Happy St. Patrick’s Day.  Hopefully you are wearing green.  For you Bible trivia fans, the word Green is uses 22 times in the Bible (NIV) usually used to describe plants.  Probably the most famous passage with the word green is Psalm 23.  Do you know what it is without looking it up?

God does not need much in order to make a big difference.  This is seen very clearly in the miracle in John 6 about his feeding of 5000.  And so the question I left pondering yesterday was, “What are some little things that I think are small or insignificant that I have which God can use to make a huge difference?”  It is the idea of the mustard seed of faith that Jesus expresses in the 3 synoptic gospels (Matt 13:31, 17:20; Mark 4:31; Luke 13:19, 17:6). If you look up those verses you see that small things can grow into large things (a small seed into a large tree).  But in two of them (the second ones in Matt and Luke) Jesus likens it to our faith.  It does not take much faith to do incredible things.  But what I find interesting is that, when you compare those two verses in Matt Jesus says that you will be able to command a mountain to be moved, where as Luke says a mulberry tree.  This tells me that most likely, even though these are similar comments, since they are so different, they probably were not spoken on the same occasion.  So Jesus speaks about having a small faith capable of doing mighty things on multiple occasions.  (Context also seems to put these sayings at different points of Jesus’ ministry). So this is not a one off type of saying or Jesus using hyperbole in one sense.  Jesus is saying many times that you do not need much faith to do incredible things.  So put your little faith in God and he can help you do incredible things.

We are in a new month and the transition from winter to spring is starting.  Maybe you need to start thinking about the spiritual transition from winter (deadness) to spring (new life).  If this is you, please feel free to reach out to me.  I would love to tell you how Jesus can make a real difference in your life (and more importantly in the life to come).

The water coming over Niagara Falls is powerful . . . to say the least.  But do you realize that water much more powerful than that can live inside your heart.  Have you tapped into that power?  If not, maybe you need to.  It is there waiting for you.

There are many ways to describe being saved.  Salvation, justification, made righteous, cleansed from sin, baptized in the Spirit, made new, etc.  But the one John uses is born again.  Born to make you as fresh and new as if you were from your mother’s womb.  But also born from above with God’s righteousness.  But the aspect that I like the most about being born again is the completeness that comes from rebirth.  All of the old things have been wiped away.  The past is gone, dead, and buried.  So we can start again with a clean slate.  But the challenge comes when I ask, “What are we going to put on that clean slate?”  Do not ruin it with more sin and disobedience.  Make positive steps toward becoming more like Jesus.  And you can start afresh today!

Super bowl is over but God wants to do something super in your life.  He wants you to be a temple that is cleansed and clean and worthy of his presence.  And just as Jesus cleansed the temple in John, he can cleanse our temples as well.  And fortunately in many cases it will not take a whip to do it.  He just needs our willingness and permission to make us worthy vessels for him to fill.

Jesus’ first miracle making wine was a glimpse on who he was.  But as I was filing it away, I saw a sermon I preached on this passage several years ago and that one emphasized the faith of Mary, the Servants, and the Disciples.  Can you imagine the faith those servants had.  Mary tells them to do what Jesus says.  They fill up six large jars with water (not a small feat in and of itself remembering they did not have indoor plumbing in those days and 120 gal is a lot of buckets from the well), they knew nothing was in the jars to start with and Jesus did not add anything to the jars (or do any “magical” gestures over them), and then they are asked to take a sample to their boss.  What if nothing happened, they would be a laughing stock at the least (dead at the most)?  Yet they had the blind faith in obeying this strange rabbi.  Would we have been as trusting if we where in their sandals?

Jesus is the one we need to seek after.  But what about Jesus do we need to remember or reconsider?  Is the Jesus you seek the Biblical Jesus?  I hope that as we continue to look at the gospel of John we will all see Jesus in a new light and in turn will want to follow him more closely and dearly.

Today is both Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday as well as President Trumps inauguration.  Pray for our new president (no matter who you voted for) and for our country that we might fulfilled MLK’s dream of not seeing people by the color of their skin but by the character of their heart.