We live in a very polarizing time.  It seems that everyone is drawing a line in the sand….

Never has it been more important to point our gaze…and our hearts…to Jesus.

And while many were offended and bothered by what He said and did…..they were wrong in every sense for doing so.

After all, Jesus did not offend the reasonable.

Think about it:

• He toppled over tables in the temple and cleared out the money changers and those selling the “perfect” animals.  But in doing so…..He was only kicking thieves and hypocrites out of God’s house.
• He told His own brother:  “You make no difference”.  But in doing so, He was confronting a man who had all but mocked everything about the Lord.
• He met a Samaritan woman at a well in broad daylight in order to give her a new lease on life.  In doing so, He ruined His reputation, broke the law, and spent time doing something that was totally unaccepted, uncool, and out of line.  But what He did was something all of us wish we could stand up and do:  The Right Thing.

As we walk into the season of Christmas, let’s all be sure to elevate Jesus to where He belongs.

Let’s not fight with people who don’t know who He is.

Let’s not fight for things that don’t make any difference.

Let’s remember that Jesus has a throne that none of us are worthy to stand on…..and that He is worthy of all of our praise.

Let’s remember that we are utterly hopeless without His saving grace and love on our lives.

Let’s remember that there is no way for us to escape the darkness of this world if we do not submit to His authority and come under His great love.

And let’s celebrate the fact that when we were at our very worst, He came down to stand on our behalf and save us.

To Him …. And to Him alone…..

Be the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

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

He is not done yet.

I want to declare this today with all that is in me and I would encourage you to do the same.  He is not done.

So many times we enter into our faith with excitement and celebration and energy……but it doesn’t take long before we go into autopilot and begin to go through the motions.

The Lord has no plan for us to “go through the motions”.  We are far too important to Him.

This is not a word to tell you to strive and grind and religiously try to put yourself into a better position…..it is a word to bring life into a world that has beginning …. and end.

And things end so quickly and without warning.  We walk through a series of doors that once we go through we can never go back.

But in the Kingdom God does something greater.  He has a new plan and a new beginning….and in His Kingdom….we don’t want to go back.

Jesus first miracle in the book of John occurs at a wedding feast in Cana:

The Best For Now

John 2 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

If this is not true in your life…..I get it….and He gets it.  But that only means that He is not done yet.

Romans 8 declares that He works together in all things for our good.  In our faith we can hold onto this and begin to cry out for it……because if it is not good….

He Is Not Done Yet

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 a reason that He communicates so many things to us in phrases that relate to money.

It is what we relate to…..

Today is a great example of this very concept:  Black Friday.  The day when many of the businesses “move into the black”.

There is shopping, football, feasting on the remains of Thanksgiving, and hopefully rest and quality time with family.

As we walk into this day, let me remind you of the more important black Friday….it happened 2000 years ago on a cross and was sealed by a man who chose not to run from death….but to face it.

In His final words on the cross, Jesus declared:

It Is Finished

John 18:30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

It is finished.  A great translation of this declaration is to say that He said it was:  Paid In Full.

Paid In Full.

Imagine if we were brought before the judge and accused of all the things that we have truly done….we would be guilty as charged.

But when God couldn’t get us right by telling us what to do, He decided He had to come and show us what to do.  Even so, we are utterly in debts up to our eyeballs without the act of Jesus actually squaring up the debt.

So enjoy Black Friday.  Enjoy the shopping and the games and the time to relax.

But as you do, remember why you can.

You are free.

You are delivered.

You are DEBT FREE.

It Is Paid In Full

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

As I was doing a quiet time preparing for a time to speak, my daughter Jordan was hanging out with me…..

As I was praying and reading and writing down thoughts she went to the dry erase board and wrote:

Faith Can Move Mountains

Matthew 17:20

What a good word.

That word drew me to a song (Elevation Worship Do it again You move the Mountains) and I marveled in the goodness of God and the maturity of my 6th grade daughter.

If only we kept track of all the times that God moved a mountain for us……..

Einstein once said:

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

I am a member of the latter.  I believe EVERYTHING is a miracle.

