Zach Zehnder's Blog, page 19

All 305 Questions Jesus Asked with 4 Fascinating Discoveries

I’m not the best listener. A couple of years ago, my extended family, for some odd reason, voted on who the worst listener in our family was. Somehow, I won the crown. Jokingly, when they told me this, I said, “What did you say? I wasn’t really listening.” And while it was done in an informal, casual, funny way, I haven’t forgotten that moment. And, even if it’s just a little bit true (which I’m sure it is), I don’t like that about me.

As we are at the forefront of a new year, I’m on a journey to see if I can become a better listener. Unlike some other goals or resolutions, it feels harder to measure. But one thing I’ve learned on this new journey is that a good listener asks good questions. So, if I want to be a better listener, I need to learn to ask better questions.

How do we grow in the art of asking better questions? 

As a disciple of Jesus, there is no one I try to pattern after more than Jesus. So, I did what I knew was best: I literally found and recorded all the questions Jesus ever asked. There were 305 of them, and for your sake, you can find them all listed at the bottom of this blog. As I reviewed all 305 questions, I discovered 4 fascinating truths about Jesus’s questions.

As you read through my quick insights, feel free to comment below on what insights you would add about Jesus’s questions. After all, I’m listening! And your insight might just help me on my journey to be a better listener, which I’m sure my family would love! 

 

1. Jesus asked curiosity questions.

Carey Nieuwhof has interviewed more than 500 people on his podcast. From my estimation, he has crafted the art behind asking great questions. He says, “Curiosity is your best friend as a leader. So when you’re interviewing, act more like a 6-year-old than a 36-year-old.”

The two best questions to ask if you are curious:

“How…”

“Why…”

Altogether, about 80 of the questions that Jesus asked are “how” and “why” questions. He asked questions like “Why do you doubt?” and “Why are you thinking these things?”

Great leaders remain curious. They want to know how and why things work, understand how and why people are the way they are, etc. What stands out to me even more, though, is that Jesus was not only fully man but also fully God. Jesus was omniscient, all-knowing. So, in one sense, Jesus didn’t have to ask curiosity questions. He already knew everything! And yet, He still did!

Why did he do this?

To help us grow in our faith. Some would argue that questions are opposed to faith, but I think it’s fairer to say that our faith and questions together form a powerful pair. Our faith grows more in uncertainty, doubt, and trying times than it does when everything is in perfect order. Jesus asking questions of curiosity allowed His listeners to wrestle with their faith.

 

2. Jesus asked open-ended questions.

As you scroll through the questions that Jesus asked, there aren’t many that could have a “Yes” or “No” answer. They go beyond the superficial “How are you doing” and “What do you do” questions that we typically start with.

On numerous occasions, Jesus would ask questions like “What do you want?” and “Why do you call me good?” These are questions that require the person to honestly think before responding. They likely can’t be answered quickly.

One of the things that prevent so many of us from asking good questions is that it feels like we are too hurried. If we ask open-ended questions and are genuinely interested in their answers, this means we need to have time for people.

Jesus, who had the most critical responsibility and task of anyone to ever walk this planet, was able to spend time going deep with family, friends, and sometimes even strangers. Do you have the time to do this?

 

3. Jesus asked challenging questions.

The heart of the Gospel is an invitation to be in a life-giving real relationship with God. This relationship includes the opportunity to follow Him daily, right here and now. As Jesus was announcing the Good News through preaching, teaching, and healing, He was unafraid to issue challenging questions to His followers and those listening.

Questions like “Will you really lay down your life for me?” and “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world but forfeit his soul?”

The invitation to follow after Jesus is the most incredible opportunity any of us will ever have. It is a life filled with significance, meaning, and purpose. But, to truly live out the faith that Jesus is inviting us into will require a substantial cost. To do anything of significance comes with significant challenges, and following Jesus is no exception.

As a pastor, I often wonder how much growth the church loses out on simply because we don’t ask or challenge our people enough. I think most pastors are skilled at proclaiming the justification of Jesus, but far fewer are skilled at challenging their people towards a life of holiness. It’s good to ask someone to believe in Jesus, but it’s deeper and more challenging to ask someone to follow Jesus.

Amazingly, only once in Matthew, Mark, and Luke does Jesus ask a question with the word “believe” in it. Of course, we should never abandon the invitation to believe in Jesus, but we certainly should frequently be challenging our people to truly follow Jesus.

 

4. Jesus didn’t ask when questions…ever.

We ask a lot of “when” questions.

“When will I find a spouse?”

“When will we have a child?”

“When will I get my dream job?” 

“When will the pandemic be over?”

“When will the Cleveland Browns win a Super Bowl?”

“When will Jesus come back?”

I think that Jesus will be back before the Browns ever win!

Amazingly, not once, in all the 305 questions that Jesus asked, does Jesus ask a “when” question. So think about that, in everything we know that Jesus said, He never asks “when.”

While you will find the word “when” in 11 of His questions, never was “when” the question’s emphasis. For instance, Mark 22:35 says, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?” Though the word “when” is in the question, the question’s emphasis is “did you lack anything?”

What could all of this mean?

Maybe “when” you live with an eternal framework as Jesus did, the “when” questions just aren’t as important. The more you have certainty and confidence in who Jesus is and the promises He declared, the less critical our “when” questions are. All of the “when” questions we ask may feel important at the time, and I don’t mean to trivialize what we go through in this life, but “when” you already know the outcome, you don’t need to live with worry. God is in control. More important to Jesus than when things happen is who we are following and how we are growing.

I hope that helps. Without further ado, here are the 305 questions that Jesus asks. Which one sticks out to you, and why?

Matthew:

1.   5:13 But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?

2.   5:46: If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?

3.   5:46: Are not even the tax collectors doing that?

4.   5:47: And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others?

5.   5:47: Do not even pagans do that?

6.   6:25: Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?

7.   6:26: Are you not much more valuable than they?

8.   6:27: Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

9.   6:28: Why do you worry about clothes?

10.   6:30: If this is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

11.   7:3: Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

12.   7:4: How can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?

13.   7:9: Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?

14.   7:10: Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?

15.   7:16: Do people pick grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?

16.   8:26: You of little faith, why are you so afraid?

17.   9:4: Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?

18.   9:5: Which is easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Get up and walk”?

19.   9:15: How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them?

20.   9:28: Do you believe that I am able to do this?

21.   10:29: Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?

22.   11:7: What did you go out into the desert to see?

23.   11:7: A reed swayed by the wind?

24.   11:8: If not, what did you go out to see?

25.   11:8: A man dressed in fine clothes?

26.   11:9: Then what did you go out to see?

27.   11:10: A prophet?

28.   11:16: To what can I compare this generation?

29.   11:23: And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies?

30.   12:3: Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?

31.   12:5: Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent?

32.   12:11: If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?

33.   12:26: If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?

34.   12:27: And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out?

35.   12:29: Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man?

36.   12:34: You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good?

37.   12:48: Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?

38.   13:51: Have you understood all these things?

39.   14:31: You of little faith, why did you doubt?

40.   15:3: And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?

41.   15:16: Are you still so dull?

42.   15:17: Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body?

43.   15:34: How many loaves do you have?

44.   16:8: You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread?

45.   16:9: Do you still not understand?

46.   16:9: Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?

47.   16:10: Of the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?

48.   16:11: How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread?

49.   16:13: Who do people say the Son of Man is?

50.   16:15: But what about you?

51.   16:15: Who do you say I am?

52.   16:26: What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?

53.   16:26: Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

54.   17;17: O unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I stay with you?

55.   17:17: How long shall I put up with you?

56.   17:25: What do you think, Simon?

57.   17:25: From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own sons or from others?

58.   18:12: What do you think?

59.   18:13: If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go look for the one that wandered off?

60.   19:4: Haven’t you read that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female, and said, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh”?

61.   19:17: Why do you ask me about what is good?

62.   20:21: What is it you want?

63.   20:22: Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?

64.   20:32: What do you want me to do for you?

65.   21:16: Have you never read, “From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise”?

66.   21:25: John’s baptism—where did it come from?

67.   21:25: Was it from heaven, or from men?

68.   21:28: What do you think?

69.   21:31: Which of the two did what his father wanted?

70.   21:40: When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?

71.   21:42: Have you never read in the Scriptures: “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes”?

72.   22:18: You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?

73.   22:20: Whose portrait is this?

74.   22:20: And whose inscription?

75.   22:31-32: Have you not read what God said to you, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”?

76.   22:42: What do you think about the Christ?

77.   22:42: Whose son is he?

78.   22:43: How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him “Lord”?

79.   22:45: If then David calls him, “Lord,” how can he be his son?

80.   23:17: Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?

81.   23:19: Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?

82.   23:33: How will you escape being condemned to hell?

83.   24:2: Do you see all these things?

84.   24:45: Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time?

85.   26:10: Why are you bothering this woman?

86.   26:40: Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?

87.   26:45: Are you still sleeping and resting?

88.   26:53: Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?

89.   26:54: But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?

90.   26:55: Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me?

91.   27:46: Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Mark

92.  2:8: Why are you thinking these things?

93.  2:9: Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Get up, take your mat and walk?”

94.  2:19: How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?

95.  2:25: Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?

96.  3:4: Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?

97.  3:23: How can Satan drive out Satan?

98.  4:13: Don’t you understand this parable?

99.  4:13: How then will you understand any parable?

100. 4:21: Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed?

101. 4:21: Instead, don’t you put it on its stand?

102. 4:30: What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it?

103. 4:40: Why are you so afraid?

104. 4:40: Do you still have no faith?

105. 5:9: What is your name?

106. 5:30: Who touched my clothes?

107. 5:39: Why all this commotion and wailing?

108. 6:38: How many loaves do you have?

109. 7:18: Are you so dull?

110. 7:18: Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them?

111. 8:5: How many loaves do you have?

112. 8:12: Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign?

113. 8:17: Why are you talking about having no bread?

114. 8:17: Do you still not see or understand?

115. 8:17: Are your hearts hardened?

116. 8:18: Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?

117. 8:18: And don’t you remember?

118. 8:19: When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?

119. 8:20: And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?

120. 8:21: Do you still not understand?

121. 8:23: Do you see anything?

122. 8:27: Who do people say I am?

123. 8:29: But what about you?

124. 8:29: Who do you say I am?

