This should make you feel afraid, very afraid.

Ezekiel 1:15-28
What in the world is going on here? I imagine that Ezekiel might be thinking this himself as he sees this psychedelic vision.  We might wonder how to piece together what this vision looks like that he is describing but we should not miss the point of what he is describing. The God of Israel, the Covenant God of Israel is the God of the universe, the God who has created everything, the God that is the one true and all powerful God. This God cannot be thwarted by Babylon or any other earthly kingdom, nation or empire.
     Ezekiel will be compelled to take this God seriously and to serve Him fearfully. Yes this God has shown tremendous mercy, love and patience to the people of Israel but He is also just and powerful. He judges the disobedient and calls all to repentance. This should be a warning but also encouraging to us. The awesome, all powerful God of the universe loves us and cares about us but He also expects obedience from us. Will you take Him seriously? Will you take His word seriously? What steps to you need to take to do so?

Our God is more powerful and amazing than we think.

Ezekiel 1:1-14
Giving a "first take" on passages as we go through the book of Ezekiel is not going to be nearly as easy as going through the Gospel of Luke. Today we are looking at the beginning of the commissioning of Ezekiel for his ministry. We learn that he is already in exile, taken captive and forced to leave Jerusalem along with the former king Jahoiachin. As you might imagine these were pretty depressing times for the people of Israel. So where will they go as a people from here? Ezekiel will have a message of repentance which they will need to respond to. Will they finally repent or will they choose to live a life without the God of the universe?
     Despite the apparent hopelessness of their situation, these first few verses begin to describe the amazing power and glory that their God has. They have not been exiled because their God is week or incapable of helping. Their God is anything but these things. Ezekiel begins to see some of the true power of his God that will help motivate the message that he will bring to the people. How powerful to you believe your God is? Do you believe that He is larger than your circumstances? Do you believe He is in control? How might that belief affect the way you act or react to the things going on in your life? How can you evidence trust in an almighty, all powerful God?

Proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins. How you doing with that?

Luke 24:41-53

     After the initial shock value of realizing that Jesus was back and better than ever the Disciples might have been tempted to think that NOW He was going to destroy the Romans and physically rule on earth over His Kingdom. Jesus however, takes the Bible (Old Testament) and explains to them why everything had to happen the way that it did. Even the Old Testament is about Jesus. That must have been an amazing Small Group study!
     We might wish that we could have been in on this amazing teaching but the truth is that Jesus has given us this teaching. We've been reading it as we read the Gospel of Luke. The Gospels give us what Jesus taught the Disciples. We should take it as seriously as if Jesus Himself were sitting in our living room explaining it to us. Jesus explains to them what has happened and why. He also explains what should now happen.
     Because of all the amazing things that have happened Jesus is not going to overthrow the Romans, He is overthrowing the power of Satan and sin. John the Baptist preached repentance because salvation was coming, Jesus tells the Disciples to preach repentance because salvation is here.  He tells them to start right where they are and despite all of their misconceptions about who He was and why He came, they cant wait to get started, even though it will cost them their lives. Jesus lead them to salvation and asks them to lead others to Him as well. This starts with the call to repentance. Will you repent and follow Jesus? Will you call others to repent and follow Jesus? Jesus is not lost. Following Him is the only way to salvation. He has made a way for all who believe and calls us to follow his lead. Will you follow?

Jesus is Back, Do You Believe?

Luke 24:13-40

     Jesus is now amazing many with appearances here and there, showing up in sealed rooms out of nowhere and the like. Yesterday I spent some time talking about the confusion of His followers so I won't go there again today with respect to the Stranger on the Road to Emmaus but I will point out one thing from this scene. Did you notice how they finally recognized Him when He broke the bread? I wonder if it was His nail pierced hands? He's been explaining to them how everything fit into place and then they see who He really is. And then, before they can even share the moment with Him, He disappears.
     I can't even imagine what it must have been like when He then appeared to the Eleven. They probably don't fully understand yet at this point, but Jesus being alive is a good thing, a very good thing, especially a Jesus who can walk through walls. But Jesus is still flesh and bones. He chooses to carry the scars that some would see as grotesque and others as beautiful. Jesus asks them why they are troubled and have doubts? Why do we? Do you see His scars as beautiful? His scars are our price to freedom, our adoption price into the family of God. A price we couldn't pay if we had a million years. But Jesus paid it, and chooses to keep the marks. Jesus has never been lost, and others are starting to realize that now, how about you?

Do you really believe that Jesus rose from the dead?

Luke 24:1-12

     Just as Jesus said He would do, He rises from the dead three days after His death. Even though amazed, pretty much everyone seems to be confused. So far, in this passage anyway, no one has seen the living Jesus, just the absence of His body and they wonder what it all means. To us looking back, we wonder why they are all so dense. Why can't they seem to figure out what has been spelled out so clearly for them? Why don't they just immediately believe that Jesus has risen from the dead like He said He would?
     We so often forget that we have the Gospels written out for us will all the explanations we need. The writers are making comments along the way so that we get the point about what Jesus did, why He did it, and the impact it was going to have. But the characters in the story are living it in real time. They are taking all of what they had been taught before and with Jesus as well as all of the views of what they thought Jesus was going to be and trying to make sense of it all. Despite Jesus' warnings, the crucifixion had shattered their view of what they thought was going to happen. They are still hurt, scared, and confused.
     Are we really any better? We have all of the explanations and evidence of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and yet we live as though we are uncertain of what it all means. We don't really believe that Jesus has the power to help us or take care of us and so we try and take care of ourselves. We hold back what we have for ourselves instead of using it to spread the love and message of Jesus because deep down we don't really believe Jesus is serious about who He says He is and how He wants us to live. Just like so many in this story we create for ourselves a Jesus that we want to follow who is comfortable and who gives us what we want instead of the real Jesus. We create our own god. Every once in awhile Jesus rocks our world and we have to chose whether to believe Him and do what He says or chose to be rebellious and perhaps even self deceived. Jesus isn't lost, but we so often are. Look within yourself. Ask Jesus to show you who He really is, and be brave enough to believe and then follow the real Jesus.

Our Perfect and Permanent Bloody Sacrifice

Luke 23:44-56

     Jesus doesn't hate, or revile or curse but rather dies in such a way that when He finally breaths His last breath, and the deed is finally done, people realize that something wrong was done here. They go away uneasy and troubled. The centurion realized He was innocent. 
     Amazingly as Jesus commits His spirit to the Father, the curtain to the Holy of Holies is torn in two. An awesome symbolic gesture that points directly to what Jesus has just done on the cross. He has paid for our sins with the perfect and permanent sacrifice. At this point the world will no longer need to go through another bloody sacrifice or see a hight priest, because Jesus was their bloody sacrifice and is their Great High Priest. Now, to take care of your sin, you go directly to Jesus and the sacrifice He made for you. Jesus died but He isn't lost. 

Jesus Shows Us How to Die

Luke 23:26-43

     This section presents the actual crucifixion of Jesus. The words don't describe His pain, but they do His unending compassion. He responds to the women who are following His death march and crucifixion and also has time through the pain to save the criminal next to Him. But He can't be doing that good because the let someone else carry His cross to "the place that is called The Skull".
    At this point people are either morning or mocking. Some are bitter and feel tricked by this one who claimed to be the Christ, other are afraid, scared or tragically sorrowful about this strange chain of events. Still others are joyfully vindictive and are relishing in His apparent demise. Somehow, through all of this, Jesus is still without sin as His life painfully and embarrassingly slips away. Jesus shows us how to live and Jesus shows us how to die. We can learn from both and we can trust that Jesus, even in this, isn't lost.