2 MINUTE WARNING

Even the most courageous will hide in the cave from time to time, trying to find a means of escape from the enemy.  It is a simple reality of the world we live in.

David sat in the cave and begged God to rescue him.

Psalm 142 ⁶ Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me.  ⁷ Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name.  Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me.

I want to encourage you.

There will be times where you will simply stand alone and try to defeat an enemy that might be insurmountable.  And in fact, the evil that we face in this world is a worthy adversary.

But we must never forget.

There is a reason that Jesus showed up 2000 years ago.

There is a reason that He had a price tag placed over His head before He was born and before He was old enough to defend Himself.

And there is a reason that men tried to kill Him for His entire ministry.

He is the Adversary to the adversary.

He infiltrates the in infiltrator.

He is the conqueror of death and all that we fear.

And … “by His stripes, we are healed.”

As Jesus faces the things that terrify us today, He does not shudder.

The battle has been fought.  2000 years ago, as Jesus prayed on Gethsemane, He was preparing to face an incredible enemy without the power of God.  Emptied of His weapons and the very things He needed for battle, He instead was preparing to be a Lamb lead to slaughter.  No defenses.  No fear from the enemy.  No hope for the trial that He was about to walk into.

Luke 22  ⁴⁴ And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

But the tools that were taken from Him are here for us to use.  Jesus is no longer the Lamb.  He is the Lion.  And we must be bold and cry out to God to come and fill us with His spirit.  We must be filled with the same spirit that filled David as he came out of the cave.

Psalm 23 ⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me;

So … come out of the cave.  Walk in confidence.

Fear your God, not your trial.

And never forget that what is behind (God) you is greater than the foe in front of you.

He is, after all, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

Sooner or Later.

Sooner or Later we are all going to have to make a choice.

And my choices are made based on what I observe and the information I gather.

The question that I have for you today is simple:

Is there common ground between Newton’s Second Law of Thermodynamics, An Eyewitness Testimony, and the history written by the Jewish historian Josephus?

I believe that there is.  And I believe that there always will be.  I believe that they all point us to Jesus of Nazareth.

Peter tells us in his book:

1 Peter 3 ¹⁵ But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

And this is something that I am always excited to do.  ALWAYS.  And because of this, I have clumsily constructed an acronym that I will use to do just that:

POWER

And I like this because I believe that there is POWER in my God.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AND TESTIMONY

An encounter outside of a locker room

OBSERVATION AND ORDER

Every System in the universe is moving to maximum disorder or is already in it.  (Newton’s Second Law of Thermodynamics is connected to this)

WISDOM AND PRINCIPLES

Leadership.  Money.  Raising Children.  Psychology.  The advice in the Bible is second to none.

EVIDENCE

We know that a man named Jesus existed and was executed.  (Josephus wrote about Him–calling Him a magician who was executed.)

We know that a new religion erupted out of Jerusalem and that people claimed that He had risen from the dead.

REVELATION OF SCRIPTURE

When Jesus proclaimed “my God my God why have you forsaken me?”  He was quoting the 22nd Psalm.  When David wrote the 22nd Psalm, crucifixion did not exist not did he know anything about Jesus or what was going on.  Read it.  And read the 300 other prophetic scriptures that tell the story of Jesus hundreds of years before He existed.

Sooner or Later we have to do something with this information.  What do I recommend?  I recommend the book of John.  To me, it is the start of the Bible and the greatest book ever written.

A Fisherman … With minimal education … Encounters the Messiah … And writes a Literary Classic

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. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  ⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. ⁸ He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.  ⁹ The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive 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.

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

“To ALL who would receive Him He gives the right to become children of God”.

Sooner or Later?  I have voted on Sooner.

As soon as I can.

As soon as I go to sleep and rise up.

As soon as my feet hit the ground.

As soon as I make a decision.

I want to make sure that I have RECEIVED HIM.

