“But who do you say that I am?”

Jesus asked this question of the disciples in the district of Caesarea Philippi. This
is a beautiful place in the wooded foothills of Mount Hermon. Its significance reaches back to Alexander the Great who established a temple to honor the Greek god of nature, Pan. Later it became a Roman imperial city, an administrative center, renamed to honor Caesar Augustus.

Jesus traveled all the way north from Galilee, to the very edge of Israel, to an historic place that represented creation, pagan idolatry, and political power and only then asked His questions. “Who do people say that I am?” “Who do you say that I am?”

The options haven’t changed much over the years. Some say John the Baptist – an edgy religious teacher, a spiritual revolutionary – others say Elijah – a miracle worker who channels the power of God – still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets – one who speaks on God’s behalf to challenge both the people and their leaders. Interestingly, Jesus doesn’t disagree with any of that. But the real question is the one that follows.

“But who do you say that I am?” Now He gets personal. Standing there, so close to the earthly power centers of pagan religion, emperor devotion, and political power, Jesus draws His line in the sand. He asks His disciples, and He asks us, “Who am I, to you?”

We only hear Peter’s response. “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” You, not Caesar, are the chosen One, the Anointed One, the Savior, and Lord of all. You are the Son of the living God, not the ancient gods of nature who were so quick to bless earthly power, to welcome Caesars into their pantheon of divinity. Peter got it right. Jesus quickly affirms Peter, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.”

Today Jesus asks us, “Who is Jesus, to us?” Is He a spiritual sideshow or Lord of our lives? Is He a magician, a miracle worker, good only for our entertainment or perhaps our rescue? Or is He the living embodiment of God, the One who reveals God’s will for all of life?

Martin Luther taught that our god is anything we look to for status, identity, and security. Who will it be? Caesar or Jesus? The gods of culture or the God of Creation? Who am I, to you?
(PASTOR KERRY NELSON)

“How long, O Lord?” How often have you cried these words in times of suffering?

It is a universal plea. Time slows to a crawl in times of suffering, and the answer to the question “how long” is always too long.

This suffering is all-encompassing. There is suffering in the soul of the psalmist in Psalm 13. There is suffering in the perceived absence of God. There is suffering at the hands of enemies. This person is being attacked from all sides. No wonder there is a desperate plea for relief!

But the psalm ends the way suffering must also end – with the presence and intervention of a loving God. The psalmist trusts in God, rejoices in the inevitable salvation from suffering, and sings praise for God’s goodness. All of these are hard to do when one is at rock bottom. I wonder whether the psalmist praised because the suffering ended or if the suffering ended because the psalmist praised.

When my first baby was 16 months old, he was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. For a year we went to doctors, learned all we could, struggled through blood tests and shots, high and low blood sugars, and new diets. Then he got very sick and spent several days in the hospital. The night he came home from the hospital, I put him to bed, and then I sat on my bed screaming and crying and cursing at God. My fit went on for a long while until I was completely spent. Finally, in the silence of a broken spirit I heard a voice, quiet but powerful. It said, “Trust Me.” Chills ran through me as I recognized the voice of God. It said, “Trust in Me. You have placed all your trust in the medical system. Learn from them, but trust in Me.”

From that moment I was never the same. All the anxiety and angst of the first tenuous year was gone. I knew that we were going to be ok. In that quiet room I began an upward climb, a tangle of my trust and God’s salvation, intertwined and feeding off one another. Sometimes all it takes to begin the ending of suffering is a single, quiet moment of faith.                                        (KIMBERLY LEETCH)

Being a single parent when my son was young was difficult on many levels. Most of the time I felt tired and overwhelmed by all my responsibilities. There
was no one to share concerns with—no one to worry with, plan with, or give a bath to my son when I needed a break. To make matters worse, we lived in an upstairs duplex. When my son was a baby, it was a challenge getting him, his diaper bag and the groceries upstairs at the same time. I didn’t want to leave him in the house or the car alone so I piled on the items. Once I climbed to the top of the stairs, my next challenge was unlocking the door with my arms filled to overflowing. Most days I felt like the whole world rested on my shoulders. While I tried to carry the load, I was too weak. It was crushing me, and yet, I continued to fight. I tried harder. I had to. I had to be strong. If I put down the load, who was going to pick it up?

One day, I came across what the Apostle Paul said: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9a) Hope awoke in my heart when I realized my situation was an avenue to experience God’s strength. I didn’t have to put on a brave face, or pretend to be made of steel. I simply needed to surrender my weaknesses to God in exchange for His strength. An interesting way to view His power is by taking a look at this verse in its original Greek. The word “rest” literally means “a tent or covering.” Christ’s power over our circumstances and in our weaknesses is a shelter in which to rest, take refuge from the storms, and is our protective covering.

