And even His followers had no comprehension of what the endgame was … His own disciples!
And yet—after a brutal execution and some ministry with a risen dead man, the disciples figured it out. After a couple days of hiding, and some encouragement—they became the Couriers of the New Covenant.
And it is a Covenant that we can not afford to let go of.
The message today is the same as it was 2000 years ago.
Those who are with Jesus are given special privileges and treated like kings and queens
Those who are with Jesus are forgiven—and they are given the keys to the kingdom
Those who are with Jesus are of every race, culture, and social class
Luke 1610“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
13“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
Following Jesus will cost you something.
It might cost you money.
It might cost you friends.
It might cost you popularity, or status, or comfort.
But …
As Jim Elliot said:
”He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
Amen.
As followers—we must—
Figure It Out
Go Forth—and make disciples of all nations.
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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It isn’t Republicans or Democrats seizing control of our country to enact one-sided policies.
It isn’t torture.
Or prison.
Or even death.
My greatest fear is that we would forget what the TRUTH is. That our churches would cower, that our saints would run, and that our faith in God would dwindle. Without Him—we have NOTHING.
Jesus was a radical.
He was kicked out of the temple.
He regularly broke the law.
He associated with thieves, and hypocrites, and murderers.
He talked with women who had prostituted themselves, touched leppers, and interacted with demon-possessed “crazies”.
The religious leaders could not trap Him.
The Romans could not understand Him.
And even His followers had no comprehension of what the endgame was … His own disciples!
And yet—after a brutal execution and some ministry with a risen dead man, the disciples figured it out. After a couple days of hiding, and some encouragement—they became the Couriers of the New Covenant.
And it is a Covenant that we can not afford to let go of.
The message today is the same as it was 2000 years ago.
We are sinners without hope
All of us will die and face God to give account
In Jesus, we are saved
1 John8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
1 Corinthians 510For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
John 109 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture.
We are in a season in 2021 where this can’t be something on our list. It needs to overwhelm our list, to change our list, to alter everything that we set out to do when we get up in the morning and when we go to bed at night.
Please join me in making a concerted and overwhelming effort to give this to the nations…
And when I say to the nations …
I mean —
ONE PERSON AT A TIME.
As you watch the video of Zach Williams singing to those people in prison, ask yourself this:
Who is in prison?
The prisoners in worship…or someone who doesn’t know Jesus?
As followers—we must—
Figure It Out
Go Forth—and make disciples of all nations.
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Imagine how frustrating it must have been to deal with Paul?
When Jesus got a hold of him—he turned his life on a dime.
And when they decided to deal with him to discontinue his spreading of the gospel, he declared:
If you kill me, I will die for Christ.
If you torture me and put me in chains, I will take a beating for Christ and be in chains for Christ.
If you let me go, I will spread the gospel for Christ.
Wow.
Sometimes my greatest accomplishment in the morning is … Going to work.
Lord, strengthen me to be who You have called me to be. And not one thing less.
Acts 1627When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” 29And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 34Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.
Paul was committed to the gospel.
And his commitment overrode everything that he did, and said, and wanted to do.
To be free of prison was not nearly as important as winning the heart of the jailer, and his family, and the town … to Jesus.
Let’s commit this very day to be IN.
To be IN the business of converting the lost.
To be IN the business of ministering to the broken.
To be IN the business of protecting those who can’t protect themselves.
To be IN the business of … Jesus.
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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I wrote this blog 2 weeks ago…but did not release it. Perhaps God wanted it released tonight. I pray that it blesses and inspires you.
Where do you go when you want to declare who you are and what your plans are?
The disciples thought that Jesus was going after the Romans and that victory over the Romans was inevitable. When Jesus tore up the temple in a public display of calling out the religious scribes it probably made them even more confident. And the battles that He fought? Jesus won those battles decisively.
He won in the wilderness.
He won in the temple.
He won in the synagogues.
When Jesus picked a fight—He won it decisively. He couldn’t be tricked. He couldn’t be bought. He didn’t care how things “looked”. He was bold and decisive and true and unfailingly correct.
