2 MINUTE WARNING

Do Not Miss The Entire Message Of The Gospel-  it is Jesus delivering us from an unbeatable enemy.

And it isn’t always a miraculous healing that all can see.

In His day, it wasn’t just the lame man by the pool.

It was the woman who committed adultery who could only get water at noon.  (John 4)

It was the church leader who didn’t even know what God was truly doing.  (John 3)

It was the “true Israelite” Nathanael who cried out for God’s help under a fig tree and found out that God actually heard him.  (John 1)

2 Corinthians 1  ¹⁰ He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us,

As a friend of mine spoke in church this last Sunday, she convicted me on many things:

Deliverance-  Removed from something that has ruined us.

Grace-  Rewrites your story.

Jesus is in the business of delivery.  And He isn’t someone who does half of the job.

A student once told me that he would never amount to anything, that he could never measure up, and that he would never, ever, meet his dad’s standard—so why should he even try?  Upon further conversation, I realized that his own father had scarred him.  When?  In third grade.  A junior in high school was scarred from something in third grade—and it was ruining him 8 years later even more than it did in 3rd grade.

Each of us contends with our past ruining our future.

All of us have scars and triggers and failures that absolutely obliterate everything that we are trying to do.

Each of us have a cross to bear.

But Jesus … is the great bearer of the cross.  And as 2 Corinthians 1 tells us, Jesus does it in our past our present and our future.

2 Corinthians 1  ¹⁰ He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us,

Why did God write that He has delivered us, that He is delivering us, and that He will continue to deliver us.

I have to think that this is a 3 dimensional promise for EACH of our issues.

As I was praying about this, I thought of that student, and I thought of myself, and I thought of everyone on our planet.

And this is my word for you today:

1.  We Remember Our Past And It Ruins Us … Much like the student that I described in this story.
2.  We Forget Our Past But It Unconsciously Triggers Us … Much like my reactions in my own life when I respond to something in my life that is a scar from my past.
3.  We Remember Our Past And Where God Has Brought Us … Much like Mary Magdalene as she cried and washed the feet of Jesus.

When Jesus said “it is paid in full” on the cross, I have to think it was about more than just sin.

It was about giving us a new life away from our scars.

The Bible says that He will wipe out every tear, that He has made a home for us, that no eye can see what God has prepared for those who love Him.

These are promises for us in this life.

I pray that you and I WILL receive them.

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

If you have ever seen a movie or footage of a wartime battle, I want you to visualize as you read this writing today.  I always picture the movie “Platoon” and the night time battle that went from silence to utter chaos.  Firing guns and explosions, in the midst of a black night with no real vision, are my picture of the night battle of utter horror.  Picture that … as you read this:

In the spiritual picture of my reality, I was a sitting duck.

Mortally wounded and left for dead on the battlefield, surrounded by an enemy that was closing in, and in the darkness … I was a sitting duck for Hell.

The craving of the enemy for my demise can never be overstated.  His insatiable pursuit of my brokenness, His desire to punish me, and to shame me, and to bludgeon me … it was unquenchable.  His selfish and bitter motives without limit.

And so, my weakness, and selfish ambition, and pride, and my desire to feed my flesh … they lead me to a place of hopelessness.

In the backdrop, screaming men, and flashes of light, and the utter violence that accompanies war, they were in full force.  As men cried out for help, it was all I could do not to do the same.  And yet the silhouettes of the enemy were all around me, looking, and with each flash of life there was a new shadow, a new question, a new horror.

I was a dead man.

And then He showed up.

Fearless.

Loyal.

Single minded.

Focused.

Kneeling and calculating, the shots he fired were each perfectly on target.

And as He surveyed an impossible situation, He was there for the possible.

With total composure, He pulled the pin and threw 7 grenades to surrounding hot spots.  And as they began to explode, He moved in perfect rhythm.  I was on His shoulder and being carried through the darkness at an incredible rate.

He hurdled fallen trees, cut behind ground cover and moved through strafing bullets as if He knew how to escape them.  As we got to a place of cover, He stepped out and, again, fired His weapon with precision.  These bullets, I surmised, were not for men.  They were for the forehead of the enemy.  And He fired them perfectly.  Drawing a round to the shoulder and right thigh, He barely flinched, almost as if He knew they were coming.  It was as if He knew that to protect ME, it would cost HIM.

And before I could process, or as I was processing, I was back on His shoulder and moving.

