Teenagers today is a great day! I am so proud of you all. This is the 100th day of our Daily Devotions on this blog. This is a landmark and I am glad that this has not been just a "short-lived fad" but this is something that you are all serious about. If you have not been that consistent with your devotions over the last 100 days, I challenge you to start fresh today, and "Do Your Devotions" everyday!At midnight there were 89 visitors on the website counter. Yesterday we explained that we want to have 100 visitors on our blog today to celebrate 100 days of devotions! In other words, by the end of the day today, we are striving for at least 189 visitors. So tell your friends to check it out, tell your parents to check it out, even tell you grandparents, hair dressers, husbands, favorite sub shop workers son named Benny. GET EVERYONE YOU KNOW ON THE DEVOTION SITE. ALSO: I am wondering... do any of you know ANYONE out of the country that could go on our site. (Our world map shows us who visits our site all around the world. It would be neat to have global visitors :)
OK. On to the important stuff... THE DEVOTIONS!!! HELLO!
First: A Few Thoughts From Yesterday:
Rachels: Great Job on your devotions! Both of them were very good and uplifting!
Rob: Very good devotion today! That was encouraging to read! Thanks for joining us!
Lorrayne: AWESOME TO SEE YOU ON HERE! You should stay on while you are in college! It would be so cool to have a real life college student on our devotions with us!!!!
Jonathan and Alex: Great Job Yesterday! I loved the way both of your devotions are so applicable to our dinner conversation last night! :)
Jeff: I am impressed! and Thankful! That you still know that verse... do I really say it EVERYTIME you are with me??
John 1:14-28
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’”
16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.
17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
19 Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”
21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”
22 Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”
23 He said: “I am ‘ The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “ Make straight the way of the LORD,”as the prophet Isaiah said.”
24 Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees.
25 And they asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
26 John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know.
27 It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”
28 These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
I know I picked several verses for you today, many more than usual, but I just could'nt decide where to stop. So here it goes: The first things that jumps out at me is that Jesus Christ came and lived out the word of God among mankind. He made the words of God evident though the physical appearance of Jesus Christ the son of God. Verse 15 is pretty neat, because John says: hey, the guy that I am telling you will come after me, already exists before me. (that must have been confusing to them, but we know the reason for that is because Jesus never came "after" anything... He has always been).
Now I am going to jump to verse 19 because I have a lot to say about the remaining verses: This is the testimony of John... Let me explain. John is hanging out baptizing people when some pharisees come to him to find out who he is... They say WHO ARE YOU?> John answers them by saying, I am not Christ, then the pharisees speak back to John asking if he is Elijag or a prophet. and He says NO. That was the perfect opportunity for John to build himself up. He could have said: I am sent from God obey whatever I say. But the truth is, he was not all about himself. John simply was about telling people about Christ.
In fact, John went on to say: I am simply a voice, Just a common man, that has a mouth, that is going to use that mouth to serve Jesus Christ. John was about serving his savior, not serving himself.
One last thing that makes this obvious is Johns comment in verse 27. He explains who Christ is, by telling them that This "Christ" is one who I am not even worthy of taking his sandals off!
WOW! I mean, come on... God chose him to tell everyone that Christ was coming! If anyone was worthy of Taking of His shoes, then John was. But John had a clear understanding of his purpose and place in Jesus Christ. He was not even worthy to touch the shoe of the son of God.
How do you view God? I know if you are like me, it is pretty easy to start thinking that you are pretty good. (like Jonathan mentioned yesterday) But the problem with that is we lose sight of how great God is when we think about how great we are. The truth is: The Bible tells us that our Reighteousness is like filthy rags in Gods eyes.
We must have an honest view of ourselves so that we can have a GREAT view of who God is. Just like John did.
Sorry so long! See you tonight at 6:30 at the church!!
25 comments:
Woo finally first to post, but i can't finish gotta go to school. I'll help get that 189.
