Finished Work

In a previous message we talked about a “CLEAN TITLE”.  Meaning that once something is purchased and there is nothing held against it, it becomes a free and clear title of ownership.

God purchased us back with the shed blood of His only Son Jesus Christ; Acts 20:28.  This is the “exchange” and or payment that made the “Title” to our lives free and clear in Him.

He took the stripes for not only our past sins, but also our present and future failures.  No matter what our lives look like to the world or how often we “miss the mark” of righteousness He still holds the title which He purchased with His blood. 

Wow, what an awesome revelation for us to grasp.

 Romans 8:1-4 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you^, free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering, And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Unashamed Dependence

Carrie was reading her daily devotional this morning and there was a key phrase that jumped out at me.  It said; “you need to attach to God with “unashamed dependence”.  Our admission of needing help is so important in our walk with God. 

We must conclude that God is not only “relevant” to us, but He is completely necessary at the highest level in all areas of our life. 

Our pride is what has us walking around relying on our own dependence.  It is actually a foolish position when you think about it.  There is no way we can control all the elements and factors of life, much less the schemes and attacks of the enemy.  We are simply inadequate in our own ability to manage life. 

Choose Today

Another day has come and we have been given an opportunity to choose whom we will serve in life. 

The summer has started and a new set of time consuming events are coming our way.  In the midst of this chaos we will have the ability to choose life.

Joshua 24:15 ¹⁵ And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Godly Increase

When we begin to walk out God’s plan in life we desire to find our perfect place.  Everyone is given talents and gifts to become a witness and ministry leader of some type.  When we seek God, He will reveal to us and shape our destiny upon many fronts.

Question:  Where is God placing you to be a witness?

After accepting the call to ministry I was not sure where God would send me to fulfill His plan.  Coaching baseball had been a big part of life but I never believed or thought of it as a ministry outlet the way others had suggested.  It was an uncommon area and I had a hard time recognizing its influence or the platform that was in front of me.

After praying the prayer of Jabez I began to see doors open.  The door for me to return to Woodward to coach baseball was one of them.  This seemed like a far stretch in my own mind, but God always has a plan.  The on-field success will more than likely follow this move, but God has shown me a spiritual impact that can help reach the next generation through biblical values.

Are We Deceived?

The more I study the Word and seek God, I learn that we all can be deceived at times.  A lot of the time we actually deceive ourselves.  How you might ask?  People’s pride that comes from their good deeds or works starts to deceive them into thinking they are exempt from sin, or that their reliance is not on Jesus, but on themselves. 

1 John 1:8-10 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

When this happens we deceive ourselves, and our reliance moves from Jesus to us.  This causes a self-righteous mindset that could also be known as a “religious spirit”.  I don’t believe this is always a conscious mindset but rather a fleshly position that causes people to pass judgment on others when we all are sinners.  The fact is we will never stop needing a savior and to do so would mean Jesus’ sacrifice was not necessary.

We need Jesus as our savior yesterday, today and forever.  He is our salvation and our source of righteousness.

The Blood of Jesus!

I watched a video this morning about how critical the church is about people, which means that people are putting the blood of Jesus on trial rather than the person. 

This reminds me of when Jesus who was without sin faced the Pharisees of His time and they accused Him until He was proclaimed guilty even though He had not sinned. 

First of all we are all sinners and fall short of God’s glory.

Romans 3:23-24 For there is no difference;  ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

Just Do It!

As the world tries to conform us to the normal standards of “Society” we are faced with decisions to do what’s normal or to make Godly choices based on spiritual things.

When Jesus performed miracles in the bible it required people to do what “He” said. 

John 2:1-5 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ² Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.³ And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”

⁴ Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”

⁵ His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

The Lord Is My Shield

We face an enemy that is cunning and deceiving and he has a plan to destroy us.  Christ Jesus defeated him at the cross.   We can call upon His name in our time of need and He will hear our voice.

John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

The Lord is our Shield in times of trouble. 

Psalm 3:3 But You, O Lord, are a shield for me,
My glory and the One who lifts up my head.
⁴ I cried to the Lord with my voice,
And He heard me from His holy hill.

When I read this scripture I gained a revelation about the “Shield”.  What is a shield and how does it work? 

