A New Perspective which Changes the Outcome!

But Christians possess the righteousness of Christ, because  we learn in 2 Cor. 5:21 - “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”  

This is an amazing truth. On the cross, Jesus exchanged our sin for His perfect righteousness so that we can one day stand before God and He will see not our sin, but the holy righteousness of the Lord Jesus.

An eternal perspective on Jesus … shapes our outcome.

We respond differently when we realize that the power of God (He is mighty, majestic, and strength – stronger than the ocean) … the power of God is experienced through his coming to live among us, die for us, and then conquer the death by returning to life. This changes the outcome.

This is great news for us ... especially in a world filled with agendas and desire ... you know I love ya, Don

John, the Beloved Disciple - A Journey of Responsibility - Easter

For John, to be at the cross was to stand at a place of responsibility. What we need to first understand is that John stood at the cross restored. He, along with the other disciples, had forsaken Jesus and fled for their lives at the garden of Gethsemane. But, John came back to the cross.  Christians may stray and deny our Lord, but we can still come back to the cross. It doesn’t matter what we’ve done. The cross is the place to go for forgiveness, deliverance and restoration.

For John to stand at the cross was probably not the safest place to stand or the easiest place to stand. It would have taken courage and love for John to come back to the cross. But remember what did John write years later in 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”.

Jesus not only restored John but he gave John some responsibility. Once you’ve known the truth of redemption, correction, and completion – there comes a great responsibility. You are to take responsibility for you actions….responsibility for the message…responsibility to care for others.

“John, you are going to take my place. I will no longer be on earth, to watch over my mother, so you are going to take my place. You are going to take my mother, and you are going to be a son to her.” - For John, the cross was a place of responsibility.

A journey to the cross is a journey of responsibility. All believers are taking His place here on earth. John 20:21 tells us that, “As my Father has sent me, even so, send I you.” You and I represent Jesus to others. To acknowledge the cross, is to acknowledge a place of responsibility. If you and I have come to the cross, we have a huge responsibility to love the Lord Jesus (because he has loved us on the cross), to love others (just like John loved Jesus’ mother), and to love others the same way Jesus loved us. The cross is indeed a place of responsibility.

Have you journeyed to the Cross of Responsibility? You know I love ya, Don

Mary, the Mother of Jesus - A Journey of Completion - Easter

Mary was at the foot of the cross. She was also Jesus’ earthly mother and He did not ignore her on the cross because he completed his journey with her by declaring he care for her, “Dear woman, here is your son”.

Why did Jesus go full circle with his mother? We have just concluded above that redemption and correction come at a high cost. What was the cost for Mary? What suffering did she endure?Top of Form    

Luke 2:35 reveals a prophecy concerning Mary, “A sword shall pierce your own soul also” How did she suffer? She suffered physically when she brought the Savior into the world. She suffered shame and reproach and gossip when found to be with child before the marriage was consummated with Joseph. She fled to Egypt to save her child, but countless innocent children died because of her child. How do you think she felt about that? She would have suffered emotionally. There was a growing separation between her and Jesus when Jesus declared to her one day, “Don’t you know that I must be about my fathers business?” Yes, a sword shall pierce your side. She felt the climax of Simeon’s prophecy at the cross, when her son died, and she suffered because of 1) the way he died (on a cross, numbered with the transgressors) and 2) where he died (openly, publicly, shamefully). And Mary stood there feeling the pain of the sword go through her soul.

But Jesus saw her and had compassion for her and assured her of His love for her. Her journey to the cross had started 33 years early in a manger. Jesus felt her sorrow, he knew her loneliness, and grief…the loss of a child is the hardest stress a parent can endure.

For Mary, to stand at the cross was to stand at a place of completion… In her mind this was the end of her 33 year journey. Ultimately, God is faithful to complete that which he started. Philippians 1:6 states: “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Those who suffer or have suffered for his sake can live confidently that he will bring it to completion. Jesus knows our trials and our needs. The Scriptures teach us that, “If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him.” Jesus was bringing and end and completion to death.