125. 8:36: What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?

126. 8:37: Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

127. 9:12: Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected?

128: 9:16: What are you arguing with them about?

129: 9:19: How long shall I stay with you?

130: 9:19: How long shall I put up with you?

131: 9:21: How long has he been like this?

132. 9:23: If you can?

133. 9:33: What were you arguing about on the road?

134. 9:50: Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again?

135. 10:3: What did Moses command you?

136. 10:18: Why do you call me good?

137: 10:36: What do you want me to do for you?

138: 10:38: Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?

139: 10:51: What do you want me to do for you?

140. 11:17: Is it not written: “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations?”

141. 11:30: John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or from men?

142. 12:9: What then will the owner of the vineyard do?

143. 12:10-11: Haven’t you read this scripture: “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes?”

144. 12:15: Why are you trying to trap me?

145. 12:16: Whose portrait is this?

146. 12:16: And whose inscription?

147. 12:24: Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures of the power of God?

148. 12:26: Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?”

149. 12:35: How is it that the teachers of the law say that the Christ is the son of David?

150. 12:37: How then can be his son?

151. 13:2: Do you see all these great buildings?

152. 14:6: Why are you bothering her?

153. 14:14: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?

154. 14:37: Simon, are you asleep?

155. 14:37: Could you not keep watch for one hour?

156. 14:41: Are you still sleeping and resting?

157. 14:48: Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me?

158. 15:35: Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani–which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Luke

159. 2:49: Why were you searching for me?

160. 2:49: Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?

161. 5:22: Why are you thinking these things in your heart?

162. 5:23: Which is easier: to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Get up and walk?”

163. 5:34: Can you make the bridegroom fast while he is with them?

164. 6:3: Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?

165. 6:9: I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?

166. 6:32: If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?

167. 6:33: And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you?

168. 6:34: And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you?

169. 6:39: Can a blind man lead a blind man?

170. 6:39: Will they not both fall into a pit?

171. 6:41: Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

172. 6:42: How can you say to your brother, “Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,” when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye?

173. 6:46: Why do you call me “Lord, Lord,” and not do what I say?

174. 7:24: What did you go out into the desert to see?

175. 7:24: A reed swayed by the wind?

176. 7:25: If not, what did you go out to see?

177. 7:25: A man dressed in fine clothes?

178. 7:26: But what did you go out to see?

179. 7:26: A prophet?

180. 7:31: To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation?

181. 7:31: What are they like?

182. 7:42: Now, which of them will love him more?

183. 7:44: Do you see this woman?

184. 8:25: Where is your faith?

185. 8:30: What is your name?

186. 8:45: Who touched me?

187. 9:18: Who do the crowds say I am?

188. 9:20: But what about you?

189. 9:20: Who do you say I am?

190. 9:25: What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?

191. 9:41: How long shall I stay with you and put up with you?

192. 10:15: And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies?

193. 10:26: What is written in the Law?

194. 10:26: How do you read it?

195. 10:36: Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?

196. 11:11: Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?

197. 11:12: Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?

198. 11:18: If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand?

199. 11:19: Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers drive them out?

200. 11:40: Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also?

201. 12:6: Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?

202. 12:14: Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?

203. 12:20: Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?

204. 12:25: Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?

205. 12:26: Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

206. 12:42: Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time?

207. 12:51: Do you think I came to bring peace on earth?

208. 12:56: How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?

209. 12:57: Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?

210. 13:2: Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?

211. 13:4: Do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?

212. 13:7: Why should it use up the soil?

213. 13:15: Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water?

214. 13:16: Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?

215. 13:18: What is the kingdom of God like?

216. 13:18: What shall I compare it to?

217. 13:20: What shall I compare the kingdom of God to?

218. 14:3: Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?

219. 14:5: If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?

220. 14:28: Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?

221. 14:31: Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?

222. 14:34: Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?

223. 15:4: Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?

224. 15:8: Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?

225. 16:11: If you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?

226. 16:12: If you have not been trustworthy in with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

227. 17:7: Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, “Come along now and sit down to eat?”

228. 17:8: Would he not rather say, “Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me, while I eat and drink?

229. 17:9: Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?

230. 17:17: Were not all ten cleansed?

231. 17:17: Where are the other nine?

232. 17:18: Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?

233. 18:7: And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night?

234: 18:7: Will he keep putting them off?

235: 18:8: Will he find faith on the earth?

236: 18:19: Why do you call me good?

237: 18:41: What do you want me to do for you?

238: 20:4: John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or from men?

239: 20:15: What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?

240. 20:17: Then what is the meaning of that which is written: “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone?”

241. 20:24: Whose portrait and inscription are on it?

242. 20:41: How is it that they say the Christ is the Son of David?

243. 20:44: How then can he be his son?

244. 22:11: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?

245. 22:27: For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves?

246. 22:27: Is it not the one who is at the table?

247. 22:35: When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?

248. 22:46: Why are you sleeping?

249. 22:48: Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?

250. 22:52: Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs?

251. 23:31: For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?

252. 24:17: What are you discussing together as you walk along?

253. 24:19: What things?

254. 24:38: Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your minds?

255. 24:41: Do you have anything here to eat?

John

256. 1:38: What do you want?

257. 2:4: Dear woman, why do you involve me?

258. 3:10: Do you not understand these things?

259. 3:12: How then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?

260. 4:7: Will you give me a drink?

261. 4:35: Do you not say, “Four months more and then the harvest?”

262. 5:6: Do you want to get well?

263. 5:44: How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?

264. 5:47: How are you going to believe what I say?

265. 6:5: Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?

266. 6:61: Does this offend you?

267. 6:67: You do not want to leave too, do you?

268. 6:70: Have I not chosen you, the Twelve?

269. 7:19: Has not Moses given you the law?

270. 7:19: Why are you trying to kill me?

271. 7:23: Why are you angry with me for healing the whole man on the Sabbath?

272. 8:10: Women, where are they?

273. 8:43: Why is my language not clear to you?

274. 8:46: Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?

275. 8:46: If I am telling you the truth, why don’t you believe me?

276. 9:35: Do you believe in the Son of Man?

277. 10:32: For which of these do you stone me?

278. 10:34: Is it not written in your Law, “I have said you are gods?”

279. 10:36: What about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world?

280. 10:36: Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, “I am God’s Son?”

281. 11:9: Are there not twelve hours of daylight?

282. 11:26: Do you believe this?

283. 11:34: Where have you laid him?

284. 11:40: Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?

285. 12:27: Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say?

286. 12:27: Father, save me from this hour?

287. 13:12: Do you understand what I have done for you?

288. 13:38: Will you really lay down your life for me?

289. 14:9: Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time?

290. 14:10: Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?

291. 16:5: Where are you going?

292. 16:19: Are you asking another what I meant when I said, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me?”

293. 18:4: Who is it you want?

294. 18:7: Who is it you want?

295. 18:11: Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?

296. 18:21: Why question me?

297. 18:23: But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?

298. 18:34: Is that your own idea or did others talk to you about me?

299. 20:15: Woman, why are you crying?

300: 20:15: Who is it you are looking for?

301. 21:5: Friends, haven’t you any fish?

302. 21:15: Do you truly love me more than these?

303: 21:16: Do you truly love me?

304. 21:17: Do you love me?

305. 21:22: If I want him to remain alive until l return, what is that to you?

The following are questions that Jesus speaks, but He quotes from others. Therefore, I have not included them in His original questions.

Matthew 6:30, 7:22, 13:27, 18:33, 20:6, 20:13, 20:15, 22:12, 25;26, 25:37, 25:38, 25:39, 25;44

Mark 11:3

Luke 12:17, 16:2, 16:3, 16:5, 16:7, 19:22, 19:23, 19:31, 20:13,

Scripture is taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

The post All 305 Questions Jesus Asked with 4 Fascinating Discoveries appeared first on Red Letter Living.

End Racism – 6 Biblical Steps to Pursue Racial Reconciliation

On August 28, 1963, ten speakers took the stage to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. The last speaker, Martin Luther King, Jr., had prepared an 11-minute speech to close the day. The crowd of 250,000 people had been there for hours already. Even though the last time slot is, in many respects, the worst one to have, King Jr., delivered a speech that would forever change the world. 

Upon taking the stage, King Jr. realized that the crowd hadn’t experienced an “aha” moment yet. While progress in race relations over the previous 100 years presented a reason to celebrate, the reality is that the fight for equality amongst races was nowhere near completed.

As King Jr. took the stage, he slid his prepared speech to the left side of the lectern and delivered a 17-minute speech that is arguably the GSOAT: Greatest Speech of All Time.

He spoke of a dream that all men and women would be equals and that racism would no longer exist. Ultimately, he hoped that as all people would come together as one, the glory of the Lord would shine brighter than ever. To read the entire “I Have a Dream Speech,” go here.

Almost 60 years later, as we celebrate and honor the life of this extraordinary disciple and leader, we still stand at a crossroads. Things are not as they ought to be. Racism still exists. All are not treated equally.

In 2022, it’s time for all of God’s children, white, black, brown, red, and yellow, to make peace and pursue reconciliation. To stop this injustice and put an end to racism. At the heart of the Gospel is the fact that Jesus reconciled us broken, sinful people back into a right relationship with God the Father. We who have received the peace of God now must give it away to others and give it away in droves.

How many more people do we need to lose? How much longer will we wait? When will we fight against the injustice of racism? How do we even do this?

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Matthew 5:9

He also said these words in His most famous sermon, and it’s time we put these words into action. Remember, Jesus didn’t just say this phrase and expect it to fall on deaf ears. No, he closed this famous sermon with these words: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Matthew 7:24

The words of Jesus are to be heard and followed.

Therefore, the children of God are called not just to keep the peace but to make peace with one another.

Many of us want to help, but we’re unsure what to do. When we are uncertain of what to do, it’s essential to gain wisdom from God. The great news is that when we ask Him for wisdom, He gives it to us. 

The central place to gain wisdom is in God’s Word.

Thankfully, God’s Word isn’t silent on this topic. There are six critical steps that we can take to pursue racial reconciliation, and I believe the order of these 6 are essential and intentional.

 

Pray

The first step we can take is to pray.

Some people say that you should do more than pray. You should speak. You should act. And they are correct. But, true reconciliation has to start with prayer. Prayer matters.

