Dramatic Encounters with God: Seven Life-Changing Lessons of Love

Dramatic Encounters with God: Seven Life-Changing Lessons of Love

by Nicole Johnson
Dramatic Encounters with God: Seven Life-Changing Lessons of Love

Dramatic Encounters with God: Seven Life-Changing Lessons of Love

by Nicole Johnson

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Overview

Walk with Christ through ancient Jerusalem as he encounters the man with the withered hand, John the Baptist, Judas, and four other New Testament characters in this book of dramatic sketches by Nicole Johnson, the Women of Faith dramatist. Nicole uses her talent for storytelling to help us be there with Christ and see the scenes with new eyes and understanding, bringing to life lessons that apply to our modern lives.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781418554705
Publisher: Nelson, Thomas, Inc.
Publication date: 08/22/2011
Sold by: HarperCollins Publishing
Format: eBook
Pages: 144
File size: 462 KB

About the Author

Nicole Johnson, author of Fresh Brewed Life, has a uniquely creative voice. As an accomplished writer, speaker, and actor, Nicole has performed in thousands of churches and venues over the last twenty-five years, including more than a decade of touring with the national conference Women of Faith. Nicole lives in Santa Monica, CA with her husband and two children. Nicole writes regularly at www.nicolejohnson.org

Read an Excerpt

Dramatic Encounters with God


By Nicole Johnson

Thomas Nelson

Copyright © 2007 Nicole Johnson
All right reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-8499-0357-1


Chapter One

Are You the One?

A dramatic encounter for John the Baptist

Life-Changing Lesson: Love can handle doubt

Biblical Passage: Luke 7:18-23 (Optional parallel passage: Matthew 11:2-11)

Then the disciples of John reported to him concerning all these things. And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to Jesus, saying, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?"

When the men had come to Him, they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to You, saying, 'Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?'" And that very hour He cured many of infirmities, afflictions, and evil spirits; and to many blind He gave sight.

Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me." (Luke 7:18-23)

John was in prison. All he knew about what Jesus was doing came from hearing the reports of others. And what they were reporting was that there was a prophet in Judea, the likes of whom none had ever seen before. John achedand yearned to see it with his own eyes; it was what he had lived his whole life for. He thought back to the day when Jesus came to the river Jordan to find John the Baptist and asked to be baptized. This was a day unlike any other in his life. His belief that God had finally sent the Messiah was like a fire in his soul, and he preached and baptized amid the flames of his heart.

But now those flames had become dying embers and doubts were forming in his mind. He listened carefully to the reports of his own disciples, men he trusted, but now they were gone, John was full of questions. Is Jesus really the One? While he couldn't believe he was thinking such thoughts, he found himself powerless not to think them.

Maybe it didn't even matter if Jesus was the One. Either way, John thought he would probably be killed. He had spoken out against the horrific wrong of a very powerful ruler, Herod, and he was in prison because of it. John's greatest gift was not diplomacy. He was passionate about the kingdom of God-and in the kingdom, men of God don't sit idly by while a powerful ruler commits adultery. Herod had taken his half brother's wife, Herodias, to be his own. John was a preacher of repentance and not afraid to name names. He proclaimed that what Herod and Herodias had done was not only wrong, but wicked, and they must repent because the kingdom of God was at hand. Herod and Herodias decided they would like it a lot better if John weren't roaming the countryside influencing public opinion.

But now, in his cell, John wondered if the kingdom was as close as he had once believed. He wanted to talk to Jesus, but he couldn't. He was alone, with only his thoughts, and seeds of doubt were growing in his mind.

It was dark in John's cell. The air was thick and hot as he wrestled with feverish questions. What if Jesus wasn't who he'd thought he was? Was it even possible that he could be the promised Messiah, the long-awaited deliverer of the people? His hope ran so deep, but his doubts did too.

Have I wanted it to be true so much that I was seeing something that wasn't there? Did Jesus ever come right out and say it? Does he even think he is the Messiah? What good is my thinking he's the Messiah if he doesn't even think he's the Messiah? And deeper still, Should the Messiah know he's the Messiah, or will he just be the Messiah and we'll know?

John was having a crisis of faith.

The series of events that brings on such doubt is different for each of us. We don't have to be in prison to start asking the deepest questions of our lives. Divorce, death, and illness can all usher in a cloud of doubt. Why am I going through this? Have I believed something that is not true? Is God really good? And when the questions come, we must not ignore them. We cannot wish them away with simplistic faith or pious rhetoric. Nor can we simply give them free rein to control our thinking. Such questions must be dealt with honestly. Are they coming from our circumstances or from real doubts about God?

It is critical to acknowledge that external factors can play a part in our internal churning, because we may mistake doubt for what is really just anger or hunger or even exhaustion. And while those things can affect how we feel about our faith, they are not doubt-they are just feelings. Feelings will fade as we take care of ourselves and receive reassurance from other believers. This can be a great comfort to our hearts. You may fear you are doubting your faith, but a friend may suggest not tackling a problem until you've had a good night's rest, which could be your greatest need. And such a friend may be right.

