Splendor of Heaven

8/14/2019 Splendor of Heaven

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Contents

He Gave The Word John 1 5

Its WHO You Know John 2 8

Im Loved John 3 11

What A Woman ! John 4 15

Is God Nuts ? John 5 18

That Amazing Andrew John 6 21

Dynamic Or Dynamite John 7 24

Freedom ! John 8 28

On Cloud Niner John 9 30

Kids Love Him John 10 32

Raindrops Or Teardrops? John 11 35

LIFE death LIFE John 12 38

Forever Happy Feet John 13 41

The Only WTL John 14 44

Garden Glory John 15 48

Steel Yourself ! John 16 52

Knowing God John 17 54

The Night John 18 56

IT IS FINISHED !!!!!!!!!!!! John 19 58

The Reason To Live John 20 61

All We Need Is ___ John 21 64


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Foreword

You can meet God. I mean, without dying.

First step: ya gotta listen.

I know, we cant hook our finger in his belt

loop, shake His hand, take in a Big Game, or

whatever together. But, He talks to us all thetime in a million waysthrough a babys eyes,

a toddlers laugh, a teens energy, a graduates

first job, a brides happy tears, (a runaway

groom who came back), etc.

The Bible tells us that God created the universe

by speaking; (Genesis chapters 1-2). Finally,21st century astrophysics tells us the same

thing, that the universe exploded into exis-

tence. THANK YOU, modern scientists; gladyoure awake!

God created the universe long ago, but Hes

not loafing around. Hes re-creating;(Ephesians 2:8-10). He does it through the

written word and the living Word.

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Question: COULD YOU READ THE BIBLE

FIVE MINUTES A DAY ? It might be the

hardest thing youve ever done, simplybecause its war out there. The enemy knows

where the power is at.

After that initial reading in Gods Word(starting at John chapter 1), go ahead and

check out my feeble comments in this tinybook for that chapter. 21 chapters in all.

21 days.

But, youll forget 95% by the next day. How

about having a notebook and pen nearby to

record those gems! Then you could write

something down each day, if only one word.Maybe a verse that infuses or confuses you.

Maybe a prayer need. Make sure to date it.

Then watch God work. He will.

~ bob mulloy

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He Gave The Word

Please read John chapter 1, especially verses 1-5

and 9-14.

Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates were world class

wordsmiths. Their brilliance dazzled minds inancient Greece when sterling eloquence was

everything. 2000 years ago, if you wereGreek, you spoke the international language.

Nowadays, if youre a Geek.you speak

computer languages! (sorry).

The New Testament was written in Greek.

Embrace the gospel in your heart language

and youll meet God. The first three versesof chapter one introduce Christ as the Word

(Gk. logos). Gods logic!

In this chapter one, the Spirit choreographs

Jesus as eternal, divine, creator, the source of

life, the light of men, the true light, dispenserof eternal privileges as children of God, full of

grace and truth, the Lamb of God, Rabbi,

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Messiah (Isa Almasih in Arabic), Jesus of

Nazareth, son of Joseph, King of Israel, Son

of Man, and much, much more! Believerswill see videos on this for billions of years,

but for now we just get snapshots.

Verse 9. Immanuel is inclusive: eternal Jesushas given light to every red-blooded human

being (pretty much everybody). The Wordincarnate has spoken to everyones heart.

Some respond; others dont. All humanity

has been given one blessing after an-other (vs. 16), having been made in the im-

age and likeness of this God-man. Some peo-

ple live in thanksgiving for those blessings;

others dont.

Andrew did. He was one of the first two peo-ple that Jesus picked out. What was his re-sponse? The first thing Andrew did was to

find his brother... (verse 41). Peter was lost,

but Andrew brought him to Jesus, whichchanged everything.

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Not everyone can be President, CEO, MVP, etc.

But everyone can be wise like Andrew, putting

investments where you plan to spend eternity.Its Who we know personally that determines

who we become forever.

PRAYER: Lord, Im in a war. Ive GOT TOWIN against the darkness. HELP!

Please dont race through this book.

When you do this 21-day tour, youll find sign-post treasures every day along the way. And,

the President of the universe will have some

surprises for you, including love, joy, peace

things that you cant pick up at Walmart.

Questions:1. You got pen and paper?

2. Did you read the Word at least five min today?3. Are you desperate for a miracle? If so, read on.

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Its WHO You Know

Please read John chapter 2, especially verses 1-9.

Indescribably delicious! This wine is so

sweeeeeeet. Who made it? asked the wed-

ding host n hostess, bride n groom. Nobodyhad a clue, except for the servants; they knew;

verse 9.

Twenty minutes earlier, they were ordered to

bring out more wine. HELP! It already wasout. What to do? You cant get new brew

from California raisins! Some of the servants

probably groaned, I dont know where my

next meal is coming from if I lose this job.We need a miracle now!

Thankfully, Jesus was there. He spoke andVoila! No magic, no tricks, just the power of

God. Water morphed to wine. The servants

knew Who did it.

You dont let a man like that walk away.

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You follow Him because no one else in the

universe is worthy of your allegiance.

Besides, the world is scary sometimes.

Some of those servants followed Jesus to

Jerusalem, saw more miracles and believed;

(verse 23). They couldnt deny the empiricalevidence of the God-man. The best perk: He

loved them!

Sorry to say, we anthropoids are a little out tolunch; (with no water or wine). We innocu-ously coast, and soon are out to sea. The

enemy of life says: if it feels good, do it.

Were duped, and we do it. Ashes, ashes, we

all fall down.

