Glory {Art} 2017 Scripture Challenge #2, Jesus

The Study

Who is Jesus, and what is your view of Him? Who is He to you? Is He just a regular man? Do you try to make Him equal with you? What questions do you have about Jesus? Where can you find the answers? Today I am going to try to help answer some of these questions because what we believe about Jesus matters. And there is only one choice in life that ultimately matters—have you received Jesus or rejected Him? My prayer is that each of us would know Him, draw closer to Him, and that He might show each of us something new today.

Brantley Gilbert recently talked about his new song called "Three Feet of Water." I heard it for the first time this week, and I loved every bit of the song. However, please do not think from this song that baptism is what saves us. Baptism is only an outward expression of our inward commitment to Jesus Christ. Click here to read the lyrics. I highly recommend you read the lyrics as you play the cover version of this song.

I prefer the version on his album as it has violins with the piano too, and it's just amazing! Anyway, as he shares about the song, he said "I think I would be selling people short if I didn't tell them about my faith." And that's exactly why we are talking about Jesus today. Last study we talked about the Bible. Click here to see that study. Today, we are talking about Jesus. I would be selling each of you short if we didn't talk about, Jesus, who He is, and what He has done for us.

First, who is Jesus, and what is your view of Him? Who is He to you? Is He just a regular man?

Jesus is God the Son. He is one part of the Trinity—one God that exists in three entities—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Jesus became man to save sinners yet He is also fully God. He is the only God-Man, and He lived a perfect life of obedience to God the Father. Jesus did His work as His father called Him to, and He did it with with joy and excellence.

John 1:14 "The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

Without His humanity, death on the cross, and resurrection, we could not have salvation. He lived as a man to die for men.

John 1:29 "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, 'Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!'"

He died so that we might live. His sacrifice is for all for all time. He has paid the price for my sins and for your sins. Our sin separates us from God, and we need to be reconciled to Him. 

Isaiah 59:1-2 "Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear."

He took the guilt for all of our sin and endured God's judgment for it as He died on the cross. Then He was raised from the dead which proves He conquered sin and death. He now sits at the right-hand of God, and He lives to save each of us that acknowledges Him as Lord and Savior. 

John 3:16 "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 11:25 "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die."

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

Hebrews 9:27-28 "Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him."

Acts 2:23-24 "This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. But God raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him."

Ephesians 1:19b-21 "That power is the same as the mighty strength He exerted when He raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come."

Second, Do you try to make Him equal with you? 

When we are honest, we all want Jesus to be like us because then we can do what we want to do. He is like us in that He became man as we saw above. He also experienced temptation, suffering, frustration, and everything we experience. He truly does understand what you and I go through each day. But, we must realize that He is nothing like us, and He is beyond compare. Jesus is evident in the Bible from Genesis through Revelation. 

Has living for Him become hard for you? Or are you so wrapped up in serving Him that you have forgotten to love Him? How long has it been since you just sat with the Lord and let Him love you? When we have a fresh revelation of Jesus and who He is, it renews a joyful commitment to Him in our lives. Look how He loves you!

Romans 8:38-39 "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 "May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word."

1 Timothy 1:14 "The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus."

1 John 3:16 "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters."

Now that's love! He laid down His life for me. He laid down His life for you. Wow!! When I truly dwell on that, I can only fall to my knees, thank Him, and weep because I am overwhelmed with the thought that He would die for ME. How about you?

Journaling Prompt

Oh gosh, how do I narrow down a journaling prompt today. There are so many questions in the study above that could be used. Feel free to use one of them, one that God might bring to you, or the ones listed below.

• When did you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior?
• How do you personally draw closer to Jesus?
• How do you find Jesus daily in the little things?

The Art

Today I chose to do another journaling page as I have been so swamped and haven't had time to create much in the past few weeks. You may have noticed I haven't even posted my ICADs. Oh dear! Anyway, doing these journal pages are so important to me, and I love doing them.

To make this very quick background, I just used water and Lindy's Magicals. To color the heart, I used the wonderful Prima water soluble oil pastels and a waterbrush.

I hope today you have a fresh revelation of who Jesus is and that your daily and joyful commitment to Him this year will begin today! And if you don't know Him, I hope you are drawn to Him and will come to know Him as your personal Lord and Savior today. To read more about how to do that, click here. And feel free to share in the comment section below if you like. I know the angels will be singing.

Luke 15:10 "In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

2 Peter 1:10-11 "Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

Thanks for joining me today. Feel free to join us on the Facebook page where some people will be sharing their creations. To see all of the information regarding this challenge and the previous studies, please see this post here. Let's all reignite our passion for Jesus today!

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