The 7 Last Words of Christ from the Cross #7

"It is finished!" (John 19:30)

"It is finished" is a shout of victory!  Salvation has been accomplished! Jesus death on the across perfectly fulfilled all that was needed to purchase salvation for all who would look to Christ.

I like what Chuck Swindoll says:

Stop and think: Upon believing in Jesus Christ's substitutionary death and bodily resurrection, the once-lost sinner is instantly, unconditionally, and permanently "declared 100% righteous." Anything less and we are not righteous . . . we're almost righteous. If we are declared 99.9% righteous, some verses of the Bible would have to be rewritten. Like Isaiah 1:18, which might then read: "'Come now, and let us reason together,' says the Lord, 'though your sins are as scarlet, they will be light pink.'" Nonsense! The promise of sins forgiven is all or nothing. Eighty percent won't cut it. . . .  When our Lord said "It is finished," He meant "finished."  --Chuck Swindoll

The 7 Last Words of Christ from the Cross #6

"I am thirsty." (John 19:28)

John's Gospel tells us in verse 28 that Jesus said, "I am thirsty", in order to fulfill the Scripture.  Verse 29 continues, "A jar of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth."  This fulfills Psalm 69:21, "They also gave me gall for my food and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink."

The message that jumps out at me as I meditate on Psalm 69 is how untrustworthy human beings can be in comparison with the faithfulness of God.  When we look to people to meet our thirst, we are often given a mouth full of vinegar.  Only God can really meet our thirst.  This is a great Psalm for those times when we feel let down by friends and family.  Look to God! He is faithful! He is full of compassion! He is Hope!  "You who seek God, let your heart revive.  For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise His who are prisoners." (Psalm 69:32-33)

Are you thirsty today?  Let me suggest a good long drink from Psalm 69.

The 7 Last Words of Christ From the Cross #5

"Woman, behold, your son!" (John 19:26) and "Behold, your mother!" (John 19:27)

When Jesus saw His mother and John standing near the cross, He placed her care in John's hands.  The Bible says that John took Mary into his own home to receive care and provision.  It's of note that as Jesus approaches death, He is concerned with the welfare of his mother.  Jesus is showing us what it means to honor our mother and father even in the final moments of life.  In the midst of the most important and essential mission ever conducted, Jesus doesn't overlook his responsibility to His own mother.

Here a few takeaways that I can see from the text:

#1--Our responsibility to honor parents goes way beyond our childhood.  Just because we are grown, doesn't mean we're beyond the 5th commandment.

#2--Honoring parents is a high priority.  If it's a task that Jesus performs while on the cross, then it's a task we need to make time for regardless of how busy we are.

#3--If we're not honoring our parents, then we aren't honoring God.  He requires it! (See Exodus 20:12 and Ephesians 6:2-3)

My mother is my root, my foundation. She planted the seed that I base my life on, and that is the belief that the ability to achieve starts in your mind.  –Michael Jordan

The 7 Last Words of Christ from the Cross #4

"Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit." (Luke 23:46)

Allow me to make three observations in applying this short verse today.

#1--As Jesus dies on the cross, He offers His life completely unto the Father.  He holds nothing back as He releases His spirit into the Father's care.  Jesus trusts the Father perfectly.

#2--With this statement, Jesus confirms the reality of life beyond death.  There is a Father God with whom our spirit dwells.  The Father can be trusted.

#3--Jesus dies with scripture on His lips.  This  sentence is a direct quote of Psalm 31:5.  I would suggest you take the time to read the entire Psalm sometime today.  It's about trusting God in our time of need.

"Pray, and let God worry."  --Martin Luther

The 7 Last Words of Christ from the Cross #3

"Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise." (Luke 23:43)

As Jesus was being executed on Mount Calvary, two criminals were also being put to death.  One of them hurled abuse at Jesus, mocking Him.  The other displayed a different action and a different attitude.  He said to the other criminal, "We indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong."  He then turned to Jesus and said, "Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!" (Luke 23:41-42).  Through this dying criminal's words we see an example that we would do well to follow. 

#1--We see an example of owning our own sin and the consequences that it brings.  The criminal says, "We indeed are suffering justly."  That's a hard sentence to get out of my mouth when I'm in pain.  "I'm suffering justly", "I deserve this", "I'm reaping what I've sown".  It's true!  Often the difficult experiences of life come my way because of my previous actions.  Occasionally, I may suffer innocently, but not as often as I would like to think.  Someone has said, "We reap tomorrow what we have sown today."  If you are reaping pain, frustration, heart-ache, etc., maybe double-check the seeds you have planted in prior days.

