Mark 15:34:  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

When I first read this scripture, I wondered why Jesus felt that God was forsaking Him.  Wasn’t He giving His life willingly to the Father?  Didn’t He just say on Gethsemane that He would do whatever the Father wanted Him to do?

Some of these things confused me as I was growing up……And not only these but many many things in the Bible confused me and I wondered whether they truly lined up.

After years of examination and comparing and reading and questioning, I came to a few conclusions:  This was the most complicated and incredible and powerful and life-changing book that I have ever read.

• Whoever wrote this book had access to information that none of us could get on our own.
• Whoever wrote this book was able to predict the future.
• Whoever wrote this book was able to make people in different generations and cultures come to agreement—incredibly miraculous agreement.

How did I come to this conclusion?  Well part of this conclusion occured when I stumbled onto the 22nd Psalm.  When I read it, I realized that Jesus, when He was being excruciatingly tortured, was reciting the Bible.  And the verse He was reciting was written 1000 years before by a guy named David.

And this David…..was writing about something that made no sense to him when he wrote it…….it was like someone “on the outside was” forming together a master plan to save us.

After HUNDREDS OF THESE discoveries after reading the Bible, I have come to this conclusion:  God made a plan to send Jesus.  And, 1000 years later, on a cross on Calvary, this Jesus carries out that plan and recites the verse that God told David to write it in Psalms 1000 years prior:

Psalm 22:1 “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Read the 22nd Psalm.  It is the story of Jesus crucifixion written 1000 years prior and it is one of hundreds of scriptures that were written hundreds or thousands of years prior to Jesus that describe Jesus and His coming to redeem our lives.

Test me on this and investigate this matter.  This is either a conspiracy over thousands of years contrived by people who did not know each other OR a plan from on high to redeem a broken human race……and I have staked my claim on the latter.  As a mathematician I can see no other probability that could make sense—-and so yes—I am fanatical about it.

If you have read this book with anything but utter amazement and respect you have, in MY OPINION, not given it the honor that it is due.  Because my conclusion is this:  It is the Word of God……an absolutely magnificent playbook that we should be reading every day to turn us in the right direction…….

And we owe it to our world to show IT……..and HIM to them.

In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

Hebrews 11:1  “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

When Peyton Manning hit a record setting touchdown pass with the Indianapolis Colts many years ago….something struck me and impressed me.

• It wasn’t the fact that he stepped into the pocket to EXACTLY the right spot to launch the ball given the rush that he was facing….though that was awesome.
• It wasn’t the velocity he put on the ball as he made the throw….though that was cool too.
• It wasn’t the accuracy with which he threw the ball….but that was impressive.
• It wasn’t the fact that he got his team in the right play call, that he verified it with his eyes after catching the snap, or that he threw it to exactly  the right spot AT THE RIGHT time to totally  take advantage of that defense….but that was incredible.

What struck me was the FAITH that he showed in dropping that pass in.  Watching from the right angle, one could observe that he made the throw BEFORE Brandon Stokley  had even entered into his break.  In layman’s terms, Stokley was going away from the ball when he Manning threw the ball.  When he broke his route back inside, the ball was on him and he caught it for touchdown 49…a then NFL record.

FAITH in the play, FAITH in his teammates, FAITH in his coaches, and FAITH in himself made it possible for Manning to be great on that day and on many others.

You see, great things are originated when we act in FAITH.  But we, in fact, must see it before it comes to fruition.  You see, God tells us:  “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain  of what we do not see.”  It is us acting BEFORE we know that something will work.

A  carpenter uses it when he builds something.

An engineer when he designs something in the shop.

A teacher sees the lesson before it is presented, anticipating spots of clarification.

And so it goes.

The Lord values this quality in us…..and, in fact, it is one of the few things that we can give Him.   That is why  He values it SO MUCH.  See, we can give Him sin, and heartache, and shortcomings, and brokenness…..it is in our nature to see what is broken….to see what we do not have.

But the Lord is asking us to look at what we DO HAVE.  To celebrate what we have and to have FAITH in Him to do something even greater with it.

How foolish Noah must have looked when he began construction of that boat.

How did Abraham look when he left a good situation for hope of a greater one?

And what about Paul?  He took his privileged life and threw it away because of an encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus.

But it isn’t just biblical characters…..

Many admire Tim Tebow…..a football warrior FULL of faith.

Or Ben Carson…..a poor young man who came from inner city  Detroit to become a national (in my mind) hero.

The list goes on and on.

