2 MINUTE WARNING

What paradise we find in Hawaii.

Beautiful beaches.

Waterfalls.

Flowers and plants that go well beyond INCREDIBLE.

Foods that are incredible.

I can now say that I have tasted … and it is great.

But it isn’t good.  Not the good that God describes.  Because the good that God describes is well beyond anything that we can experience in our own flesh and on our own accord.

I believe that this is what Jesus is talking about when He says:

Mark 8  ³⁴ Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.³⁵ For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.³⁶ What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?

Our life is not about flesh … it is about purpose.

It is not about filling ourself up with the world … it is about filling ourself up with God.

Solomon told us about this in Ecclesiastes.  As he vigorously pursued ALL THAT HE COULD EVER DESIRE, he found out what was waiting for him:  NOTHING.  And he quickly declared that “life is meaningless”.

God is abundantly good.  And His good is so much better than our spectacular.  It is the only thing that will meet the longings of our heart.

As you pursue your world today, pursue it with caution.

Your flesh is insatiable.  It will cry out for more and then condemn you when you reach the pinnacle of providing it.  It can’t be satisfied or negotiated with, and God warns us, again and again, to be careful in our pursuit of it.

But God gives us an option.  And that option is the greatest one that you could ever encounter.

The world will tell you that He is restrictive, that He hates us, or that He has not set us out with a purpose.  But nothing could be further from the truth.  He is a loving Father.  

• And just as I would not let my kids wander out into the road to be run down by traffic, He protects us.
• And just as my wife cried out in shear joy when each of my kids were born, cradling them in her arms and crying out in utter joy, He loves us.
• And just as my mom and dad set me out into the world–showing me how to work, and to raise a family, and to be loyal, He gives us purpose.

We are not here to just gather up wealth and feed our selfish desires.  We are not here to shake our fist at God and tell Him what the rules are.  And we are not here to shake our fist at others and tell them that they suck.

We are here … to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.

• We are here to share John 3:16
• We are here to forgive
• We are here to love
• We are here to stand up to the evil theories of those who claim to come in peace yet perpetrate evil and destruction over our children and our youth

Do not shrink away from the enemy’s plan to convert us to children of Hell.

Stand up to him in the Mighty Name of Jesus.

Declare Jesus King without compromise.

And pursue the God who loves you too much to let you off to pursue your own devices.

He knows best.

Meet me at the foot of the cross.  And let’s encourage each other to pick up our cross and carry it.  Daily.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

God is abundantly good:

He is loyal.

He is full of mercy.

He is ready to give us all that we could ever desire.

His future for us is a treasure that we CAN NOT FATHOM.

And though we do not live for heaven, He is also our BEST PLAN NOW.

Jesus openly tells us:  “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world.”

To say that He lived out the call is like saying “that lion pride sure was efficient in taking down that wildebeest”.  It is obvious and incredible all at the same time.

But what about us?

Who can we be?

Today, I will leave you with something simple:  The ABC’s of the Faith

A is for ALL things.  Not some things.  ALL things.  This is the reassurance that Nathanael got under the fig tree, it is the help the Jonah needed to bring the gospel to people he hated, it is the affirmation that Abraham needed to leave everything and go someplace unknown, and the it is the energy that Paul needed to face being shipwrecked, beaten, and imprisoned.  This same reassurance … This is what YOU need.  Trusting Him, in the midst of the enemy breathing down our neck and trying to sabotage everything that we are trying to do, is not only necessary—it is your only hope.

Romans 8 ²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

So today, purpose to surrender.  Purpose to give Him everything.  You can’t carry it anyway.  And why would you want to.  He … is working for your good.

B is for BELIEF.  Not just shallow belief.  But a belief that would trust in Him with “all of your heart” belief.  I mean … consider this:  God became a man, lived out the call perfectly, and rose from brutal execution to take His place on the throne.  And He did this … for you and all those you love.

Proverbs 3 ⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

⁶ in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

In ALL your ways acknowledge Him … He, HE, will give you a good purpose and point of reference.

C is for Character.  Make the right call.  Do the right thing.  God says to not be a “like a wave blown and tossed by the sea”, to not be two faced and doubting.  He tells us to have great character.  And there is no better description than in Micah 6.

Micah 6 ⁸ He has showed you, O man, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Act in Justice.  Love Mercy.  Walk Humbly.  That sounds like Jesus to me.  In fact, that sounds like ONLY JESUS.  Because away from Him, we see none of this on planet earth.

I pray for a movement of God.  Not in the big things.  But in the simple ones.

I pray that He would open doors over your life that you did not even know were there.

And I pray that He would shut doors that you have no business looking at.

Share the gospel today.  The true, and unadulterated, gospel.  That God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish … but have eternal life.

