March 24, 2016

"When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there.  Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews. Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” Matthew 27:35-40

Have you ever been mocked or ridiculed?

How did that feel?

Were you ridiculed in the process of dying to save the world from sin?

Me neither.

But Jesus was. We see it in this portion of the Scriptural account of the crucifixion of Jesus. It is worth noting because of what Jesus did while He was doing something historical. The same people who had cruelly beaten Him and then nailed Him to a cross piled on verbal abuse as He hung there suffering. They were attempting to heap shame upon His shameful treatment and the shameful method of execution and the shame of His nakedness.

In a day and age when Christianity and Christians are being mocked and reviled with increasing regularity and intensity, it is good to note how Jesus responded to their mockery.

He took it!

He stayed on the cross!

While they were giving Him grief He was giving them grace!

That's the proper response to mockery and insults.

But how do I do that, Brad?

Only by His strength!

The same grace and strength that Jesus manifested while being verbally abused on the cross is the very same strength and grace He can instill in you by His Spirit!

And by the way, three days later when He walked out of the grave having conquered sin and death He made a mockery of their mockery!

While that wasn't His purpose it is the power of grace and truth!

As you pray this morning will you ask God to give you the grace to bless those who curse you and pray for those who despite fully use you?

Will you promise Him that in His strength you will give grace to those who give you grief?

March 23, 2016

"Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him." Matthew 27:38-44

No doubt you have heard the expression you can't keep a good man down! I like that sentiment and have found it generally to be true. But occasionally it doesn't work. Life can become so cruel and chaotic that even a good man can crumble under the crush of opposition.

I prefer the truth that arises from the Easter Story because it captures the essence of Easter! It goes like this - "You can't keep a God man down!".

Jesus was a good man for sure! Never has there been a better man than Him! But face it, the cross got him down! After a sadistic beating that would have killed most of us Jesus was savagely flung to the ground and suffered the unimaginable agony of having spikes driven through His wrists and his feet. When the roughly-hewed cross was lifted and dropped into a hole to hold it upright the movement caused the spikes to tear against his flesh and restricted His breathing.

If the agony of the crucifixion wasn't enough, He had to endure the vicious mockery of those who had crucify him. They disparaged Him and degraded Him and demanded that He prove His divinity by coming off the cross.

Make no mistake he could have! It wasn't seven-inched spikes that held Him on the cross it was love! Jesus' love for God and His commitment to the redemptive plan to save humanity from its sin and deliver it from sinfulness kept Him on the cross!

Ironically, it was Jesus' commitment to the salvation of His accusers that prevented Him from climbing off the cross.

Jesus showed us that we shouldn't attempt to silence scoffers by capitulating to their accusations. Simply stick with God's plan and surrender to His will vindication will come. Three days later when Jesus arose from the grave He mocked the mockery of the mockers!

But the bigger blessing I want to extract from this story is that suffering is sometimes necessary for those who follow God. But because of Christ's suffering on the cross suffering in the will of God is never done in vain. Thanks to Calvary suffering makes sense! No more will Christ-followers ever have to endure senseless suffering. Because of the cross suffering leads to VICTORY and to VINDICATION every time!

Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

March 22, 2016

"So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there.  The Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their ancestors. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hands.  Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled." Joshua 21:43-45

God's promises are the traffic signs and signals and guardrails that will guide you safely out of your Egypt, through your wilderness and into your Promised Land!

God's promises define what is real in your life.

God's promises define what is right in your life.

Thirdly, God's promises define what is reliable in your life.

There are several ways God teaches you what you can rely on. The first way is by showing you what you can't rely on!

In Egypt and the wilderness they could not rely on their flesh. They weren't strong enough to overthrow the Pharaoh or to open the Red Sea. They didn't have the power to produce food or water in the desert or preserve their clothing during the journey.

In Egypt and the wilderness they could not rely on their feelings. Emotions are too directly affected by circumstances and their circumstances often weren't very good! 

Another way God teaches us what to rely on is by bailing us out of our failures.

God had taught Moses through his failures. After living as a fugitive for 40 years tending sheep in the desert, God called him to leadership.

