He showed up with the religious leaders and yet….seemed to oppose religion.  This is not an excuse to run away from the church. It is a challenge to go into the one you attend and clean it up.  In a ministry that is made out of LOVE, it is our responsibility to see to it that LOVE never leaves the building…..

John 10 7 Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.

Why Do I Believe What I Believe?

These are facts about Jesus of Nazareth that no one would argue with:

• About 2000 years ago a man named Jesus lived, traveled, and ministered in Samaria, Galilee, and Judea.
• His teachings were controversial:  they drew people to follow Him, made others respect Him, and angered those who opposed Him.
• He was baptized in the Jordan river by a man named John The Baptist.
• He was crucified by the order of the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate.

I might be crazy…….but I think this Jesus is the Son of God….

That He is the Savior of the world…..

That He is the hope of nations and the hope of individuals…..

He has saved me in every area of my life—not just from others—but He has saved me from myself….

In my eyes….He is the Answer…..

To ALL IDEAS….

To ALL THINGS….

To ALL PEOPLE….

“I am the Gate.”

John 10 7 Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.

When you stand and tell a group of people that:

• People who come into the sheep pen a different way are thieves and robbers
• The Man who enters by the gate is the Shepherd
• Sheep follow the man because they hear His voice
• Sheep run away from other voices because they are afraid

There has to be an issue.

Hey…..I get it.

A guy named Jesus showed up from nothing in the middle east:

He cleaned out a temple with a whip

He traveled and spoke

He turned the religious leaders against Him

He was baptized by a man who was living like a “barbarian”

He was crucified

And as He is doing His ministry He is telling people:

I am the ladder

I am the gate

Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you shall have not part with me……….

And so on

This dude was either one of the most mentally deranged men to ever walk the planet or a liar influenced by the enemy……

Or …….. He was who He said He was ……

And He came that we might have life ……

I just want to say right now:

I choose Jesus

And I am going to TRY to have Him define everything that I attempt to do:

My world view

My marriage

My parenting

My coaching

My teaching

….. Everything

Because some might say this is crazy …..

But my spirit is telling me that it is the greatest decision I could ever make

I say YES

Father-

Put A Wisdom And A Passion On Us Like Nothing The World Has Ever Seen

Anoint Us To Be Great At Whatever We Do

And Influence Us To Give You All The Glory For All The Talents That You Give To Us

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.

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

Coach J

I can remember the first time I jumped off a 60 foot cliff into a lake.  As I left the cliff……it was the moment of truth—there was no going back—and the seconds I spent in the air seemed LONGER than what they were.

John 1 51 He then added, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Why Do I Believe What I Believe?

These are facts about Jesus of Nazareth that no one would argue with:

• About 2000 years ago a man named Jesus lived, traveled, and ministered in Samaria, Galilee, and Judea.
• His teachings were controversial:  they drew people to follow Him, made others respect Him, and angered those who opposed Him.
• He was baptized in the Jordan river by a man named John The Baptist.
• He was crucified by the order of the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate.

I might be crazy…….but I think this Jesus is the Son of God….

That He is the Savior of the world…..

That He is the hope of nations and the hope of individuals…..

He has saved me in every area of my life—not just from others—but He has saved me from myself….

In my eyes….He is the Answer…..

To ALL IDEAS….

To ALL THINGS….

To ALL PEOPLE….

“I am the Ladder.”

Genesis 28 12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

Hold up.

The guy who is fighting with the Jewish religious leaders is citing the very scriptures that they hold dear……and claiming them as His own.

Imagine if I told a group of people:  I Am The Ladder.

I am the way in which you go to AND from heaven.

This is only the beginning of it……..

Read about it…….and don’t be halfway about it…..because I don’t think He is calling out for lukewarm or lackadaisical or mediocre…..

I think that God came down and told US:

The angels of God are going to go to and from heaven BY WAY OF ME.  I am the ladder.  I am the stairway.

Holy Spirit…….come and convict us.

And raise up a generation of believers who will make the jump.

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 14 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Why Do I Believe What I Believe?

