3 Fridays in your life that need a Sunday

Some people might say it is over-used or even cliche', but I still say, 'It's Friday, but Sunday is on the way!'  The Friday that Jesus was crucified seemed to be the darkest day in history.  There was an eclipse, the very Son of God was dying on a cross, and God Himself turned His back on the world.  That's pretty bleak, pretty dark.  But we can do something the people living that day could not do; we can flip ahead a few pages and read about Sunday morning.  Well there will be many dark days in your life, many Fridays.  So, just as on that first Good Friday, on your Friday you can rest assured that Sunday is on the way! So let's take a look at three 'Fridays' that you will face.

1. The Friday of fatigue.  Life will tire you out.  The day to day struggle of just living is tiresome.  Anyone who tells you different is selling something.  However, Jesus promises us rest.  In Matthew 11:29 Jesus says, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls."  The Sunday of the Lord's rest will show up and carry you through.
2. The Friday of failure.  All of us will fail at one point or another.  And when we fail, we feel all alone.  We let everyone, including ourselves, down.  Failure will make you feel like giving up.  When Judas realized that his betrayal of Jesus was a failure, he hung himself.  Peter might have felt like doing the same thing, but he waited for Sunday.  And on Sunday morning, when Jesus told the women to tell the disciples that He was alive, He singled Peter out and wanted them to make sure that Peter knew He was alive.  So when you fail, understand that God is a God of 2nd chances and realize that your failures are not fatal.
3. The Friday of fatalities.  Guess what?  Not only are we all going to get tired, not only are we all going to fail, but, unless the Lord returns first, we are all going to die.  It has been said that the only sure things in life are death and taxes.  But according to Hebrews 9:27 the only sure thing is death; it tells us that "it is appointed unto men once to die..." But, thanks to that first resurrection Sunday morning, we know that death is not final.  The same verse in Hebrews tells us that after death comes the judgement.  Did you catch that?  AFTER death. Since Jesus rose, we know that we too will rise after death.  

In conclusion, let me encourage you today by reminding you that no matter what kind of 'Friday' you are going through, Sunday is on the way! 

3 places Jesus bled -- 3 places I am healed

As we observe Holy Week this year, we have come to Thursday night.  It was tonight that Jesus celebrated Passover with His disciples for the last time and Communion for the first time.  It was tonight that He prayed fervently in the garden, was betrayed, arrested, tried in a mock trial, beaten, mocked, scourged, and  began His journey from Jerusalem to Golgotha.  Especially now, but always we need to be thinking about the events of this night and the next day.  A great resource for every Christian is Max Lucado's Six Hours One Friday: Living in the Power of the Cross.  Today, I want us to think specifically about the three places Jesus bled from the time of His arrest, until His death on the cross.

1. Jesus bled when He prayed in the garden. The gospels tell us that when Jesus prayed in the garden after the last supper, He prayed so fervently that His sweat became as blood.  (Luke 22:44) I believe this is our provision for emotional healing.  He is our Jehovah-Shalom, our peace and this is possible because He shed His blood while He prayed.
2. Jesus bled when He was scourged in Pilate's judgement hall.  We are familiar with the story.  Pilate did not think Jesus was deserving of death, so he thought he could appease the crowd by having Him whipped.  History tells us that when a Roman prisoner was whipped, he would be tied over a post, and two soldiers (one on either side) would whip the prisoner.  Isaiah knew this would happen to our Lord years before He was ever even born and said that it was by those stripes that we are healed.  This is the provision for our physical healing.
3. Jesus bled when He was crucified on the cross.  And this covers the most important healing of all, our spiritual healing or salvation.  The Word of God has been clear since the Garden of Eden, without the shedding of blood, there can be no forgiveness of sins.  As Andre Crouch sang for so many years, 'The Blood will never loose it's power'.  We are saved because of the blood that Jesus shed on Calvary.  

God is concerned about our whole being: our spirit, our emotions, and even our bodies.  And since He is concerned about all of us, He provided healing for ALL of us, not just part of us.

Heaven IS for Real and Jesus is Alive!!!

I just re-watched the movie Heaven is for Real. While it is good to finally have good, clean, and wholesome entertainment, I am troubled by the general premise of the movie, especially right before Easter. The idea that heaven is real because we believe it in our minds and hearts is very troubling. The fact is, Heaven is real, and not only because we believe it in our minds and hearts. Heaven is a real place, a prepared place. The reason this is especially troubling around Easter time is because there are many people who do not believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus. They say that He rises again every time someone believes in Him. See the connection? It only happens in our hearts and minds. But I submit that just as Heaven is a real place, Jesus Christ physically rose from the dead. The entire foundation on which the Church is built is the fact of the resurrection. This foundation is under attack more today than has ever been. And it is under attack from both without and within the church. I want to address some of the attacks from within the church. There are those, like already mentioned, that only believe in a Spiritual resurrection of Jesus and that this happens every time someone believes. The idea ignores the whole of the NT. Thomas was invited to place his fingers in the nail-holes and his hand in the spear-hole of Jesus. This let's us know that Jesus had a physical body after the resurrection. Then there are those that would have us believe that Jesus did not actually die on the cross. Obviously these people are not at all familiar with Roman crucifixion. Death from crucifixion came as a result of asphyxiation and was the guaranteed outcome. Jesus died. His dead body lay for 3 days in a borrowed tomb. The tomb was sealed and guarded by the Romans. He absolutely rose from the dead, because He absolutely died. So, just as we know Heaven is real by faith in the Word of God, we know that Jesus died and rose again on the third day because of the written Word of God. So, when you watch Heaven is for Real, enjoy it; but understand that Heaven is real not only in our hearts and minds but in reality and remember, Jesus died, was buried in a borrowed tomb, and rose, physically from the dead on the third day.

