Tag / super bowl

by In Light Of The Cross

Proverbs in Light of The Cross; The Clutch Savior

I am writing today from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

I am writing today from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

You need not be afraid of sudden disaster or the destruction that comes upon the wicked, for the Lord is your security. Proverbs 3:25-26 NLT 

This year with the game on the line the Seattle Seahawks needed a clutch play to win   the Super Bowl. The coach called for a questionable play which resulted in disaster. That’s okay. Its just a silly game.

With retirement on the line, a stockbroker makes a bad investment, costing his client millions. That’s okay. Its only paper.

A doctor misdiagnoses an illness costing his patient his life. Now if you are going to get upset about a bad call, here is something to finally get upset about. But even here all is not lost.

Gethsemane was a trillion times a trillion times bigger than any super bowl. Angels were watching intently as Jesus made His way from the garden to the cross. Satan was breathing down Christ’s neck. If He could get Jesus to back out, hesitate, or just make a mistake it was all over, not just for a football team but for the entire world. At any point, one wrong decision would cost not millions of dollars, but millions and millions of lives. Not just in this life, but eternally. The pressure was on. This was infinitely greater than any two minute drill ever seen in football. There was no margin for error and everything went perfect! Yes everything had to be perfect and everything was!

With the team, no the universe on His back Jesus saved the world! Super bowls, bear markets and bull markets are so anti-climactic after the cross. Even a wrong move by a doctor can still be saved in the hereafter. When Gethsemane and Calvary had their clutch moment like no clutch moment the New  England Patriots, New York Yankees or Manchester United has ever seen, Jesus delivered! He delivered us all from disaster. He delivered us from all our failures when the game was on the line for us. No matter what mistakes we have made in the past, we all, through Christ are more than conquerors! We are eternal champions because of Jesus our clutch Savior!

The angel came not to take the cup from Christ’s hand, but to strengthen Him to drink it, with the assurance of the Father’s love. He came to give power to the divine-human suppliant. He pointed Him to the open heavens, telling Him of the souls that would be saved as the result of His sufferings. He assured Him that His Father is greater and more powerful than Satan, that His death would result in the utter discomfiture of Satan, and that the kingdom of this world would be given to the saints of the Most High. He told Him that He would see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied, for He would see a multitude of the human race saved, eternally saved. -Ellen White, Desire of Ages, Pages 693-94. 

by In Light Of The Cross

Its 2013 And Jesus is Breaking Out The New Wine!

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I am writing today from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

Every creation of Jesus is better than His creation before.

Bruce Springsteen sings a song called “Glory Days.” In the song he talks about running into old friends and talking about glory days gone by, when they were much younger. I can relate. When I was young I loved to play basketball. However, about a year ago, after teaching an evangelism class at the nearby church school, I walked into the gym and saw a basketball. I picked it up and started shooting baskets. No, truth is, I tried shooting baskets. I could not make a basket to save my life. As I walked out of the gym I told myself, this must be why old men like me play golf. We just can’t do what we did when were young anymore.

This morning I picked up my Bible started reading the book of John, as I am reading through the New Testament. I read in chapter 2, where after Jesus turned the water into the wine, the host of the party accuses the servants of saving the best wine till last. I thought to myself, that is how it is with Jesus! God’s plan is not for us to grow old and talk about glory days gone by. The best is always yet to come! Jesus has created a new year, and like the new wine, every creation is better than before.

A couple weeks ago at a home game, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a ceremony remembering their super bowl championship 10 years ago. Some friends of mine and I kind of laughed to ourselves, that you know things are pretty sad for the team when you have to go back ten years to find something to celebrate. This is not how God has designed life to be. In Psalms 23:6 David declares, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” David did not serve a God of glory days gone by.  He served a God ready to bless and prosper Him every day. After years of captivity, when Israel was tempted to long for their glory days gone by, Jeremiah reminded them that the best days were yet to come! “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 NKJV

As I enter 2013, I am not looking to make it like the good ole days. No, I am looking for it to be better than ever!  When the Israelites entered Canaan they were to take all of the land. However Judges 1 tells us, “And the LORD was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.” Really? Those chariots of iron were just too much for God, huh? I don’t think so. That was no excuse, and God knew it.

