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i’ve been reading through the gospels this week and have both times i’ve read this parable (in matthew and in mark) been really moved by this parable about the vineyard of God and the unfaithful violent servants and how they treated the vineyard owners son.
He then began to speak to them in parables: A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed. He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. Haven’t you read this scripture: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes’? Then they looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away. mark 12
this parable so paints the picture of the world and their reaction to God.
those who were meant to serve Him – contextually at that time the jewish people and the jewish religious leaders – were ment to be faithful and look after the vineyard faithfully and serve the owner, but instead they wanted the power and control for themselves. they wanted things done their way for their own prestige. and so they rejected the owner and they rejected his true faithful servants and then shockingly they rejected and murdered His Son.
huge.
and huge that the pharisees could see themselves in this parable. yet they pursued jesus’ execution still.
where are we at today? are we doing any better?
are our hearts soft to God?
are our hearts responding to His leading and guidance?
have we received The Son?
do we continue to follow and serve the Son?
“It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena. Whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause. Who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement, and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.” Teddy Roosevelt
today i have watched the same episode of mickey mouse clubhouse about 47 times. okay maybe thats an exaggeration. but at least 4 times. my daughter evangeline has been at home sick, crashed out on the sofa. and i had a mini revelation from God. get that. a mini (minnie) revelation. you see in this episode its all about perspective and seeing things from different vantage points. including how many steps it took to get to the right gate. it was 15 steps to the right gate. 15 chip and dale steps, not 15 minnie mouse steps.
and it struck me.
we all walk our own steps.
we all have our own pace.
we all have our own growth.
we all carry different things.
and God calls us to walk different roads.
lets be people that encourage people to walk their road and live their call and to walk in the step size they are ment to and able to.
and if you’re a big stepper, remember that some people havent had the same experience as you, or the call you do, or the growth you, or the discipline you have had.
and if you’re a small stepper, remember that your life is your life and be faithful with small beginnings and be diligent in growth and maturing.
walk your own step size.
walk with God.
last night i listened to myself preaching our church Easter Sunday message. i always like to listen to myself preach, to listen to HOW i say and WHAT i say. to learn from myself. and i’m always encouraged that i encourage myself – aka what i say touches my heart still! is that odd? i was inspired and challenged again to remember that the resurrection is the proof of the promises of God AKA GOD HAS THE POWER! i must stop the wee click that i make sometimes though when i pause. thats my quirk. so if you want to hear me, hear the message, what i sound like, my accent… then check out www.theriver.org.nz
As we celebrate easter Sunday today I thought it would be great to open the bible and see what it has to say about the resurrection and how that is relevant for us today. We’re going to be reading from Matthew 28 if you want to turn there and stick in a finger in it until we get to it….
I know some of you have been blest to be Christians for a long time and I know also that some of you here are newbies to the Christian thing – but it doesn’t matter if you’ve being a Christian for 50 years or 5 minutes – or even if you’re just asking questions at this stage – this is what we build our life on – who jesus is and what jesus did – we can never tire of hearing about what Jesus did for us upon the cross and it is good to remind ourselves of the power of His promises and the reality of His work in our lives.
My goal today is to anchor us firmly to the reality of the resurrection and refresh our hearts to what that means for us right here today and that we would leave here today inspired and challenged – that we would grasp more of the reality of how BIG God is and that He has the power to fulfil all His promises…
The resurrection is the proof of the power for the promises of God.
So let’s jump right into what happened:
On Friday we remembered how Jesus bled and died for us – how He suffered and bore the punishment – pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities – note the small word there FOR – it was FOR us that Jesus died. Not for His own wrongdoing but for OUR wrongdoing.
Now even the disciples didn’t see it pan out this way –this was not their plan A. Plan A for the disciples was for Jesus to go PACHING HERE IS MY GLORY (you might have had to see that bit to get the paching!) The last thing they expected was that jesus would be executed as a common criminal on the cross. His death ended their hope. They expected him to declare himself rightful king and messiah and to kick the romans out and enter in an age of glory for Israel. Death on the cross wasn’t part of the plan.
Their hero was dead. Their friend was dead. Their leader was dead.