But what must have shocked the disciples is who, when, and what He chose to fight.
And though Peter’s “graduation present” was announced on the day described in Matthew 16, he did not open it until Jesus had been brutally executed.
Matthew 1613When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
Caesarea Philippi has another name. The “Gates of Hell”. And for good reason. Pan was worshipped there. All kinds of evil were practiced there. It was probably a terrifying place for people to go … and yet, here was Jesus declaring that He would build His church HERE.
Undaunted by what had happened there, Jesus declared that it was HERE He would build His church on the ROCK.
And so, at the Gates of Hell and with a man who would run in fear when the battle truly came, Jesus declared victory.
What a sight it must have been!
So what do we do with this?
As I think about this today—I would say this. We can hang our eternity on THREE UNFAILING TRUTHS:
He OWNS The Victory. And in His time on earth, He would do it again and again and again. Nothing would sway Him.
No Evil Practice Will Stand. It is discouraging to see some of the things we see, but God owns the endgame. When Jesus decided to declare Himself King and Peter the head of the church, He did it at the most evil place on the planet. And He sealed it by dying—and then raising from the dead. In Jesus, No Evil Practice Will Stand.
He Has Come That You Might Have Life. NEVER forget the destiny that He has put over your head. He wants to give you LIFE IN ABUNDANCE.
John 10 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Do not bow down to the ways of the world.
Do not cower at the power of those who do evil.
Do not negotiate or compromise with an enemy who rejects the Living God.
You are not small.
You are not powerless.
You are not without hope.
You are just the opposite. You are a child of the King of the Universe and powerful to STAND.
When you pray … Pray with BELIEF … and FAITH … and the POWER of Jesus.
At the place where evil reigned, Jesus promoted a cowardly, back-sliding fisherman to carry and build His church.
And now, in 2021 in the Year of Our Lord (AD), we are still reading about it.
Walk in the promises of your Savior. He is worthy.
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Angie and I got a chance to get out and see a movie this past weekend. And, as usual, the great movies, the great stories, and anything that is worth its weight in salt is embedded with the gospel.
As children usually do (in movies and in real life), the precious young girl in the movie offers an incredible nugget of wisdom to her wise caretaker.
“Sometimes to go forward …
you have to go back.”
Amen. Amen. And Amen.
While both characters were living in an incredibly difficult life, one of them knew how to deal with it. She faced it.
And sometimes this is the case with all of us.
As people, we are known to mask our pain. We sometimes cover our scars with pills, or drinks, or food, or by simply walking through life trying to ignore our past. We have become experts in “walking numb” through our lives.
But God offers us something better.
He offers us a chance to see life as what He gave it to us to be.
God gave us Free Will. Freedom to choose.
And with that Freedom to Choose, we made a horrible decision. We chose NOT HIM. And when “we” (all mankind) chose NOT HIM, we got to experience what NOT HIM looks like.
I don’t know about you—-but I don’t like what NOT HIM looks like.
1 Peter 221To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
22“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” 23When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 25For “you were like sheep going astray,”but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
And to seal the deal —- Jesus dealt with what NOT HIM looks like too.
He asked God “why have you forsaken me?”
He begged God to “take this cup”.
He endured all of the things that we might endure—and more.
And He did it so that we could go back and face our stuff — so that we could then move forward.
I do not want any more of NOT HIM.
Do not miss the opportunity to give the gospel to the one who is hurting—even if that someone is you.
They … we all … need it so badly.
It is our only hope.
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Lathered in grace as The Father intended, there is nothing more important or life changing than the gospel.
As I spoke these words to myself in church (“Build your house on solid ground”), I couldn’t help but wonder — “what if you didn’t?”
Matthew 724“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. 25The 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. 26But 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. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
So what if you didn’t set something up on solid ground?
What if you didn’t set up a company, or a financial decision, or a life choice?
In fact, what if you acted in pride, or individuality, or even in sin, when you set something up?
