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Exerting Eternal Influence

Just Be Faithful and Available to God

Getting Closer to Jesus: I would argue that Andrew is one of the most inspiring and important figures in the New Testament because of his simple, non-threatening, doable example of bringing lost people into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The cumulative effect, compounded through history, of his simple but winsome witness ranks him among the greatest in terms of exerting eternal influence.

Andrew didn’t have any special skills or advanced evangelism training; he just simply brought people to meet Jesus and then let Jesus do the rest.

Even though Andrew was the first disciple Jesus enlisted, and even though he was the first to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, he never achieved the fame that his brother Peter did. Jesus never included Andrew in his inner circle, like Peter. Andrew wasn’t there at the Transfiguration, like Peter. Andrew wasn’t there when Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, like Peter. Andrew never preached like Peter, never wrote a letter that got included in the New Testament, like Peter, and was never recognized as a key leader in the early church, like Peter.

Peter’s name appears close to 200 times in the New Testament, 96 times in the four gospels—only Jesus is mentioned more often. We find Andrew in only 11 different places, 10 of them in the Gospels—mostly in a list of the disciples, and 5 of those were as “Peter’s brother.” Only 3 times do these passages tell us any details about Andrew—and even that is minimal. Someone once asked a conductor what the most difficult instrument to play in the orchestra was. He said, “second fiddle.” That was Andrew!

Yet beneath everybody’s radar, Andrew was being used in the most powerful way of all—to bring people to Christ. Andrew not only brought Peter to Jesus, but in John 6:8, we find it was Andrew who brought the boy with the loaves and fish to Jesus, and then one of the outstanding miracles of the Bible took place: The feeding of the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish. On account of Andrew, we have a story preserved that has helped millions to understand that Jesus is the true and only Bread of Life. Then, in John 12:20, some Greeks came to Philip and said, “We want to see Jesus.” Philip took them to Andrew, and what did Andrew do? He hooked them up with Jesus.

Andrew became both the first home missionary—when he led Peter to Christ and the first foreign missionary—when he led these Gentiles to Jesus.

In Andrew, you don’t find any special skills, or an incredibly charismatic personality, or an extremely articulate speaker. You just found a guy who is faithful, available, and useful. He just kept bringing everybody who got near him to Jesus.

 

Tradition tells us that Andrew just kept on introducing people to Jesus for the rest of his life. He was finally put to death at a ripe old age in Greece. His death came after he befriended Maximilla, the wife of the Roman proconsul Aegeas, and led her to faith in Christ. Aegeas became so enraged over this that he ordered Andrew to offer sacrifices to a heathen god. When Andrew refused, he was severely beaten, tied to a cross, and crucified. That cross, shaped like an X is today called St. Andrew’s cross. It is said that he lingered for two whole days before dying, but the whole painful time, he preached the Gospel to everyone who came by. Andrew never stopped introducing people to Jesus, even to his last breath.

Every time Andrew is mentioned, he’s bringing someone to Jesus—then Jesus does the rest, and lives get transformed. His single talent seems to have been leveraging his earthly relationships to introduce seekers to eternal life through Christ. He doesn’t lay the “Four Spiritual Laws” on people; he doesn’t whip out a “Roman Road” tract on them. He just says, “Hey, come with me; I’ve got someone I want you to meet.”

That’s exerting eternal influence, which is as simple as inviting family, friends, and acquaintances into your spiritual environment—your church, your small group, your ministry team—and letting God do the rest.

Take the Next Step: Following Andrew’s example, exert some eternal influence this week by bringing someone to church with you.

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Grace and Truth

That Is What God Is

Getting Closer to Jesus: There is a cute story about a family who brought their newborn daughter home from the hospital for the first time. The mom was a little concerned how the baby’s 4-year-old sister—who had been the only child to that point—would handle this new addition to the family. So, mom and dad instructed “big sister” that she could be around the baby only when they were there, and that she had to be very loving and very gentle.

It wasn’t long after that mom walked by the baby’s room only to discover the sister hovering over the crib. Mom was alarmed, so she snuck up behind the little girl to see what was going on, and noticed she was gently stroking the baby’s hair with her hand and whispering, “Baby, can you tell me what God is like…I’ve forgotten.”

That’s one of the deepest cries of the human heart, you know: To know what God is like.

Bible teacher R.C. Sproul was once asked, “What, in your opinion, is the greatest need in the world today?” His answer was that people needed “to discover the identity of God.” He was then asked, “What is the greatest spiritual need in the lives of church people?” His answer was much the same: “To discover the true identity of God. If believers really understood the character and the personality of God, it would revolutionize their lives.”

