LIFE ON MISSION Podcast with TANNER KLEIN

Tanner Klein - LIFE ON MISSION
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Cultivating a faith-filled, God-fearing, Christ-centered lifestyle with Jesus 🔑Themes: Jesus, LIFE ON MISSION, Avodah with God, God at work in the world, God-glorifying Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Posts/podcasts every M, W, F! lifeonmissiontannerklein.substack.com

  1. 5d ago

    DRAWING NEAR: "Who Are You Following?" A Devotional Series on INTIMACY with GOD / 🇫🇷 S’Approcher de Dieu : « Qui Suis-Tu ? » Une Série sur l’INTIMITÉ avec DIEU

    Hey friends! Thanks for joining us in this LIFE ON MISSION with Jesus! Welcome to post number 7 in this Drawing Near series, following our last post DRAWING NEAR: “The Relationship That Takes Time.” It followed our 5th post, “Cutting Off Distractions”, post 4, “Counting the Cost,” post 3, “Seeking First,” post 2, “Have You TASTED and SEEN?”, and the series introduction. All of these podcasts are linked below. * DRAWING NEAR: An Introduction to A New Devotional Series on INTIMACY with GOD * DRAWING NEAR: “Have You TASTED and SEEN?” * DRAWING NEAR: “Seeking First” * DRAWING NEAR: “Counting the Cost” * DRAWING NEAR: “Cutting Off Distractions” * DRAWING NEAR: “The Relationship That Takes Time” As a reminder, Here’s The Heart Behind This Series We’re exploring what it means to truly draw near to God and grow in intimacy with Him through Christ. This isn’t about doing more religious activities or checking off spiritual disciplines—this is about relationship. Real, deep, life-transforming relationship with the living God. We’re going to be honest about what’s preventing our relational growth with the Lord, expose the sources of spiritual stagnation that keep us stuck in shallow faith, and discover practical, biblical pathways to the abundant life Jesus promised in John 10:10: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Throughout this seven-part journey, we are exploring some crucial questions: * Have you truly tasted and seen that God is good? * Are you seeking God’s Kingdom first? * Have you counted the cost—and the gain—of following Jesus? * What distractions need to be cut off so you can cling to God? * Are you willing to take time to build a real relationship with the Lord? * Do you know the voice of your Good Shepherd? * Are you ready to receive Jesus and all that comes with Him? Today, we continue with the sixth key question: Do you know the voice of your Good Shepherd? This is an exercise in coming to know our Creator, in developing discernment, and in listening and responding to our ever-present God who continues to guide us today. In John 10:27, we find Jesus saying, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” You and I live in a world of competing voices. Scroll through social media for five minutes and you’ll encounter dozens of voices telling you what to think, how to feel, what to buy, who to be. Influencers, advertisers, celebrities, politicians, friends, family—everyone has an opinion, and everyone wants your attention. In the noise, there’s a question that cuts through it all: Do you listen to and follow the voice of your Good Shepherd? Notice the order of what Jesus said in John 10:27, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” Listen. Then follow. You won’t follow a voice you don’t recognize. And you can’t recognize a voice you never listen to. The sheep know the shepherd’s voice because they spend time with him and he with them. They’re familiar with his tone, his cadence, his commands. When danger comes, when thieves try to lure them away, they don’t follow because they know their shepherd’s voice. Do you know God’s voice? Can you distinguish it from all the other voices clamoring for your attention? From your own thoughts? From the enemy’s lies? From the world’s messages? Consider Isaiah 30:21, in which God speaks, “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’” Our God speaks. He guides. He directs. * But are we listening? * When He speaks, do we hear and respond? * Will we obey by faith even if we hear something we’d rather not hear? These are helpful, revelatory questions, at least if we answer honestly. The question is NOT whether the unchanging Creator suddenly changed and went silent and distanced Himself from us, but whether we His creation have ears that hear and discern, and willing hearts to listen and obey—hearts that trust in our good and gracious King, believe He is present with us, and rely on His steadfast character. Notice in John 10, Jesus identifies Himself as “the good shepherd.” Not just a shepherd, but the good shepherd. Let’s look at John 10:11…here’s what the Good Shepherd does: “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Jesus proved His goodness at the cross. He didn’t just lead us—He died for you and me. He didn’t just guide us—He saved you and me. In verses 14-15, Jesus says “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.” This is intimate knowledge. Not distant awareness. Not casual acquaintance. This is the kind of knowledge that involves deep relationship, tender care, and personal investment. And here’s the invitation: Are you willing to submit to the leadership of Jesus, the Good Shepherd? Leadership requires followership. You can’t have a leader without a follower. And following requires two things: trust and surrender. Trust – believing the Good Shepherd knows where He’s leading, even when we can’t see the path. Surrender – releasing our need to control, our demand to understand, our insistence on our own way. David understood this. Look at his words recorded in Psalm 23:1-3, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Notice what the Shepherd does. He * Provides for our needs (“I shall not want,” in other words, “I lack nothing”), * Gives us rest (He makes us lie down in green pastures), * Leads us to peace (He leads us beside still, quiet waters), * Restores us (He refreshes our souls), and * Guides us (“in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake”). And what do the sheep do? They listen. They know the Shepherd. They follow. They trust. They rest in the Shepherd’s care. But here’s our struggle: * We want to be both the sheep and the shepherd. * We want Jesus to lead us where we want to go. * We want Him to confirm our plans, bless our agendas, and support our dreams. That’s not following. That’s using God as a divine GPS that we program with our own destination. A true follower says, “Where You lead, I’ll follow—even if it doesn’t make sense, even if it’s not what I planned, even if it’s hard.” Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Notice it says all your heart and all your ways. This is complete submission to and trust in the leadership of our Good Shepherd. And the result? The LORD makes your paths straight. Not necessarily easy, but straight—leading you and me in the right direction, for our good and ultimately for His glory. The question confronting us is this: Who is the master of your life and future? You and I can’t follow Jesus while following ourselves. We can’t submit to the Good Shepherd while insisting on being our own guide. Consider Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” This is about choosing to serve God as master or mammon, that is, material things and possessions. See the point made here: One master. Not two. Not God sometimes and you other times. You and I have to choose. Either it’s Jesus or it’s money, riches, material possessions, ourselves, or any other thing. But there is only one master worth following. Only Jesus knows the right and best way forward for you and for me because He is the way (see John 14:6). Jesus doesn’t just point you toward life; He is the life. He doesn’t just tell you truth; He is the truth. He’s been where you’re going. Consider Hebrews 4:15, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Jesus understands us. He’s walked this earth. He’s faced temptation. He knows the struggle. And Jesus has definitively proven God’s love for us. The Bible says this in John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Jesus didn’t just say He loved you. He showed it—completely, sacrificially, finally. Jesus promises to never leave us, see His Great Commission for us in Matthew 28:18-20. His last words were, “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” Hebrews 13:5 says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” This is not abstract or theoretical. This is why God gives His Spirit to those who anchor their trust in Jesus. Through the Holy Spirit, God lives and works in and through you and me. This is the Spirit of Jesus, with us always—guiding us into all truth. This God of ours—the one, true living God—is so much more than a man-made idol. He exists outside of time as we know it and yet engages with us in time and space. God is Spirit and ever-present, with us. Even when you can’t see Him, Immanuel, God with us, is there. Even when you can’t feel Him, He’s present. Even when you wander, He pursues. So, if this good and loving God is for us, with us, and willing to sacrifice Himself to save us, then why wouldn’t we follow Jesus? * Because following requires giving up control. And control feels safe. * Because following might lead somewhere uncomfortable. And comfort feels good. * Because following means trusting Someone else more than you trust yourself. And that can be terrifying. * Because following requires denying oneself and taking up our cross daily. And that’s hard. But listen to what Jesus says: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have li

