A Preview for 5 Things I Wish Jesus Didn’t Say
By Chris Denning
When we take the time to plan out the series we want to do over the course of a year, we have lots and LOTS of conversations about issues that effect those trying to follow Jesus. One of the things we kept coming back to was something that plagues everyone who takes the time to read what Jesus said in the Bible.
I believe that we have all had times where we’ve read the words of Jesus and thought to ourselves, “Did he REALLY mean that?” We do our best to mitigate, downplay, and even water down even the most direct words of Jesus so that we don’t have to truly live up to his standards.
Simply put, we have ALL tried to find loopholes in the words of Jesus.
That’s what our new series, 5 Things I Wish Jesus Didn’t Say, is all about. We want everyone to understand that Jesus meant what he said and that His words are still meant for us today. We want to feel the weight of Jesus’ words, because they are meant for US!
Not only that, but when Jesus speaks, as we see in the Bible, we should take the time to understand the implications of His words on our lives. Simply knowing that Jesus said something is one thing, but learning what that means for OUR LIVES & LIVING it out is called becoming a disciple.
I believe that this will be a very personal series. We are all going to be confronted with the areas where we’ve struggled with this issue of loopholes in our own lives. Over the next few weeks, we’re going to be taking a look at 5 specific things that Jesus said in the Bible that can be very difficult to swallow. These include when Jesus said . . .
• Deny Yourself (Luke 9:23)
• You Can’t Serve Both God & Money (Matthew 6:24)
• Lust Counts as Adultery (Matthew 5:28)
• I Pray Your Faith Won’t Fail You (Luke 22:32)
• I Am THE Way (John 14:6)
I want to challenge you over the next few weeks to look at your own life and identify and deal with the areas where you have tried to find a loophole in Jesus’ own words. Let’s take steps together to follow Him more closely by taking Him at his word.