But were still alive, so lets learn together!Lets learn from the Chinese pictogram forcrisis. It has two components: danger and

opportunity. In the heartaches of life, the

DANGER is to wimp out or check out. Dontdo that. Instead, use the OPPORTUNITY to

let God in.

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I am standing and knocking at your door. If

you hear my voice and open the door, I will

come in is the solid rock promise of theKing of kings; Revelation 3:20. As long as

youre breathing, Hell keep knocking. GOD

LOVES YOU !

Dont track that beautiful bride and glassy-

eyed groom who welcomed all the guestsexcept the Guest.

Lets follow the servants example. Theircrisis was not their Waterloo, because they let

Jesus do what they couldnt do. Its Who you

know, intimately.

Questions:

1. Who do you know and respect intimately?2. Do you know Christ? What difference does

that make?

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Im Loved


Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god

We hear it ad infinitum. Some people have

so many! Hinduism has over 300 million.

Who is GOD? Where is GOD? We may

empirically seek and find, doing so with an

open heart and mind. Actually, we MUST.But first, a reminder about gravity. A fool

denied this law all his life, until one day he

went skydiving without a parachute. Ouch.

Then there was the college professor who

worshipped daily at the idol of tolerance, sanc-

tioned witchcraft sacrifices and demonic dirt-balls, but denied God and all absolutes.

Freshman: Do you mean that everything is

relative and nothing is absolute?,Prof (screaming): Absolutely!

(oops)

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I like Valentines Day, but it was pretty iffy

as a teen. I held my breath all day, hoping

nobody would notice. At age 14, I went tolive at a high school monastery for four years

with a hundred guys; no girls. Valentines

day was a non-event there; (I hope). At age

20 I began to read Gods word. In page afterpage He kept saying the same thing: I LOVE

YOU. He backs it up objectively.

The subjective experience comes next, in the

lab of life, BELIEVING (John 3:16) andTHEN SEEING that Gods love that is

ABSOLUTELY pure, strong, wise, and

inclusive. Everybodys invited to this party

today, tomorrow, every day that the suncomes up, and then FOREVER in Gods

family. He loves you and me, just as we are;(sniff, sniff).

He also loves us too much to leave us as we

are since there are a few hundred things thatneed tweaking in you and me; (that hurt).

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Thankfully, Hes on call to fix stuff

whenever were ready to enjoy the life of

John 3:16 which is qualitative, not quantita-tive. Its astounding, even at those embryonic

first hours of Scripture reading, to hear the

Creator say I love you. Lets walk together.

Have you ever noticed the narcissism of

humanity? In industry, for example, we revelin our genius of Quality Control, as if its our

idea! Were tiny specks on a golf ball. But

we are specks! At the least, we are mirror

reflections of a brilliant Creatorwho, for

example, made the sun, moon and also

made the stars, (Genesis 1:16c) incidentally,

numbering 3,000,000,000,000,000,000,000stars in the observable universe which

is much smaller than the UNobservable partof the universe.

The Bible teaches that God spoke the

universe into existence. He did it with Hisfingertips; Psalm 8:3. Creation was painless.

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Redemption was gut-wrenching. In predictive

imagery, the prophet Isaiahs 53rd chapter

describes the sacrificial Lamb.

That heart-wrenching, back-breaking, hercu-

lean, humongous job got done only because

the ALMIGHTY God of the Universe rolledup His sleeves and used every ounce of

strength imaginable.

Comment:The same God loves you. Hes all you need .

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What A Woman !


This woman was fearless. That sometimes

cooked her goose, but not today. She met Jesus.

Then she introduced Him to everybody else,including her five former hubbies; verse 30.

(You thought Hollywood hobos were bad!)

None of the twelve disciples had that muchsuccess their first day on the job. We dont

even know her name. Yet.

She was notorious, and any NEWS FLASHabout her mega-morph would draw bigger

crowds than sky-high freaks at Woodstock.

But, James and John (sons of thunder),Peter and the guys werent wallflowers either.

What was it about her that made her READY

for living water (verses 10-15)? She wastired. She was also perceptive; she knew Jesus

was radically different than the religious good

old boys.

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But she wanted to debate Jesus first. She lost

(we all do). For example, Muslim adherents

are logically correct in believing there is noway almighty God would have allowed Jesus

to die on the cross. He was a good man, a

great prophet. It was Judas Iscariot who died

on the cross as a just punishment for his evilin selling Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. We

must agree with this flawless rationale of onebillion neighbors. Our response? Mercy tri-

umphs over judgment. Jesus could have ran

from the cross, but He ran to it. He startedand finished His work in three short years.

Thats all He needed to show us how to live,

and how to die. In His death, he killed no

one, but made everyone save-able.

God is wise enough and strong enough tohave devised an easy alternate to dying for

thankless humanity. NO WAY I WOULDGIVE MY SON OR DAUGHTER to die for

anybody. No way I would wash somebodys

feet, knowing he would betray me a few hourslater.

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God could have found an easy way, but He

chose the most convincing way: you can trust

the Person who died for you. But this is just apremise until we receive Him as propitiator.

The woman at the well was never thirsty again;

verse 14. Jesus taught her to worship; verses23-24. This included living to love. She also

learned to live in complete confidence, unlike

the somber Sadducees (sad, you see), whodidnt believe God could do anything.

Jesus also taught her to worship in truth. He

became her Emancipation Proclamator, freeing

her from all human hells. She was ecstatic atthis Light in the darkness, never again to hug

half-truths or hang with downright diabolics.

(Yup, deceivers are going down, big time.Check out Revelation 20:7-10 for the final

core.)