    24 min

  2. Jun 19

    DRAWING NEAR: "The Relationship That Takes Time" A Devotional Series on INTIMACY with GOD / 🇫🇷 S’Approcher de Dieu : « La Relation Qui Prend du Temps » Une Série sur l’INTIMITÉ avec DIEU

    Hey friends! Thanks for joining us in this LIFE ON MISSION with Jesus! If you hear anything in the background, it’s probably our precious baby girl, Nova Sophia, who is now 4 months old. Hallelujah! Time is flying by. We have moved 4x since her birth. As you can imagine, this sojourning season was entirely unexpected. Before these moves, we had 4 different places lined up, over the past several months and every opportunity has fallen through in cinematic fashion. There are more testimonies to share—that’s for sure. We continue to trust our faithful Father to make a way where there seems to be no way, including the closing of every wrong door, and even every seemingly good door, en route to the best opportunity the Lord has prepared for our family. For all of you who have kept us in your prayers. Thank you. If you haven’t already, please join us in praying as we follow Jesus on this narrow and challenging path that leads to life. The Lord didn’t yet guide us to a place we can call home but He did make a way for us to to stay at our Parisian studio for a few weeks longer than we expected, then at a family’s home for 2 weeks, then in an even smaller studio than our 1st one for 2 weeks, then we stayed with a friend from church for 2 weeks, and now, in His kindness, God graciously provided us a place to stay for the summer through a connection at our local church. So, we plan to stay here until mid-August, Lord willing. Please continue to pray as we follow the Lord’s leadership, embrace His lordship, and move forward by faith. Welcome to post number 6 in this Drawing Near series, following our last post DRAWING NEAR: “CUTTING Off DISTRACTIONS.” It followed our 4th post, DRAWING NEAR: “Counting the Cost,” Part 3, “Seeking First,” Part 2, “Have You TASTED and SEEN?” and the series introduction. All of these podcasts are linked below. * DRAWING NEAR: An Introduction to A New Devotional Series on INTIMACY with GOD * DRAWING NEAR: “Have You TASTED and SEEN?” * DRAWING NEAR: “Seeking First” * DRAWING NEAR: “Counting the Cost” * DRAWING NEAR: “CUTTING Off DISTRACTIONS” As a reminder, here’s The Heart Behind This Series We’re exploring what it means to truly draw near to God and grow in intimacy with Him through Christ. This isn’t about doing more religious activities or checking off spiritual disciplines—this is about relationship. Real, deep, life-transforming relationship with the living God. We’re going to be honest about what’s preventing our relational growth with the Lord, expose the sources of spiritual stagnation that keep us stuck in shallow faith, and discover practical, biblical pathways to the abundant life Jesus promised: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Throughout this seven-part journey, we are exploring some crucial questions: * Have you truly tasted and seen that God is good? * Are you seeking God’s Kingdom first? * Have you counted the cost—and the gain—of following Jesus? * What distractions need to be cut off so you can cling to God? * Are you willing to take time to build a real relationship with the Lord? * Do you know the voice of your Good Shepherd? * Are you ready to receive Jesus and all that comes with Him? Today, we continue with the fifth key question: Are you willing to take time to build a real relationship with the Lord? This is an exercise in making room to abide in the Source of Life Himself. In James 4:8, it says, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” Imagine trying to build a deep friendship with someone you only talked to for five minutes once a week. You’d probably exchange pleasantries, maybe share a quick update, but you wouldn’t truly know each other. You wouldn’t develop the kind of deep connection that comes from spending real time together, sharing struggles, celebrating wins, and simply being present with each other. This seems obvious when we think about human relationships. Yet somehow, in subtle and not so subtle ways, we can expect our relationship with God to flourish on this exact formula. We give God the margins—a rushed prayer before meals, a quick “help me, Lord” when we’re in trouble, a church service on Sunday. And then we wonder why we don’t feel close to Him. The truth is simple but challenging: It takes time to get to know someone, to build a strong relationship. The same is true with Jesus. God isn’t like a microwave. Deep intimacy with Him isn’t instant. Closeness and oneness with God are cultivated over time, through consistent, intentional presence. Think about the people across the Scriptures who knew God deeply: Moses spent 40 days and nights on Mount Sinai with God (see Exodus 24:18). He spoke with God “face to face, as one speaks to a friend” (Exodus 33:11). But this intimacy didn’t happen overnight. It was built through encounter after encounter, conversation after conversation, crisis after crisis where Moses turned to God. David was called “a man after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14). Read the Psalms—they’re the journal of someone who spent time with God. Wrestling with God. Praising God. Asking God questions. Trusting God. David got to really know God as he showed up, day after day, in honesty and vulnerability. Daniel intentionally set aside devoted time to pray three times a day, every single day, even when it meant being thrown into a lion’s den (Daniel 6:10). His relationship with God wasn’t built in crisis moments; it was built in the daily discipline of showing up. Consider to the example of Mary of Bethany, who sat at Jesus’ feet while her sister Martha rushed to serve those present (see Luke 10:38-42). When Martha complained, Jesus said, “Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” What did Mary choose? Time with Jesus. Presence over productivity. Being over doing. Do you see the pattern? Those who knew God deeply spent time with God consistently. This does not negate the fact that there is much to do. You and I are called to do whatever we do for the glory of God, to partner with God, His way. Nevertheless, Jesus does not invite us to fill our lives with busyness and schedules so packed with seemingly good things that we miss out on knowing Immanuel, while presuming that God would approve. This way of the world does not lead to life. Without quality time spent being with Jesus, this common way leads to relational distance from God. This leads us to the question: Are you willing to take the time to get to know God yourself personally? This is the question before us. Not “Do you want to know God?” Most of us would say yes to that. The real question is: Are you willing to invest the time? Because here’s what intimacy with God requires: Consistency. This is not about marathon prayer sessions once a month, but daily connection. In Mark 1:35, it says this about Jesus, “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.” If Jesus needed consistent time with the Father, how much more do we? Intimacy with God requires Intentionality. Closeness with God won’t happen accidentally. You have to plan for it, protect it, prioritize it. In Matthew 6:6, Jesus says, “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Create space. Eliminate distractions. Make time for this priority. Make time to be with God. Intimacy with God requires Patience. Intimacy grows slowly, sometimes imperceptibly. You might not feel different after one day, one week, even one month. But over time, as you consistently show up, something shifts. Lamentations 3:25 says, “The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him.” The Apostle Paul had experienced incredible things—visions, revelations, miracles. But what did he prioritize? In Philippians 3:8-11, Paul says, “8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” Knowing Christ. Present tense. Ongoing pursuit. After years of walking with Jesus, Paul’s primary desire was still to know Him more deeply. This is the heart posture that cultivates intimacy: “No matter how long I’ve been a Christian, no matter what I’ve experienced, I want to know Jesus more.” In 1 Chronicles 28:9, David’s words to his son, Solomon, are recorded, “You, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought…” The Message translates David’s first line to Solomon this way, “Get to know the God of your ancestors intimately“. Intimately. Not casually. Not from a distance. Intimately. This is a lifelong pursuit of seeking God, being with Him, and knowing who He is. With all of my heart I believe that as we come to know God as He truly is, we cannot help but want to share who He is to others with awe, wonder, and joy. Yet, here’s what often happens: We start strong. We commit to daily prayer and Bible reading. (Consider your New Year’s resolutions.) We’re excited, motivated. But then life happens. We get busy. We miss a day, then two, then a week. We feel guilty, so we avoid coming back. Or we come back but with a sense of obligation rather than desire. And inti

