Tag Archives: Nicodemus

The impossible story, March 26, 2018

Today’s Podcast

Bible Reading Plan – www.Bible-Reading.com; The Story, Chapter 27; You Version Bible app Engaging God’s Story Reading Plan Days 183 through 189

This week we read about the unbelievable for too many people. It’s the thing that makes them pause and say, “It just can’t be true. It’s not possible. The story is just a story.”

What are we talking about? This week we read about the resurrection. We read the reaction of those closest to him who also recoiled at the thought that it was possible even after watching him do the impossible and them telling them it would happen. We watch Joseph and Nicodemus gently remove Jesus’ broken body from the cross and take it to Joseph’s newly finished tomb. We watch from afar as they race the clock before the sun sets to do some minimal burial preparation of Jesus’ body because nothing can be done on the Sabbath.

We hear of the disciples cowering in locked rooms discussing what they will do now that their king has died. The one they put their trust and hope in lies in a tomb. How could it happen? How could he be the One to rescue them if he is buried in a grave? What happened? Just a few days before, the crowds waved palm branches and cried out their Hosannas. Now he’s dead.

Then we see the Sanhedrin worry about these rebel disciples and the revolt that might arise if they steal Jesus’ body from the tomb and declare that he really did rise from the dead. We watch them plead with Caesar to put his seal and a guard on the tomb so no one would tamper with the body and continue the “farce” this teacher kept up.

We listen to the story of that first Easter morning when the angels meet the two Marys at the tomb and announce that their Messiah rose just as he said he would. We try to empathize with Mary Magdalene as she grieves and begs the “gardner” to tell her where he has taken her master’s body.

But the realization of what has happened begins to dawn on Jesus’ followers. Jesus calls Mary by name and she recognizes her risen Lord. She races back to tell the disciples the good news. Peter and John race to the empty tomb and find the linens collapsed on the bier. Those linens contain no body. The guards recovered from their faint race to tell the priests what happened. The Sanhedrin make up a story to protect the guard.

Two disciples walk toward Emmaus, puzzled by the events of the day, don’t recognized their master walking with them until they sit down to eat and he reveals himself to them. Have you ever wondered about that? I have. I think they were looking for a bloodied, crucified, disfigured man. The one they last saw hanging on the cross. Broken. Bruised. Bleeding. Flesh hanging in strips from the flogging he suffered. Instead they saw the risen Lord. Refreshed. Restored. Resurrected. Perfect. Except for the scars in his hands and side so he could later show Thomas.

Would I have reacted any different? Would I have thought Jesus anything other than a ghost when he suddenly appeared behind closed doors if I were one of the disciples that night? Would I have recognized a restored Jesus if he walked with me on the road to Emmaus? Would I have thought Jesus rose from the dead instead of being stolen by the gardner?

I sometimes we look at “doubting Thomas” and give him a hard time. I think I’d be a lot like him. It takes faith to believe in the impossible. Jesus told them some incredible things over the three years he was with them. He also told them some hard things. “You must eat my flesh and drink my blood to have any part in me.” How do you accept that in the culture you’ve lived in all your life?

If you live you lose your life, you must lose your life to gain it? How does that make sense when you hear it for the first time?

But there it is staring at you. The empty tomb. The reports of the disciples. The more than 500 people who saw him over the next 40 days. The fact that no matter how hard the religious leaders tried to squash the story, people kept it alive. Not just that, thousands upon thousands have been willing to die for this One person. No other figure in all history has changed the world the way this one man did.

All the things people through the centuries have tried to do to stop the message or discredit the story have only served to strengthen it. The risen Lord. The impossible story. It isn’t just a story. It truly is God’s story. His plan to bring us back into a face to face relationship with him. He is a holy God. So much higher in his thoughts and ways that the only way we could come near to him was for him to come to us and become the perfect sacrifice for us.

Hard to believe? So is the perfect balance of nature around us. So is the uniqueness of a snowflake. So is the diversity of humanity around our world. So is the warmth and light of the sun. So is the miracle of birth. All those things are impossible. So is it so impossible that God so loved us that he came to live among us in human flesh so that whoever believes in him will not perish but will live eternally with him?

