Tag: god

He poured- I spilt

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Matthew 26:28 ” This is the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

Picture yourself on a hot day. Your clothes are drenched in sweat and you are longing for something cool to drink. All of the sudden a dear friend brings a pitcher of water, filled to the brim with ice, and pours it into your cup. You put your lips to your glass, take a sip, and automatically a smile hits your face . Your thirst has been quenched and your body refreshed.

Here is another scenario. You are going on a date with your husband at a nice restaurant. It has been a while since the two of you have had time alone and so you put on your nicest dress. You get seated at a table with a picturesque view of the ocean. Along comes the waiter to pour you a glass of wine and all of the sudden he trips and spills the wine all over your dress. You are horrified and have to go home because now your cute pink dress is covered with crimson. What a mess. The date was cut short, the wine was wasted, and your dress was ruined.

Let me tie in these made up scenarios to real life stories. Late last year, I was struggling with several bloody noses. They were quite severe but, with the help of my parents, we were able to get the bleeding stopped . One day, however, as I was getting out of my truck my nose started to drip blood; going from drip to a deluge. I could not get it to stop and blood was gushing out. My dad called 911 and I ended up having a 10-12 hour straight bloody nose. I had to be put on a ventilator a trach tube put in because I swallowed so much blood. It was a very traumatic and horrific experience. The point is that I could not stop the blood flow no matter what I did; It was spilling out of me. I would have done anything to stop it, but I couldn’t. I could not get that blood back, it was spilt all over the ER room. I had to have a small transfusion and I ended up spending almost a month in the hospital.

On the other hand, Jesus Christ who is God’s one and only Son, came to earth as a man. His mission was to die on a cross so that His blood could wash away my sins and I could live with Him forever. You see my friend, on that cross Jesus’ blood was not spilled out. The circumstance was not out of His control. Jesus, at any moment, could have stoped the blood flow. He chose, however, to pour out every ounce of His blood so that we could gain eternal life. He emptied His cup so that our cups could be full.

What a contrast between these situations. My blood came uncontrollably spilling out of me. It did nothing but make the ER room look like a butcher shop and put me in the hospital for way too long. Every drop of Jesus’ blood was mercifully poured out. That crimson flow did the opposite of making a mess, in fact it cleansed my heart and made it as white as snow. The result of His blood is that I am healed of my sins, perfect before the Father, and I have gained eternal life. Mine created a disaster but His made a masterpiece of beauty and grace.

We can never repay Jesus for what He did, and what He is still doing, but we can purposely pour out our all for His glory and His kingdom. Please don’t try to control your life, wasting it and making a mess of things. Let Jesus fill your cup because left to yourself you would just spill it anyways.

The Audience to the Life of Faith

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Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a cloud of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish.”

From the moment we wake up to the moment we lay our head on the pillow, we are living out our lives in front of a cloud of witnesses. In essence, our lives are being played out as if we were on stage in front of a live audience. As you look out amongst the crowd, you see familiar and unfamiliar faces. You see smiles and you see frowns. You hear cheering along with some “boos.” Some have come to see an amazing performance, and some have come to watch a disaster. I call these the audience to the life of faith.

In the audience, you have four groups of people. You have the unsaved in your life; the people you come into contact with on a daily basis. These are the co-workers you spend 8 hours a day with or the classmates with whom you interact. These are the members of your family who do not know Christ or the people in the grocery store or the people who pass you by on the road. These people have bought a ticket to the performance of “my life.” You see, they may have come with an expectation to see you fail. They may not be cheering you on as you live your life, but make no mistake, they are watching. They are expecting you to live life differently. In their everyday lives, they know what it is like to face hurdles. They know what pain is, and they know the joys of fleeting pleasure. But what they need to see is someone who can face pain and tragedy and come out stronger because of it. They need to see someone whose joy is not based on circumstances or material gain, but is based on a relationship with the Savior who holds their lives in the palm of His hand. Yes, they may have come to see you fail or expect to watch you be pulled down, but may they come away seeing a difference in the way you live and wanting the life that Christ has to offer.

The second group amongst the audience are your sisters and brothers in Christ. This group is comprised of people who have come to cheer you on in your faith; people who have lived out similar scenes in their lives and can give you the assurance that if the Lord came through for them, He will come through for you as well. They provide a smile when one is needed and a word of encouragement when the way is tough. They can provide counsel when the way is unclear, and just a shoulder to cry on when you are feeling worn out.