Led by a former-failure turned humble leader, God's people spent 40 years wandering in tedious circles through the wilderness because of their failures to obey Moses, submit to God and believe God's promises.

400 hundred years of slavery and 40 years of futility and frustration finally brought God's people to a place where they would rely on Him. Only when they learned they could not rely on themselves and they could rely on God to rescue them did they begin to rely on God!

Like the Hebrews and like Moses, most of us learn to rely on God's promises from relying on unreliable things like our own strength or our own emotions or our own flawed judgment.

You can rely on God's promises first time, every time, any time and all the time! Today, choose to rely on His promises and stop trusting on unreliable sources.

You can rely on that advice! I promise!

March 21, 2016

"So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there. The Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their ancestors. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hands. Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled." Joshua 21:43-45

God's people made to the Promised Land because they allowed God's promises to define their reality. When God defined their reality it became clear to them what was the right thing to do!

That's the second fact about God's promises! God's promises define what is right!

When you are in Egypt under bondage and oppression it seems to make sense that you should do what the Egyptians do! Why not go along to get along? Why borrow more grief by going against their values?

You won't escape from Egypt by surrendering to them. They don't want to get along with you you, they want to dominate you! 

You won't escape from Egypt by compromising with them. They don't want you to be like them, they want you to serve them.

The only way you can escape from Egypt is by defeating them and destroying them. That means doing what is right by trusting God and His righteousness! That is what brought them out of Egypt!

The wilderness can be confusing at times. Caught between Egypt and Canaan can cause you to long for Egypt and doubt Canaan. Sometimes questioning God can seem right. Sometimes accusing God can seem right. Sometimes even constructing an idol can seem like the right thing to do in the wilderness.

But God led them in the right way through the cloud and the pillar of fire. He gave them Moses and the Law to help lead them in the right way. And occasionally, He had to punish them to correct them and clarify the right way.

In Canaan they had to surrender to God's righteousness and walk in it so they could enjoy the Glory Days God promised them.

When you are overwhelmed by the crush of Egypt or confused in the wilderness wanderings wrong can seem right unless you cling to God's promises! His promises are true and define what is right for you to do.

Trust in what HE SAYS, not in what YOU SEE!

One of God's promises is to lead you in the right paths through the light of His Word!

March 20, 2016

"So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there. The Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their ancestors. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hands. Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled."  Joshua 21:43-45

That last promise is REALLY strong - "Not ONE of all the Lord's good promises to Israel failed; EVERY one was fulfilled." Wow!

God's promises are powerful for many reasons chief of which is they come from Him! But this morning I want to focus on three big truths about promises from God's Word and why they make a huge difference in your life!

First, God's promises define what's real.

When the Hebrews were in Egypt bondage and cruelty seemed to define their reality. For four centuries they were slaves and served their merciless Egyptian masters! 

Their masters were real and their misery was real but there was a greater reality. They were the people of God and He had made a covenant with their Father Abraham and that covenant was being fulfilled!

When they were in the wilderness backed up against the Red Sea hemmed in by the rapidly advancing Egyptian army their destruction seemed very real and inevitable. The best alternative seemed to be heading back toward Egypt.

That Sea was real and the sound from those horses and chariots were real but God had a greater reality and when Moses raised the rod the Red Sea opened! What they thought would be their destruction became their deliverance!

When they stood at the edge of Canaan that rushing Jordan River swelled to twice its size by the Spring floods looked like a very real barrier to crossing into their Promised Land. And in their own power it was!

But there was a greater reality! God had promised them Canaan and He would open the Jordan for them to cross!

Marching around Jericho every day for seven days staring at those massive walls and hearing the curses, insults and threats hurled down from the people in the city made it seem like a real fortress and destroying it an unreal possibility. 

But there was a greater reality! God had promised Canaan to Abraham and Jericho to Joshua and it would fall! It did, too!

God's promises define what is real according to God's power, God's plan and God's purposes. When you are overwhelmed by the Egypt times or the wilderness times or the Jericho times in your life it is easy to believe what you feel instead of what you know. When you lose touch with God's reality what you feel becomes what is real. Under pain and pressure you will tend to believe what you SEE not what God SAYS!

