Friday, June 11, 2010

Where is Jesus?

You can’t read Luke 24:15-16 without having a sense of sadness came over you. How can anyone walk visibly with the risen Lord for miles and not recognize Him? That was the case with Cleopas and his friend on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24. They had the Lord’s full, uninterrupted attention for miles, and they squandered it because they didn’t recognize Him.
Jesus was clear that we have an advantage these two don’t (Jn 16:7). How can we go through our day and not recognize the presence of Jesus? I wonder how often Jesus manifests Himself in our days, showing up in the ordinary, giving us His full uninterrupted attention, and we are kept from recognizing Him?

If you know Christ, He is with you right now as you are reading this. Jesus is right there in your cubicle, right there in your office, right there in your car as you are reading this on your PDA (by the way, put that thing down and read the rest of this when you get to your destination), right there as the kids are screaming about how hungry they are for dinner, right there in Peets as you are reading this. (Maybe not at Starbucks…Jesus loves Peets Coffee & Tea much more.)

And He’s right there when you pay bills and wonder how you will ever make ends meet, He’s right there when you walk your neighborhood and pray over every house on your street and wonder if anyone will ever be transformed by His love through you, He’s right there in the doctor’s office when you receive your diagnosis, He’s right there when you look at that negative pregnancy test…again, He’s right there when your child shows no indication of wanting to walk with the Lord, He’s right there when you look in the mirror and wonder what’s wrong with you and why you can’t be married.

The presence of Jesus changes everything…always has and always will! May His presence miraculously make all the difference in and through you and your world today.

This weekend we will celebrate the presence of the Lord in wonderful ways as we commission groups of individuals who are following the Lamb wherever He goes (Rev 14:4). We will welcome 19 interns from all over the world who are coming to invest their lives through PCC this summer. We will commission 26 parents and kids disguised as missionaries as they launch for the Mexico Family Mission Trip this summer. We will also welcome Mossai Sanguma, President of the Covenant Church in the Congo and hear of what God is doing in the Congo. We will reflect on all 48 verses of Jonah, recapping the lessons God gave us these past four weeks. Please ponder How God has spoken to you these past four weeks and come prepared to encourage the Body by sharing the lessons.

I look forward to this Sunday together. Best of all, Jesus himself will gather with us and draw worship out of us. His presence will make all the difference.