Question:If you were that woman, what would you have

done?

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Is God Nuts?


A carpenter claims to be God over 65 times in

the 47 verses of this chapter.

Jesus used the pronouns I, me, and my

35 times, making LITERAL reference to hisdeity. In addition, He makes FIGURATIVE

reference 30 times to his deity. Whats your

take on that??? I already know.

By sworn allegiance, youre already bondserv-

ing joyfully (Exodus 21:1-6) Jesus Christ, and

will do so forever. You hear his voice, andgladly follow, because your ears are pierced.

Or, by indecision, religion, or indignation,youve relegated His claims as God to be a

boldface liars deception or a bouncing

lunatics delusion. Theres no middle ground.

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Verse 34. I dont depend on what people sayabout me said Jesus. He rejected any and all

attempts of his fans for a run at the

Presidency. Why? Because His purpose was

eternal, not ephemeral.

Jesus did miracles everyday, exemplified in

this chapter, instantaneously healing an inva-lid who had suffered 38 years; verses 1-13.

Unfortunately, the religious elite of the day

were so earthly-minded they werent anyheavenly-good. They wanted to kill Jesus;

verse 11. Why? Because He spoke the truth

about them. The whole world had gone after

Jesus, not them.

Pietys proponents should be glad that God

came to earth, loving everybody, raising thedead, giving sight to the blind, freeing the

demonized, etc.

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But most folks arent glad. They prefer profits

to prophets, and certainly not the Creator of

heaven and earth. Hes bad for business.Jesus was undaunted. He is unconditionally

committed to imperfect people; John 5:24.

Put your ear to his heart, and with each beatyoull hear I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU,

I LOVE YOU.

Questions:1. If you say Jesus was a great prophet

(HUMAN, not divine), how could he be atrue prophet of the true God if he accepted

worship? Wouldnt that make him an ego-maniac, or at least a false prophet, or liar ?

2. Jesus claimed to be God, as do many schizo-phrenic people. If you say Jesus was agreat teacher (HUMAN, not divine), but

neither God nor a pathological liar, you mustlogically conclude that Jesus is a lunatic.

Are you crazy enough to do that?

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That Amazing Andrew


What do you do if your brother is big Peter?

Who knows (going back a bit) what Andrews

reaction was as he saw Peter, from day one, andonward. Maybe it was like the school girl who

wrote this letter to Heaven:

Dear God,Thank you for the baby brother, but what I prayed

for was a puppy. ~ Joyce

Verses 5-13. 5000+ people needed a miracle

meal. Andrew stepped up and they all got one!

Andrew had walked with Jesus for severalmonths already (maybe a year?) and had seen

Him do miracles that only God can do. He wasclose to Jesus.

Andrew didnt just hang around Jesus. HeHUNG with Jesus.

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I heard a radio DJ grilling a pastor recently.

The woman reporter was degrading him, asone of his churchs teenagers had just killed

three people. The pastors response was:

These are extremely difficult days for those

families and for us. We are all in shock, andhave wept and prayed much today. We have

no where to go but God. This is all we cando, but this is also the best we can do.

Ive got an awesome nephew named Andrew.God has big plans for him too maybe one

day becoming an awesome servant of the

Savior, just like his dad.

Theres no higher calling.

Questions:1. In your times of crisis, what do you do?

2. Do you have someone like Andrew in yourlife? If not, its probably time to ask for one?

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John 6:35

I am the bread that gives life!

No one who comes to Me

will ever be hungry.

No one who has faith in Me

will ever be thirsty.

JESUS

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Dynamic Or Dynamite

Please read John chapter 7, especially verses 17-

18 and 37-39.

You get to choose. Engage in dynamic

relationship with the Lover of your soul,Almighty God. No regrets, ever. OR,

continued slavery to the enemy of your soul,with the only shred of purpose (per the

Scumbag) being to end well by dynamiting

somebody.

Those were the only two choices if you lived

in Palestine in 33 A.D. John chapter 7 is the

volatile drama of the Feast of Tabernaclesthat year. For Jesus, it was a roller-coaster

week: rejection (by family and community),teaching the Word, being branded as demonpossessed, being subject to murderous mobs,

seeing many come to faith, more teaching,

more rejection and danger.

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Karl Marx was right about one thing. When

denigrating religion, he was correct in seeing

religion as opiate. Yet he failed in not seeingthat absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Though he castigated artists and thinkers,

his communism in actuality simply bred a

different type of elite. In reality, societyshierarchy is typically and hopelessly inflated

by egotism. Such was the noxious narcissismof religion in first century Palestine. They

gladly nailed their King.

Verse 17. Jesus told pretenders that they

could know Gods truth, if they would be

willing to live it. They werent willing. They

didnt want Heavens banquet. They enjoyeddumpster delights.

Verse 20. We get a clearer but sadder look atthose religion leaders. They couldnt win the

debate against Jesus. So, they simply accused

Him of being a demoniac. When they sawhonest seekers believing in Him, these new

believers were labeled as deceived; verse 47.

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When a man of integrity (Nicodemus) ap-

pealed to the due process of law, he was

mocked as lawless; verse 52.

Verse 37. JESUS STOOD UP AND

SHOUTED: If you are thirsty, come to me

and drink! Hes not sitting around. Hesstanding, knocking at your door.

Marx correctly criminalized religionists as

pimps and parasites. Without a dynamic

relationship with the risen Christ, all you getis decadent dominion. It anesthetizes, at best.

At its worst, it annihilates.