    30 min

  3. Apr 10

    The Deceiver DEFEATED by the KING of kings — The Global Glory of God Series, Part 3 / 🇫🇷 Le Trompeur VAINCU par le ROI des rois — La Série sur la Gloire Mondiale de Dieu, Partie 3

    Hey friends! Thanks for joining us in this LIFE ON MISSION with Jesus! This is our third post in a Holy Week series centered on The Global Glory of God. Parts 1 & 2, are linked below. As always, you can listen to the podcast or read the post. The Global Glory of God Series * Part 1: KNOWING GOD, the Foundation of Everything * Part 2: “My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?” - The Misunderstood Cry that OPENS EYES to PSALM 22 I hope you had a powerful weekend remembering Christ’s victory on the cross and celebrating His resurrection. JESUS IS RISEN. HE IS ALIVE. Hallelujah! All glory to our God! The victory belongs to God and the victory is ours in Christ. Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday may have come and gone but I hope the power of these historic days and Christ’s victory are not lost on us. They have everything to do with your life and mine today. Let’s look back together at what Jesus did and the most important Friday in history. Lead me, Lord Jesus, and be glorified through this post. The Deceiver Defeated Three hours of darkness covered the land as Jesus hung on the cross (see Matthew 27:45). In a way, that seems appropriate. The Author of Life laid down His life for humanity. It also seems like the powers of darkness were, at one level, having their moment. Meanwhile, sin and death were being overcome by Christ’s resurrection life and light. What appeared to be a defeat was, in the deepest and truest way, the most decisive and eternal victory of God over every force that has ever opposed Him. Colossians 2 gives us this triumphant image: “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to shame, by triumphing over them in him [i.e. in Jesus].” (Colossians 2:15) The cross was not where Satan won. It’s where he lost. It’s where the father of lies and all aligned with him were decisively defeated—where light overcame the darkness. It’s also where Jesus took on the full weight and penalty for all of our sins so that we could be forgiven. In the verses immediately before, Colossians 2:13-14, we read about how our own sins and the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands, were nailed to the cross just as Christ was. He is our substitute. It says, “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” In Galatians 2:20, Paul puts it this way, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” That is such good news, isn’t it? Jesus triumphed over sin, death, and the devil through the cross, and we too, find victory over these through Jesus our Lord, our Savior who took our place. And this victory is one that continues, one that lasts forever. We get to walk in the freedom and victory that Jesus secured and paid for by laying down His life for us. It is no longer you and I who live, but Christ who lives in us and overcomes through us. Now, we get to live by faith in the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us. Hallelujah! That’s a powerful way to live today. Let’s not forget Colossians 2:15. The cross is where evil and the ancient accuser and his minions were unmasked, disarmed, and publicly humiliated—the accusations silenced forever, the power of death broken, the grip of the enemy on the nations shattered. Let’s look at Jesus’ own prophetic words recorded in John 12:31–32, “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” Jesus foretold, “When I am lifted up,” as He was, on a cross, that He “will draw all people” to Himself—people from every nation, every generation, every background to Himself. This is yet another reason why missions and the advancement of God’s Kingdom are unstoppable. Not because we are so strong or clever or well-resourced. But because the defeat of the enemy is already accomplished. The decisive battle has already been won. Every Gospel seed planted, Every Jesus-centered conversation, Every church plant, Every home gathering around the Word or prayer,Every written and oral translation of the Bible or a part of it into another language, Every effort to bless others and bring redemptive and restorative change across cultures,Every act of sacrificial love in the name of Jesus Christ—these are not desperate attempts to gain victory over darkness and evil. These acts of faith are done in response to Christ’s victory on the cross and triumphant resurrection from the grave. Revelation 12:11 tells us how the saints overcome the father of lies, the accuser: “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” The blood of the Lamb—the finished work of Jesus our Savior on Good Friday, and… The word of their testimony—the living witness of lives transformed by Jesus. They loved not their lives even unto death—that’s the radical kind of surrendered lives that represent Jesus well and reveal that the Gospel of Jesus really is the best news ever. Not only is it worth dying for, the Good News of Jesus is worth living for! The Good News of Jesus is worth living for! And considering those who lay down their lives for the sake of Jesus, like He laid down His life for us, imagine the world seeing martyrs for the sake of Christ? Followers of Jesus that are so convinced of this Good News that they are willing to die for the One who gave everything to save them, Jesus their Savior. You can see why it is said that “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” That quote is attributed to Tertullian, a second-century church father who lived in Carthage, North Africa, where persecution of Christians was raging. Followers of Jesus were fed to the lions, beaten, whipped, sawed in half, put to death by sword, burned in the fire, and chained in prisons. In his work entitled, “The Apology,” this Tertullian said that the more Christians were persecuted and “mown down,” the more they would multiply because “the blood of Christians is seed.” In another sermon, the fourth-century theologian, Saint Augustine of Hippo, said it this way, “The earth has been filled with the blood of the martyrs as with seed, and from that seed have sprung the crops of the church. They have asserted Christ’s cause more effectively when dead than when they were alive. They assert it today, they preach him today; their tongues are silent, their deeds echo round the world. They were arrested, bound, imprisoned, brought to trial, tortured, burned at the stake, stoned to death, run through, fed to wild beasts. In all their kinds of death they were jeered at as worthless, but ‘precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.’” That is radical. That is real. This is overcoming by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, and the word of our testimony. In our lives and even in our deaths, our testimonies of God’s salvation, abundant life, forgiveness, and love through Jesus go on and inspire others toward faith in Christ. To this day, our brothers and sisters around the world are persecuted for their faith in Jesus. They need our prayers. We need to pray. Following Jesus is not easy, but it is eternally worth it. This is how we overcome the defeated accuser. It is not complicated. It is not primarily a matter of skill or strategy. It is a matter of believing and sharing, of really trusting that the blood of Jesus is sufficient—sufficient to dismantle every accusation, redeem any shame and past, and bring the message of hope and salvation to every nation—and of living as a bold witness of Jesus, living Spirit-filled lives and opening our mouths to proclaim that Jesus reigns forever. To follow Jesus is to swim upstream, against the constant flow and pushback of the world and sin. But that only lasts a lifetime. This journey of life is challenging, that’s for sure, but only for a matter of decades—maybe several decades. But eternity with God lasts forever. Eternal, abundant life with God and the coming new creation will last forever. Not 60 or 70 or 80 or 90 or even 100 years. For the next 500 years. For the next millennium. For the next 10 millenia. For the next 100,000 years. Seriously, try to consider it. For the next 10M years plus… Forever with God is not easy to conceive but it’s our reality and reward for following Jesus. Eternal, abundant life with God the Source of lasting soul-satisfying joy, peace, love, grace, everything we will ever need, and pleasures forevermore. Otherwise, our choice is forever apart from God and that is a reality I wouldn’t wish for my worst enemy—if I had one. In that case, we could live for ourselves, seek to build our own little kingdoms, grope after fame, sex, power, & riches, store up earthly treasures that we can’t take with us, and disregard God for the duration of our few or several decades here on earth. As a result, we receive the reward of our decisions: an earthly life void of deep soul-satisfying love, grace, satisfaction, and peace from God the Source of every good thing, as well as eternal misery and torment far from God’s life-giving presence in a place designed for the father of lies and those allied with him. This helps to explain why Jesus declares this in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” In stark contrast with the father of lies, I appreciate that

