The earth is the LORD'S, and all it contains,The world, and those who dwell in it.
Ps 24:1
I'm sure that you have all heard this verse before, but do you actually realize what it is saying? Every in/around/on/contained/happens on the earth belongs to Jesus.
See if you look at the New Testament we see that Jesus is called "The firstborn of all creation." Now to understand what that actually means we are going to have to look at the Old Testament. If you look at the story of Jacob and Esau (Gen 27) we see how the firstborn was given the blessing of being the heir of his father's estate as well as the fact that the other kids were supposed to serve/worship the firstborn.
So since Jesus is the "Firstborn" of all Christians then guess what??? (I thought you would never ask...) Our purpose on this earth is to worship and serve our "Older Brother!!" And everything on the earth is actually his and we are just supposed to "take care" of all of it for HIM!!!
So this begs the question. Why are we so selfish when it comes to "Stuff?" Or our time? "Where ever you treasure is, there is your heart also"
So I challenge you. What is one thing in you life that you just "can't" give up?
Whatever it is, do whatever it takes to make CHRIST the center of everything you do and everything you are!!
Friday, April 29, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
How can you not love Him?
The face that Moses had begged to see—was forbidden to see—was slapped bloody.
The thorns that God had sent to curse the earth's rebellion now twisted around his own brow...
"On your back with you!" One raises a mallet to sink in the spike. But the soldier's heart must continue pumping as he readies the prisoner's wrist. Someone must sustain the soldier's life minute by minute, for no man has this power on his own. Who supplies breath to his lungs? Who gives energy to his cells? Who holds his molecules together? Only the Son do "all things hold together." The victim wills that the soldier lives on—he grants the warriors continued existence. The man swings.
As the man swings, the Son recalls how he and the Father first designed the medial nerve of the human forearm—the sensations it would be capable of.
The design proves flawless—the nerve performs exquisitely. “Up you go!” They lifted the cross. God is on display in his underwear and can scarcely breathe.
But these pains are a mere warm-up to his other and growing dread. He begins to feels a foreign sensation. Somewhere during this day an unearthly foul odor began to waft, not around his nose, but his heart. He feels dirty. Human wickedness starts to crawl upon his spotless being—the living excrement from our souls. The apple of his Father’s eye turns brown with rot.
His Father! He must face his Father like this!
From heaven the Father now rouses himself like a lion disturbed, shakes his mane, and roars against the shriveling remnant of a man hanging on a cross. Never has the Son seen the Father look at him so, never felt even the least of his hot breath. But the roar shakes the unseen world and darkens the visible sky. The Son does not recognize these eyes.
“Son of Man! Why have you behaved so? You have cheated, lusted, stolen, gossiped—murdered, envied, hated, lied. You have cursed, robbed, overspent, overeaten—fornicated, disobeyed, embezzled, and blasphemed. Oh, the duties you have shirked, the children you have abandoned! Who has ever so ignored the poor, so played the coward, so belittled my name? Have you ever held your razor tongue? What a self-righteous, pitiful drunk—you, who molested young boys, peddle killer drugs, travel in cliques, and mock your parents. Who gave you the boldness to rig elections, foment revolutions, torture animals, and worship demons? Does the list never end! Splitting families, raping virgins, acting smugly, playing the pimp—buying politicians, practicing extortion, filming pornography, accepting bribes. You have burned down buildings, perfected terrorist tactics, founded false religions, traded in slaves—relishing each morsel and bragging about it all. I hate, loathe these things in you! Disgust for everything about you consumes me! Can you not feel my wrath?”
Of course the Son is innocent. He is blamelessness itself. The Father knows this. But the divine pair have an agreement, and the unthinkable must now take place. Jesus will be treated as if personally responsible for every sin ever committed.
The Father watches as his hearts treasure, the mirror-image of himself, sinks drowning into raw, liquid sin. Jehovah’s stored rage against humankind from every century explodes in a single direction.
"Father! Father! Why have you forsaken me?!"
But heaven stops its ears. The Son stares up at the One who cannot, who will not, reach down or reply.
