. We give in . . . but He never did. He didn’t deserve to feel the shame, but He felt it. He didn’t deserve the humiliation, but He experienced it. He had never sinned yet was treated like a sinner. He became sin. All the guilt, remorse, and embarrassment—Jesus understands it.
Jesus is the only one who can help with your sin. Let him, won’t you? You cannot make it on your own. Jesus has the strength you do not have. He is, after all, your High Priest, able and willing to help in your time of need. So let him do what He came to do.
Respond
What does it mean to you to know that Jesus experienced all the challenges of your life? What human experiences did Jesus face that you relate to best?
As your High Priest, Jesus acts on your behalf. What does it mean to have Jesus as your Advocate and Helper? What does it mean to face challenges with His help?
How has knowing that Jesus has freed you from sin impacted your life? How does your experience give you compassion for others weighted down by sin?

Hebrew 4:15
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

16/02/2021

You Are Stamped with God's Image

Some time ago, I videotaped a message for our church. We recruited a film crew and drove to the Alamo. We selected a park bench in front of the shrine of Texas liberty, set up the equipment, and got busy.

Four workers managed sight and sound with lights and cameras. I sat on the bench, trying to remember my thoughts. We must have looked official. Passersby began to pause. Some started to stare. Who is that guy? What are they filming?

One woman’s curiosity finally erupted into a question that she shouted at me from behind the crew. “Are you somebody important?”

Every soul on earth has asked the same question. Am I somebody important? It’s easy to feel anything but important when the corporation sees you as a number, the boyfriend treats you like cattle, your ex takes your energy, or old age takes your dignity. Somebody important? Hardly. But when you struggle with that question, remember this promise of God: you were created by God, in God’s image, for God’s glory.

From the very beginning, the Bible assumes the existence of God. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). That anyone could look at the wonder of the universe and call it a “coincidence” is unfathomable to divine reasoning. For the writers of the Bible, creation is prima facie evidence for the existence of God—an open-and-shut case. Paul said as much to the Roman believers when he wrote, “Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made” (Romans 1:20).

Everything that exists gives evidence of God’s existence. The intricacy of the snowflake, the roar of a thunderstorm, the precision of the honeybee, the bubbling of a cool mountain stream. These miracles and a million more give testimony to the existence of a brilliant, wise, and tireless God.

We read of one of God’s first promises in Genesis 1:26. “God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule.’” Embedded in these words is the most wonderful of promises: God made us to reflect the image of Himself. The God who put the universe in order, created the land and sea, and gave life to the birds and the beasts called His creation good. But it was only after He created Adam and Eve on the sixth day that he called it all very good.

The heavens above reflect the glory of God, but they are not made in the image of God. Yet we are. God created us to be more like Him than anything else He made. And each of us carries some of the communicable attributes of God. Wisdom. Love. Grace. Kindness. A longing for eternity. We bear the fingerprints of the Divine Maker, because we are made in His image and in His likeness.

You were conceived by God before you were conceived by your parents. You were loved in heaven before you were known on earth. God has no bad ideas. This is God’s plan. This is God’s promise.

Respond

What does it mean for you to be made in the image of God? How does this promise impact the way you look at yourself?

What does this promise say about the relationship God wants to have with you? What does being made in God’s image say about your value?

Who in your life do you need to recognize as being made in God’s image? How can you better treat this person as God’s image-bearer?

Genesis 1:26
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”