Outside of a locker room in 1987 I met the Spirit of God…..and He put a hope on me that could not have come from anything else.  The verse “perfect love casts out all fear” came to life for me in one instant…..and I went from coward to child of God.

When Jordan and I listened to the song (Elevation Worship Do it again You move the Mountains) it brought me to a place of thanksgiving and worship that has defined my entire week.

We will face adversity–Jesus has guaranteed it.

We will face death–none of us will avoid it.

But we get to choose who we belong to.

And when we belong to Jesus….there is nothing He can’t do for us.

Enjoy this song as you cry out and thank God for all He has done for you.

You have never failed me yet.

I know the night won’t last….Your Word will come to pass

Jesus you’re still enough….keep me within your love

My heart will sing your praise again

Your promise still stands…..great is your faithfulness

I’ve seen You move, You move the mountains

and I believe–I’ll see you do it again

You made a Way, when there was no Way,

and I believe–I’ll see you do it again

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

Proverbs 14  12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

It is so easy to get lost in this world.

Sometimes I wake up in the morning and ask myself:  “How did I get here?”

The reality is that all of us get a little lost sometimes…..and even  people who are “found” can get lost….

As I read that verse in Proverbs, it resonates with me…….for what is true for one of us is true for all of us.  And when you have a city of people going in the direction “that seems right to a man” it can become broken very quickly.

In Luke 15:11-32, God tells us “the story of us” within the context of a parable…the Prodigal Son….And the prodigal son does everything you can do to ruin his destiny:

• He dishonors his father
• He takes his inheritance while his father is alive
• He wastes it
• He lives in rebellion
• He finds that the world has nothing for him….his friends are gone, his money is gone, his hope is gone
• He comes to THE END OF HIMSELF….even stooping to eat pig slop

And then he comes to the realization:  I can do better than this by being a servant to my father.

And then he turns to return home.

God doesn’t tell us to get it right.

He doesn’t tell us to clean it up.

He doesn’t tell us to DO SOMETHING to impress Him

He asks us to TURN…..to TURN away from where we want to go and TO HIM.

To REPENT is to regret, to turn, and to change one’s mind.  It is to realize that God is what we need and to realize the other stuff is NOT WHAT WE NEED.

The reality is this:  The Way we go is of the utmost importance to God.  To take a simple step of going TO Him.

There is a reason that He doesn’t give us a list of things that we must do to be in His good graces…..and it is the simple fact that we are so vulnerable to “walk in a way that seems right to us” that, as Proverbs warns us, leads us to darkness.

Today:  Keep it simple.

Turn your eyes and your heart and your gaze and your direction and your gratitude and all that you have to Jesus.  Start small and do it for one minute.

Ask Him to change your ways.  

• Ask Him to come and build something in you that you have been trying to get to for years.
• Ask Him to come heal you of something that has been ailing you for years
• Ask Him to heal a relationship or a heartache or a trigger.
• Ask Him to turn your heart from back to front and lead you in the way that you should go

As I write this I can feel a conviction and gratitude welling up in me……and I can testify this day of two things:

1. I am not able to do it on my own and have messed it up time and time again.
2. He has been faithful and never, ever, let me down in ANY situation……not for a moment.

Find the Way……because when you turn to go there He will be right there to meet you.

https://youtu.be/qoh26pC2RT8

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

Here is a truth that no one in 2017 wants to hear:

All of us will be held accountable for our time here on earth by the King of the universe.

And all of us means…..ALL of us.  (Romans 14:12)

This is a scary thought given that Jesus told His own brother, in His own words, “you make no difference”.

But if we want the whole truth from the whole Word then we must face this certain reality.

I am sorry if I am not writing out that “feel good message” once again….but I am convicted to write what I feel the Lord is putting on my heart.

And for me to be honest……I think sometimes we might look arrogant to a dying world.

The reality is that ALL of us are enemies of God (Romans 5) prior to meeting Jesus.

The reality is that ALL of us are sitting ducks for Hell without the saving grace of Jesus.

The reality is that ALL of us our sinners.

The reality is that ALL of us who are saved by grace must realize that we are now responsible to give it away to the rest of the world.