He is the greatest choice and the first choice, He is the light in the darkness and the hope of the lost.  He is the way that I want to go and the truth that I want to listen to.

He … is the one that I want to follow …

For all the days of my life and for all of my eternity.

Thank you John for writing about Him … And thank you MORE TO JESUS for showing up and rescuing me from my greatest adversary … myself.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

We are in a crisis.  And I have felt it for some time now.  

The political divide is growing.

We are filled with information but seem to lack the knowledge of how to use it.

And fear rules the day.

We are in a Crisis … of Character.

In some cases, Biblical values are not only ignored — they are challenged as evil.

But they are not evil.  They are the game plan for a good life.

And why wouldn’t they be?

Do Not Steal.

Do Not Lie.

Do Not Commit Adultery.

Honor Your Mother and Your Father.

They are the foundations for a good house, a good community, a good nation.

And Jesus?  The absolute key.  Not part of the solution—the ONLY solution.

The verse that is on my heart for such a time as this is Genesis 6:8.

Genesis 6 ⁸ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Some look at scripture and find a critical eye on the people described.  I know that I used to.  But it is just the opposite now.

My life is a story board of failure and stupidity.  It is a notebook full of disobedience, pride, selfishness, and failure.

But that is just the point.

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

How do we find favor in the eyes of the Lord?

Jesus.

And, at the end of the day, that is what I want my line to be:

“But Doug found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”

I know that this will not be accomplished by looking at my resume because He knows my list that no one sees.

I know that this will not be accomplished by looking at my good deeds because there are simply not enough.

And I know that this will not be accomplished by ANYTHING that I have done.  Just the opposite …

God loves us.

And our only hope is that we have some semblance of …

LOVING HIM BACK.

If this prayer has some snippet of truth—say it today:

LORD, THANK YOU FOR LOVING ME FIRST.  I LOVE YOU BACK.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

I love this description of God:

He Is NO Respecter Of Men

To summarize:  God doesn’t care about our resume.

He doesn’t care how much money we have OR whether we have political power OR how many people listen to our podcasts.

He doesn’t care if we are a King or a CEO or a professional athlete.

He doesn’t care if we get in the Hall of Fame or if we have the nicest clothes or if we are the strongest person in the world.

There is NOTHING, in his eyes, that can separate us from the other billions of people that live, or have lived, on the planet.

It is the reason that Jesus showed up in the temple in his first public act.

• It was to let the Roman soldiers know that there was a new sheriff in town
• It was to let the religious scribes know that He held them in account for misrepresenting God
• It was to let the money changers and salesmen know that He was about to “whip their tails” for stealing
• And, most importantly, it was to let the people know that He loved them and that He did not approve of them being overlooked, cheated, and devalued.

NEVER, and I mean NEVER, get in the way of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.  Because He … Is NO Respecter Of Men.

And His bride is the lowly as much as the great.

It is funny, because as with many verses of God, it is both a condemning word and an encouraging one.

Kicking the man in his lowest state will never be tolerated.

And the woman who has the world in the palm of her hands will never be permitted to lord over others.  Never.

In his greatest fleshly time, Paul had a radical encounter with Jesus that transformed His life into the greatest champion of the Bible.  In Jesus—He didn’t need citizenship, status, education, wealth, or popularity.  And so he later wrote:

Romans 2 ⁷ To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. ⁸ But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. ⁹ There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; ¹⁰ but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good

And Peter found out too.  He found out that God was playing no games in His ministry.  That He would be pursuing the world.  Not parts of the world—but all the world—and everyone in the world.

Acts 10 ³⁴ Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism ³⁵ but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.

And so this word today is for all of us.

If we are on the top of the world and He has blessed us, and things are easy, and we have favor and blessing and benefit, He says:  “Remember the little guy.  The broken.  The desperate.”  He challenges us to give and love and encourage and help.

If we are downtrodden and without hope … if we have let others down, or ourselves … or if we do not feel we should be given another chance, He says:  “Come to me, all you who are weary, and I will give you rest.”