    18 min

  4. Apr 6

    ”My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?” - The Misunderstood Cry that OPENS EYES to PSALM 22 — Global Glory of God Series, Part 2 / 🇫🇷 « Mon Dieu, mon Dieu, pourquoi m'as-tu abandonné ? »

    Hey friends! Thanks for joining us in this LIFE ON MISSION with Jesus! This is our second post in a Holy Week series centered on The Global Glory of God. Part 1, KNOWING GOD, the Foundation of Everything, is linked below. As always, you can listen to the podcast or read the post. * KNOWING GOD, the Foundation of Everything — The Global Glory of God Series, Part 1 I hope you had a powerful weekend remembering Christ’s victory on the cross and celebrating His resurrection. JESUS IS RISEN. HE IS ALIVE. Hallelujah! God be praised! The victory belongs to God and the victory is ours in Christ. Good Friday may have come and gone but I hope the power of this historic day and victory are not lost on us. They have everything to do with your life and mine today. Let’s look back at what Jesus did and the most important Friday in history. Lead me, Lord Jesus. Be glorified through this post. “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” — Isaiah 53:5 The Weight of This Day Good Friday may seem like the strangest name in all of human history. We call it “good”—the day the Son of God was stripped, flogged, mocked with a crown of thorns, nailed to a cross of wood, and lifted up to die slowly, on display for all to see, in public, between criminals, abandoned by nearly all who had followed Him. We call it good. And based on what happened next, we are justified in calling it good. But we should not skip past the hard part to get to the goodness too quickly. To do so is to miss what makes the Gospel the Good News. To understand why the cross is the most glorious event in all of creation, we have to stand beneath it long enough to better appreciate what it actually cost. Let’s look at one of the most controversial and I think misunderstood things that Jesus said, and He cried it out from the cross for all to hear. “My God, My God” — The Cry That Opened the Ancient Scroll, the 22nd Psalm “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” (Matthew 27:46) Every phrase of the Bible is intentional, and these words are in a category of their own. And here is the first thing we need to understand: Jesus was not random. He was not simply crying out in raw despair, reaching for whatever words came to mind in the extremity of suffering. He was quoting lines of Scripture. Deliberately, precisely, and with full intention—even from the cross, even in agony—was opening a scroll. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” is the opening line of Psalm 22. Written by David roughly a thousand years before the crucifixion, Psalm 22 is one of the most astonishing prophetic texts in all the Scriptures. Read this chapter slowly and you will feel the ground shift beneath you. (Likewise, read Isaiah 53.) Psalm 22 describes, with haunting precision, a righteous sufferer surrounded by mockers who wag their heads and say, * “He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him” (Psalm 22:8)—the very words hurled at Jesus by the crowd at Golgotha (Matthew 27:43). * It describes hands and feet being pierced (Psalm 22:16). * It describes garments divided by lot (Psalm 22:18) — fulfilled to the letter by the soldiers beneath the cross (John 19:24). * It describes bones out of joint, a heart melted like wax, strength dried up like a potsherd (Psalm 22:14–15). No human author writing in the tenth century BC could have constructed this from imagination. This was the Spirit of God, breathing and working through David, narrating in advance what would happen on a hill outside Jerusalem. And Jesus, hanging on that hill, quotes the opening line—not as a cry of despair severed from its context, but as a deliberate act of proclamation. In Jewish tradition, to cite the opening of a Psalm was to invoke the whole of it. So, Jesus was saying to everyone within earshot—and to every reader of every generation since—look at this Psalm. This is what is happening right now. This moment was written. This was always the plan. But what about the words themselves? Why have you forsaken me? Was the Father truly absent? We must be careful here, and honest. First, the triunity of God cannot be divided. Why? Let’s look at Jesus’ words: “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30) “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.” (John 14:10) These passages affirm the inseparable unity and mutual indwelling within the God who never changes. Second, the Father did not turn His back on the Son in some rupture of their eternal relationship. In Deuteronomy 31:6, we learn that God will never leave or forsake His people, “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” Psalm 37:28 declares that God will not forsake His saints, “For the Lord loves justice; he will not forsake his saints.They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off. In John 16:32, Jesus says this, “Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.” In 2 Corinthians 5:19, we find that, “In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” These point to the Father’s continued presence and active work “in Christ” even in Jesus’ last moments on the cross. Third, the love between the Father and the Son is not a created thing that can be suspended or severed. Let’s look at Jesus’ words in John 17:24 revealing the Father’s everlasting love since before the creation of the world. Jesus prayed this aloud, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” In John 15:9, Jesus says, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.” Jesus understood His Father’s perfect, constant love and His identity as the Beloved Son, and these verses remind us of the eternal, uncreated, and ongoing love within the Trinity. Jesus is, and remains, the eternal Son, one with the Father. And yet—Psalm 22 doesn’t exactly resolve the anguish quickly. In it, we find that the sufferer cries, and it seems like heaven is silent. “I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest” (Psalm 22:2). This is the experience of felt forsakenness in the midst of a suffering so total, so encompassing, that the presence of God seems eclipsed by it. What Jesus bore on the cross was the full weight of human sin: yours, mine, the accumulated darkness of every generation. Paul writes: “For our sake he made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him [in Jesus] we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). And it’s important to note, Psalm 22 does not end in desolation. It turns. In verse 24, we find this declaration about God: “For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.” The Father did not hide His face. The sufferer was heard. And from there, the Psalm erupts into one of the most expansive visions of global praise in all of the Old Testament: “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him.” (Psalm 22:27) This is what Jesus was pointing to from the cross. Not just the anguish of verse 1, but the triumph of verse 27. The suffering was real. The cry was genuine. And the end result was always the nations worshiping the one, true living God. Jesus endured the cross and all the agony that came with it for the joy set before Him. “...Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2) The joy set before Him: you and me. The nations. The redeemed multitude from every tongue and tribe and people. The glory of the Father fully revealed in a people who have been bought back and made new. Hallelujah! This is the not-so-hidden glory and coming future revealed by Jesus’ cry on the cross. What seems like despair actually points us to the Good News of Jesus and the end result of His suffering on that cross—redeemed souls from every tribe and tongue and nation worshiping the King of kings and Lord of lords. Now, that is some joy-filled good news we need to remember and share. There’s more to share on the defeated deceiver, veil that was torn, the beauty of the particular nature and offer of salvation, crucial questions to answer, and the wonderful last word of Jesus, Tetelestai. But, alas, there is only so much time in the day. We plan to dive into these Good Friday topics in our next LIFE ON MISSION post. Friends, I hope and pray that God inspires you through this post. It’s the second in what I planned would be a three-part Holy Week series, but it seems we’re adding at least one more part. In the last post, we laid the foundation—on knowing God. (KNOWING GOD, the Foundation of Everything — The Global Glory of God Series, Part 1). Today and in our next post, we’re contemplating the Good Friday dimensions of Christ’s victory on the cross. Then, we plan to celebrate the power of Resurrection Sunday, centered on Jesus’ commission for you and me and the global glory of God that cannot be stopped. What can you do now? * Share this series with so

