2 MINUTE WARNING

The disciples were fully confident that Jesus would be King.

They were confident that He was going to overthrow the Roman Empire, the religious rule of the Jews, and the sinful ways of the gentiles.

And, indeed, that was Jesus’ plan.  But not in the way that any of us could have ever imagined.

Time and again He told them:

“My time has not yet come”

“My time has not yet come”

“My time has not yet come”

And, indeed, it hadn’t.

Jesus’ plan was to overthrow the world—in the spiritual kingdom.  And He has.  On the cross on Calvary, He declared:  “It is PAID IN FULL.”

And it has been.

Satan, Sin, and Death were all defeated in one swift excruciating breath.  

He stands on the head of the snake.

He declares life over all life.

He forgives all sins.

And His one sacrifice freed the multitudes.

As we celebrate Halloween we have one thing right.  The spiritual kingdom is BIG.  It is important.  It is eternal.  And it is MUCH MUCH BIGGER THAN THE PHYSICAL ONE THAT WE LIVE IN NOW.

Do not lose sight of this.

When we say “Thy Kingdom Come” that is the very thing that we pray for, and the very thing that He came to conquer.

Our spiritual eternity.  And we must continue to pray that it comes and overwhelms us now.

Those who have gone before us are in it.  They have seen it.  And I guarantee you that they would set us straight to focus on it with everything that we have.

God came into our world to show us how to live here:

Hebrews 2:14-18 ¹⁴ Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—¹⁵ and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. ¹⁶ For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. ¹⁷ For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. ¹⁸ Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

We can chase after everything the world has to offer.

We can strive and stress and fight and wallow in the world’s issues.  And we will never run out of them.

We can celebrate and rejoice in our flesh and spend our money and party and drink and celebrate like we will never die.

We can dress up in costumes tonight or decorate our children or rejoice in how cute the kids are, or how great the party is, or how great it is to party and “live the life”.

But …

Remember This …

Jesus came here to assure us that this is not our place.

It will never be fixed, or without sin, and there is no celebration that will put us into a place where we are good forever.

Our home is with God.

It is with RECEIVING Jesus.

It is walking into the victory that only He can bring.

And once we find that, the other stuff means nothing.

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

One thousand years before Jesus showed up, Isaiah SAW Him.  How he saw Him, I cannot comprehend.  But he saw Him.

And he described Him.  He knew His ancestors, and His countenance, and His purpose.  And he knew that He would be a sacrifice for all of us.

And he wrote as if he knew Him.

Isaiah 11 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. ² The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—

the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and of might,

the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—

³ and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears;

How can this be?

How could Isaiah know Jesus before Jesus.  And yet, he did.  And he knew Him with great faith.

When Peter declares that we have a “more sure word” about Jesus, he is surely referring to this great miracle.

And this very thing is what makes the Bible so miraculous, so incredible, so absolutely vital to each and every one of us.

And so I ask you today:

Who is this God who calls you to His throne from a place that existed before you were born?

Who is this God that inspired a broken woman, a seeking Israelite, and countless others to come and meet the One who “told them everything they ever knew”.

This is Jesus.

The Teacher.

The Priest.

The King.

But more than that … the friend of sinners.

Your friend.

And the only hope that you could ever have.

Believe in your heart.

And confess with your mouth.

That Jesus Christ is King.

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

2000 years ago, a man walked into the synagogue and read a verse from 3000 years ago:

Isaiah 61 ¹ The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, ² to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor

I am sure that this Jesus from Nazareth was regarded as a very knowledgeable “commoner”.

But that was not His intention.  His intention was to proclaim that He was God.

And when He said:  “Today, this scripture is fulfilled upon your hearing”, He set in motion the plans for His execution.

When the Jewish historian Josephus described Jesus in the history books, he was described as man who was executed for his actions.

He wrote.

About this time lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he was the achiever of extraordinary deeds and was a teacher of those who accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks.

But, with respect to the historian, Jesus was no “wise man”.  And He did not claim to be a wise man.

Jesus claimed that He was a “fulfillment of the scripture”.  He was claiming to be God.

And in 2021, we have a choice.  Jesus claimed that He was God, acted like God, and was crucified for these claims on a cross between two thieves.

And those who followed Him, even though they were scattered at His execution, and even His rising, championed His cause with their lives—that we might have the scriptures that we read today as a result of God inspiring them to spread it.

This is the greatest story I have ever read.

It is the hope of all mankind.

And it has rescued me from my greatest enemy … myself.

Our destiny is that we will live a short life.

We will be here today, and gone tomorrow.

But Jesus … He is in it for the long haul.  And those who follow will belong to Him.

As you search the world over for your purpose, for your direction, ask yourself if you are missing this.

You were created in God’s image.

You were filled with sin as a result of choice.

And you were invited back to God by Jesus.

It isn’t just for later, He offers to save us NOW.

He knows you.

