Pastor’s Thoughts March 22,2024 through Mar 30-2024 from my God Squad group post and others see citations that accompany the post.
DO YOU NEED A BREAKTHROUGH?
What seems impossible? Is it a terrifying diagnosis? A disillusioning church experience? Are you destined for a corner office but stuck in a cubicle? Do you face infertility mountains? Addiction struggles? Friendship fiascos? A financial reversal? Divorce papers? A prodigal? A dream fizzled? A dead-end job? A mediocre marriage? A child in prison? Fired at fifty-two? Depressed at thirty-five? Everyone has brokenness, disappointment, and shattered dreams. Everyone needs HOPE.
Here is a story that means a lot to me: Two men were in an art museum and came upon a painting of two people playing chess. One character in the painting looked like an ordinary man; the other character looked a lot like the Devil. The ordinary man is down to his last piece on the chessboard and is scared to death. The title of the painting is “CHECKMATE.”
One of the two men looking at this painting was an international chess champion, and something about the painting intrigued him. He began to study it. He became so engrossed that the man with him grew impatient and asked him what he was doing. He said, “There’s something about this painting that bothers me, and I want to study it for a little while. You go ahead and wander around.” He studied it. His head started nodding, and his hands started moving. When his friend came back, he said, “We must locate the man who painted this picture and tell him that either he must change the picture, or he has to change the title. I have determined that there is something wrong with this painting.” His friend asked, “What’s wrong with the painting?” The chess champion said, “Well, it’s titled ‘CHECKMATE,’ but the title is wrong. The painter’s either got to change the painting or change the title, because… look at the board…look…look…THE KING STILL HAS ONE MORE MOVE.”
A little boy named David is up against a giant named Goliath. David is in trouble. He tries to put on King Saul’s armor, but Saul’s a 52-Long and David’s a 36-Short. He cannot even handle a grown-up’s sword. It looks like CHECKMATE, but…The KING STILL HAS ONE MORE MOVE.
A man named Daniel gets thrown into a den of lions because he refuses to stop praying to his God. The lions are hungry. He is in there all night and it looks like CHECKMATE. At the first light of dawn, King Darius calls down. Daniel tells him the lions have been put on a “low protein diet” and he is fine, because…THE KING STILL HAS ONE MORE MOVE.
Good Friday seemed like Bad Friday. Jesus was dead. All hope was lost. It was time to join a Dead-Messiah Support Group or find a new Messiah. It looked like CHECKMATE until Sunday when they discovered…THE KING STILL HAS ONE MORE MOVE.
Whatever challenge you face…whether it is today or tomorrow…the promise of Jesus to everyone who puts their trust in Him is this: there is HOPE, even when it feels like CHECKMATE…THE KING STILL HAS ONE MORE MOVE!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
–Michael Sprague
I’ve heard the accusation
And I’ve heard the propaganda
I’ve heard the lies they whispered to my soul
That I have been forsaken
And I’ll always be forgotten
No matter what I do it’s not enough
And then I heard a voice
As it opened up the heavens
Reminding me of who I’ve always been
I am Your beloved, You have bought me with Your blood
And on Your hand You’ve written out my name
I am Your beloved, one the Father loves
Mercy has defeated all my shame
There’s no accusation, or any condemnation
When I look into my Father’s eyes
They don’t see my sin, they only see redemption
This is how my heart has been defined
I can hear a voice
That is louder than the thunder
Reminding me of who I’ve always been
I am Your beloved, You have bought me with Your blood
And on Your hand, You’ve written out my name
I am Your beloved, one the Father loves
Mercy has defeated all my shame
Oh the One who knows me best
Is the One who loves me most
There is nothing I have done
That could change the Father’s love
❤️❤️
–lyrics from I Am Your Beloved
KINGDOM TERRITORY
Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
Colossians 2:15
The “it” Paul’s words in our text refer to is the Cross. The Cross of Christ is the sole instrument for humanity’s salvation and deliverance…and the sole power for breaking hell’s works and operations. 1 Corinthians 2:7-8 confirms this truth, showing how God’s wisdom through the blood and death of His Son completely confounded the strategies of hell. They have never recovered…nor will they ever recover!
