Brian Burdett

What Is Really Impressive

Posted on April 12, 2023April 13, 2023 by Brian Burdett

“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’” – 1 Samuel 16:7

The principle God explains to Samuel doesn’t just apply to this particular situation some 3000 years ago. This isn’t just about how God selected King David to begin a line of kings that would culminate in Jesus, the eternal King. No, this is a general principle about how God views all of us. This is how He views you. We humans are very impressed by outward appearances. We get excited about people who appear quite successful. We’re obsessed with celebrities, superstars, champions, and the ultra-wealthy. We’re impressed by success, status, wealth, beauty, power, credentials, and accomplishments. God isn’t.

God sees our heart. Every bit of it. He sees the good things and the shameful things. He hears the thoughts we want Him to hear and the thoughts we wish He didn’t hear. God knows the deepest truths about us. That’s what gets God’s attention. Fundamentally, this is what Jesus explained so beautifully in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). God doesn’t just want you looking healthy, holy, and all cleaned up for religious appearances. He wants you changed and transformed by His Spirit into the character and conduct of His Son, Jesus.

God wants to change how you think, feel, speak, and act. No matter who you are or how good you think you are, King Jesus is calling you to change and become more like Him. So, what’s your heart like? Where do you thoughts and words go when you think nobody is watching? When you’re stressed? When things aren’t going your way? Does it look like Jesus?

If not, if you’ve got guilt or shame about the condition of your heart, confess that to God. He already knows anyway. Ask God to forgive you and change you by His Spirit to become more and more like His Son. He wants to do that. He will do that. #FollowJesus

For All the Nations

Posted on April 11, 2023April 11, 2023 by Brian Burdett

“And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.” – Mark 8:8

Jesus repeated one of His most famous miracles, the feeding of thousands of people in the desert. Why would He do that? Simply because He could??? No. As usual, Jesus had a deeper plan and message. This feeding was for a crowd of Gentiles. Starting with just a small amount of food, Jesus created food enough for thousands upon thousands to eat and be satisfied. When they were full, there were seven big baskets of leftovers. What does this repeated miracle mean?

First and foremost, that all people are included in God’s plan of redemption! Jesus didn’t just come for a few people from a specific country. While His first feeding miracle was for a Jewish audience, this one was for a group Gentiles. Jesus came to bless and redeem people from all nations, tribes, and tongues. He came in love to establish a new family of God drawn from every ethnic group on earth. The message of this miracle is that the people of God will be defined by faith rather than birth.

The feeding of thousands was a re-enactment of a central event of the Exodus, when God provided manna in the desert. This was a bold statement that Jesus was God come it the flesh. It was also a statement that Jesus had come to lead people on a new Exodus out of slavery to sin and death and into holiness and eternal life. But He didn’t just come for the people of one nation. He came for people from every nation!

This truth is emphasized by the quantity of leftovers collected after the meal. Jesus came to bless in overflowing abundance. He didn’t come to provide a minimal or adequate amount of blessing. He didn’t come to bless a lucky few. Jesus came to bless so generously and abundantly that it exceeds anything anyone could desire or imagine. There’s significance to the number of baskets of leftovers. Seven didn’t just happen to be the number of baskets. In the Bible, the number seven represents completeness. The ministry of Jesus has come for ALL the nations. He’s come for the completeness of the world, not just a portion. He’s come for you. #FollowJesus

Part of the Family

Posted on April 10, 2023April 11, 2023 by Brian Burdett

“For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself.” – 1 Samuel 12:22

What was true for Israel 3000 years ago is true for you today if Jesus is your Lord! Scripture explains that everyone who trusts in Jesus has become part of God’s people. The cross and the empty tomb of Resurrection Sunday made this happen! We’re adopted into God’s family by His grace through faith in Jesus Christ. If Jesus is Lord of your life, then this is true for you!

God won’t ever forsake you. He will never abandon you, leave you, ignore you, or reject you in Jesus Christ. You’re never alone because God is always present with you and listening to your prayers, confessions, worries, and fears. This verse also explains why you can trust this promise. God will be forever faithful for His great name’s sake. Faithfulness is fundamental to the name and nature of God. He is a God Who is merciful, gracious, patient, just, steadfastly faithful, and overflowing in love. He can’t violate His name and nature. He is characterized by loyal love for His people and His faithfulness is to His glory.