2 Chronicles 7:14 says this: “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

The reason why this step is first is because we need help from heaven. We need God to show up. If we try to make peace with others without personally being changed on the inside and hearing from God, our efforts will be futile. We cannot do this alone.

So how can you start to pursue racial reconciliation?

You can pray. 

Pray for those who are hurting.Pray for those in leadership to make wise decisions. Pray for compassion. Pray for justice. Pray for those who suffer unjustly and for those who protect us bravely. Pray for the victims and for those who serve. Pray for opportunities to use your voice and to act. Pray for unity in the body of Christ. Pray that God would reveal to you how you can help make peace.

 

Every injustice in this world, including racism, is a spiritual problem. Racism is not primarily a political issue. It is a spiritual issue. We battle not against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities of this dark world. Prayer is not our last line of defense; it is our first line of offense. It ought not to be a last resort but a first response.

A lot of us want to make a difference in this world. Typically, we will talk about all of the things we can do. But the truth of the matter is that God is far more powerful than you. God can do more in one second than you can do in your entire lifetime. In light of that, what you should be praying for, and focusing on, is allowing God to move mightily and making room for the Holy Spirit to move powerfully.

And because of this reality, biblically speaking, the biggest difference you can make in this world is not by things that you do but by prayers that you pray. 

After you pray and invite God into the situation, here’s a second step.

 

Listen

When injustice is seen, it creates emotions in us. And we want to do something. And we want to say something. But before we move to those steps, it’s essential to listen.

Solomon, the wisest man in the world in the Old Testament, said this in Proverbs 18:13:

“To answer before listening— that is folly and shame.”

If I were to hold a Coca-Cola bottle up and show it to you, we would see different things.

If you see “Coca-Cola,” on your side, then on my side I would see all the nutrition facts showing me all the reasons I shouldn’t be drinking this stuff!

This simple illustration tells us that two people can be looking at the same thing but seeing it completely differently. And until everyone walks to the other side to see how the other sees it, we will continue to be at odds with one another.

When someone is hurting and crying out, it is our responsibility to understand why they are hurting and crying. When Mary Magdalene couldn’t find the body of Jesus, she was crying, and before doing anything, Jesus came beside her and said these four words, “Why are you crying?”

That powerful question gives a person the opportunity to speak about what is going on in their story. I have found this practice to be so helpful. To have someone else share their story with me has helped me see the waters I swim in that much more clearly.

Walking to the other side is vital for everyone, but it’s God’s children, the ones who have received God’s grace, that must take the first step. God took the first step in reconciling us back to Him.

Thank God that Jesus took the first step and walked to your side, and came into your life. Where would you be without Him taking those steps in your life?

In our day, we have the option to listen to just about anything or anyone. Of course, we ought to listen to a wide variety of people, but the best form of listening we can do is with an actual real person who is different from us. With all of the injustice in the world right now, you can become easily overwhelmed or desensitized. But when you have a real relationship with someone different than you, you gain a much greater understanding. Problems become real when on the other side of the problem is a person you know.

In our effort to “walk to the other side,” another critical step is to continue to educate ourselves.

 

Educate

I have found that with the topic of racism, many people will give opinions. It’s great to hear what others share but if we are going to really understand, it requires work on our part. It requires a level of intentionality.

Again, the wise man Solomon said in Proverbs 18:2: “Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions.”

When it comes to educating ourselves in this matter, you must receive your education from more than one place. Even though we can learn and educate ourselves from more sources than ever, most people listen to the same echo chambers repeatedly. And it’s only making us more divisive as a whole. Quit listening to the same echo chambers, or simply, one talking head, especially if that talking head looks and sounds like you already. But, instead, listen, read, and watch a diverse mix to be clear-eyed about the situation. I hope you consider this blog, but it shouldn’t be the only thing you read.

Here’s what I would say is one of the critical things I have learned regarding this issue of black and white. I’m speaking for me. Some of my learning over the past few years deals with the fact that as a white person, I think it’s easy for me to look back at our history in our nation and say, “Well, as bad as things were, at least things are moving in the right direction now.”

It’s easy to point to a list of things going in the right direction.

In 1865, the 13th amendment abolished slavery.In 1870, the 15th amendment gave blacks the right to vote.In 1954 and 1955, Brown vs. the Board of Education and Rosa Parks helped give further rights back to the black community.In 1964, the Constitution officially ended segregation and discrimination based on race.In 2008, the first black president Barack Obama was elected.

Despite those steps in the right direction, what we have seen in the past couple of years, has clearly shown us we haven’t arrived at the finish line. There is more work to do. Systemic oppression and persecution for centuries doesn’t just end with a law or two or a milestone or two or a figurehead or two change everything overnight and make things an even playing field.

Several years ago, I was convicted that I needed to be a part of the solution for racial reconciliation. But, unfortunately, I had a long way to go to educate myself properly. I felt like I had a very limited, sheltered experience growing up.

I enrolled in an initiative that brought together about 16 men and women of different races, genders, and professions to learn what it’s like to be a person of different skin color. As part of this initiative, we experienced three full-day field trips. One of those trips was to the local courthouse in Orlando, Florida.

What I experienced that day forever changed my perspective. I can’t un-see what my eyes saw. I’ll remember many things, but what stuck out to me the most was the pretrial hearings. Each defendant received about one minute in front of the judge in that room before they entered their plea. Every defendant, about 25 people in total, was either black or brown skin. Not one white person. Not one.

I know every story is different and unique. I understand that some white people have grown up in oppression, and some black people have grown up in riches. But overall, historically, it has been easier to succeed in America having white skin than black skin. And there are still differences that exist today. It’s why our black brothers and sisters have been crying out so passionately for decades.

Continue to educate yourself. Perhaps, on this MLK Jr. holiday, you will do as I’m doing and read his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” 

After putting it in God’s hands through prayer and listening, and educating ourselves, we are ready for our fourth step. 

 

Act

Some of you might be thinking this isn’t my problem. I’m not a racist. Helping end racism is for someone else.

I think that most children of God don’t believe that they live with racism or bias in their life.

But, statistically, Christians are more likely to be considered racist than those who are not Christian. Unfortunately, hatred and bigotry are words people associate with Christians too often. And the church hour of the week is one of the most segregated hours of the week.

Barna Research, one of the top Christian research groups, did a study in 2016 in the wake of the beginning of the Black Lives Matter movement that started and this was their conclusion:

“Our research confirms the fear that the church (or the people in it) may be part of the problem in the hard work of racial reconciliation. If you’re a white, evangelical, Republican, you are less likely to think race is a problem, but more likely to think you are a victim of reverse racism. You are also less convinced that people of color are socially disadvantaged. Yet these same groups believe the church plays an important role in reconciliation. This dilemma demonstrates that those supposedly most equipped for reconciliation do not see the need for it. 

More than any other segment of the population, white evangelical Christians demonstrate a blindness to the struggle of their African American brothers and sisters. This is a dangerous reality for the modern church. Jesus and his disciples actively sought to affirm and restore the marginalized and obliterate divisions between groups of people. Yet, our churches and ministries are still some of the most ethnically segregated institutions in the country.”

I think a more common problem for children of God in the pursuit of racial reconciliation is not sins of commission (a sin we commit) but rather sins of omission (something we omit or don’t do). A convicting thought I’ve had in my life regarding this issue, and I think it could be said of the church as well, is this, “Might it be that our greatest sin in this area is what we haven’t done and said?”

The closer I get to Jesus, the more I see how far away from Him I genuinely am.

I certainly have my list of sins that I have to confess to of things I have done, but I think my list of sins of omission would be far more damning and numerous than my sins of commission.

In the Letter from Birmingham Jail referenced above, King Jr. echoes similar thoughts to the above research. We are still struggling decades later with the same issue. Here are his sentiments: 

First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

I come before you today knowing that I need to repent. I haven’t acted as much as I could have in some areas. But I know I’m not alone. Apathy and indifference are not the answer. The church is called to reject apathy and embrace action.

Our first action step is repentance. Repentance, though, does not mean that we return to life as it was. To repent means to turn. It leads to acting in a new way. Sadly, too many churches, pastors, and Christians got together to repent after the George Floyd tragedy, but then just went back to what they were doing. No, after repenting, we must act in a way that brings reconciliation. It’s up to the children of God to continue the work of Jesus in bringing peace to this world. Paul says it so clearly to us in these words of 2 Corinthians 5:17-21:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

God has given us the ministry of reconciliation. Yes, everyone needs to walk to the other side, whites to blacks, blacks to whites, police officers to blacks, blacks to police officers. Yes, yes, and yes. But those who have been reconciled, children of God, are called to take the first step.

We have a God who was proactive and not reactive for us.

Romans 5:8: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

He did not wait for us to have it all together. He came down into our broken, messy stories. We have a God who crosses lines to love people in, not draws lines to keep people out. If you are a child of God and are any part of the church of God, you have the ministry of reconciliation.

So what do you do? Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step.” Your step might be different than mine, but take the first step today. Pray, Listen, Educate, Act. 

Then we move to the fifth step, which, sadly, is most people’s first step. 

 

Speak

Your first step doesn’t have to be posting something on social media to make it seem like you care. I’ve seen so many posts go awry due to ignorance or speaking in the heat of the moment.

Prayer, Listening, Education, and Action should all come before speaking. Please don’t hear me wrong, though. At some point, we are called to speak up. And it’s best done after action. Why?

Actions before words make your words more powerful.

We have been called, the Bible says, out of darkness and into His marvelous light so that we would declare His praises. There is a time to declare, speak, and proclaim God’s truth. The ministry of reconciliation requires the Gospel of Jesus. Faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.

Pastor and Dr. Charlie Dates says, “Believers of color want their brothers and sisters to call out the injustice around them. They want to stand in unity in rebuking a wayward culture.”

The word unity is essential. The world doesn’t need your voice right now to bring division. I’ve seen so many posts lead to more division, political arguments, blame, and hatred. D.L Moody once said: “You may find hundreds of faultfinders among professed Christians, but all of their criticism will never lead one solitary soul to Christ.”

Rather than accusing blame, let’s encourage peaceful protests and voices that unify.

Here’s something you can say right now:

“Racism is real.” 