If you are to arrive in the Promised Land in your journey out of Egypt and through the wilderness and into Canaan you will have to be focused on the reality of God's eternal promises not the emotions of daily pressures and pain.

Whatever you are battling today, let the promises of God define your reality! Believe what He says not what you see!

March 19, 2016

"So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there. The Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their ancestors. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hands. Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled." Joshua 21:43-45

Have you ever made a promise that you didn't keep? Perhaps there was a change of circumstances that was beyond your control that prevented you from delivering on your commitment. But nevertheless, you broke your promise.It made you feel terrible and deeply disappointed the person you had promised.

Remember how bad that felt?

Remember the look of disappointment in the eyes of the person you failed?

Can you recall a time someone failed to keep a promise to you? They gave you reason to be hopeful and then dashed your hopes. Remember how that felt?

Was there ever a time when you made a promise to God but failed to deliver on it?

How did that feel?

What happened next time you wanted to make a promise to God?

Let me ask one more question, has God ever broken a promise to you?

He never has broken a promise to me either.

According to Joshua, God never broke one promise to His people in Egypt, nor in the wilderness or in Canaan.

God never has broken a promise and He never will. In fact, He can't break a promise. He is a promise-keeping covenant-fulfilling God!

You can trust a God like that!

You should trust a God like that!

Will you trust Him?

March 18, 2016

"But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15

Decisions have consequences. Your choices result either in good results or bad regrets.

Here are a few historically bad decisions that brought lasting regrets.

1) In 1977, the senior execs at 20th Century Fox made an astonishingly short-sighted decision. They signed over all product merchandising rights for any and all Star Wars films to George Lucas – in exchange for a mere $20,000 cut in Lucas’ studio paycheck. The combined revenue from merchandising is estimated to have exceeded three billion dollars, and continues to grow annually, making it the most lucrative deal ever struck between an individual and a corporate studio in entertainment history.

2) In 1962, the Beatles auditioned at the London office of Decca Records.  The executive in charge of talent rejected them: he thought they sounded too much like a currently popular group called The Shadows (who?), and he told Brian Epstein, their manager, “We don’t like your boys’ sound. Groups are out; four-piece groups with guitars particularly are finished.” Well over 2 billion Beatles albums have since sold worldwide.

3) In 1876, William Orten was President of Western-Union, which had a monopoly on the most advanced communications technology available, the telegraph. Orten was offered the patent on a new invention, the telephone, for $100,000 (worth about $2M in current dollars). He considered the whole idea ridiculous, and wrote directly to Alexander Graham Bell, saying, ”After careful consideration of your invention, while it is a very interesting novelty, we have come to the conclusion that it has no commercial possibilities… What use could this company make of an electrical toy?” 

4) The Eastman Kodak company developed the first digital camera in 1975, then proceeded to sit on it (and the core technology for the cell phone, as well).  They decided not to develop it because they were afraid it would cannibalize  their film business (at one point they had a 90% share of the US film market.)

5) In the early ’80s, Fuji entered the US film marketplace with lower-priced film and supplies, but Kodak management believed that US consumers would never abandon their homegrown brand. In 1984, Kodak passed on the chance to be the official film of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Fuji won the rights, which gave them the strong foothold they needed to catalyze their growth in the US marketplace.

Kodak never fully recovered from these and other poor decisions; in 2012 the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

6) In 1981 Amblin Productions called the Mars Company and offered a simple cross-promotional opportunity: How about if we use M&Ms in our new film, giving you free publicity, and in return, you can promote our film in your packaging? The advertising and marketing folks at Mars said “No.”  The film was ET the Extra-Terrestrial, and the rest is history.  Reeses Pieces, the not-nearly-as-well-known M&M competitor, saw sales jump 65%  in the months after the film was released featuring their product.

Do you think there may be some regrets over these decisions?

Would a few "do overs" be in order?

Unfortunately, we don't get "do overs" we only get good results or bad regrets.

Joshua made a GREAT decision when he chose to serve the Lord! That choice led to a life of good results AND an an eternity of unspeakable joy!

I'm pretty sure he has no regrets over choosing the Lord!

Who will you choose to serve today?