GRINDIT podcast

Fact: God loves everybody, yes...everybody, His love is unconditional, and nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38). You've heard it said before, "God hates the sin but sin loves the sinner." A problem I see is that people in today's society have confused God's unconditional love with salvation. Yes, God loves everyone but not everyone is saved! The ones who will be saved are the ones who repent of their sin, accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and does his will and not their own. Have you made that choice? Know anyone that hasn't? Share this podcast with them!

Do you hold a grudge? Is there someone in the church you avoid because they hurt you? If we claim to be a follower of Christ then we must love like Christ and it's NOT an option and His love is WITHOUT conditions! If anyone had the right to hold a grudge it was Jesus! He chose Judas Iscariot to be one of his twelve disciples knowing he was greedy, a thief, and that he would sell him out for thirty pieces of silver and yet he washes his feet, then in the garden he called him friend as he was being betrayed! From the cross he is looking at the ones who crucified him and he says, "Father, forgive them...And Paul points out that Jesus died for us while we were his enemy! Do we love like Christ loves?

One thing you don't mess with is a person's power! Jesus was a threat to the religious leaders, not a physical threat, but he threatened their pride. They loved the praise from the people and now it was going to Jesus instead of them and they didn't like it! After the raising of Lazarus they plotted to kill him but that wasn't all, they wanted Lazarus killed too because he was the reason the people were flocking to Jesus! By the end of the week they would accomplish their goal...Jesus would be crucified.

Why would Jesus choose a greedy, money hungry thief to be the treasure of the group? If Jesus knew people's thoughts surely he knew Judas was stealing money from the bag! And we know Jesus knew Judas would betray him and sell him out for thirty pieces of silver. Knowing all of this about Judas he still chose him as one of the twelve and get this, when Judas betrayed him in the Garden, Jesus still called him "Friend"! And not one time did Jesus call him out for being a thief so if we are to be like Jesus and have the attitude of Christ, then why is it that we feel the need to call people out when they hurt us and blast it all over social media, to our friends, and our family?

Jesus is invited to Lazarus' house at Bethany because Martha and Mary have cooked a meal to honor him. While there, Mary pours nard on Jesus' feet and wipes them with her hair. The smell permeates the house and everyone there, including the disciples, heard Jesus say that Mary had done this to prepare him for burial. They had no idea what Jesus was talking about but they would by the end of the week for he would be crucified, buried, and resurrected! We can smell a certain smell and be instantly taken back in time to an event that happened in our life and remember the details well. I wonder how many times the people that were in that house would smell nard and be taken back to the cross? We all need to be reminded what Jesus did for us and to be encouraged by the hope we have in Christ and his resurrection!

Jesus is going to raise Lazarus from the dead but would it be enough to raise people's faith? He has been dealing with doubt from the religious leaders, the Jews, and now he is getting it from his twelve disciples and his best friends! It comes to a boiling point as John points out that Jesus had anger from deep within. We need to be growing in our faith and not declining. How strong is your faith? Are you sure?

In the second part of John 10 the crowd just wants to hear it plainly from the horse's mouth, "Are you the Messiah?" but Jesus tells them "You don't believe anything I tell you but you could at least believe the works I do." They wanted to stone him but he escapes. There's a ton of evidence to back up Jesus' claim but even today, people don't believe. They want to do their own thing without responsibility and so even after weighing the evidence they walk away. Will you do the same?

In John 10 Jesus says He is the good shepherd and he tries to persuade the crowd to be sheep. He tells them a story of a thief that comes over the wall and how the sheep are frightened and run off. But he is the shepherd that comes in the gate and there is peace among the sheep because they know it's the shepherd. David tells us Psalm 23 "the Lord is my shepherd" and he lists some characteristics of the shepherd. Are you going to trust Jesus to be your shepherd are you going to keep trying to do things your way and make a mess of it all?

Jesus heals a blind man on the Sabbath and he becomes an instant witness to his friends, family, and even the Pharisees. The Pharisees have known this man his whole life and they have passed by him for years as he sat and begged and they never took time for him. Jesus did and his life was changed forever!

Jesus continues to try to explain to people that he is the very Messiah they have been looking for but they just can't get past the idea that they know his family, and since they believe the Messiah will just show up, they don't believe him. And it comes to a boiling point at the end of the chapter as Jesus says two words, "I AM", and they pick up stones to stone him to death. But before the dialogue Jesus displays what we we as christians are to be about as he shows grace and mercy to a woman caught in adultery.