#2--We see an example of recognizing the unique holiness of Christ.  The criminal says, "This man has done nothing wrong."  Jesus didn't die for His own sin--He died for my sin!  When I'm suffering the consequences for my stupidity, can I look over and see Jesus suffering with me?  Now this is where it gets real.  I sometimes want to blame God for my pain.  Because I don't enjoy suffering, I have in the past wanted to get upset with God when my plans don't work out well.  Like the criminal I need to say, God has done nothing wrong!  God is holy, perfect, righteous, and He does nothing wrong!

#3--We see an example of faith.  The criminal says, "Remember me when You come into Your kingdom."  Knowing that he will soon be dead, this dying man puts his trust in Jesus.  It's comforting that this man who has no good works to rely upon, no record of church attendance, no prayer life, no Bible study, no baptism, and no sinner's prayer; this man is given access to the kingdom of God through the work and word of Jesus.  We are saved through Jesus--nothing more and nothing less!

My friends, determine to own your sin and its consequences.  Look to Jesus as the Perfect Son of God.  Put your trust in His finished work on the cross.  Paradise awaits . . .

The 7 Last Words of Christ from the Cross #2

"Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34)

Jesus expresses the ultimate forgiveness as He asks the Father to pardon his executioners even while they are in the midst of killing Him.  This is a crazy kind of forgiveness.  There is no remorse, no repentance, no change of heart.  Jesus expresses forgiveness--not years after the event, not even weeks--but while the event is still in progress. 

Jesus notes their ignorance of God's activity. They don't know what they are doing.  How often do we act decisively in the same way--not knowing what we are doing? 

Let's apply it in two ways today.  First, we are all guilty of living ignorantly.  We have all acted, at times, in a way that was destructive to ourselves and others.  We have behaved in ways that are contrary to the revealed will of God.  Jesus offers forgiveness.  Even now, He offers forgiveness when we look to Him and acknowledge His Lordship.  Today, let me encourage you to confess your sins to Jesus and allow Him to wash you in His gracious forgiveness.

Second, we need to recognize that people all around us are acting ignorantly--they don't always know what they are doing.  And consequently, we get hurt and those we care about get hurt.  May we be quick to act like Jesus and ask that they be forgiven.  May we graciously extend forgiveness to those who harm us, even as God forgives us.

The 7 Last Words of Christ on The Cross #1

This week, as we anticipate resurrection morning, I want us to take a look at the seven last words that Jesus proclaimed while dying on the cross.

#1--"'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?' that is, 'My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?'" (Matthew 27:46).

This is a direct quote of the first verse in Psalm 22 and is often thought to be a cry of despair because of the separation that sin has created between Jesus and God the Father.  It is certainly a cry that most of us have experienced as we have questioned the presence of God as we have endured our pain.  We have likely joined the Psalmist--David, in crying out, "O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer; and by night, but I have no rest." (Psalm 22:2)  We have all felt the sting of breaking hearts and sleepless nights.  But have we understood the purpose of our anguish in the way that Jesus did?

Psalm 22 is a great prophetic description of the death of Jesus the Messiah.  Read Psalm 22:14-18 and you will see amazing factual detail contained in the death of Jesus.  Remember, these astounding verses were written about a thousand years before Jesus died on the cross.  "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within me.  My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and You lay me in the dust of death.  For dogs have surrounded me; a band of evildoers has encompassed me; they pierced my hands and my feet.  I can count all my bones.  They look, they stare at me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots." 

Jesus points us to Psalm 22 because He wants us to know that there is purpose in his death.  He wants us to know that God has purpose in the darkness of the cross.  It's not an accident and Jesus is no victim!  With His death, Jesus fulfills Psalm 22 perfectly--all of Psalm 22!

Jesus fulfills Psalm 22:24, "For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; nor has He hidden His face from him; but when he cried to Him for help, He heard."  Because of Jesus death, God doesn't despise us or hide from us!  Rather, He hears our cries for help!  We may feel forsaken--but we are not!

Jesus fulfills Psalm 22:26, "The afflicted will eat and be satisfied; Those who seek Him will praise the Lord."  Jesus' death provides nourishment, fulfillment, and the resulting praise of God!  We may feel forsaken--but we are not!

Jesus fulfills Psalm 22:27, "All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will worship before You."  Jesus' death on the cross made it possible for all humanity to turn to the Lord.  Yes, we may at times feel forsaken, but we are not!

Jesus died on the cross to move us from the despair of Psalm 22:1 to the glory of Psalm 22:31, "They will come and will declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, that He has performed it."  Jesus accomplished our righteousness through His death on the cross!  He performed it!  That's the Good News of the cross!  We may feel forsaken--but we are mistaken!

Grace River Easter Pictures

Easter 2011

We had an amazing day of worship at Grace River for Easter.  Check out pictures and narrative at http://www.observing-grace.blogspot.com/.

Easter at Grace River...