Yet He loves you anyway.

The apostle John says:  

“those who would RECEIVE Him would be given the right to be children of God.”

RECEIVE Him this very day.  It is my conviction that this will be the greatest thing that you have ever done.

Thank You Lord.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Luke 4  ¹⁴ Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. ¹⁵ He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

¹⁶ He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷ and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

    because he has anointed me

    to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

    and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, ¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

²⁰ Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. ²¹ He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

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 was not executed like Peter was.

He was exiled.

And on Patmos this fisherman wrote the book of Revelation.

It is hard to believe that the same man who so simply wrote the book of John also wrote Revelation.

But that’s the point.

John saw into the spirit—he saw into heaven.  And what he saw was indescribable in the world where we live today.

Revelation 5  Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. ² And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” ³ But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. ⁴ I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. 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.”

What God did through Jesus on Calvary cannot be fully explained or appreciated.

He saved humanity.

He did something that we COULD NOT DO.

As I enjoyed this song by Chris Tomlin, I marveled at all that I do not understand about Jesus, and God.

John paints a picture of the mystery of God in Revelation.

The universe is big … we are small … and He …

is 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

As I sat in church 3 weeks ago, I began to write the 23rd Psalm in “my own version”.  The reason that I am releasing it 3 weeks late is because I am weak, and broken, and cowardly.  Lord, forgive me for my lack of faith.

Lord, let what I write today bring Honor and Praise to You.

Psalm 23

1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,

3  he refreshes my soul.  He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.

4  Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

5  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

6  Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

So here it is in my translation:

God watches over me.

And He provides for me in ALL situations.

He brings me Peace … and Rest … and Forgiveness.

Even when I screw up everything — He makes it so that I can be reinstated.

He makes me important so that, somehow, others can know that He is important.

And when I walk into an ambush, or bad health, or to meet with men who hate me—He STANDS LIKE A LION.  He protects with vicious loyalty.

And not only does He protect, He prepares a victory celebration AS IF I AM THE ONE who won the battle.  And that celebration is epic.  As I sit in awe of Him, He taunts, and punishes, those who would dare oppose Him or anyone who would stand with Him.

And He does this—all of this—every day.

So I tell you today.

Do Not Fear.

Walk in Confidence and Love and Victory.

The valley that you fear and the opponents who are daunting and the mountain that is unclimbable—

All Are Temporary.

God is preparing an eternal home

A protection for eternity

And a place with no tears, no pain, and no enemy.

It is a home that you will never, ever, want to leave.

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

In ministry, I often ask God to speak me to everyone.  And I pray that as I speak to everyone, He would speak to just one.

Jesus, at times, would speak to one.  And He would speak to one so powerfully that it would impact EVERYONE.

Today, I am talking to one.  Because I know that by talking to one I can talk to many.

Today, I speak to the one who is cursed.  I speak to the one who feels like they can never break away from their sin.

Today, I speak to the one who is abandoned.  I speak to the person who has been betrayed by someone who they trusted.

Today, I speak to the devalued.  I speak to the person who feels worthless … inadequate … broken.

God wants to change your position TODAY.  He doesn’t want you Cursed, Abandoned, Devalued.

God wants you free.

And He wants you free so badly that He went all in to make sure that it would be done.

When Jesus talks about leaving the 99 to go get the 1, He is talking about you.  He is talking about leaving his 2 Billion dollars in a bag on the sidewalk while He chases down the penny that is 3 blocks away.

And that is because God puts eternal and uncountable value on us.

And He does it … with EVERYTHING that He has.

Romans 5 ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

While We Were Still Sinners, Christ Died For Us.

2021 is significant.

It is significant because we are keeping track.  We are counting.  Not our sins, but the time in world history when the eternal God made One more important than anything else.

And that One is you.

On a cross on calvary some 2000 years ago, Jesus made a decision.

He made a decision to be cursed so that you could DELIVERED.

He made a decision to be ABANDONED so that you could be SURROUNDED BY A LOYAL BAND.

He made a decision to give up His value so that you could be HIS GREATEST TREASURE.

There is no greater love than this.  That He would lay down His life for His friends.

As I listened to this Jeremy Camp song this morning on the way to school, I thought that it was appropriate for me … and 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

I can really claim to know nothing.

I am a man covered, even infected, with sin.

• When it is time to say the wrong thing, it comes out of my mouth before I can even think.
• When it is time to worship, I sometimes pout, consumed in my own futile existence.
• When it is time to encourage, I take a shot.
• When it is time to correct, I encourage.
• When it is time to cower, I am the first to hide in fear.
• I am also the first to (as Peter did) pull out the sword and cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest.  I am the first to accuse, to lather someone in guilt, to judge.

And yet … in spite of all these things … I KNOW this with absolute certainty:

I love my wife with all of my heart.

I love my kids more than I could possibly love myself.

And I love my students at school—with all of my heart.

And I love all of them even when I am hard on them.

