because there's a good chance I might...!
Friday, March 30, 2018
When Jesus Said, “It is Finished,” He Was Talking About You
When Jesus had received the sour wine, he
said, “It is finished.” Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. John 19:30
CSB
I had read this
Scripture in John 19 so many times—the last words Jesus spoke on the day He was
crucified. I knew that in those final moments as He was there on the cross, Jesus
simply said, “It is finished,” closed His eyes, and died.
There’s such gravity in that moment. Imagining the Son of
God, our Savior, with His battered and broken body nailed to a cross, stirs up a sense of both
sadness and shame. He endured such terrible things that even thinking about
them leads me to close my eyes in sorrow. Most every time I heard or read the
story, my focus was on what happened, the events themselves, and less so on
those three simple words He spoke at the end: “It is finished.” What did Jesus
mean when He said “it is finished?”
A few months
ago, my friend and Pastor Rodney Holmstrom spoke on this Scripture before a large
Celebrate Recovery congregation, and he challenged each of us to really
consider those words. In that moment, he said, Christ was not simply stating
the obvious—that His earthly life was over. He was declaring
that our sins were forgiven once and for all, their price paid by His sacrifice.
I knew this in
my head. Of course, I did. But, had I taken it into my heart?
Rodney asked us, could we say these words
out loud? “When He said, ‘It is finished,’ He was talking about me.” Could we
write those words in a journal and mean them? Could we look into a mirror and
speak them?
I tried, and I
was surprised by how difficult it was for me to say them, how easy it was to
shy away from them, as if my mistakes were too great for His forgiveness. It was simultaneously painful and
humbling to realize the truth in that statement, and the truth was this: In
that moment and by His death, Christ
paid the price for every sin no matter how great—even for mine. Every wrong I had ever or would ever
commit was forgiven, the debt for it paid in full, before I ever drew my first
breath. I only had to accept it. How could that be?
I left that service that night with the weight of those
words still clinging to my thoughts: When He said, “It is finished,” He was
talking about me. At home, I tried saying them aloud again and again. And while
it was still difficult, I found that each time I spoke them, my heart had a
harder time rejecting them. The truth began to win. Later, I spent some time
writing and creating around John 19:30 in my journaling Bible, and I found that with each
moment that I lingered there, those words became further etched onto my heart.
It’s fascinating how we can spend years knowing something
without fully accepting it as certainty. Since childhood, I had believed that Jesus died for our sins and
accepting Him meant we were forgiven. But isn’t it often easier to think that
applies to everyone else?
I came to recognize that the shame and guilt
of my own mistakes had clouded my understanding. I had believed the lies in my
head (as so many of us do), like: I’ve made too many mistakes. Maybe I’m
different. How could He really forgive
me? My sin is just too great… I had let those lies sink deeply into my heart.
But speaking and writing that simple, declarative sentence began to destroy the
lies by covering them with his truth—that no sin is too great for his mercy, not even
mine—and
it brought me immediate peace and joy.
Today, as you
consider the events from the day Jesus was crucified, as you consider Jesus’ last words, as you ponder
that weighty moment when His spirit passed, try speaking those words aloud
(even if you have to whisper them to get them out): When He said, ‘It is
finished,’ He was talking about me.
Then say it again. Accept this truth—that Jesus died to
grant the forgiveness of sins for all who accept Him—and annihilate the lie
that your sins are too great or too numerous. Try writing it down or reflecting in the pages of
your journaling Bible. How does it feel to know that every mistake—past,
present or future—is covered and the debt is paid in full? When Jesus said, “It
is finished,” He was talking about me. He was talking about you.
Mar 5, 2018 by Melody (Dayspring.com)
Good Friday: 4 Powerful Reflections on the Cross
By Ray Hollenbach
March 1, 2018
As followers of Jesus, we need to embrace Good Friday, which is
a little bit like saying we need to embrace torture.
From that time on, Jesus began
to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things
at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he
must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and
began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus
turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to
me; you do not have in mind the things of God but the things of men.” Then Jesus
said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and
take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose
it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. (Matthew
16:21-25)
Here
are four preaching points for Good Friday:
1. Friday is the road to
Sunday.
Good
Friday is the day we remember the crucifixion of Jesus, but
there’s more to it than remembering; our task as preachers is to call people to
the Cross.
We
want to embrace the resurrection, but Jesus calls us to the Cross, too. The
famous sermon says, “It’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming!” More properly, the
point of the story is that Friday
is the road to Sunday.
There’s no Easter
Sunday without Good Friday. There is no
resurrection without the Cross. Our job as pastors is to tell the truth to His
people: There’s a Good Friday for all of us.
2. Everyone has a problem with the cross.
The
very idea of Good Friday causes us concern. The problem is that both his power
and wisdom led him to the Cross, a brutal denial of everything he had done
before.
Those
who had seen his power wondered why he seemed powerless at his greatest need.
Those who saw his intelligence wondered how someone so smart could miscalculate
so badly.
Both sides missed
what Jesus and his Father were saying:
“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone, but
if it dies, it produces many” (John 12:24). Not just his words, his very life
is a parable.
It
wasn’t just the people of Jesus’ day who had a problem with the Cross.
The
people we speak to week after week have a problem with the Cross. Religious-minded people want
miracles and power. Intellectually minded people want wisdom and truth.
What
God offers us all is first the Cross. The earliest believers called the Cross
“the wisdom of God and power of God” (I Corinthians 1:23-24). This is a
stumbling block for us to consider today: that both his power and wisdom led him to the Cross.
People prefer not to dwell on such things. After all, who respects suffering? When
is the last time you spoke to your people about suffering?
You
want to tell a story worth telling?
