2 MINUTE WARNING

We clearly don’t totally understand the gospel … or God … or Jesus.

If we did, our world would look different.

And (even though I am guilty of this very statement) … To say that “EVEN IF YOU were the last person on earth that  Jesus would have died for you” totally undersells Him.

In seeking Him this week, I am convicted of how much I truly don’t understand His love …

We have a sign that we hang up at Christmas that says:

and they shall call his name ‘Immanuel’ 

which means, God with us

The pursuit of us by God is unthinkable.

It is unthinkable that Jesus would come to earth.

And it is unthinkable that He pursued broken people the way that He did.

When a world leader decides to move on a territory, he infiltrates the territory.  He sends men to politically push his agenda.  He spies and gathers information.  And then, at just the right time, he acts with power in a way that pushes the enemy to the brink of surrender so that he can totally conquer body, mind, and spirit.  

In Jesus time, the Romans were experts at this.  And when they found someone “naysaying”, they stripped that person naked and brutally executed him in front of his family.  Compliance was not optional.  And the Jews had an alliance with them ONLY because it gave the Romans control.

So here comes Jesus.  His plan was to:

Come as an illegitimate child.

To be poor.

To yield no weapon.

To reject political affiliations from everyone.

To never act out in anger to takeover even though He proved at the temple that He VERY WELL COULD HAVE.

What does Immanuel do?

He joins the lowest common denominator and wins them over in such a way that we STILL are more influenced by Him than any other person in world history.

And how does He do it?

With the most mind boggling plan I have ever laid eyes on.

The people who DO SUPPORT Him, He leaves them in utter dismay by doing things so unfathomable that they have to truly check their motives for why they are even following Him.  He breaks the church law, the Jewish law, and what would be considered good common sense to go speak to the most rejected and hideous persons He could find.  In one instance, He goes to speak to a woman who is a total outcast.

At the end of their conversation:

John 4  ²⁵ The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

²⁶ Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.”

After she returns to the town:

John 4 ³⁹ Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days.⁴¹ And because of his words many more became believers.

At the result:

⁴² They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

And that is the gospel.

We live in the year 2023 because at the most hostile time in world history, a man named Jesus changed the hearts of the most broken people on the planet.

And having nothing to lose, they surrendered to Him.

And they spread the story to others.

And the others surrendered to Him.

And those others spread the story to still others.

And the still others surrendered to Him.

They called on Him … and He answered.

And so, in a time where you could be brutally executed for daring to even question an authority, Jesus took over the world.

Our calendar attests to it … we live in 2023.

Our history books attest to it … a new faith started 2000 years ago AFTER a man died.

And your heart will attest to it if you call on Him …

John 4 ⁴² … ”We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

There is nothing our God would rather do than speak to those He loves.

This Easter Sunday is a very special day.

It is special because Jesus doesn’t just allow you to come to Him.

No.  

He walks 100 miles with no water to have a conversation with you.  

He loves you in your weakness.  

And He will never, ever, ever give up on you or look down on you or bad mouth you.

Ask Him to come into your world this very day.

Ask Him to fix your broken pieces.

Ask Him to revive your heart and to replace your heart of stone with a heart of flesh.

Ezekiel 11 ¹⁴ I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.

Enjoy your surrender.  And enjoy this song.  I particularly love the line:  

“The One Who Knows Me Best, Is The One Who Loves Me Most”

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

I am not sure if you noticed, but there is no 387.  That’s because when a write up is not DONE, I don’t release it.  I simply wallow over it, and reevaluate it, and doubt it …

So … Here is:  387  Surrender

God is hard to understand.

The very idea of God is hard to understand.

And yet, He is the only thing that makes sense. 

And… even He knows how hard it is to understand Him:

Ephesians 3 and I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,¹⁸ may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Don’t miss this verse.  Verse 18 mentions WIDTH, LENGTH, HEIGHTH, and DEPTH.  FOUR DIMENSIONS.  Don’t miss it.  He is OUTSIDE of our dimensions.

The world Physicist Richard Feynman is : “if you think you understand quantum mechanics, then you don’t.”

Amen.

This is our reality.  We do not know because God has created us and we can not comprehend it.

And the reality is this:  God’s pursuit to understand us is far more difficult than our pursuit to understand Him.  How do you teach something infinite to someone who is finite?  How do you teach 4 or 5 or 6 dimensions to someone who lives in 3 dimensions?

The only answer is to send a messenger.  And so He did.  Jesus came to be WITH us.  He is God with us.  And He did a pretty good job.  He chose to walk out the very life that we do.

