The Pen Project Volume 1 Issue 2 | Page 83

introduction to Alan Hirsch by Chris VanDyke

Jesus is incredible . He is absolutely amazing . I am learning this more and more . I am learning this by trusting Jesus , as is the whole 513FREE team . We all want you to be able to trust Jesus as well . We want you to trust Him because you know how incredible He is . Why ? Because Jesus IS incredible . And when we are living according to how incredible He actually is , everything changes .
I ’ m not saying all of our circumstances change . Often , they do not . I am saying everything changes in a way that we see things differently . Different in a good way . Different in a way that gives hope . Different in a way that involves trust . Different in a way that receives and gives love ... Regardless of circumstances . C . S . Lewis once said , “ I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen not only because I see it but because by it I see everything else .”
But maybe you don ’ t think that Jesus is incredible . I get it . Truth is , I am still learning how incredible He actually is as well . I have come to realize , however , that when I don ’ t think that He ’ s incredible , it ’ s not because He ’ s not incredible . It ’ s because I don ’ t know Him in the way that He actually is .
There are many ways for this to happen . Maybe someone explained Jesus to us incorrectly . Maybe we learned about Jesus by watching someone else , and that person didn ’ t understand Him or know Him like we thought they did . Maybe He didn ’ t meet our expectations or fit into our preconceived ideas of who we wanted Him to be or feel like He should be . Or maybe we learned about Jesus on a Sunday morning in a building filled with people , some of who may not realize how incredible Jesus is , including the one who was teaching us .
The point is , if you don ’ t think that Jesus is absolutely incredible , question your reasons why and don ’ t be satisfied with anything less than finding out if He actually is that incredible . This is what I am personally experiencing and know plenty of others who are experiencing the same thing .
When one sees Jesus for who He actually is , our thoughts towards Him always change . When one comes to realize , and accepts that Jesus ’ life , His death , His resurrection is literally the power of God for us to be right with God , acceptable to God , things start to radically change . Ultimately , God is the ultimate authority and His opinion is the only one that actually matters , all of the time . Being acceptable in God ’ s eyes is really important . It changes everything . When we actually get to understand and know Jesus , and see God ’ s heart and intentions through Jesus , Jesus becomes incredible .
In fact , the more we understand Him , know Him , and trust Him , following Jesus becomes more incredible than we could have ever imagined back when we thought He wasn ’ t all that incredible . So incredible , that even the worst of circumstances can be looked at in a totally different way . That doesn ’ t mean that circumstances get better , they might even get worse . It does change how we see ourselves in the circumstances though . It does help us to accept the circumstances . It even helps free us to be able to do really amazing things in circumstances that are really terrible .
Why am I saying all of this ? Because Alan Hirsch is a person who God has used to help the 513FREE team understand and know Jesus in an incredible way . He has a powerful way of explaining Jesus . He has a powerful way of revealing God ’ s incredible plan through Jesus in a way that makes the Gospel accessible . In a way for us to see everything through Jesus . In a way that helps us to see everything differently . Just a few of these different ways have been :
Jesus is LORD . He is LORD of lords . All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him . No matter if you submit to Him as LORD or not , He still is . Regardless if you know Him as LORD , He still is . When Jesus becomes your LORD , He becomes the authority over all of the aspects of your life , including the ways that you aren ’ t allowing Jesus to be LORD , as Jesus is also the LORD of redemption and reconciliation as well . Regardless of if we are in circumstances that we perceive as good or bad , Jesus is LORD .
Jesus started a movement . He desires to include us in that movement . That movement is awesome . If the movement of Jesus that you see isn ’ t awesome , it may not be Jesus ’ movement . Or , you may be misperceiving how awesome it actually is . Maybe it doesn ’ t look that awesome to you , but ask someone who is being moved by Jesus and you ’ ll hear how awesome it is . Why ? Because as we start moving in Jesus ’ movement with Him , we expe rience how powerful Jesus ’ movement is . We also see that Jesus ’ movement can happen anywhere , anytime , through anyone who ’ s willing to move with Jesus . Don ’ t let your preconceived ideas of what Jesus ’ movement should look like stop you from moving with Jesus .
I realize that some of the things that Alan says in his blog might not seemingly apply to you because of your circumstances . Ask Jesus to help you see your circumstances differently : in a way that allows you to apply these things to your circumstances , in a way that you didn ’ t expect , in a way in which Jesus can move through you . Because , Jesus really is that incredible . Because Jesus wants to move through you . Because Jesus is LORD .
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