The blood and wounds that were on Him did not deter Him.  He moved with single minded purpose, and before I knew it, I was on the rescue chopper, and as I looked up, so were the other men in our unit, ALL OF THEM.

As we began ascent He was back to the advancing enemy.  He was the tip of the sword.  And His goal was single minded.  Fight off an advancing enemy at the cost of Himself, that we might live.

As we began to fly away, His fate was painted.  And they advanced on a broken body to finish Him.

Not swiftly, but slowly.  They punched His wounded body, and spit on Him.  And cut Him.  And they celebrated in His pain, and His shame, and His exposure.  They celebrated His waning moments like it was the greatest thing they had ever been a part of.

And I flew away to be rescued.

Revelation 5 ⁵ Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

I do not worship a God who is beyond me.  I worship a God who came into the jungle and rescued me.  At His demise, He gave me life.  At His demise, He gave me a second chance.  At His demise I am free to choose, or to reject, Him.

Before you come at me with science, let me come at you with a little of my own.

We, as people, are the most finely tuned instrument in all of the universe.  Our eyes focus, our thumbs operate to grip, and open things.  Our bodies are put together like a city of 3,000,000 people:  Waste disposal, nutrition disbursement, electrical power, the ability to heal, and the ability to fight outside intruders.  Our planet rolls around the sun at an alarming rate of speed and gravity keeps us from flying off into space.

Before you call me an idiot for worshiping a God I can’t see (I am an idiot) I say that you breathe an air we can’t see, you receive information from waves you can not see, and you listen to a radio that is unseen.

Is it really that foolish to believe that you—-were created.  Not to me.

My wife does not like halloween.  And while I am more neutral than she might be, I love that about her.  I married the most beautiful person on the planet—-she puts the important things first and the other things—not at all.  She fights for her kids and loves her God and worships in spirit and in truth.  She prays for others and contends for the good of all.  She is proof of God in her own right.

We will all face death and take a last breath.

We will all lose our chance to live in the flesh.

We will all perish.

Make sure you get in that chopper.

He didn’t rescue you because our enemy was easy.  He rescued us because, without Him, we are sitting ducks for Hell.

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

Our God is the God of love.

He is the God of forgiveness.

He is the God of grace, and mercy, and restoration.

He is also the God of Respect … and Honor.

The traditions of Jesus’ time called for men to be kicked out of the temple and SLAPPED across the face by all the members should they defame God, or things He stood for, or His people.

When Jesus stood up to those men, He told them that He would give them both cheeks to slap.  He was not excusing them from their culture of Respect and Honor — He was “one-upping” it.  Our God will hold up the standard of Respect and Honor.

Not men.

Let us not forget these things—or be discouraged.

Psalm 16  

¹ Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge.  

² I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.” 

³ As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.  

⁴ The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods.  I will not pour out their libations of blood or take up their names on my lips.  

⁵ Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.  

⁶ The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.  

⁷ I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.

We, as believers, are not to be discouraged.  We are not to conform.  We are called to LEAD—young and old alike.  We are called to stand up to sin and to respect our God with our actions.  We are called to act a certain way—to respect, to show honor to others, to not act in immaturity or mockery.  We are called to stand up for Jesus, not because He has called us to defend Him, but because we are to “confess His Name” in public.  Colossians 2:15 says that Jesus disarmed His enemies and made a public spectacle of them.  He plays no games—and when the door gets shut—will it be opened again?  I don’t know.  As the song in this blog confesses, Jesus is the ONLY ONE who can open our door to the other side.  He is the ONLY ONE.  As Jesus said in the gospels OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN — He is the ONLY WAY.  THE ONLY WAY!  And He is not to be mocked, or disregarded, or disrespected.  He is OUR ONLY HOPE.

God promises (see above in Psalm 16) that when we make Him first, He will:

• Counsel us at night
• Give us an inheritance
• Protect us—and our possessions

Rest in your commitment to God Almighty.

Repent of your shortcomings.

Declare Him Lord of your life.

It is in these things … that Jesus gives us 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

There is a reason that we get baptized.

It is to remind us who we truly are.  It is to remind us that we need a new beginning.

As I was praying on the way to school, I asked God to renew me, to open up my heart and my spirit that I might again walk in His grace.

It wasn’t that I had ever left it or that I had totally gone away, it was the simple fact that I needed Him to “wake me up”.