Will pompous mankind someday totallyvaporize everybody, or just the aged, the

handicapped, the poor? It doesnt have to bethat way.

The Almighty has provided Life for those

who will humbly receive. THEN you havesomething priceless to share all the time with

anyone.

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Verse 38. Jesus says: Have faith in me, and

you will have life-giving water flowing from

deep inside you, just as the Scriptures say.

Incredible ! This WELL will never run dry.

Questions:1. Have you chosen life over death?2. Have you tasted the living water? Is it good

enough to share with someone else? Lets

do it !

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Freedom !


Jesus was homeless, in the sense of not having

a permanent address in this passing world.

Verse 1. Everyone went to his home, butJesus went to the mountains.

But Jesus was at home with his Father all the

time. Thats the source of freedom. NOT

religion, but relationship with the living God.

Jesus lived in that dynamic liberty, despite any

and all challenges. The truth frees.

To the degree that we neglect Life, we may be

Mardi Gras party animals par exuberance, butwill remain wallflowers and clueless forever.

Verse 32. The big IF. We must hold to His

teaching, but thats IMPOSSIBLE if Hes notholding us. If Hes not living in us, by His

Spirit, no way He can work through us.

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Thats why, back in John 1:12, were invited

to receive Jesus personally. Anybody canbelieve, something even demons can do,

according to James 2:19. They can believe

and dynamite at the same time!

Thats why, back in John 3:3, Jesus said I tell

you for certain that YOU MUST BE BORNFROM ABOVE BEFORE YOU CAN SEE

THE KINGDOM OF GOD. If were not born

from above how could we ever hold ontosomething from above? Wed keep dropping it.

Many people believed when it was convenient,

when free food was abundant. But, it looks likemany had build their house on the sand;

(Matthew 7: 24-29).

Questions:1. What does freedom mean to you?

2. Do you have freedom in Christ? How couldyou say that?

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On Cloud Niner


The light of the body is the eye. For that

reason, some people didnt know that this

guy was the former blind man: theyd neverbeen able to look into his eyes!

Having dual blindness (body and soul) is

reversible, by Jesus.

But its tough, even for God, if youre

religious. He healed the man whose eyeswere blind, but couldnt heal the men whose

heart was hard. Jesus said, When your

eyes are bad, everything is dark. If the lightinside you is dark, you surely are in dark

Matt. 6:23.

Verse 24. The temple leaders were lucid.

They said, We KNOW that Jesus is a sinner.

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Lets call this former blind man On Cloud

Niner because he probably yelled out I can

see I can see, when Jesus opened his eyes,then promptly hijacked the nearest Naboo

Starfighter and went on the highest joyride in

history. (light hyperbole).

Verse 25. In the second interrogation session,

when the bosses were still lounging in theirlegalities, Niner spelled it out: All I know

is that I used to be blind, but now I can see!

We need to be like Niner. We dont need

much to be forever safe: we just need to see.

We need to move to Light Street.

Question:

Niner got a miracle. Did you get yours?

Jesus said: Heaven and earth will pass away,but my words will never pass away.

Weve got to stay in the book.

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Kids Love Him


When truckers are in trouble (lost, famished,

falling asleep at the wheel) but are saved

just in time, they transmit Thats a big 10:4.

John 10:4 is bigger. It comes with EternityWarranty. But, its useless, UNLESS we

confess that we are homeless, hopeless, and

helpless. Were lost sheep, blind, deaf, anddumb, harassed by enemies on every side,

especially inside. Its really bad when some-

body yells to you saying Hi, FRUITCAKE,

and you answer Lo, NUTMEG. (sorry)

Were collective wackos, mired and maroonedin mediocrity, light-years from where wewanna be, and desperate for miraculous

metamorphosis because we know nothing else

will work. No problem; 2 Corinthians 5:17.

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When we begin to see our sin and run to the

Shepherd, we live. When he has led out all of

his sheep, he walks in front of them (verse4). If all hell breaks loose, so what! Were

adopted by the Almighty.

The eristic rationalist mocks only himselfwhen he epithets there is no God, but a fool

is worse. A fool incarnates NO, God.

Dont do that. Jesus is the Shepherd. All we

have to do is follow.

Seven-year-old Josh asked his public school

teacher: Whats the most famous thing in the

Bible? She answered Psalm 23 and read itto them. They liked it, and voted to memorize

it, so she gave them 6 days for those 6 verses.

Josh was really pumped to do this, but it was

a struggle. He couldnt memorize! It was

totally frustrating! He could barely get half-way through it.

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A week later the kids got their chance. Some

opted out; most got it verbatim.

Josh was hopping with excitement! (Got the

picture?) He was literally JUMPING for joy!

When it was his turn, he ran to the micro-

phone and proudly proclaimed, The Lord ismy Shepherd, and thats all I need to know.

We gotta learn from children. And follow

them following Him.

Questions:1. Can you hear the Shepherds voice in John

chapter 10? Did you make a notation?2. Are you experiencing any dark valleys

now? Maybe its time to read Psalm 23.

Its got a great ending!

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Raindrops Or Teardrops?

Please read John ch. 11, especially verses 32-35.

The heart of God is the source of rain. Whatwe dont know is how many raindrops are:

1. intentional (because He likes greenery,and watching boys make mud-pies); or

2. emotional (because He loves you and

me, and hurts when we do).

I ran out of tears at age 14. Saying bye to

family, and hi to 104 guys in a monasterydorm was tough, even though it was my

choice; I wanted to be a Catholic priest.

Home was 22 miles away, but seemed like a

million. My folks and siblings brought a

care-package every Sunday. It was so goodto see them, (plus the chocolate chips).