Their Saturday sucked. On Saturday all hope was lost. But on Sunday we know that nothing is impossible! We have the joy of knowing the end of the story but they were broken and grieving and shocked.
Let’s jump right into Matthew 28 to find out what happens next:
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. 2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. 5 The angel said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you. 8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them. Greetings, he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshipped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me. Matthew 28:1-10
That is worth a Woohooo!
Jesus appeared not only to the women near the tomb but to all the disciples, including Thomas who when he heard that jesus had risen from the dead did a tui “yeah right” and jesus got Thomas to touch him and feel the wounds. Jesus also appeared to various other “disciples” including a group of 500 at a time.
Some say that jesus rose just as a spirit, or that Jesus was just unconscious and not really dead dead dead on good Friday. But as I said, Jesus could be touched, and he ate, though he also had supernatural abilities such as appearing in a locked room etc. His body bore some of the scars from his crucifixion but a majority of the wounds were healed. And I mean healed without 6 months in intensive care…
The disciple Peter sums it up this way: This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. Acts 2:23-24
But the facts are: Jesus died. And Jesus rose. And is alive now. Seated in heaven ruling and reigning beside His Father, preparing to come again.
“Jesus lived the life we could not live and died the death we should have died and given the gift we can never earn.” Mark Driscoll
The promises of the Word and the purchases of the cross are shown to be TRUE and REAL by the power of the resurrection!
The cross purchased our salvation.
The cross purchased our forgiveness.
The cross purchased our access to draw near to God.
The cross purchased our family status – before we were rejected guilty strangers and now because of the cross, because of the sacrifice of Jesus, we are now beloved children of God, we’re part of the whanau now.
But as awesome as the cross is and all that jesus did there upon it – I always think its more AWESOMER that he didn’t stay dead, that He rose from death, defeated death, and is alive. Right now ALIVE!
The Resurrection assures us of God’s ability to save us.
It assures us of God’s forgiveness. The Resurrection assures us that we can be changed and forgiven and born again.
It assures us of God’s power and of God’s ultimate triumph.
It declares loudly and beyond shadow of a doubt that YES God has the power to remove the guilt and stain of sin from us – that we can be born again and rescued and draw near to God, whereas before we were guilty and sinful – it’s an inside change, an inside transformation that before you experience it you wonder if this can really be too good to be true….
It shows us that God has the power to do the things He promises.
Healing.
Deliverance.
Forgiveness.
Provision.
Direction.
Strength to overcome temptation.
Empowerment to serve Him.
Peace.
Faith.
The resurrection is the guarantee that God can perform the promises of the Word and the work of the cross in our lives.
Look to the cross and the resurrection for the POWER demonstrated there.
But the Holy Spirit proved that Jesus is the powerful Son of God, because he was raised from death. Romans 1:4 CEV
The resurrection is the PROOF that we need that God CAN DO THOSE THINGS THAT HE PROMISES.
But what if you’re like most people… that you need some proof that the proof of the promise happened… what about proof of the resurrection… is there evidence that it happened? I’m glad you asked me that…
Dr. Frank Morrison (a rationalistic lawyer) decided to take three years off from his law practice in order to try to disprove the resurrection of Jesus Christ. After three years of intense study, he found that the sheer weight of the evidence compelled him to conclude that Jesus Christ actually did rise from the dead. As a consequence he wrote the famous book entitled "Who Moved the Stone?"
Evidence Factoid #1 The first witnesses are WOMEN (shock!)
The fact that the resurrection accounts in the gospels include women make them more reliable because no one trying to sell a cover up in those days would have relied on the testimony of women. A woman’s testimony in a court of law was not considered valid except in very rare cases.
Evidence Factoid #2 CONSPIRACY THEORY
Matthew 28:11-15 has a fascinating insight into some of the cover ups and conspiracies by the religious leaders aka Jesus’ enemies…
11 While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13 telling them, You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. 15 So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.
Don’t you love a good conspiracy theory!
But let’s think rationally. Do you think the guards would have been “rewarded” for really losing a body? To fall asleep on the job would have been punishment and perhaps death for the guards. One way a guard was put to death was by being stripped of his clothes and then burned alive in a fire started with his garments. If it was not apparent which soldier had failed in his duty, then lots were drawn to see which one would be punished with death for the guard unit’s failure. Certainly the entire unit would not have fallen asleep with that kind of threat over their heads.
