VictorLee

COME AND SEE In a 1998 sermon, the late, great pastor and author Tim Keller returned again and again to three simple words: COME AND SEE. As I listened, I counted him repeating those three words at least 50 times in 45 minutes. Jesus extends a remarkable invitation: 🔸🔵Come and see where He lives. John 1:38–39. When two disciples asked Jesus, “Where are you staying?” He replied, “Come … and you will see.” 🔸🔵Come and find rest. Matthew 11:28. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” 🔸🔵Come and be received. John 6:37. “Whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” Jesus promises not to reject those who come to Him. But there’s something else beautiful about those three words. Jesus says, “Come and see.” Those who encounter Him turn around and tell others, “Come and see.” 🔵 John 4:29. After encountering Jesus, the Samaritan woman went to her community and said, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” Notice the progression from John 1 to John 4: 🔸 Invitation 🔸Encounter 🔸 Transformation 🔸Testimony Jesus doesn’t merely invite us to receive something from Him. He invites us into a relationship with Him. His invitation is to come to Him for fellowship, intimacy, guidance, and rest. 🔵 Mark 3:14 tells us Jesus appointed the twelve “so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach.” Notice the order: First, be with Him. Then, go out for Him. Come and see.

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I THINK THE COLTS ARE CRAZY for doing a fire sale. They have too much talent for that. They need to use any free money they have and draft picks to upgrade, but they don't need a fire sale. You have to wonder if the owner is dictating it. She is sticking her nose and things she doesn't know enough about, as her father did, particularly when an impaired State started directing who played quarterback, firing Frank Reich, etc. No fire sale was necessary.

RELIGION MAKES A BAD GOD I know religious men who want to climb the ladder. But a man determined to establish himself in the religious world may discover, as the old saying goes, that his ladder is leaning against the wrong building. Religion makes a bad God. It can become: ● Stiff and impersonal. ● More concerned with structure than people. ● Orchestrated by man rather than guided by God. ● More interested in building an institution than making disciples. And when religious leaders lose sight of their calling, entire churches can lose sight of theirs. You might ask, “Victor, are you attacking the church?” Absolutely not. I believe the biblical church — believers loving, encouraging, supporting and extending grace to one another under godly, biblical teaching — is part of God’s wonderful design. But some churches have become more religious than relational. More concerned with preserving an organization than caring for people. More interested in building a name than making Jesus known. If that’s the kind of church you’re part of, find one that puts Christ first. And if you’re a leader, remember whose kingdom you’re building. Let’s choose relationship with Jesus over empty religion. “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” — Matthew 15:8 (ESV)

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Praying now

WE JUDGED WE WERE WRONG

LOVE AND TRUTH NEED NOT BE IN CONFLICT If you are the parent of a teenager or adult child whose ways contradict biblical truth, what do you do? Should you love them? Of course! Do you try to maintain a good relationship with them? Absolutely! Do you tell them the truth? There is the fork in the road. When Paul addressed those sinning against God, he included those who were “disobedient to parents” (Romans 1:30). That certainly doesn’t mean parents are always right, but it does affirm the importance of parental authority. While it’s not the only reason parents struggle in this area, I believe too many parents today are emotionally dependent on their children’s approval. They sometimes sacrifice truth to preserve that approval. A parent can love, maintain a good relationship AND speak truth. “We love you deeply, but _______ is wrong. Here is why, and while we will always love you, we cannot affirm this choice.” But when parents endorse a wrong action because “that’s my child, and I need to support whatever they do,” they risk seriously misleading their child, whether teenager or adult. When parents abandon their own biblically grounded convictions, embrace beliefs they know to be wrong, or accept explanations that attempt to justify sinful choices, they are not helping their children. They are misleading them. Judy and I have faced this ourselves. We have good relationships with all our children and are blessed by fellowship with them. But we disagree with some of their choices. They know where we stand because we have spoken the truth. When you reach that fork in the road, one path offers the appearance of peace at the expense of truth. The other offers the possibility of genuine peace built on love and truth. Love them enough to tell the truth. The image tells the story. Have courage.