Earlier in Joshua 17:18 God Commanded, “for thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots, and though they be strong.” So what was the problem? Zephaniah wrote about the church, “And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees.” Those who are settled on their lees, are riding on their past experience. I imagine this was true of the Israelites when they entered Canaan. They had crossed through the Red Sea and the Jordan River. God had seen them through a lot. Let’s stop now and just rest. Why go further? The iron chariots were just the excuse they used to stop where they were, content to rest. They became a bunch of has-beens, relying on past experiences.

When I was in my early 20s I drove out to a little town in Western Oklahoma to preach one Sabbath. I went downstairs into the basement where the drinking fountain was and I saw several nice large children’s Sabbath School rooms- all empty! During lunch after church, an old patriarch told me those rooms used to be filled with children, and I could tell by the way they looked, that he was telling me the truth. He explained how those children have all grown up and moved away and started families elsewhere. Logical explanation, and I am sure a lot of children had grown up and just moved away. Even so, even as a young Bible Worker at the time, I had enough experience to know that if you gave me a church directory from a few years ago, I could still find a lot of them right there in town. I will never forget the feeling I had, standing alone in that empty hallway on Sabbath morning, peering into all those empty classrooms, imagining what they looked like full, back in their day. Back in their day? That is a term God does not even know! He is the Great I AM! Not the Great has been!

Friends I can guarantee you, God never would have given us 2013 if He did not think it would be better than any year before! There are fresh victories to be gained. We may even have to change our ways and try something new. When I was a kid I tossed the basketball around and never thought about golf. Today I stand in tee boxes facing fairways I have never seen before, or even thought about when I was younger. I’m not a kid anymore. Life is moving on and my God is moving along with me, taking me to new challenges and victories. I remember when my late grandmother went into a nursing home for a while. Many would have seen that as the end, but my grandmother made new friends!

In 2013 we will meet new people, new opportunities and new victories! Let the Tampa Bay Buccaneers celebrate their super bowl of ten years ago- while I celebrate new victories each and every day in 2013. By God’s grace, instead of looking at how vibrant my church was in days gone by, I will be looking at it in 2013 and think, wow! I have never seen such life before. Sorry Bruce. I can’t sing that song of glory days gone by with you. I am still experiencing God’s glory today!

It’s 2013 and I can see Jesus breaking out the new wine!

You may study this week’s SS lesson here.

by In Light Of The Cross

John 8; God’s Cry To Be Loved.

I am writing today from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

John 8:42  If God were your Father, ye would love me…

I encourage you to read John chapter 8 and see what you see. There is a very intense argument going on. There head to head conflict. The Jews are being very two-faced with Jesus, saying in chapter 7 that no one seeks to kill Him and then turning around in chapter 8 and trying to stone Him to death! I deal with conflict but would rather not. I am firm in my beliefs and can defend my faith in conflict, but instead of getting into a heavy debate, I would rather talk about what your favorite restaurant is, or how funny it would be if the 7-9 Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl this year.

But as deep and intense as the discussion is in John 8, I see the crux of it all in verse  42.  In this whole chapter, I can see beyond all the theological debates, past all the so called doctrine and law, and I see a God crying out for love. He is standing in the midst of His church, talking with His leaders, and what is breaking His heart, is not their misunderstanding of what we call theology, or the law or Bible doctrine. He stands there, as a Son, as Brother, as a friend, and declares, “You don’t love me.” In verse 42 He is not saying, you don’t understand the law, doctrine, or theology. He is saying, You don’t love me. I see in this chapter a God crying out for love.

Isn’t all creation crying out for love? I have seen children of divorced parents, who are left with the grandparents because neither parent wanted them. The children take up all the hobbies their parents took up, not because they like the hobbies really, but because they want to have something to link the parent back to them and love them. I have seen the elderly holding and adoring a puppy, enjoying having a faithful creature, that they can pour their love on without being hurt in return, like they have with people for so many years.

I could go on, but all I am saying is, all around us there are people who just want to be loved. Sometimes their mannerisms that annoy us, are nothing more than their cry for love. And I believe in John 8 there is a God who more than wanting to praised as Mighty, Powerful and Awesome, has maybe let down His guard a bit in verse 42, and standing there alone, as it seems the whole world is against Him in His own church, and cries out to be loved.