The Trinity had planned it. The Son endured it. The Spirit enabled him. The Father rejected the Son whom he loved. Jesus, the God-man from Nazareth, perished. The Father accepted his sacrifice for sin and was satisfied. The Rescue was accomplished.
~From Joni Eareckson Tada's When God Weeps
The thorns that God had sent to curse the earth's rebellion now twisted around his own brow...
"On your back with you!" One raises a mallet to sink in the spike. But the soldier's heart must continue pumping as he readies the prisoner's wrist. Someone must sustain the soldier's life minute by minute, for no man has this power on his own. Who supplies breath to his lungs? Who gives energy to his cells? Who holds his molecules together? Only the Son do "all things hold together." The victim wills that the soldier lives on—he grants the warriors continued existence. The man swings.
As the man swings, the Son recalls how he and the Father first designed the medial nerve of the human forearm—the sensations it would be capable of.
The design proves flawless—the nerve performs exquisitely. “Up you go!” They lifted the cross. God is on display in his underwear and can scarcely breathe.
But these pains are a mere warm-up to his other and growing dread. He begins to feels a foreign sensation. Somewhere during this day an unearthly foul odor began to waft, not around his nose, but his heart. He feels dirty. Human wickedness starts to crawl upon his spotless being—the living excrement from our souls. The apple of his Father’s eye turns brown with rot.
His Father! He must face his Father like this!
From heaven the Father now rouses himself like a lion disturbed, shakes his mane, and roars against the shriveling remnant of a man hanging on a cross. Never has the Son seen the Father look at him so, never felt even the least of his hot breath. But the roar shakes the unseen world and darkens the visible sky. The Son does not recognize these eyes.
“Son of Man! Why have you behaved so? You have cheated, lusted, stolen, gossiped—murdered, envied, hated, lied. You have cursed, robbed, overspent, overeaten—fornicated, disobeyed, embezzled, and blasphemed. Oh, the duties you have shirked, the children you have abandoned! Who has ever so ignored the poor, so played the coward, so belittled my name? Have you ever held your razor tongue? What a self-righteous, pitiful drunk—you, who molested young boys, peddle killer drugs, travel in cliques, and mock your parents. Who gave you the boldness to rig elections, foment revolutions, torture animals, and worship demons? Does the list never end! Splitting families, raping virgins, acting smugly, playing the pimp—buying politicians, practicing extortion, filming pornography, accepting bribes. You have burned down buildings, perfected terrorist tactics, founded false religions, traded in slaves—relishing each morsel and bragging about it all. I hate, loathe these things in you! Disgust for everything about you consumes me! Can you not feel my wrath?”
Of course the Son is innocent. He is blamelessness itself. The Father knows this. But the divine pair have an agreement, and the unthinkable must now take place. Jesus will be treated as if personally responsible for every sin ever committed.
The Father watches as his hearts treasure, the mirror-image of himself, sinks drowning into raw, liquid sin. Jehovah’s stored rage against humankind from every century explodes in a single direction.
"Father! Father! Why have you forsaken me?!"
But heaven stops its ears. The Son stares up at the One who cannot, who will not, reach down or reply.
The Trinity had planned it. The Son endured it. The Spirit enabled him. The Father rejected the Son whom he loved. Jesus, the God-man from Nazareth, perished. The Father accepted his sacrifice for sin and was satisfied. The Rescue was accomplished.
~From Joni Eareckson Tada's When God Weeps
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Good Works....
Have you ever heard the idea that "Oh God will have to let me into heaven cause I did all this good stuff on earth"?
Well I can't remember where I heard this but I saw/heard a quote that said something like "Trying to save yourself by good works will never work because the motivation for your good works is simply an extension of you selfishness"
Which is really true. If you true to "earn" you way to heaven, you will fail every time.
"I am the way"~Jesus
Thats all for today. =D
Well I can't remember where I heard this but I saw/heard a quote that said something like "Trying to save yourself by good works will never work because the motivation for your good works is simply an extension of you selfishness"
Which is really true. If you true to "earn" you way to heaven, you will fail every time.
