A man said something years ago that really put freedom on me.

He said there is a tension in scripture……that sometimes the scripture does not apply to what we are doing……

At first, I was skeptical…..The Word of God is the Word of God—NO NEGOTIATION.

I still believe that with all my heart—-but we must STILL WALK IN RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AND FIND OUT WHAT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO DO.

And that is why we can read the word and say that some verses contradict each other.  This is not the case. It is simply The Tension Of Scripture.

Think about it:

• Exodus 20 says to:  “Honor your mother and father”, but Jesus said in Mark 2 that “The Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath.”
• Exodus 20 says to:  “Honor The Sabbath and keep it holy”, but Jesus said in Luke 9 to “let the dead bury the dead” and told a man to go proclaim the Kingdom of God.
• In Daniel 3 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood before a King Nebuchadnezzar and boldly refused TO BOW DOWN, but in many verses God tells people to go into hiding.

The more I read about this, the more it makes sense and brings freedom.

There is a time to do one thing and there other times to do exactly the opposite.

This is not an excuse to disobey God….it is the simple fact that God has a time and place for everything…….and it is God’s time.

Is there a time when God has called you to stand up and oppose others for His Name’s sake?  YES.

Is there a time when you are called to sit and remain silent?  YES.

The bottom line is this:

DO WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DO.

When?  How?  What?

All of us have that question.

And the answer is this:

God Knows.

He knows your battles and He knows you.

Press in to Him and put Him above ALL that you hold dear.

Walk in freedom and know that you are forgiven when you mess it up.

Rejoice in the fact that you are free from the enemy for all eternity.

And, in response:

Do What You Are Supposed To Do

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc6SSHuZvQE

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

Colby Austin of Longmont High School delivered a compelling word on Friday to our FCA Club at Longmont High School.  Here it is!

Growing up I have always associated myself with the things that I was involved in or the things that I thought that I was good at. So me considering myself a relatively smart person and a good student, put my self-worth into my grades and the scores that I would get on tests. And I am not in the top 5% of our class, and I don’t do amazing on every test in every class. I would compare myself and I would always end up feeling less than, worthless, and that no matter how hard I tried, I was never good enough. And with soccer and cross country, again I put my worth into my performance and again I always ended up feeling worthless and terrible about myself. It is really easy to put our self-worth into things that we really shouldn’t be putting that much weight into. Like attention from certain people what other people think of us, what society thinks of us. But we are not who anybody else says we are, we are not who our culture says we are, we are who God says we are. We need to put our value and self-worth in Him and Him alone or else we will always come up empty and feeling worthless.

Everything in this world can be taken away in an instant. Job, Girlfriend, Boyfriend, Health, House, Friends, Acceptance, Money. So if our identity is found solely in one of those things or something else of this world, then we become lost and loose purpose when/if we lost it. A relationship with God is the only thing in any of our lives that is promised for forever. No one can ever take His love from us. So if our identity and confidence is found solely in Christ and him alone, no  matter what loss we experience, no matter what rejection, no matter what we do or what happens to us, no matter what hurt, We are still worthy, we are still complete and we can have joy because we are His children.

God created each of us in His own divine image. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. The God who created this entire universe and all the natural wonders of this world created You. That feels pretty incredible. So in order to put our self-worth in God’s hands, we have to know who we are in Him. God knows the individual hairs on our head and he yearns to have an intimate relationship with each and every one of us. But our God does not barge into our lives. We need to actively ask for His grace and wisdom every day and give up to Him whatever we are struggling with. The more fully we invite God in, the less we will feel uninvited by others. We must tie our identities to our unchanging, unflinching, unyielding, and undeniably good, and unquestionably loving God. And I know this is so hard to do. Every day across the world people seek out so much just to fill that void in their heart, whether it’s money, materials, other people, they will always end up feeling empty and lonely. Because that void is cannot be filled with anything of this earth. And how dangerous it is when our souls are gasping for God but we’re too distracted flirting with the world to notice. He waits every day with every answer we asked a question for, every comfort we crave, every affection we’re desperate for, while we look everywhere else but at Him. How must it break His heart when we walk around so desperate for a love He waits to give us each and every day. We just need to slow down in our ridiculously fast-paced world and be with Him, and talk to Him and give everything to Him. We must live out our lives with a kingdom mindset. This world is not our home. There is something so much bigger for us past our life on this Earth. So why put your self-worth into anything but God? And I struggle with this a lot myself.

