Real Jesus in a Real World

Real Jesus Says - Soak it Up!

Ever heard the saying, "They're just full if it!", and wondered...full of WHAT?  It's so easy to let our lives get full of "its" that we'd never choose to "soak up" intentionally.  And before we know it, those "its" define who we are, and what "spills out" of us when we hit life's bumps, rough roads, and potholes.  But what if we set out each day to intentionally fill up with the love-power of Jeal Jesus, and THAT was what "spilled out"?  This week, we'll meet Ava, in "lockdown" during a worldwide pandemic...and it's her birthday...  And some kids talking about how coming to the Jesus-Table can "clean you all the nasty in you", so Jesus can "fill your insides all up"...by...drinking some of the baptismal water!  We'll learn from an amazing seven  year-old who shares the challenges of STAYING full of Jesus' love-power, and finally imagine all kinds of people coming together to fill up with Real Jesus...wow!

Real Jesus Says - Throw it Out!

Sometimes it feels like our lives are all full of...stuff... and not such good, helpful stuff either.  Not strength and life-giving stuff.  Our life's "automatic pilot" steers us in directions that aren't so good...perhaps even downright bad.  We need a reset, a life "reboot".  A life house cleaning and restocking.  That's where the love filled cleansing and rebuilding power of Real Jesus comes in!  This week, we'll sit with a grandmother and granddaughter as they prepare for baptism and think about what Jesus would "kick out" of their lives.  Then we'll share holy laughter as Curt experiences a "Remembrance of Baptism" service as his kids help "splash-soak" him with grace.  And two soon-to-graduate seniors who can't wait to be...free!!  And finally, what would it be like to be a child who gets adopted by Santa and Mrs. Claus?

On the Road with Real Jesus: Final Words

Final words.  That sounds so...FINAL.  But what if those "final words" were not the end, but the beginning of eternal love and life?  This week, we'll imagine what "footprints of a life" might look like.  What might following in those "footprints" be like?  Then we'll look at a list of seemingly weird (and mostly unknown) names at the end of the book of Romans.  They left "lifeprints" - enough to be mentioned by name... Last, we'll listen in to a discussion about "famous last words" as we conclude this series "On the Road with Real Jesus".

On the Road with Real Jesus: In Power Broker Territory

What would it be like to be so full of the indestructible love of Real Jesus that love-power just spilled out of you into the world around you, into the people you know and meet, into every situation you find yourself in?  THAT's a very real part of traveling life's road with Real Jesus.  Imagine this meal (mixed together):  peas, gravy, chocolate pudding, turkey, applesauce...Happy Thanksgiving!  Now mix in some of that Real Jesus love-power...  And how about the kid whose mom bribed (yes, bribed) him to go to church camp.  Everything changed when he (yes, he) became and amazing love-power broker.  Then there's Mabel, who feels powerless as she has to move from her home into an assisted living community.  Love-power broker time!

Signposts on the Real Jesus Road

Signposts.  They are how we tell if we're still on the right road, travelling toward the destination we hope to reach.  Many people think of the "four Bible guys", or the "four Gospel guys" - Matthew, ark, Luke, and John.  But we'll meet Tom, whose "Bible signposts" are two guys in the Bible he calls Joe and Nick.  And the grandpa whose great grandson got him thinking about "signposts" on his own life's road, which lead him to consider Simon, the guy Jesus asked three times if he loved Him.  Another signpost.  Finally, we'll sit in with a group of kids who are challedged to work together in groups to draw a picture of Jesus - picture to be a sort of "signpost" in their life journeys.  The pictures they create are powerful Jesus Road signposts indeed...Maybe it's both!

On the Real Jesus Team

When we're on a team, we work together with the objective of winning.  What would it be like to live each day on the team of Real Jesus?  To work together following the directions of our team captain - Real Jesus?  Love, grace, and life wins - now and forever!  As Joe sits in the funeral home, he remembers his uncle's last words to him: "Always remember WHOSE team you're on, Wow!  It makes all the difference".  And then school principal Steve is challenged when a group of mothers want a seven-year-old boy kicked out of the school - because he isn't "one of our kind".  How will he respond as part of the "Real Jesus team"?  And what if you arrive with your mission team in a hurricane devastated city only to find that your destination was a ruined building smelling worse than words could describe - and it's in the best shape of any on the block.  Oh, and the sign on the house reads: "Hope Found Here".  The Real Jesus Team in action!

Real Jesus: Living Love

Living love, is it love that has a life of its own, or is it living each day IN the ALIVE love of Real Jesus?  Answer: it's BOTH!  Enter a little girl visiting her grandma in a nursing home, who declares that she has love "shooting out of my eyeballs" - wow!  Or a powerful Real Jesus love encounter during a special worship service that includes an opportunity to experience the ritual of foot washing.  And then there's Benard, a seemingly ordinary man who shares the powerful living love of Real Jesus with those escaping a huge devasting fire.  Finally, Mary answers the challenge oof whose who would deny "those people" food at the neighborhood food pantry where she volunteers.  She says her boss (God) says "hungry people get food".  That's the living love, the ALIVE love, of Real Jesus.

Real Jesus: 24/7/365

What if every day was a "Jesus day"?  Daytime, night, and everything in between.  Waking, sleeping, you name it - what if?  A man carries a simple cross in his pocket - a reminder of the constant, living love-presence of Real Jesus.  A woman does her best to follow the example of her beloved grandmother whose very name was Faith, and she loved her name, passing that legacy on to others.  And we'll listen in to a big sister's answer to a little girl's "if only" question at the funeral of her beloved grandpa..."If only grandpa would just wake up".  And what would your 24/7/365 be like if doctors told you you'd be totally blind in 6 months?  That's where the 24/7/365 of grandpa, who's been blind for years, comes in.  Every day - 24/7/365 - that's the powerful gift of Real Jesus!

On the Road with Real Jesus: In the Margins

Setting out, roadblocks, surprises, ordinary days...we've thought about all of these during these last weeks.  But what about those places, those people, that we don't often encounter - or even think too much about?  This week, we travel with Real Jesus in places and spaces He spent a lot of time, love, and compassion in - what we might call "in the margins".  For example, a high school student who finds himself serving 400 hours of community service in the "Death to Life House".  Or a woman named Manna who thinks life has "thrown her away".  Then there's the guy who refuses to stop giving extra food from his workplace to hungry homeless people, and the student caught cheating on a school exam who's surprised not to be thrown off the church mission team.  Check out the living love of Real Jesus - holy, life-givering power - especially "in the margins"!

On the Road with Real Jesus: Ordinary Days

As we continue our theme of being "on the road" of life with Real Jesus, how does that work in all our "ordinary" days, when nothing spectacular or awful happens?  Tina, a youth at summer youth camp, asks a question - how can someone be free...and yet be a slave/servant at the same time?  But what if those seemingly ordinary definitions aren't so ordinary?  Think about the "ordinariness" of planting a row of baby grape vines - with our aunt, uncle, and their 11 kids.  Enter the living love of Real Jesus, and ...wow.  And then the "ordinariness" of a cross on the wall in a house - and the question a visitor asks:  "Hey Gabby, can you introduce me to your Jesus?"  And speaking of crosses, many people wear them, but imagine what happens when that symbol becomes "Your Jesus is showing!"  From ordinary to extraordinary - that's the living love of Real Jesus!