"I am the way"~Jesus
Thats all for today. =D
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Easter
Every year for the past 6 or so years during the Easter season, I have gone to a production that New Life Church puts on called "The Thorn" I'm sure many of you reading this have been to the Thorn sometime. It is one of the highlights of my year. Not only because I love good theater and drama, but because its almost like a refocusing on what Christ did for YOU and ME.
And while I could go on and on about that, there is something else I would like to focus on. A very small part that often goes un-noticed in the Easter story: Read here from Matt 27:15-26
So I'm sure we have all heard of Barabbas. How the crowd picked him over Jesus. But is there something deeper? In the Thorn it is referenced how possibly the 1st person to realize what Jesus was doing was Barabbas. He was supposed to be in Jesus' place. (We aren't specifically told that but can imply it from the text that he was a dangerous criminal and would have possibly been executed) He should have been the one to have been beaten and crucified.
Aren't we are all Barabbas'. We have all done horrible things deserving (eternal) death. But Jesus took our place.
"He who knew NO sin became sin on our behalf"
"By His stripes we are healed"
As we enter this Easter season, While it is nice to think about the grave and the empty tomb let us not forget the price that Jesus paid for each and everyone of us.
THIS is how much he loves us (here is a link to a friend's blog to a post that she did which is really powerful): Forgiveness
And while I could go on and on about that, there is something else I would like to focus on. A very small part that often goes un-noticed in the Easter story: Read here from Matt 27:15-26
15Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the people any one prisoner whom they wanted. 16At that time they were holding a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. 17So when the people gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” 18For he knew that because of envy they had handed Him over.
19While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message,saying, “Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him.” 20But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death. 21But the governor said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” 22Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Crucify Him!” 23And he said, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they kept shouting all the more, saying, “Crucify Him!”
24When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to that yourselves.” 25And all the people said, “His blood shall be on us and on our children!” 26Then he released Barabbas for them; but after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.
Aren't we are all Barabbas'. We have all done horrible things deserving (eternal) death. But Jesus took our place.
"He who knew NO sin became sin on our behalf"
"By His stripes we are healed"
As we enter this Easter season, While it is nice to think about the grave and the empty tomb let us not forget the price that Jesus paid for each and everyone of us.
THIS is how much he loves us (here is a link to a friend's blog to a post that she did which is really powerful): Forgiveness
Footprints
One night I dreamed a dream.
I was walking along the beach with my Lord. Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, one belonging to me and one to my Lord.
When the last scene of my life shot before me I looked back at the footprints in the sand. There was only one set of footprints. I realized that this was at the lowest and saddest times of my life. This always bothered me and I questioned the Lord about my dilemma.
"Lord, You told me when I decided to follow You, You would walk and talk with me all the way. But I'm aware that during the most troublesome times of my life there is only one set of footprints. I just don't understand why, when I need You most, You leave me."
He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you, never, ever, during your trials and testings. When you saw only one set of footprints, It was then that I carried you."
Yes I know this was in a different post but i really like it so it gets it own spot
Saturday, February 19, 2011
I Walked
I walked through life like it was fading away
Putting on that plastic smile
Acting like nothing was wrong
While my heart was breaking all the while
I walked through life as I did each day
“Pretty good” was the response I gave
Put deep within the hurt abounded
Though I’m not sure where it had founded
I walked through life not knowing myself
Sometime not know whether I could make it one more day
No one to build me up, or carry me along
Except Jesus, the answer to my song
I walked though life with Jesus beside
Through around was still a abyss of silence
Struggling through life with only Jesus
That’s all I need I know…
Putting on that plastic smile
Acting like nothing was wrong
While my heart was breaking all the while
I walked through life as I did each day
“Pretty good” was the response I gave
Put deep within the hurt abounded
Though I’m not sure where it had founded
I walked through life not knowing myself
Sometime not know whether I could make it one more day
No one to build me up, or carry me along
Except Jesus, the answer to my song
I walked though life with Jesus beside
Through around was still a abyss of silence
Struggling through life with only Jesus
That’s all I need I know…
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