When I began praying to God about my situation asking for help, my circumstances didn’t change right away. But I had a renewed sense of God’s presence and power in my life, and no longer felt alone. Through the assistance of others, I began to see God’s activity in the life of my son and me. He had always been there offering help. I just needed to swallow my pride and receive it. When I let my friend cut my grass and the teenager next door play with my son so I could do household chores, I felt equipped to press on with all the other challenges of daily life.

That’s not all. Paul not only surrendered his struggles to God, but he had a positive attitude as well: “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9b). Looking for and acknowledging God’s strength in my weakness was better for my attitude than grumbling. Complaining was a dead end. However, boasting in what God can do in me infused my faith, causing me to depend on His strength more and more. His promise became a reality in my life. For when I am weak, He is strong!

In facing our struggles and fears, it’s vital that we yield completely to God. When we do, God can use our burdens as an avenue for His power and grace.
(MICCA CAMPBELL)

Preaching the Gospel with perseverance: As we look around us, we see tremendous similarities with the time of Noah and our time. This is the time when it becomes harder and harder to preach the Gospel of the coming Kingdom of God. Sometimes, our effort may yield insignificant results, but we must not lose heart. We must draw encouragement and inspiration from the life of Noah. According to II Peter 2:5, Noah was a “preacher of righteousness”, and he could have preached to the people for at least 100 years! As the days turn to weeks, weeks to months, and months to years, Noah could have all the reasons to quit preaching to the people. Imagine, after preaching to the people for at least 100 years, no one has believed his message, except his family who eventually joined him in the ark.

So whenever you feel like quitting, remember the example of Noah. Remember his perseverance. Most importantly, remember that God’s Word will not return to Him void, but it shall accomplish that which He pleases, and it shall prosper in the thing where He sends it (Isaiah 55:10-11).

Finding grace in the eyes of the LORD: Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD (Genesis 6:8). This simply means that Noah found favor and having the favor of God led him and his family to safety. They were delivered from the great flood that fell upon the earth.

But of all the people, why Noah? It is worth noting that no matter what we do and how much righteousness we accomplish during our lifetime, God is not obliged to give us salvation or in the case of Noah, rescue him from the flood. God’s grace is the unmerited favor that God bestowed upon us, not because of our own doing, but because of His great love to us. Nevertheless, we must NEVER use grace as a license to sin. The people around Noah abused the grace of God to the point that God was forced to reluctantly send the flood and mercifully end their lives. Therefore, we need to realize that God’s grace is not given for us to sin, but for us to be given the chance to repent and turn from our wicked ways (Romans 6:1-23).

Fully obeying God: The Bible mentioned this twice in the account of Noah’s obedience: “Thus Noah did; according to ALL that God commanded him, so he did” (Genesis 6:22; 7:5).

We must consistently be obedient to God and not just when it is convenient for us. The world of Christianity today has become a religion of convenience, only following the commandments of God that will not directly contradict to their own will. As what Jesus Christ said, “You shall love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, with ALL your soul, with ALL your mind, and with ALL your strength” (Mark 12:30). Loving God is manifested through our devotion in keeping His commandments.

We live in a world similar to Noah’s. Noah did not find grace in the eyes of men but in the eyes of God. Instead of being influenced by the world around him, he chose to be influenced by the commandments of God. Will you live like Noah? Or will you eventually find yourself outside the ark? (JOSHUA INFANTADO)

We have often heard the motivating words of Jesus: “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Indeed, the field is ready for the harvest, and the Lord of the harvest wants you and me (everyone of us) out in the field. God wants us to take hold of the countless opportunities and challenges around us to bring Glory to the Lord of the harvest.

But, the church sometimes taken a lazy approach to reaching out to those who are searching for the deeper meaning of faith. There is an old story of a farmer who said lightning struck an old shed and saved him the trouble of tearing it down. Then it rained and saved him the chore of washing off his car too. When someone asked him what he was doing now, he replied, “I’m waiting for an earthquake to shake the potatoes out of the ground.” Unlike the farmer, the Church of Jesus Christ cannot afford to wait for an earthquake to shake the unchurched out of their hiding places and into the church.

We tend to associate evangelism mainly with the work of missionaries overseas. When I was younger I had this image in my mind of white North American missionaries bringing the Gospel to monkey-eating natives in the African jungle. Lately, I have come to see outreach more as talking to my neighbor across the fence, whose wife of many years passed away last spring.