Try
this one: Things are always darkest just before they go pitch black. And then,
in the blackness of the truth—the truth that our own power or smarts are never
enough—we discover that we need to rely solely on the promise of the Father.
3. Friday means the beginning
of change.
Good
Friday provides the opportunity to proclaim, “Once you’ve been to the Cross,
everything changes.” Stumbling blocks and foolishness turn into power and
wisdom. The Cross changes everything. If something’s pursuing you, then perhaps
the event that will change everything for you is the Cross. If nothing is
changing, maybe you haven’t been to the Cross.
Easter
is indeed about the empty tomb. But first, it’s about the Cross.
Why are we in such a
hurry to rush Jesus up to heaven? Is it
because the Cross doesn’t fit into our picture of how things ought to be? It
didn’t fit into anyone’s picture back then, either. Friday is the road to
Sunday.
It
was the road for Jesus; it is the road for us.
4. Jesus demonstrated faith over circumstances.
Can
we be honest with our congregations? Can we say, “God promises never to forsake
you,” but it doesn’t always feel that way, right?
Here
are two of the phrases Jesus uttered on the Cross: “Why have you forsaken me?”
and “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”
How
can those two go together? Even at his death, Jesus showed us how to trust the
Father beyond the circumstances.
Jesus
predicted his death and resurrection. It’s one thing to predict the future.
It’s quite another to go to the Cross willingly.
At
least three times, Jesus shared his destiny with the disciples. They didn’t
understand. More challenging still is the fact that Jesus embraced this destiny
by faith. He knew the Father’s promise of resurrection, but death still lay
ahead of him.
And
death was still death, even for Jesus. It was his trust in the Father’s promise
that caused him to wager everything he had, his very life. As a man, Jesus
modeled how to trust the Father.
Saturday, March 24, 2018
from a GOLD STAR MOM...
Billy and Karen Vaughn are the parents of fallen Navy SEAL, Aaron Carson Vaughn (SEAL Team VI). On August 6, 2011 Aaron was killed in action in the Tangi River Valley of Afghanistan when a chopper (call sign Extortion 17) carrying thirty Americans was shot from the sky. Let me tell you, when a Gold Star Mom speaks, people listen. These moms have endured unimaginable loss and have earned the right to a bully pulpit. They are not some fawned over TV show host or starlet. GSMs are the stuff that made America truly great, raising kids who understand the meaning of “the last full measure of devotion.”
Sometimes God uses the no-nonsense, salty sailor to get the job done. Appreciating what the man is doing doesn’t mean we worship the salty sailor or even desire to be like the salty sailor. It doesn’t even mean God admires the salty sailor. Maybe He just knows he’s necessary for such a time as this.
I believe with all my heart that God placed that salty sailor in the White House and gave this nation one more chance in November 2016. Donald Trump is what he is. He is still the man he was before the election. And without guilt, I very much admire what that salty sailor is accomplishing.
He’s not like me. That’s okay with me. I don’t want to be like him. I will never behave like him. I know we’ve NEVER had a man like him lead our nation. It’s crazy and a little mind blowing at times. But I can’t help admire the ability he has to act with his heart rather than a calculated, PC, think tank-screened, carefully edited script. I still believe that is WHY he became our President and WHY he’s been able to handle a landslide of adversity and STILL pass unprecedented amounts of good legislation for our country AND do great works for MANY other nations, including Israel.
I’m THRILLED with what he’s doing for my nation, for the cause of Christ (whether intentional or unintentional, doesn’t matter to me), and for the concept of rebuilding America and putting her FIRST. I will not be ashamed of my position because others don’t see him through the same lens.
Should it matter to me if a fireman drops an f-bomb while he’s pulling me from a burning building? Would I really care about what came out of his mouth in those moments? Heck no! I’d CARE about what he was DOING. He wasn’t sent there to save my soul and I’m not looking to him for spiritual guidance. All I’m thinking in those moments is, “Thank you, Jesus, for sending the fireman.”
This man is crass. Okay. He’s not careful with what he says. Okay. You feel offended that he’s not a typical statesman. Okay. But he is rebuilding the nation my son died for…the nation I feared was on a fast track to becoming a hopeless cause. Forgive me if I’m smiling.
Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Blog Archive
- February (2)
- January (8)
- December (24)
- November (4)
- October (9)
- September (16)
- July (10)
- June (5)
- May (7)
- April (6)
- March (7)
- February (9)
- January (1)
- October (2)
- September (1)
- August (7)
- July (4)
- June (4)
- May (4)
- April (5)
- March (8)
- February (3)
- January (1)
- December (3)
- November (5)
- September (4)
- August (1)
- July (3)
- December (1)
- November (1)
- March (8)
- November (1)
- October (1)
- September (2)
- June (1)
- April (1)
- February (1)
- January (2)
- December (2)
- November (3)
- October (16)
- September (4)
- August (2)
- July (3)
- May (2)
- April (3)
- March (3)
- February (7)
- January (8)
- December (4)
- November (8)
- October (5)
- March (8)
- January (3)
- November (5)
- October (1)
- September (2)
- August (15)
- July (2)
- June (7)
- May (6)
- April (2)
- March (2)
- February (2)
- January (3)
- December (6)
- November (6)
- October (2)
- August (5)
- July (21)
- May (6)
- April (6)
- March (16)
- February (1)
- January (48)
- May (3)
- April (2)
- March (2)
- February (1)
- January (3)
- December (1)
- October (2)
- December (2)
- August (1)
- July (2)
- May (1)
- October (1)
- September (2)
- January (1)
- December (5)
- November (2)
- August (2)
- April (1)
- February (1)
- January (1)
- August (1)
- May (2)
- April (1)
- February (2)
- January (3)
- December (4)
- November (3)
- October (12)
- September (5)
- August (4)
- July (4)
- June (3)