These are facts about Jesus of Nazareth that no one would argue with:

• About 2000 years ago a man named Jesus lived, traveled, and ministered in Samaria, Galilee, and Judea.
• His teachings were controversial:  they drew people to follow Him, made others respect Him, and angered those who opposed Him.
• He was baptized in the Jordan river by a man named John The Baptist.
• He was crucified by the order of the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate.

I want to write a series on Why I Believe What I Believe and give testimony to what I believe is TRUTH.

I might be crazy…….but I think this Jesus is the Son of God….

That He is the Savior of the world…..

That He is the hope of nations and the hope of individuals…..

He has saved me in every area of my life—not just from others—but He has saved me from myself….

In my eyes….He is the Answer…..

To ALL IDEAS….

To ALL THINGS….

To ALL PEOPLE….

In my pursuit of the truth, I read a wonderful book by Josh McDowell called More Than A Carpenter.  McDowell made the case that Jesus Christ was either a liar, a lunatic, or the risen Lord.

What a concept.

And I believe that it is a concept that we must all face.

If He was who He says He was……then we have to respond…..and the way we respond will reveal what we truly believe…..

So my question today is this:

If you were put on trial for being a follower of Christ would there be enough evidence to convict you?  It is a question that we all must ask…..and eventually give account for…..

John 14 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

RESPOND.  He gave it all so that you could have eternal life STARTING today.

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

It took miracle after miracle to heal the Hebrew slaves and begin them on a track to freedom.

Plagues.

A miraculous crossing over a body of water.

Bitter springs.

Provision of food.

And yet they grumbled and they grumbled.

Exodus 16 2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.

The issue was not getting the Hebrews out of slavery….it was getting “slavery” out of the Hebrews.

And so it is with us.

God so badly wants to set us free…….but our hearts are sometimes more drawn to slavery then they are to being truly free.

And so today I want to emphasize a principle that we so badly need in our lives:

An Attitude of Gratitude is not just a cliche….it isn’t just a principle to teach young kids.  It isn’t for some of us…..

It is for ALL OF US.

God teaches, in so many scriptures, to look at what WE DO HAVE and not what we do not.

A boy who had a small lunch got to watch Jesus feed thousands of people.

A woman with a jar of perfume got to be delivered of her sin in front of the very men who brought her condemnation.

A woman who gave ALL SHE HAD was honored by Christ.

And on and on and on.

God does not call the man with all the resources….He gives resources to the man He calls.

He doesn’t call the equipped….He equips the called.

He doesn’t desperately move on the comfortable….He moves comfortably among the desperate.

Several years ago I was “studying” great football coaches…..and I came across one that we should all look to for example.

Frosty Westering

Frosty Westering?  From Pacific Lutheran?

Why not Bill Belichick?  Or Nick Saban? Or Vince Lombardi?

There are plenty of others who could be looked to…….

Frosty Westering, among many other principles, said this:

“Make the Big Time where you are”

Now that is an attitude of gratitude.

He wasn’t looking to be at Alabama.  Or New England. Or Green Bay.

He was already there.

Before you ask the Lord to free you from something on the outside…….you might want to ask Him to free you within your own heart.

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 wanted to write something for my FCA kids that summarized what the Bible means to me…….

So here goes…….

You were created by a Father who knows you and loves you anyway.  He wanted you to have all that you needed and freedom. Freedom to access all that He had that was was good:  a place of perfect love and protection, a place where all you needed was available, and a place of perfect family.

But your freedom was not good, because you were not good, and in that came a desire to crave things that were not good for you.  This was true of your great, great …. great grandparents, their children, their children, their children …. their children, and now, you.  For all of us it is simple: We crave what is not good, we chase after things we don’t need, we do things that bring dishonor to a normal person, much less a Perfect Father.  We are born into that which is broken. In this broken place, the love is not there, the protection is not there, what you need is not there, and families are broken. And when you live in a place that is broken, things break.

Now in that broken place there is often three things that happen:  

     1.  People either party in excess and continue their cravings, they fix it with all the work they can ever do, or they give up.