Within the second group, there are also believers who have come to be inspired. They want to see someone who took the leap that faith required and made it safely to the other side. They are looking to you to provide them with an example of godly living, unselfish friendship, self-sacrificing love, and pure motives. They need someone who can become their hero of faith. May they not walk away disappointed.

Down in the lower levels of the stadium sits the third group. They came to the performance already in an uproar. According to them, you were supposed to be playing by their rules and reading from their script. They remember the time when you were bringing profit to their playhouse and were living life to bring them accolades. Now, Satan and his demons are furious that you are working for someone else. They jeer, they mock, they lie, and sometimes even throw in a word of fake flattery, all so that they can see you fall flat on your face. Satan lost the war for your soul when you gave your heart to Jesus and decided to live for Him. Now he and his army will make every attempt to get you either to go backward or stand still in your walk with Christ. Live your life in such a way as to make these guys as angry as possible. When they whisper in your ear, “You can’t make it one more step,” charge on with the Lord full force. When they say the Lord can’t use someone like you, prove them wrong with every fiber of your being. Their sole purpose in coming is to see you fail. However, may they walk away feeling like failures themselves, knowing that every attempt to make you weaker just made you that much stronger in Christ.

Your eyes are drawn upwards to the fourth group. There, in the balcony, sit myriads of angels. Along with them are saints who have gone before you. All of them have come for your support. You see, they know the writer of the play, and He has personally told them of your potential. They know that if you stick to the script, the end result will be marvelous.

Suddenly, your heart skips a beat as you focus your attention on one member of the audience. Tears start streaming down your face as you realize who is looking on. The One who sacrificed everything to give you the role of a lifetime, being a child of God, is sitting center stage. He has the sweetest look of encouragement in His eyes, and now, more than ever, you want to nail the final act. You want Him to smile as He wells up with pride seeing the one, who once was a poor blind sinner when they were cast, being used as a powerful vessel for His glory.

My friend, each night you will see the curtains close, and each morning they will opened and a new scene will begin. May we, in the way we are playing out our days, point the unsaved to Christ, encourage and be encouraged by the saints, frustrate the devil and his demons and make the angels cheer with joy. Most importantly, though, may we have made our Father proud. When the final curtain call is made, may we hear, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Battered, yet still standing

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Last Sunday, at our 4th of July celebration, we watched a short video about how much our flag has been through. It has been tattered and abused; trampled on and treated as worthless. It has been through wars. People have tried to destroy, it yet it still stands proud, representing our country. How touching it was to see the depth of what it cost for our freedom.

On this independence day, I realized that there is a great parallel between what the church has been through and what our flag has been through. Just as the flag stands for America, the church stands as a symbol of the heavenly country and the One who paid the price for its freedom.

Many enemies have tried to destroy the church of God. People have been martyred, blood has been shed, homes have been destroyed, family members threatened, livelihoods have been taken away. Those on the side of evil have mocked the church of God, they have trampled it under foot, and have done everything to see it wiped out completely. They hate what it stands for and Who it stands for. Others have pledged allegiance to it, only to turn their backs on it, in the midst of the spiritual battle. Those who hate the church have shot at it from every side, yet it still stands proud; representing the heavenly country and the One who gave His everything for its freedom from sin and death. The blood of the martyrs has been the seed of the church. What the enemy has meant for evil, the Lord has turned for the good.

The flag flies the highest and stands the proudest when it is at home. The horrible things it has been through were worth what it means to represent its people’s freedom. It is the same with the church of God. When we reach our heavenly country, we will then realize, even more, that the light and momentary trials have been worth the eternal weight of glory. Also we will be thankful to have represented the One who gave His all to set us free from sin.

My friend, what a day that will be when we enter eternity and are able to say to Jesus, face to face, You were worth every battle wound. Thank you for dying that I might live. I pray that I represented you well. If you have not yet pledged your allegiance to the Lamb of God, please do it while there is still time. You want to be standing on the right side when the battle is over.

Going Forward

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“Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to Him, so He stepped forward to meet them….” John 18:4

Today I want to share with you one of my favorite verses. It is John 18:4. “Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to Him, so He stepped forward to meet them…”

I want everyone to pause for a moment and really take in what this verse means. Jesus was being confronted by a group of soldiers who were about to arrest Him. He knew in minute detail what was going to happen to Him next. He knew He was going to be arrested, mocked, spit upon by His own creation. He knew His beard was going to be plucked out. He knew how many times He was going to be slapped in the face, and not only that, He knew every person who was going to do it. He knew His flesh was going to be torn to pieces and every ounce of blood was going to be poured out of HIs body. He knew that His hands and His feet were going to be pierced through and that a crown of thorns would be dug into His precious head. He knew the disciples were goin to flee and that Peter was going to deny Him three times. He knew Judas had sold Him for the price of a slave. He knew the weight of the sins of the whole world was going to be placed on His shoulders and He knew that His Father, with Whom He had perfect fellowship from all eternity, was going to turn HIs back on Him in His deepest hour of agony.

