Tagged: message of the day

NO LOSS AT THIS CROSS

“He humbled Himself, obediently accepting even death, death on a cross! Because of this, God highly exalted Him.” –Philippians 2:8-9 John’s Gospel particularly highlights the exaltation of the cross of Jesus. John proclaims that the cross is: the throne from which King Jesus inaugurates His victorious Kingdom. On the cross, Jesus is publicly, officially, and universally proclaimed as King, in no less than three languages (Jn 19:19-22), a place of healing (Jn 3:14), the catalyst for faith leading to eternal life (Jn 3:15), where we finally recognize that Jesus is God (Jn 8:28), the place where Jesus draws all to...

THE PRIVILEGE OF SUFFERING (Phil 1:29)

“He began to teach them that the Son of Man had to suffer much, be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, be put to death, and rise three days later. He said these things quite openly.” –Mark 8:31-32 Jesus is very open about the fact that we will have to suffer and bear our “share of the hardship which the gospel entails” (2 Tm 1:8). He bluntly states that we who follow Him must deny ourselves and take up the cross (Mk 8:34). Suffering is the way of salvation, necessary for the completion of God’s plan...

Whom He loves, He disciplines…

Hebrews 12:4-6 4 You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin; 5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children, “My son, don’t take lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him; 6 For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.” (WEB) The discipline of the Lord is something that is not talked about a lot in many Christian circles. And if it is, it is often skewed in a way that portrays God as angry and judgmental. Since my mandate...

HOPE FOR SINNERS

“You can depend on this as worthy of full acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” –1 Timothy 1:15 Paul was the worst sinner in the world (1 Tm 1:15), “an extreme case” (1 Tm 1:16). He was “a blasphemer, a persecutor, a man filled with arrogance” (1 Tm 1:13). Paul is “an example to those who would later have faith” in Jesus (1 Tm 1:16). Because the Lord changed Paul, He can change anybody – even your spouse, child, boss, enemy – even you! No matter how many abortions have been committed, how many children...

He remains faithful…

2 Timothy 2:13 If we are faithless, he remains faithful. He can’t deny himself.” (WEB) We know that Hebrew 11:6 says that without faith it is impossible to please God. We know that we are saved by faith through grace (Ephesians 2:8) which is a gift that we receive from God. Jesus told us that we can have whatever we can believe for. So needless to say, faith is an important part of our relationship with God. But what happens during the times when we struggle with doubt and unbelief? When our circumstances are screaming so loud that it is...