And so we can choose the YOLO lifestyle and crave all the things that we could ever want.  But in that place, there are some truths that you should know:

There is no drink strong enough, no drug potent enough, no love deep enough, no bank account big enough, no party fulfilling enough, no fame great enough, no appetite satisfied enough, and no longing small enough that any of the things that we chase could EVER, EVER be filled.  And in that pursuit we come to the end of ourselves, and we have to ask, even in our greatest moment, is this AS GOOD AS IT GETS?

    2.  People choose to work their way into being good.  And so we find ourselves trying…..We try to harvest a field that does not grow, We try to sell a product no one will buy, We try to build a house that will not stand.  

We try, and we fail, and we come…to the end of ourself.

     3.  Or perhaps we go to option three, and we simply give up… and we come…to the end of ourselves.

All this time the Father who gave us everything waits for us to come home.  He waits and He waits, yearning for His child to return home so that He might cover him in all the love He can give.  He has to wonder, “why did I give my child the choice to leave? Why?” But He knows that if you love something…you set it free….  And so He cries out from the perfect place and waits for the child who has the choice—the choice to perish in bitterness…OR the choice to come home and LIVE.

And so we can choose to come home.  And if we do choose to come home we must find a way to come to the end of ourselves and stay home.  This is not an easy part of the journey….because when you are dropped out of good and into not good, you have a part of you that constantly will try to pull you back.  And you have to ask yourself, why in the world would He want me here? How could a Father that is so good not only welcome me back, but FORGIVE ME, ADOPT ME, RESTORE MY WASTED EXISTENCE, GIVE ME AUTHORITY, PROMOTE ME, and even ask me to call Him Daddy.  It is simple: He sent someone in our place. If we align ourself in relationship with Him:

The enemy that filled us with his lies is DISABLED.  

The debt that could not be paid is PAID IN FULL.

The sin that could not be forgiven, IS FORGOTTEN.  

The death that is inevitable IS CRUSHED.  

The wounds that could not be healed ARE WITHOUT EVEN SCARS OR MARKS.

ALIGN YOURSELF WITH HIM:  Come to the end of yourself, Communicate with Him, Read His Word.  Be born into a new life. Connect in love with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead!

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

Jesus gave it all.

He didn’t give half of His life…or half of His heart…or half of His forgiveness.

And think about what His gift would mean if we didn’t receive it in its fullness:

What if we didn’t have FULL eternal life?

Or FULL forgiveness for our sins?

Or FULL entrance into His Kingdom as a son?

The Lord put on my heart to read Hosea this week.

It is the story of unfaithfulness.

It is the story of a wife who cannot remain faithful to a loving husband.

It is OUR story.

Hosea 2  23 ….. I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one. ‘I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’ ”

Wow.  To not understand this is to not understand the fullness of the gospel.

I sometimes look at my life and say:  I am not only not faithful with a little……I Am Unfaithful With EVERYTHING!  I haven’t measured up!  I haven’t even scratched the surface of what He has called me to be…or to do…or in how He has shown me to live.

But I think this is why Jesus encourages us to have faith the size of a mustard seed.

You see……..just a little bit of faith can lead to so much life.  He can take just a little bit of faithfulness and put the FULL into it.

2000 years ago Jesus knew of our wishy-washy, half-in, lackadaisical and mediocre approach to His gospel…..

And yet He still stayed up on that cross and said:

It Is Paid In Full.

So don’t respond to this today by trying to do EVERYTHING.

Respond to it by doing SOMETHING.   And do something that involves Him putting FULLNESS over you…..because you doing everything by yourself will never even come close to Him putting His FULLNESS over you doing a little.

Watch what He can do with your mustard seed.

Because He can bring the FULL to your half and make it Kingdom.

This only works with Jesus…….and it is, after all, a miracle as great as the resurrection itself.

Father, I have not been faithful with little

I have been unfaithful with much

But today….I go the other way

I change my mindset and my outlook

And I ask you to make me faithful in small things

And I ask that you fill me with life

And hope

And peace

And vision

And faith

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.

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

Coach J

I can remember in a movie I was watching that Jeremiah Johnson passed through an Indian burial ground….that he had walked on “hallowed” ground.

But the reality is:  we are all walking on “hallowed” ground.

2000 years ago Jesus walked and witnessed this very ground that we walked on.