Life’s Lessons

When we talk about sports in the sense of its value we begin to gain perspective.  Team sport is the greatest teaching tool in America to teach our youth about life. 

As parents we can conclude that sports is a place to show acceptance for our children in the world.  It brings us pride for their success. This is good and bad, especially bad if our pride in our children outweighs the potential lessons that prepare them for life as adults.

We need to take a step back and look at the value of competition and how we handle failure and success.  On the field we see our youth fail by striking out or making errors and our human nature seems to want to make excuses for their mishaps, when in reality having to face this adversity is a great lesson that teaches them how to overcome and respond to difficulty with character. 

Press On!

When we grow in Faith we begin to want more and more of God’s plan because we have discovered that it’s better than ours.  Some questions I began to ask are “What is important in Life”?  How can I obtain everything God created me to have?

Philippians 3:12-14 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.¹³ Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thingI do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

God is good and to have all that He has for us we must press on!  The bible tells us that we will have tribulation.

Boldness in Jesus!

Reading the book of Acts this morning I was drawn to the prayer of boldness from the Disciples. 

Acts 4:29-31 Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, ³⁰ by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.”

³¹ And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

What’s Next?

I woke up this morning with this thought on my mind. What’s Next God?

When we have uncertainty of our future we must hold on to the truth of God and trust Him.  This takes humility to turn loose of our fleshly perspective.  God has a great plan and we need to seek Him daily and rely on the fact that He will guide our steps.

Psalm 25:9 The humble He guides in justice, And the humble He teaches His way.

Question:  Do we want to “learn” from the ways of the world or from God?

Are we looking and pushing towards things that that are offered by the world, or asking the question, What’s Next God?

I don’t believe we can reach our destiny in God by accepting the worldly direction in our lives.  This worldly nature comes from a root of selfishness.  This nature is based on what the world deems as success, including: money, houses, cars, wealth and self-indulgence.  If we seek these things we may obtain them and lose our Godly destiny.

 VICTORY!

What is victory? It is success in a struggle against difficulties or an obstacle. Victory is the state of having triumphed. Victory refers especially to the FINAL defeat of an enemy or opponent.

Based on the definition of victory, we can conclude that there must be an enemy or opponent before there can be a battle. Therefore, if there is a battle that takes place, then someone will be victorious. If victory also tells us that the defeat is FINAL, then we can conclude that the battle will be finished once and for all!

Team sports allow us to create a situation to battle for victory. It determines the steps and the process we need to follow. We must be prepared for the battle.

In team sports, we will face an enemy on a given date in time. Our success on the date in time will be determined by who is better equipped. Therefore, we understand that there is a “time frame” that we have to prepare for this battle.

The team that is the most prepared will often be victorious during the battle. To prepare at the highest level for the battle, it takes key foundational character elements. Those elements include: truth, choices, discipline, sacrifice, and love.

The Perfect Game

Today’s Blog is from one of my favorite topics “baseball” and how it relates to life. This story came from my first book in 2008 called “The Perfect Game”.  

As the author of this book, it is my goal to send the message that at times we all fail. I have failed many times, sometimes miserably. By coaching the sport of baseball, I have been able to look at the substance of this game and what makes it special. “Special” is often a hard word to define. I believe the word “special,” when it comes to the sport of baseball, refers to the difficulties of the sport.

The amount of failure that a player deals with in the game surpasses any sport, in my opinion. Often, you hear coaches make the statement, “You can be successful 30 percent of the time and make it to the Baseball Hall of Fame.” That 30 percent they are referring to is going three for ten at the plate or at bat. The player who has a career .300 average often makes it to the Hall.

Ask The Question

To obtain knowledge we must first ask a question.  God revealed to me that we are asking the wrong questions and are looking for answers from the wrong place.

We are being conformed and controlled by society to think a certain way and we are stuck in a selfish mindset that lines up with what we have learned and not what God says.

After a little research, I found that a child at the age of 10 asks an average of 144 questions a day.  Wow!  This spoke to me that we are born to “Seek” answers.  Our problem is that we are getting our answers from the “World”.  When none of these answers work out for us we give up on the answer.  Therefore we become close-minded and stop asking questions.

We need to get back to asking questions.  We simply need to ask them the right way and from God because He is the one who created us.  Our selfish nature is contrary to His word and plan for our lives.