The guards had witnessed the earthquake and the angel rolling away the massive stone and perhaps even peeked in to see the empty tomb… they went back to the chief priests and told them everything that had happened EVERYTHING… and the priests made the call to cover it up rather than punish the guards for losing a body… interesting…
Evidence Factoid #3 The Disciples Died for Jesus
As we said earlier, if any enemies of the Christians or of Jesus had stolen the body, they would have produced it to stop the disciples preaching and people becoming christians. They would have put it on the news and tweeted their hearts out… They would have been out there saying: "Wait! We moved the body, see, He didn’t rise from the grave"? They would have paraded the body around as proof that Jesus was a fraud.
But let’s play along and suggest what if the DISCIPLES of Jesus stole the body? First off, they had no reason to do this because by starting a religion in opposition to the Jewish customs was not the cool thing to do.
But more importantly, all but one of the disciples lived their lives for Jesus and His church and out of the main 12, 11 of them suffered martyrs’ deaths and not one of them said “stop we made it all up. It was all peters idea!” None of the disciples recanted their belief that Jesus had risen from the dead. The 12th disciple, who was not martyred was john and they did TRY to kill him by boiling him a huge pot of oil, but couldn’t kill him. He was then was exiled to Patmos where he wrote the book of revelation. But it wasn’t just the 12 disciples who faced death because of their faith – ordinary Christians were persecuted and locked up and thrown to lions and stoned to death and killed because of Jesus. Every effort was made to stop the disciples and early believers but they kept on believing and talking about it. And the church kept on growing.
Another point to note is that right after Jesus’ death the disciples locked themselves away in the upper room, but after His resurrection they were bold, fearless and out there on the streets working miracles and preaching the gospel. In other words, if they had created a lie, they would certainly not have lived for it or died for it. They lived and died because the resurrection is REAL.
Dr. Simon Greenleaf (a very famous Harvard University professor of Law) proclaimed: "According to the laws of legal evidence used in courts of law, there is more evidence for the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ than for just about any other event in history."
The only possible reason why early Christianity began and took the shape it did is that the tomb really was empty and that people really did meet Jesus, alive again. This is what we believe in. There IS proof of the resurrection.
The resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of the Christian faith. Without it, there is no gospel message, no saviour, no supernatural power. There is no hope of us going to heaven when we die, and no hope of drawing near to God, no forgiveness of sins. This is absolutely essential to Christian belief. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:14 and 17, “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is useless and your faith is in vain…And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” Black and white. If Jesus didn’t rise from death then this is all useless and we’re all still guilty and separated from God. If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead then He’s not who He says He is and its all for nothing. But the good news is He HAS been raised! The resurrection is REAL!
Jesus opened a door through His death for us to come near to God again.
God himself was pleased to live fully in his Son. And God was pleased for him to make peace by sacrificing his blood on the cross, so that all beings in heaven and on earth would be brought back to God. You used to be far from God. Your thoughts made you his enemies, and you did evil things. But his Son became a human and died. So God made peace with you, and now he lets you stand in his presence as people who are holy and faultless and innocent. Colossians 1:19-22 CEV
Because of Him we can be free from sin and guilt, we can be friends with God and be confident and assured of where we’ll spend eternity.
Don’t you love how sometimes it seems that paul gets so excited that he forgets to breathe and include full stops… here is another one: He prays that we would know “what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.”
The CEV puts it this way:
I want you to know about the great and mighty power that God has for us followers. It is the same wonderful power he used 20when he raised Christ from death and let him sit at his right side in heaven. 21There Christ rules over all forces, authorities, powers, and rulers. He rules over all beings in this world and will rule in the future world as well.
God is at work in our lives – with great and mighty power – demonstrating that same power He used to raise Jesus from the grave. God is at work in us to heal us, set us free, transform us, guide us, give us His peace and to empower us to show the world that He is real. Through unbelief and disbelief we can sometimes live far below what the cross and resurrection has won for us. Let’s raise our expectations and our outliving to the level of the power demonstrated in the resurrection!