    16 min

  5. Apr 2

    KNOWING GOD, the Foundation of Everything — The Global Glory of God Series, Part 1 / 🇫🇷 CONNAÎTRE DIEU, le Fondement de Tout — La Série sur la Gloire Mondiale de Dieu, Partie 1

    “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” (Habakkuk 2:14) A Question About Love and Relational Knowledge What if people don’t love God because they don’t know God? Reckon with that for a moment. Not as a theological puzzle, but as a reality that explains much of why the world is the way it seems today. We live in a world of profound spiritual restlessness. People search, grope, hunger, numb, strive, and collapse—and so often, the church watches and wonders why the Gospel isn’t landing and taking root. But what if the problem isn’t primarily a strategy problem? What if it isn’t a communication problem, or a cultural relevance problem, or even a courage problem? What if it’s a knowledge problem? But, this is not about head-knowledge or “book smarts.” I can explain what I mean. The prophet Hosea heard God say these words over His own people: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). Not destroyed by Romans. Not by drought or famine. Destroyed by not knowing. And the knowledge in view was not mere information about God: it was the intimate, relational, life-altering knowing that changes everything about a person from the inside out. This is experiential knowledge. This is where Holy Week begins. Not at the cross just yet—though we are walking toward it. We begin where the Bible always begins: with who God is. Because before we can understand what Jesus accomplished on Good Friday, or what the empty tomb means on Sunday, I believe we need to feel the weight of what was at stake. The God Who Cannot Be Contained Let’s open our Bible to Exodus 33. Moses has just witnessed Israel’s catastrophic unfaithfulness with the golden calf. The covenant seems shattered. The camp is suddenly in mourning after the blatant rebellion and idolatry. And Moses, the intercessor and representative of the people, the one who spoke with God face to face as a man speaks to his friend, makes one of the most audacious requests in all of Scripture: “Moses said, ‘Please show me your glory.’” (Exodus 33:18) Consider with me the fact that Moses had seen the plagues in Egypt. He had walked through the Red Sea on dry ground. He had received the Law from the mountain of God in fire and smoke. And still, he wanted more. He wanted to see God’s glory.The audacity, right? But, read around this verse and you’ll find that Moses knew God personally and desired to know God more, and more rightly. Nevertheless, God’s response is mind-blowing. God honored his request. Let’s look at the intimacy God and Moses shared and the sovereignty and goodness of God on display: “And [God] said, ‘I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name “The LORD.” And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,’ he said, ‘you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.’” (Exodus 33:19–20) Notice that Moses asks for God’s glory, and God responds with: His goodness. The glory of God is not primarily a blinding light show. It is the overflow of who God actually is — His goodness, His holiness, His grace, His mercy, His faithfulness, His love, His justice, His sovereignty. The glory of God is the full weight and beauty of God’s character and nature made visible and known. And according to God, this cannot be taken in all at once. Not by fallen human beings. Not yet. But God does let Moses into the cleft of the rock. He covers him with His hand. And as God passes by, He speaks: “‘The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped.”(Exodus 34:6-8) This is the foundational revelation of who God is by God Himself in the Old Testament. And it is glorious. Mercy and justice. Love and holiness. Grace and truth, held together not in tension but in the unity of a God who is altogether whole and altogether other—the One who is holy, holy, holy. Knowing this God—even partially—broke Moses, in a good way. We know from Exodus 34:8 that Moses fell to the ground and worshipped immediately. That is what knowing God and His glory does. It undoes us. And it remakes us. It powerfully shapes and realigns us, and leads us to worship. The full weight and beauty of God are not a spectacle, they are meant to lead us to bow and worship. How beautiful is that? How beautiful is the Lord our God! But, there remains… The Great Gap: Why Many Don’t Know Him Here is the tragedy of human history in short: we were made to know God, and yet we have run from this holy knowing at every turn. Romans 1 tells the devastating story. God’s invisible attributes—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly perceived in the things that have been made (see Romans 1:20). Creation has always been a stage and a canvas of God’s glory. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork (Psalm 19:1). The mountains shout it. The migration of birds across ten thousand miles of ocean proclaims it. Even the human conscience seems to whisper it. And yet, Romans 1:21 continues: “Although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Most of humanity has taken the glory of God—the overwhelming, inexhaustible, life-giving glory of the living God—and exchanged it. We traded it for lesser glories. Wood. Stone. Fame. Pleasure. Security. Comfort. Control. This sin seems to be at the root of every human misery. Every addiction, every broken relationship, every war, every despair—trace it back far enough, and you find a heart that has turned away from the glory of God and tried to find its life or value or purpose in something else, anything else. Something manageable. Something that won’t make demands, won’t be holy, won’t be other. John Piper, in his book called, Desiring God, describes sin not primarily as law-breaking but as bad exchange: preferring something over God. And he draws from Jonathan Edwards this great insight: God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. Consider that for the rest of your days. The inverse is also true—we are most miserable, most broken, most enslaved, when we are seeking satisfaction somewhere else, somewhere God never promised it could be found. This helps to explain why living on mission is not optional for the follower of Jesus. This sheds light on why the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ is not one option among many. Billions of people right now are living in the darkness of exchanged glory. They are doing what humanity has always done, trying to fill the God-shaped void within them with something else, with anything apart from God our Maker—the Lover of our souls. And far too many are anxiously hustling through life, unaware that they are rushing down the wide and easy road that leads to destruction and eternal distance from God. Not just living below their potential. Perishing. Seeking a life without God and getting what they want. But, no wanderer is too far gone. Not with our pursuing God. There is hope though Jesus. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23). Jesus Himself said it: “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3) Friends, you and I can see that the stakes are eternal. There’s a reason we call the Good News the Good News. It’s because our trajectory apart from trusting in Jesus and receiving forgiveness is very bad news. Heaven is real. And so is hell—the miserable, terrible, weighty reality that Jesus spoke of more than anyone else in Scripture. The outer darkness. The unquenchable fire. The second death. A state of eternal separation from the One who is the source of all life and joy and beauty. To reject the knowledge of God, finally and fully, is to choose and receive an eternity without Him—and that really is the most horrifying thing in all of reality. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. As followers of Jesus, it’s worth noting that we don’t speak of hell to frighten people into a transaction. We speak of it because it is true, and because its truth makes the Good News of Jesus both the most urgent and most beautiful message in the history of the world. Jesus lived the perfect, sinless life we could never achieve. He paid the debt for our sins that we could never pay, and He paid with His own blood, though He never sinned. While we were dead in our sins, Christ died for you and me. He died the death we deserved, and He defeated sin, death, and the deceiver as He rose again to new life. Now He is seated at the right hand of the Father in glory, and through the Holy Spirit, He is ransoming souls from captivity to sin in the kingdom of darkness and delivering them into His Kingdom of Light, the Kingdom of the Beloved Son. All who trust in Jesus will be saved and receive abundant and eternal life, starting now and lasting forever, knowing Jesus our Lord and our Father in heaven—knowing Love Himself. He is redeeming and transforming souls from the inside out, and He is coming again to make all things new. Hallelujah! Oh how sweet it is to trust in Jesus, to be washed clean from all our past sins and shame. How sweet it is to be made new, to belong to God’s covenant family and Kingdom forever. The Treasure Hidden in Scripture Here is a priceless gift God gave us: He did not leave us

