Jesus Says, “Follow Me”

 “These [signs] are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” - John 20:30

One of the reasons the Gospel of John is so powerful is because John was there. He heard with His own ears what Jesus said. He saw with His own eyes what Jesus did. He experienced firsthand the most extraordinary life that has ever been lived.

And before bringing his gospel to a close, John wants us to understand in no uncertain terms that he was an eyewitness of all that he recorded in his account about Jesus’ life, death, burial and resurrection. He wasn’t peddling rumors or secondhand information. He was providing eyewitness testimony. John wrote down that testimony for you and me, “that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30).

After you’ve read this Gospel, here are three important questions to ask yourself:

Question #1: What will you do with what you have read? Jesus asks you to believe in Him as the Christ and the Son of God. So, will you believe? Jesus fed hungry people in need. Will you do the same? Jesus humbled himself, got down on His hands and knees and washed His disciples’ feet. Will you serve your fellow Christians in similarly humble ways? Jesus forgave one of His best friends who had turned his back on Him. Will you forgive your friends and family who have hurt you?

Question #2: What is YOUR part in God’s redemptive plan for the world? It’s clear from John 21 that God had plans for John and Peter. Peter would be responsible for feeding and taking care of Jesus’ sheep, primarily in Jerusalem. John would also shepherd Christ’s sheep, largely outside of Jerusalem. Did God have special plans for Peter and John because they were apostles? Perhaps. But the truth is: Jesus has special plans for ALL His followers—including you. If you haven’t discovered your specific calling and purpose, begin asking God to reveal it to you now. Ask Him to reveal your role in His plan.

Question #3: How much hardship are you willing to endure for the sake of Christ? In John 15:18-21, Jesus warns us that the world will hate us if the world hates Him. And if the world persecutes Him, the world will persecute us also. So, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, and you follow Him as you’re supposed to follow Him, you will endure hardship for His sake. If you know the truth about Jesus … and you believe the truth about Jesus … will you boldly share the truth about Jesus? Even despite the rolled eyes of your family members, the criticism of your friends, or the hardships that come your way – Jesus Christ is worth it.

If you are a Christian, His life story is still being written in your life. And He wants His life story to be written in the lives of those around you as well. So, live out your unique calling and mission. Let Jesus Christ continue living His amazing life through you, and give Him the opportunity to live His amazing life through those around you.

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church, meeting Sundays at 8:30 and 10 a.m. at 16209 Kamana Road in Apple Valley.

Is Jesus Politically Incorrect?

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. 

No one comes to the Father except through me.” – John 14:6

I use the Google Maps app on my phone fairly often to help me get places. I just touch my microphone icon and say “Directions,” then I rattle off the address of the place I want to go. But if I touch my microphone icon and just say, “Directions,” after a few seconds it will respond: “Where do you want to go?”

The disciples were grappling with this question at the beginning of John 14. Just hours before his arrest and crucifixion, Jesus told his disciples he was going to prepare a place for them. But the disciples weren’t getting it. Thomas finally put this confusion into words. Unsure whether or not Jesus was talking about heaven, he asked, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

And Jesus gave an answer better than any that Google Maps could ever come up with. In one simple verse, Jesus not only answers Thomas’ question of where he’s going, but at the same time clarifies how to get there: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  (John 14:6)  

With this statement, Jesus tells Thomas plainly that 1) he is going to the Father in heaven; and 2) the way to the Father is not a “what” but a “who.” Jesus doesn’t say, “I am one of many ways to the Father.” He says, point-blank, “I am THE way to the Father.” He doesn’t claim to know SOME of the truth about God the Father. He claims to know ALL the truth about the Father. He doesn’t say, “I know much about eternal life.” Jesus actually says, “I AM the life.” Simply put, he is saying he is the only way to get to heaven.

This is the most politically incorrect statement in all of Scripture.

These days, when people speak of the value of political correctness, they are speaking of the need to say things that are not offensive, not discriminatory, and not biased. There is a growing concern in our culture about saying things that are offensive to certain ethnic groups or to certain religious groups or to groups that have “alternative” lifestyles.

Now, politically correct speech isn’t all bad. We should certainly not go out of our way to say things that are insulting or hurtful to others. And under no circumstances should we demean anyone on the basis of their nationality or the color of their skin. The tragic events in Charlottesville, Virginia last weekend are a shocking reminder of how far the human race—and our own nation—still has to go in people’s treatment of and regard for others.

But sadly, a growing number of Americans believe it’s more important to say what’s politically correct than it is to say what is factually correct. Facts are ignored if the facts are offensive to a certain person or group. The truth is silenced if the truth might hurt someone’s feelings. And I hope you agree with me when I say that this ignoring of the truth can be disastrous. That’s why the Bible—God’s word—has never been concerned with saying what is politically correct. It just says what is correct. It just speaks the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and lets the chips fall where they may.

