Does Your Heart Burn For Him?

Have you ever repeated something to emphasize the importance of your message and even repeated it with a little change to make sure the meaning is clear? If you’ve ever raised kids, coached, or worked in an environment with team dynamics, I know you understand!

God did and does the same thing.

In Leviticus 6:8-13, Jehovah, or the great I AM, instructed Moses to keep the fire on the altar in the tabernacle burning. The key detail was the fact that the fire was never to be extinguished. Not only that, but it was supposed to be “kept burning.” Burning. Not a gentle glow with embers crackling quietly. The fire was to burn.

Why?

The fire was to represent the consuming nature of God Himself (Hebrews 12:29) – His very Presence. The altar was the designated place for offerings to be presented for the purpose of atonement or the forgiveness of sin. The consuming fire would accept the sacrifice offered as our reasonable sacrifice in view of the Most High God’s mercy, love, and grace.

Jehovah – the God of holiness and righteousness – would abide in the tabernacle with sin confessed, sacrifices made, and the consuming fire purifying flesh and sin.

The application in our lives over 3,000 years later is the fact that we are to burn, to be kindled, from the Source – Jesus’ Spirit. Our fire should not be of our own making, not from the fuel of this world which burns as stubble.

The blaze of our faith is no figure of speech. The New Testament demonstrates an Old Testament principle with Jesus Christ as the sacrifice offered for the atonement of sin, and the Presence of God abiding with those who invite Him to stay and tabernacle.

Turn to Luke 24. Jesus has been publicly scorned, flogged, then crucified on a Roman cross of execution used for criminals. Jesus was placed in the borrowed tomb – needed only for 3 days. Angels had appeared to the women coming to dress the body and honor their friend and Rabbi, Jesus. But the tomb was empty because the power of the Holy Spirit literally brought the dead corpse of Jesus back to life.

Jesus Christ was resurrected and alive.

He appeared along a seven-mile road to a group of men “hurling words” at each other in discussing and debating about the ministry of Jesus and the whereabouts of His body, while searching for meaning. Jesus was invited by these men to walk along this road to Emmaus. As the conversation turned to Jesus, He escorted these men along another road – the journey back in time from Moses to the prophets. Every account cited by the risen Christ pointed to the Messiah’s first coming and the events that had culminated with Jesus’ death and crucifixion.

As these men urged Jesus to abide and linger with them over a meal, their eyes were opened to see Jesus – the risen Savior...before He vanished. At that moment, these travelers said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?”

Take the time to watch the complete teaching below, but take a moment now to see the parallels between Jehovah’s instruction.

Jesus was invited to abide. God first loved us and desires to tabernacle and abide with His people. Jesus was the sacrifice offered to atone for sins, as required for love, forgiveness, and fellowship with the Presence of God.

The never-ceasing fire burning in the Old Testament was at the altar. Our very lives are directed by that which occupies our hearts and minds. What occupies your altar, the space of your heart that holds your objects of devotion, your loves and obsessions, and the seat of your very being?

It’s time for you to acknowledge what Jesus already knows. Does your heart burn for Jesus? Is there a kindled fire that indicates the very Presence of Jesus Christ, the King, in your life that emanates from within your being? Has your heart ever burned for Jesus?

How can your heart burn for Jesus if you can’t answer these questions with a “yes?”

Make sure you have sacrificed self and accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Those are two separate ways to know Jesus! As Savior, we know Jesus as Redeemer who has saved us from the debt of our sin by purchasing us. Knowing Jesus as Lord is to know Him after dying to self and placing Him on the seat of your life’s throne for governance and rule (see last week’s blogpost, He Reigns...Well, Does He?)

If Jesus Christ is both Your Savior and Lord, your altar is set for His fire to burn. We have to invite His Spirit to abide and seek His Presence. The fire of Jesus burns in the hearts of the faithful. This fire burns in those overcoming failures, flaws, and the fights in the spiritual world. The fire of Jesus’ Spirit burns in the hearts of those living under an open heaven. The Spirit revealed Jesus through the healing of spiritual blindness and the understanding of God’s Holy Word.

Do you want to burn for Jesus? You have to get close enough to the fire to catch ablaze. The Abba’s House family of faith welcomes you and needs you. Come burn with us!

