2 MINUTE WARNING

Thank you Jesus for the United States of America.

And, more than that, thank You Jesus that you have shown us exactly who we are to be and what we are to be.

As most of us know and understand, freedom isn’t free.  It comes at a cost and we would do well to remember this.

When His time had come, Jesus was baptized and taken to the darkest place on planet earth.  Deprived of food, left in weakness, and standing alone, He faced off with the king of lies and the accuser of all mankind.

Matthew 4 ⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.  ⁹ “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”  ¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only. ’ ”

Good luck trying to push my King around.  He won’t be fooled or intimidated, and He will not flinch in the face of evil.  And what men failed to do throughout the Old Testament, Jesus did in His short time on earth.  This was certainly not the end of His conflicts.  If anything, it was the opening battle of His ministry and it would continue until He paid the price that we could not.

But that’s the point, isn’t it?

Apart from Him, we are sitting ducks for Hell.  And the enemy would love nothing better than to accuse, punish, and torture us on his way to stealing, killing, and destroying.

But here’s the thing:

My King is not afraid.  He is not unable.  He is not unworthy.  The only thing that we might be able to accuse Him of is His company:  you and I.  But even in that, we are not nearly as broken as He is perfect.  I would even go so far as to say our level of despicable is not nearly bad enough to cross out His grace.

We are free!  What the enemy planned for our demise will not work because of Jesus.

Independence Day.

Enjoy it.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

I have often thought:  What makes a great football player and what makes a great football team?  The reality is that it is the same qualities that make a great follower and a great body of believers.  And that is following this simple law:

The Law Of The Spirit Of Life

I am a believer in laws but I have to admit that I get discouraged by not only our laws, but our lawmakers.  This will never change and I think I heard a pastor say it best:

“Laws restrain … but 

they do not produce good”

That is the best description that I have ever heard regarding this topic.

And it is exactly why Paul wrote in Romans 8:

Romans 8 ² … the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death … 

Following laws will never produce good.

And when people are not morally aligned to the God of the universe … all they can harvest is frustration … at best.

But following the Spirit?

Now that’s good stuff.  And as I was processing this I was thinking about the acronym LOTS … because when we follow God, what do we have to gain?  LOTS!

Law

Of

The

Spirit

What does that look like … and what does it NOT look like?  A few examples of each:

• The Pharisees as they stood in judgement and arrogance DID NOT have LOTS.  They were more worried about rules than God.  Certainly men who follow LOTS would display LOVE, GENEROSITY, RIGHTEOUSNESS.  (Matthew 12:34)
• The Prodigal Son as his brother returned home DID NOT have LOTS.  He was ungrateful.  Certainly a man who follows LOTS would display GRATITUDE.  (Luke 15:11-32)
• The Cripple At The Pool DID NOT have LOTS.  He was a victim to the point where Jesus said “do you want to get well?”  Certainly a man who follows LOTS would display ALACRITY.  (John 5:1-15)
• The Woman At The Well DID NOT have LOTS.  She was trapped in shame which produced … more shame.  Certainly a woman who follows LOTS would display FREEDOM.  (John 4:1-42)
• Paul The Legalistic Jew DID NOT have LOTS.  He was full of hatred, vengeance, and defending a system, not God.  Certainly a man who follows LOTS would display GRACE AND FORGIVENESS.  (Acts 9:3-9)
• Paul The Missionary Had LOTS.  He was so full of LOTS that he basically told his handlers:  “imprison me, torture me, or kill me … those are your 3 options.”  And when you choose one I can guarantee you this:  GOD WILL BE GLORIFIED.  Certainly a man who follows LOTS will GLORIFY GOD.  (Philippians 1:20-26)
• Abraham The Father Had LOTS.  He was so full of LOTS that he told he left his home and moved a city across a desert with no knowledge of where he was going.  Certainly a man who follows LOTS will SURRENDER EVERYTHING. (Genesis 12:1)

Do you have LOTS operating over you?

What in the blazes could you possibly gain from having it?

LOTS

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

As I was driving to school this morning … this song came on.

And I couldn’t help but raise my hands to the heavens to rejoice.

God is so so so Good.

I am a sitting duck for Hell.  An all star sinner with so many shortcomings and so much wrong that I sometimes don’t know where to start.

And yet … I am free to step forward in worship.  I am free to cry out for help.  I am free to ask him “why”?  And I am free to be his prodigal son—broken, starving, and out of money.

And there He is.

Our lives are so short.

Our pursuits are so often futile.

Our dreams are sometimes more important than they should be or so misguided.

And yet … He cares.

Raise your hands up and rejoice.

The God of the universe tore the veil, paid the fine, and took a trip to the pits of Hell so that He could stomp on the devil’s head … for you … and for me.

And that, my friends, is all we need to know.

Romans 5 ⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

I am sure that transonic buffeting prevented us from breaking the sound barrier. In the world of jets, this is a technical term for the shaking that takes place as a jet approaches the speed of sound.

Certainly, this phenomena turned many pilots away from “going for it”.

In life it is no different, and we have a great description of it in scripture:

When Jesus was about to walk into His ministry, He was taken into the wilderness.