He witnessed to Kings and peasants, to rich and to poor, to powerful and to weak, to religious and to heathen, to men and to women, to young and to old.

He called out the powerful.

He confronted the heartless.

He touched the diseased.

He ate with the wretched.

He talked to the kids.

The Amplified Bible (AMPC) has a great version of this verse:

Philippians 3  10 My determined purpose is that I may know Christ.  That I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His person.

There is no greater investment you can put down than to seek to understand the “wonders of His person”.

There is no better or more noble or more important pursuit.

His hand on your life changes everything.

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

Nathanael’s first comment about Jesus referred to where He came from.  Nathanael asked Philip: “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

He soon found out that the greatest man to ever walk the earth did, in fact, come from the lowest of lows.

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

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

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

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

50 Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree.  You shall see greater things than that.”

Nathanael saw greater things.

After an incredible miraculous and ministry, Jesus came back from the grave and the world was changed forever.

Today, the message is not about Nathanael.

It is about you.

As sure as He sees Nathanael under the fig tree, He sees you in your world.

He sees your ups and your downs.

He sees your strengths and your weaknesses.

He sees your deepest desires and your greatest pains.

The world can not be what we truly need it and want it to be if we continue to walk away.

What would happen if we all walked at Him?

The answer is simple:

Greater Things

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

This is my third blog on Pete Fewell…..a dear friend of mine.  I write this blog for Jesus–who is my hero. But Jesus works through the hearts of people………and Pete has so many qualities that inspire me as a man trying to follow Jesus……

So now….part 3

One of the greatest men that I have ever known is Harold C. “Pete” Fewell.  Blogs 122-124 will be in honor of him and all he has been for all who know him.  In my life, he has been a friend, a mentor, a father figure, and a confidant. He is the epitome of loyalty, honesty, work ethic, kindness, and perseverance.  In 1970, on the plane ride home from East Carolina, the Marshall football team’s plane went down and 75 lives were lost. Through a series of events, Pete was not on that plane………he has lived a life of great impact:  His life has greatly affected the lives of others.

Pete once told me that there were some things going on at work that were causing him great stress.  When he ended his day, he was coming home in a very grumpy mood. As most of us know, bringing trouble from work home is not good for anyone……but it is hard to avoid.  Pete told me something to the effect of: “My boss was making me grumpy and I was taking it out on Carol (his wife). I decided to quit taking it out on Carol and take it out on the guy who was causing the problem—my boss.  That’s when I got fired.”

I have always gotten a kick out of that story.  It was Pete’s way of saying:  “I can find work……and I am not trading my job for family.”

I think of all the times that something is not going well and I take it out on my wife….or my kids….or my friends.  I think that many of us do this.

We ENGAGE the wrong enemy.

The Bible tells us very clearly:

Ephesians 6 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood…

Maybe we need to say that again and again until it sinks in…..

Our Battle Is NOT Against Flesh And Blood

Our Battle Is NOT Against Flesh And Blood

Our Battle Is NOT Against Flesh And Blood

Our Battle Is NOT Against Flesh And Blood

I know that to be the absolute truth…..yet why don’t I live it?

Often times in our greatest struggles we get in a fight…….but WHO we fight is not WHO we are supposed to fight.

What does God say about our spiritual enemy?

He prowls around like a lion 1 Peter 5:8

He comes to steal, kill, and destroy John 10:10

He disguises himself as an angel of light 2 Corinthians 11:14

I can go on and on putting up scripture about the enemy and all of his plans.

But our gospel is about good news.

1 John 3 8 …. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.

We do not need to walk around in fear.

We do not need to worry about the powers of darkness.

We do not need to consume ourselves with focusing on all that the enemy can do.

What we really need to do is:

Engage The Right Enemy

By worshipping the King Of The Universe.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is simple

~He came and died

~He rose from the grave

~He gave us power over Satan, sin, and death

~All who receive Him have eternal life

~That eternity starts NOW

Father, I receive You and I receive Your Son

I ask that You would write a new chapter over me

I ask that You would not let me stay the same

I ask that You would do a new thing in me….

Not just for now…..but for ALL TIMES and ALL PEOPLE

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