If Jesus is your Lord, know that this is 100% true for you. When you feel alone, know that God is with you. When it feels like your prayers aren’t being heard, know that God is listening. When you feel abandoned by God, know that that will never happen. When you feel unloved by God, know that that’s impossible. God is with you. He loves you. He’ll never give up on you. He’ll always forgive you when you ask for His forgiveness. #FollowJesus

The Hope in the Darkness

Posted on April 7, 2023April 8, 2023 by Brian Burdett

“And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.” – Mark 15:33

This week celebrates the week that changed the world! At the beginning of the week, Jesus rode into Jerusalem in triumph, hailed as the new king of Israel. By the end of the week, Jesus would be crucified, dead, and buried. Then came that glorious Sunday morning when the resurrected Jesus left the grave behind, victorious over sin and death!

Jesus, the Light of the World, was dying. He’d been arrested and confined over night. He’d been rushed through a parody of a trial that was nothing more than a mob threatening a riot. He’d been beaten and brutally flogged. He’d carried His cross, the instrument of His own death, to the place outside the city called Golgotha, “the Place of the Skull”. There He was nailed to a cross and raised up into the air to die in agony.

After three hours of terrible suffering, darkness fell over the land. The Light of the World was dying and the world became dark. Jesus had been present at creation. All things in the universe were made through Him. He was the sustainer of the universe. And yet, our sin and evil nailed Him to a cross to die. As He hung there, hour after hour, He carried the weight of our sins on Himself. As He hung there in darkness, struggling to breathe, God’s wrath for our sins washed over Him.

Jesus didn’t die on that cross because of anything He did. Jesus never once disobeyed God’s will and plan. Jesus never once rebelled against God’s good and rightful authority. Jesus never once sinned. But we have. Many times. And that’s why Jesus hung there. To atone for our disobedience, rebellion, and sin.

Darkness fell over the land until Jesus finished His work. Once your sin was completely paid for along with the sin of everyone else, Jesus cried out one last time and died. In that moment, the veil of the temple that separated sinful mankind from our holy God was torn from top to bottom. Jesus had finished His work on the cross. Now, praise God, there’s nothing separating us from our God in Heaven! Believe in Jesus. Repent of the sins He’s already died for. #FollowJesus

The Weight of the World

Posted on April 6, 2023April 8, 2023 by Brian Burdett

“And he said, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’” – Mark 14:36

This week celebrates the week that changed the world! At the beginning of the week, Jesus rode into Jerusalem in triumph, hailed as the new king of Israel. By the end of the week, Jesus would be crucified, dead, and buried. Then came that glorious Sunday morning when the resurrected Jesus left the grave behind, victorious over sin and death!

Thursday was a solemn night of fellowship, teaching, prayer, and betrayal. After the Passover meal, Jesus led His disciples out to the olive trees of Gethsemane. There He spent hours in agonized prayer. His soul was in deep turmoil that night. Not only would He soon be betrayed by a close friend and follower…. Not only would He be arrested, humiliated, tortured, and unjustly condemned to a brutally painful death…. Jesus was about to carry the weight of all your sins and those of the rest of the world.

Jesus had never sinned in His entire life, but He was about to carry the weight of all the world’s sins, past, present, and future. As fully a man, He would suffer in agony as our representative. He would experience what we should experience for our sins. As fully God, He would suffer the horror of becoming the embodiment of all that is rebellious and hateful toward His beloved Father. More than that, He was about to experience all of God’s holy, righteous, justified wrath for our sins. The eternal Son of God who’d never experienced anything other than God’s love since before time began was about to drink everything that was in God’s foaming cup of wrath for sin. This is the cup Jesus prayed would pass from Him.

Nonetheless, Jesus was faithful! He submitted to God’s eternal and good plan of salvation. He went forward from Gethsemane to the cross. He drank the cup. For you. For the world. He did this so that everyone who trusts in Him as Lord and Savior will be forgiven their sins and receive eternal life. Will you #FollowJesus?