That LOVE that I feel for them is not my LOVE, it is God’s LOVE.

You see … God LOVES us.  And He doesn’t mess it up.  And He LOVES us in our weakest moment—unconditionally.  And without limit.

As I write this blog tonight, I can not help but think of the greatest verse in the Bible (besides all of the rest of them).

Ezekiel 37 ¹ The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. ² He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.  ³ He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”  I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”  ⁴ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!  ⁵ This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. ⁶ I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”  ⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone.  ⁸ I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.  ⁹ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’”  ¹⁰ So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

When God wrote this verse through Ezekiel, He intended it for September of 2021.  And He wrote it for you … and for me.

No matter what is broken in your life … Or dead … Or stagnant … He can revive it.  And …

If it is lost, He can find it.

If it is wounded, He can heal it.

If it is doomed, He can save it.

God showed Ezekiel an army coming to life so that you might have hope.  

He showed Him in the spirit so that you might see it in the flesh.  

And He showed him a dead army so that you might breathe His LOVE on an individual, a town, or a nation.  

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 Ten Commandments

Commandment 3

Exodus 20  And God spoke all these words, saying:  ² “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage  …

⁷ “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

A name is a big deal to God.

Peter was The Rock

Paul means small and humble

Abraham means father of many

And the list could go on.

Today, I want to talk about Exodus 20:7.

As we look at the words defined, we see:

Take means Lift Up/Exalt

Name means Reputation

Vain means Worthless

So when we say:

⁷ “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

We could mean:

You shall not LIFT UP the REPUTATION of the Lord as WORTHLESS

I have heard many talk about the words we utter, the phrases that we say, and the things that come out of our mouths.

Today, I want to talk about the reputation of God.  And I want to do it from testimony.

• When I committed to give my dating relationships to the Lord … I met Angie.
• When I committed to God to meet with a man of another race at Promise Keepers, but then asked Him to provide, He gave me Eli.
• When the Lord told Angie and I NOT TO DECLARE bankruptcy but to face our debt, He gave us a plan to recover.
• When the Lord asked me to speak at my father’s funeral, He gave me the strength to do it and actually used it to minister to me.

As I write these lists, I shutter at the fact that I could go all day.

Our God is a miracle worker.

He didn’t just create us.

He didn’t just patiently watch us totally screw up our lives.

He didn’t just save, reteach, and restore.

And He didn’t stop by sending Jesus.

Our God watches us rise in the morning.  He watches us at our best … and He watches us at our worst.

He takes delight in us when we seek Him, and His angels rejoice when we worship Him.

He patiently teaches us when we totally destroy His plan with our cavalier free will decisions … and yet, He continues to offer us free will.

Our God is there in the sunset, and He is present in the hurricane.

Our God is there to give us strength in our brokenness and even carry us when we fall.

How can we even live one day without Him?

He saves us in the small things, and He saves us in the eternity.

He forgives us of our small mistakes, and He covers us from our hideous and ugly countenance.

He sends Jesus to meet us in our issues, and He sends Jesus to carry the sin of the world.

And even though we should no better, I think it is worthwhile for us to be told this commandment—again and again—until it is etched into our very souls.

You shall not LIFT UP the REPUTATION of the Lord as WORTHLESS

You shall not LIFT UP the REPUTATION of the Lord as WORTHLESS

You shall not LIFT UP the REPUTATION of the Lord as WORTHLESS

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 showed up on earth 2000 years ago, He had a destiny.  He was destined to be King.  And because of what He did, we are destined to be heirs, sons and daughters, rulers, more than conquerors, leaders, overcomers …

We are destined to be the recipients of what He did.

But who will?

Luke 4 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, ² where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

³ The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”  ⁴ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”  ⁵ The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. ⁶ And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. ⁷ If you worship me, it will all be yours.”  ⁸ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”  ⁹ The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. ¹⁰ For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you

    to guard you carefully;

¹¹  they will lift you up in their hands,

    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

¹² Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

¹³ When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

Who will walk into the destiny that Jesus fought so hard to give us?

Who will?  You will.

But understand this:

• The Enemy Will Always Tell Us To Take The Shortcut-  and we must understand that God’s will is NOT TO BE CUT SHORT.  For just like the man who trains to run the marathon, we must run the race consistently, with toughness, and with a total commitment.
• We Must Take Control Of Our Thoughts-  and as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10, we must take every thought captive.
• No One But God Gets To Tell You Who You Are-  God created us, redeemed us, and walks with us.  He, and He alone, holds the keys to eternal life.  And as Philippians 3:20 says–we are citizens of heaven.

Do not waver in your pursuit of God.  

Do not half accept His sacrifice on the cross or the destiny that He set up for you.  

Do not put limitations on His plan for you.

Do not put shame over your mistakes or live in the times that you have fallen short.

Walk into, and accept, the plan that He has given for you.

It is the greatest decision that you will ever make.

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