@MarioNawfal Hard to take anyone seriously that doesn’t realize that Iran is not the goal. Iran is not US competition. VZ, Cuba, Iran all have one common factor… China. What is China having to do with these actions by US? Miopic conversion
Jesus rose from the dead and the first person He went to was His brother who thought He was crazy.
Not Peter. Not John. Not the twelve.
James.
His kid brother. The one who grew up sharing a room with God and didn’t know it.
Think about James for a second. His older brother is Jesus. Not “Jesus the Christ.” Not “Jesus the Savior.” Jesus the guy who worked in the carpenter shop and came home smelling like sawdust and sweat. Jesus who snored. Jesus who ate too fast. Jesus who their mother treated different and James never understood why.
Because Mary kept her mouth shut.
Luke 2:19. She kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Angels showed up at His birth. Shepherds fell on their faces. Wise men brought gold. And Mary told nobody. She just watched her firstborn grow up in a ghetto in Nazareth and kept the secret in her chest like a coal she couldn’t put down.
James didn’t know his brother was God.
He knew his brother was weird.
He knew his mother looked at Jesus different. He knew Joseph moved the whole family to Egypt when they were little and never fully explained why. He knew that one time his parents lost Jesus at the temple and found Him three days later arguing with rabbis like He owned the place. Twelve years old. Already gone.
Then Jesus grew up. Worked the shop. Paid the bills.
Because Joseph died — the Bible doesn’t say when but Joseph disappears from the story — and in Jewish custom the eldest son takes over. So Jesus wasn’t posing for paintings in that carpenter shop. He was feeding His family. Putting bread on the table for His mom and His brothers and sisters in a town so poor Nathanael said “can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
Then one day He left.
Walked away from the shop. Walked away from the family. Left James holding the hammer and the bills and the responsibility for a widowed mother.
James was pissed.
Mark 3:21. His own family went to collect Him because they said He was out of His mind. That’s James. That’s the brothers. Showing up to bring the crazy one home before He embarrasses the family worse.
John 7:5. His brethren did not believe in Him.
His own blood. Ate dinner with Him for thirty years. Didn’t believe.
Then Wednesday happened.
The brother James thought was insane got arrested at night by temple guards. Got beaten until His face swelled shut. Got whipped until His back looked like raw meat. Got nailed to wood and hung up on a garbage hill outside the city.
And James had to stand somewhere — maybe in the crowd, maybe at home, maybe hearing it secondhand — and process the fact that the brother he called crazy just died like a criminal.
Three days and nights of silence.
Three days of James sitting with the guilt of every eye roll. Every argument. Every time he told people “I don’t know what’s wrong with Him.” Every time he showed up to drag Jesus home because He was embarrassing the family name.
Then Sunday morning.
Jesus rose. Conquered death. Walked out of the tomb.
And He went to James.
1 Corinthians 15:7. He appeared to James.
Not in a crowd. Not at a distance. He went to His brother. The one who didn’t believe. The one who thought He was crazy. The one who was pissed that He left the family behind.
He showed up and let James see the holes in His hands.
Matthew 28:10. Go tell my brethren. Not my servants. Not my followers. My brethren.
John 20:17. My Father and your Father. My God and your God.
He rose to the highest position in the universe and His vocabulary didn’t change.
Most men get a promotion and stop returning phone calls. Jesus conquered death and called the brother who doubted Him family.
James went from “He’s out of His mind” to leading the church in Jerusalem.
James went from trying to drag Jesus home to writing a book of the Bible.
James went from skeptic to martyr. They threw him off the temple wall and when he survived the fall they beat him to death with a club. He died for the brother he once thought was insane.
That’s what happened when Jesus showed up after the resurrection and said brother.
One word changed everything.
He’s not calling you servant today.
He’s not calling you subject.
He’s calling you what He called James.
Brother.
The same James who didn’t believe. Who rolled his eyes. Who showed up to take Him home. Who sat in the dark for three days choking on regret.
He went to THAT guy first.
If He went to James, He’ll come to you.
Judas ate with God for three years and never flinched.
Sat at the fire. Said the prayers. Watched blind men see. Watched dead men stand up. Watched lepers get clean skin back. Saw all of it. Touched all of it.
And it did nothing to him.
That should make you sick.
Because you know men like that. You’ve sat next to them in church. They sing the hymns. They say amen. They put the money in the plate. And they go home and do things in the dark that would get them killed in any century but this one.
Jesus called him a devil. Not after the betrayal. Before it. John 6:70. He looked at twelve men and said one of you is a devil. And then He let the devil stay.
He let him hold the money. Let him sit at the table. Let him hear every parable. Let him watch Lazarus walk out of a tomb.
And Judas saw resurrection with his own eyes and thought, what’s that worth in silver?
That’s not weakness. That’s not a man who lost his way. That’s a creature wearing human skin at the table of God, calculating the price of the blood on his plate.
Jesus washed his feet.
Read that again.
God kneeled in front of the thing that was about to murder Him and washed the dirt off its feet.
Not because Judas deserved it. Because the eleven men watching needed to see what love looks like when it’s aimed at something that will never love you back.
That’s the sermon your pastor won’t preach.
That Jesus didn’t die confused. He didn’t die betrayed. He sat across from a devil, broke bread, and said what thou doest, do quickly.
He gave evil permission to finish.
Because the cross was never Plan B.
And the son of perdition was never a surprise.
He was a prop in a story written before the foundation of the world. A creature who thought he was the predator and turned out to be the instrument.
The tomb didn’t stay shut.
But the field Judas bought with his thirty pieces? His guts are still in the dirt.
'Pistol Pete' Maravich sharing his testimony of faith in Jesus Christ in 1987 less than one year before his death at the age of 40:
"I want all of you to know this tonight about Peter Maravich. You may never have heard of me. It makes no difference. I'm just one person on this earth saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. I want you to know this, that the change that came into my life was Jesus Christ.
It was not winning. I won all my life. I won every trophy, award, everything you can think of, but every time I won something, I wanted something more. I had to win again. It wasn't money, because money'll buy you everything but happiness. It'll pay your fare at every place but Heaven. Material things—I've driven everything some of you strive for from Rolls Royces to BMWs to Mercedes to Porsches. It wasn't religion because in the name of religion, Jesus Christ was placed upon that cross.
And the purest thing about Christianity is the fact that it's your choice. You can't work. You can't earn. I knew that, and I understood it now.
I want you to know this. The last thing I'd like to say is this, next week I'll be inducted into the Hall of Fame. I'll get that big ring. In fact, it's a bigger ring than I would have got for the championship, but I'll tell you something about all the awards. They all pale to the glory of Christ and what He's done in my life. It's amazing what He has done in my life.
I wouldn't trade my position in Christ for a thousand NBA championships or a thousand Hall of Fame rings or for a hundred billion dollars. There's nothing like the joy of Jesus Christ in your life."
🔇 You might feel emotional, watching this video 😢 🥹
The Son with cancer replied, when his father asked why he thinks God, allowed him to have cancer!!
🎥 _realtakdaily_