Ephesians 3 ¹⁷ rooted and established in love,

So be rooted and established in love.  And let God help you understand.

And let God help you walk out your days:

Romans 8  ²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

As I read through this, I simply have the same questions that you probably have.  What do I have to offer?  What do I bring?

And that’s just it.

I am this small entity that doesn’t even know how to pray or even what to pray for.

All I have is … the opportunity to Surrender.

And so I do.

Lord, Have Your Way In Me

Mold Me Into Your Ways, And Nothing Else

Keep Me In Your Hand

And Help Me To Walk Out The Call

You … And You Alone …

Hold The Keys To Eternal Life

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

How did David know?

I think that the coolest and most compelling thing in the Bible are the predictions about Jesus.  In the Old Testament, they KNEW that He was coming because they WROTE about Him coming.  God inspired numerous people about WHEN, HOW, WHAT, WHY, and WHO.

And yet, they did not know.

I am not reciting this as a condemning word on “them”.  I am stating this to remind us all that this word that we sometimes hold in low regard is the greatest treasure.  It tells us about us, about Jesus, about God, about history, and about our future.  It is the very thing that we need.

And so I ask again:

How did David know?

How did David know what Messiah would say as He hung on the cross?

Psalm 22  ¹ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? …

How did David know that Messiah would be mocked AS He was being executed?

Psalm 22  ⁷ All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads:⁸ “He trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue him.  Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”

How did David know that Messiah would be crucified BEFORE crucifixion even existed?

Psalm 22 ¹⁴ I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.  My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me.  ¹⁵ My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.  ¹⁶ Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.  

How did David know that Messiah’s clothes would be gambled over?

Psalm 22  ¹⁸ They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.

David didn’t know.  He had faith.  He had killed a giant.  He had lead a nation.  He had sinned.  He had basked in glory.  He had experienced the agony of sin and consequences.  But David had faith.

We don’t know what the future holds.

But we know Who holds the future.

And the One who holds the future knows about things 2000 years before they come to pass.  He knows about details that could not be comprehended by a normal mind.

And He certainly knows what is best for you and for yours.

Do not give up on Him … because He will never, ever, give up on you.

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

Before …

Before you set your plans … to make your money, to buy your house, to set off on your American dream

Before …

Before you pick your perfect love, your perfect love story, and your perfect dream

Before …

Before you plan your perfect vacation, your perfect party, your perfect Eutopia to live in and live your best life

Pick your perfect God

Because the rest of this … can NEVER, EVER, EVER … be PERFECT

Never worship or pursue a god who will never fill you up.

Your life … will end up empty

John 3 ¹ Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council.² He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

³ In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”  ⁴ “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!”

⁵ Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.⁷ You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’⁸ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”  ⁹ “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.  ¹⁰ “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things?¹¹ I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.¹² I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?¹³ No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven–the Son of Man.¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,¹⁵ that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

¹⁶ “For 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.

I have always wondered about Nicodemus.  I think that he was a “good” guy.  I think that he wanted the best for others.  I think that, though he saw flaws in the system, he looked beyond them and tried to do his best.

But sometimes … looking past the very system that is breaking others is exactly what we shouldn’t do.

And so Nicodemus pursued this Jesus to question Him.  In the dark of night.

Sometimes, our encounters with Jesus need to be at night.  Because when we get to see our broken view, we will surely not want others to see us.

But Jesus … He’ll meet us.

And He will meet us with honesty.

Because much has changed … But one thing has not:  

John 3  ¹⁶ “For 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.

Our lives, and all they carry, can only hold on to ONE THING as we go forward.  And that’s Jesus.

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

I am sure that many of us have asked the question:

When am I going to catch a break?

Jeremiah 29 speaks to the core of this very issue, and God assures us that He has good for us, that He believes in us, and that He wants us to prosper.

Jeremiah 29  ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.¹² Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.¹⁴ I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

But he always has a better word than the one we fish for.

Herb Brooks, as he prepared for the 1980 Olympics, was not interested in “all star” teams.  He was interested in telling his players to “Put your talent inside a system that is designed for the betterment of the team”.  First things first, and second things … not at all.

God wants us to thrive.  He wants us to reap the fruits of our labor.  He wants us to dream dreams and to celebrate.  But He has never pushed some of the “thriving” that we see today.

What good is it to thrive at the expense of others?

That can’t be God’s way.

And so before we read Jeremiah 29:11, we must read 29:7.

