Category Archives: Exhortation

Day 38 (part 2): Gethsemane

Church Seasons, Exhortation, God, Lent 2016, Meditation

Day 38 (part 2): Gethsemane
Link to Lent 2016 Vimeo Channel

Transcription of the video above:

The hour has come! Judas has gone! Soon they will be here! Until then, the time is precious, to be spent in unison with His Father so that God’s eternal plan might be fulfilled. As Jesus stooped over at the Garden of Gethsemane in fervent prayer, His carnal soul was filled with grief, agony, and suffering with the knowledge of what lies ahead. The closest three of His disciples – Peter, James, and John – abandoned Him that night in prayer and fell asleep even though Jesus asked them to pray for Him. In the meantime, Judas Iscariot was gathering his troops, leading them up to the Garden, and preparing to give Jesus the betrayer’s kiss. Soon the silence of the garden will be shattered by the sounds of footsteps and the clamor of swords and staves, but more piercing will be the sound of Judas’ kiss.

Three lessons from the Garden emerges tonight:

1) Judas’ kiss challenges us to examine our loyalty to Christ. Are we truly loyal to Christ?

2) The disciples’ sleep challenges the freshness of our prayer and meditation life. Are we seeking to know God more deeply through our prayer and meditation life?

3) The soldiers’ brutality challenges our absorbing the hurts of this life. Do we willingly embrace suffering in this life for Christ’s sake?

Day 38 (Part 1): Intimacy

Church Seasons, Exhortation, Lent 2016, Meditation

Day 38 (part 1): Intimacy
Passages: Jn. 13:12; Exod. 12:1-8, 11-14; Psa. 116; 1 Cor. 11:23-26; Jn. 13:1-15
Link to Lent 2016 Vimeo Channel

Transcription of the video above:

If we take seriously living with God and unto God, the evening of Holy Thursday ushers in the most holy time of the Christian year. It is a privileged time for it gives us the opportunity for the next three days to live completely with Him, as everything else fades into oblivion. This is the evening which Jesus spent his last night on earth with the Twelve. During the Passover meal, Jesus washes his disciples’ feet, eats with them, and shared in what would become the Holy Communion. On this evening, Jesus gives us almost too many good things: His example of humility by washing His disciples’ feet, the assurance of His peace, the command to love one another, the promise of the Holy Spirit, and His very Self through the Holy Communion.

Christians are bidden to spend time with Jesus tonight. On the eve of his betrayal, our Lord has done everything he could possibly do for His disciples and gave them the most wonderful gift possible in this world – Himself. Ponder tonight the intimacy Jesus longed to have with His disciples, and how He likewise desires to have an intimate relationship with us on a daily basis. Christ is calling you today; do you hear Him calling you to draw closer?

Day 36: True Repentance

Exhortation, God, Lent 2016, Meditation

Day 36: True Repentance
Passage: John 12
Link to Lent 2016 Vimeo Channel

Transcription of the video above:

God desires for all people to foster a repentant heart so that they can be true worshipers of God. This transformation from the life of sin to a life of faith and obedience is exemplified for us in the person of the sinful woman in John 12:1-8. Here, the sinful woman received the gift of forgiveness from Jesus when she anointed Jesus with myrrh and washed His feet.

The rest of John 12 also foretells of the coming suffering Christ would also endure within a few days. Jesus also calls people to repent from their sins and believe in Him. Christ promises that when he is lifted up, many people will be drawn to Him and become His disciples. As you read through the chapter, do you hear more clearly Christ’s summons to become His disciples through sacrifice and service?

Day 35: Watchfulness & Preparation

Exhortation, Lent 2016, Meditation

Day 35: Watchfulness & Preparation
Passage: Matthew 22:15-46; 23:1-39
Link to Lent 2016 Vimeo Channel

Transcription of the video above:

As Jesus drew closer to his crucifixion, the evil forces intensified their attacks on Him. More specifically, the Jewish religious leaders mounted several efforts to trick and discredit Jesus in Matthew 22:15-46. First, the Pharisees tested Jesus on whether one should or should not pay taxes to government authorities. Second, the Sadducees asked Jesus a question about the resurrection and whether a marriage will last in heaven after death. Third, a lawyer challenged Jesus on the question of the Law. Finally, Jesus refuted their arguments by asking them about the true identity of Christ as the Son of God, of which the Pharisees could not answer. Then Jesus forcibly condemned the Pharisees and Scribes in Matthew 23:1-39 for their hypocrisy and self-centered motivations and false piety, and how they create roadblocks for people to experience a personal relationship with God.

In short, this passage gives us two types of warnings. First, Jesus warned people about false religiosity and hypocrisy. Jesus had no patience for those who are hypocrites and choose to commit evil deeds against people who need to know God the most. Second, it was a warning to all people to be watchful and prepared for the coming of the Lord, lest they be called unprepared before the awesome judgment seat of Christ. Are you prepared this week not just to meditate on Christ’s suffering and death for us, but also for Christ’s second coming in the future? If so, don’t do it as hypocrites but rather as worshipers of God, and seek to help people you encounter this week to know God in a personal and meaningful way by sharing the Gospel message with them.

Day 34: Outside the Gates

Christian, Evangelism, Exhortation, Lent 2016, Meditation

Day 34: Outside the Gates
Passage: Hebrews 13:12-15
Link to Lent 2016 Vimeo Channel

Transcription of the video above:

Just before the armies of Babylon arrived, Jerusalem was happy in their comfort zone; the walled city; and they didn’t feel the need to uphold or share the Law they had been given. They became insular, greedy, and distrusting of anyone that wasn’t them. And only when God smashed their very foundations were they forced to live among those they had despised, those whom they had hated, those whom they didn’t know.

As humans, we tend to construct a city for ourselves, a city made up of us and ours, with walls and gates built not as a sanctuary for those who seek life, but as a bunker for those we think deserve to live. But when the city, shelter, bunker is threatened, then that illusion of a calm haven is shattered. We fall into despair, or worse, lash out and fight to protect what’s ours. We are just plain scared by what might lie outside of our comfort zones beyond the gates of our lives. We forget that the people who we might not like or don’t agree with are also made in the image of God, sinners just like the rest of us.

In Hebrews 13:12-15, apostle Paul tells us that Jesus suffered outside the gate of Jerusalem in order to set apart a people through his sacrifice, which means that we should willingly suffer for His sake since we are not citizens of our own cities, but of the city of God.

Jesus suffered outside the gate by hanging on the cross and died. He was buried and raised to life by his Father in order that we might become heirs to his Kingdom, his everlasting city. Through Christ, we might be able to live forever with His Father as our Father, as co-heirs of Jesus’ inheritance. We must deconstruct the city we have built on our own and get to know the people around us outside our city walls. Befriend them and bless them because it is an opportunity for you to encounter Christ in the world. Be around them, get to know them, learn to love them.

Because only by suffering with people, those outside the gates of your city, will you see Jesus Christ and offer people hope, peace, and joy.