The good news is that God has made himself knowable. He is not some unapproachable deity way out there in a galaxy far, far away. He is the God who is here, who is near, and who will reveal himself to those who long to know him.

Jesus, the one who knew the heart and nature of God better than anyone, taught us in the opening line of the Lord’s prayer to approach God as “Our Father in heaven,” which literally means, “Our Father, who is as close as the air we breathe.” Moses exclaimed in Deuteronomy 4:7. “What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him?”

What does God want us to know? He is near and he is knowable, that’s what. Furthermore, he has made himself knowable in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. And what do we know of God through Jesus? Primarily, God is the perfect blend of grace and truth!

Grace and truth are what Jesus perfectly modeled. Remember Jesus’s interaction in John 8 with the woman caught in the act of adultery who was about to be stoned? After embarrassing her executioners into inaction, he gently asked this guilty woman, “Where are your accusers? Has no one judged you guilty?”

She replied, “No one, Sir.”

At that, Jesus offered these grace-truth words that would utterly right this sinner’s upside-down life: “Then I don’t either. Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Behind this amazing display of grace and truth, as Walter Trobisch said, what we find is that Jesus “accepts us as we are but when he accepts us, we cannot remain as we are.” Jesus brings our sin to the surface, and when we acknowledge it by confession and repentance, he totally, graciously, and forever forgives it. The adulteress went away forgiven, with a new clean heart and a brand-new chance at life.

Only grace and truth can do that for sinners.

Becoming a Christian—not just in name only, but placing life-altering, radical trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior—is predicated upon forgiveness. God’s forgiveness of our sins is the pivot point of authentic faith. When we accept Jesus, Jesus accepts us—just as we are but when he accepts us, we cannot remain as we are. Jesus brings our sin to the surface, and when we acknowledge that sin by confession and repentance, he totally, graciously, and forever forgives it. That’s why, when you read the Gospels, prostitutes, publicans, and other big-time sinners responded to Jesus so readily. At some level, they recognized their sin. That was why forgiveness was so appealing to them—and still is!

What does the world need more than anything right now? What does your sinful next-door neighbor so desperately need? The same thing you need: God’s forgiveness! And when you meet Jesus, you meet God’s full forgiveness—given freely but costing you a changed life.

And when you meet Jesus, you meet God. And when you meet God, you get a whole lot of truth and a big dose of grace—and it completely revolutionizes your life.

Take the Next Step: As best as you can, examine your life from the point of view of those who know you best. Would they say that you are completely truthful but at the same time overflowing with grace? If not, offer your life to God today and, if you dare, ask him to do whatever it takes to make you more like him.

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An Offer You Shouldn’t Refuse

You Are a Fully Loved Child of God

Getting Closer to Jesus: What an unbelievable invitation the Apostle John is describing! Anyone who personally accepts Christ as Lord and Savior is granted the privilege of becoming a fully loved child of God—including all the authority and benefits of being fully included in God’s forever family. Now that is an invitation to which no other compares!

Because of statements like that, arguably, the Gospel of John is the best-loved of the four Gospels. John speaks from a closeness to Jesus that few have ever experienced—and it leaks through every line in his account of Jesus. There are more memorable verses in this Gospel than the others—John 3:16, for instance, the entire Bible is summed up in just one verse. Each chapter inexorable draws the truly interested and open-hearted seeker to desire Jesus more and more. It’s no wonder people love John’s clear and compelling story.

And what John is describing in this stunning invitation is nothing less than unfathomably profound! Think about the One who is really making this offer: It is none other than the eternal and exalted Christ himself. John describes him in the most eternal and lofty language possible in the opening lines of chapter one. Let me offer you this paraphrase (from the Living Bible) of how John sees Jesus:

Before anything else existed, there was Christ, with God. He has always been alive and is himself God. He created everything there is—nothing exists that he didn’t make. Eternal life is in him, and this life gives light to all mankind. His life is the light that shines through the darkness—and the darkness can never extinguish it. (John 1:1-3)

It was God himself, in the person of Jesus, who came into a world he created—a world that for the most part, not only missed the true consequence of his arrival but actively rejected it: “But although he made the world, the world didn’t recognize him when he came. Even in his own land and among his own people, the Jews, he was not accepted. Only a few would welcome and receive him” (John 1:10-12)

But here is the good news—and it is the best news you will hear today, or any day hereafter for that matter: “But to all who received him, he gave the right to become children of God. All they needed to do was to trust him to save them.” (John 1:12b)

What that means is that if you are trusting in Jesus Christ as your Savior (the only one who can forgive you and cleanse you from your sins), and have personally invited him to be the Lord of your life (the one to whom you have turned over control of your moment-by-moment life), then you have been given the right (authority given by God himself) to be made right with him, brought into his eternal family, given the gift of eternal life (John 3:16) and given the opportunity to walk in intimate relationship each and every day with the very Agent and Owner of Creation (the One who spoke everything into existence by his own breath for his eternal purpose and therefore has the sovereign right to rule over all of it and everything within it).