The resurrection is the proof of the power for every promise of God.
Any answer and any need you have CAN be answered in Jesus. He HAS the power!
Now to Him Who, by His power that is at work within us, is able to carry out His purpose and do superabundantly, far over and above all that we dare ask or think, infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams—Ephesians 3:20
Paul goes on to say in Romans 10:9: That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Jesus lived the life we could never live and died the death we deserved and gives us the gift we can never earn.
Will you accept that gift today?
As the band comes up for a closing song in worship lets consider our response.
How do we respond to what Jesus has done on the cross? How do we live responding to His great love poured out on the cross?
Will you put your faith in the one who undeniably rose from the dead?
Let’s raise our level of expectation in the promises of God. Let’s have greater confidence in God to move and work in our lives.
Today… what impossibility do you need God to touch? 2000 years ago He declared the reality of the power in His promises. Do you need healing? He is our healer. Do you need provision? He is the God who provides. Do you need hope and comfort? He is the one who calls us to come and find strength and hope in His love. Do you need salvation? He is our Saviour. Do you need a new start and forgiveness? Nothing is impossible for God. He is alive today and forever more!
from the inside out
let me be all you dream me to be
let me be full of You
and Your ways
let my heart be soft towards You
let my life be fruitful for You
God, You’re after my heart, not just my behaviour
but let my life shine for You
a demonstration of love and grace
inside out
all the way through
my life a testimony
for Your glory
preaching and preparation – Q & A with mark driscoll about preaching… i love preaching and feel called to preach and do preach and love mark driscolls preach so this was really insightful!
cheesecake. and conversation. theres nothing better (though it feels slightly naughty!) to have cheesecake in the middle of the day with a friend! and after so long feeling tired and flu’d it was nice to be out and about and conversating!
“Death by Love by Mark Driscoll is an extraordinary book which upholds in blunt and non-negotiable language, the historic Reformation perspective on the cross. this is a book that brought me to tears, struck me as very, very insightful, and despite the occasional harsh note, is a book rooted in a very deep sense of pastoral care. The format is extraordinary, and serves several good ends. Let me tell you about it.Each chapter begins with a riveting description of a friend of his, a person in his congregation. Several have faced abuse. One was a child molester. One was a sex addict. Another self-righteous and controlling, joyless and rigid with his upright family. One has a wife with a brain tumor while another holds deep hatred for a relative. One was raped, another fears hell. One just wants to know God. Oh my, how I wish every pastor knew his or her flock this well, able to know so intimately and write with such care, about the horrors of life as experienced by folks in this broken world. Driscoll and his co-author describe these hard situations without extra sensationalism, but he doesn’t water down the problems or his proposals. Their language is terse and realistic and candid. Driscoll doesn’t beat around the bush.Then, there is the heart of each chapter, a pastoral letter he wrote to this person showing how a particular doctrine, aspect, or formulation of the cross can be the very truth that frees this parishioner from his or her torment. And this is where it gets very interesting: Driscoll has absolutely no interest in psychology or in counseling or in strategic empathy as a supportive helper in self-discovery. ” (Heart & Mind Books)
its all about the cross. all about what Jesus did. all about what Jesus does. it is extraordinary and i do weep with each chapter. i get it out from the libaray and then return it and then get it out again. i have had it out about 6 times i think. i must get my own copy.
i love starfield. they’re an awesome worship/christian band i’ve recently discovered thanks to one of our worship singers… they have awesome mad lyrics. its more like preaching than song. love it. love what they say.
Son of God
The Father’s gift to us
You alone
Were broken on the alter of love
Precious Lamb
Our freedom’s in Your blood, It’s in your blood
and as always. i love Jesus with all i am and all my heart and all my soul and all my days. For His glory and the building of His kingdom and the rescue of the lost.
When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered round him while he was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live. So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him.
And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed. Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realised that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, Who touched my clothes? You see the people crowding against you, his disciples answered, and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.