By our culture’s definition, Jesus’ assertion is discriminatory and intolerant and offensive, because it excludes every religion on the planet except for Christianity. But when push comes to shove, only one question really matters: Is Jesus’ statement true?

As we look beyond John 14:6 to the rest of the New Testament, we find Jesus’ claim confirmed time and time again. In Acts 4:12, the Apostle Peter says, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to me by which we must be saved.” Paul writes in 1 Timothy 2:5, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ.”

The Bible is crystal clear in its claim that Jesus is the only way to have our sins forgiven; the only way to be brought from spiritual death to spiritual life; the only way to have our broken relationship with God restored; and Jesus is the only way to heaven. It’s certainly not politically correct, but that’s what it says.

Jesus is no fool. If there was some other way for you and me to make it to heaven without Jesus, you’d better believe Jesus would have never died on the cross. The only reason he suffered and died was because there was no other way. There IS no other way. Which means that if you don’t come to God through Jesus, you don’t come to God at all. That may sound offensive, even scandalous to you. But facts are facts. Truth is truth. Jesus is the only way.

When we breathe our last breath here on earth and stand on the precipice between earth and eternity, the only thing that will matter is whether or not this statement by Jesus is true—and, if it is, what did you and I do in response to this truth? If you haven’t responded to this truth, I urge you to do so today.

Dane Davis is the Lead Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information,

visit www.fccvv.com  and join us for worship Sundays at 10 a.m.

Jesus is the Gate

“Jesus said, ‘I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.

He will come in and go out, and find pasture.’” – John 10:9

Earlier this summer, I was down the hill visiting my wife’s family. My father-in-law, an avid hiker, asked if my wife and I would like to join him for an early morning hike. The three of us woke up bright and early and started our trek. But after only about 10 minutes, we hit an unexpected obstacle: A large, locked metal security gate blocked the trail. Normally a city employee would have unlocked the gate by this time, but obviously he was running late. What had started out as a pleasant outing came to an abrupt end, reminding us of a very important reality: Everyone needs an open gate.

In John 10, Jesus tries to explain this reality to the Pharisees. He had just healed a blind man in the temple courts, and as they tended to do, the Pharisees had a problem with this healing. When they confronted Jesus, he told them they were more blind than the man had been before his healing—because they were spiritually blind. Jesus then shifted to a familiar scene in Israel: a sheep pen. He said, “I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep” (John 10:1-2).

You see, in Jesus’ day, most shepherds in Israel had small flocks, and it was common for small villages to have only one sheep pen for the whole village. The pen was usually a wall of large rocks with only one break, or gate, through which the shepherds would usher their sheep every night. In the morning, each shepherd would come to the entrance of the sheep pen and call his sheep by name. Although the flocks were intermingled overnight, a sheep would only come out when it was called by its own shepherd.

During the night, a watchman guarded the entrance to the pen, so an intruder would have to get past him … unless they scaled the wall. But since a sheep would answer only to the voice of its own shepherd, the only way for the thief to get the mutton out of the pen was to kill it, then throw it over the wall and harvest the victim’s remains for its meat or wool. As Jesus describes in verse 10, the thief came to steal, kill and destroy.

When Jesus depicted a scene where true shepherds lead their sheep, while bogus shepherds steal and kill other people’s sheep, he was clearly rebuking the Pharisees as bogus, fake pastors.

Theologians have debated what the sheep pen represents. Since the sheep enter and leave each day, it doesn’t seem to correspond to salvation or heaven, since we don’t commute back and forth from either of those. The best interpretation I’ve heard is that the sheep pen represents Israel. Just as the pen protects the sheep within its walls, over the centuries God repeatedly protected and preserved Israel, His people. This interpretation makes even more sense when we read what Jesus says in verse 16: “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen…. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.” Doesn’t that sound like God’s plan for welcoming Gentiles to the fold through Jesus Christ?

For us today, the sheep pen may represent our comfort zone. We need to venture out of it to graze and be nourished by God’s teaching, or eventually we’ll starve. But first, we all must listen to our good shepherd’s voice. Jesus tells the Pharisees, “I am the gate for the sheep…. Whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture” (vs. 7b-9).

By rejecting Jesus, the Pharisees were rejecting the only true gate—the only real door to salvation, freedom and green pastures. May we never be so foolish as to follow in their footsteps.

If you’ve been missing out on a relationship with God, if you’ve been feeling hungry for more satisfying spiritual food, or if you’ve been feeling trapped in whatever sheep pen you find yourself in--Jesus is the gate. Jesus is the doorway to the peace with God and the freedom and joy you’ve been missing.

 Dane Davis is the Lead Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information,

visit www.fccvv.com  and join us for worship Sundays at 10 a.m.