We all need that.

Luke 16 ²⁰ … So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

The above verse is about the Prodigal Son.  When He returns to the Father — He gets greeted like a KING.  And that’s exactly how God wants to meet us.

With a ROBE to cover us

With a RING for authority

With a pair of SHOES so that we can walk

With a HUG so that we can feel His love

If you need a kickstart like I do, I encourage you to join me in this today.

Pray that God would give you a kickstart.

That He would reopen your senses.

That He would reactivate, and RESTORE, you.

As I prayed this this morning, I was reminded of a beautiful song by Kenny Chesney and Randy Travis about being baptized.

I need that.

Lord, renew me … 

Today, 

Tomorrow,

And Forever.

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

No one was a more perfect representative to speak to the Jewish people than Paul.  He was perfect.  

Written by Paul:  Galatians 2 ⁶ As for those who seemed to be important–whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance–those men added nothing to my message. ⁷ On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews. ⁸ For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles.

And so why did God send Paul to the gentiles?  And why did God send Peter to the Jews?  It makes no sense … You send the Jewish scholar to speak to Jews, and you send the fisherman to speak to the gentiles.

But what does not make sense to us makes perfect sense to God.  Because when God decides to move, nothing stops Him and nothing stands in His way.

So the fisherman went to the Jewish people, and the perfectly educated Jewish man went to speak to people who did not recognize him.

And what did they learn?  They learned what God has been telling us all along.  He could care less about who “seems important”.  And He could care less about how qualified you are.  It made “no difference” to Paul.  And it makes no difference to God.

Your importance is based solely on one thing:  Your standing with God in accordance with Jesus Christ.

John 3:16 is not a resume verse.  “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.”

It is not meant for just Jews.

It is not meant for just Gentiles.

It is not meant for the rich, or the popular, or the powerful.

It doesn’t overlook the broken, or judge the defiant, or condemn the shamed.

It is the offer of the living God to all of humanity.

To you.

To me.

To anyone who would receive Him.

God is going to move on our broken society.

And He is going to ask YOU to do your part.  As I read scripture, I often wonder what He will ask of me next.  But what difference does it make to me?  Because if He gives me a job, and I say yes, then I am the ONLY ONE who can make the difference.  Say yes to God when He calls on you.  Because when He calls on you, YOU will be the only person qualified to do what He is asking.  Why?  Because a person marked by the Lord is the hope of mankind.  

Our hope is in God working through the hearts of people.

When God calls you, answer the call

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 Nathanael wandered through his life, he probably asked the question that many of us do:  “God, do you even see me?”

We encounter many things in this life that are more than bumps in the road.

I often look at our situations and societal focus, and I have no doubt that we have built the situation that we live in.  It is not God who doesn’t see us, it is the fact that we do not stop and take the time to look at God.

But He still wants us to know what we know.  He wants us to know that He IS, in fact, seeing us and that He is, in fact, over all that we do.

John 1 ⁴³ The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”

⁴⁴ Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida.⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote–Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

⁴⁶ “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.

“Come and see,” said Philip.

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.”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.”

Following Jesus is not easy.  Life is not easy.  But God sees us in every moment, loves us in every moment, and is for our best in every moment.

And we need to ask HIM for GREATER THINGS.  If He does, in fact, “see us under the fig tree”, then we are selling His life-changing power over our lives by not asking Him to intervene in every aspect of our lives.

Not the small stuff.

Not the big stuff.

EVERY ASPECT.

When Jesus walked this earth, He intervened.  And He promised the disciples a “helper”.  Our Helper is here.  And He acts in not just in Acts but in September of 2022.

Ask the Spirit to intervene.

Ask Him to cover your steps.

Ask Him to come and bring peace over you.

It is in this action that you invite Him to come in.

And, He, will never disappoint.

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 have figured out how to build houses, and cities, and clients, and bank accounts.  

We have figured out how to build wealth, and security, and a perfect health plan.  

We have figured out how to vacation, and how to relax, and how have everything we could ever want.

But we haven’t figured out how to have faith.

As Hebrews 11 says, “Faith is being sure of what hope for … and certain of what we do not see”.

I have always found that verse compelling — because in our societal mask that says:  “we don’t need anything” I see so many that don’t even know what to hope for … Not only do they not have hope, they don’t know what to even hope for.