I think David knew it best when he said in Psalm 139

23 Search me, O 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.

And this is David….the man “after God’s own heart”.  The man who was supported by the Lord to kill a giant, to slay wild animals, to become the king of Israel.  This is David who knows full well that he needs God to find the offensive way in him…to change him….to bring him into a better place.

I get it….we are fully forgiven by Jesus.

We are covered in His blood when we ask Him into our hearts and lives.

We are destined to live in eternal paradise with the One thing that we are missing most of the time here.

But none of this makes us BETTER than those who are lost.  It simply should compel us to be like the woman at the well….to tell a city full of people to “come and meet the man who told me everything I ever knew.”

I think this is why God tells us:

• • We are “being made holy” (Hebrews 10:14)
  • We are to invite Him in–otherwise He simply stands at the door (Revelation 3:20)

• That David was a man after God’s own heart….He knew to cry out for God to CREATE IN ME a clean heart.  He knew that he was broken and utterly helpless without God’s presence (Psalm 51)

It is 2017…..and I think we need to stop blaming God for the messes that we have created and start praising Him for the ones that He has, without fail, cleaned up.

So go forward in humility……

And carry the gospel to the lost by loving them greatly and showing your vulnerability.

After all……that’s what He did for 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

The Truth will set you free.

It always has and it always will.

And this is why we must do everything in our power to pursue it……and in doing so we must constantly be aware of the enemy’s scheme to take “part of the truth” and build a story with it.

I once heard a story about a little girl with a pearl necklace.  She had always longed to have REAL pearls but knew that this would be “the best that she could do for now. ” Each night, her dad would ask her to give him the pearls….and each night she would boldly say NO.  This was all she had and the best that she could do…..but in her time away from her father she contemplated giving him the pearls.  After all, he was a hero to her and she wanted so badly to please him.

Finally….after months of asking her….she completely surprised him by grabbing her pearls and giving them to him…..with a sad face she handed them over.

What she didn’t know was that he had that REAL necklace waiting for her when she was ready to trade.

To her surprise….she want from the imitation to the real thing.

Her father had planned to bless her greatly when she could get out of her own way.

And so it is with us:

Hebrews 11  17By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.

Growing up, I read the story of Abraham and Isaac numerous times.  When I first read it, I read it from the son’s perspective……and I was not very fond of Abraham.  How could that dude be a hero?  I thought about my dad taking me up and pulling out a knife to end me……and it did not draw me to Abraham….or the Lord.

But the reality is this:  I was only reading the story with some of the truth.  Read that verse in Hebrews about faith.  It is the greatest testimony to faith that you will ever read.  And the picture of Abraham is different than the one that I perceived.

Abraham knew he was called to sacrifice and he was going to follow orders.  But his faith was great and he knew that God would raise his son from the dead.  He also knew that God was good and had a wonderful plan for him…and for Isaac.  Knowing that God had a great plan for him changed Abraham’s heart.  And so he proceeded forward in whatever God wanted him to do.  Hebrews 11 also said that Abraham was looking forward to the city with foundations…whose architect and builder was God.  Wow.

How many of us live in a place that is not the WHOLE TRUTH?

We live in the place of that little girl….holding on to our little set of fake pearls because that is the best that we can do?

Open your heart and raise your hands.  Have FAITH.  As Hebrews 11 says:  FAITH is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

FAITH is walking out the call He has given us.

But more than anything else…..FAITH is knowing that the Father is for you….that the Father adores you…..that the Father is taking care of those who have moved on from this world and that He wants to take care of you.

Here is the Truth:  He has given those who have moved on a city with foundations (they would not come back even if we begged them) and He wants to give us some real pearls.

As the Samaritan woman preached to a city:  “Come and meet the man who told me everything I ever knew.”

He gives us that same invitation 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

There is nothing like a word from the Lord that fills you with a smile, a confidence, a feeling that you can take on the world.

Today….I will not be giving one of those words.

The Lord has been convicting me over and over about the TRUTH.  It has come up in conversations with people and it has come up in my car and in other moments of solitude.  The Bible even quotes Jesus as saying “I am the Truth”.  If Jesus is the TRUTH…we know that it is vital.