Jesus has sent us out as His disciples among the people we meet in our daily lives. Although we do not always know where our journey with Christ will lead us, he gives us the gifts we need for the tasks ahead and enables us to be part of a great adventure – namely the coming of God’s kingdom. You and I, as disciples of Jesus Christ, are part of the mission to share the Good News of God’s Kingdom with others. We are privileged to be part of God’s way of turning the whole world upside down!

Someone said the following about taking risks: To laugh is to risk appearing the fool. To weep is to risk appearing sentimental. To reach out to another is to risk involvement. To expose feelings is to risk exposing our true self. To place your ideas and your dreams before the crowd is to risk loss. To love is to risk not being loved in return. To live is to risk dying. To hope is to risk despair. To try at all is to risk failure. But to risk we must, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. The man, the woman, who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.

As we strive to live as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, may we confess before God the greatest barrier that hinders our witness – namely apathy, that is, the lazy attitude of the farmer waiting for an earthquake. And may we be motivated by the passion and the sense of urgency that Jesus had for your and my salvation.
(FERDINAND FUNK)

Jesus invites all burdened individuals to come to Him for rest, yet so often we misunderstand what He is offering. When stresses and problems weigh us down, the most natural response is to ask God for relief: “Lord, I can’t carry this anymore. I’m going to leave it here with you.” Having dumped the burden like a bag of garbage, we walk away but remained unchanged inside.

God doesn’t operate that way. Christ’s invitation is to join Him in the yoke so you can walk and work together. He doesn’t want just your burden; He wants you! The yoke of Christ is a symbol of discipleship, characterized by submission and obedience to Him. God’s goal isn’t simply to give relief by removing a weighty trial or affliction; He longs to draw you to Himself in a close and trusting relationship. Those who take Him up on His offer will be transformed and won’t ever return to their old ways.

The process of lightening the load begins with learning to know and understand the Lord. The burden is not necessarily removed, but our thoughts and responses are changed as we begin to love Him, trust Him, believe His promises, and rely on His power. Then, as the weight of the affliction shifts from our shoulders to His, we will discover relief, although the situation may remain unchanged.

Being yoked with Christ results in rest for your soul. Life’s pressures may not lessen, but if you are intimately linked with Jesus, your soul is free from churning anxiety, and His peace is ruling in your heart. Jump into His yoke. You have nothing to lose—except your weariness—and much to gain.

Are you trying to bear your life burdens by yourself?

When was the last time you explicitly turned to Jesus in prayer and said something like this: “I am weary and have many burdens. My soul needs rest. I trust in You. Help me Jesus.” (CHARLES STANLEY)

Our faith, the Christian faith is not dependent on whether things are going well for us or hard. My faith doesn’t depend on whether crazy, amazing, powerful things are happening in my life or whether crazy, horrendous, awful things are happening. My faith should not be rocked if God doesn’t come through how and when I want. We need to learn stop looking at our circumstances to see if God loves us, to see if He’s good, to see if He’s true.

Faith looks not at visible circumstances but at the invisible God revealed in His Word – His character, His actions in history, His promises. Character: God is all-good and all-powerful and all-wise. We trust Him. Actions: God has orchestrated a big picture plan with twists and turns, and ups and downs, but moving to a good ending. Look at Hebrews 11: 39-40 – “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” He has a bigger plan. Promises: God has promised that this world is not all there is. There is an eternity ahead. “Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:17).

If God is working in your life through success – thank Him, enjoy it, and give Him all the glory. If God is working in your life through suffering – you can still thank Him, endure it, and give Him all the glory. I’m not saying you can’t lament or feel. In fact, it’s good to feel; we need to feel the sorrows of sin, the deeper we feel the sadness the higher we can feel the joy when it comes. “Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). Faith is not erased by those feelings of sadness. Real faith is not lost when disappointments come. Faith looks not at circumstances but at God’s character, actions, and promises.

Faith also doesn’t look at others. We can’t focus on our current situation or compare ourselves with other people’s stories. Here’s the thing: everybody, even if their lives look successful in some ways, will experience severe disappointments and suffering. Often the success is coupled with suffering. Think back to Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, and Samuel. Though they had great victories, if you read their stories carefully they also suffered great defeats and had heartache of varying degrees. I often tell people to be careful not to judge other people’s suffering or think that your suffering is unique and unmatched. We all will experience deep sorrow in this world, even if we also see great success.

The question is: what is your faith in? Is your faith dependent on present circumstance? If so, your faith will not last. Or is your faith in God’s Word? That is real faith. (NATHAN CARTER)