As we enter into this fall ministry season, my prayer is God’s Spirit would work in us so that we

would significantly grow in our ability to encounter and enjoy his presence. Our desire is that we would be genuinely

transformed through our heartfelt worship of the living God. To do that I want to take a fresh look at Psalm 150.

All of us have been embarrassed in one way or another. In some cases, these moments of

awkwardness happen because we violate (perhaps unknowingly) a rule of etiquette within our culture. Today, we

will watch as Jesus breaks an ancient custom of decorum in order to teach us how his kingdom functions.

Sometimes in life you must make an either-or decision. You’re faced with accepting one job or

another, moving to one city or another, going to one school or another. We might prefer multiple choices, but

sometimes reality is either-or. As John finishes the first half of his gospel, he brings us to a simple either-or choice:

either we choose the path of discipleship or we choose the path of non-discipleship. That means choosing to live in

his presence or choosing to live far from his presence. The challenge is this; Make the choice!

In this section, John tells the story of the Triumphal Entry. But the emphasis is slightly different the accounts in other three gospels. The focus in this story is how people responded to his entry into Jerusalem as the King. So today we ask the question, “What happens when we encounter Jesus the king?”

After Lazarus rises from the dead, the news gets out that a massive miracle has taken place. You’d

think this would have electrified the crowd such that they would all joyfully embrace Jesus’ kingdom message. On

the contrary, both friends and enemies become deeply polarized over Jesus. Some respond with love; others

respond with hate. In this story we see the importance of watching the state of our heart and actively loving Jesus

from the heart.

This passage addresses the problem of believing in a loving God in the face of suffering and

death. To demonstrate God’s love, John provides a gripping story of Jesus functioning as the resurrection and the

life.

Why is it that we often miss what God is doing, even when it’s right in front of us? While

Christians might assume that this is a problem primarily for “non-religious people,” the fact is that in John’s Gospel,

it is often the most religious individuals (complete with Bible verses) who fail to “grasp” the way of Jesus.

Most of us can envision what tangible this-world abundance looks like. We see images of this

constantly on the internet and in print and visual media. But it’s a bit harder to visualize spiritual abundance. What

would it be like if we had an abundance of the soul and spirit that allowed us to transcend the circumstances of our

lives? What would it be like to receive a richness of life wherever we happened to be? Jesus shows us the way in the

first part of John 10.

How does a follower of Jesus engage in the skillful practice of healing prayer? The story of Jesus

healing the man born blind gives us a concise picture. To do this, we must engage in gracious healing prayer, in

community, and then encourage the person to tell his or her story without fear.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but adoptive/step-parents do not have the best

track record in children’s literature. From the “wicked” stepmother of Cinderella to the terrible

“muggle” Vernon Dursley of the Harry Potter series—we are conditioned to prioritize biological

parenthood for a variety of reasons.

Thus, when Christians speak of God as “Father,” we often omit exactly what kind of fatherhood

he evidences toward us. Namely: adoption. This Father’s Day, even as we honor dads, we’ll also ask

what God’s adoptive fatherhood has to teach us about his love for us.