Impossible? He tells us and shows us in his actions it is not. All things are possible with him. The empty tomb on the first Easter morning is just one more demonstration of the impossible to show us his love for us and his desperate desire to restore an intimate, personal, face to face relationship with each of us. All we have to do is believe.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more about The Story and our part in it. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

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The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Nicodemus learned a lot from Jesus one day (John 3:10-15), January 21, 2017

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Today’s Podcast

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
Do you ever take what we know about life in the Spirit for granted? Do you ever even think about life in the Spirit and what it’s all about? Nicodemus got a pretty good lesson one day. We can learn a lot from what Jesus said to him that day.
Scripture

Devotional
1. Put yourself in Nicodemus place 2,000 years ago. What would you think about the conversation you were having with Jesus? Do you ever take what we know about life in the Spirit for granted? Do you ever even think about life in the Spirit and what it’s all about?His Spirit came to live in us after His departure.
2. Important concept Jesus talked about often in His ministry.
  1. The promise He gave His disciples and the power He gave them to live the way He wanted them to live
  2. Before Jesus left He talked a lot about what God’s spirit would do for us and in us, so the conversation He begins with Nicodemus is important
  1. But Nicodemus, like many, chose to reject the truth Jesus spoke.
    1. Responsible to teach faith – a rabbi
    2. Didn’t understand the necessity of life in the spirit.
    3. We cannot live the life Jesus wants us to live apart from His spirit in us
    4. It takes faith and acceptance of His guidance, lordship in our life
  1. World doesn’t agree
    1. Self made man
    2. What’s in it for me
    3. What do I gain
    4. Selfish motive is the world’s answer
    5. Servanthood is Jesus’ goal
1. Nicodemus came to learn and based on later events in his life it appears he learned well the lessons of life in the Spirit. History gives credence to His coming to Christ and being one of the dissenters in His trial and crucifixion. He may have been in the upper room on the day of Pentecost. He learned his lessons
2. The question for you and me, will we learn from the Master? Will we believe the evidence of His words and His actions? Will we believe in Him so we may gain the everlasting life He promises? It’s up to you.
If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

What’s it like being born? (John 3:3-8), January 20, 2017

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Today’s Podcast

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
Do you remember what it was like being born? I don’t and it’s probably a good thing. But maybe we should remember some of it so we can understand what it’s like to be born again. The Christian life isn’t all fun and games if that’s what you’re looking for.
Scripture
1. John 3:3-8
2. Jesus: I tell you the truth: only someone who experiences birth for a second time can hope to see the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus: I am a grown man. How can someone be born again when he is old like me? Am I to crawl back into my mother’s womb for a second birth? That’s impossible!

Jesus: I tell you the truth, if someone does not experience water and Spirit birth, there’s no chance he will make it into God’s kingdom. Like from like. Whatever is born from flesh is flesh; whatever is born from Spirit is spirit. Don’t be shocked by My words, but I tell you the truth. Even you, an educated and respected man among your people, must be reborn by the Spirit to enter the kingdom of God. The wind blows all around us as if it has a will of its own; we feel and hear it, but we do not understand where it has come from or where it will end up. Life in the Spirit is as if it were the wind of God.

Devotional
1. Born again. You’ve probably heard that term all your life if you grew up in the church or around Christian people. Those in the Christian community know what it means. Or at least they think they do.
  1. Dying to self
  2. New life in Christ
  3. Reborn into a new way of life with God’s plan and purpose in mind
2. Have you ever thought about how this sounds to someone outside the church?
  1. Nicodemus
  2. Question wasn’t unreasonable
  3. How would you explain this relationship you have with God
  4. What is being born again like?
3. Too often we talk just about the happy moment of forgiveness and forget the rest
  1. Make people disillusioned when they begin their Christian walk
  2. Childbirth is hard for both mother and baby
  3. First breath is great, but come out into a cold, brutal world
  4. Times of joy when held in mother’s arms
  5. Times of fear, aloneness, inability to express thoughts and feelings, unable to communicate
  6. So much unknown
  7. So much to learn
4. Jesus tells us to weigh the cost
  1. Christian life is a hard one
  2. Costs everything
  3. Misunderstood and hated
  4. Unbelievable reward in the end
If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