And so remember, whether you are the hammer … or the nail:  you belong to God.  And so … does everyone else.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

I heard a coach once say:  “I would rather have a player who can’t then a player who won’t because the player who can’t … will try.”

I have always believed that as a coach and try to lead by that principle.  I do, in fact, try to be harder on a player who can but won’t then a player who can’t.

Growing up … I can remember a day when I was on a team that ran and ran and ran because one of our players simply could not finish.  While the extra running hurt me … it destroyed the player who could not finish—in many ways.

I believe that what I felt in my heart that day was true of what God feels in His heart.

I believe that Peter knew that Jesus would never give up on him.  What he did not comprehend was that he was a total failure without God.

And so—Peter failed in the most crucial of moments.

And because of this, he could not forgive himself.

So Jesus forgave him and promoted him AT THE SAME TIME.

John 21 ¹⁵ When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”  “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”  Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”  ¹⁶ Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”  He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”  Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”  ¹⁷ The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”  Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”  Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. ¹⁸ Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” ¹⁹ Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

We are not able to do things on our own.  And yet, with God, we can live a miraculous calling.  I think that is why Paul later wrote.

Philippians 4 ¹³ I can do all things through him who gives me strength.

So how do we approach Jesus?

We will never succeed if “we won’t”.

We will never succeed if we get buried in “I can’t”

And we will certainly never succeed if we think that we can do it all by ourselves.

But Jesus gives us a great option.

And it is to go to Him and say:

“Lord, I will.  But there is no way that I can do it without your help.”

Say yes to Jesus.

And never doubt His ability to do amazing, wonderful, and even miraculous, things THROUGH you.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

Never Assume.

Assumptions will always cloud reality and truth.  They will pervert our sense and possibly convict us to go in a direction that we were never intended to travel.

For all of his faults, Zaccheus did not let his desire to see Jesus hold him back.  He didn’t assume that he had no chance.  He didn’t assume that he couldn’t change his identity.  And he didn’t assume that a prophet like Jesus couldn’t help him.

Zaccheus did not assume that he couldn’t go to God.

And most of all, he didn’t assume that God was the reason he was in the place he was.

Yes … I am sure that all of us have a story where we wondered:  “God, where are you?”  And I am sure all of us can attest to that silent answer and probably be right.  But that is not what Zaccheus was doing.  He was in the back.  He was “unseen” by all of the standards that we might describe.  And he was seeking the Savior in a way that all of us can—he simply wanted to watch him, to see him, to admire him.

For all of my declaration and desire, there are so many times where I simply need to shut up and see him from the back.  

Jesus is not our genie.

He doesn’t fulfill all of our selfish desires.

He is not in our life so that we can have Him make things the way that we want them.

Just the opposite.

He comes to us and changes us.  He rewrites our story and changes our path.

Luke 19  ¹ Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. ² A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. ³ He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.  ⁵ When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” ⁶ So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.  ⁷ All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

⁸ But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”  ⁹ Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

The same Jesus that walked that path is the same Jesus that looks over the earth today.  He is not looking for perfection, or protocol, or pretenders.

• He is looking for the one at the back of the line—the one who doesn’t have it all together and needs a change.
• He is looking to put a new identity over you this very day.
• He gives you something that you cannot lose in exchange for you giving up something that you can never keep.

Our lives are a fleeting moment.

Here today, gone tomorrow.

Our imprints will last a short time after we are gone, but they too will disappear.

But God has a different plan.

His plan is to give us an eternal promotion that can very well start today.

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.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

As I was driving to school this morning, I was convicted by David’s prayer:  “Come and know me” he pleaded to God.  Is it possible that God will not come and know us without our invitation?

Revelation 3:20 states that He stands at the door and knocks.  That He waits outside our very door and patiently waits for us to invite Him to come in.

Jesus talks to a crowd about this in Matthew 7 as well.