That’s as good as you can hope for.

And it is worth every bit of wealth that the earth can hold … and so much more.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

You are well able to live out the calling that God has put on your heart.  Not kind of able.  Not somewhat proficient.  You, as Paul says in Romans 8, are MORE Than A Conqueror.

This is not a neat cliche written on a poster.  It is a promise from the Living God.  

And today I am challenging you, should this apply to you, to RISE UP and be who God has called you to be.

There must have been a lack of hope living inside of Nathanael.  He must have been wondering what God truly had for him.  And he must have been wondering if God REALLY SAW HIM.  I am definitely not reading this as a Biblical Scholar.  I am reading it as a man who is simply investigating the scriptures and living out my pursuit of the Savior as best I can.  So … I might be wrong.  But I think Nathanael is having one of those “come to Jesus” moments and asking God if He can truly see him.  I think he is putting God to the test.  And God answers him in a big, and mighty, way.

John 1  ⁴⁷ When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.”

⁴⁸ “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.

Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

⁴⁹ Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”

⁵⁰ Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that.”⁵¹  He then added, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

God is focused on you.  He knows you.  He knows your highs … and your lows.  And He is for you.

God has put dreams in your heart and plans on your mind.  He has given you things that you have pursued.  And, let’s be honest, you have pursued things that have broken your heart.

But one thing remains.

And that one thing is the loyalty of the Living God.

Paul tells us in Hebrews 11 that “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see”.  And God tells us that we might feel alone, but that we are not alone.  Yes, we might be crying out under a fig tree, and challenging God to show up … but God is there all along.  And His pursuit of us is non-ending and without fail.

So rise up.

Your destiny is not a certainty … it is a God-given opportunity.  Your choices will determine your legacy.

So …

Get Up … And Fight …

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

As we were driving back from lunch, the Lauren Daigle song “Thank God I Do” came on the radio.  My daughter, who was volunteering at a rehabilitation center, said the patients there really LOVED and WORSHIPED to this song when they played it.

To which I responded:  “that’s because God is ready to receive an addict immediately.  It is a testimony to His grace.”

Amen.

Sometimes I say smart things … on accident.

God is ready to receive ALL OF US IMMEDIATELY.

Otherwise … right now … I would be in the pits of Hell.

Because God has not thrown me directly into it, it proves His grace, and His love, His patience, and His pursuit.

Thank God for God.

If I had something more to say, I would say it.

But the reality is …

I would rather sing:

“I don’t know who I’d be if I didn’t know You I’d probably fall off the edge … “

Thank You Jesus.  Without You … we have nothing.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

Change is in the air.

Last week, my sweet daughter graduated from nursing school.

In two weeks, many high school seniors will graduate as well.

In three weeks, I will retire from 90 hour grinding work weeks and move to, I hope, a more humane schedule.

But none of these things truly matter.

What matters is what we do with what we have been given.

On his way into Syria, Paul thought he was using all that he had been given.  Educated.  Powerful.  Trained in the Law.  He was a citizen of Rome, a wealthy influencer of culture, and a Religious hero.

In the “name of god”, he was imprisoning, torturing, and even killing followers of Jesus.  In the “name of god”, he could not have been more wrong.

And so God gave him an offer.

“LOSE ALL OF YOUR INADEQUATE TRAINING, ALL OF YOUR STATUS, ALL OF YOUR FAVOR, AND EVERYTHING THAT YOU HAVE BUILT … AND I WILL GIVE YOU A REAL FAITH.”

Why in the world would Paul take this ridiculous offer?  Why would you?

The answer is simple:  You will never get a better one.  Ever.  Not even close.

And so Paul took the offer.  And in one encounter, Paul dropped everything he had and became the greatest champion of the gospel.  So much so, that Christians thought he was tricking them in order to capture them.

And so now, we must decide.

We can align with the darkness … or we can align with King Jesus.  Paul tells us:

Romans 1 ²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools

The broken reality that all of us face is this:  We were a created people, destined for heaven, and under the blanket of God … and we pissed it away in every way that a person could piss something away…

Don’t sugar coat this.  YOUR FEEBLE EXISTENCE IS A VAPOR IN THE WIND.  AND ON YOUR OWN, YOU DON’T HAVE A SNOWBALL’S CHANCE IN HELL.

Then Paul wrote:

Romans 5  ⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

We can view everything that we have built, and all that we have accomplished, and all that we have accumulated … but what does it truly amount to?

And then Paul wrote:

Romans 8  ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul took the offer.  What about you?

You would do well to do the same.

Is if free?  No.

Is it easy?  Not even close.

Is it going to exalt our position and give us something better?  Not always.

We will, in fact, be required to drop anything and everything that we have come up with and submit to a different set of rules.