God’s hand on our lives means our pouring out onto others.  He gives us what He gives us so that we can give it away.  Without the “give it away” part, there can be no give.

Jeremiah 29 ⁷ Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

Seek the welfare where God has called you.  If the people around you have welfare, you will have welfare.

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

Moses had all that he needed.  

He had power, and influence, and authority.

He had wealth.

He was well liked by the palace … AND the slaves.

And his life was one that we might all dream of.

And yet … 

Something was off.

This is an easy situation.  For as many times as we see someone snap because of a preponderance of terrible circumstances, the other option can be worse.

Sometimes, good circumstances can put us in a state of the status quo … the idea that “what we have is good enough”.

But what happens when what we have … is not good enough?

Exodus 2  ¹¹ … after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.  ¹² Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.¹³ The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”  ¹⁴ The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”

In one action, Moses loses EVERYTHING.  

He loses his power and influence, his wealth, and his favor.  In defending the slaves, he loses favor with them.  And it isn’t long after this that Moses treks the desert and starts over.  The cold and hard reality of our lives is simple.  We are full of sin and never to credit for our good fortune.  We simply don’t have it in us to succeed in our own morality.

Our reality is this.

• Circumstances do not make our day … they simply reveal what is in our hearts … and sometimes it is not good.
• Sometimes having everything … Is NOT Enough.  And this is because the EVERYTHING that we need is not what we need at all.
• The TRUTH is the only thing that matters, and sometimes we live our lives defending something that is legally okay but hideous to God.  “It only matters what we can prove” only lives in a court room … To God, the TRUTH is everything.

In the case of Moses, starting over was exactly what he needed.

And in the end … A palace, a position, a wealth of power, and the favor of all men were not at all what Moses needed.

To free the slaves, He would need a stick.

Because … A stick in the hands of God is better … than everything we need.

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

There is much evidence that Jesus was not that “soft, cuddly, and gentle man carrying a sheep on His shoulder”.

In fact, I like to picture Him like an NFL linebacker getting ready for a play.

He was all day tough.

He was not afraid.

And He was not willing to give even one inch to the enemy and His advances.

I believe that God wants us, also, to be tough minded people.

Joseph needed to be tough.

Anointed with dreams and visions, blessed with wisdom, and covered by a very tough group of older brothers, Joseph had everything he needed.  His dad favored him, he began to believe that he was favored, and a resentment grew on his brothers.  In Genesis 37, we get to see the reason that jealousy rears its ugly head:

Genesis 37  ⁵ Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.⁶ He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had:⁷ We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”

Not long after that, Joseph is falsely accused, sitting in a prison cell, and wondering why God had abandoned him from the very  calling that God had put on his life.

Sometimes our dreams are put on hold.

Sometimes we make choices that ruin them.

Sometimes we must fight through so much to see them come to fruition.

No matter your situation, God is not raising you up to be soft.

He is raising you up to be a fighter.

I have to think that Joseph’s circumstances were influenced by human choice.  His dad chose to favor him.  His brothers chose to be jealous.  Joseph chose to think highly of himself at a level that dishonored God … and others.

And Joseph ended up in a prison cell.

This is not the end of the story (Read in and around Genesis 37 and find out for yourself).  And it isn’t the end of your story when you end up in a slump.  It is a reminder to get back to what and who God has called you to be, much like Joseph did.  He has called you to:

• Use the gifts and talents that He has give you to benefit others … just like Joseph did.
• Make your prison into a palace … just like Joseph did.
• Realize that happiness is an inside job … just like Joseph did.
• Live from virtues, values, and relationships … just like Joseph did.
• Reign victorious and then forgive … just like Joseph did.

God shares the story of people in the Bible so that we can realize that He works through broken people, just like us, in order to show His glory.

Be tough.

Don’t give up.

And remember:

God sometimes takes a long time to act suddenly.

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

Our surrender is inevitable.

The enemy is coming.

And we will not make it out in the way that we want to.

There are three things that we will never defeat.

We will never defeat Satan.

We will never defeat Sin.

And we will never defeat Death.

Those three things will completely, and without hesitation, destroy us.

We will surrender to them.

I hate to focus on the enemy … but I have to.

Look at the world we live in.

There is light … and there is darkness.

There is day … and there is night.

There is good … and there is evil.

Our universe is bipolar and the extremes are exactly as we would expect them to be.

There is a God … and there is a devil.

There are Angels … and there are demons.

In his writings on evolution, Darwin claimed that “some variations help individuals survive and reproduce better than others.”