Matthew 7  ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me

Reflecting on my faith, I sometimes see myself down here, this little speck, declaring to God, asking God, speaking about God.  But today, I am asking God to come and know me.  To come and find every offensive way in me.  To come and give me a word that I might walk in His grace and truth and His everlasting and inexhaustible love.

Psalm 39 ²⁵ Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  ²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

As I listened to this worship song, I think this sums it up.

May the Lord come and speak to you today.

May He find you where you are and give you a new hope.

May He fill you and fortify you, giving you love, and grace.

But more than anything, may you invite Him in to speak what is true, to search you, to give you hope and a future.

You can search the whole world over.  And many will contest His right to reign.  But all of us must pick a side of the fence to live on.

I choose Jesus.

“Here’s my heart, Lord.  Speak what is true.”

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

Our God is loyal.

When we are lost, He is working out a plan for us to come home.

When we are broken into pieces, He finds a way to put us back together.

When we are inconsistent, or ungrateful, or even unfaithful, He stands beside us … And He stands even on our behalf.

His loyalty is unwavering, and unconditional, and everlasting.  And it is unfazed (Thank You God!) by our utter foolishness.

And while we might say:  “He is going to find out the hard way.”

Those who follow Jesus “find out the Grace Way”.

In scripture, sometimes I can’t read the rest of the story because I cannot get past the beginning of the story.

Like this:

Genesis 20 ¹ Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur.  For a while he stayed in Gerar, ² and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” Then Abimelek king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her.

Why?

Why would Abraham do such a foolish thing?  And it is, in fact, foolish on so many levels.

But this is simply yet another example of God helping us to:

Find Out The Grace Way

We live in a brutal world—not much different than that of Abraham.  As Hebrews 11 states:  He lived like an alien in a foreign land.  

But our God is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.  And when we come face to face with Him, we will bow down in awe.

And as it says in Philippians 2, even His enemies will bow down before Him.

Just make sure, like Abraham, that you find out the Grace Way.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

In the blink of an eye, the Roman Senate turned on Julius Caesar and he was dead.

The most powerful man in the world was gone.

And because they did it “together”, it was almost as if no one had done it.  And the senate planned … hoped … envisioned … a peaceful transfer of power that would simply disallow one man from having too much.

Instead of this—there was civil war.

The point of this blog today, however, is not to discuss the Roman Empire.

Our world is changing.  And much like the idea of the senate, we have adopted a new philosophy.  If “everybody” does it, it is much like nobody has done it.  The right to sin can be passed on—everybody is doing it and so it is okay.

But that is not what God says.

Matthew 7 ²⁴ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Regardless of his mindset, Caesar’s power probably made him feel unbreakable.  And, by worldly standards, he had incredible standing and security.  

But the reality that Caesar faced is the same for all of us.  We are here for only a short time.

Jesus also came to earth on borrowed time.  Before He was even born, there was a death sentence on his head.  And it wasn’t put there by King Herod.  Herod simply acted on the influence of a higher power.

Jesus said many brilliant things.  He said things that all should listen to on how to live, how to lead, how to run a business, … His wisdom transcended time and culture.  As the Koran boldly states:  the “followers of Jesus were greater than these “.  Even those who do not follow Him know that He is right.

But of all the things that He taught us, this might be the most important:

Build Your House On Solid Ground

Growing up, I often heard that Jesus was the rock.

And that’s a good word.

He IS the rock.

He is the one that we should be building our life on.

Kingdoms will come and they will go.

Men will rise to power and men will fall from power.

Power.  Fame.  Popularity.  Standing.  Security.  Wealth.

All of these things will rise and disappear like the seasons of the earth.

But Jesus’ Kingdom?  The one we pray for in the Lord’s prayer?  It is eternal and solid.  It doesn’t waver or disappear.

And it is ruled by the greatest Man who ever lived.

As Peter said to Jesus we must also say:

“Lord, where will I go?  You, and You alone, hold the keys to eternal life.”

Thy Kingdom Come.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J