Wow,
I got some different views from each of the passages. How you represent yourself is very important. John wasn't trying to represent himself though, he was trying to represent Jesus.
I think that many people even most Christians forget that Christianity isn't about representing ourselves, it is about representing our savior, and even though we go through hard times, and good times,
sometimes we forget the bigger picture, our hard times show visibly how much Christ is in our lives, by how much we pray, by how much we humble ourselves, how much we dedicate ourselves to the bigger picture even when our mortal, and carnal ways try to override what we know and should do. But the truth is the same for being thankful for good things. I would say "Facing the Giants" that entire movie would
show these passages with probably the greatest visual perception that I could think of *besides reading the bible*.
Often times people try to grab Glory whenever it's near, or they try to win, try to do the best, not for God, but for themselves, or their friends, or their family. But if you aren't striving for God, then you truly aren't striving for your family, because if you put God first, then God will raise not only you, but your entire family with you. Because God loves everyone. And when we give and show that we care, and we give and show that God is more important even when it's hardest, it really shows our Character and our Christianity.
The verse about John not being good enough about touching Christs shoes, I think was more a verbal statement of Christs righteousness over Johns. I think he didn't mean he couldn't physically do it, I think he meant, in my faith, in my place in this world. I could never
be not only equal, but good enough to serve him in this way. Because he is human, he is flawed, and even though he loves God, and will do anything for him, he humbles himself, and knows that he is but a servant. But shall not delcare it to put himself above his brother man.
If that makes sense?
I think Christians would do well to understand that leading by example, and showing people how to do right
would make them more humble, because they are doing a service in Gods eye. Not proclaiming everything they do as they do it. John didn't proclaim everything he was doing, he was just stating basic facts without lying, or over justifying his place.
I think that is very important.
-Rob
okay well i havent even read it all (yet), but i think just the first verse is cool to be reminded that Jesus was really a person for a time, and really, visibly was a walking piece of God.
Even though it was more normal for John because Jesus' being of flesh was a recent thing, he didnt forget that He was Gods son and how great He was.
Hes still just as great today but is sometimes forgotten to be so due to peoples self-infatuation.
i know sometimes i forget about what is pleasing to God or put aside my intent to witness for my own reasons and to benefit myelf when thats not what my pupose should be.
We should be reminded of our purpose, and give more to God like He should have from us.
haha, that took me foreverr to write and it came out really short
i think its saying that just believe in Him and then you can believe in yourself.like that movie "facing the giants" i was watching it with jazmyne and jill and every part of that movie is believing in God and He will show you how great He is!
Yea! 100 days!!! When it says the Word that means Jesus, He became flesh and dwelt among us that is full of grace and truth. John was'nt self- centered and his life was all about God ( see saturday's devos) John had a great testimony in his life he got a whole bunch of people saved and now he is baptising them. Wow! what a great Christian who has the will of God for his life. We are not worty to touch the shoe of Jesus. We are not even worthy to breath near Jesus He is sooo great and mighty and without Him we would'nt be able to breath near Him. We think of ourselves as maybe great people who want to save the world or save the forests or whatever. But we need to be focused on a positive view so we can have a wonderful view of God and His plans for our life.
I noticed through hanging out with a vast majority of people that most individuals who resent Christians do so because they often appear to be very self-serving and self-fulfilling. It is a harsh reality to realize that we are no better than those who are not saved and that we are all the same in God's eyes. I also struggle with this, putting myself above those who sin. Christ needs to be shown through us, we are not worthy of him, just like everyone else. I believe that if we all work on ourselves we will find a closer relationship with God and with ourselves.
- Rachel E.
Aight so if John wasn't worth the dirt on Jesus' sandals what are we. It is a harsh realization like Rachel E said. That amongst the most righteous men in History they are not worth God's glory. Every bit of god's grace is given us because God is so merciful. Imperfection is imperfection and we are all imperfect and have sinned, yet we can strive to be like the righteous men, the closer we are to Jesus, the more we pave a road for him and the more people we touch, just as he touched our lives the better. If you think about it we can all be modern John's by being The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “ Make straight the way of the LORD. Because Jesus is coming again and we can prepare a way for him and through his teachings.