Grace River celebrated our first Easter together with 143 worshippers and several decisions for Christ!  We'll be four months old next Tuesday!  The atmosphere was filled with excitement and expectation as we worshipped our risen Lord!  We had quite a few first-time guests and lots of family.  This was our highest attendance so far.  There were lots of people who made today successful--too many to mention.  I'll post some pictures soon.

The March Miracle...

Ok, I confess. I have been negligent in my blogging duties. It's not that I don't have anything to say. It's just that for awhile this was starting to feel like work. We can't have that, now can we.

God has given us some really big vision at Cornerstone and we are well on our way to seeing it realized. We are moving our worship services (3) out of our current facility during the month of March and holding one big unified service at our local High School. Our building just isn't big enough to allow our continued growth. We keep bumping our heads against our limited facility. So, we're leaving....at least for a month.

We currently have more than 100 of our folks committed to praying for 100 decisions for Christ by Easter and for 1000 worshippers on Easter Sunday morning. For the record, our current attendance fluctuates between 250-300. The most that we have ever baptized is less than 30. Our first goal was to get 100 people praying. Check that box! Our February goal is to have 100 Acts of Kindness performed into our community. Last Sunday we recorded almost half that many. It looks like we will double or even triple our goal. The idea is to be incarnational which will lead up to the March Miracle. PRAYER + CARE = SHARE. March will be focused on sharing Christ and inviting everyone we can to worship with us at the High School. Easter Sunday will be the peak with prayerfully 1000 worshippers and 100 decisions for Christ. We will match those 100 new believers with a 100 individual disciplers from our congregation. The idea is not to program discipleship but rather to initiate a friendship that will allow the sharing of lives. Now, here is the exciting part of the vision: if all goes well--we will not return to our building! We won't fit!

Easter Harvest!

We had a great day of worship at Cornerstone this morning! We combined our usual three services in one big service at the Windsor High School. It was absolutely wonderful to be worshipping together as one body. In some ways, our church has become like three "small" churches independent of each other. Days like today are very refreshing when we can all come together. We had set an attendance goal of 1000 due in large part to the seating capacity of the High School Auditorium. We fell considerably short of our goal due in part to some cold weather and slick highways to the south. Several families who were planning to drive up from Denver did not make the trip because of the weather. Nonetheless--we had the second highest attendance ever in the history of our church!

Total Attendance: 500

The worship was great this morning with all of our singers and musicians doing their very best. Combining the services allowed us to have more greeters and ushers than normal and we even had a choir. At the conclusion of the message, I led in a public "prayer of salvation" and then invited all of those who had prayed the prayer and who desired a new start with Christ to stand up and come forward.

Public Decisions: 23

• Professions of Faith: 11
• Recommitments: 5
• Miscellaneous: 7

As we concluded the public invitation, those who had come forward were escorted into the hallway to team up with counselors who prayed with each of them and helped to determine why they had come forward and how we as a church can assist them as they move forward in their Christian journey. Those who remained in the auditorium were asked to fill out a decision slip and place it in the offering basket.

Decision Cards:

• Professions of Faith: 2
• Recommitments: 40
• For Baptism: 4
• Interest in Membership: 13

We will be following up on all of those who have made decisions in the very near future. Praise God for a great day of harvest!

Total Professions of Faith: 13
Total Recommitments: 45

If you ask them...they will come!

I want to share with you some encouraging news that comes from a recent survey of 469 “formerly churched adults”—those who in the past regularly attended church but no longer do so. This survey was conducted last summer by LifeWay Research. According to the survey, 59% of formerly churched adults left their church because of “changes in life situation”. The top life-changing situations that were submitted included, “simply got too busy to attend church”, “family/home responsibilities prevented church attendance”, “moved too far from church”, “work situation”, and “divorce/separation”. That’s why they left!

Now here’s the good news! More than 2/3 of formerly churched adults are open to the idea of attending church regularly again! 4% of these adults are actually looking for a church to attend right now and the majority of the others are open to returning to church! Now keep in mind that the survey indicated that these people on average have not attended church regularly in 14 years.

Now here’s the really good news! What would motivate the “formerly churched” to return? The top reasons why people would want to return are, “in order to get closer to God”, “in order to be around those with similar values”, and “in order to make friends”.

Now get this, when asked what would inspire them to regularly attend church, the following answers were given: (more than one answer could be given by each respondent).

• 58% said that they would attend if they felt like it was time to return.
• 41% said that they would attend if a friend or acquaintance invited them.
• 35% said that they would attend if they knew there were people like them at church.
• 31% said that they would attend if they felt that God were calling them to visit a church.
• 25% said that they would attend if their children asked them to go with them to church.
• 25% said that they would attend if an adult family member invited them to go to church with them.
  

Easter is an awesome opportunity for us to reach out to the "formerly churched" and the "unchurched". Make sure that you don't celebrate Easter this year alone!