And so I ask you…..what will YOU DO with what the LORD has given you?  Jesus says He can take FAITH the size of a mustard seed and do something great with it…..

So what is He calling you to be?  Is it a call that is higher than what you could fathom on your own accord?  I hope so, because that would mean it is probably from Him.

We serve a big God….a God who loves us without borders…..a God that did something radical when He measured us out and discovered that we could not pay the debt….He sent His Son down to do it—-and He stretched out on that cross on Calvary and uttered with His last breath:  “IT IS PAID IN FULL”…..Think about it….What on earth was He paying for?

Maybe it was so we could say:  “I am forgiven….and I am going to live the same way I did before I knew this.”

But I have to think it was for a different reason……I have to think it was to inspire us to RECEIVE HIS UNFATHOMABLE GRACE and respond with a life that screams out that we have FAITH!!

If He can use a guy like Peyton to inspire (no offense to him) then He can use a person like you:

• As the “rush” is coming at you, step into the place where you can launch….not fearing the hit but SEEING the TD.
• Throw that ball or shoot that arrow with VIGOR,  with the speed it needs to be propelled in order to stick into the target.
• Aim with discernment…..aim at a target that you have been praying for…or about….and let prayer be your guide in that aim.
• Get your life in the right “play call” given the defense that you see.  Make sure that as the play is going, you “verify” with your eyes and carry it out.

And lastly, show FAITH….in the play, the players, the coach, in all who are in that mix with you as you try to execute…….because if the LORD is with you, who can be against 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

Psalm 18:  “I love You O Lord my strength,

the Lord is my Rock and my Fortress, my Deliverer.  

My God in whom I trust.  

My Shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.  

I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from my enemies.”

What do we do when we don’t know what to pray?  So many times in my life I have come to the throne with nothing.  Nothing to offer.  Nothing to give.

When it seems that there is no good thing within me to offer to the King of the universe….I can still give Him the best.  He has written His Word for us and we can say it back to Him in response and thanksgiving.  I have taken a liking to memorizing scripture…..and on days like today I am truly grateful.  I can simply recite the verse that He has written over my heart and take delight in Him….Memorizing scripture is an easy thing to do….simply get a notecard and write down the first letter of each word on the top, with the actual words on the bottom or the back of that card.  It goes something like this:

Be blessed today…….and remember:

He loves you and:

He can give you strength.

He is the only one who can deliver you.

You can trust Him.

He will defend you and protect you.

You can call upon Him.

He can save you from your enemies.

In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

The Father tells us in Hebrews 11 about Faith–and it is a remarkable picture of what Faith is……and I would like to spend my next two sessions writing about it.

Hebrews 11:  1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

I have read that verse so many times and yet just recently something caught my eye—and then my heart.  Faith is “being sure of what we hope for…….”

To be honest:  many have lost hope….and we do not EVEN KNOW WHAT TO HOPE FOR!!

So let me ask you this:  What if what He says is true?

• What if I REALLY am a citizen of heaven….in other words—what if heaven is AWESOME and I, once I accept Jesus, am royalty there?
• What if He truly is rooting for me and actually OFFERING His Son so that I might be in His favor NOT ONLY IN HEAVEN BUT HERE ON EARTH?
• What if I actually could DEFEAT THE DARKNESS (Satan), DEFEAT MY FAULTS (sin), and DEFEAT MY MORTALITY (death)?
• What if I could actually see my friends and family in heaven—and there was ACTUALLY no disease, no tears, no striving and failing….what if I could see people living in harmony like I want to see here?

Well, if all that were true, it would rock me to the core.  That would change everything….it would change the way I loved myself—and thus how I loved others.  It would change all my relationships.  It would change the way I treated people and the way I responded to things that could look, in the flesh, as if they were hopeless.

So let me testify to this fact:  ALL OF IT IS TRUE.

We ARE Citizens of Heaven when we accept Jesus….We are ROYAL.

We ARE, in Jesus, able to defeat Satan, sin, and death.

We ARE, under open invitation, able to receive Christ in our lives and ensure an eternity that would blow away EVERY GREAT THING THAT WE HAVE EVER SEEN…..

And He is offering to come and do it in our lives here on earth……it is what we are crying out for when we say:  THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE, ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN……it’s just that, we don’t truly always mean it when we say it……

So here’s the good news:

That can all change in a moment…….

We are a nation……a people……that lacks hope.

Because if we understood the promise of the gospel and what He truly did on the cross…… our homes, our schools, our cities, our states, and our country would look incredibly different…..