.....Awesome.....
-Stoked about the 6:30 thing. Gotta pack for Phantom I'm leaving tomorrow everyone.
Yeah i HAVE noticed that ALOT of the people who are AGAINT christianity/Christ are self-centered & self-pleasing...
Even those of us who are saved lose grip on reality & 4get about the BIG picture & sometimes focus on what's goin 2 please us NOW...
John was a great man...its pretty cool how he didnt be all like "u have 2 listen 2 me"& how he used his breath 2 teach of Christ...
Problems everyone has (even us christions) sometimes can think TOO much of ourselves & how good we are & really do lose sight of the bigger picture & can 4get how great GOD is...
I can apply this i guess by remembering that it's ok 2 think good of myself, just not TOO much, & when i'm thinking good of myself...let it be 4 the reason that i'm leading people to the lord w/my words & be happy that i'm doing my small part in the world...
our god is a GREAT man & we should NEVER lose sight at that=]
Wow 100 days! Anyway, on to todays passage. In this passage these guys come up to John and ask him "just who are you exactly to be baptizing people left and right? They ask him if he is Christ or if he is a prophet or if he's Elijah. He just simply replies "nope I'm just John, an ordinary dude here to tell people about Christ". He goes on to say ,the one that comes after me, I am not even worthy to touch his shoe. Now you know somebody is important when your not worthy enough to touch thier sandal.
ok for some reason it told me that my request coud not be processed so i'm just posting in anonymous
~Alex
this is confusing oh jeez um okay i'll try....here goes.. well everything. it's too hard i think i'll remain anonymous so i don't get laughed at...
HAPPY 100TH BLOG GUYS & GIRLS
well what i got from this was that John was approached by some pharacies and they asked him if he was Jesus because he was baptising people and he said no, so they asked him if he was a prophet and he said no again. so they were wondering who he was and John just i am John and i only baptise people with water and that Jesus is coming soon. also he says that he is not even worthy to unstrap Jesus sandles then again touch His sandles. that is just amazing to say that he isn't even worthy enough to touch Jesue sandle when he was a prophet of Jesus Christ.
PS. sorry i couldn't come to the church at 6:30 but i got home at 6:00 and didn't start eating dinner until 6:30, and also my dad said that it is far away just for ice cream when we can eat it at home, but it would have been nice to have ice cream with friends.
This passage is saying that the men are asking John who he is and Johns not giving them a straight answer and its probably because maybe he wanted them to search for it in there heart (just a thought) and then he’s says that he’s not the savior and he’s not even worthy enough to even tie the strap on his sandal and that’s cool to think of because were ALL servants of God if were Christians BUT we are not even close to being worthy enough to be with him but by Gods grace we are going to be in heaven I think that’s amazing to think of.
P.S. I had so much fun tonight with all you guys we really need to do that again with that group like over the summer.
PASTORAL UNIT-LEONARD =]
thanksssss sssssooooo much for tomite was a blast and send me those pics for my myspace =]
WOW!! I am soo jealous of John. He gets picked by god personally to tell of god's arrival and how he realizes that he is not worth anything and compares himself to shoes?...thats like an amazing honor for john to have been able to recognize who jesus was and what he was about.(talk about being stron in your faith) I also think its really cool how god uses the analogy of jesus to bringing the word of go to "life" and jesus is life and he gave us life..sometimes i think god has a funny sense of humor =]
Application: This passage reminds me that i need to stay humble...to quote Jeff "Pride cometh before contention," and that you need to check yourself sometimes and make sure your not looking down on others. Alot of times its easier to put someone down to try and make your self look bigger.