Have you journeyed to the Cross of Completion? You know I love ya, Don

Salome - A Journey of Correction - Easter

Who was Salome? She was at the foot of the Cross of Jesus. Most commentators identify “his mother’s sister” as Salome, the wife of Zebedee and the mother of James and John (Matt.20:20-23). As the mother of James and John she was the one who once asked Jesus a very selfish request, “Can my two sons have places of honor in glory?” In other words she wanted something for her two sons. She wanted one of them to sit at the right hand of Jesus’ throne and the other to sit on the left hand of Jesus’ throne. What she asked of Jesus was a very selfish request. She wanted the best for her two sons.

Jesus responded (Matt.20:20-24) by saying that she didn’t know what she was asking.
“Can they drink the cup that I going to drink?” (i.e. referring to his death). Salome’s request was born out of pride and selfishness.

Did her two sons deserve thrones? Thrones are not given away, you have to earn them. Salome had forgotten the true cost of reward. She did not realize that suffering comes before reward. There is no crown without a cross. There is no wearing of a crown without the drinking of the cup of suffering. Even the Lord Jesus Christ himself did not return to the throne of heaven except by way of the cross.

Sometimes we can be so selfish in our desires. Salome’s request for her two sons was a selfish, earthly, proud request. She did not realize the price that her two sons would have to pay. Remembers James, he was martyred and John was exiled before they went home to glory. Salome was at the place of correction standing at the cross, realizing what it cost Jesus, the Son of God, to give up. Jesus gave up the glory of heaven and became a servant for us by giving his life for us.

As we contemplate the cross I wonder if we are corrected because of our selfish desires. Jesus says to us, “Are you willing to drink this cup?” We say, “Oh no, Lord, we just want the answer to our prayers!” Jesus continues, “Are you willing to suffer for me?” We respond, “Oh no, Lord, I just want the blessing, not the suffering!” Salome says to each one of us this morning, “The cross is a place of correction.” When we contemplate what Jesus did for us and gave up for us, what he endured for us and what suffered for us, the cross is a journey of correction in the light of our own selfish desires and ambitions.

Have you journeyed to the Cross of Correction? You know I love ya, Don

Transformed by the Great Transformer!

David C. Casland wrote:

Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship, spent 40 years helping people hear and understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. When he died in April 2012, one newspaper article carried the headline, “Charles Colson, Nixon’s ‘dirty tricks’ man, dies at 80.” It seemed surprising that a man so transformed by faith should be identified with things he did as a politically ruthless presidential aide decades earlier before he knew the Savior.

The apostle Paul’s conversion and his early Christian witness were greeted with skepticism and fear. When he began preaching that Jesus is the Son of God, people said, “Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose?” (Acts 9:21). Later when Paul went to Jerusalem and tried to join the disciples, they were afraid of him (v.26). In years to come, Paul never ignored his past, but spoke of it as evidence of the mercy of God (1 Tim. 1:13-14).

Like Paul, we don’t need to parade our failures or to pretend they didn’t happen. Instead, we can thank the Lord that through His grace and power, our past is forgiven, our present is changed, and our future is bright with hope for all He has prepared for us.

Transformed by grace divine,
The glory shall be Thine;
To Thy most holy will, O Lord,
We now our all resign. —Burroughs

 

Only Jesus can transform our life. You Know I love ya...Don

There is Power, Power, Wonder Working Power!!!

Daniel 6:23
“The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.”

Walking with God opens opportunities of power.

Power is the possession of control, authority, or influence over people, matter, and things. Your God has the power over your circumstances and your life. You submit to Him and in return, He uses that power to PROVE He is God and is sovereign over every day, every hour, every minute, and every moment. How do we receive that power...through integrity to our commitment to God...in our daily habit of living the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles

Max Lucado writes a funny story, that one New Year's Day, in the Tournament of Roses parade, a beautiful float suddenly sputtered and quit. It was out of gas. The whole parade was held up until someone could get a can of gas. The amusing thing was this float represented the Standard Oil Company. With its vast oil resources, its truck was out of gas.