Wow! You matter to God that much; you are that important to him!

You have been invited into a close, personal fellowship with Jesus—the Designer, Creator, Ruler, and Sustainer of the universe. If you can begin to fathom what that means, it will absolutely blow your mind, in the best sense of the phrase.

The right to become a child of God—now that is an unbelievable invitation! I hope you will believe it—and live like God’s true children are meant to live.

Take the Next Step: Memorize John 1:12 in your favorite version. Each day this week, list a benefit of being a true child of God. Throughout the day, declare that to be true of you.

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How To Save Planet Earth

Let Your Little Light Shine

Getting Closer to Jesus: An insightful person pointed out that some people change their ways when they see the light, others only when they feel the heat.

First, some good news: God is in control. He has an unstoppable plan—and if you are a fully devoted follower of his Son, Jesus Christ, you are in the very center of that plan. Good things are in store for you. Hang on to that as you read on.

Now a dose of reality: Most people would agree that Planet Earth is in serious trouble; it is rapidly, steadily being engulfed in moral, cultural, and spiritual darkness. We don’t need a prophet of doom to tell us that; we are reminded of it every time we open our eyes. Ask the average man or woman on the street and they will tell you that humanity is headed in the wrong direction.

Obviously, this present world has a growing list of seemingly unsolvable needs—poverty, ignorance, climate upheaval, famine, disease, political instability, crime, violence, the threat of war, war, drug abuse, human trafficking, intolerance, religious persecution, the breakdown of the family, and on and on the list goes. Though these problems are nothing new to the world scene, there is now a sense of foreboding in both high officials and ordinary citizens around the globe that these problems are swallowing up any chance for progress toward civility and stability that we might have been moving toward at some point.

 

 

The writer of Judges prophetically summed up our twenty-first-century world in the last verse of his book when he wrote, “There was no controlling moral authority to govern people’s lives, so everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” (Judges 21:25) Unfortunately, in the day of the Judges, and in our day, “what was right,” with no presence of the “Controlling Moral Authority”, without fail produces moral, cultural, economic, and global chaos. Predictably, as Alexander Solzhenitsyn famously lamented, “Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.” Yes, what we see and sense today is what happens when humanity forgets God. In his famous Templeton Address, “Men Have Forgotten God”, Solzhenitsyn said

The failings of human consciousness, deprived of its divine dimension, have been a determining factor in all the major crimes of this century…Yet we have grown used to this kind of world; we even feel at home in it.

Don’t get used to it! Don’t ever feel at home in this present world. Don’t accept the growing darkness as inevitable. Why? The light that has come into this dark world, and while most reject the light for the growing darkness, you can live in that light and even be a reflector of that light in the darkened corner of the world in which you live.

Take the Next Step: The Apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 1:27, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Since Christ Jesus lives in you by his Holy Spirit, how about you let his light shine through your life in the darkened corner of the world to which he has assigned you? How? Re-read Matthew 5:1-16 where the Lord calls us to let our lights shine. I think you might come up with a few ways to turn on your high beams for Jesus.

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You Are Not Your Own—You Are Owned

Jesus Owns Every Square Inch and Every Split Second

Getting Closer to Jesus: Think for a moment about the significance of the words found in John 1:3: “Jesus created everything there is—nothing exists that he didn’t make.”

Now if you hold the Bible to be true—that it is God’s authentic, inspired, authoritative Word—then there is no more significant chapter in the Bible than John 1. And there are no words that have greater bearing on your life than what you find in verse 3.

“He created everything there is—nothing exists that he didn’t make.”

What does that mean for you simply, yet profoundly, this: You are not your own; you are owned. God created you, and as your Creator, he has a right to rule over you. You are not the god of your life. You are not the king of you. You have no rights of godship, no authority to sit on the throne of your kingdom, no grounds for demanding your way, getting what you want, fulfilling your wishes, achieving your dreams, or tickling your fancy.

Yes, you are owned. Therefore, self must be dethroned. Actually, it must be obliterated!

Since God created you, along with everything else that you see and don’t see, he therefore owns everything. Since he designed everything in the universe, then everything exists for his pleasure and his purpose. Moreover, John 1 tells us that since Jesus was with God from the beginning, and is God, and was the agent of creation, then he holds the deed of ownership over you. And that ownership is honored through his Lordship over your life. As Abraham Kuyper said,

There is not an inch of any sphere of life of which Jesus Christ the Lord does not say, ‘Mine.’