Often I find myself trying to do everything and control my life instead of giving it up to God. And again through this, I will never feel fulfilled and I feel myself pushing my self away from God. And falling back into sin. Relating to self-worth, I really struggle with Guilt. I sin and know what I did was wrong but instead of asking for forgiveness from God, I find myself running in the opposite direction. I feel as though God is disappointed in me and that through all of my sins I’m not worthy of God’s love. And maybe you guys feel the same sometimes. But we have to remember that Jesus sees our sin more clearly than anyone, yet loves us more than anyone. Nothing we do can separate us from God’s love. Jesus died on the cross for our sins, we are free from them, no matter how big they are. He makes all things new. We must not put our self-worth in where we have failed or come up short. We may sin, but we are not our sin. We are only who God says we are. God hates the sin, not the sinner.

God has an amazing plan for our lives, one uniquely designed personally for each and every one of us. We just have to listen for what He calls us to do. So go out and live your purpose, live with a kingdom mindset, and place your self-worth in the Lord and you will feel so incredibly loved, worthy, and fulfilled. And as you go through this journey every day, remember to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. And in your life, You will never look into the eyes of someone God does not love. Always be kind.

As I was driving in my car, I became deeply convicted to write about:  The Rules of Accusation…..

And not long after that, I became deeply convicted to write about:  The Rules of Being Accused…..

John 8 1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women.  Now what do you say?”6  They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

11 “No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

So what are the Rules of Being Accused?

The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

He is the one who wants nothing more than to bring us to our knees in shame.

He is the very one who tempts us….Come on–this will be fun.

And then follows that up with….You Idiot!  What were you thinking?

He is the one who brings us shame and lies to keep us trapped….It is TOO LATE TO GO BACK NOW.

But Jesus doesn’t give us those points:

He wants us to deal in TRUTH.

When people are accusing you—-it is very important to ask that question:  Is What They Are Saying True?

If it is, we need TO CHANGE.  If they are accusing us of something that we are guilty of—we need to not be afraid to face the truth.

That being said:  ANYTHING THAT ATTACKS YOUR CHARACTER OR WHO YOU ARE…..that is a lie.  And it is a lie from the pits of hell.

You are God’s kid. He put His claim on your and He has seen you as you were knitted together in your mother’s womb.  

He saw you AS SO VALUABLE that He decided to DIE ON A CROSS TO SAVE YOU! You are His prize!

God wants us to be real.

He does want us to work on our “stuff”….and we all have “stuff” that truly needs to be fixed.

But we are not to let others tell us that “our stuff” is who we are…..it isn’t.  It was killed on the cross 2000 years ago.

Jesus came for us.  He came for us so that we might not just be forgiven of our sin but that we might deal with our sin.

He hasn’t called us to be holier-than-others-hypocrites and He doesn’t want to us to be perfect.

Are you accused?

Cry out to God.  Cry out to Him and ask Him heal you.  

Ask Him to come and fix what’s broken and heal what’s scarred.  

Ask Him to be the One thing in your life that’s right even if everything else is wrong.

Ask Him to be YOUR God.

In The Name Of The Father And The Son And The Holy Spirit.

Amen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIaT8Jl2zpI

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

John 8 1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women.  Now what do you say?”6  They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

11 “No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

As I was driving in my car, I became deeply convicted to write about:  The Rules of Accusation…..

As I pulled this verse up and began to read it, I have many questions:

#1.  Where is the man she was caught in adultery with?