Judge not

So often in the church we hear the phrase 'judge not'. Of course we know this taken from the Sermon on the Mount, specifically Matthew 7. However, as is so often done in scripture, we leave most of the scripture out. Jesus actually says, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Matthew 7:1-2, NIV) What Jesus is condemning here is the habit of criticizing others while ignoring our own faults. Immediately after saying don't judge, He says in the same way you judge, you will be judged. The implication there is that we are going to judged. Elsewhere in scripture we are specifically commanded to know them that labor among you. The only way you can do that is to judge. In fact, one of the gifts of the Spirit is the gift of discernment. So, where does this leave us? What are we to do? The answer is simple. God has made it clear to us that we are not to judge people; He is the righteous judge that will judge all of us. However, we are commanded to judge their fruit. So, simply put, we can and must judge people, especially those that claim to be Christians. It is our duty to have standards and know those that are called alongside of us in our walk with Christ. How do we do that without actually judging people? Again, the answer is simple. Do it with love. That's how the Scriptures can tell us to confront those that are involved in sin. We can stand against their actions, without ever judging the person. We are to look for the fruit of the Spirit in their lives and ministry and that is how we determine good fruit. So, in a world we continually hear 'judge not', I encourage you to judge. Just remember to do it with love and to judge fruit, people.

Thankfulness

It is amazing what an attitude of thankfulness can do in our lives. Earlier today, as I was washing a car in the 95+ degree heat, in a suit, I was bemoaning the fact that I am not fulltime at the church yet. And I was counting down the time until I am, boy was I. Grumpy customers yelling at you and washing cars in the heat (in a suit) for 48+ hours a week will get you to that point, trust me. In the middle of washing this car today, the Lord chastized me. "At least you have a job, at least you are able to work." He said to me. Because of the current economy and in light of my recent stroke, both of these statements hit home pretty hard. So, instead of counting down the days until I am full time at the church, instead of moaning about my jobs and the grumpy customers I deal with, I started thanking God for my job. I started thanking Him for healing me; thanking Him that I am able to work. And yes, I still washed cars in the heat in a suit, and yes, there were still some grumpy customers, but it's amazing how much better my day went when my attitude changed from complaining to one of thankfulness.

Black Hawk Down

Was thinking about the Battle of Mogadishu this morning. Most of us know this battle from the movie Black Hawk Down. After the 2nd black hawk crashed, Master Sergeant Gary Gordon and Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart requested to be dropped at the site of the 2nd crash to try and secure it. Understand that the whole city of Mogadishu was hostile to the US and thousands of the city's residents were headed towards the crashed helicopter. Their requests were denied multiple times, but they persisted until they were allowed to be dropped off at the crash site. They understood that there was no guarantee of when or even if back up would show up. They understood that their were American pilots on the ground in harm's way and they said, 'I'll go'. We need Christians, soldiers in the Army of God that will say, "send me, I'll go. I'll stand in the gap, I'll build a hedge." It seems a shame to me that soldiers fighting for a temporal country have more gusto than those of fighting for an eternal kingdom. God give us some soldiers that will say, 'send me, I'll stand in the gap'.

Expecting the Impossible

In Genesis 24, when Abraham sent his servant back to his homeland to find a bride for Isaac, the servant was concerned as to how he would know which lady was to be the one. We can learn some things from the way he handled this situation. He did not form a committee, he didn't formulate a plan, he didn't take out an ad in the local paper. He simply prayed. We could take care of most of our problems in life, if we would handle them with prayer. But we can learn even more from this servant. He asked God to move on the right woman to do what no one in their right mind would do: get water not only for him, but for all 10 camels that he had with him. Archaeology tells us that the wells from that time and part of the world were typically at least 25 steps down a hole in the ground. Based on the size of the containers she could carry and how much water a camel would drink after a multi-day journey through the wilderness, it is safe to say she would have to make 50plus trips up and down those 25 steps. Like I said, he asked for something that no one in their right mind would do. But, this is the servant that saw a 90plus year old woman give birth to a son. He knew Jehovah and that Jehovah is a miracle-working God. We need to learn from this servant that not only should we be handling our problems with prayer, but that we should be asking God for the impossible. Basically, he was saying, Lord, I'm asking for something so impossible that if You don't do it, it can't be done. This is what Gabriel was trying to tell Mary when he told her she was going to have a son. She said that's impossible, I haven't been with a man. Gabriel said the Holy Ghost will come upon you. See, that is the difference in the impossible and the possible, between the natural and the supernatural. It is time that we as Christians stop expecting just the natural and the possible and start asking for and expecting the impossible and the supernatural. That's what God wants to give us. We need to say like Mary and say to the Lord, "Be it unto me, according to Thy word."