Part Two: Making Jesus Simple
- Written by Gary Piper Admin/Co-Owner
The Reality of Jesus…
Written by Gary Piper
*All scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (registered). Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
There is no greater need in the world today than to know that Jesus Christ is real. One can read all the books ever written, all the testimonies ever spoken and never really know him. In this regards Jesus is much like you and I, someone can look us up in the phone book, see our picture in an old year book or somewhere else and know we exist and never know what we're about.
The simplicity of Jesus is shrouded in his reality and our perception of that reality. Author, Arthur Oakman in his book "He Who Is" (published in 1963 by Herald Publishing House, Independence, Mo.) wrote, "If we believe in God at all, what we believe about him matters more than anything else which goes to make up our lives. To believe in God falsely conceived may very easily be worse than to disbelieve him altogether. For we become like the thing we worship." We could, for our purpose here substitute Jesus Christ for God and rewrite Mr. Oakman thus, "If we believe in Jesus Christ at all, what we believe about him matters more than anything else which goes to make up our lives. To believe in Jesus Christ falsely conceived may very easily be worse than to disbelieve him altogether. For we become like the thing we worship."
Making Jesus Simple Part Three
- Written by Gary Piper Admin/Co-Owner
Part Three: The Mission of Jesus…
Written by Gary Piper
Scripture quotations marked ESV "Are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."
Every journey has a destination. It does not matter if you are Jesus, or you are a chicken. Jesus' destination was twofold first the cross then the Father. A chicken's destination is the get to other side of the road. As Jesus journeyed toward his ultimate destination he chose to take a few detours. He could have gone straight from his baptism to Jerusalem, insult the Jewish hierarchy be sentenced to die and be executed on the cross thus reaching his final destination. Instead his journey took on a added dimension, it took on a mission.
Before moving on let's go back to the chicken. If you remember the question, "Why did the chicken cross the road," then you remember the answer, "To get to the other side." Some people are like that they journey toward a destination doing whatever it takes to get to the "other side of the road". Here's an example for you. Chicken A begins crossing the road and get injured and is unable to move. Chicken B begins crossing the road after a short distance he sees chicken A lying in the road. Since Chicken B's only mission it to get to the other side he sees Chicken A as an obstacle and goes around him. Sometimes the journey of success is like that. Aren’t you glad Jesus wasn’t a chicken? Are you a chicken?