I want to hope for the same thing that Abraham did:

Hebrews 11 ⁹ By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.¹⁰ For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

I want to hope for Jesus and the city He has built.

The city I live in is desperate His ruling.

It is desperate for His hand.

It is desperate for Him.

He … is our only hope.

As we pray the Lord’s prayer, it is easy to be compelled to speak it out of habit and not what we really need.

Thy Kingdom Come.

Thy Will Be Done.

On Earth As It Is In Heaven.

How can we have anything without Him?

We all know the answer.

“Jesus, help me to fix my eyes on the “city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

Help me to remember that the kingdom I try to build is worthless, and without hope.  

Put a faith in me that will allow You to have the most important aspect of my city … You.

And let Your Spirit dwell in me and change me.  Forever.”

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

When Jesus tore up the temple and sent tables turning and soldiers backpedaling and pharisees second-guessing, I am sure that “common” people recognized a different feel.

They saw a man standing up for them in a way that no one would.

He did not care that they did not have money.

He did not care that they did not have power.

He did not care that they could be overlooked and taken advantage of.

He cared … for them.

Before I go into the point that you are the victim, I want to make this very clear:

Sometimes we are NOT the victim.

Sometimes we are the very thing that He was tearing down.

And this can go from moment to moment … from situation to situation.

1 John 1 ⁸ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Jesus told us that the Truth would set us free.  He called certain men “hypocrites”, or worse.  He told His brother “you make no difference”. 

There is a tension that lives in every Christ following person.

We are free, but we are not better.  

We are forgiven, but we do not have a ticket to do whatever we want.  

We are conquerors, but we are never to trample over the weak for our gain.

Where are you today?

Are you walking in shame?

Or are you walking in a place where you are never wrong?

Only God can put us in the place where we can truly be effective and walking out the call.

Only God can take us out of shame without making us arrogant.

Only God can put us in a place where we are not detestable to the person who truly needs Him.

Only God.

Lord, I have no idea how to walk out this 

very word that I have typed.  Help me.  

Fill me with Your Spirit that I might live for You … And You Alone!

In Jesus Name.

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

As a new fall begins, new things begin to take shape.  I said a tearful goodbye to my son Caleb this weekend as he goes to join my daughter Jenna in her final year of college.  He begins a new season as a college student, and she finishes up.  Just across the city, my daughter Jayci gets up to go take care of children in he Phoenix Children’s Hospital ER.

In my family, in every family, we walk into new seasons and say goodbye to our old ways.

These are not always easy transitions.

But as we enter into them, I remind all of us:

Our Worldview Sets Our Actions In Motion

Who we are, and more importantly, what we believe, begins to define us.

What do we believe?

As Christians, we must never stray far from the foundation that God has laid down for us.

Who are we?

In watching Lee Strobel’s amazing film, The Case For Heaven, he sure compels us to think about this very issue.  Here are a few of my thoughts:

1.  We are spiritual beings in a physical body
2.  We are NOT the center of the universe
3.  Our life is a (reference to Rick Warren):
   1. Trust
   2. Test
   3. Temporary Assignment

We are only here (on earth) for a short time.  And though we can become obsessed with the physical world, it is not this kingdom that we are trying to conquer.  Our kingdom is a spiritual one, and He is a spiritual King.  Jesus came to our physical world TO BE BROKEN and bought us at a price, and He gives us a chance to walk out our spiritual beliefs in a physical, and tangible, way.  He sealed our eternity.  He cut the head off the enemy, He took away the end of our lives, and He gave us a chance to be forgiven for EVERY ONE of our bad thoughts and actions.   He gives us a chance to bring His Kingdom into ours … to share our incredible secret (knowing Him) with all we know.

Remembering that we are not trying to conquer a kingdom that we can never keep is crucial to our lives.

So, if you are walking into a new season like I am, or if you are caught in the same old rut, I remind you:

• We are broken because of our free will
• We are redeemed by a choice
• We will either surrender willingly to a God who loves us, or we will surrender to an entity that hates us and everyone we love.

Paul gives us words that we do not have to bring the “same old garbage of the physical world” into our steps as we walk forward.

Romans 8 ¹ Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.³ For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man,⁴ in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

Romans 8 is an incredible chapter.  It is worth reading again and again.  We are truly free from the world if we choose that path.  And choosing that path will be tested … every single day of our lives.

It is worth the fight.

He is worthy our devotion.

Worship Him this morning in spirit and in truth.

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