Matthew 4 ³ The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

No food.

No water.

And the voice of evil calling out all He knew to be true.

“If you are the Son of God” …

How dare him.

How dare him take my best friend out into the wilderness to treat Him as such.

But this is the story of Christ.

His willingness, His offer … His amazing desire to make us right caused Him to leave all that was comfortable in order that we might have life.

Today, on May 13, I ask you the question:

Who Are You?

Because the answer to this question is going to be challenged and attacked by the devil himself.

Are you about to do something amazing?

Or start something new?

Or be the difference in a community?

Are you in celebration mode as you have accomplished something great?

Because all of these put you in great position to be challenged by Transonic Buffeting

You see, God has a plan.

But Satan also has one.  And in some perverted act of spiritual influence he would love to shake you out of moving forward into your destiny.  And he will do anything he can to accomplish it.

As you think about your future, I want you to think about such things. Because the enemy wants to challenge you as you move forward.  And these are things you should think about:

• he will attack you in your weakness
• he will attack you in your strength
• he will attack you when your flesh is weak
• he will attack you when you are down
• And, more than anything else, we need to acknowledge that Jesus told Peter how dangerous he truly was … and that he has come to steal, kill, and destroy

Knowing this is important.

And knowing what Jesus did is vital.

He knew who He was.

He knew the Word and answered every challenge with scripture.

He knew what the truth was and was quick to identify half truths.

And He was courageous enough to walk forward in faith.

So today, is a great day to ask the question:

Who Are You?

Because if you know who you are in Jesus … 

Satan will not win the battle you are facing … and the shaking will stop as you move forward into your destiny.

I wish it were this easy … but the reality is that tomorrow … he will try to shake something else.

Fight well my friend.

And bring Jesus with you.

You will need Him.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

One version of the Bible tells us that we are “MORE than conquerors”, that we are a Royal Priesthood, that “we will be blessed when we go in and blessed when we go out” …

Another part of the Bible tells us that we are born into sin, that there is no one worthy, and that “we all like sheep have gone astray” …

And so which one is right?

It is “the tension of scripture” as I once heard Kris Vallotton describe it.  Opposing ideas that don’t seem to blend together … they don’t work.

The idea of combining Excellence and Grace is not just difficult–it is IMPOSSIBLE.

And our enemy wants nothing more.  Because if he can attack us in our failure, he can then convince us that we never measure up and that anything is permissible.  He can get us to go back and forth between trying to be perfect and not trying at all.

From my perspective, this is the great spiritual death roll, and much like a crocodile, it rolls us from never measuring up to “why try?” … and we live in the prison of death and failure and hopelessness.

In that, my friends, there is NO HOPE.

Enter Jesus.

Colossians 2 ¹⁵ And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

On the cross on Calvary, He intervened.  He ensured that we could actually be excellent and be forgiven in our mistakes.  He changed the rules of the game completely.

He made is so that we could actually play … and win.

Think about it.

He did the impossible so that, for you, all things are possible.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

If I am to be honest, I spend much of my time building a house in the wrong city.  I rise and toil.  I pursue and work.  I make every effort to make sure that all of my ducks are in a row.

And the reality is that this means nothing.

What I really need is PEACE.  We Need PEACE.

And we must constantly seek peace.  Not the peace that comes from treaties or comradery.  Not the peace that avoids conflict at the expense of character.  And not the peace that is fueled by emotions.

Peace With God.

Romans 5 ¹ Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,  ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  ³ Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;  ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope.  ⁵ And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.  

Aside from Jesus … there is no peace.

Sure, we can brag about our good deeds, we can proclaim all of our great accomplishments, and we can build an empire.

But none of those will give us anything in the Kingdom.

We have peace with God ONLY with Jesus.

Solomon knew this as he wrote to “fear God and keep His commandments for this is the whole duty of man … “

Paul knew it when he declared himself the “chief of sinners”

Peter knew it when he stood before Jesus in absolute failure and had to declare his love of Jesus … even though he had TOTALLY FAILED HIM.

And then there is us.  We have nothing as we stand before God.  Nothing.  All we can do is fall before Him and ask for Jesus … and in that, we have peace.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

The Internet of God is an amazing thing.

Unless you are a person.

John 13 ³⁷ Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”

Matthew 26 ³³ Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.”

Matthew 26 ³⁵ But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same.

John 18 ¹⁰ Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)

Written for all to see, Peter made promise after promise after promise to Jesus.  Finding fish, he believed.  Finding faith, he spoke.  Finding that he could be REAL with Jesus, He RESPONDED.

What a hero.  Not a hero with an H but a hero with h.

Our Hero, Jesus, opened up a door that we can walk through.

And Peter, in spite of his failure, chose to be a hero and walk through that door.  But he (Peter) had to realize something.  He had to realize that he (Peter) was nothing without He (Jesus).

And that’s just it:

Jesus = Everything

Peter + Jesus = Everything

Peter = Nothing

These are three equations that we must learn today.

Because, like Peter, we are all simply men, and women, who make empty promises, brag, and, literally, do NOTHING.

But with Jesus?  We can change the world.

Walk … Into Your Calling.

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