God Running is a place for anyone who wants to (or even anyone who wants to want to) love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.

Acts 23:12-15

When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. There were more than forty who made this conspiracy. They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul. Now therefore you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more exactly. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near.”

In our last post on the book of Acts we saw how the Lord had just visited Paul. He stood by Paul and He encouraged Paul and He shared His vision with Paul. (If you’re interested, you can read more here: “You’re Not Alone, If You’re a Jesus Follower (unless you want to be)–Acts 23:11“.)

But now we see people and circumstances conspiring against what Paul had just heard from the Lord. Paul was told God has a purpose for him, and that purpose was for Paul to testify about Jesus in Jerusalem, and in Rome too. (Acts 23:11)

Yet we see a group of forty men vow to kill Paul. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t had anyone threaten to kill me since the sixth grade–and I’m pretty sure Jimmy Kazanecki was using the word figuratively. But in Paul’s case, these are grown adult men, and they’re outraged against Paul, so much so that they make a vow not to eat or drink until they’ve killed Paul. This is a serious credible death threat from not just one person, but from forty people. It would be hard for me not to be rattled if I learned of such a threat.

Paul’s problems are big.

But we’re about to see: God is bigger.

Acts 23:16-24

Now the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush, so he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him.” So he took him and brought him to the tribune and said, “Paul the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, as he has something to say to you.” The tribune took him by the hand, and going aside asked him privately, “What is it that you have to tell me?” And he said, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him. But do not be persuaded by them, for more than forty of their men are lying in ambush for him, who have bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him. And now they are ready, waiting for your consent.” So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him, “Tell no one that you have informed me of these things.”

Then he called two of the centurions and said, “Get ready two hundred soldiers, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night. Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to Felix the governor.”

So Paul’s young nephew happens to be in the right place at the right time, and he hears about the plan to ambush Paul and kill him. The young man tells his Uncle Paul about it, and Paul has a centurion escort his nephew to the tribune. When the tribune learns of the plot against Paul, he organizes a small army that includes two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen.

Can you imagine the forty men who swore an oath not to eat or drink until they killed Paul? Can you imagine the look on their faces when they saw Paul mounted on a horse surrounded by a small army? Because of God’s intervention, we know these forty men never had an opportunity to kill Paul.

I wonder if any of them died of thirst or starvation.

So yes, Paul’s problems are big problems.

But God is bigger. So much bigger.

God’s Enormity

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses. (Psalm 33:6-7)

You know, several years ago I was writing about the greatness of God and I shared how God created an estimated 200 billion galaxies. Now I see estimates by scientists of up to 1 trillion galaxies. It would take you or me 32,000 years to count off 1 trillion seconds. So our God, the Creator of the these 200 billion–1 trillion galaxies; our God, the Creator of galaxies, and the Creator of our galaxy, which is more than 100,000 light years across; our God Who created the universe and all that’s in it, from a quark, which is 1 quintillion times smaller than an atom, to the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall which is 10 billion light years across (or 100,000 times bigger than our galaxy): Our God is Big.

For our God who created all that, your problems and my problems are tiny.

This was the answer God gave Job, the man with bigger problems than all of us. (Job 38:4-41)

God’s Love

And this God of great power, He loves you, and He loves me.

He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather you in his arms; he will carry you in his bosom, and gently lead you. (Isaiah 40:11)

The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them. (Psalm 145:17-19)

Jesus will quiet you by his love. (Zephaniah 3:16-17)

So Jesus is way bigger than our problems, and He loves us.

He is the God with scarred hands and feet and side.

He lay down His life to solve our biggest problem of all.

So don’t give up.

Trust in Him.

Cling to Jesus with everything you have.

Available on Google Play Books and on Amazon!

Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus)

Love Like Jesus begins with the story of how after a life of regular church attendance and Bible study, Bennett was challenged by a pastor to study Jesus. That led to an obsessive seven year deep dive. After pouring over Jesus’ every interaction with another human being, he realized he was doing a much better job of studying Jesus’ words than he was following Jesus’ words and example. The honest and fearless revelations of Bennett’s own moral failures affirm he wrote this book for himself as much as for others. Love Like Jesus examines a variety of stories, examples, and research, including:

• Specific examples of how Jesus communicated God’s love to others.
• How Jesus demonstrated all five of Gary Chapman’s love languages (and how you can too).
• The story of how Billy Graham extended Christ’s extraordinary love and grace toward a man who misrepresented Jesus to millions.
• How to respond to critics the way Jesus did.
• How to love unlovable people the way Jesus did.
• How to survive a life of loving like Jesus (or how not to become a Christian doormat).
• How Jesus didn’t love everyone the same (and why you shouldn’t either).
• How Jesus guarded his heart by taking care of himself–he even napped–and why you should do the same.
• How Jesus loved his betrayer Judas, even to the very end.

With genuine unfiltered honesty, Love Like Jesus, shows you how to live a life according to God’s definition of success: A life of loving God well, and loving the people around you well too.

A life of loving like Jesus. (Kindle, hardcover, and paperback now available on Amazon and the ebook is now available on Google Play Books.)