I fought the tears as we waved goodbyes, but

once that little VW was down the road thedams would burst walking through the dimlit

hallway and up to 3rd floor.

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When you love people, you want to be WITH

them. Jesus left the splendor of Heaven for

you and me. Then He made friends all overthe place, including Lazarus, who died young.

Jesus reaction? Verse 35. Jesus wept. The

shortest verse has the longest history.

Jesus was/is a real man. Gutsy and gracious,

strong and steady. Just like us! (Ha, ha.)

Jesus wept because of His greatness, not be-

cause of any weakness. The bystanders said:See how much he loved Lazarus; verse 36.

At this point, our Arab friends, whether

Christian or Muslim, should shout

ALLAHU AKBAR meaning God is

great. How and why? Because the true Godloves all the time. His home, Heaven, is fullof love all the time. And ANYONE can get

in, providing your heart is full of love, some-

thing that you get from Jesus. ALLAHU

AKBAR because He is full of holiness,

power, wisdom; and love for the unlovely.

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GOD IS SO GREAT-FULL! Jesus probably

wept many times on earth. He also modeled

grace all the time, for example, praying fromthe cross that God would forgive the mockers

and mercenaries. Stephen, a deacon, followed

in Jesus steps, per Acts 7:60. God is great!

Your god is too small if all he can do is inflict

pain and poison on your enemies. That kindof god is not worthy of our eternal allegiance,

is he? Is that kind of god really God?

Life begins with agape, the unconditional

commitment to imperfect people; then it

grows in grace (verses 35, 36), power (verses

43, 44), and wisdom (verse 45).

Questions:1. What does Jesus wept mean to you?

2. Jesus says If you live by the sword, you willdie by the sword. Please love while you can.

3. 1 John 1:6-10 should be required reading forall suicide bombers. It might bring lightbefore its too late.

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...LIFE death LIFE

Pls read John ch. 12, especially verses 24-33.

Imagine a sub sandwich a million miles long.

Thats life. Cut it in half and put an inch of

limburger cheese or something else thats grossin the middle. Thats death. Now close it up.

Thats life again, as a timeline, though timelessforever.

Death is so negligible, with nearly no signifi-cance other than a signpost or a stepping-stone.

We often cant smell past our nose, and even

long-noses can be short-sighted! We think,for example, that death is the end. Thats

REALLY DUMB. Think about it. If anything,death has value because it is NOT an end. Itsa bridge. A one-second swinging door, two

seconds into your immortality.

Verse 24. Enroll in college-course Farming 101.

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Or learn from Jesus: I tell you for certain that

a grain of wheat that falls on the ground will

never be more than one grain unless it dies.But if it dies, it will produce lots of wheat.

Exhibit A.B.C. (Assassination, Brutalization,

Corruption) is good Friday. Not just any-body died that day. SOMEBODY died.

Figuratively also, Gods children must die to

pet philosophies and arrogant ambitions:

WHATEVER diminishes grace or dilutestruth. Why? Gods plan for us is higher than

anything on earth, and higher than anything

above the earth; Jeremiah 29:11-13.

Besides, a thousand years from now, nobody

will be asking Whats new in New York, hotin Hollywood, cool in Colorado! People willbe asking Whats the KING of Kings going

to do next? What new universes will the

Carpenter of Nazareth make next?

Thats all thats going to matter!

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The Muscle Man of all time and space be-

came the Savior of our race, embracing infi-

nite pain as our scapegoat:

Christ was truly God. But he did not try to

remain equal with God. Instead he gave up

everything and became a slave, when he becamelike one of us. Christ was humble. He obeyed God

and even died on a cross. Then God gave Christ

the highest place and honored his name above all

others. So at the name of Jesus everyone will bow

down, those in heaven, on earth, and under the

earth. And to the glory of God the Father everyone

will openly agree, Jesus Christ is Lord!

(Philippians 2:5-11)

Questions:1. Spiritually speaking, are there areas in your

life that are not dead yet, but they should be?2. Spiritually-physically speaking, when its

time to die, all you have to do is die, if youreready. You may have God, but does Hehave you. 1 John 5:11-13.

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Forever Happy Feet


The 12 disciples had no clue what Jesus was

going to do. Ive been to a few foot-washing

services that were announced and planned inadvance. I guess nobody wanted to wash

somebodys toenails that hadnt been cleaned

since kindergarten, or strip socks that couldstand on their own.

Verse 1-9. Those 24 feet were light-years from

being sterilized. They must have stunkseriously. Jesus love wasnt warm fuzzies;

it was washing footsies! His upper room

goal was to wash hearts; verses 1,8,10,17,20.

Contrast with Judas Iscariot whose goal wasgold; verse 2,18b, 21-30. His feet got washed,

and he joined the Last Supper, but

Jesus prioritized internal cleansing, not mere

external washing: You know these things, and

God will bless, if you DO them.; verse 17.

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Verse 30. Moments later, Iscariot left, It was

already night in more ways than one. It was

darker than he imagined. He had befriended(?) Jesus for three years. In the next three

hours, he would lead hells horde (John 18:2)

for INSTANT CASH. By sunrise, Iscariot

would see the light, repent, and return themoney. Too late (Matt. 27:1-5). Maybe he

wondered if Jesus was his only true friend.

For half a century, Nelson Mandela has mar-

velously represented so much that is good andtrue of South Africa. Hes the quintessential

ambassador of that land. In the same way,

Jesus taught about love, from a heart of love;

and loved. He perfectly represented themagnanimous Majesty of heaven and earth.