    32 min

  6. Mar 27

    DRAWING NEAR: “CUTTING Off DISTRACTIONS” A Devotional Series on INTIMACY with GOD / 🇫🇷 S’Approcher de Dieu : « COUPER les DISTRACTIONS » Une Série sur l’INTIMITÉ avec DIEU

    Hey friends! Thanks for joining us in this LIFE ON MISSION with Jesus! If you hear anything in the background, it’s probably our precious baby girl, Nova Sophia, who is now 6 weeks old. Hallelujah! It’s been a wild, beautiful, and largely peaceful first month-and-a-half of Nova’s life. In our last post, I mentioned that we had 7 days to move as our current studio sold and we’ve been trusting our faithful Father to make a way where there seems to be no way. Thank you for joining us in prayer. God didn’t guide us to our new home yet, but He did make a way for us to stay at our Parisian studio for a few weeks longer than we expected. Now we’re trusting He will make a way to our new home within the next few weeks, before we need to leave our current place. Please continue to pray as we follow the Lord’s leadership and lordship and move forward by faith. Thanks in advance! Lead the way, Lord our God! Welcome to post number 5 in this Drawing Near series, following our last post DRAWING NEAR: “Counting the Cost.” It followed our 3rd post, “Seeking First,”the 2nd post, “Have You TASTED and SEEN?”and the series introduction. All of these podcasts are linked below. * DRAWING NEAR: An Introduction to A New Devotional Series on INTIMACY with GOD * DRAWING NEAR: “Have You TASTED and SEEN?” * DRAWING NEAR: “Seeking First” * DRAWING NEAR: “Counting the Cost.” As a reminder, Here’s The Heart Behind This Series We’re exploring what it means to truly draw near to God and grow in intimacy with Him through Christ. This isn’t about doing more religious activities or checking off spiritual disciplines—this is about relationship. Real, deep, life-transforming relationship with the living God. We’re going to be honest about what’s preventing our relational growth with the Lord, expose the sources of spiritual stagnation that keep us stuck in shallow faith, and discover practical, biblical pathways to the abundant life Jesus promised: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Throughout this seven-part journey, we are exploring some crucial questions: * Have you truly tasted and seen that God is good? * Are you seeking God’s Kingdom first? * Have you counted the cost—and the gain—of following Jesus? * What distractions need to be cut off so you can cling to God? * Are you willing to take time to build a real relationship with the Lord? * Do you know the voice of your Good Shepherd? * Are you ready to receive Jesus and all that comes with Him? Today, we continue with the fourth key question: What distractions need to be cut off so you can cling to God? This is an exercise in making room for what matters most. Hebrews 12:1-2 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hallelujah! It’s an impressively powerful passage highlighting a sobering reality we need to face: We need to let go of and cut off distractions to cling to God. I think it’s safe to say that we live in the most distracted generation in human history. According to recent research, the average person checks their phone between 56-186 times a day—over a 12 hour period, that’s once every 4-13 minutes. We’re constantly connected, constantly stimulated, constantly divided in our attention. Whether we realize it or not, this can be a key factor in killing our intimacy with God. The Lord hasn’t changed. His willingness to be with us hasn’t changed. But our attention spans have shortened and we often give the best of our attention to random notifications and seemingly urgent interruptions. But, the reality is that we cannot be deeply present with God while being constantly available to everything else. We won’t build deep intimacy amid endless distraction. That’s not going to happen. Jesus was clear about the seriousness of removing what hinders us, specifically things that cause us to lust and sin. In the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:29-30, we find Jesus giving this intense visual to the crowds on the subject of lust and committing adultery in one’s heart, “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.... And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away…” He’s using hyperbole to make a critical point: radical problems require radical solutions. If something is keeping you from God, remove it. Don’t manage it. Don’t moderate it. Don’t make excuses for it. Remove it. This is the invitation: Will you and I cut off and let go of distractions to cling to Jesus Christ instead? The language here is both releasing and embracing. Let go of distractions. Cling to God. To cling to one, you must let go of the other. You can’t do one without the other. We need open hands and open hearts to truly cling to God. How can we cling to the Lord or welcome Him into our hearts if they are full already? This leads us to ask: What are the distractions in my life? This is a question each of us needs to answer. It’s a great question to bring before the Lord who sees everything, knows us better than we know ourselves, and always works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes. For some, it might be technology—endless scrolling, binge-watching, compulsive phone-checking. For others, it’s busyness—filling every moment with activity, productivity, and noise. For others, it’s relationships, hobbies, entertainment, or even good things that have become ultimate things or stumbling blocks to intimacy with our Creator, the Lord our God, the Lover of our souls. Let’s remember where we began, with Hebrews 12:1-2. The writer of Hebrews puts it this way: Let us “lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely” so that we can run the race God has set before us, with our eyes on the Prize, Jesus. Another way to put this is to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. Notice there are two categories: * Things that hinder – These may not necessarily be sinful or evil things, but they slow us down, weigh us down, and keep us from running the race God set before you and me. * Sin that entangles – There’s the obvious stuff that trips us up and wraps around our hearts, minds, and lives, causing us to stumble. Both need to go. In 1 Corinthians 6:12, Paul writes, “‘All things are lawful for me,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful for me,’ but I will not be dominated by anything.” Something might not be inherently sinful, but if it masters you, if it controls your time and attention, if it keeps you from God—it needs to be cut off. This can be hard. Most of us are attached to our distractions. They can be comfortable. They’re familiar. They help us avoid boredom, silence, and the uncomfortable work of Spirit-empowered growth into the likeness of Jesus, more and more so, day after day. Whether we want to admit that or not is another question that can challenge our pride. But here’s what I believe we’re missing: The more we embrace the way, the truth, and the life of Jesus, the more we will enjoy sweet, intentional intimacy with God. Sweet. Intentional. Intimacy. That’s what’s on the other side of cutting off distractions. Not a boring, empty life. Not joyless asceticism. But rich, satisfying, soul-nourishing intimacy with the living God. David understood this. In Psalm 42:1, he said, “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.” This is real longing for God. Dependence on the living God, the Source of life, drink, food—of everything we need and so much more. This longing is the kind of rightly aligned desire that makes distractions look dull by comparison. But, why would we long for the Lord our Source if we’re constantly filling our hearts, minds, and lives with distractions? Why would pant and thirst for God while we binge-watch a series or numb ourselves on social media? These are hard questions but they’re real ones. They help us to see why we might feel dry in our relationship with God. In my own season of loving and stewarding the 6 week old life of our precious baby girl with Madison Rose, feeling weighed down by the uncertainty of not knowing where our next home will be, I need to turn my eyes back to where our help comes from—our help comes from the Lord our Creator, the Maker of heaven and the earth. I need to acknowledge that in some of my hardest moments recently, my eyes have been on our circumstances, rather than on the One who leads and guides us into all truth, who is testing and refining our faith so that it becomes refined and purer than ever before. The more I seek the Lord, the more peace, freedom, and faith-filled joy I experience, regardless of our circumstances that will continue to change. The point is this: We need to turn our eyes towards Jesus and to take our eyes off our circumstances alone. This was already highlighted beautifully in Hebrews 12:2, where we cut off what hinders and entangles us, and run the race our God set before each of us, looking to Jesus, the Founder and Perfecter of our faith, “...who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” So, where are your eyes? What are you looking at most of the day? Most of the world spends at least 6 hours and 45min looking at screens everyday. And that’s a conservative number, based on the stats I read. That’s over 40% of our waking hours, meaning we spend over 40% of our lives in front of screens! Screens are not the enemy, but we cannot deny the fact

