God is love. But you know, God is also all-powerful. Jesus has power and that is a very good thing for you and me. He has the power to change your life. The power to take away sin and the guilt sin produces. To conquer death. To heal. To restore. To reconcile.

My wife and I lived in a South American republic in the 1960s where danger, persecution, murder of followers of Jesus was common.  About 130 churches were bombed.  Eighty pastors were murdered.  Pat and the twins and I lived in that city.  And you know, God always protected us.  Every trip I took – and I traveled a lot – I would say, “Lord You take care of my family.  I can’t do it, nor can anybody else.”  He protected them the whole time we were in that country.  The power of Jesus Christ!

Colossians tells us, “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” That’s His power! In John we learn that, “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” And in Hebrews we are reminded that Jesus “upholds all things by the word of His power.” Who do you know who needs to experience the power of Jesus now? Tell them the Good News today.

This is Luis Palau

Mindy Tran had just parked her car at her apartment complex, when suddenly it began to roll. It was rolling slowly down a driveway that led to a busy street below. Mindy knew she had to act quickly because her twin daughters were still buckled inside. Her maternal instincts kicked in, and she threw herself under the car. She acted as a human speed bump of sorts, trying to slow down the car’s movement. She was able to slow down the vehicle enough for one of her neighbors to jump in and stop it completely. Her daughters were not injured in the incident. This brave mom was left with a crushed knee and dislocated leg, but she made a full recovery. When she was interviewed about it later, she said, “My daughters are my everything. I knew it was mine or theirs… I don’t consider myself a hero. I am a mother.”

You know, as much as that mom loved her children, God loves us that much and even more. We who are now God’s children know He willingly laid down His life for us. The Bible tells us there is no greater love than one who lays down their life for their friends. Many of our acquaintances don’t know that. Seriously. Who will you tell about the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ today?

This is Luis Palau.

If you have grown up in church, it can be easy to make a lot of assumptions about what people outside the church do and don’t know. If we want to reach our world we need to forget our assumptions and get back to basics. Don’t assume that people understand our Christian lingo, or even basic tenets of our faith. For example, the Good News of Jesus Christ is that He saves us from our sin. But many people may not even think of themselves as sinners. Many people think they’re basically good people. So when you say, “are you saved?” They wouldn’t even understand the need for being saved. They may wonder, “Saved from what?” They may not understand what the Bible says about eternity. That we all have sinned. And that Jesus Christ is “the way the truth and the life” and no one comes to the Father except through Him.

So when you go out to reach your world, try to explain the Good News in such a way that would make sense to anyone outside the church. Even someone who has never opened a Bible or set foot in a church, or talked to a Christian. This may mean you need to do a little extra explaining, and listening too. I think sometimes we unknowingly confuse people because we assume they understand words and concepts that they’ve never even heard of. Who can you share the Good News with today? Pray, and then share.

This is Luis Palau.

My family lives in Portland, Oregon, where there are hundreds of miles of beautiful trails, running clubs, groups that hike, and people get together to bike around. People here are active and they care about being healthy, and getting exercise – it’s a community focus and they do it together - and that can be a really good thing. But sometimes I wonder, what if we cared about our spiritual health as much as we did about our physical health? How might churches and neighborhoods and cities transform and stick together?

The truth is: spiritual health is of the utmost importance. Just as it’s helpful when we have a health club or workout buddy to help when we’re struggling to feel motivated, it’s absolutely crucial to have a community of believers around us. A community should be there to help us grow in our faith, and encourage us when we are struggling spiritually. For those of us who know Jesus, we should be helping one another to be spiritually healthy by sharing the Gospel and living it out.

The Bible says in 1 Timothy 4:8, that while “physical training is of some value…godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” So this week, take care of your spiritual health. Find a partner to help, and be a partner to someone else so you’ll be strong.                      

This is Andrew Palau.

The scene is this: Jesus takes off his outer garment and starts washing the feet of His disciples, doing the job of a servant. He gets to Peter, one of His most prominent disciples. Peter was a leader with a tremendous zeal for the Lord. But he was also rash and impulsive. He usually said whatever was on his mind. In this case, Peter can’t restrain himself. He says to Jesus, “You will never wash my feet, Lord.” He tells Jesus, “NO.”

Peter knows his feet are dirty. He knows they need to be washed. Yet he will not allow Jesus to clean his feet. Jesus responds in a clear and loving way: “All right, Peter. You don’t want me to wash your feet? Fine. But if I don’t wash your feet, you can have no part with me.” The Lord uses strong words to slay Peter’s pride – his blind spot. If Peter didn’t let the Lord cleanse him, he couldn’t be in fellowship with Jesus or the other disciples.

The Lord does the same thing with us. We put up a front and pretend we’re okay the way we are. But in our hearts the Lord is making it very clear; “You can have no part with me until I wash you.” Without regular, daily cleansing, we’re still children of God, but we have no fellowship, joy, or power. We can’t spread the good news of Jesus to others. So, the choice is there for each of us. Jesus is kneeling by our feet – will we let Him wash us clean? Will we join the fellowship that will change people forever?

This is Luis Palau.