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LOOK, LOVE, LEAD If you don't consider yourself a leader, reconsider. You might be wrong, and you or somebody you know might need this. It is very important to know the difference between having authority and leading well. I know many in authority who do not lead well. I know many who have little authority, but lead. Leadership is influence. It is possible to have authority AND lead well. It happens when humility and confidence meet, resulting in a leader using all available resources to accomplish the common good, while giving others the credit. Great leaders want others to succeed and position them to do so. Great leaders are willing to surround themselves with people who do what they do better than they can. Great leaders are secure enough to surround themselves with wise, gifted people — and listen to them. Insecure leaders marginalize talented people in an attempt to protect their own positions. But it is a ruse. Failing to surround themselves with winners will expose them in time (and probably not much time). At the core: Humility. Willingness to empower others. Being a constant learner. Being an encourager. 🔵 The Word of God tells us in Philippians 2:3, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” 🔵 And in Mark 10:43, “whoever would be great among you must be your servant.” “Authority is about your position. Leadership is about the people you influence. Humility makes the difference.”

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I may have understood the situation with Aaron Glenn. Win or lose, if the defense is as bad as it has started out against the dolphins, he might get fired anyway.

If the Miami Dolphins beat the New York Jets, Frank Reich is the head football coach of the Jets by tomorrow.

FOOTBALL IS GOING TO BE HERE ALLLL DAY LONGGG today & tomorrow

JESUS LIVED IN RELATIVE OBSCURITY FOR 30 YEARS Deeper post on my Facebook (Victor Lee)

This morning I lost my glasses in the house for a few minutes. And I prayed, “Lord, help me find my glasses.” And then, laughing, I imagined God saying back to me, “Your glasses? Seriously? Are you aware that Paris is on fire? That countless children are hungry and living in great distress? That war is rampant? And you need Me to stop and find your glasses?” Let me be clear: The Word of God does not explicitly say that there is no prayer too small for God. But it does teach that God cares about the details of our lives, invites us to bring our concerns to Him, and is never overwhelmed by the number or magnitude of those concerns. God doesn’t have to stop caring for the suffering children of the world to care about your missing glasses. 🔵 Philippians 4:6 tells us, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” The key word is everything. Paul is teaching believers to replace anxiety with prayerful dependence upon God. The passage isn’t specifically about trivial requests, but neither does Paul establish a minimum level of importance before something qualifies for prayer. Our missing glasses, car keys, or glass of iced tea certainly fit within the broad invitation to bring our concerns to God. 🔵 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” Notice that Peter doesn’t say to cast only your major anxieties upon God. He says all. Because He cares for you. 🔵 In Matthew 10:29–31, Jesus speaks about sparrows, creatures of seemingly little economic value, and then says: “But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” If God knows the number of hairs on your head, your missing glasses are hardly beyond His notice! 🔵 Jesus’ first miracle involved an ordinary human concern: a wedding celebration running out of wine. Compared with the suffering of the world, that might seem insignificant. Yet Jesus used that very occasion to reveal His glory. Humanity was lost in sin. People were suffering everywhere. And Jesus performed a miracle involving refreshments at a wedding! Jesus was not indifferent to the ordinary circumstances of people’s lives. Let’s remember: 🔸 Nothing is too big for God’s power, and nothing is too small for His attention. 🔸 God doesn’t have to choose between caring for a world in crisis and caring for one of His children. 🔸 The size of our request doesn’t determine the depth of God’s concern. 🔸 God’s invitation to pray isn’t limited to emergencies. It’s an invitation to relationship. 🔸 Just because God cares about our smallest concerns doesn’t mean we should neglect praying about the greatest concerns of others. We can pray about our missing glasses AND the hungry children of the world. One doesn’t diminish the other. I don’t know whether God helped me find my glasses this morning. But I do know He welcomed me to ask. Oh, I did find them. In a bag that I carry my books in when I leave to go study somewhere. A bag I had already looked in three times this morning. They were right where I put them. (Story continues on my Facebook post (Victor Lee)