    29 min

  7. Mar 13

    DRAWING NEAR: “COUNTING The COST” A Devotional Series on INTIMACY with GOD / 🇫🇷 S’Approcher de Dieu : « COMPTER LE COÛT » Une Série sur l’INTIMITÉ avec DIEU

    Hey friends! Thanks for joining us in this LIFE ON MISSION with Jesus! If you hear anything in the background, it’s probably our precious baby girl, Nova Sophia, who is now almost 4 weeks old. Hallelujah! It’s been a wild, beautiful, and largely peaceful first month of Nova’s life. We now have 7 days to move and we are trusting our faithful Father to make a way where there seems to be no way. Please join us in praying as we follow the Lord’s leadership and lordship and move forward by faith. Welcome to post number 4 in this Drawing Near series, following our last post DRAWING NEAR: “SEEKING FIRST” It followed our second post, “Have You TASTED and SEEN?” and the series introduction. All of these podcasts are linked below. * DRAWING NEAR: An Introduction to A New Devotional Series on INTIMACY with GOD * DRAWING NEAR: “Have You TASTED and SEEN?” * DRAWING NEAR: “SEEKING FIRST” As a reminder, Here’s The Heart Behind This Series We’re exploring what it means to truly draw near to God and grow in intimacy with Him through Christ. This isn’t about doing more religious activities or checking off spiritual disciplines—this is about relationship. Real, deep, life-transforming relationship with the living God. We’re going to be honest about what’s preventing our relational growth with the Lord, expose the sources of spiritual stagnation that keep us stuck in shallow faith, and discover practical, biblical pathways to the abundant life Jesus promised: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Throughout this seven-part journey, we are exploring some crucial questions: * Have you truly tasted and seen that God is good? * Are you seeking God’s Kingdom first? * Have you counted the cost—and the gain—of following Jesus? * What distractions need to be cut off so you can cling to God? * Are you willing to take time to build a real relationship with the Lord? * Do you know the voice of your Good Shepherd? * Are you ready to receive Jesus and all that comes with Him? Today, we continue with the third question: Have you counted the cost—and the gain—of following Jesus? — The Exchange That Changes Everything. In Luke 14:27, in a conversation on discipleship, Jesus says, “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” In verses 28-30, Jesus continues saying, 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Jesus never used bait-and-switch tactics. He never promised easy when the road would be hard. He never sugarcoated the cost of following Him. In fact, He did the opposite. He put the cost right up front: “Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:33). All. Everything. Not some things. Not most things. Everything. This sounds extreme, doesn’t it? Uncomfortable, even. We live in a consumer culture where we’re promised maximum benefit for minimum cost. We want the upgrade without the price tag. We want the gain without the sacrifice. But Jesus asks us to count the cost honestly: “Have you counted the cost?” Following Jesus means we must relinquish our claims to be the lord over our own lives, masters of our own time, and masters of our own destinies. It means surrendering control—the thing we tend to grip most tightly. We want to be self-made, self-directed, self-sufficient. We want to call the shots, set the agenda, determine the destination. But, saying that “Jesus is Lord” means saying “I am not.” This is a real cost of following Jesus. And it costs a lot. But here’s what we often miss: There is a cost, but in exchange you receive Jesus and His Kingdom and all that comes with Him. This isn’t a bad deal. This is the deal of a lifetime—even more, it’s the deal of eternity. What exactly do we receive in this exchange? We receive Everlasting life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Not just endless existence, but life in its fullest, richest sense—life with God, starting now and lasting forever. We receive Joy. “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete,” Jesus said in John 15:11. Not the shallow happiness that depends on circumstances, but deep, abiding joy that flows from knowing you’re loved, forgiven, and held by God. We receive Peace. Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27). This is the kind of peace that doesn’t make sense when life doesn’t make sense. This is peace that guards your heart and mind in Christ Jesus (see Philippians 4:7). We receive Eternal reward. Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Lord willing, we will be those who meet our Maker face to face and hear words like the ones we read in Matthew 25:21: “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.” We’re talking about rewards that don’t rust, rot, or get stolen—treasures in heaven that last forever (see Matthew 6:19-20). We receive Pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11 says, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”. Not the fleeting pleasures of sin, but deep, lasting, soul-satisfying pleasures that come from being in God’s presence. And best of all— We receive Jesus Himself. The Prize. The greatest Gift of all. You and I gain and become a part of His everlasting Kingdom. You and I gain a real, intimate, eternal relationship with the one true living God. Paul understood this exchange. He wrote in Philippians 3:8: “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” Put simply from an eternal point of view, everything else is garbage compared to knowing Jesus. That’s not hyperbole—that’s reality seen clearly. So yes, there’s a cost to following Jesus. But the cost is trading trash for treasure. It’s trading the temporary for the eternal. It’s trading slavery for freedom, death for life, darkness for light. The question is: Are you willing to make this exchange? Are you willing to let Jesus Christ be your Savior and your Lord, the Lord of your life today and every day? Notice both titles: Savior and Lord. Many want Jesus as Savior—the one who forgives sins and gets them to heaven. Not as many want Jesus as Lord—the one who has authority over their daily lives, their decisions, their priorities, their futures. The one who rules and reigns with perfect wisdom and leadership. But you can’t separate the two. “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9). Salvation and lordship are packaged together. To receive Jesus as Savior, you must submit to Him as Lord. Not just at conversion, but daily. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23). Daily. Every single day, you and I get to make the choice: Either we live like Jesus is Lord or like we are. Here’s what prevents many from making this exchange: Fear of loss. We’re afraid of what we’ll have to give up, what we’ll miss out on, how our lives will change. But Jesus promises: “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life” (Matthew 19:29). You cannot out-give God. What else? Love of control. We want to be the masters of our own destinies. But Proverbs 16:9 reminds us: “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” You and I are not as in control as we think we are. Why not surrender to the One who actually is? Another obstacle… Attraction to the wide road. In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus says, 13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” The narrow road is harder. It’s less popular. But it’s the only road that leads to life. And finally, an insidious and common trap for most of us… Distraction and busyness. We can be so caught up in the urgent that we miss the eternal. We can be too busy to abide in the love of the Lord, too rushed to be still and know that He is God (see Psalm 46:10). We can be too distracted to fix our eyes on Jesus (see Hebrews 12:2). So, the question remains, Do you realize that in this exchange, counting the cost and the gain of following Jesus, you receive Jesus and all that comes with Him? You don’t just get fire insurance. You get access to His presence, His power, His peace, His purposes, His promises, His Kingdom. Are you willing to submit to the leadership of Jesus, the Good Shepherd? Let’s look at Jesus’ words in John 10:11-15: 11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a

    19 min

  8. Mar 9

    DRAWING NEAR: “SEEKING FIRST” A Devotional Series on INTIMACY with GOD / 🇫🇷 S’Approcher de Dieu : « CHERCHER d'ABORD » Une Série sur l’INTIMITÉ avec DIEU