While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. Your daughter is dead, they said. Why bother the teacher any more? Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, Don’t be afraid; just believe. Mark 5:21-36
i love this passage in mark. i love what it says about Jesus. i love the challenge and overcoming of both jairus and the woman with the issue of blood. i love the way it plays out.
the thing about the bible though is it sometimes leaves so much unsaid. the between the lines things.
it misses the messyness of emotion.
of both jairus and the woman.
both who had to overcome great fears and odds to meet with Jesus and receive their healing.
jairus, a leader in the synagogue had to push through his fear and self image and public image to meet with Jesus. he had to lay down his religious leadership in a way to receive his healing. as a religious leader it would not have been acceptable to go and receive healing from Jesus, let alone fall at His feet and beg for healing.
the woman with the issue of blood had to overcome her fears also to do with image. she was unclean, and outcast. she wasn’t meant to be in a crowd, or touch anyone because she would make them unclean. she had to push through her doubts – what if Jesus rejected her because of her illness and unclean status?
both overcame and touched Jesus. both received their healing.
i love how Jesus, on a mission to go and heal the young girl, is unconcerned by the interruption of the woman being healed. in fact it seems He is aware of the agenda perfectly. He makes time for this woman so that she is totally freed from her suffering, both physical and spiritual and in her heart. she was healed by touching Jesus’ cloak, but Jesus spoke to her and i reckon this completed the healing in her heart and restored her totally, more so than just the physical healing.
yet it seemed at the expense of jairus’ daughter.
but Jesus knows the plan. don’t be afraid, just believe says Jesus.
how many times does it seem like things are interrupted in our lives and that things aren’t going to schedule?
jesus holds our lives and world in His hands.
jesus went to jairus’ house and raised his daughter from death.
miracles happen when we trust and believe. miracles happen with Jesus.
don’t be afraid. just believe.
press in and touch Him.
“We believers do need to be challenged to a life of committed discipleship, but that challenge needs to be based on the gospel, not on duty or guilt. Duty or guilt may motivate us for awhile, but only a sense of Christ’s love for us will motivate us for a lifetime.” (Jerry Bridges)
its easy sometimes to slip into routine and ritual.
instead of relationship.
its easy sometimes to forget the great gift of grace and love lavished upon us.
and when that happens, our hearts fire can grow dim and our attitudes fade and our connection wane.
Jesus challenges the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2 about losing their love.
this is the church that Paul prayed and wrote:
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge— that you may be filled to the measure of all the fulness of God.
Yet over in Revelation 2 this is what Jesus prayed and wrote:
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.
the key for me to staying in love with Jesus is to every day be open to His love – through prayer, through worship, through reading His Word.
i try to keep fresh that joy and wonder of having my eyes and heart opened to His salvation and kindness and mercy and love.
i remember very clearly the day, the moment i got saved.
and my reactions to that.
when i find myself going through the motions i remind myself of His love and grace. the gospel motivates me to be a disciple. my response to His love is to love Him back and give all i can in my life to serve Him.
as i’ve been reading in the NT the last week its so struck my heart over and over again that God is our Father.
the word father can have many connotations… depending on your own experience with your earthly dad.
though my family wasnt perfect, i have a great dad who loves me and provides well for me and that i love and wanted to please.
but i know God is a perfect Father.
that all the hopes and desires i have for that role are fulfilled in Himself.
He is the Father that hears our prayers and cares.
He is the Father that knows my fears and worries.
He is the Father that guides me and teaches me.
He is the Father who loves me and delights in me.
He is the Father with open arms.
I belong to Him.
He is my Father.
I am His child.
nothing i can do can change the blood between us.
and i can always be secure and confident of His love and grace.
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1
What came first for this man, friends? Was it sight or faith? What came first? Faith preceded sight. Faith always precedes sight. You have to trust before you see. You have to trust Jesus before it all makes sense. You have to begin with faith. The truth has to be believed and trusted, and then you see. Some of you are waiting to see. Let me say, you are blind. You begin with faith and then you see. You don’t have all the answers. You won’t know all the details. There is no certainty regarding the future and God’s purposes and provisions and plans for our lives. But what we do is we trust him by faith. And in time, we see. Faith is an internal conviction that leads to external actions of worshiping, witnessing, and walking with Jesus. Mark Driscoll from Jesus and Blind Bart
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