All authority

The first thing that Jesus said to his disciples after he was resurrected from the dead, according to Matthew, was, "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth." (Matthew 28:18) All authority is a lot of authority. In fact "all authority" means that there is nothing that is outside of his authority. Jesus has the ultimate authority. He has authority of life over death, forgiveness over sin, spiritual victory over flesh, sovereignty of heaven over earth. Is there anything in your life that needs the authority of Jesus? Do you have fears of the unknown future or of current worries or troubles? Do you like assurance of where you will spend eternity? Come to Jesus, the one who conquered death and has all authority in heaven and on earth!

blessings,

Rob Smith

come and go

Matthew 28:6-7 "He isn't here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there."

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The two Mary's were present as the angel appeared and rolled the stone away from Jesus' tomb. They experienced the earthquake that occurred and saw the Roman guards tremble and faint. But the angel knew that the women were there to watch, in hope, for Jesus...despite his death. The angel gave them some simple instructions that might be boiled down as: "come and go". He said to come and see the spot in the tomb where Jesus' body had lain, but now was gone! And then he instructed them to go and tell the disciples that Jesus had, in fact, risen from the dead and would appear to them again.

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It occurs that we have the same experience. If we seek earnestly to find the savior, despite the world's message that He is dead, or doesn't exist, we will find Him. We will come to the place in our own life where the dead part has been made alive and new life fills us as surely as the stone was rolled away and the earth of our experience quaked. And after we have watched and after we have come and found that new life we must go and tell others, that they may go and meet Jesus and be transformed as well.

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"Come and see...Go and tell." and He will be with you. And just as Jesus met the women after this and told them personally to be unafraid...so He will meet you and provide the same reassurance.

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blessings,

Rob Smith

What is your response to Jesus?

Reading Matthew and the story of the final week of Jesus' life we see many different responses to Jesus. We see some very different responses by the same people during that time. We see a crowd that first welcomes Him with cries of Hosanna as he rode into Jerusalem on the donkey and then presumably some of the same crowd called out "Crucify Him!" when He was before Pilate. We see Peter, who insisted he would never deny Jesus and who actually tried to defend Him in the garden with his sword, but later denied Jesus three times. We see the men who were closest to Jesus for three years abandon Him when Jesus is taken into custody. We see priests who supposedly represent truth and righteousness looking eagerly for witnesses to testify falsely to manipulate a sentence of death for Jesus. We see Jesus, Himself, feeling as alone as can be and crying out to the Father to ask why He has been abandoned. We see two Mary's watching as Jesus' body is buried in the tomb and who later are the first to discover His resurrection.

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So what is your personal response to Jesus: praise, denial, false accusation, abandonment, watchful waiting? Has your response changed through time? As we heard on Good Friday, Jesus demands a response!

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This is a good day to respond in humble acceptance of the price He paid to restore us to the Father...completing the work of Creation by repairing the breach we all have experienced in our nature.

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Joyous Easter with thanks for the success of our Savior!

Rob Smith

Watch with me...

Matthew 26:³⁸ He told them, "My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."

Will you come and sit with Jesus and watch with Him? Will you watch and pray? On this day, about two thousand years ago, Jesus went to a garden...a different kind of garden than Eden...and He asked his close disciples to watch and pray as He knew that He was about to be taken through the suffering and separation that was His destiny and our salvation.

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What does it mean to "watch" and pray? I think it may mean something like, 'waiting with anticipation'. We are watching for the hand of God. We are waiting for Him to show up. He shows up in our thoughts and in His actions. He prompts us to pray and directs those prayers. What are you watching for alongside Jesus? Isn't it wonderful that He invites us to watch with Him for His father's hand to move? Jesus is our Savior and He is also our friend and we have the privilege of watching with Him. There are many who need to find this love...this friendship...this humble Savior who gives all for us and then invites us to wait and watch with Him. We are participants with our Savior as the great plan unfolds to restore this Creation. From the Garden of Eden to the Garden of Gethsemane...His love and plan yet unfolds!

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love in the name of Jesus..who yet watches with us as He watches over us!

Rob Smith

Watch with me...

Matthew 26:³⁸ He told them, "My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."

 

Will you come and sit with Jesus and watch with Him?  Will you watch and pray?  On this day, about two thousand years ago, Jesus went to a garden...a different kind of garden than Eden...and He asked his close disciples to watch and pray as He knew that He was about to be taken through the suffering and separation that was His destiny and our salvation.

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What does it mean to "watch" and pray?  I think it may mean something like, 'waiting with anticipation'.  We are watching for the hand of God.  We are waiting for Him to show up.  He shows up in our thoughts and in His actions.  He prompts us to pray and directs those prayers.  What are you watching for alongside Jesus?  Isn't it wonderful that He invites us to watch with Him for His father's hand to move?  Jesus is our Savior and He is also our friend and we have the privilege of watching with Him.  There are many who need to find this love...this friendship...this humble Savior who gives all for us and then invites us to wait and watch with Him.  We are participants with our Savior as the great plan unfolds to restore this Creation.  From the Garden of Eden to the Garden of Gethsemane...His love and plan yet unfolds!

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love in the name of Jesus..who yet watches with us as He watches over us!