He Reigns......Well, Does He?

He is risen! He’s alive! Because He lives, we have a future!

Many, if not all, of those declarations were heard and said in our Resurrection Sunday services all across this globe. And yes! Hallelujah! Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords! Yes! He did overcome sin, hell, the grave, and flesh! Yes! Jesus reigns as the authority of all creation as given by God the Father.

Jesus reigns. He reigns because He is King.

The question is, do the words you say and sing match the position He holds in your own life?

That’s a serious question. It’s also one that you, I, and all will answer at the Tribunal of Christ spoken of by Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:10.

Essentially, modern day believers focus on Good Friday for Calvary’s Cross and the Lamb of God crucified for our sins. Our salvation is available and in progress. We also focus on the Third Day and empty tomb that guarantees life eternal after this flesh in the presence of God.

But what does the modern Christ follower do when pressed about our 4th day experience? The 5th, 6th, 7th, ten-thousandth day? What evidence exists in our lives that Jesus Christ is Lord?

Hear me out. Judeo-Christians are not among those who have a useless faith in a philosophy, ideology, or religion of a dead prophet or group whose leader or leaders are dead and have earthly bodies in manmade tombs. If Jesus’ body, however, had remained in the tomb, Christianity would be useless.

It would be fraudulent because of the testimonies of men and women willing to die horrible and violent deaths for a contrived story about a resurrection that never happened. And if that resurrection never happened, you got it – our hope for eternity after this life would be lost.

Instead, we do have a powerful faith that is valid and authentic with a hope, not just wishful thinking, but confidence in our life eternal.

Christ is King and reigns over all of history. His Church, His Body lives today and functions as Christ in us and we in Him to do good works, tell of the life-changing, but simple Gospel, and to live in the world, but not of it. Current events, like the validation of the Shroud of Turin, or the grave clothes of Jesus which features 50 puncture wounds at the head and face from the Bethlehem Spikes that fashioned the mocking crown of our Lord.

But back to the question: Does Jesus reign in your life?

Take a few minutes to watch the message from Resurrection Day in its entirety. But as you watch it and as you read the rest of this post, ask yourself this question: Does Jesus reign in my life?

God’s Kingdom doesn’t begin the instance we die and are in our heavenly bodies in the afterlife. Oh, no! Dear friend! We have missed both the message of John the Baptist, the forerunner and last prophet announcing the coming of the Messiah, and the message of Jesus Himself.

In both Matthew 3:1-2 and Matthew 4:17, from John the Baptist, also the cousin of Jesus, and the Son of God Himself, after his time in the wilderness and standing down the confrontation of Satan, the same declaration of fact is made: “Repent, because the Kingdom of Heaven has come near!”

Are you part of God’s Kingdom in this life, not waiting on your heavenly existence after death? Are you devoted to Christ the King in love, faithfulness, hope, and willingness to serve and forgive others as you want?

Jesus sees and knows who has Him as Lord versus those who attend a lecture on Sunday, taking away what is easy to adapt to your lifestyle, calendar, and budget. Put plainly, what we say and sing is easier than what we live. But we’re held to account by the latter, not just the former.

An old saying in the church circles goes like this, “Jesus is Lord of all or not Lord at all.”

Do you know Jesus personally? Do you love Him, fellowship with Him, and obey Him? He’s the Savior and Messiah that’s predicted in every single book of the Old Testament, who speaks to us through His Gospels in the first Person, and who was evidenced in the lives of changed followers inspired to write the rest of the New Testament, teaching God’s love, grace, mercy, and life-change for this world and “His Kingdom come, His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

Yes! Jesus reigns as King. Have you made Him your King?

Admit your need of the Savior and the need for the blood of Jesus to cover your sins. Then confess those sins but also confess that Jesus is the Savior who saves you, the King who reigns in your changed life, and the Messiah who will return for His Bride, His Church, those set apart for His Name and will.

Yes! Jesus reigns!

The Road to Glory Heads Through Jerusalem

As most families of faith did, Abba’s House just observed Palm Sunday – the celebration named for Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on a colt among palm branches being waved and outer garments and cloaks being laid on the ground, just as a crowd would do to welcome royalty. What a treat to have our Abba’s House Kids singing “Hosanna!” to open our service then march while waving palm branches throughout our crowd gathered to worship the King of Glory!