You can wholeheartedly be against racism and injustice and wholeheartedly for honorable police officers. You don’t have to choose sides. But you do need to speak the truth. Racism is real. And it’s wrong. Even if you haven’t seen it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Until we acknowledge the problem, we can’t be part of the solution. So we have to recognize it.

We are called to speak about this in our home, not just in public. So if we talk more about this in public or on social media than in our very homes, we have to ask what our motivation is.

And here’s another thing you can say: 

“Racism is wrong.” 

No one should ever be mistreated, hurt, or oppressed simply because of the color of their skin.

There is a great debate right now with the three words “Black Lives Matter.” 

I understand the debate. It’s hard because, as a statement, those three words are entirely true. But, as a movement, it’s tough to stand for some of the things this movement is promoting. 

But rejecting the truth that comes from this statement, or trying to alter it, is not helpful.

So many people will push back and say, “All Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter, Unborn Lives Matter” Yes, Yes, Yes, and Amen. But sometimes, you have to be very specific and personal.

I have two kids. If one of my kids is left alone, abused, and hurting, I won’t go up to him and say your life matters as much as your brother’s. No, I would look at him and say, “You Matter” because I love the individual as well as the whole. When someone is hurting, they don’t need to hear the politically correct phrase; they need to hear your voice say “Your Life Matters.”

I have asked my black friends if my white voice really does matter regarding this topic.

Not everyone who is black may share their opinion, but they told me resoundingly, “Yes, we need your voice. You have a platform. And sometimes, white people will hear things differently from a white person than a black person. We are asking you to speak out on our behalf. We’ve been crying out for a while against this injustice, and we need your help. Please.”

So as a white pastor in the pursuit to let our black brothers and sisters know that their lives do matter, I would go so far as to say that white voices do matter in the pursuit of racial reconciliation. You cannot have reconciliation if only one party wants it. Therefore, the children of God of all colors must all use their unique voices and actions to bring the peace of God into this situation.

Another truth that must be shared when it comes to speaking. Too many Christians can be known for what they are against but not what they are for. So, yes, let’s speak up against racism, but let’s also speak up for diversity, equity, inclusion, loving our neighbors, etc.

After these five steps, I truly believe the 6th step is where we will start seeing some significant movement in this pursuit of racial reconciliation.

 

Expect

While we can take steps to help, only God can move mountains, part seas and walk on water. When you invite God’s power and presence into injustice and then use your unique calling and gifts that He has given to you, this is when God moves mightily. 

You might feel like this will never get better. But our God has a history of coming down and making a way when it seems like there is no way.

For four centuries, there has been an injustice to the black community in our nation. How can we make a change now? You can’t, but God can.

Let us not forget that it was for four centuries that God’s people, the Israelites, were enslaved to the Egyptian superpower under the rule of King Pharaoh. Things were progressively worsening for the Israelite people, and now they had escalated. Innocent lives were being murdered as Hebrew baby boys were killed for no good reason.

At this time, God came down in a burning bush and said, “I have seen the misery of my people. I’m coming down to rescue them.”

 

When God turns an eye toward injustice, it will be defeated. 

Injustice will bow down to the power of our mighty God. It will not prevail in the presence of God. Darkness doesn’t stand a chance in the light of God.

So what happened? God came down powerfully, working through human beings like Moses and Aaron, to bring deliverance to an entire race of people. He brought them out of four centuries of oppression and into a good life with His presence.

God right now is looking down at our nation. He sees those who have been hurting and oppressed for four centuries. He sees those who have been hurting for just a little while. 

If you are trying to find where God is in all of this, He always positions Himself to be on the side of the oppressed and the mistreated. So, no matter who you are, if you are hurting, oppressed, and mistreated because of your skin color, or if you are continuing to serve faithfully as a police officer, God sees you.

When we bring God into racial reconciliation, we can expect God to move. You and I cannot change people’s hearts. But, through our prayers, our relationships, and what we say and do, we can give the Holy Spirit room to change people’s hearts. God is the one that changes hearts, but He invites you and me, the children of God, who have been reconciled by the grace of Jesus, to continue the ministry of reconciliation.

Please be a part of the solution.

 

PLEASE

Pray

Listen

Educate

Act

Speak

Expect

God will make this right. And until He comes back and we glorify and worship Him in His full glory, with every nation, every tongue, and every tribe, let’s do our part, knowing that Christ has already done His.

Today is not the first time that a great division has existed. In the New Testament, the Jews and Gentiles had a turbulent history and past and didn’t always get along. And these were words written by Paul to the two tribes. So as you read these words from Ephesians 2:13-20, may it help you grow in your expectation that God can and will bring reconciliation.

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility…His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.”

The world needs the peace that only Jesus can bring. You have that peace inside of you. Will you PLEASE help?

I’ll end with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s closing to the speech. These words summarized what would happen, if and when, this dream of equality was finally accomplished. 

“When this happens, and when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the Negro spiritual: Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last.”

The post End Racism – 6 Biblical Steps to Pursue Racial Reconciliation appeared first on Red Letter Living.

Is Struggling to Forgive a Past Sin A YOU Problem?

I had a question asked of me a few weeks ago. Check out what Justin had to say:

Hey Pastor Zach,

You have said that more people have a harder timereceiving forgiving forreceiving forgiveness for themselves more than forgiveness of others, but that’s not me! I totally know God forgives me, but I struggle with forgiving others, and particularly one or two people in my past. So if Forgiving Challenge is all about accepting God’s forgiveness for ourselves, is this book really for me?

Sincerely,

Justin from Wichita, KS

 

Hey Justin,

That’s a great question.

First off, I’m sorry that some pain in your past is still affecting you. However, the fact that we are called to forgive in the first place means that sin, injustice, pain, and evil consequences come. Forgiveness is not an easy topic, ever!

I am so glad that you don’t live in condemnation. The Bible doesn’t want us identified by our sin. Perhaps you were born in the church or, since conversation, have thrown yourself into being a follower of Jesus wholeheartedly. Maybe you find the habits of discipleship easy: prayer, reading your Bible, attending church, or solitude just come naturally for you. Maybe rule-following, like the Ten Commandments, seems like a no-brainer.

If you totally feel forgiven by Jesus, but you are still struggling with forgiving others, I would go back to studying and understanding God’s forgiveness. You referenced the question I have asked rooms full of primarily Christians, “Do you have a harder time receiving God’s forgiveness for yourself or giving away His forgiveness to others?”. Every single time the answer is nearly identical, with about 80-90% of the room struggling more with receiving God’s forgiveness than with forgiving others. So, although you are in the minority, some still struggle to forgive others.

At first, I was shocked since the majority in the room had heard about God’s forgiveness and His offering of grace over and over and over again. This response led me to write Forgiving Challenge in the first place. I wanted people to understand God’s total forgiveness.

By looking at all the direct commands that Jesus gave to His disciples about forgiveness, you will find the key to forgiving others stand out more clearly than you have ever seen before.

The Red Letters of Jesus concerning His commands to forgive others are listed below:

Matthew 6:12         And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.      

Matthew 6:14-15    For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Mark 11:25             And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that  your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.

Luke 6:37               Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

Luke 11:4               Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.

 

These commands of Jesus are direct and obvious. Here are a few other instances He talks about forgiveness, either as more commands or in His general teaching.

Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.  Luke 7:47

In the previous instance, Jesus connects a sacrificial act from a misunderstood woman to how much He had forgiven her. Her motivation to do a good work was fueled by the grace that Jesus had already given to her. In the coming section, Jesus is telling us that our forgiveness should extend even to those who continually make a mess of things.

If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.  Luke 17:3-4

Directly after hearing this, in verse 5, the disciples get it right this time. They say, “Increase our faith.” Forgiving others is always connected to our faith.

Finally, after the resurrection, Jesus makes His presence available to the disciples in a quarantined room. Some of His last instructions He would leave with the disciples are the following:

If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” John 20:23

Those are big words and give the disciples great responsibility. But it’s the four words that Jesus declares to them before this that make this possible. He says in John 20:22, Receive the Holy Spirit.

What does Jesus want to tell us loud and clear through all of His Red Letters? How you forgive others is in direct proportion to your own receiving of God’s forgiveness! It is impossible to forgive others without first receiving God’s forgiveness ourselves. This truth is the single biggest key to forgiving others: a forgiven person is a forgiving person.

Forgiving others is really tough. It’s not easy and usually not cut-and-dry. But when you compare forgiving others to how Jesus has forgiven you, Jesus’s forgiveness will always win the day. It’s easy to hold onto a grudge when you are the victim. After all, the offender should have to pay for their mistake. The reality is, when we choose unforgiveness, either we are acting better than others, or we don’t trust that God can take that hurt and make it right. It’s really easy for some of us to begin to compare and contrast our sins. But here’s a sobering question: are you taking a hard look at the condition of your own heart? Could there be pride? Resentment? Perfectionism? Self-righteousness?

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye’, when there is the log in your own eye. You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.  Matthew 7:3-5

Our own perceived innocence and the story of injustice in our own minds are what fuel our unforgiveness of others.

Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends. Proverbs 17:9

We can only stay mad at someone if we perceive ourselves as better in a particular area. We take God’s forgiveness for granted when we minimize the sacrifice that Jesus endured. When we don’t correctly understand His forgiveness in our lives, we minimize our sin and elevate the sins of others.

Forgiving Challenge looks at Jesus and how He forgave. It’s when we fix our eyes on Jesus that we begin to see how truth and grace work beautifully together. When we take our eyes off of Jesus, that’s when problems come. When we start to look at ourselves, that rotten neighbor, or our betraying friend, it’s hard to forgive. But when we see what Jesus did for us, it creates humility and gives us the proper motivation to forgive. 

When I look at Jesus, I am continually reminded of how amazing it is that God would forgive me. That and that alone is the only proper motivation when it comes to forgiving others. The only way we can even say those words is because the Holy Spirit is alive in us. Though initially, I was surprised to see so many people who struggle more to receive God’s forgiveness than give it away to others, I now believe it’s the correct theological understanding. When we see how much God has forgiven of us, it should lead all of us to lift our hands in humble thankfulness. The more we understand what Jesus did for us, the more we will grow in forgiving the sins of others.