Rob Smith

better than we know ourselves

Perhaps one of the greatest things about knowing God personally is knowing the one who knows us better than we know ourselves. Just as Jesus and the disciples were beginning the meal that was to become their last meal together...known as the Last Supper, Jesus dropped a bombshell on these men. These twelve men had been the closest human beings to Jesus for three years. They had seen Him do amazing things like making the blind see, healing the lepers, raising the dead and feeding thousands from a handful of food. They had learned to have more confidence in what Jesus said and did than in their own thoughts and actions. The bombshell is quoted in Matthew 26:21 'While they were eating, he said, "I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me."'

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The fascinating thing is their response, from the next verse: 'Greatly distressed, each one asked in turn, "Am I the one, Lord?"'

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They have come to the place in their lives where they know that there is much that they don't know about themselves but that Jesus knows all that there is to know about them. They have come to the place where their only confidence comes from trusting in Him and not in themselves. And yet, as the story continues to play out, they have much yet to learn about truly trusting in Him.

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Can you relate?

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blessings,

Rob Smith

...at your house

Matthew 26:18 "As you go into the city," he told them, "you will see a certain man. Tell him, 'The Teacher says: My time has come, and I will eat the Passover meal with my disciples at your house.'"

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This is Holy Week, when we remember the events leading up to, and including, Easter. It marks the low point and the high point of man's experience with God. But it also captures the points of relationship where we connect personally with Jesus and with His Father. The Disciples asked Jesus where they should prepare the Passover meal, which was to be celebrated that week. Jesus already had a particular home in mind and this place became, not only the Passover celebration, but also the location of the Last Supper and the initiation of Holy Communion. The ancient Passover meal, which marked God's passing over of the Hebrew people when he destroyed the firstborn of Egypt and set His people free from slavery was becoming the meal where the sacrifice of body and blood by Jesus would be remembered that would set His people (Jew and Gentile) free, who would put their trust in Him.

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Has Jesus come to celebrate this Passover meal in your home...at your table...in your kitchen...in your heart...with you and He present? There comes a time when Jesus comes to us in just such a personal way...to share all He has in life that we can be delivered from sin and death. The story continues to be celebrated and to unfold...to be remembered but also to be experienced, as Jesus continues to come to our homes and to our lives personally.

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Easter blessings,

Rob Smith

the belief dynamic

"Listen to what Jesus is saying to you." "Do what Jesus is saying to you."

As I was listening to Matthew's gospel this morning, this is the thought that stood out to me. There is a dynamic principle of successful Christian living that is very simple. We need to draw near to Jesus, listen for His personal message to each of us and then carry out His direction. If we rely on others to always tell us about Jesus we may miss His personal word to us. In Matthew 7, Jesus said, "Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock."

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In order to listen to Jesus, we need to block out other distractions, come to His actual Word and open our minds to be receptive. And then, as we hear truth that He would make personal in our lives, we need to respond in belief and action.

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Walking by faith may be just that simple (challenging...but not complicated).

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blessings,

Rob Smith

all day long

So it's a rainy, Monday morning and the work week stretches out like the ocean to an unseen horizon. But, it occurred to me as I thought about the Lord...I get to spend the whole day with Jesus! From those first moments of awakening, when I spoke with Him and thought about Him, through all the unknowns and familiar routines of the day ahead, He will be with me and I can remember that I am with Him too! At any point along the way I can look to Him and pray and invite Him into whatever is going on. I listened to the book of Matthew this morning from the beginning through the Sermon on the Mount. Several things struck me and among them was the instant way that the early disciples left everything to follow Jesus as soon as He bid them to follow Him. They left their fishing boats, their source of income, their family members, their communities...all that was familiar and routine just to follow Jesus. There was just something about Him that held the answers to those inner questions we all have. And it is still true today. He comes to us and asks us to follow Him through our days in a constant, companion-like relationship. He now only has the answers, He provides the best company!

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blessings,

Rob Smith

The invisible man

We need an invisible God for our invisible man. The hidden person of the heart, mind, emotions, soul, spirit...this person is the invisible man. And this person is the eternal man, who will one day shed the visible body and fly to eternity. The invisible man is the personality we know while the visible man is the temporary vehicle that the personality moves within. And so it is appropriate that the invisible man have an invisible God...God who is spirit and yet who has so much in common with the man He fashioned that one is the image of the other. The invisible God doesn't show in a visible body, like us, but He shows in the visible creation that He has fashioned...which is also temporary but with a longer life than our bodies. An invisible God can be all places at all times and have a one-on-one relationship with millions of invisible people simultaneously.

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Sometimes I think that we are too caught up with the visible man and the visible world, convinced we can only believe in a visible God. But just as our more important side is our invisible nature, so is it reasonable and true that He would be invisible as well.

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Colossians 1:¹⁵ Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation

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blessings,

Rob Smith

knowing about and knowing God

Job 42:5  I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.

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Growing up we hear about God.  We may attend church where we hear a lot about God.  We are struck by the wonders of nature and Creation at times and we think about God.  The man Job had thought a great deal about God, both before all of his suffering, and especially during his time of suffering.  But there comes a time when, with the help and work of God within our inner person, that we move from hearing about God to experiencing God on the most personal of levels.  I think this is the most important aspect of maturity that a person can reach.  And, just like Job, until we "see him with our own eyes" and know Him and hear Him on a personal level we really haven't heard enough about Him.  And in Job's case (as in ours) whatever the experiences of life have been...they have been worth it if knowing Him is the result!

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blessings,

Rob Smith