Now, the good news is that his ownership is not grievous or burdensome. God is no tyrant, even though he has every right to be. In fact, it is just the opposite with God: It is an ownership that is loving, generous, and gracious. John says this is clearly demonstrated in the life of Jesus, who came to earth in human form to reveal in living color the God who was previously revealed in his created order and by his written law (John 1:10-11) yet now is revealed as the God who is full of glory, grace and truth (John 1:14). Furthermore, to all who surrender and reorder their lives to God’s rightful ownership, he gives them the right to enter into a relationship with God in the same way that Jesus lived in relationship with God: as child with Father (John 1:12).

 

Yes, you are owned. And as self is dethroned, even obliterated, ownership becomes relationship. Then, through relationship, you will witness his glory, you will discover his truth and you will experience his grace. You will now be living in the loving care of the eternal Father as his dearly loved child.

Abraham Kuyper was right: “There is not an inch of any sphere of life of which Jesus Christ the Lord does not say, ‘Mine.’” If you claim Jesus as Lord of your life, then he holds the deed of ownership over you. And as you take steps to dethrone self and enthrone Jesus as your sole owner, you will personally and powerfully experience this beautiful reality declared throughout the Gospel of John: Light that can never be extinguished—the abundant life now and eternal life forever.

With that in mind, it is imperative that you realign everything about your life—words, relationships, thoughts, wishes, plans, actions, patterns—to the fact that Jesus is Lord of you. Everything else must become a distant second to that. Truly, since he created you, anything that doesn’t fall under his absolute Lordship over your life doesn’t deserve to exist at all. As William Barclay said,

The essence of Christianity is not the enthronement but the obliteration of self.

Obviously, you will need the help of the Holy Spirit to achieve complete surrender to his utter ownership—which is a subject that much of the rest of Scripture fleshes out. But as you take the step to dethrone self and enthrone Jesus as the owner of you, you will experience this beautiful reality of John’s Gospel: the light of life (John 8:12); a light that can never be extinguished—the abundant life now (John 10:10) and eternal life forever (John 3:16).

Take the Next Step: Perhaps you may want to join me in offering this heartfelt prayer, “Jesus, you are the rightful ruler of me. I surrender everything I am and trying to become to your Lordship. Take me over, clean me up, set me on a course that will only and always bring glory to you, and demonstrate your ownership of me to the world. I cannot do this on my own—obviously—so thank you for making this a reality by the same power that created me. In Jesus name, amen!”

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The Gospel of John

True from Start to Finish

Getting Closer to Jesus: This is your invitation to join me in a slow, deliberate walk through the Gospel of John in 2025.

The theme of John revolves around knowing Jesus—the most noble and fruitful pursuit in all of life! To know Jesus is eternal life—the abundant life as we walk this planet and life forever in the eternal world. The goal of this devotional journey in John will be to create an unquenchable thirst and a clear path for pursuing, knowing, and enjoying Jesus in a way that transforms every aspect of our lives, making us more useful for this world and more ready for the next.

 

There are several reasons I believe a thorough saturation in John’s Gospel will be a worthy pursuit:

  1. The Gospel of John, at the most fundamental level, is the Word of God. And the internal witness of the Bible promises us that a faithful reading and dilligent obedience of it will lead to wisdom and favor now and blessings for all eternity.
  2. The Gospel of John brings to us the most sustained and compelling portrait of the exalted Christ we will ever find. Andreas Köstenberger has written that “John’s Gospel, together with the Book of Romans, may well be considered the enduring ‘twin towers’ of [our] theology.”
  3. The Gospel of John was written by one who had arguably the most intimate relationship with Jesus of any human being in history. John self-identified as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” throughout his book. There is a depth of affection, friendship and intimacy in between this disciple and the Lord that is stunning—and inviting.
  4. The Gospel of John, read and grasped, will be a profitable challenge. For me, John is the most difficult Gospel to get my brain around on a holistic level, though I find individual verses and passages as some of the most meaningful and beautiful in Scripture. I am looking forward to mastering it—at least attempting to do so.
  5. The Gospel of John will satiate our hunger to know and follow Christ at a deeper level as well as, if not better, than any other devotional endeavor.

In what better way can we draw closer to Christ, made useful for this world and readied for the next than to give our best meditation and passionate worship to the glory of Christ that is revealed in the Gospel of John?

As the Apostle wrote in John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.” And we have been invited to immerse ourselves in his glory!

I am looking forward to this glorious journey—and I hope you will come with me!

