Jesus Is Lord
Pastor Pete recently returned from a trip to Arkansas to meet with other Influencers regional directors. Their purpose was to help men become self feeders on the bread of life, Jesus Christ who is the word of God made manifest. The director of Influencers Rocky Fleming developed a discipleship training program called the Journey. This program has changed men’s lives in areas of the country where Influencers groups have sprung up and flourished.
Pete was also blessed to spend time with his brother in Alabama and an old friend from Oxford, Mississippi. He had a chance to visit his hometown of Birmingham and reconnect with friends from his High School and from Auburn where he attended college.
Pete recalls that he had a mentor in the high school where he worked who would say to the guys he met, “you’re a man of God.” Pete introduced 4M (four men) disciple training groups to this man who has recently retired. He is interested in starting 4M training in Alabama.
Recently tornadoes have devastated areas of the South including Birmingham. Pete was impressed by the destructive power of these natural disasters and is thankful that there were no deaths despite the destruction.
He was glad to reconnect with his Southern roots but he is blessed to be back in Irvine with a new perspective of why God has planted him here.
In order for men to grow in their fellowship with their Lord Jesus Christ, men need to develop a hunger and thirst for the Word of God. They need to become committed to fellowship with other men who love the Lord and have a heart to serve God. It’s important to remember the men and women who planted the word in our own lives… those who walked alongside us to train us, mentor us, and raise us up to appreciate the love of God and the love of serving God’s people.
Pete recalls the men he worked with at Briarwood Christian school. These lifelong friends he developed many years ago are still walking in fellowship with the Lord.
As Pete thought about the path that God has taken him, he remembered his ministry in Germany during the fall of the Berlin Wall. He recalled a retreat in Europe where one of the speakers was the popular Christian author Oswald Sanders. Pete asked him this question that was the topic of debate in Christian circles: “Do you think that it’s possible for a man to be saved without making Jesus lord?” Sanders said, “I was saved before I made Jesus lord of my life. This was because of poor teaching. But when I was taught correctly about the lordship of Christ, I dedicated my life to serve Him as Lord.”
According to Franklin Graham, the name of Jesus shouts out a choice: to whom will you give your life? The Apostle Peter said, there is no other name whereby we must be saved. He is not a negotiator, he is Lord. According to 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
We must come to the Lord Jesus Christ on his terms, not ours. When you come to Jesus you are no longer your own…. you give up the right to yourself. Lord means owner. When Jesus Christ is Lord of your life, you have surrendered your life to him. Christianity is not who we are but rather whose we are.
Following the Lord Jesus Christ is not politically correct. Oswald Chambers said in his devotional for November 1, You are not your own. God will make your life a thoroughfare for the world when Jesus is Lord. No human can stand that on his own unless he is empowered by the Holy Spirit. The point of the Christian life is to strive to become just like Jesus so that people will be attracted to him. Everyone is watching when you’re a follower of Christ. God will bring us to the rugged reality where we no longer care what happens to us so that he gets his way for the purpose of redeeming others in Christ’s name.
The greatest life lessons are learned through the greatest tests. You can’t have a testimony without a test. We get angry with God when there are trials if we view God’s tests from the world’s perspective. God taught Pete to praise him in all things the day that his wife was in the delivery room during the birth of their second son. The doctors had said, “we’re losing the baby’s heartbeat.” Pete prayed earnestly in the Father’s waiting room, “Lord, please save my wife and child.” God had asked Pete, “will you still honor, love and serve me no matter the outcome of this situation?” Pete searched his heart and answered, “Lord you know all things. Yes I will love and serve you no matter what.” Then the doctor came up to Pete and said, “I’m sorry, but we lost the baby.”
CTo love God is to rest in the reassurance that he comes to us with the grip of his Son’s nail-pierced hands to take upon himself our own pain and suffering. If through a broken heart God can bring his purposes to pass in this world, then thank him for breaking our hearts.
As our savior, Jesus Christ has rescued us from the destruction of this world. He is our savior and Lord. Lord means one who has supreme rank. A soldier falls in line according to his Lord’s command. A disciple is disciplined to man his post until he is relieved by his commander in chief. Lordship means absolute ownership. The Lord has Sovreign control over the life of his servants who are bound to him by the bond of love.
There are many dangerous places in this world. The safest place is to be where the Lord has assigned us. When we are in the protection of his will, if God be for us who can be agains us?
According to Philippians 2:5-11, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
It’s an honor and a privilege to bow down to the Lord Jesus Christ. The blessing is to walk in fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ, our Heavenly Father, and one with another in the household of faith.
Who is our Lord? According to the Puritan prayer from the Valley of Vision, Christ Is All:
Thou hast loved me everlastingly, unchangeably,
may I ever love thee as I am loved.
Thou hast given thyself for me,
May I give myself to thee;
Thou hast died for me,
May I live to thee;
In every moment of my time,
In every movement of my mind,
In every pulse of my heart.
May I never dally with the world and its allurements,
But walk by thy side, listen to thy voice,
Be clothed with thy grace, and adorned with thy righteousness.
… that in serving our Lord,
we may ever live to the praise of the glory of thy grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael
