FCA 4 Years Ago

 

I was looking through my files and found this FCA topic from four years ago.  It is just as prevalent today as it was then….perhaps even moreso.

 

Jesus was aware that His death was looming.

 

He knew He was going to be betrayed.

 

He had declared that He would rise from the dead, and yet people either didn’t believe, or they didn’t understand, the words that He was saying.

 

Might be time to pack it up and try the mission another time, right?

 

Wrong.

 

John 13 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

8 “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

 

The reason that Jesus responses are so shocking is that we truly don’t understand who He really is or what is heart is.

 

And how can we understand something we don’t study?

 

Who is this God and what does He truly want from me?  

 

What is His heart?

 

Who is He?

 

We can think many things about Jesus, and God, but we have to ask—are my perceptions really the way that He is?

 

In His moments of greatest trial, He proves again and again, that He is for us.

 

We worry about knowing everything…..but what about seeing it from God’s side?  He was so committed to Judas choosing his destiny that He washed his feet too—knowing full well that Judas was going to make the WRONG choice.

 

It must have been unbearable to wash his feet knowing that he was going to be betrayed….and yet, Jesus chose freedom and choice over protection.

 

Why did He do it?

 

It says in scripture that ALL of us will sit before God and have our miscues on full display.

 

2 Corinthians 5 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

 

I can remember in college entering the film room after an incredibly bad play.  Up on the wall, in a larger than life video, was my mistake, over and over again, played out in all of it’s shame.  And the coaches sat and showed it again and again in front of the entire team.

 

As they say in the NFL, “the eye in the sky don’t lie”.

 

And neither does the Lord.

 

That….is why Jesus did it.

 

He did it because we are sitting ducks.

 

Our destinies—-all of us—-are completely hopeless without Him.

 

We have NO CHANCE.

 

On our own accord, we will never—ever—measure up.

 

So what are we to do?

 

The enemy is working in every arena.

 

I think it would benefit all of us to open up a Bible and find out who He is.

 

It would benefit all of us to turn off our social media for a time and spend some time in prayer.

 

It would benefit all of us to truly seek His heart and find out what He would have us do.

 

What are your dreams?

 

How do you want your life to truly play out?

 

2000 years ago, in an upper room, He chose you.

 

He washed the feet of men who would soon betray or abandon Him to show you that He wants to give you the keys to His house….and He is willing to do it IN SPITE of your deficiencies.

 

It is as true today as it was 4 years ago.  Choosing Him is the greatest thing you could ever do.

 

Choose Him

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRmQ1lQyj_M

 

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

“Thy Kingdom Come….”

 

Imagine getting a job for a startup company with a generous boss.  You trust him when he says: “I am going to pay you minimum wage….but at the end of this year, I will give you a HEFTY bonus.”  You trust him, and agree to work hard for him. January 6th you begin, and you put in hours to make the company great. As the bonus day on December 15 approaches, your boss brings in another worker to help.  And so this worker helps from December 1 to December 15.

 

With great anticipation, you walk into the December 15 meeting to see what a HEFTY bonus might look like.

 

The boss starts with your co-worker and gives him a check for $500,000!  This was MUCH MORE than what you thought you would receive—-and as you watch this transaction, you are now even more excited…..what does this mean for you?

 

When the boss gets to you……he gives you a check for $500,000.

 

Whatever you might think about this scenario—–this is a comparable parable to what Jesus describes at the Kingdom of heaven.

 

And Jesus makes reference to it in Matthew 20.

 

Matthew 20 1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.  3 “About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went. 6 “He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’  7 ” ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.  “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’  8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’  9 “The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

13 “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money?  Or are you envious because I am generous?’

16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

 

It is stories like these that probably lead people of religiosity to be strongly compelled to kill Jesus.  And yet, these stories are the very reason that I have chosen to accept Him as Lord and Savior.

 

Our reality, if you read this story like I did, is this:

 

1. We all think that we are the guy who worked all day long in the vineyard……We are not.
2. We all think that God somehow owes us something……He does not.
3. We all believe that our good works somehow please the Lord……they do not.

 

God’s offer is simple……

 

It is $5,000,000,000 for 10 minutes of work.

 

We don’t deserve it.

 

We didn’t earn it.

 

And we are not the most important person in the operation…..He is.

 

I am in utter amazement that the King of the universe would offer me what He has given……and it is my job to share it, offer it, and give it to every person I can encounter…..

 

And if I truly understand what He has given……my heart will do it willingly.

 

“Thy Kingdom Come….”

 

Take a moment to say the Lord’s Prayer….or listen to this song and sing it out in worship.  He will take whatever you’ve got. And remember what you are saying when you say: “Thy Kingdom Come”, because you belong to the King of the Universe, and our God has an incredible plan for you.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eIVSWdBaTE

 

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

“Thy Kingdom Come….”

 

When Jesus wanted to change a city, He did not even need to travel there.

 

In a premeditated meeting with a woman at a well, Jesus releases the kingdom on an entire city.

 

And He calls us to do the same thing.

 

John 4  1 The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?”

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

17 “I have no husband,” she replied.

18 Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

21 Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

26 Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.” …….

 

39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”

 

The King of the world not only talked to the most rejected woman from a city of rejected people, He made sure that He wrote it on His schedule.

 

You are not so small that Jesus does not see you and know you.

 

You are not so sinful that He can’t forgive you.

 

You are not so insignificant that He can’t notice you.

 

You aren’t so weak that He can’t make you strong.

 

You are the most important person in His agenda……and John recognized this by calling himself the “disciple who Jesus loved”.  I don’t think that He wrote this out of arrogance. I think that He wrote it because Jesus is in the business of meeting with each of us….one on one….in hopes of changing the entire world.

 

Don’t be afraid to do one small thing today that can change a city…..put the love of Jesus on the rejected…..and watch Him work miracles.

 

Thy Kingdom Come

 

Take a moment to say the Lord’s Prayer….or listen to this song and sing it out in worship.  He will take whatever you’ve got. And remember what you are saying when you say: “Thy Kingdom Come”, because you belong to the King of the Universe, and our God has an incredible plan for you.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eIVSWdBaTE

 

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 Father….”

 

In two words we are uttering something that is unfathomable.

 

Our Father

 

How could we be allowed to say something so utterly ridiculous.

 

And yet—-we are invited to.

 

Grace, many say, is a scandal.

 

It is a promotion of the undeserved, to a position they could not attain had they done it right, at a time when they should be punished….A SCANDAL.

 

Romans 5 10 …we were God’s enemies…

 

Not a neutral party.

Not on a truce.

Not an old adversary.

 

We were straight up —- enemies.

 

And so what does the God of all creation do?

 

He sends His Son to redeem us so that we can be:

 

ADOPTED

 

Is that what you do for your enemies?

 

Think about it.

 

Think of the person who you have the hardest time dealing with and then…….

Trade your most valuable possession so that they can inherit all that you have to offer.

 

Grace Is A Scandal.

 

Romans 5 14 because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.  And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs–heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

 

The same God who was so bright that He could not be looked at is offering us a chance to call Him Abba (Dad).

 

And as a result, we become:

 

• The Richest Person In The Universe….After all, He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.
• Holy and Righteous and Justified….After all, He is the Lamb without blemish.
• Eternally Protected….After all, He is the Beginning AND the End.

 

The Bible says that we are created in God’s image, fearfully and wonderfully made, and that He has ordained over us a purpose from the beginning of time.

The Bible says that we are born into sin…..not that we pick it up from the world, but that it is within us on the day that we are born.

The Bible says that, though we start off as God’s enemies (Romans 5), that we, in fact, can be ADOPTED AS SONS, AND DAUGHTERS, into the Kingdom of God.

 

When you say

“Our Father….”

 

Remember who you belong to.

 

You belong to the King of the Universe.

 

Take a moment to say the Lord’s Prayer….or listen to this song and sing it out in worship.  He will take whatever you’ve got. And remember what you are saying when you say: “Our Father”, because you belong to the King of the Universe, and our God has an incredible plan for you.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eIVSWdBaTE

 

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

“Give Us This Day….

Our Daily Bread”

 

In the eyes of man Moses had absolutely wrecked God’s plan—-not only His plan for Moses but His plan for all people.

 

God had rescued him from death at the hands of the Egyptians and he had traveled from slavery to royalty, from a hard life to life in the palace, and from a life of rejection to a life of prosperity.

 

But his heart had grown cold and in a moment of weakness, he had killed a man.

 

Exodus 2 11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

 

And when I say “moment of weakness”, it probably was more than that.  Jesus warns us, again and again, about our thoughts. Our thoughts control our actions, and they might just be the result of weeks, or months, or even years of thoughts that lead us into a moment of action.  I believe this is why He warns us, again and again, about what we would put our minds, and our hearts, on.

 

And our reality is this:  We are just like Moses.

 

God sets in motion things that walk us right into our destiny.  He puts people, things, and circumstances in order that we might truly be “in the will of the everlasting and all-knowing and all-powerful” God.  And like Moses, we have a penchant for messing it up. Discouragement, sin, despair, and past circumstances all have the ability to push us into a mindset that can ruin the plans that might very well lead us into the “Promised Land.

 

But……..

 

This is not the end of the story.

 

Not for Moses.

 

And not for us.

 

The Bible shows us that God meets Moses in the wilderness. He heals him, strengthens him, prospers him, and prepares him to walk into his destiny.……and it is THE SAME destiny that He has planned from the beginning.

 

Exodus 2  10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am . F6 This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

 

This……is the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

In all of our weakness, we have free will.  And that free will, combined with a sinful nature, can often lead us in the wrong direction.

 

In the case of Moses, it took him out of the destiny that God had for him…….or so it seemed.

 

But this is simply a house of cards when stood up to the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.

 

We have freedom.

 

And our freedom, when combined with the broken world and the freedom of everyone else in this broken world, can lead us to a place that is broken just like everybody else.

 

But we can not mess over God’s great plan.  His plan will reign. His will will prevail.  And His kingdom will ultimately rule. And there is not a thing that we can do about it.

 

In the eyes of man, we see everything in the flesh.  But we neglect sometimes to see the very thing that is needed.  God.

 

And with God all things are possible.

 

This reality can never be emphasized enough.  It is the truth for all ages. And it is the truth that was sealed in stone as Jesus paid off the debt on the cross.

 

You can tell me whatever you would like to about your failures and shortcomings and all the things that you have messed up.  But I can tell you, in one sentence, that none of that matters. Romans 5 assures us that no matter HOW BIG our brokenness can get….God’s grace GETS BIGGER.  (Romans 5)

 

And as true as it is on the side that is not broken as well.

 

I believe that Moses, away from God, did not have all he needed to free God’s people on the inside of the palace.  Because….without God, we do not have, in any circumstances, enough.

 

You see…..

 

I could give you a million dollars, but without God you will be in the grip of poverty.

I could give you perfect health, but without God you will be on death’s door.

I could give you the perfect love, but without God you will be in utterly miserable and alone.

I could give you incredible strength, but without God you will be indescribably weak.

 

The good news of the gospel is the reality that we all face:

 

We need God to fortify our lives that we might have victory.

 

And without it, we have nothing.

 

When you ask God

 

“Give Us This Day….

Our Daily Bread”

 

You are asking for the ONLY thing that you truly need.

 

And you don’t need anything else.

 

Take a moment to say the Lord’s Prayer….or listen to this song and sing it out in worship.  He will take whatever you’ve got. And remember what you are saying when you say: “Give Us This Day….Our Daily Bread”, because without the bread that God has for us—-we might as well have nothing at all.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eIVSWdBaTE

 

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

“Thy Will Be Done”

 

The Lord has convicted me to write a series on the Lord’s prayer….

And as I began to pray and read scripture, it was not at all what I thought it would be.

 

And so I write from a point of humility and open this writing in a prayer:

 

Lord-

Teach me—teach us—about prayer.  

Teach us how to pray.

Teach us how to live.

Teach us how to walk out the call.

Teach us.

 

So here goes……

 

From a hillside in the middle of the night, Jesus was at the moment of truth.

 

He knew it was time.

 

Men were coming to apprehend Him.

He had been betrayed.

They were coming to accuse Him.

And soon the sins of the world were going to be put on Him.

 

Being fully man—-He felt what all of us would feel.  

Fear

Indecision

Rejection

Betrayal

 

He was not exempt from these–nor any other–human emotion.

 

And He was tempted….

To run.

To wash His hands of the whole thing.

To abort the mission.

 

Luke 22 39 Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40 On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” 41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

 

In a couple of words, He changed my eternity.  He changed your eternity. He changed all of eternity.

 

42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.“

 

“Thy Will Be Done”

 

Thy Will Be Done:  “I’m not here to do what I want, but what you want.”

 

When we say it in the Lord’s prayer—what are we saying?  Are we saying it like Jesus did? Do we know what we are saying?

 

Toughen up.

 

He stood up and faced His oppressors, took our sins, and was punished as a hardened criminal in the most humiliating fashion.

 

He watched as men cowered away in the middle of the night and left Him in His time of greatest need.

 

And He stayed on that cross until He had completed the mission, looking skyward and saying:  “It is PAID IN FULL”

 

And He did it so that we can say to Him:

“Thy Will Be Done”

To follow Jesus is simple—but it’s not easy.

It is a free gift—but we must OPEN it.

It is a chance to be born anew—but we must RECEIVE it.

 

Take a moment to say the Lord’s Prayer….or listen to this song and sing it out in worship.  He will take whatever you’ve got.  And remember what you are saying when you say:  “Thy Will Be Done”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eIVSWdBaTE

 

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

Emotions and feelings can betray you.

 

No one knows this more than a pilot.

 

To keep perspective, pilots use an instrument panel named after an important instrument, the gyroscope.

 

“Trust your gyros” is the common phrase from pilot to pilot.  That is because, in the world of pilots, trusting your instincts can actually “work against you”.

 

And so it is with each of us.

 

Our feelings can betray us….and how we feel can lead us down the wrong path.

 

And there is one thing worse than the physical death a pilot could face.

 

Spiritual Death.

 

God warns us about this:

 

Jeremiah 17  9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

 

Throughout life, I have often used the phrase:  “Follow your heart”…..so to read that verse was a shock to me.  We can actually lead ourselves in the wrong direction. Pray about your decisions.  Weigh your next move. “Trust your gyros”.

 

The Word of God is our Gyroscope.  It is our bearing and gives us alignment with the horizon.  It keeps us from falling and going into engine failure. It points us in the way that we should go.

 

Luke 16  10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

13“No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

 

God has entrusted us with much.

 

He has given us resources, and abilities, and has put us here on earth for a season.

 

He is calling us to a life of purpose.

 

Where is He calling you?

 

I want to again say:  Start small.

 

Ask Him what He is calling for you to do?

 

Are you lacking an audience?  He changed a city with one encounter.

 

Are you lacking resources?  He was a homeless wanderer.

 

Are you not respected by others?  He was the illegitimate son of a carpenter.

 

Are you afraid?  He faced off with a Roman government, called out powerful Jewish religious leaders, and dealt with a disciple who was a political revolutionary—probably a brutal soldier.

 

You are not called to have things to do things….you are called to have the faith of a mustard seed.

 

Allow the Lord to lead your steps.

 

Start with a small step, a tiny faith, and a BIG God.

 

He is able.

 

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

 

FCA January 25, 2019

 

Jumping Out Of A Plane

Trust Your Gyros (Gyroscope)

Follow Your Heart

Don’t Follow Your Heart

 

Life Is A Trust

Life Is A Test

Life Is A Temporary Assignment

 

The faith hall of fame, as many call it, is Hebrews 11.

 

And my wife said something Friday that made me think of these faithful followers of the Lord.

 

Live With Eternity In Mind

 

That is a good word.  Live with eternity in mind.

 

Hebrews 11 8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 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.

 

Hebrews 11 13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country–a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

 

I want to be a man of great faith……and perhaps this word from the Lord is a good call to all of us.

 

Do we know that there are promises that will be fulfilled AFTER we are gone?

Do we know that there are promises that we can only see from a distance?

Do we know that there is a city with FOUNDATIONS?

Do we know that there is a better country, a heavenly one?

 

All of these are reminders that the battle is already won…that the Lord has built the city…that He has prepared the place that we all long to live in……

 

And it is our job to share that good news with all who would care to listen…or watch.

 

Live with eternity in mind.

And preach Jesus to the lost:  

And when it’s needed…..USE WORDS

 

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 of the most convicting verses in the Bible is Jesus speaking to the church in Turkey.

 

Revelation 3  17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

I often read verses like this and I am caught off guard.

 

Never has there been a time when we might be MORE LIKE THIS then the time when Jesus spoke this verse to John on the island of Patmos.  And even though He was speaking to a church in Laodicea—-I am taking this as He is talking to me.

 

He also mentions, in THIS chapter of Revelation, that the church is lukewarm to the point that he could “spit them out of His mouth.”

 

Christ has called us to a life that makes a difference.

 

He has called us to be true followers of Him.

 

He has sealed the fate of those who would call on Him to walk into His Kingdom and live for an eternity.

 

It is a free gift to all who would choose.

 

But…..much like the country we live in…..freedom is NOT FREE.  There is a cost. And those who do not understand that there is a cost soon find out that they are in fact, NOT FREE.  If we TRULY want freedom, we must be willing to PAY THAT COST.

 

It is January 18, 2019.  We are beginning a new year.  There are urgent things that lie in front of us…..but I am calling you out right now to take a step back and to focus on the IMPORTANT things in front of us.

 

There was a song I listened to growing up that used to hit this point spot on.  I am not advocating this song…..just pointing out that they new the truth:

 

When The Dave Matthews Band, in a song called Ants Marching, sang:  

Take these chances

Place them in a box until a quieter time

Lights down, you up and die

they might have meant many things, but one thing I know is true:  When we put off the things that are important we tend to wait too long before we move in the direction that we are called to go.

 

Delaying.

Waiting.

Putting things off.

 

All are passive responses that ultimately are as bold and decisive as saying NO in the first place.

 

Jesus has called us to the opposite.

 

He has called us to great things and compelled us to be world changers.

 

He has even encouraged us in our shortcomings.  In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, He uses the tiniest seed, a mustard seed, as His encouragement to all of us….

 

If we have Faith the size of a Mustard seed we can do GREAT, GREAT, things.

 

Where are you man of God?  Where are you woman of God?

 

Are you taking these chances….and placing them in a box until a quieter time?

 

Because God is calling you to step it up…..not on the urgent things…..

 

But on the IMPORTANT ONES.

 

In The Name of the Father and the

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

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Coach J