Though we are overwhelmed by our sins, you forgive them all.   Psalm 65:3

For more on forgiveness, check out Forgiving Challenge. Already completed Forgiving Challenge? Then take the next step and download our FREE ebook Forgiving Others Challenge to continue the journey.

The post Is Struggling to Forgive a Past Sin A YOU Problem? appeared first on Red Letter Living.

3 Reasons We Don’t Hear God’s Voice

When Jesus sent out His 12 disciples, He said this to them:

Matthew 10:27: What is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.

The other day I was reading a devotion for my children at the breakfast table, and apparently, everyone in my family thinks I read and talk way too loud! I think I read loud because I see my kids’ attention so quickly going away from what I’m saying! We were reading about the story of Elijah and what happened after he had single-handedly defeated hundreds of false prophets in a duel to prove who the real God was (found in 1 Kings 18-19). It’s a fantastic story of a faith-filled prophet who wouldn’t take anything from anybody.

But amazingly, after this incredible victory, this faith-filled prophet, all of a sudden, became a fear-filled prophet. After his success, the wicked queen Jezebel wanted to kill Elijah and became so scared. In fact, he went on the run and contemplated suicide. Eventually, he ran to a cave where amazingly, God visited him.

As he was in the cave, there was an earthquake, a giant wind, and then a fire. But God didn’t speak to Elijah in the earth, wind, and fire. Instead, His voice came to Elijah through a gentle whisper, and the whisper said to Elijah, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” So after some back and forth, God sends Elijah out again by encouraging him, and then this faith-filled prophet is back on his way.

Many people struggle to hear from God but really want to hear from God. For example, one year, I polled my church on any questions they had regarding faith and regarding God, and the number one question they were seeking an answer to was, “How do I hear God’s voice?” 

I believe we have a God who loves to relate to His children.

Dallas Willard says this, “If God doesn’t speak today, then the greatest disservice we could ever do to people is to tell them that they could have a personal relationship with God.” 

If we are struggling to hear the voice of God in our life, the problem is not that God isn’t speaking; it’s that we aren’t listening.  

Here are 3 reasons why we struggle to hear God’s voice today:

 

1: Busyness

Let me bold in saying this: You can’t do everything you are currently doing. We are more and more stressed today than we were a year ago, and the statistics are only getting more discouraging. Until we figure out what life is really about and spend our time, energy, and priorities on those things, and stop trying to do everything that everybody asks me all the time, we will burn out and be too busy.

Something has to change. And here’s a really practical thing that I’ve implemented in my life that I learned from Carey Nieuwhof’s High Impact Leader Course. Decide what you will do ahead of time.

If you don’t have clarity on what it is you need to do, someone else’s priorities will quickly become yours. For instance, think about this. No one will ever ask you to complete your top priorities. They will only ask you to achieve theirs. That’s why they email you, right?

As a pastor, I’ve never gotten an email from anyone saying, “Hey Zach, will you make sure you spend 5 hours today working on your sermon so that it’s awesome on Sunday?” Instead, the emails I get are “Hey, can I meet up with you,” or “I need to talk, can you meet,” or “I need help with this…” And if you aren’t careful with your time, you won’t get your stuff done because you’ll be completing other people’s stuff.

Where this falls into our topic for the day is if you aren’t careful and if you don’t schedule a time to BE with God (remember, BEING is one of the 5 targets of great disciples, and I would argue the most important), then how in the world can you expect to hear God’s voice. Be intentional about scheduling time with God. Amid your busyness, decide ahead of time when you will have your personal one-on-one time with God.

 

2: Competing Voices

God could be speaking to you very clearly, but if everyone else is screaming at you, you won’t hear him.

Usually, I don’t ever want to watch or listen to TV commercials. I’ll record something so I can fast-forward through them or if it’s a live event, I’ll mute them. The only time I really want to hear TV commercials is during the Super Bowl. But what’s crazy is I usually can’t listen to them because I’m surrounded by many others as we watch the “Big Game” together. When everyone else is talking, even though I want to hear the commercial, I’m unable to in the midst of the competing voices.

This is a small picture of what it’s like in our world today. There are so many competing voices that we often don’t hear God’s voice in the midst of it. Perhaps there are no louder voices than the digital ones coming at us: iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch (you can tell I’m an Apple fan, huh?!), social media, etc. It’s all right in front of us, and it’s hard to drown out those voices when we are constantly “on” to the world’s voices. If I get a notification on my wrist every minute from my Apple Watch, how in the world can I expect to hear God’s voice in the midst of that?

Kids between 8 and 18 spend 7.5 hours a day, 53 hours a week on screens. Then some of us will bring our kids to 1-1.5 hours of church on a Sunday. God barely has a chance with all these other competing voices. Social media and the digital world need to have their place.

What rules can you set in your house? Screen basket? Set time every day where your devices are off? No devices until you’ve spent time with God? Find something that works for you. And, as a side, one of my pet peeves is when parents complain about the screen time their children have. That’s not your child’s fault; that’s your fault as a parent. When that child is under your roof, you get to set the rules. Rise up! I’ve written more on how to master your smartphone and not be dominated by it in this blog.

To hear God’s voice, you have to turn down the world’s volume.

I’ve also noticed that the enemy’s voice is a lot louder than God’s voice. It feels like the enemy is shouting while God speaks in a still, small, gentle whisper.

Why is this? It’s because God is reminding you that He doesn’t need to shout. The enemy needs to shout because he is busy prowling around, seeking someone to devour. He doesn’t want to get close to you or spend time in a relationship with you. No, he wants to shout something so loud at you and then keep moving on. But God, He’s right by your side. He’s close, He’s near. His voice is still speaking, but is your life so filled with distractions that you can’t hear him? 

God can speak to anyone, anytime, anywhere, but I wonder how often we miss hearing from God because we don’t spend the time to quiet and listen.

 

3: Fear

There are many people who, truth be told, can’t hear God’s voice because they’re not sure if they want to. Deep down, they know they aren’t living in a God-honoring way, and so rather than coming close to God, they run further from Him. They are afraid that if God speaks, His voice will condemn them further and bring even more shame and guilt than they are going through already. This is a lie from Satan.

Much of the problems that we experience in this world come from when we listen to the enemy’s lies far more than the Gospel in God’s Voice.  

I have good news for you. When our God speaks, he speaks words of encouragement meant to save you, not to condemn you (John 3:17).

It is, after all, God’s kindness that leads us to change.

If you’ve not been hearing God’s voice because you’ve been avoiding it, remember that God has been welcoming sinners back from the beginning of time, and you, my friend, are no different. 

There is nothing too big or extreme that you could have done that God wouldn’t welcome you back home. Today, hear God’s whisper to you: “Come back. I love you. You are my child. I’ve got big plans for you.”

Which of these three, busyness, competing voices, or fear, do you struggle with the most?

 

Want to study more on hearing God’s voice? Join us for a 21 Days of Prayer Challenge Bible Reading Plan. Every day of this 21-day challenge will feature Bible readings with devotion to help answer some of the biggest questions about prayer. In addition, each day will feature a prayer prompt and also a challenge to complete. It is our hope that your relationship with God will grow through this amazing gift of prayer.

The post 3 Reasons We Don’t Hear God’s Voice appeared first on Red Letter Living.

New Year, New Habits – Don’t Set Resolutions, Form Keystone Habits

Happy New Year! I remember coming into 2021 feeling like it would be different from 2020. 2020 was a brutal year: living during a pandemic, racial tension, political instability, and fighting. But, 2021 wasn’t all that different from 2020. Not many of us thought that when we flipped the calendar into 2022, we’d still be dealing with these same issues. I heard comedian Jim Gaffigan describe 2021 as “the blowout diaper right after you just changed your baby’s initial diaper.” If you are a parent, you can relate. We’ve all been there. It just feels like we are going from one mess to another to another again. Time to clean up again. When will we get a break?!

There’s good news, though. Even when outer circumstances don’t or won’t change, you still can change. And, furthermore, as a follower of Jesus, even when all things around you aren’t what they ought to be, you still can be calm in the midst of the chaos, a voice in the noise. Our faith in Jesus actually allows us to shine brighter in darker times. 

As another New Year rolls around, many people are clinging to change and using their New Year’s Resolutions to spur that change on. Through tracking the resolutions that people made this year, research tells us most resolutions revolve around these three things: physical health, financial health, and relational health. I love the heart from which resolutions typically come. People are interested in their health and growth, and many times, resolutions come from the fact that people have noted something in their life needs to change.

Personally, I still want to grow, I still need to change, and I still desire to step more significantly into the calling that God has placed on my life.

But three years ago, I made a resolution to stop making resolutions. Why?

Resolutions aren’t effective.

According to Jon Acuff’s book Finish, 92% of New Year’s resolutions fail. Only 8% succeed. From a guy that loves numbers and statistics, this is simply not an effective strategy to life change.

I then searched to find what is more effective than resolutions. It’s essential if I ditched resolutions that I pick up something else.

So I picked up setting goals. I love setting goals. It gives me something to shoot for and helps me focus on what’s essential in becoming the person God has called me to be. I followed the S.M.A.R.T. (Smart, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely) method and found some success. And even with goals that I didn’t fully accomplish, I would typically make some progress. Some would say not achieving a goal is a failure, but making progress towards most goals is still a net win.

But still, there were pieces of my life that I was desiring a change in that just having a goal on paper didn’t help me get to. I found that willpower, hard work, and grit are helpful at times in accomplishing goals, but not the long-term answer. In my search for bringing about life change, I stumbled upon something that truly helped change my life.

Are you ready?

Habits.

Habits help us accomplish goals or resolutions in life. The 8% of those that find success in achieving their goals in life go beyond willpower and grit. They go beyond writing it on paper. They go beyond finding an accountability partner. Instead, they have found a way to instill a habit in their life that helps them become the person God has called them to be.

Research from Duke University shows us that 40% of the decisions we make every day aren’t actually decisions we make, but rather habits that we’ve formed. 

If that’s the case, that means we are just on auto-pilot for about half of what we do in life. I have spent many years as a pastor trying to help people make significant decisions (and that’s important), but what’s just as important is to help everyone instill the proper habits because that puts us intentionally in a place where we automatically make the right decisions.

The last two years have been years that have forced change to our habits. When major disruption arrives, new habits and rhythms come shortly after. What habits did you create?