#2.  Why were the pharisees USING this to trap Jesus?

#3.  What does “Go now and leave your life of sin” mean?

As I have spoken before, I am not an expert on scripture.  I have not been schooled to preach…or teach…or to even write this blog.

I am simply a man who is broken by sin who found the greatest thing in the world—A TREASURE.  And that TREASURE is JESUS.

He has changed me, and will continue change me, from the inside out.

And He has a lot of work to do.

So to write about this today is going to be hard for me……because as I type the words to the page it is going to “call me out” as much as it might you…..

You see, as a coach, I have always prided myself in “holding people accountable”.

But here is our reality….and it is a reality that we must all face:

• Jesus does not look at who we are, He looks at who we can be
• Jesus doesn’t see our sin—–He sees us as His kid
• Jesus promotes us when he should punish us
• Jesus doesn’t keep track of items, He doesn’t have a list, and He isn’t looking to zing us and catch us and humiliate us and punish us.

Accusations—-they are from the enemy.  Satan—-he is the king of accusation. And he is the king of accusation because there is so much wrong with it…..

Look at this story…..look at John 8.  My questions are simply opportunities to point at accusation and see it for what it truly is:

• Accusation plays favorites-  Notice, they “caught her in adultery”….that means they caught THEM in adultery.  So what happened to him? They want to stone her but let him go? What so he can go do it again?  That is hideous.

• Accusation is a vehicle to promote political gain- The story of the accusers is not about dealing with sin.  The pharisees want to KILL a woman to TRAP Jesus.  And then later they kill Jesus. Never did they stop to look and realize that they were HUNTING God Himself.  They continued to lie, manipulate, and accuse until they had carried out there awful plan.

• Accusation does not lead to testimony- I will bet money that the lady who walked away from this incident TOLD EVERYONE ABOUT WHO SHE WAS AND WHAT SHE DID.  Wow! She testified about Jesus by bringing up the very thing that she was going to get stoned for.

So what are The Rules of Accusation?

They are simple.

Don’t do it.

You belong to a Man who refused to do it…..and He was perfect in every way—and He chose not to accuse.

If He didn’t do it, we shouldn’t either.

We serve a God who truly has our back.  He truly is our Lord and our redeemer.

He truly IS.

Raise your hands this very day and worship the God who refuses to accuse you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR5IoWH9OiI

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 have nothing more to say than:

Sometimes you just need to STOP…..and WORSHIP.

Sometimes we are guilty of allowing the enemy to think that he has won….

I am sure that Mary Magdalene felt defeated.

Jesus had rescued her from her life of sin and she had fully committed to following Him….and yet–they crucified Him.

So she went to the grave to take care of His body–and He wasn’t there:

John 20  14“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

15“Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”  Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”  16Jesus said to her, “Mary.”  She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).  17Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”  18Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

The enemy has not, and will not, win.

Our bodies will break down.

Our time will run out.

Our end in the flesh is certain.

But we are eternal souls trapped in a finite body….and one day we will be free of them forever.

Hallelujah Our God Reigns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR5IoWH9OiI

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

Let’s face up to the facts today.

We don’t have much to offer the Living God.

He is Infinite, Patient, Full of Love, and Perfect.

We…..are disloyal, absent minded, full of sin, and without hope.

What could we possibly offer Him?

Lamentations 3 22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  23 They are new every morning;  great is your faithfulness.

God is faithful…and His compassions never fail…they are NEW every morning.

Thank God for God.

Every morning He starts over with us.

A couple of weeks ago I got a text from my daughter from college….as I read it in the morning before school–I wept.  It truly melted my heart. I couldn’t help but think about all the mistakes I had made—and yet she was showing me gratitude and honor….it made my day.

As I thought about God, I thought about that very thing.  Unlike me, He has nothing to regret or second guess about anything He has given us…He has been the perfect parent….even though we have NOT BEEN the easiest of children.

So tell Him how good He truly is….show Him gratitude and honor and worship and awe…..  It will MAKE HIS DAY.