Nicodemus is a lot like us (John 3:1-21), August 1, 2015

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – John 3:1-21

Set – Isaiah 66; John 3

Go! – Isaiah 65-66; Psalms 62; John 3

John 3:1-21
¹ Nicodemus was one of the Pharisees, a man with some clout among his people. ² He came to Jesus under the cloak of darkness to question Him.
Nicodemus: Teacher, some of us have been talking. You are obviously a teacher who has come from God. The signs You are doing are proof that God is with You.
Jesus: ³ I tell you the truth: only someone who experiences birth for a second time can hope to see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus: ⁴ I am a grown man. How can someone be born again when he is old like me? Am I to crawl back into my mother’s womb for a second birth? That’s impossible!
Jesus:⁵ I tell you the truth, if someone does not experience water and Spirit birth, there’s no chance he will make it into God’s kingdom. ⁶ Like from like. Whatever is born from flesh is flesh; whatever is born from Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Don’t be shocked by My words, but I tell you the truth. Even you, an educated and respected man among your people, must be reborn by the Spirit to enter the kingdom of God. ⁸ The wind blows all around us as if it has a will of its own; we feel and hear it, but we do not understand where it has come from or where it will end up. Life in the Spirit is as if it were the wind of God.
Nicodemus:⁹ I still do not understand how this can be.
Jesus: ¹⁰ Your responsibility is to instruct Israel in matters of faith, but you do not comprehend the necessity of life in the Spirit? ¹¹ I tell you the truth: we speak about the things we know, and we give evidence about the things we have seen, and you choose to reject the truth of our witness. ¹² If you do not believe when I talk to you about ordinary, earthly realities, then heavenly realities will certainly elude you. ¹³ No one has ever journeyed to heaven above except the One who has come down from heaven—the Son of Man, who is of heaven. ¹⁴ Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. In the same way, the Son of Man must be lifted up; ¹⁵ then all those who believe in Him will experience everlasting life.
¹⁶ For God expressed His love for the world in this way: He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him will not face everlasting destruction, but will have everlasting life. ¹⁷ Here’s the point. God didn’t send His Son into the world to judge it; instead, He is here to rescue a world headed toward certain destruction.
¹⁸ No one who believes in Him has to fear condemnation, yet condemnation is already the reality for everyone who refuses to believe because they reject the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹ Why does God allow for judgment and condemnation? Because the Light, sent from God, pierced through the world’s darkness to expose ill motives, hatred, gossip, greed, violence, and the like. Still some people preferred the darkness over the light because their actions were dark. ²⁰ Some of humankind hated the light. They scampered hurriedly back into the darkness where vices thrive and wickedness flourishes. ²¹ Those who abandon deceit and embrace what is true, they will enter into the light where it will be clear that all their deeds come from God.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

People have mixed emotions about Nicodemus. Some praise him for his coming to Me and inquiring about My message even though he risked everything in doing so. He held a position in the Sanhedrin as an honored Pharisee. He ruled on matters of the law and yet he came seeking answers from Me because of what he heard others saying about Me.

Others condemn Nicodemus because of his cowardess for coming to Me at night, not daring to approach Me in the daylight. Some see his motives as impure because of the line of questioning he raises and his lack of understanding. Some think he tries to trap Me in his own misunderstanding.

I see Nicodemus as I see all My children, confused by a veil of darkness until the light of My truth breaks through that darkness and touches your heart. But just a little faith in Me shatters the darkness. It doesn’t take much. Faith the size of a mustard seed, not much bigger than the head of a pin, burst through the veil that keeps truth from you. Once you let Me in, I will reveal My heart to you. I will help you see as I see. I will give you My Spirit to teach you and guide you.

Like Nicodemus, you will learn what being born again means. It isn’t just a few words. It’s not a catch phrase to throw around. It’s a total transformation. It’s dying to the old you and becoming someone you never thought you could be. In fact, it’s more than a transformation, it’s a metamorphosis. You can come to Me any time, anywhere. Just call My name and I’ll be there for you.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.