There's Power in That Name

The name of God has power. The following incident took place in the garden on the Mt. of Olives the night Judas betrayed Jesus.

John 18:
4 "Whom do you seek?"
5 They answered Him, "Jesus the Nazarene." He said to them, "I am ." And Judas also, who was betraying Him, was standing with them.
6 So when He said to them, "I am ," they drew back and fell to the ground.


This is significant. The people who came to arrest Jesus were knocked backward, struck by the power of God, and to the ground they went when He identified who He was.

It’s as if Jesus is saying, “Yes, you’ve come to arrest Me, but you’re not in control here. I’m in control. You’re here by My Father’s will…not your will. And you will bow before Me when I tell you who I am.


When God sent Moses to the children of Israel in Egypt, Moses asked who shall I tell them sent me? God said, "Tell them 'I am' sent you." Jesus said the following about Himself.

John 8:56-58
56 " Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." 57 So the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" 58 Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am

Jesus claimed to be "I am."

You know, going back to Mark 14…If I was in a group of people, and all of a sudden found myself on the dirt, and not just me, but everyone with me…I think I would have asked a question or two. “What just happened? How did this happen?” Who did this?” Who is this Man?”

There’s no written account of anyone asking those questions.

One day every knee shall bow before the great I AM.

Cruise and Contrast (But For God's Grace...)

Donna and I just returned from a 3 day cruise to Mexico. We cruised from Long Beach with 2,300 other people, all of whom had a completely different motivation for the cruise. We went with a group of Multnomah Bible College and Biblical Seminary Alumni. The real reason I went was because professor David Needham would be the speaker. He was my favorite professor while at Multnomah. He's more than a good speaker. He speaks from the depths of his heart. The Spirit of God always ministers to me when this man speaks. Our dinner tables were assigned to us. Guess who Donna and I were with for every dinner? The Needhams!!! Listening to his teaching was worth it, but having the chance to talk with him was beyond my expectation.

What a contrast there was between these two groups on the Carnival Paradise ship. While we were drinking the spiritual water of life, listening to professor Needham in this very ornate lounge, there were many more people in the adjacent casino and bar drinking something else, yelling, screaming, laughing...etc., you get the picture.

David Needham talked about worshiping a joyful God, the glory of God, God's joy in us and our joy in God and each other. The world certainly has a different kind of happiness. My heart went out to those people. Especially the ones who woke us up at 3:30 in the morning, drunk, yelling, and saying things I can't write...etc.

After I woke up by the commotion outside the door, I looked out the window. This is what I saw. It blew me away. I had to grab my camera. (Click on photos for a larger view).













The ship was three football fields long. This was our first cruise. I was amazed by many things these last three days. The size of that ship...the money spent on that ship...the food on that ship....the 57 different nationalities of workers on the ship. But to be honest with you, if not for the fellowship of the believers, and the great teaching, the Carnival Fun Ship would not be our kind of fun.

Here's a couple of shots of the ship. They told us this ship is ranked as the second most popular among all the Carnival cruise liners. I now know why.































I have to admit, the food was good...and plentiful. It's now diet time.