For no matter where you have been or what you have done…..His love is new every morning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gSugruC1jQ&t=0s&index=31&list=PLos3S5nRDkEYdNd9y8SvOdW8PN4-hScwD

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

Reading about Jesus has often confused me.  He would do something incredible and then right after…He would do something that could be perceived to be …. CRAZY.

I think this is why the author Josh McDowell made the bold claim that He was either a lunatic, a liar, or the risen Lord.

The one thing that is clear is that Jesus was not playing around:

Matthew 8  18 When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. 19 Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”

21 Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Was Jesus really saying:  “If you want to follow me, there will not even be time to bury your own father.”

What?

Jesus is not callous or inconsiderate or out of touch.

He just knows what’s best….for everyone.

I know that in my life I wrestled with the idea of speaking at my dad’s funeral…….and I wrestled with it because I had felt the Lord PROMPTING me to do just that.  And we was PROMPTING me while I was wrestling with my dad’s sickness.

For days and weeks, I fought with the Lord about it.  

How could He know what I was dealing with and why would He ask me to do such a thing?

But God knows what He was doing.  And if I have learned anything over the years, I have learned this:  God asks me to do things as much for me as He does for others……

He ministers to ME in the things He asks me to do.

And so He did with my dad.  As I struggled through the utter despair of saying goodbye to the man who was my greatest hero, He began to do a new thing in me to bring me out of the pit.

And He used EVERYTHING, including the things that I despised, to bring me back to a place of peace.

Thank you Lord for loving me when I don’t have the strength to even love myself.

Now back to the Matthew verse.

God knows your direction is everything.

He knows that if you walk in the wrong direction that you will not end up in the right place….

And so He changed the man’s road map.

Going to bury his father was going to lead the man (in Matthew 8) away from Jesus…..

And, after all, our destinies are made up of choices, and when heading in the wrong direction, we can end up A LONG WAY FROM WHERE WE WANT TO GO.

All of us need to remember that small steps in the wrong direction can lead us so far from a good place.

But God….

But God died on that cross to set a new thing in action…..He wanted to give us a direction that would lead to life….

And life with Him is the only life there is.

So no “but firsts” to God…

No telling Him that you will do it….But first let me……

No.

Just follow.

It will be the best decision you have ever made.

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

David had done the unthinkable…..he had taken another man’s wife for his own…..and then covered it up with murder.

At the greatest moment of his life—-he had forgotten about the Lord.  And his life was unraveling……..and it was unraveling because he had forgotten who had made him who he was.

I saw a sign that read:  “If God gave you everything that you asked for would the world be any different than it is today?”

OUCH.

Sometimes our greatest enemy ….. is ourselves.

And David……he had fully allowed his pride, his self-worship, his power, and money, and lust….to lead him (and another family) into a terrible place.

But David had Nathan.  And true friends are going to tell us the truth even when we don’t want to hear it…..

2 Samuel 12 4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”

5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”

7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!”

I think that David wrote the following as he struggled, and rightly so, with who he was:

Psalm 51  10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,

and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

11 Do not cast me from your presence

or take your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation

and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

There is no greater goal then to be aligned with the King of the universe.  Alignment with Him changes everything about each day that we live…..and it is the very thing that saves us from the very thing we really need rescue from…..OURSELVES.

Do you need a friend to come and tell you the honest truth?

Whether you do or not I will leave you with this…….

Without the Lord your life can go to empty incredibly fast.

It can deteriorate and crumble in the blink of an eye.

But God…….

God has known this….and He has planned for this…..and He has given you an exit strategy.

Leave your plans and your visions and your worldly goals in the rearview mirror and find a new map.

Because God has something for you that is better than anything you could ever attain on your own accord…….

HIS PRESENCE OVER YOUR LIFE

Pray for it.  Ask for it. Seek it.  In Him you have your greatest treasure….And as Peter said:  “Lord, where will I go? 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