These words are such a holy and healthy reminder to all of us who want and welcome the fullness of the Holy Spirit to make Christ’s kingdom power effective in and through our lives today. They point to the place from which “all power” flows. For just as Jesus is the Person to whom, through whom, and from whom all God’s power flows…so His Cross is the place – the foundational accomplishment – which releases all power to mankind.
This is holy territory. It’s where salvation’s price was paid and where sin’s penalty was broken. The cross is also where hell was “made a spectacle of,” and the cross has become the sign by which we conquer.
As the old hymn asks, “Are you living in the shadow of the Cross?” Let’s answer, “Amen!” ❤️✝️
–Jack Hayford
SMILE 😊😊
God takes those who were once weak, foolish, unknown, and broken vessels…and through us…He turns the world upside down.
Never—for a moment—discount yourself because of your weaknesses or because of what you lack. GOD LOVES YOU.
He loves how He made you…and He does His best work through humble, surrendered saints.
Look up today and consider the men and women God has used throughout history. Consider the cloud of witnesses cheering you on. Determine to find the ancient path of faith and mark out your steps. Trust God’s heart to use you in ways that are disproportionate to who you are. That’s who He is…that’s what He does!
Let your trials train you into a warrior.
Allow your hardships to conform you into Christ’s image.
Dare to believe that God just might change the world through you.
Smile today…you are someone God loves!! ❤️❤️
1 Corinthians 1:26-29 (NLT) ~ Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And He chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.
—Susie Larson
SO WE MAY KNOW
1 John 5:11-13
“God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
John wrote this first letter to define the changes which ought to take place in the life of a Christian. The believers who read John’s letter understood that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). They knew “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). They had been told the importance of turning from their sin; “repent, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out” (Acts 3:19), and they clearly understood the significance of Jesus’ death on the cross; “God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood” (Romans 3:25).
The believers knew it was through faith in the sacrifice of Jesus that they were forgiven and transformed by His Spirit; but though they knew the process, they still wrestled with knowing if they were saved.
John provided several indicators of a life which truly believes in Jesus. He said those who are born again will obey the commands of God (1 John 2:3-5), and will not continue to live in sin (1 John 3:9). He said a born again life is characterized by love: “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death” (1 John 3:14). John also said our love should not just be with words, “but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18).
The born again transformation occurs in our heart and spirit…but John was stating that becoming a new creation ought to result in change. We are not the same! And while the growth of many new creations can be painfully slow, over time there ought to be some form of maturity; all healthy creatures grow!
But if the evidence of being born again is missing, please remember that we cannot generate change by trying harder. Self effort never produces eternal life. Rather, we must return to the cross and consider the darkness of our sin and the brilliance of His love; “we love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:9). For only at the cross is there forgiveness and the power to transform.
Let’s truly receive the forgiveness offered through faith in Jesus and then continue to grow with a victorious assurance that we are born again. Let’s trust the truth of His Word which has been given into our hands…so we may know! ❤️
—Steve Troxel
Time for a Thursday afternoon Tune-up!! ❤️
“my insecurities shouted at me…amplified voices of haunting words, memories, + lies all in one.
bullying my mind…throwing me into a corner…ready to hit & take my life.
as I brace for impact, grace stepped in…a gentle voice…a kind demeanor surpassed the room…
overwhelmed because YOU saved me.
YOU swooped in, picked me up, & carried me away – like you have time & time again…it was YOU all along.
YOU speak words of…
TRUTH, GRACE, LIFE, LOVE, FORGIVENESS, KINDNESS [over me as YOU carry me to shelter…but shelter isn’t just a physical place – it is YOUR presence, YOUR goodness, YOUR steadfastness.]
YOU remind me of who I am, who YOU are, & who YOU’VE created me to be.
YOU remind me that I am not discounted from a life filled w/ love & joy. I am worthy of all those good & Godly desires.”
–Rachel Pues