Think about it……..even a select few of us could actually change a nation.

So what are we waiting for?

Get down on your knees and cry out….and I mean CRY OUT….and ask Him to change your heart and to actually put HOPE INSIDE OF YOU.

Because if He puts His HOPE INSIDE OF US…….our world will never look the same again.

In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

It used to mean something to give your word.  Growing up, I always used to hear this from people older than I was and I often wondered….why?

Why is it so important to backup your words with actions?

As a man who has sold his wife’s dining room furniture on the front driveway….I can tell you that I have felt the pain of losing everything due to someone lying to me, breaking the law, and running off with people’s hard-earned money.

Not following up hurts……and I have felt the pain of not being able to trust someone and, in essence, losing everything.

So my question today is:  Why trust Peter?

2 Peter 1:  16We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

I think it is important to know what was written originally and what it might mean.

Today, I will focus on the word:  WITNESS.  Witness comes from the Greek word Martyras……

In other words to be a witness was connected to being a martyr.

Perhaps a better way to communicate what Peter is saying is:

“I am willing to die before I take back what I am communicating.”

And, in fact, he did.

Peter, the man who was running and denying, the man who told Christ that he had His back, the man who disappeared when Jesus needed him most, is putting his “money where his mouth is”…..He would die for his testimony.

And so I ask you……have you given your life to Jesus?  I think many of us could say that we have not committed at the level that Peter has.  But perhaps we could step it up a little and start trying to be who God has truly called us to be…..

After all, Peter told Jesus after Jesus asked him if he wanted to leave:  “Where would I go?  You and you alone hold the words to eternal life..”

Perhaps we need to recommit to the Father this very day and say:

“Father, I am lost without you.  You, and YOU ALONE, hold the keys to eternal life.”

In The Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Daniel 3  16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand.18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

Three men stood up to a nation……and it is worth reading about what happened to them after they did…..it not only honored them—but it honored the LORD!  The same is true in the world today.

Abraham Lincoln stood up to slavery.

Martin Luther King stood up to racism.

Our forefathers stood up to the British and unfair taxation.

Martin Luther stood up to the Roman Catholic Church.

All of these men did something great because they were willing to stand up to what everyone else was doing.  None of them were applauded when they first did this very thing…..and the reality is that many of us are not rewarded when we do so.

But we must remember that if we:  “don’t stand for something, we will fall for anything.”  A line must be drawn and we must, ultimately, set the standard over our own lives.  Where should we look in doing so?  The Word of God…..He has written us a playbook and we need to follow it not only for the now….but for the eternity.

This is hard in today’s world……but I want to encourage you in three things:

1. If someone has a standard that is higher than yours…..applaud them for it!  That is not a bad thing.  We could use a few great influences.  And the Lord might be using them to speak to you.
2. Seek to please the Lord in all that you do.  Most of the time, he simply wants you to reach out and love people where they are at and show them His enormous grace and power over their lives.
3. When He asks you to stand for something, do not be afraid.  Do you know how many times in the Word it says:  “Do not be afraid?”  I would encourage you to look into that.  Because when He convicts you not to be afraid….hold your ground and stand.  It will reward someone—-you.

Several examples of this from scripture:

• 2 Kings 6  17 And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, LORD, so that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
• Matthew 28  20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
• Exodus 33  17 And the LORD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”

We are NEVER alone with the Lord.  So, if you must be afraid….Fear the Lord.  He is the Alpha and the Omega.

In The Name of The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

John 1:45-51

45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote -Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”46 Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!”48 Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”49 Nathanael answered Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.”50 Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.”51 And He said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Nathanael is a normal guy, living a normal life, who goes about his business as a benefit to society.  He is honest and hardworking and true to his faith.

But this is not enough.

It is not enough for others.  And, more importantly, it is not enough for him.

Without Jesus, life simply will never measure up.  We can have seasons of fun, seasons of work, seasons of success.  But ultimately, without Him, we begin to lose our way.

As Peter will later tell Jesus:  “You and You alone, hold the keys to eternal life”.  This is not just a statement for later….it is a statement for now.  Jesus is the only anchor that we can truly hold onto.  He speaks into our lives just like He did Nathanael’s.  You see….Nathanael was a broken man.  A sinner.  A man who was destined for Hell.  His sin had infected and broken him.  It had tainted his views of what life was and what the Lord had in store for him.  It had made him a sitting duck for Hell.  And his destiny was to lead a ruined life into a ruined eternity.  Nathanael was broken.