Take the Next Step: If you haven’t already begun, get your favorite version of the Bible today and begin to slowly read the Gospel of John. The pacing I will use 2025 will take one to two weeks per chapter. If you are up for that, read deliberately and allow the beauty of this grand gospel to absorb into your very being.

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Just a Closer Walk

A Devotional Journey Through John’s Gospel in 2025

Getting Closer to Jesus: More than anything, we were created for an intimate relationship with God. Now, there are undoubtedly other things that will please God and bring glory to him through our lives, but nothing is more honoring to the Creator than to walk in a close, personal, and loving relationship with him.

According to the Bible, the only way that gets expressed is by knowing Jesus: by being in an all-consuming, life-altering journey that comes from persistently hanging out with Jesus as his devotee. The Apostle John, the one who knew and loved Jesus as much as any human being ever, said this was, in itself, eternal life.

Acts 4:13 shows us the inevitable outcome of being in that kind of intimate, persistent, loving relationship: “When the Jewish council saw Peter and John’s courage and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”

Peter and John had simply “been with Jesus” until they looked and acted increasingly like him—they had assumed his mindset, absorbed his characteristics, and expressed his behavior. They had hung out so intensely with Jesus that they had absorbed him to the point they were now exuding him without even thinking about it. They had been transformed through that relationship and conformed to that relationship!

That is what you and I were created to experience: A relationship with Jesus whereby his life gets transmitted to us and through us so that we begin to communicate the infectious DNA of Jesus Christ.

You may not have a religious pedigree or be well-versed in theology. You may not be naturally winsome, or articulate, or even all that likeable. Your “cool factor” may be pretty much non-existent. Maybe you lack more than you have. That doesn’t matter! What you do have trumps all you don’t have: You have every possibility that Peter and John had to “be with Jesus”.

That is the greatest goal you can have—that at the end of the day, the only thing people can do with you is to take note that you have been with Jesus. They may not like you or be impressed with you, and they may wish you would just go away. But when it is all said and done, all they can do with you is to admit, “Obviously, you have been hanging out with Jesus!”

Make that your goal today. And then start hanging with Jesus. Pure and simple—that is eternal life!

You were made for that! The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:29, “From the beginning God decided that those who came to Him should become like His Son.” That is God’s inexorable plan: to make you like Jesus! He is orchestrating everything in your life right now for that purpose—circumstances, disappointments, temptations, opportunities, blessings. At this very moment, God is leveraging heaven’s resources to conform your character to Christ’s. That ought to give you confidence. As A.W. Tozer noted,

When I understand that everything happening to me is to make me more Christlike, it resolves a great deal of anxiety.

So your journey into Christlikeness is not all up to you! God is rearranging heaven and moving earth to give you the opportunity to be with Jesus—and to become like Jesus.

Yet divine transformation needs human collaboration. In a way, being with Jesus is on you! It is not just a mindset or a good intention. It is an intentional posture. As much as anything, to get intentional with your growth toward Christlikeness will require of you the daily practice of being with Jesus.

I would simply suggest that each day—and throughout the day—you literally invite Jesus to join you in what is in front of you. Literally ask Jesus, “How would you handle this situation? What do you think about this opportunity? What should I do about this challenge? How would you respond to this person?” Just practice being with Jesus in the ordinary moments of your daily life.

To get practical with this, think about it this way: If you were to literally spend time with Jesus, what three attributes, attitudes, and or actions would you witness in him? Here is what I think Jesus would be doing on any one of his ordinary days:

  1. Jesus would be unbendingly truthful yet incredibly gracious with people.
  2. Jesus would serve people—especially those we would consider the least worthy of his service.
  3. Jesus, even when he was treated unfairly, would never retaliate; he would only offer love and grace in return.

Gracious, serving, forgiving—there are thousands of descriptives I could come up with—you too. So take a moment and write down the first three qualities of Jesus that come to your mind. Then your assignment this week will be to intentionally hang out with Jesus, consciously and consistently doing those three things you wrote down that you believe Jesus would do. Give that your best shot, and most likely, you will look a little more like Christ by this time next week!

And maybe people will take note that you have been with Jesus.

Take the Next Step: There are several spiritual disciplines that are obvious and essential to being with and becoming like Jesus: Consistent quiet times, Bible reading, Scripture memory, prayer, and church attendance. I can’t encourage you enough to commit to those spiritual routines! One of the things I will be doing in 2025—and I would like to invite you to join me—is to slowly and intentionally read through the writings of the Apostle John, the one who knew and loved Jesus as much as anyone. So, start with me on January 1 in the Gospel of John, and let the journey toward Christlikeness begin.