A new year represents a great time to form new habits.

Here are two imperative truths around habits that you need to know:

 

1: Keystone habits are real. 

Keystone habits were introduced to us by Charles Duhigg in his book The Power of Habit. Keystone habits are habits that unintentionally spill over into other areas of our lives. They are no more complicated to form than any other habits. Physical examples of keystone habits are making your bed, flossing your teeth, and exercising regularly. 

Over the past three years, I have become physically healthier (dropped 30 pounds), become far more productive (even with more sleep), and most importantly, have grown in my relationship with Jesus. It all started with a single keystone habit: exercise daily.

As I began to exercise daily, I realized other areas of my life that I could grow in, especially spiritually.

 

2: Not all keystone habits are created equal.

I believe that no habits create a more significant domino effect in our lives than spiritual habits. This is because, ultimately, all of our doing in this world should effectively come out of our being in a relationship with God. If that’s true, then our primary focus in life should always be on growing in our relationship with God.

If everything in our lives flows from our spirit, we need to be very careful what spiritual habits we are performing or not performing.

How do we grow in our relationship with God? Look to Jesus. He is the only perfect person who has ever existed in a perfect relationship with God. Therefore, He is the ideal person we look to as our example in this world.

Even Jesus tells us this: Matthew 11:29: Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.

Jesus is inviting us into a way of life where He leads, and we follow Him. The more we sit at his feet and learn from Him, the more we become like Him. The more His habits become our habits. And the more these habits will begin to feel like unforced rhythms of grace in our lives.

Listen to how Eugene Peterson summarizes Paul’s word to Timothy in 1 Peter 4:7-8: Exercise daily in God – no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever.

So what habits did Jesus have in his life?

After a thorough study of the Gospels, noting anytime that Jesus either practiced or taught on certain spiritual habits, I found what I believe are the five keystone habits of Jesus. Here they are:

 

1: Commit to Community 

You can’t read any of the 4 Gospels in the New Testament without seeing that one of the very first things that Jesus does is choose His disciples. He committed to a community of like-minded people from the very beginning of His ministry.

The stories of Jesus choosing His disciples are found in Matthew 4, Mark 1, Luke 6, and John 1.

4, 1, 6, and 1. 

In other words, very early on in the accounts of His ministry. I think if anyone could have gone alone and had great results in this world, it would be Jesus. Sometimes I even think His community held Him back. But Jesus commits to community. Why?

Because of this truth: You are not meant to be alone.

As we think about and explore the different keystone habits of Jesus, this one may not come to the top of many lists. In fact, many spiritual discipline lists will be more personal/individual things you can do. Still, I would argue that this habit of committing to community could just be one of the most important things to help you in your relationship with God. Because who your friends are, what they do, it matters in your life.

Dr. David McClelland, a social psychologist from Harvard, says the people you habitually associate with determine as much as 95% of your success or failure in life. 95%. That’s crazy!

Who you do life with typically dictates the type of person you are.

 

2: Study Scripture 

There are about 80 instances of Jesus quoting Old Testament Scripture in the Gospels alone, so it’s clear that Jesus had a thorough understanding of the Scriptures. Listening to a Tim Keller sermon, he said that there are 1800 Bible verses where Jesus is speaking…those red letters in your Bible. 1800 verses. And 180 of them are Him quoting Scripture. 10%.

As we talk about habits, so many of the habits in our lives flow out of our identity. I’ve heard before this phrase: “Identity determines biography.” The most incredible place to discover who our God is and who you are is through the Scriptures.

Studying Scriptures allows us to see our true identity and form other keystone spiritual habits that will help us be the people God calls us.

 

3: Prioritize Prayer

The success of any relationship has to start with communication. Prayer is how we communicate with God.

As I studied the life of Jesus in the 4 Gospels of our New Testament, I found nearly 50 times that Jesus either practiced prayer or taught on the importance of prayer. Jesus is shown praying alone, praying in public, praying first thing in the morning, praying in the evening, praying before meals, before important decisions, before and after healings. In fact, in one place where Jesus was praying, there must have been some way in which Jesus was praying differently than the disciples, for they asked Jesus, “Teach us how to pray.” The disciples had certainly prayed before, but there was something about how Jesus communicated with God that was different.

James, the brother of Jesus, declares that if we are ever in need of wisdom, all we need to do is simply ask God, and He will give it to us.

These days that we are currently living in are really confusing. What if you could any time and any place receive the direction and wisdom of God? Prayer is a powerful tool that allows us to cry out to a God that will answer us. 

 

4: Seek Solitude

Jesus sought or taught solitude nearly 40 times in the Gospels. He would seek solitude before making decisions and beginning hard work, and he would even seek solitude in the middle of his work and recharge after the work was completed. He spent 40 days in the wilderness before He began His 3-year ministry that would lead Him to the cross to be alone with God.

Not only is the world confusing, but it’s also very noisy. Solitude with God allows us to quiet the world’s noise down and listen to His voice. It’s one thing in this world to receive direction from God, but it’s hard to stay on the right path with all of the noise and distractions. Isn’t that why we need to do things like resolutions, goals, and habits in the first place?

When you spend time with God, He gives you a focus that can cut through all of the noise and chaos of this world.

 

5: Choose Church

Even though the church looks very different today than it did in the day in which Jesus lived, there are several verses, including Luke 21:37, that tell us Jesus gathered with those that would make up the church every single day. He not only attended church, but He used His gifts for the benefit of the church.

Though our church looks very different from the day in which Jesus lived, and though our churches today may look very different from one another, let us not give up the habit of meeting together. Our world is filled with bad news and depressing statistics all the time. When the church is done right, even though churches today look very different from one another, it is the consistent place where the Good News of Jesus is proclaimed. Whether you are gathering online or in-person in these crazy times, consistently surrounding yourself with the Good News of Jesus is simply one of the best choices you can make.

These 5 keystone habits of Jesus are the habits we are called to put in our lives. Which keystone habit will you improve this year?

 

I’ve written a complete 40-day challenge around these 5 keystone habits called Being Challenge. 

If you are a pastor and want to help your people instill these habits in their lives, now is the time. Here’s a post on why the beginning of the year is an excellent time for a challenge like this!

The challenge includes FREE sermon manuscripts and videos, small group materials, kids curriculum, graphics package, etc. In addition, there are kid’s workbooks available to help kids learn how to BE with God. We’ve even created training videos for FREE for you to help you learn how to implement a 40-day challenge in your setting. Click here to view those videos.

Our team is happy to help you implement this well. And we have some incentive right now!

Our church packs are normally 10-40% off, plus you get up to hundreds of dollars of FREE Bonuses! But, any church packs ordered before January 15, 2022, will receive an extra 5% off. Email our team for your own unique coupon code that could save you hundreds of dollars. 

If you have any questions, our team would be happy to serve you! Email us at hello@redletterchallenge.com, and we’ll get back to you! God bless you as you lead God’s church courageously in 2022!

The post New Year, New Habits – Don’t Set Resolutions, Form Keystone Habits appeared first on Red Letter Living.

Is Saying “Happy Holidays” — instead of “Merry Christmas” — unChristian? Does it really even matter?

Over the past decade, in an effort to be more inclusive of all types of people and religions, we’ve noticed more businesses, stores, and individuals have switched from saying “Merry Christmas” to “Happy Holidays.” This change has created quite a stir! Several years ago, when Starbucks released a plain red cup, a segment of Christians from all over our country were in an uproar. Some people went so far as to boycott the establishment. Thankful for me, I don’t drink coffee. I did have a look at the cup though, and my first reaction was, “That’s a clean, nice looking cup!” 

It’s not Starbucks job to tell people “Merry Christmas.” God didn’t ask Starbucks to be the light of this world or the salt of the earth. It’s their job to serve a quality coffee. And while some would disagree on their quality, their numbers and revenues prove that they are doing just that.  

I was, and am often, embarrassed at the way Christians react to scenarios like this. But if I’m honest, I’m regularly embarrassed at the way Christians react to the pertinent issues in our day. I’m embarrassed because when it comes to a lot of major issues, our first response is to look at everyone else and say, “What’s wrong with them,” rather than “How can I make a difference?” What’s crazy is a lot of the “everyone else’s” that we are angry at aren’t even Christ followers in the first place! These are people that never signed up to follow Jesus and to live by his rules. We can’t hold them accountable for something they never signed up for in the first place. 

But we can look within ourselves.

Ultimately, we have a God whose first reaction for those outside of our fold is not to condemn, but to give grace. Romans 5:8 says, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”    

The reality is that it’s getting harder in our country to be a Christian and to stand firm to our Christian morals and beliefs. In my lifetime, I’ve never heard as much negativity, pessimism, and fear surrounding our country and where it’s headed. Rather than jumping on the negative train and blaming everyone else for what is wrong, I choose to embrace the time and place in which I live. The reality is that Christians in this country have never been as valuable as we are right now because in the midst of all of the chaos and confusion, we are left with the only answer that matters! And it’s Jesus. He is our hope. 

Don’t get bothered when other people, businesses, or organizations don’t say “Merry Christmas,” especially if they don’t possess a faith in Christ. There are bigger issues at stake. As for you, go ahead and say “Merry Christmas.” You should. It is a great day! It was the day our Savior Jesus Christ was born! We have reason to celebrate!

Merry Christmas!

The post Is Saying “Happy Holidays” — instead of “Merry Christmas” — unChristian? Does it really even matter? appeared first on Red Letter Living.

5 Reasons to Launch Being Challenge at the Start of 2022

Well, as much as we may have been excited to flip the calendar away from 2020 to 2021, we can all admit that 2021 has just been an extension of 2020! I do believe, however, that as we are about to flip the calendar into 2022, many pastors and churches are settling into the new normal, and ready to put their best ministry efforts forward.

As you are planning your 2022 calendar, we’ve noticed the New Year season to be one of the most popular seasons for launching and running a 40-Day Challenge. And while we have three incredible challenges to offer, we really believe Being Challenge is positioned incredibly to start the year with. Here are five great reasons to implement Being Challenge at the start of 2022!

1) People are open for change at the beginning of the year

Let’s face it! A lot of people set new goals and resolutions as a new year begins.