    Hey friends! Thanks for joining us in this LIFE ON MISSION with Jesus! Welcome to the third post in this Drawing Near series, following our last post “Have You TASTED and SEEN?” and the series introduction. Both of these are linked below. * DRAWING NEAR: An Introduction to A New Devotional Series on INTIMACY with GOD * DRAWING NEAR: “Have You TASTED and SEEN?” As a reminder, Here’s The Heart Behind This Series We’re exploring what it means to truly draw near to God and grow in intimacy with Him through Christ. This isn’t about doing more religious activities or checking off spiritual disciplines—this is about relationship. Real, deep, life-transforming relationship with the living God. We’re going to be honest about what’s preventing our relational growth with the Lord, expose the sources of spiritual stagnation that keep us stuck in shallow faith, and discover practical, biblical pathways to the abundant life Jesus promised: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Throughout this seven-part journey, we are exploring some crucial questions: * Have you truly tasted and seen that God is good? * Are you seeking God’s Kingdom first? * Have you counted the cost—and the gain—of following Jesus? * What distractions need to be cut off so you can cling to God? * Are you willing to take time to build a real relationship with Him? * Do you know the voice of your Good Shepherd? * Are you ready to receive Jesus and all that comes with Him? Today, we continue with the second question: Are you seeking God’s Kingdom first? — the choice that changes everything. In Matthew 6:33, Jesus says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Every day, we face a fundamental choice: What or who will we seek first? Not what will we seek only, but what will we seek first. What gets the prime real estate of our time, energy, and attention? What do we orient our lives around? Jesus makes it clear: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness“ (Matthew 6:33). First. Not second, not when convenient, not after everything else is handled. First. This isn’t just good advice—it’s the pathway to abundant life. Yet if we’re honest, most of us struggle here. We seek first our careers, our comfort, our entertainment, our relationships, our plans. God often gets the leftovers of our time and attention, if He gets anything at all. Why is this so hard? Because seeking God first requires sacrifice. There is no way around it: Saying ‘Yes’ to GOD means saying ‘No’ to other things. It means denying ourselves, taking up our cross daily, and following Jesus (see Luke 9:23). Let’s be clear about what this means. Denying yourself isn’t about self-hatred or unhealthy asceticism. It’s about dethroning self from the center of your universe and enthroning Christ there instead. It’s about recognizing that “you are not your own; you were bought at a price,” as it says in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. Taking up your cross isn’t just about enduring difficulty. In Jesus’ day, the cross was an instrument of execution. To take up your cross meant you were walking toward death—death to your own agenda, your own control, your own lordship over your life. It doesn’t take long to realize that this is not the world’s way. This is not the easy way. Remember, Jesus Himself says this in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” The world says: You do you. Follow your heart. You’re the master of your destiny. Build your kingdom. Make your name great. Jesus says: Follow Me. Deny yourself. Seek first My kingdom. Let Me be Lord. Lose your life to truly find it. See Matthew 16:25, Jesus says, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” These are two fundamentally different paths, and you cannot walk both simultaneously. “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Matthew 6:24). So here’s the question that confronts us: Who is the master of your life and future? Is it you? Or is it Jesus? This isn’t hypothetical. * Look at your calendar. * Look at your bank account. * Look at your browser history. * Look at where your mind goes in quiet moments. These help to reveal who or what we are truly seeking first. The beautiful—almost too-good-to-be-true—promise is this: When you seek first His kingdom and righteousness, “all these things will be given to you as well” (see Matthew 6:33). All the things we worry about—provision, security, purpose, fulfillment: God takes care of these when we prioritize Him. The question is: Do we believe this? Do we really believe it? Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” God rewards those who earnestly seek Him. Not halfheartedly. Not occasionally. Not when convenient. Earnestly. The Greek word used here means to seek diligently, carefully, with focused effort. This requires humility. In 2 Chronicles 7:14, one of my favorite passages, God proclaims this promise: “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.” Notice the order given here: humble oneself, pray, seek His face (not just His hand), and turn from sin. Then, in response, comes the promise of God hearing, forgiving, and healing. Humility says, “I don’t have it all figured out. I can’t do this on my own. I need You, Lord, not as an addition to my life, but as the very center of it.” Humility is willing to sacrifice time, humble yourself, and dedicate yourself to seeking the Lord, day after day—starting today. It acknowledges that building a relationship with God—like any meaningful relationship—takes time, attention, and intentionality. For example, I wouldn’t expect to have a deep friendship with someone I only talked to for five minutes a week. Would you? And I wouldn’t expect to have a deep friendship with someone without regularly engaging with that person. I definitely wouldn’t expect to have a close relationship with someone if I only heard things about them for about an hour a week. Yet many of us try to build intimacy with God based on that exact formula. That’s like popping some frozen food in a microwave and expecting gourmet results. It takes time to get to know someone, to build a strong relationship. The same is true with our God. Have you ever had mouthwatering, perfectly juicy beef brisket, or chilli con carne, or curry? You want the results? It will cost you time, preparation, and intentionality. Intimacy develops over time, through consistent seeking, through showing up day after day. The more we embrace the way, the truth, and the life of Jesus, the more we will enjoy sweet, intentional intimacy with our God. I believe that. Jesus Himself is the way, the truth, and the life (see John 14:6). There’s no intimacy with God that bypasses Jesus. None. So the question becomes intensely practical: Are you willing to sacrifice time, to humble yourself, to dedicate yourself to seeking the Lord, to seeking first His righteousness and Kingdom, His way, truth, and life, His rule and reign in and through your life? * What might you need to cut out or cut back on? * What distractions need to be removed? * What priorities need to be rearranged? This is NOT about legalism or earning God’s love. Nope. God’s love is already yours through Christ. This is about positioning yourself to experience that love, to grow in intimacy with the One who loves you most. The invitation stands: Seek first His Kingdom and righteousness. Make Jesus your Lord not just in name, but in practice. Rearrange your life around His priorities. And watch what happens when you do. As you seek Him first, His reign and righteous ways and dominion on earth and in your life as it is in heaven, your intimacy with God will deepen and all He knows you need, He will provide as He promised. Reflection Questions * What does your calendar and your bank account reveal about what you’re seeking first? * What would need to change for you to truly seek God’s Kingdom and righteousness first? * Are you willing to sacrifice time daily to humble yourself and seek the Lord your God? Let’s Pray Our Father in heaven, Creator and Sustainer of life,Giver of every good and every perfect gift,King of kings and Lord of lords, Our Redeemer, Savior, and Source. You are so worthy to be sought first. You gave everything to redeem us, Lord Jesus. You paid for our forgiveness with Your sinless blood. Your self-giving love is proof of Your real and enduring love for us. How can we respond but to give you all we are and have? You are worthy of the best I can give—of all I am and have. You sustain my life, the breath in my lungs, my heart beating, the blood pumping through my veins. I confess that I often seek so many other things before I seek You. Forgive me for making You an afterthought in my own life. Forgive me for seeking Your hand and what You can give over seeking Your face and cherishing your presence. Purify my heart. Cleanse and reorient my motives. Grow in me the desire and hunger to seek first Your Kingdom and Your righteousness. I want to want this more, more of Your Kingdom and Your righteousness, more of the way, the truth, and the life of Jesus in my life

    17 min
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Cultivating a faith-filled, God-fearing, Christ-centered lifestyle with Jesus 🔑Themes: Jesus, LIFE ON MISSION, Avodah with God, God at work in the world, God-glorifying Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Posts/podcasts every M, W, F! lifeonmissiontannerklein.substack.com

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