I literally asked God….”God, what about the things that I totally screwed up at their very outset? How can they survive?”
And I was drawn back to a problem that we had at a house that I once owned. Our steps leading up to the house were cracked all the way up into the house–and sinking. To me, it looked like a major problem…..
But to the man I talked to, it was no big deal. He simply said: “Call a mudjacker.”
I had never even heard of a “mudjacker”. But they can repair and even raise a cracked and sinking foundation. They pump in a mixture of sand, cement, and soil to your slab and they can repair a drooping concrete pad.
At the risk of sounding “unholy”, our Father is the greatest of all mudjackers. He is the One who can fix our cracks, our flaws, and our crumbling concrete pad.
With Him … it doesn’t matter that we didn’t set it up right. It matters that we change our direction in the now.
God is the great Redeemer. He RUNS for the broken. He WAITS and is PATIENT for the lost. He sends out EVERYTHING He has to rescue the desperate.
When Jesus was on the cross, He vied for the salvation of all. He cried out for the broken, and He even saved the criminal beside Him as He writhed in agony.
As Jesus died on the cross, God tore the curtain in the temple from top to bottom—not from anger but from His desire to never be far from us again. He tore it that ANYONE could seek His face and be saved.
And so He could commune with ALL of us, He sent His Spirit. He sent Him to counsel, to convict, to inspire. He sent Him to minister, to heal, and to empower.
Our God is not below our cracks or our sinking foundation. Our God PLANNED for them.
He PLANNED to revive our bad choices.
He PLANNED to promote us when we did not deserve it.
He PLANNED to have us commune with Him.
Receive your gift.
Bask in it.
And then give it away to someone else.
And then you can say, “Even though I didn’t … I Built My House On Solid Ground.”
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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I have nothing for you. NOTHING. What I bring can not even be counted.
Change my heart. Help me not to hold on to things that truly mean nothing.”
Mark 1017 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good–except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'” 20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” 21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
“Father, the man in Mark 10—that’s me! I hold on to things that are truly worth NOTHING while ignoring what truly means everything.
Fill me, O God.
Give me something to hold onto, O God.
Show me the way to You.
For You, and You alone, hold the keys to eternal life.”
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Weeks before she died, my mom looked up and all around and told my wife: “The helpers are everywhere.”
I do not believe that this was Alzheimer’s. God was there.
And that is what I would like to communicate with all of us today. He is the God of everything that we are a part of—the good, the bad, the terrifying, and the incredible. He is there. I think Solomon, in all his wisdom, was trying to communicate this in the third chapter of Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes 31There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: 2a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,3a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,4a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
When I am down in the dumps, He is there to lift my head.
When I celebrate, He makes me want to jump for joy.
When I am angry, He is there to ALLOW me to be me while influencing me to change my heart.
When men have surrounded me in anger, He has stood beside me.
When there was nothing, He was there to provide all that was needed.
What a God we have.
He is there.
As you spend time in worship this morning, rejoice in the fact that no matter where you are—-He is there to meet with you.
Hallelujah
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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From his palace balcony David saw Bathsheeba, in all of her beauty, and acted. And then he tried to cover it up.
David, and everyone in his circle, paid for his terrible choices.
And when man decides, David’s soon to be illegitimate son would also be punished with the sins of his father. Probably banned from greatness due to no actions of his own.
But man doesn’t decide…God decides. And Solomon would not only flourish, he would listen to God and write Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon.
God decides to find, fill, and fix all of us should we choose to let Him.
Because of Him, we are born into Hope.
We are not rejected because of what our dad did, or what our grandfather did, or what our family did.
We are not rejected because of our race, or our socioeconomic status, or our culture.
We are sought out by the God of the universe.
Titus 35he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.
Our hope is not in where we came from.
It is not in what we can do.
It is not in another person bailing us out.
Our hope is not in our government.
Our hope is in the mercy of Jesus.
Lift your hands today and declare it to Him: “There is is no one like You”
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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2 MINUTE WARNING 