Knowing all of this Jesus stepped forward. These words are overwhelming to me. Jesus stepped forward because He knew that His pain and His agony was going to save a wretch like me. He stepped forward out of love because He wanted so badly to have a personal relationship with me and He knew that the only way to do that was not to shun the cross but to step forward to endure the cross for my sake and yours. Oh, the depths of love!!!!! He didn’t even just stand still and wait for the soldiers to come and get Him… He went forward.

I believe that if the Lord chose to show me all that I was going to face in my life, which is absolutely nothing compared to the sufferings of Jesus, I would run the opposite direction. I would say, “No Lord, this is too much for me to handle. I can’t do this.” However, the Lord in His wisdom and mercy, just asks me to walk forward one step of faith at a time not knowing what the future holds but knowing Who holds my future.

In light of what Jesus did for me I pray that I can go forward and, in His power, endure the cross that He has so lovingly chosen for me to bear. I pray I will never look back, nor turn back, but “keep my eyes of Jesus the Author and Perfecter of my faith Who for the joy set before Him endured His cross, despising the shame and is now sitting at the right hand of glory.” (Her 12:2)

My friends, Jesus went forward for us. Is it too much to ask that we go forward for Him?

The Invasion

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Exodus 8:10 Then Pharaoh said , “Tomorrow”…

Imagine waking up tomorrow with a slimy creature on your face.  You pop up, half awake, so you can shake it off and the second you do another one hops on. The booming sound of “ribbit, ribbit, ribbit” reverberates off of every surface of the house.  Your eyes pop out of your head as you see frogs hopping on your floor, on your furniture, in your pantry, and in every room. Not just one but hundreds.  You run outside to find an escape and to your horror the whole land is filled with these disgusting, hopping creatures.  You can’t even jump on your horse to ride away because the horse itself is being tortured by the same thing you are.  There is no escaping the situation.  You are trapped. Your life is being invaded by frogs, which you used to try and catch as a child.  Your heart is pounding out of your chest by this time.  You realize that your only hope is mercy, so you call the man of God to intervene on your behalf.  In comes Moses and his brother Aaron.   They can fix things just like they have before.  As they approach you despairingly cry out “ok, I’ll do it.. I’ll let your people go and sacrifice to your God, just make these darn frogs go away.”  Moses replies , “sure, I am at your disposal, just tell me when you want me to call on God for you!”  You take a deep breath and the word…”tomorrow” comes out of your mouth.  Tomorrow, not instantly, not even today but tomorrow.  Now you are probably thinking to yourself, “I would NEVER do that .” If my whole world is being invaded I would do anything  to make them go away today.  But tomorrow?!!!!!!! My friend, you may think you never would make that crazy call but so often it happens.  As you are sleeping, you feel the slimy feeling of sin creeping into your heart.  It’s ok, you say, it’s just one little sin.  So you flick it away only to find that another comes to take its place.  Before you know it,  sin has taken over your whole being.  You feel dirty and you are being hurt by the sin you’ve let invade your life.  There is no escaping it now except to plead with God.  The Lord appears and you cry out.. “ok God.  I’ll obey, just take away this plague”.  “Ok, the Lord says, I’m ready any time.  In fact I’ve been waiting for you to say those words.  When do you want me to do it?” and you find yourself saying tomorrow.  You will put up with the horrors of the present just to enjoy sin for a bit more time.

Christians put off obedience and the unsaved put of surrender just to enjoy their sinful life for just one more day.  They could have their relationship with Jesus restored instantly or their eternal fate changed from hell to heaven yet they cry out tomorrow.  Please do not let sin invade your life only to one day wake up and find, if you’re a Christian, that your relationship with Jesus is nearly non-existent.  If you are not saved, don’t put repentance off until tomorrow. You wake up or you may not wake up at all, and find yourself completely cut off from the chance of salvation, and regretting for eternity that you didn’t act immediately.  God can save in an instant my friend, it’s just your choice when or if .