Jesus is the quintessential ambassador of alltime and space.

Dont try to change your life. An old man

grouched I will come to church after I getstraightened out. Sure enough, he died that

day and was in church the next day.

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Let God change you. It starts with regenera-

tion, being born again; John 3:3; 1 Peter1:23-25. It requires receiving the Word of

God; John 1:12-14; 29; 1 John 5:11-13.

Questions:1. When is the last time your boss, principal,

pastor, or parent washed your feet?2 When is the last time you washed anybodys

feet? Want to make a difference?

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The Only Way, Truth, and Life


Dont be worried! Verse 1.

Dont worry, be happy floats from the inter-com after Southwest Air flights touch the

tarmac. Its giddy enough to spawn smiles,despite hearing it a silly sillion times. Some

folks love it and would be dancing in the aisle

except that you got 100 people jockeying for aleg to stand on (in a space for 50 people) while

grabbing stuff from the overhead department

without bonding to garlicky chubby checker

whos already leaning on you. The other 100folks sitting calmly are wondering how dumb

we are, as if tons of people can run out beforethe door opens. I wont tell you which group Istood with. (oops.)

Then youre LATE to work and your headhunt-ing boss says I need you for lunch! What to

do? Hide in the bathroom til quitting time?

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No. Just pig out on limburger, breathe on the

guy, and youre good to go.

My ball and chain is worry. My God is not

tiny, but my trust sometimes is.

Modern society can be mostly scary. A

young boy was asked in Sunday SchoolWhat do you want to be when you grow up?

He answered: Alive! Thats us. We have

earned PhDs in Paranoia.

It shouldnt be that way. The Owner of the sky

has a 24-7-52 forever banquet for us, with

everything we need; Psalm 23:1; Romans 8:28-39; Phil. 4:19.

Believers are already adopted IN the family,and Jesus is not ashamed to call us His breth-

ren; Hebrews 2:11-18. We belong to His

magnificent, magnanimous, safe and secureinner circle; we cant lose. John 14: 2.

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Youre tooling down the road. Youve got to

know where youre headed and how to get

there! Ignorance is not bliss when youre lost.

Ignorance is not bliss when a deranged guy

puts a gun to your head and sneers Are you a

Christian? Ignorance is not bliss when ademonized terrorist pulls out a grenade at

30,000 feet, saying hes ready to die andasking if you are. Are you IN, or not?

I was a walking corpse til age 20. Then theAlmighty reached way down into a bottom-

less pit, found me, and asked You want the

free gift of salvation now or never? I said

HELLO! NOW PLEASE. He said yougot it. Beginning of story.

Nobodys perfect. So how do we get into aperfect Heaven without messing it up? We

receive Mr. Clean, JESUS, into our life. Then,

when its time to live, you do! And when itstime to die, all you have to do is die.

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Verse 6. Love and light, purity and peace,

strength and salvationits all there in Jesus,

the way, the truth, and the life. All we haveto do is COME AND GET IT.

Questions:

1. Buddhism says This is the way. Jesus saysI am the way. Your choice?

2. Jesus says Im the truth. Hes not lying.Can you trust Him now?

3. Jesus says Im the life. Are you ready for

real life! If so, pray in Jesus name!

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Garden Glory


A garden is a signature. In this chapter, vine

and branches are mentioned 9 times each, as

is love. Of course!

Verse 1. IS GOD A SUCCESS? I mean, asa wise, strong, and loving grower of people?

Jesus had twelve followers, but lost one. Godhas over 6.6 billion human plants at the

moment, but many have chosen the 666 mark

rather than the 777 message; (Rev. 13:11-

18).Some plants prefer total darkness. Forexample, the fool has said in his heart, NO,

God .

Others LOVE THE LIGHT and are free to

be! To be who theyve been created to be.

To grow! To live fully! (2 Cor. 5:17; John15:1,2,3,5,7,8,16; John 8:31-36; Psalm 1.)

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I recently visited the home of a brain surgeon.

He couldnt find mine so he said Id qualify to

run for President, which intrigued me as I hadjust looked at my watch (or was it my calen-

dar) and it said February 4, 2008, one of the

Super Tuesdays. Brainless and clueless, I was

now ready for Big Politics and the Big Deskwherever they work, or not.

Actually, the surgeon was gone for the week,

so I had the run of his square-block Heritage

Tour mansion and yard. Strolling through hisTropical Forest complete with waterfalls, I

came upon a quote from a renowned statesman

and empiricist:

"God Almighty first planted a garden...

and a man shall ever see

that when ages grow to civility and elegancy,men come to build stately sooner

than to garden finely ,

as if gardening were the greater perfection.

(Sir Frances Bacon, 1625)

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In other words, any engineer can build a sky-

scraper, mall, coliseum, etc. You deal with

predictable physics, inanimate steel, concrete,etc. It takes a lot more to grow graceful but

fragile flowers that can flourish in the midst

of pantheonic challenges, both animate and

inanimate.

To create the universe, the Garden of Eden,mankind, etc. was easy-peasy for God. He

just spoke; Genesis 1-2.

Verse 3. When you accept Jesus into your life

You are already clean... Thats positional

sanctification; 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal.3:24. Thats

the best position to be in! (Ephesians chap-ters 1-3).

Jesus took me in when I was 20. Impushing 60 now, but there are still big weeds

in my life. For one thing (the main thing), I

dont love very well. Hes working on that:progressive sanctification; 1 John 1:7-9; and

Romans 8:28-30.

