January 8, 2013

                        "Then he asked them,  'But who do you say I am?'  Simon Peter
                         answered, 'you are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.'"        
                                                        Matthew 16:15-16 (NLT)
      

                Jesus got to the point.   “Who do you say that I am?”

               On the game show Family Feud, hosted by Steve Harvey, contestants are asked to guess how 100 people responded to various survey questions. On a 2012 episode, a contestant had to provide the top answers to the following survey question: "When someone mentions 'the King,' to whom might he or she be referring?" Here were the four top answers:

               81 people said "Elvis Presley"

               7 people said "God or Jesus"

               3 people said "Martin Luther King, Jr."

               2 people said "The Burger King"

               I often think that our childhood Christian Education, Christmas manger scenes, pageants, and children’s sermons get in the way of our really coming to know and follow the One in Whom all things hold together.     I know that it has taken me years to grasp and then dare to believe that Jesus is right now  the Lord of Universe.   I’ve had to work through my doubts, reductionistic teachings, the skepticism of others, and all the ways that we human beings devise ways to hold the reality of who Jesus is at arm’s length.

               Jesus asks each of us, “who do you say that I am?”   Can you honestly answer that Jesus is the currently reigning King of the Universe?    The very first statement of faith found in the New Testament is “Jesus is Lord”, which means “currently reigning King of the Universe”  The first believers believed exactly that and it was that faith that changed the western world forever.

                                                     Additional Covenant Partner Opportunities

            *Learn what the "Good News" is and how to explain it clearly and succinctly
                                              Life Cafe Wednesdays 7:00-8:30.  January 9, 16, 23, 30
            *A Beautiful Mess      A musical evening of fellowship following the journey of a
                                              lost child back home.  January 12, 7:00pm