We are no different.  We are broken from the inside and when we begin to look at what the issue is in our broken way, we soon begin to discover the problem.  It is US.  We are the problem.  I once told my team that we were not playing well and that they needed to “Take a Look Inside and Make It Right”.  This is because the Lord wants us to come to the end of ourselves, as Peter did, and confess our absolute and unadulterated need for Him to come in and complete us.  The beauty of this partnership is unequaled.  Not only does He make it whole and beautiful, He makes it right.  The Lord warns us in scripture to not partner with others.  It has never been more clear why He says that than it is today:  He wants us to partner with no one but Him.  You see, when you have the keys to a perfect plan, you don’t bring in something that contradicts that.

What will you choose this day?  Where will you choose to be in your life?  He sees you just as He saw Nathanael.  And the beauty of that sight is He sees good in you!  He loves you for who you are.  And He wants to come and join you in your walk and bring meaning and wholeness to it.  It is a deal breaker.  He breaks off the deal with the enemy, the deal with darkness, the deal with your mortal enemy.  He brings a Kingdom to you that can change the brokenness of others.

Your Hope is in Him and Him alone.

Your Faith is in Him and Him alone.

Your Love is in Him and Him alone.

Realign your hopes.

Refocus your vision.

Rejuvenate your soul.

Reassemble your desires.

Redeem your losses.

Request your dreams.

Refine your plan.

Remake your life.

The Lord of the universe has a different plan than what you might have….but it is so much better than the one you will attempt on your own.

In The Name of The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

LIFE is meant to be lived.  And it is meant to be lived with great passion and joy.  I think all of us would say that.  I mean what good is it to just get up each day and go through the motions?

I think all of us face this reality each and every day……and there is a battle being waged on how we can do just that…..

You see, where I live, we have legalized marijuana.  And while we can go back and forth on legal and political issues, I am going to argue in the arena of the spiritual and say:  Just because something is legal doesn’t make it what we need to do.

You see, we live in a society where we have a pill, or a cure, for everything.  Even in the medical field we sometimes try to stop the symptoms and leave out the root of the problem.

I urge you:  Don’t Do It.

Solomon gave us this message 3000 years ago in Ecclesiastes 2:

10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;

I refused my heart no pleasure.

My heart took delight in all my work,

and this was the reward for all my labor.

11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done

and what I had toiled to achieve,

everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;

nothing was gained under the sun.

And it is the same today.  If we truly “deny ourselves nothing” and chase after all that we could ever have…..it won’t solve the problem or be the cure for the issue.

And that’s because the we don’t get to have the answers, we get to have the Answer.

And that Answer is Jesus.

Don’t take a pill….say a prayer

Don’t numb the pain…cry

Don’t avoid the work…grind it out

Don’t duck out on the problem and run away…fix it

The Lord came down here to give His life to be with us…..and when I get mad and say:

“Why don’t you come down here and feel what it is like to be on this earth?”

“Why don’t you go through this pain so you know what it feels like?”

“Why don’t you come and FIX THIS?”

I am here to testify today–that in the person of Jesus:  

He Did.  He Has.  And He Will.

I pray that He will come and help you deal with all that burdens you……because the harder things are…..the more that we truly need to have Him……

So cry out and ask for help…….He’s Got You.

In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Saul’s Conversion:  Acts 9
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.”

I was thinking about this today as I drove home from our basketball game….and it still amazes me.

This man, Paul, is a Roman citizen.  He is educated in the greatest situation with the most reputable religious scholar.  He is honored and revered by the Jews and yet has nothing to fear from the Roman iron fist because of his citizenship.  He is rich, he is liked, he is respected, he is literally “LIVING THE DREAM”.

And on his way in to tell others that they are wrong…..He comes to the realization that he is the one who is, in fact, wrong.  How does he find out?  He has an encounter with Jesus.

So what does he do?  He throws everything he has IN THE TRASH and becomes a follower of what he calls “The Way”…..a follower of:  Jesus.

This is all the testimony I need to hear!  This guy who wrote so many New Testament Books gives up everything so that he can be:

Beaten

Imprisoned

Shipwrecked

Stoned

Mocked

Ridiculed

This must have been an INCREDIBLE ENCOUNTER!!  I want that ENCOUNTER!

So Lord….come meet with me today….come meet with me and change my heart that I would consider all other things, well, trash, compared to what I can receive from you.

Change me and transform me.  Let Your Spirit convict me and revive me.  Make me one of your servants.

For You, and You alone, Jesus, hold the keys to eternal life.

Amen.  Amen.  And Amen.