Just as our families were joyful, clapping, singing, and welcoming the King of Glory on Palm Sunday, so were the people welcoming Jesus riding into Jerusalem in John 12:12-16 just before His crucifixion.

Let’s take a look at the crowd assembled for the Holy Week in Jerusalem. Within every crowd, you find people with different motives, needs, and levels of commitment.

Jerusalem’s population swelled as the sacred week of Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread drew faithful Jews from around the entire region. Just imagine a big sports championship weekend in one of your favorite sports to conjure up images of the number of people pouring in for the annual gathering.

Jerusalem during this window of time would have been a beehive swarming as the City of David featured the Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, and Temple leaders in their finest robes. The sounds of lambs would certainly have been heard throughout the area with the fare of the Passover Seder to include roasted lamb as part of the traditional meal. The massive crowd would have been assembled for religious tradition and Jewish heritage.

Jesus’ road to glory took Him into Jerusalem, fulfilling God’s Word of the Old Testament – Zechariah 9:9 – on the back of a colt never ridden as a symbol of peace. Entering in his processional with him, Jesus’ disciples, his loyal followers and messengers took it all in, knowing words spoken by Jesus were coming true. He was welcomed as the Son of David into the very city where the most cherished Jewish king reigned.

The dusty street was lined with various folks witnessing His triumphant entry as the word spread that this rabbi was coming, the one who had healed the sick, gave the blind their sight, and was speaking of forgiving the sins of all humanity.

Some in that crowd assembled had needs that drew them to Jesus. They sought healing from any number of diseases that would have disabled and threatened their lives in a time with very little medical success in treatment. Others in that crowd would be names we might recognize from Jesus’ miracles who had received their miracles:

• The woman with the issue of blood for 12 years who grabbed the hem of Jesus’ garment.

• Lazarus, the resurrected brother of Mary and Martha, and Jesus’ friend.

• Blind Bartimeus who begged for charity as Jesus passed and called out, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

• Man with the withered hand

• 10 lepers who were told to show themselves to the priest.

• The paralyzed man from the pool of Bethsaida.

• The young married couple whose wedding celebration was spared embarrassment by Jesus’ first miracle of blushing the water to wine.

• And likely many who partook of the miraculous meals when more than 4,000 and 5,000 were fed.

The crowd who cheered Jesus’ entry certainly included those who had needs as well as those whose needs had been met.

The crowd also included those whose expectations for a Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament was of a warrior king who would address the political and military oppression of the day at the hands of the Roman Empire that demanded loyalty, permitted brutality as part of its means to the government’s end, and used execution and imprisonment along with any other form of punishment to ensure conformity and compliance.

There was even the religious crowd who hated Jesus and envied His following. Their self-righteousness was unwelcoming to the humble Rabbi from Nazareth Who often saluted them with “Woes” and terms like, “Brood of vipers.”

Regardless of the crowd’s motives, needs, or commitments, all had a universal need. They needed the Savior. They needed a Redeemer.

Today, you likely fit into one of these groups who welcome Jesus into your own home, your own family of faith, and into your daily life. You may very well be a supporter whose loyalty fits the old biker saying from the 50s, now often spoken to indicate deep loyalty. You may be a “ride or die” friend of Jesus.

You may be one in need. You may be desperate to find healing; desperate to overcome a gripping addiction or life-disabling circumstance or failure; or desperate to see life worth living after enduring great hardship.

You may be looking, as many are, for a political savior to return some sense of stability to society’s order after over a decade of pure political hatred, the weaponization of government against its citizens, and what appears to be another failed institution of man that can no longer be trusted.

Ask yourself. Exactly how do I see Jesus? Do I have a need of salvation, like all do? Do I have a physical need, beyond the spiritual? Do I spend most of my energy looking for some political leader, instead of the King of kings?

This Easter season, why don’t you welcome Him into your life? If you’re near Chattanooga, TN, please come worship with us at Abba’s House on Easter Sunday at 10:30am.  If you’re outside our area, join us on our online campus at abbashouse.com/live.

Go deeper into our look at Palm Sunday by watching the full message from Pastor Ronnie.