It makes sense, and yet it doesn’t.  Either the organism had it in it or it didn’t.  What was the step of an organism BEFORE an eye? … and how did that intermediate step help it survive?

And what of the wing, or the leg, or the fin?

Do we really believe that we came to be through random chance? … or random processes?

Consider that what has intelligence was DESIGNED.

And consider that there is a God … and a devil.

Consider that you are broken … that you are selfish, and self serving, deceived.

And consider that you will never, ever, no matter how hard you try, defeat death.

But there is hope.

A Jewish fisherman told us about our hope.

John 1  ¹¹He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.  ¹²Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God–

Our hope is not in ourselves, it is in Jesus.

He came to us, but we did not receive Him.  Then we killed Him.  And then He rose from the dead.

And right then and there—a new faith started.  And it was based on this man Jesus.

You are not an accident.

You are not the result of some cosmic explosion.

Your heart beats.  Your eyes focus.  And your brain thinks.

And deep down, you know that you are broken.

There are many groups who blame the Christian faith for making them feel guilty … and I understand why.

But it is not the faith of Christians that make people feel guilty.  We feel guilty because we ARE GUILTY.

Let me say this again:

WE ARE GUILTY

And there is not a court around that would declare us innocent.

Our surrender is inevitable.

For me … I am going willingly.

I surrender … to Jesus.

He is my only hope.

And from where I sit, He will crush Satan, He will forgive me of my sin, and He will defeat death.

Surrender?

It’s not a bad word.

It is my honor … and my privilege … and my hope …

That I could surrender to the King of the Universe.

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

Our world is filled with darkness.  In many ways, it is hard to fathom how broken we have truly become.  We have found a way, in lieu of logic, to celebrate evil and condemn good.  The prophet Isaiah even warns about it:

Isaiah 5 ²⁰ Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness

But that is not what today’s message is about.

Today’s message is about our response to the darkness.

There was a time when the hope of the world was at a cataclysmic low.  And the enemy was rejoicing in victory.  The disciples had run away, the Romans were executing, and even the religious leaders were questioning what they had done.

We had stooped so low that even a Roman soldier, hardened by the process of execution, told everyone to quiet down in their callous mockery.

Jesus’ mom stood at the foot of the cross broken, and the disciple whom Jesus loved had to wonder:  “Where is the hope?”

The hope … is in Jesus.

It will always be in Jesus.

And He is … the ultimate underdog.

God knew that we would need to blame something for our hideous behavior.  He knew that we would need to make sure that we got our revenge on something.  He knew that we would want to hold someone accountable for what was going on.

And, so many times, we do just that in society:

If we don’t have money, we blame the rich.

If we don’t have a good relationship, we blame the church.

If we don’t have health, we blame the doctor, or the healthy.

And if we don’t have freedom or hope or life, we blame those who have it in abundance.

We … NEED … a SCAPEGOAT.

And He has willingly filled that role.

He just simply … took the blame for all of it.

And when they killed Him, the emptiness grew in abundance.  The hope of anything good was crushed and Satan and his minions celebrated the fall of man.

But Jesus was not done.

He was just beginning.

And He was going to turn the tables in such a way that we might all take heed, take a knee, and bow to the King of the Ages.

Jesus was going to go into the pits of hell, be punished as a sinner, and rise from the grave.

Jesus Christ of Nazareth saved the world.

And the exploding faith that resulted in His actions transcended all of humanity.

The women discovered Him.

The Greeks followed Him.

The Romans who opened their eyes and relinquished their power.

The rich gave their money.

The poor gave their hope.

The Jews realized that they had missed the whole point and the Gentiles that they had lived without structure.

When Jesus came and gave His life the rules all changed or were thrown out or were finally understood.

The reality today is as great as it was when He rose from the grave.

John 1 says that those who RECEIVE Him are born of God.  They then RECEIVE the keys to the palace, the right of the firstborn, and, most importantly, access to the King.

We have access!  The darkness of this world has been defeated.

It has been crushed.

And we are the diplomats who carry out the hope of humanity.

2023 is a year that is very important.  It is important because it is now.  But it is more important because never has the gospel of Jesus been more important to take to humanity.  And each of us, in our gifts can do it in our own design.

So take the gospel, this gospel, to the individual or to the group.

Take it to the broken and the stalwart.

Take it to the law breaker and to the one who thinks he is perfect.

Take it to all races and nations and people.

Just make sure that you take it.

It is the hope of all of humanity—yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

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