But sometimes the morning doesn't bring peace, relief, or comfort; it brings new questions and doubts. Whether we are in a physical prison or a prison of suffering or pain, we are vulnerable to wondering the same things that John the Baptist wondered. Did I get it wrong? Should I be looking for someone else? Perhaps what I have believed is not worth believing, especially if this is where it leads me. How can I know for certain that my picture of Christ is even correct?

For John, there might have been old wounds that contributed to his questions. While he didn't care much what people said about him now, what if that hadn't always been the case? John was a different and unique kind of person from the very beginning. Perhaps earlier in his life it bothered him what people would say to him and his parents about the way he dressed or the way he spoke or what he ate. And now, isolated in his lonely cell, he began to wonder if people were right and maybe he was a little crazy. Maybe more than questioning Jesus, he was questioning himself.

Or maybe he wondered if he was better off before he met Jesus. Jesus got him in trouble by teaching things like "You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John could have easily thought, I told the truth and now I am in prison for it. I'm not free at all. It's easy for Jesus to say the truth will set you free, because he's still out there teaching and healing, not locked away in a stinking, rotting cell.

There is no telling the strength or number of the forces that were pressing down upon John. He had to have been surrounded by other men in the prison who were there for far worse offenses than speaking out against Herod's adultery. Perhaps these men said things like, "You really are nuts. Just shut up about that stupid Herod and his adultery so you can get out of here. Those two were made for each other. Go ahead, be righteous, but just be quiet about it." Or maybe they were harsher in their criticism: "Where is that guy that you think is going to save the world? How come he's never come here? Shouldn't he begin by saving you?"

Whatever the causes of his doubts, they increased to the point where John decided to send his disciples to ask Jesus the question, the question that had been consuming him for weeks, maybe months. John knew he ran the risk of insulting and even offending Jesus with what he wanted to ask. He would be admitting his doubt publicly by just posing the question. How would Jesus respond? What would Jesus think of him now?

Still he had to ask. As do we.

Are You the One?

I need to know.

The opposite of faith is not doubt, but a settled unbelief, just as the opposite of courage is not fear, but cowardice. While fear can lead you to cowardice or to courage, it is an entirely different thing. Doubt is not the absence of faith. On the contrary, we must believe at least partly in something to doubt it at all. Until doubt grows into a conclusion of settled unbelief, it remains faith. So in one sense, doubt can reassure us of our faith and provide us with the opportunity for it to grow and deepen.

But understandably, people of faith never want to ask the question, "Are you the One?" We think that the matter should have been settled by now, and we are embarrassed and confused by our doubt. Like John the Baptist, we don't want to ask the question but we don't want not to ask it. We often feel like we should protect our faith and cordon off our doubt, lest the doubt somehow contaminate the good faith. Doubt can be dangerous; it certainly can lead to unbelief. But the greater danger of doubt lies in ignoring it or pretending that we are not doubting. That, our faith cannot survive.

John faced his doubt and brought the question to the one he believed could answer it. He didn't ask his disciples, "Do you think he's the One?" He didn't ask Jesus a vague, testing question that he didn't really want the answer to, trying to draw him out. With honesty and humility, he brought his fear, reason, and hope out in the open, storm cloud and all, and let it rain. Whatever happened, he knew that ultimately the air would be clear again and he would know.

Are you the One?

Jesus' response is profound and simple: "Tell John what you have seen and heard." He didn't react to John's question negatively at all or even try to reassure John with an emotional response; he wanted John's disciples to tell him the truth-just what they had seen and heard. Knowing John as well as he did, Jesus knew that would be enough.

Honestly, I have wondered, why didn't Jesus just tell him "Yes"? Wouldn't that have settled it? I'm not too sure. If John's doubt was anything like mine, that kind of certainty might have seemed too quick or too flippant to satisfy John. Instead, Jesus relied on his lifelong relationship with John. Knowing that they had both grown up studying the scrolls, Jesus knew that John knew the book of Isaiah. He knew he had studied the prophecies: "Tell him what you see." Jesus appealed to the evidence that surrounded John's disciples, saying, The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.

Jesus knew that John would recognize these prophetic words (Isaiah 35:4-6) and that they would speak deeply to the doubts in his heart:

Say to those who are fearful-hearted, "Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, With the recompense of God; He will come and save you." Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert.

(Continues...)



Excerpted from Dramatic Encounters with God by Nicole Johnson Copyright © 2007 by Nicole Johnson. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Table of Contents

Contents

Introduction: The Power of Love....................vii
Chapter 1: Are you the One? Love can handle doubt....................1
Chapter 2: A Tale of Two Sisters Loves refuses to compare....................19
Chapter 3: The Girl of the Tombs Love can change your name....................35
Chapter 4: Stretch Out Your Hand Love goes deeper than religion....................55
Chapter 5: The Flat Thud of Grace Love can free us from judgment....................69
Chapter 6: The Kiss of Death Love can forgive betrayal....................83
Chapter 7: A Touch of Faith Love floods us with peace....................97
Epilogue: Taking a Walk in the Wheat Field....................113
Acknowledgments....................127
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