ok the beach and Mckey Dees was awesooome =] Jess your my new photog bud! Christmas and Disney in the Van was awesome too! I lovee you guys sooo much thanks for being the bestest friends!! I really needed the fellowship =]
hmmmm well i really dont know what to post about this one so i guess ill just say ......
like P.Lee said at te very end "how do we view ourselves"
and normaly i would say that im a pretty good person i mean im not out there like all the other teens in this world and doing all the sins they are but if you think about it every sin is equal in Gods eyes so just think that if we lie to our parents its just as bad as going and getting drunk or going and breaking in some place and getting in trouble with the law its all the same in Gods eyes they might have diffrent consequences (cant spell lol)on earth but in heaven there all looked at as the same because sin is sin no matter how small or big you think it is
so after all that i guess all there is left to describe me as is a "dirty rotten sinner" and everyone of us is like that no matter what you think and we dont deserve at all what God had given us
....i jsut wanted to say thankyou so much P.Lee and Katie for tonight i had a great time and i hope to do something again like that soon =]
oh and i cant forget that i love yall =]
nighty night
oh i forgot to say to go look at sunday and sturdays devotions i made them up =]
mmmmm I luvvv ice cream sundaes hahaha, Pastor Leonard...thanks for tonight it was really funnn. Our core group needs to hang out more often!!!
You and Katie and Will are the BEST!!!
The meaning of these verses are that our Savior really took on himself human nature. He did this so that we could be saved as sinners. He really became a man like ourselves except of course for sin. It is cool to think that God was walking around, as one of us yet was still the Son of God! Amazing! I think that like Gaby said that God does have a funny sense of humor!!!
Sometimes we think that God doesn't understand what we are going through but HE does because when He was on the cross he felt all the pain that we do but all at the same time and all at once. I can't even imagine what that must have been like! I didn't fully understand tonight’s passage! What's with me hopefully tomorrow will be better! Hahaha
I had funnn tonight too Gaby…. pics, beach, friends, laughter, Mickey d's, ice cream, baby Will, singing, Disney, Christmas it doesn't get much better than that!!!!!
HOHOHO GOOD NIGHT TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!!!!
thankyou pastor lee fer tonight it was fun
&& yeah i want those pictures too :]
Hi everyone! It is so cool to see everyone on the blog! Man, I wished I could have went with you guys(Maybe next time I'll do all my devos:)
I'm excited about the devotions. John is an awesome book in the bible.
One of the things in this passage that stands out to me is this. We can be like John, preparing the world for the coming of Jesus Christ. Please don't assume that everyone has heard the gospel. I was 28 years old and had many Christian friends and had never heard the gospel. But now I can be a messenger. And I am not alone. I have my Pastors, brethren and awesome youth group to stand with me! Together with the Spirit of God we can turn this town upside-down!!! 4Him, CCM
The beginning of this passage starts out kind of trick- "In the beginning the Word was made flesh." Well, if you remember from John 1:1 we know that the Word here is actually Jesus Christ. It then goes on to say that John (as in John the Baptist) was preaching and telling people that Jesus was about to come on the scene and that He could provide them a way to heaven. John was questioned about who he was, but he put all of the attention on Christ and directing people to Him
Application- As I was reading this, I really questioned what I would do if I were in the same spot as John. We all want people to look on us highly, but John didn't let anything go to his head and he continued to point people to Christ. That is what our goal and desire should be. We shouldn't ever allow our own desires to keep people from being pointed to Christ
hey pastor lee i made up my devos for sunday too =]
gabs
So john is saying that he is not the mesiah or this elijah guy. So while he's baptising all these people the pharises ask him yo just who are you and he says that he is just john and that jesus will be coming after him.
Yeah whenever im being prideful you do and thats all the time!
this passage is saying that as jesus walk on the earth and showed people his ways we need to do the same. Having the same attributes as him being kind, loving, wise, etc. We need to show what it is like to be filled with the spirit of the lord and tell people about it. Once they see how happy we are hey will want to be like us and that is our job to show them how to be like us by bringing them to youth or even saving them!
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