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I got a long ways to go and grow so I might

need to live to be a hundred. Im worriedabout feeling out of place in Gods home.

Despite unending Gardener-love, we often

lust. We wine and dine at the devils deli,

enamored with his tricks and treats, idols andicons, oooohing and aaaahing at the exquisite

table settings, totally unaware that the dinner

music is a death march. Were like Edmundin The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe;

the candy was excellent, but the cost was

excruciating.

Verses 4, 5. Thankfully, love is stronger than

hate, and any candle will always dispersedarkness.

Questions:

1. Who is your gardener? Why?

2. Jesus says hes the True Vine. Are you in?

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Steel Yourself. Trouble Is Ahead !

Please read John ch 16, verses 1-4; 33.

Gods kids get sneak previews! Unlike us,

He is eternal, seeing past, present, and futureat the same time. He gives us glimpses so we

can plan ahead. Whats your plan?

Word on the street says your billionaire

uncle is gonna get decapitulated, decapsized,and even discumbumberated at 5 a.m. tomor-

row. You panic cause your name is not in his

Will, cause he deleted it when you refused tobuy him 10 cheeseburgers at ten pm ten years

ago. What to do tonight? Plan A and B: GET

20 BURGERS ALREADY buzz over, butterhim up, blurt out apologies, say I lubyou (not lube), bounce on his bed affection-

ately (not his lap), coo a little, have beneficent

pens and benignant witnesses standing by, getyour name on that paper. Oh, dont forget to

leave before the other bozos arrive at five.

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53

Verse 2. Around 33 A.D., Jesus said : Thetime will come when people will kill you and

think they are doing God a Favor. . Contrary

to the platitudes of neophyte historians andnarcissistic theologians, the human race is

NOT moving ahead. Modern men are not any

better than cave men.

Trouble is ahead if you love God more than

gold. You may only see bread and water. Getready. Lets steel ourselves now, so we dont

bend or break when the first wind blows in.

Yet, God has called us to peace. When youchoose Him, youre never alone, hopeless, or

helpless. In verse 33 we read the rock solid

promise of Jesus: I have told you this, so that

you might have peace in your hearts because ofme. While you are in the world, you will have

to suffer. But cheer up! I have defeated theworld.

God is bigger than any problem. Why not remindsomeone about that today?


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Knowing God


Are You IN ? Card sharks, before dealing, ask

Whos in? We all like the inside track,

being a member of the cool inner circle,in touch, etc. LOCATION is everything.

You know where youve been (IN a rat-race).

When you trust IN Christ alone, his Spirit

begins to live IN you. Moment by moment,day after day, his Spirit IN you affirms that

youre not alone, and that you have a place IN

Heaven forever. To be in Christ is to belong.

Verse 3. At the last supper, Jesus prayed

Eternal life is to know You, the only true God,and to know Jesus Christ, the one you sent.

NINE TIMES in John 17 the word know

shows up. Its a personal relationship. ItsWho you know, personally.

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When you have Jesus, life is no longer a dressrehearsal; its Opening Night every day and

night! No regrets and no mediocrity living and

walking with the King of Kings; (John 10:10).

And when its time to die, all you have to do isdie. No regrets.

Questions:1. Has Jesus introduced you to the Father?

2. Have you taken time to get to know Him?

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The Night

Pls read John chapter 18, especially verses 1-11.

Vs. 1 When Jesus had finished praying,

he left. He knew this would be the darkest

night of eternity. No one else had a clue.

No human stuck with Jesus in the garden ofGethsemane. God had to send an angel. Jesus

was sweating bullets and was in great pain,

and prayed so sincerely that his sweat fell tothe ground like drops of blood; (Luke 22:44).

Verse 18. It was cold in more ways than

one, because it was night (13:30) in moreways than one.

Beginning around 9 a.m. the next day, Jesuswould experience the vilest darkness of death,

absorbing eternal punishment for the sin of all

mankind. Those hours on the cross SEEMEDLIKE AN ETERNITY because they were!

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Yet, nobody killed Jesus. He laid down his

life willingly. (John 10:17) He was dead threedays. Then HE ROSE AGAIN. You cant

keep God down!

I know our future! At the name of Jesusevery one will bow down, those in heaven, on

earth, and under the earth (Phil. 2:10).

Your knees (all two of them), mine (a couple

more), and those of all humanity WILL bow.

Your tongue, mine, and that of all humanityWILL confess in worship and reverence that

the carpenter of Nazareth is the creator of all.

Questions:

1. Why did Jesus agree to die in our place?2. How should we respond?

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IT IS FINISHED


The Lamb of God did it all. He finished the

job of redemption once and for all;

(Hebrews 9:12; 10:2; 10:10); (Heb. 10:14).We cant add a thing. Its finished.

You spit in Gods face when you think you

could somehow merit even a millisecond of

time or a millimeter of space in Heaven.

In reality, WHAT CAN WE DO that is void

of personal ambition that would be a perfect

fit in Heavens trophy case? Hmmm. Askme next week. If I dont get back to you, the

answer is nothing.

For many years, a Bible woman in India

had been sharing the gospel with a wealthy

pearl-diver named Anup. The concept ofeternal salvation based on Gods grace

alone was inconceivable to him.

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Then tragedy struck. His only son Prasad

made an unusually deep dive to retrieve a largepearl oyster. He succeeded, butthe pressure

was too much. He died the next day.