King Jesus.

The man who stood at the gates of Hell, heckled the enemy, and took a brutal execution at the hands of misguided and evil men at our expense.

And make no mistake.  The rising evil wants its own rules.  And YOU … have a choice:

• You can follow a set of rules based on a love affair with a deceptive and hallow worldly philosophy

OR

• You can submit to King Jesus … and King Jesus has a different set of rules … people would be wise to follow them.

He is the only hope that we have.

“The Lamb who took away the sins of the world” is also “the Lion of the Tribe of Judah”.

Take the offer.  You won’t get a better one.  

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

A warning in advance … if you were close to Char Kloster and her family … you might want to wait to read this until you are in a place of privacy.  I cried as I formed it, I cried as I wrote it, and I cried when I re-read it.

From November 3, 1932 – April 2, 2023, Char “Chuckie” Kloster lived on this earth.  She will be dearly missed by many.  And yesterday, April 25, 2023, her family and friends did a wonderful job celebrating her.

Char’s life was summed up beautifully, and, as with all who live on this earth, her 11/3/1932 – 4/2/2023 were important dates.  But they were not nearly as important as that – (dash) in between them.  Char lived out “her dash” to the fullest extent.

Appropriately summed up by the verse,

2 Timothy 4  ⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.⁸ Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day–and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

Char FOUGHT THE GOOD FIGHT.  She was “all day long tough”, she showed up for work and for family, she was loyal, and loving, and blunt.  When she said something she was honest and straightforward.  And you knew where you stood with her.

Her legacy lives in her family and those she influenced.  Because they carry it with honor and grace and strength.  It shows up in her children and her grandchildren and her friends.  And thank God that it does, because she carried traits what we would all aspire to have:

Courage

Integrity

Toughness

Loyalty

Brutal Honesty

Sticktoitiveness

But more than any of those …

She carried a Faith in Jesus Christ.

And today, we will talk about that … that ultra important Faith in Jesus.

I can remember when my dad died I could not stop crying.  The grief I felt was overwhelming.

And then … at the back of church one Sunday … God presented me with a picture of him.  He was young, he was healthy, and he was happy.  In a moment … my sting was gone.

This gospel I preach is not an old-time story.

It is not a plate glass window.

It is not a tradition.

It is not a time-waster of our Sundays.

This gospel is in front of us because a man named Jesus hung on a cross ON OUR BEHALF and paid a penalty that was supposed to be OUR BURDEN.

Our very date … 2023 … is BECAUSE OF HIM.  We are 2023 AD.

The men and women who delivered us this gospel paid a hefty price to get it to us.  They gave up standing and popularity and money and … they gave up their very lives so that we could read John 3:16 and decide whether it was for us or not.  It is truly our individual choice.

He … He (Jesus) has a prepared a place of us (John 14:3).  So just as He loves Char and has given her an eternal home, He also wants to offer one to you.  In this home, there will be no rust.  There will be no tears.  And we will truly experience what freedom truly looks like.

And so I say to you today:  Meet Me At Char’s House.

Not the one over on 1711 Collyer.

Meet me at the one in John 14:3.  And bring your friends with you.

As I was writing this this morning I kept finding and playing the perfect song to go with it.  Again and again and again.

I encourage you take the time and listen to all of them.  They all speak to her life and this very issue.  And they are all worthwhile songs to worship God.

Shout To The Lord by Darlene Zschech

“Nothing compares to the promise I have in YOU”

Well Done by The Afters

“Well done well done my good and faithful one … welcome to the place where you belong.”

How Far by Tasha Layton

“A million miles of my mistakes … they couldn’t keep your love away … “

Meet Me At Char’s House!

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

For five years I have immersed myself in a mathematics that is so impressive that it boggles the mind.

Teaching something requires more than just a shallow interpretation, and in teaching these beautiful concepts, I have truly generated more questions than answers and I have learned more than I have taught.

In my third year of teaching calculus, I stumbled upon a problem about Gabriel’s Horn.  The horn, while going on forever and having an infinite surface area, has a finite volume.

The Infinite Object has a Finite Volume

We do, in fact, use this very principle every day as we use this mathematics.  We use something that we can not fathom to help us in things we understand.  And it works.

The very ideas of Limits, Areas Under Curves, and Instant Slope

are not only far-fetched, they are impossible.  And yet, we use them in science, in engineering, in business, and in all of our technological advances.

Jesus speaks to our position:

John 16 ²² So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.²³ In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.²⁴ Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

You are not broken.

You are not unimportant.

You are not here today and gone tomorrow.

Not in God’s infinite world.

Your time is just beginning.

And though we can not fathom the end from the beginning, though we can not possibly understand HOW it works, we CAN understand that it works perfectly.