There are no better goals, resolutions, or habits to put into place than what Jesus calls us toward. The success behind accomplishing NY goals and resolutions (which Jon Acuff, author of Finish, says is only 8%) is those that can have just enough discipline to create new habits. Being Challenge is a book centered on discipling its readers through the 5 keystone habits of Jesus. As people are thinking about the new year and bolstering their faith, there is no one greater to learn habits from than Jesus Himself. The habits that those in your church will learn are 1) Committing to Community, 2) Studying Scripture, 3) Prioritizing Prayer, 4) Seeking Solitude, and 5) Choosing Church. Being in relationship with God is the primary target of a follower of Jesus, and so why not invest 40 days into helping give people real answers for how to grow in their relationship with God?

2) Nothing brings unity like Jesus!

The last couple of years has been ripe with division. Whether it’s due to opinions on the pandemic, masks, or vaccines, or rising racial and political battles, it’s been a challenge to stay unified. I recently heard thought leader Carey Nieuwhof say that only 9% of pastors reported no division amongst their churches in the last 18 months. As we’ve all had to learn how to cope and live in the midst of a global pandemic, it’s easy to say that this recent period has been the most divisive, polarizing time that my generation has ever experienced. The answer for how to cut through division is Jesus. Being Challenge is a study that will dive deep into the life and habits of Jesus. As we study the life of Jesus, people will find themselves immersed into not only a great model and teacher, but a great Savior and Lord. The more people experience Jesus, the more unified your church will be.

 

3) Bring the Energy Back into the Room (And/Or into the Zoom)

Church has gotten more complicated with many not just creating a great atmosphere to worship God in their buildings, but also creating some form of an online service as well. Being Challenge is meant to not only make your Sunday services great, but also will tie your physically divided churches together during the week with ready-made small group materials. In addition, each day will feature the same reading and offer a challenge to complete. Churches of the future will be looking for resources to not only help them have a great experience on a Sunday, but that can live with their people Monday-Saturday as well. In fact, the number one word we have heard from pastors that have completed a challenge in Covid times is “unity.” 

 

4) A Turnkey Resource for the Whole Church

That’s right! I have a heart for helping pastors. I want each of the 40-Day challenge resources to be as turnkey as possible so that pastors can continue to give their all in other matters. Included with our 40-Day Challenges are FREE sermon manuscripts and videos, small group materials, kids curriculum, graphics package, etc. In addition, there are kid’s workbooks available to help kids not only learn, but be challenged in their faith as well. We’ve even created training videos for FREE for you to help you learn how to implement a 40-day challenge in your setting (Insert link).

 

5) These 40 Days will Produce Results All Year Long!

Being Challenge will teach and challenge its readers to grow in their relationship with God by instilling the 5 keystone habits of Jesus. We’ve heard countless stories of people who have completed a challenge in our books that will then go on and continue to implement the same challenges after the fact. So what can you expect? There will be people in your church as a result of this study that will commit to community (they’ll join a small group for the first time), study Scripture (they will commit to reading a Bible plan), they’ll prioritize prayer (they will start their day by praying), they’ll seek solitude (they’ll plan intentional time to spend with God), and they’ll choose church (they’ll make it a regular practice to attend the assembly of God and serve the local church). These practices will not only help each individual grow in their relationship with God, but they will transform your church.

Remember that all of our doing flows from our being! Let’s get so transformed on the inside at the start of the year that it spills over into everything we do on the outside for the rest of the year!

What are you waiting for?

Take the next step. If you are a pastor, you can request a FREE copy of Being Challenge at this link here and we will mail it to you. No strings attached. And if you decide to move forward with a church challenge, we’d be honored to work with you. We have some ready-made church packs ready to go at this link. We’d love to partner with you!

Let’s start the year 2022 bringing people back into relationship with the incredible God that we serve!

The post 5 Reasons to Launch Being Challenge at the Start of 2022 appeared first on Red Letter Living.

Launching an LCMS Denomination 40-Day Challenge on February 27th – Is Your Church in Yet?

Over the past few years, our team has led more than 600 churches through a 40-day challenge to help them ultimately become greater followers of Jesus. Despite the problematic Covid times we are experiencing, we are getting ready on February 27th, 2022, to launch the single largest denomination 40-day challenge season we’ve ever experienced. Check out this page for more information.

Imagine hundreds of Lutheran churches from across America (as well as a few international) with tens of thousands of Lutherans truly all walking together at the same time. I genuinely hope your church will be a part of it.

I want to share 5 reasons why Lent is the perfect time to launch a 40-day challenge in this blog. Also, in the end, if you’d like to be “in,” I’ll give you the timeline we have perfected over the past couple of Lenten seasons and some next steps that you will need to act upon quickly.

Why are so many churches jumping on board now? Here are 5 reasons:

1. Our 40-Day Challenges Fit Perfectly into the 40 Days of Lent!

Many churches worldwide celebrate a season called Lent before Easter Sunday. Lent is 40 days plus the Sundays…therefore, it leads perfectly to the grand celebration of Easter! The ultimate purpose of Lent is to prepare our hearts for the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

All of our 40-day challenges: Red Letter Challenge, Being Challenge, and Forgiving Challenge, end challenging the readers to “go and share the Good News of Jesus.” Sharing the Good News of Jesus can often come with an invitation to attend church as a next step. The Easter celebration is the perfect next step that so many in your community need to hear!

2. Our 40-Day Challenges Bring Unity by Focusing on Jesus!

Lent is ultimately a season where we look to Jesus to remember what He’s done for us and the life He’s given to us. Our 40-day challenges examine His words, habits, and life and present them in a simple-to-understand but challenging way that will produce results.

Our belief is that the best way to follow Jesus is simply to follow Jesus. 

There are many great answers on how to be a disciple of Jesus, but simply looking to Jesus is still the best answer! Never before has there been more information on what a disciple of Jesus is, but never before has there been more confusion on how to practice daily living out our faith.

In light of everything in the past two years, many of our churches have become far more complicated to lead. Many churches have and still are experiencing physical distancing and added division. When division abounds, it is imperative to look for resources to bring back unity. Nothing unifies like Jesus. The number one word we have heard from pastors who have completed one of our 40-day challenges during coronavirus as a church is “unity.” Author and speaker Carey Nieuwhof said this about our resources: “How do you find common ground in a deeply divided culture? Zach Zehnder’s focus on the words and habits of Jesus have unified churches and people in a deeply needed way. Taking your church through a 40-day challenge might be the best thing you can do right now. Culture divides. Christ unites.”

Our 40-day challenges bring unity not only because they focus on Jesus but also because we have materials for every age group, even kids. Our belief is that kids not only have what it takes to follow Jesus, but they can be, and many already are incredible followers of Jesus. Not only will you unify every age group, but you will also unify your weekend worship experiences both digital and in person. On top of that, you will also feel unity during the week Monday-Saturday as your people are reading and challenging themselves together.

3. Our 40-Day Challenges Bring Opportunity for Self-Examination!

In Lent, not only are we taught to look to Jesus and remember what He’s done for us, but we are also taught to examine ourselves. In light of what Jesus did, we look at our own lives and remember why Jesus had to sacrifice His life for us in the first place. We needed the death and resurrection of Jesus to fully pay for our own sins.

In self-examination, we confess our sin to receive His grace. It is His grace and His kindness that ultimately leads us to life change. It is not out of obligation, but rather through His grace that we are compelled to want to be the greatest followers of Jesus that we can be. Looking at Jesus first and foremost, we ensure that following after Him comes from the right motive. We do not desire to follow Jesus well because we have to; we do it because we want to. We do it in response to how good our God has been to each one of us.

The challenges lend time each day for self-examination. The workbooks are written in a way for people to write, journal, draw, and scribble their thoughts. It also has weekly small group materials (videos and study guides) so that individuals can come together, learn, and grow with one another.

4. Our 40-Day Challenges Inspire Action!

At its root, disciples are both hearers and doers of God’s Word. While many discipleship resources thrive in helping us be better “hearers,” we have seen incredible results by simply challenging people to take what they “hear” and “do” something about it. It’s this rhythm of hearing and doing that we believe is imperative for all followers of Jesus to get right.

In the Lenten season, traditionally, many churchgoers practice “giving up” something or fasting for Lent. But I’ve noticed that as good as that practice can be, if you don’t replace it or “pick up” something new, most will go back to what they’ve done in the past. So, for example, if you give up soda for 40 days, that’s great, but what about after the 40 days are over? Pop another Coke bottle?

Is that really the life change that pastors want for their people? Red Letter Challenge, Being Challenge, and Forgiving Challenge encourage people to “pick up” the habit of putting Christ’s words and patterns into practice. Is there anything more valuable?

5. Our 40-Day Challenges are Turnkey for Your Whole Staff!

Easter is the most significant and most incredible celebration of the church year! By implementing a 40-day turnkey challenge to your church before Easter, this will allow you and your staff the opportunity to go all-in on your Easter celebration. It’s easy to go all-in on your Easter experience when you know you will have the extra time because you’ve got the 40 days leading up to this BIG day done for you already.

Included in our 40-day challenges are all of these materials for FREE: Small Group Guides, Small Group Videos, Sermon Manuscripts, Sermon Videos, Weekly Kids Curriculum, Graphics Package, etc. We’ve tried to make this as turnkey as possible so that you can have the confidence of a tremendous 40-day experience and put total effort into strategic celebration Sundays like Easter.

Bonus Reason: It’s always fun to be a part of something BIG.

Join a movement with literally thousands of other Lutherans across the world, and let’s see what God will do as we take His words and habits into a world that so desperately needs more Jesus!

Next Steps: Timeline, How to Join, and Where to Learn More?

We’d love for your LCMS church to be a part of this worldwide 40-day challenge launch. After a few years of studying best practices, we recommend kicking off your 2022 Lenten 40-day challenge by preaching the introduction to the series on Sunday, February 27th. You would then start Day 1 readings on Tuesday, March 1st. This means your Day 40 reading will end on Saturday, April 9th. Then, you can either choose to use Sunday, April 10th to recap, share stories, forecast a vision of continuing to put Jesus’ words into practice, etc., or do regular Palm Sunday services leading into your Easter celebration the following Sunday, April 17th.

