See

Through a generous donation I am excited to give everyone tonight at Celebration Church & Outreach Ministry a free copy of my first published book entitled See. It's been a few years in the making but finally available.  I am writing short Bible studies for busy people (80-90 pages) that blend scholarship, imagination, and pastoral application.

For now I'm writing about Jesus.  My life is devoted to His teachings and beliefs, He was and is controversial, and He has personally changed my life forever.  Jesus is the opposite of boring or indifference.  He is intriguing, courageous, maddening to some, divisive, creative, and iconic in so many ways.  Even in my greatest debates with someone over the authenticity of Jesus' claims there is an engaging energy of interest present - like the doubter isn't convinced but wishes He was.

I hold to the conviction that followers of Jesus (I am guilty) and not Jesus Himself are the biggest barriers to doubters believing in the real Jesus.  The real Jesus' life was the greatest story ever to be played out on the stage of life.  The themes included a King becoming a commoner, love triumphing over evil, life breathed into lifelessness, betrayal, forgiveness, and the conquering of death.  Even more it's a story that continues.  The real Jesus is still carrying out His mission.

One of the things He is still doing is helping us to see as He did with a blind man in the small village of Bethsaida.  Jesus is not content to merely restore our sight.  He wants to recalibrate our seeing in a way that is exceptional and life changing.  The healer in Bethsaida 2000 years ago is still at work in you and me.

I invite you to join us tonight at 6pm at CCOM or watch online.  You can also go to Amazon or Barnes and Noble (See by R.J. Rhoden) and purchase the study.  Jesus is teaching me to see, and He wants to do the same for you.


Ex nihilo,


R.J. Rhoden