Often, Christians neglect their spiritual maintenance, and though they are "clothed with power" find themselves out of gas.

Luke 24:48-49
“You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

The Holy Spirit grants us power and we are to share that power in every fiber of our being.
There is power, power, wonder working power....

The unshakable life is on solid ground by walking with God that open opportunities of integrity, struggle, confidence, and power. The integrity we "commit to" in our walk with God doesn't take away our struggles. It builds our confidence because of the demonstration of God's power in the struggle.

Do you know the power of God in your life?

Give your heart to Him! 

 

Renew your commitment to living integrity in your walk with God.

Make prayer, meditation, reflection, and communion with God a habit.

You know I love ya, Don

"We have a cure for that!"

I was at the DADs meeting last night. We had Dr. Randall J. Roper who is a great scientist and advocate for people with Down Syndrome. His research is changing lives for the future. He is studying the effects of the brain and its size in people with Down syndrome. He is an associate professor of Genetics at IUPUI. He holds a PhD in Immunology and Genetics and was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Genetics and Development at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Roper was one of the key researchers instrumental in the development of the "mouse model of Down syndrome." With this important advancement, researchers like Dr. Roper can now better understand the specific traits that are present in individuals with Down syndrome and develop possible cutting-edge treatments. He also has a lab that cares for mice that have down syndrome and the genetic codes for some very proactive research in Indianapolis.

He was telling us last night about how they write grants requests all the time. One of the responses he received was appalling. The response was in big letters, "We already have a cure for this!" The implication was prenatal testing and abortion. These children and lives should be terminated. Yes, this is in the United States and with supposedly educated people that have money to use for research. Dr. Roper and his team were just as taken back and were encouraging us as parents to continue the cause set out before us.

I, as were all the dads in the room hurt, cut down, and plainly taken back by such an ignorant statement. Yet, this morning I am reminded how everyone of us are just as ignorant about our disabilities. This world wide disability is called, "sin." There are too many of us that blow over our sin and do not take it seriously. The wrong choices we make, the neglect of widows and orphans, the pure and simple act of pushing others down to advance our self, and the things that separate us from God are all sin.

On the flip side of the coin, I believe there is something that has already been done to cure our sin disability. The cross of Jesus is the cure that enables us to face and even embrace our sin. When the test for an incurable disease shows positive, even though the initial reaction may be denial, at some point the patient must accept the presence of the deadly thing in order to deal with it. How much more should we be able to face and admit our sin. At times we must even welcome it in order to deal with it.

Lets get a few things clear. First, I do not believe Down syndrome is a deadly disease in any way or fashion. I have discovered that people with an extra chromosome have unique and special abilities that transform their vision of the world into something that is much more clear, much more proactive, and much more in abundance than those of us lacking the extra chromosome. Second, the person that responded to Dr. Roper's plea for funds with such a lack of understanding on life also needs to check into the reasons for life and that anyone that would willing pro-advocate the destruction of life is going against the very nature of this world. That person's heart deeply requires the cure I am talking about.

Horatio G Spafford wrote the recognition of our disability of sin this way:

My sin, o the bliss of this glorious thought, My sin, not in part, but he whole, Is nailed to the Cross, and I bear it no more: Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, O my soul!

The ugly, gruesome, and difficult scene of a man that is God in the flesh dying is the cure for our sin. It is my sin that caused Him to hang there. It is my sin that readies me for the cure. It is my sin that qualifies me for the cure from the debilitating effects in this life. I would wonder endlessly, harassed by the symptoms of a diseased nature if it were not for the Man, the God that was willing to do the work of standing in my place and finding the cure for my sin.

Yes, we have a cure for that...not Down Syndrome, but stupid ignorance that will lead to the final destruction of all who do not find the cure of the cross. I pray that I may never become so entrenched in the world and its views, that I forget the cure.

You know I love ya, Don