To have the best 40-day experience, it’s important to get materials to you as quickly as possible. Therefore, we have a small window left to do this well. We are offering incentives to sign up early. Our church packs are ready to go and discounted 10-40% off. For those who order before December 15th, you’ll get an extra 10% off those discounts, or those who order by January 15th, you can get an additional 5% off those discounts. We want to ensure you have ample time to promote and distribute your materials. Email us at hello@redletterchallenge.com for more information or if you have any questions.

Finally, suppose you still have questions on how to implement, how to launch small groups with these challenges, how to include kids and student ministry, promotion, distribution. In that case, we have a series of short videos at this link to help.

And if you already have plans for Lent or a 40-day challenge fits better into your calendar in a different season, do not fret! A couple of other strategic times to launch a 40-day challenge are the 40 days after Easter Sunday and Fall.

I want to see your congregation thrive, and I believe this has the opportunity to be the best Lent season of all time for our denomination.

The post Launching an LCMS Denomination 40-Day Challenge on February 27th – Is Your Church in Yet? appeared first on Red Letter Living.

Preparing our Hearts in All Kinds of Weather

For our 15th anniversary, Zach and I booked a 5-day, 4-night hiking tour of the Grand Canyon with some friends. We asked one of our guides what they do when bad weather happens, and his answer was one I’ve never forgotten.

“There’s no such thing as bad weather,” he answered. “Only unprepared people.”

His answer stuck with me, not only regarding my attitude about the weather in general but also about my faith. Perhaps our attitudes about church are more a reflection of our hearts and less a reflection of worship itself. If I don’t like something I hear or if someone rubs me the wrong way, could that be that I have spent little to no time preparing myself for worship?

Getting oneself ready for worship was a norm for the Israelite people. When God gave the Law in Exodus 19, He called the people to prepare to come into His presence.

“Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people'” (Ex. 19:10–11).

God wanted the people of Israel, before they came near to Him, to get ready to come near to Him, to prepare themselves for an encounter with Him. God gave Israel two days to prepare. He required them to do ritual cleansing and wash their clothes. It doesn’t sound like a big deal now to us, but this was more than a Tide Pod and throwing some clothes in a machine. In ancient Egypt, the hieroglyphic symbol for washing clothes was two legs in water, which meant that at the time, laundry was mostly done by stamping on the clothes in the water. Talk about hard work!

To get yourselves clean, you had to do some intense stomping on your clothes.

 

As we enter into a season of Advent, a season of waiting and getting our hearts prepared, I can’t help feeling that I’m missing it before it even begins. Life around the holidays can get hectic. Pressures, schedules, to-do lists, and deadlines creep up, and the quicker things come, the harder I run. So I’m stomping alright, but it’s not always on the right stuff.

To properly come to worship each Sunday, we all need to spend time stomping on our sins. To be prepared for Christmas, we need Advent to prepare our hearts by cleansing our minds and crushing out our sin.

That all sounds great. Except that I still don’t do it. Life gets busy. And rather than feeling like I am crushing my sin, it feels more like my sin is crushing me. That crushing feeling gets me off my feet and on my knees. In that posture, I am able to see better what God is busy doing. Romans 16:20 says,

“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”

God of peace.
Grace of our Lord Jesus.

Jesus didn’t wait for just the right conditions to come to earth. An insane dictator was murdering all babies under three when he was a baby. He didn’t wait to study in the synagogue until his parents understood what was going on; they were confused and hurt. He didn’t plot the beginning of His ministry to begin at the perfect time. The Jewish teachers wanted nothing to do with Him. He didn’t look for the greatest and the best to be His followers. He chose simple fishermen.

Jesus didn’t wait until the conditions were favorable for Him before He came to save us. He came despite the confusion and even hatred for what He was trying to do. He came. And it would cost Him everything.

He spent all He had so that He could have you and me.

As we prepare our hearts and minds for the coming Advent season, don’t wait for favorable conditions. The laundry might not be done. The baby won’t nap. The presents might not all be wrapped. There may be no hot cocoa waiting. The kids might not be coming home this year. But come anyway.

There’s no bad weather that will keep you away from Jesus today. Know that your sin has been stamped away by the Perfect Savior of the world. He has done the preparation for you. You need only to come.

Come and rest in the peace of God.

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How Do I Forgive Someone Who Isn’t Sorry?

I spent much of my childhood years growing up in Nebraska. I moved to Nebraska in the mid-1990s and got to experience the Nebraska Huskers football program win three national championships within my first four years. While the past two decades haven’t been as kind, the history of this program is ridiculous. It has 905 total wins, making it the 7th most of any program. ESPN’s College GameDay analysts call the Husker fanbase the best in the nation, citing their loyalty, sportsmanship, and knowledge. They have the current and still ongoing record of 375 consecutive sellouts. On game days, the attendance in Memorial Stadium would make it the 3rd largest populated city in the entire state.

 

Much of the success or failure of a college football team falls on the coach. For over 36 years, Nebraska was fortunate to have two Hall-of-Fame coaches: Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne. However, when Tom Osborne left the coaching position in 1997, the program has never quite bounced back to the prominence that it once had. Since 1997 it’s had six different head coaches.

 

The other day, I ran into a fan that didn’t care for one of those coaches. She believed that his tenure put the football program back many years, and because of how vital the program is to not only the state but her personally, I remember hearing the words out of her mouth, “I will never be able to forgive coach’s name.” I know her well enough to know that while she wasn’t 100% serious that there was a tinge of truth in it.

 

Her phrase got me thinking. If she is holding unforgiveness, who is that still affecting? It’s not affecting the coach. The former coach doesn’t even know who my friend is. He has already found another job and moved on. For various reasons, I can guarantee you, the coach will never say the words “I’m sorry” to my friend.

 

While this is a silly example, it points to a reality that we will deal with in this world. Sometimes there have been wrongs done to us or that have affected us from a person we will never hear a word of confession from or experience any act of contrition on their part.

 

As we have detailed already, every sin is unique. Therefore, every act of forgiveness will be unique. On Day 6, we referenced how unwise it is for Christians to hold non-Christians to the standards of the Christian faith. While we wish that every person would sign up to follow Jesus, it’s not the reality. Therefore, because we have a different worldview, we will not agree on whether a particular action or inaction is even a sin. There are some offenses done against us that we think were sinful that others will disagree with.

 

Jesus reminds us that because we are His followers, we do not operate with the same standards of those in this world, when He says in John 18:36 NLT, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.”

 

What do we do when our offender isn’t sorry?

 

The Christian faith is about trusting God. Sometimes this trust in God means doing what He’s called us to do no matter the outcome. It’s why we preach the Gospel and proclaim the Good News even though not all will receive it. It’s why in faith, we proclaim healing in a person’s life even if we don’t see the healing result. It’s why we pray even when we don’t see God move. And it’s why we choose to forgive others in all circumstances.

 

Here’s the truth about following God: Obedience is our responsibility. Outcome is God’s responsibility.

 

Let’s return to the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 12:18: If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 

 

Paul is declaring that we are to do as much as we can and go as far as possible to pursue peace and reconciliation. There are times, though, when even in doing as much as you can and going as far as you can, it still will not change or affect the person on the receiving end.

 

There are times when it simply isn’t possible to live at peace with everyone. For example, situations where abuse, molestation, and violence are occurring are times when it’s impossible to live at peace. Situations like these require wisdom from God. Many times, this wisdom results in putting up healthy boundaries to protect the innocent and defenseless.

 

You can’t control the actions, feelings, or emotions of others. But you can control your response. Remember, forgiveness is not about controlling the other person the way that you want them to; forgiveness is about you letting go of the offense, no matter how your offender responds.

 

My wife Allison shared an incredible story related to this truth in Forgiving Challenge Kids.

 

Anthony Ray Hinton was convicted of a murder he never committed and was put on Death Row. Anthony sat in silence and misery. He hated his life and was angry. But after three years, he accepted that this was going to be his life. He decided that as long as he was on Death Row, he would find a new way to live.

 

Anthony was wronged by many in this process. And, sadly, the system and the people involved in the system who wronged him wouldn’t listen. They wouldn’t change. Long before he got out of prison, he decided that he would change his own life despite their response. He chose to bring happiness to others, remembering that God loves and forgives him. 

 

According to Anthony’s book, The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row, he faced the jury during his trial and told them, “Jesus was prosecuted, accused falsely for things he didn’t do, and all he did was try to love and save this world, and he died and suffered. So if I have to die for something I didn’t do, so be it. My life is not in the judge’s hands. My life is not in your hands, but it’s in God’s hands.”

 

Anthony not only changed his own life, but he worked to improve the lives of 54 other inmates around him who were also on Death Row.  

 

Twenty-eight years later, in 2015, justice finally came late. Anthony was found innocent.

 

Anthony could have been very bitter when he got out of prison. After all, he spent 28 years in jail for something he never did! But, instead, he would continue to forgive the people who falsely accused him. Incredible! He could only forgive because he knew Jesus had forgiven him.

 

Jesus set him free long before the courts did. 

 

When we hold onto unforgiveness, we will continue to live in bondage. The sins of others against us can hurt us at the time of the offense and continue to bring harm to us when we choose not to forgive. Anthony’s story shows us that we can experience freedom when we let go of the offenses of others.

 

When others don’t see their wrong, don’t understand your perspective, or simply can’t or won’t ever admit their fault, trust that Jesus sees you. He knows you’ve been wronged. He empathizes with you. Even if injustices against you never get settled in this world, trust in God’s justice. Know that you will be greatly rewarded in heaven for any offenses that you forgive in this world.

 

Challenge for the Day:

 

Have offenses been done against you that you feel like your offender will never admit their fault? If so, list the sins and offenses below.

 

Have you done everything you can possibly do to live at peace with each of these offenders?

 

If not, what could you do?

 

Are you living with peace with all of your offenders?

 

If not, say this prayer today:

 

Dear Jesus, I am sorry for all of my sins. Those of which I know. Those of which I don’t even know. I receive your forgiveness for all my sins. I am a sinner. You are my Savior. Out of the grace you have won for me, I choose today not to let the sins of others hold me back any longer. I am letting go of the offense. No matter how my offender responds, I am letting go. As I let go of this offense, hold me ever tight. Help me live in the freedom that you have won for me. Amen.

This blog was adapted from the eBook Forgiving Others Challenge coming out in November 2021.

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