In New Testament times, people wore sandals and walked on dusty roads. Their feet were constantly dirty. So, when a host invited guests over for dinner, they provided a servant to wash the feet of the guests using a basin of water. The servant would then dry the guests’ feet with a towel. As you can imagine, washing everyone’s dirty, smelly, sweaty feet was a disagreeable job! Yet it was a significant sign of hospitality and kindness. Once everyone’s feet were clean, the dinner would begin.

This is the context for the account in the book of John of Jesus and His disciples preparing to have their final Passover meal together. They had no servants, and none of the disciples had thought about bringing a basin, towel, and pitcher of water to wash everyone’s feet. Only Jesus had thought about it. Why? Because as Mark said, he “did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

This action was only a preview of the humility He would show with his death on the cross. Jesus was the Creator of heaven and earth! Yet he washed the dirty, smelly feet of His disciples. He did so because He loved them, but also to make a point. Jesus modeled sacrificial leadership for His disciples and for us. So, here’s the question: how can we wash the feet of our neighbors today?

This is Luis Palau.

In New Testament times, people ate an evening meal while reclining on a couch or cushions on the floor around a low table. Before sitting down, however, everybody removed their sandals. And you can imagine how unpleasant that was if someone’s feet were dirty. And everyone’s feet would have been really dirty. The streets were very dusty. Just walking a half mile to a friend’s house would make their feet filthy. So, in order for the evening to continue, feet needed to be washed.

It didn’t take much for the disciples’ feet to become dirty. For us too, our lives, minds, and actions become dirty as we walk through the world. We become contaminated with the ungodliness that surrounds us. But “if we walk in the light as Jesus is in the light,” we will be invited into fellowship with Christ and one another. So, if we want to walk in the light and be cleaned, we need to be honest enough to admit, “Lord Jesus, I have become unclean as I’ve walked through this fallen world. I want to sit at the table of fellowship with you and with my brothers and sisters in Christ. But there’s no way I want to sit there with dirty, polluted feet.” It is then that Jesus will come to us and make us clean, ready to share in God’s table with us. Then, we can invite others to come to the table and feel the joy of being pure and clean in the presence of Christ.

This is Luis Palau.

In the time I’ve lived in Portland, I’ve seen the skyline change a lot. One of the most prominent features in the Portland skyline is the Oregon Convention Center with two impressive jade-green glass towers stretching 260 feet into the air.

Shortly before the convention center was completed in 1989, however, these glass towers suddenly posed a problem that threatened to delay the opening of the $90 million project. No one had thought to ask how those green glass towers were going to be cleaned! Regular window-washing systems wouldn’t work. So, a Los Angeles-based engineering firm had to be brought in to figure out a way to keep the twin spires from becoming permanently dirty and discolored.

We humans don’t always think ahead, but God always does. Even before He created us, He had a plan for cleansing our hearts. The drama of redemption would take thousands of years, but at the end of it, through the blood of Jesus, all of our sins would be forgiven. Our lives would be wiped clean of all of our wrongdoings. Even Isaiah foretold it: “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow.” We did nothing to deserve this; we just need to receive God’s great gift to us. Then our lives gleam like jade-green glass towers in the Portland sky, pointing those around us to God’s saving love.

This is Luis Palau.

In the Old Testament, Nehemiah mourned for days after discovering that his people had so dishonored the Lord, his city was destroyed. Nehemiah was a trusted assistant to the King, and therefore around him day after day, year after year. And in all that time, Nehemiah stated that he had not been sad in the King’s presence before. And the king actually took notice, since he knew it to be strange for Nehemiah, a man of such positive outlook, to be down. So the King questioned him about his grief.

Here’s what catches my attention.  He had never been sad in the King's presence before?  Can you imagine having such a reputation for joy and balance and peace that if you were sad just once, your boss would say, “Whoaaaa, what’s wrong with you, it’s like you’re sad or upset, what’s up with that?!”  Sadly, I am sure that’s not my reputation.  But what if it was?  Imagine the potential! Proverbs 17:22 says, “A cheerful heart is good, bringing healing, like a medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Where’s my heart?  What’s my reputation?

Nehemiah was used to bring healing to a nation, but the open doors to it began with a reputation of a consistently good attitude. Let’s ask God for help to change our attitudes to be like Nehemiah, and then we know we will be better equipped to reach our world.

This is Andrew Palau.

The Christian life should be one that is both transparent and holy, but how can we be transparent when we’re such sinners? We can look to Paul as a model. He called himself the worst of sinners. That wasn’t hyperbole; that was based on objective fact. Paul had ransacked the church and committed the most violent crimes before his conversion. But Paul also rejoiced in God’s complete forgiveness and actively pursued holiness. He could say, “Not that I have … already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” Lack of perfection didn’t stop Paul from living as transparently as possible. He probably failed thousands of times in both big and small ways throughout his life. Yet he always pressed on, living in God’s forgiveness and mercy. That’s how the honored servants of God, flawed as they were, were able to do such amazing things in Christ and for Christ. They constantly strove for holiness and transparency with God and those around them.

Being holy and transparent means we don’t have anything to hide from our heavenly Father or anyone else. We are open books, filled with the loving words and mercy of Christ. We aren’t perfect, but we have nothing to hide. All we have are stories of grace, goodness, and renewal. What a strong witness our stories and our transparency can be.         

This is Luis Palau.