Today I was reminded of a time when I was dealing with gossip and angry parents.  In my disappointment, I told someone:  “90% of what is being said is NOT TRUE.”

As I continued through my day, I said the same thing to someone else:  “90% of what is being said is NOT TRUE.”  Immediately the Lord convicted me and I heard the question:  “What about the other 10%?”  I was humbled and I have never been the same since hearing Him rebuke me.  You see, the Lord does not care about 90% truth.  He doesn’t care about 95% truth.  He doesn’t even care about 99% truth.  The Lord cares about, and only lives in, 100% truth.

Think about it.

How many of us want to live in a place where we don’t have to live in the 100%?

And it comes up in the areas of our lives where we struggle….and if we don’t face up to it—-we will CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE.

My husband always lets me down….

My parents are too strict….

My boss always asks me to do this when everyone else quits….

And on and on and on…..

The fact is:  God can’t help us if we can’t be honest.  Because all we are doing in walking in things that are mostly true is opening ourselves up to be attacked by the enemy.

God wants to move in us and through us.

He wants to deliver us from evil.

And He wants to heal all of our relationships.

For my issue, He was not going to move on my behalf until I dealt with the 10% that was true.

This simple concept has changed my mindset.  And it has not given me any time to worry about what others are doing or saying.  You see, until I deal with the issues in my life I will never be free…..but in facing them and seeing that I could be better—He has freed me from worrying about what could be going on in the periphery.

I have spoken this verse over and over and over again…..but today, it has never been more true:

Psalm 146  18The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.  19He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.

When you call on Him today, call on Him in truth.

There is probably something He wants to do in YOU…..

Because the TRUTH will set you free!

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

We all walk out the plans on our heart…..and many times we think that we are doing the right thing.

I think this is why the Lord warns us that the “heart is, above all things, deceitful”.  And it is the very reason that I worry about the mindset:  “Follow your heart”.

Saul was on his way to punish, persecute, and kill the followers of Jesus….and he thought he was doing the right thing.

On his way to carry out the mission that was on his heart, God showed up.  And when God shows up, everything changes.

Acts  1Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

5“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

6“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

The Lord’s ways are incredible.  In the greatest act of jiu jitsu the world has ever seen, God converts His greatest enemy to follow Him…..and has him write the New Testament.

Growing up, I thought it was an incredible miracle that God could have a man survive after being swallowed by a fish, that He could raise a dead man, that He could divide a sea or knock down a wall or turn a sea into blood.

But these are not the greatest miracles of scripture…..and we simply read over most of them.

His greatest miracle was not allowing Jonah survive after being swallowed by a fish (I think it was a great white shark)…it was converting an entire city of barbarian murderers.

His greatest miracle was not raising a dead man, it was saving me, or any of us, from eternal damnation.

His greatest miracle was not dividing the sea for the Hebrew slaves, it was driving a slave mentality out of the Hebrews.

His greatest miracle was not the blindness He put on Paul, it was His radical transformation from God’s enemy to God’s representative.

The reality of all man is this……we are one step away from changing families, friends, communities, schools, even nations.  And it is a simple step at that.  All we have to do is say “yes”.

Think about it…..

Our God is utterly incredible.

If we were locked in cave, He would dig through 1000 feet of rock and lower us a rope.

If we were drowning, He would swim the ocean to come and pull us up.

If we were surrounded by evil men, He would pull out a sword and face all of them for us.

If we were running in the wrong direction, He would find a way to meet us in the place we were running to get to.

He is going to make it very hard on us to push Him away, and He will never stop pursuing us…….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.

As I was driving to school today, He totally convicted me with this song……it began to soften my heart and make me cry……

If we were One Million Miles Away, He would eliminate the distance and give us the chance….and we would be ONE STEP AWAY.

ONE STEP AWAY FROM ETERNITY.

Drop to your knees and praise the One who loves us too much to leave us the way we are.

We are blessed beyond all measure and without limit.

https://youtu.be/xrPJZYywTuA

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