If you ask me:  “How can we use something that we can not fathom to help us in things we understand?”

I will simply respond:  “I do it every day.  Mathematics is, truly, God’s Language.”

And written in mathematics is a small hint as to who He truly is.

Bow Down.

Worship.

Follow the Infinite God so that you can make sense of a Finite World.

And remember, Jesus said:  “my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.²⁴”

Thank God for the God of multiplication.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

Easter has come and gone and we are now onto the next week of life.

And back to old habits.

And it is those old habits that we need so badly to eliminate.

The resurrection of Jesus was no small matter.  To those who followed Jesus and had scattered into hiding, it had to have been an incredible moment … And the overwhelming manor in which Christianity exploded onto the world scene is forever a testimony to the response of broken people.

And a monumental moment for us, even 2000 years later.

You see, God tried to redeem us.  And He gave us every opportunity.  But we were unable.

Romans 3 ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,²⁴ and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

This is a mind boggling word.  ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALL SHORT.  Do not subscribe to this idea that we are better, or that there are levels of faith, or that we need another person to lead us to our destiny.  NONE ARE BETTER.  And ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALL SHORT.

The thing I love about God is how He uses words.  When He says ALL, He means ALL.  And when He says fall short he means FALL SHORT.  And in the world of God, falling short is not just missing the mark by 3 inches.  We are 3,000,000,000 miles away.

The gospel is for everyone.

And we are not to water it down.

Sin is everywhere.  And to say that we are not allowed to do whatever we want to do is an understatement.  We must understand that there is RIGHT and there is WRONG, that there is LIGHT and there is DARKNESS, that there is LIFE and that there is DEATH.  God has designed a universe that clearly shows us the extremes.

The enemy, the fallen angel, the “lord of the air” as Jesus describes him, has gone to great lengths to destroy the very idea of:

Creation

Family

Life

Intimacy

And why wouldn’t he?

If we thought that we were an accident, or that parents were not important, or that life could be thrown away and discarded, or that sexual relationships were simply like going to play basketball over at the rec center, then we would be sitting ducks for lies.

And that is exactly what we are … sitting ducks.

But that is not where we need to live.  We are

“are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

We are given new life in God through faith in Jesus.

And we are called … to give it away.

We are not to celebrate Easter and return to our lives in a cocoon.  We are to give this truth away.

So get to work.  There are many who need Him.  Now more than ever.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

Coach J

To me, the Bible begins in John 1.

John 1  ¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.² He was with God in the beginning.

Then God goes to Genesis.

Genesis 1 ¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

And God tells the story of the utter hopelessness of man and the ABSOLUTE NEED for God in the form of Jesus.

And Jesus tells us in Luke about the Kingdom.

Luke 15 ⁸ “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?⁹ And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’¹⁰ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

And, in my mind, encourages us to “spend it” … the idea that we can’t keep our life anyway, and that we might as well spend our last penny, our last breath, our last minute … to exalt Him King.

And He continues to tell us that we should have the heart of the prodigal son, who comes home and offers to simply be one of his Father’s house slaves:

Luke 15 ²¹ “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

and to realize that we are better off being a slave to the Father than a King to the world.

And returns us to John 1 to encourage us that, He, and He alone, holds the keys to eternal life.

John 4  ¹² Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God–¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

That we might get the opportunity to sit at the King’s feet and be born into a family that would never let us down.

That we might be able to look forward to a city WITH foundations whose architect and builder is God … 

(Hebrews 11)

That we might actually look for the living among the living and NOT the living among the dead … 

(Luke 24)

That we might be overcomers … 

(Revelation 3)

That we might find favor in the eyes of the Lord … 

(Genesis 6)

That we might be a person after God’s own heart … 

(1 Samuel 13)

You can search the whole world over …

And find all of the money,

Or all of the power, 

Or all of the favor,

Or fame

Or safety

Or pleasure

But you won’t find anything that compares To This Gospel … To this Truth … To This Power—the resurrection power— of Jesus Christ.

He is the Lamb that was slain … and the Lion of the tribe of Judah

He is the First … and the Last.

He is the Counselor … and the Kinsman Redeemer.

He is the Creator … and the Breaker.

He is the Provider … and the Healer.

As I sit in worship on this very night, I apologize.

I apologize for watering down this gospel.

I apologize for underselling the most important treasure that you could ever have.

And I apologize for the sin that I carry, both in the things that I do as well as the things that I don’t do.

But I do not apologize for offering Jesus … 

Because He …

Is the greatest gift that you could ever have.

Be sure to open up your heart and 

check it out for yourself.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Know anyone who might like these?  Encourage them to jump on to 2minutewarning.blog and hit the FOLLOW button!!!

Coach J