Anup was heartbroken and gained somecomfort from seeing the Bible woman at the

funeral. Though he didnt share her foreignreligion, he respected her. Two weeks later,

she visited Anups home, at which time he of-

fered her the pearl that cost the life of dearPrasad. She answered carefully, agreeing to

accept it on one condition. She said: Thank

you so much. I deeply appreciate this gift,

knowing that it cost the life of your son. Also,I want

to do my part to pay for it. Heres two cents.Ill bring you more money when I can.

Anup was perplexed at first, and then furious.

He yelled at her. What? Thats ridiculous.Get out of house! How dare she suggest that

her feeble efforts or all the money in the world

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The Bible woman then explained that good

works, similarly, were disallowed by God.

He HOME is open to all, but we must come athis invitation, on his conditions. Jesus already

paid the price in full. In fact, our deeds are

repugnant filthy rags to God; (Isaiah 64:6;

Romans 3:11-18).

Anup instantly understood. He was awestruckas this great love of God. He humbly opened

his heart to Christ, and received the gift of

eternal salvation; (Romans 6:23). Needless tosay, he became an empathetic evangelist,

passing out free gifts to whomever would

humbly receive from the true and living God.

Questions:

1. Do you think your good works can measureup to what Christ did? Do you have enough?

2. Will they guarantee your place in heaven?

What if youre wrong?

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The Reason To Live

Please read John ch. 20, especially vss 18-31.

When you form a franchise, start a school,

whatever, you choose reputable board

members. Jesus didnt. He chose white trash.

Verse 1. Mary Magdalene was the firstand foremost eyewitness of His resurrection.

She had ZERO CREDIBILITY for at least

three reasons.1. She was formerly possessed by 7 demonic

guides. Its hard to imagine how gro-

tesque that was.

2. Mary was an outsider, born in Magdala, theTimbuktu of those days.

3. Israel then was dominated by religionsgood old boys whose claim to fame waskilling Jesus. (You wouldnt want ANY of

those guys on your bowling team.)

According to their mantra, women wereakin to dogs.

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The new Mary Magdalene was a walkingmiracle, irrefutably evidencing the power and

love of the true God. She knew that Jesus is

THE REASON TO LIVE.

The Owner of earth and sky has big plans forus:

Not darkness, but delight.

Not gloom, but gladness.Not fear, but faith.

Not lust, but love.

Not envy, but enjoyment.Not hatred, but holiness.

Not strife, but salvation.

Not pain, panic, paralysis, plans, propositions,purposes, pursuits, possessions, but PEACE.

God knows were afraid. Someone counted

the DONT BE AFRAID verses in the

Bible. 365 in all! We need His peace witheach sunrise, because we never know what it

will bring. It might hurt.

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After that first Easter morning, Jesus favorite

sermonette was peace. He was keeping itsimple. (He didnt want to be confused with

Casper the friendly ghost.) John chapter 20

records three times when Jesus said Peace be

to you; verses 18, 19, 26. In reality, He mayhave said it over 100 times that day, as He

went from one friend to another. His messageis the same today.

Questions:1. Are you like the guys, or like Mary

Magdalene?2. God says dont be afraid. Why not put

your hand in His right now? Your Fatherseyes have nothing but joy, peace and love for

YOU. Look up. Youll see!

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All we need is assurance that God loves us.

Not a rinky-dink idol made of steal-able pure

gold that any thug could throw in his bag andpawn for fifty bucks a block away. Not a fig-

ment of imagination. Not an impersonal, out-to-

lunch lord of luscious luminescence.

Dynamic friendship with the Son of God is atonce the most humbling and honored experi-

ence of life. All you need is Him.

A carpenter and his son Jimmy made a sailboat.Jimmy kept it in a basin, using an electric fan to

send it in all directions. One day he took it to

the river, never imagining what would happen.

The wind instantly blew it away. Jimmy wept

for days. About six months later he was walking

with his dad and saw his boat in a display win-dow. They went in and argued with the shop-

keeper that it was Jimmys, but the man was

adamant, saying it was for sale, not giveaway.Jimmy went home determined to work as hard

as he could to buy it back.

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After an eternity of weeks Jimmy returned,

not knowing if it would still be there or not. It

was! He went in and bought it back. Walkinghome, he held it close to his heart, and whis-

pered: For 4 reasons you shouldnt run away

anymore:

First, I made you.Second, I bought you back.

Third, I love you.Fourth, I want you in our family forever. It

will be fun. Please stay.

Jimmy held the boat to his heart and walked

on. If little boats could talk, it would have

said: I love you too.

Questions:

1. Like Peter, we need to come back to God.Are you ready?

2. How could God use me to bring someone

else back to Him today?

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When the storms come,

and your friends leave,

and your money leaves,

and your health leaves,

all you have to remember

is that

JESUS

ROSE

FROM

THE

DEAD.

Because I live, you will live.

JESUS (John 14:19b)

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The Author

Robert John Mulloy is a follower of God.

He serves in Asia with his winsome wife Mary Emily,

his dazzling daughter Amy Christine, and his sweet son

Greg Carver.

Bob left home at age 14 to live in a monastery high

school for four years with hopes of becoming a Catholic

priest. At age 20, his life was forever changed by read-

ing the New Testament and being converted to Christ.

His favorite N.T. book (can you guess?) is the gospel

written by John the apostle. Bob believes that under-

standing the THREE CENTRAL WORDS of John 19:30

everything is done spells the difference between

life and death.

Feel free to check out Bob and Marys website

(www.thegutsyGod.com) to learn more about their life,

and access other devotional materials.

Scripture Usage

All Scripture portions in this book are fromthe Youth Bible Global Edition of

the Contemporary English Version (CEV)Bible translation, used with permission from

the American Bible Society (ABS) 2004.

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