reflections on the love that changes everything
Jesus more than paid for all the sins of all the people in the whole world. By doing so, He opened the gates of heaven for God’s righteousness to come pouring down upon you and upon me. We are now flooded… with the purity, holiness, and uprightness of God.
Because the infinite worth of Jesus’ suffering and death on our behalf vastly exceeds the debt we owe for our sin, God the Father looks at us and makes the only just decision he could. He declares that we are righteous, in other words, that we are completely and totally innocent of all our sin, and he sets us free. God no longer holds anything against us.
The women at the tomb had the right information—an empty tomb, an angel’s message, a reminder of Jesus’ promise—but their frame didn’t allow for resurrection. At least not yet. But Mary’s frame changed when she heard her name from the lips of the risen Christ. And that changed everything.
Do you long for a richer, deeper spiritual life with God, but feels like you are only skimming the surface of what could be? Individual condition and environmental quality are likely playing a role & humans can impact their condition and environment. Let’s reflect on what we can do to help ourselves thrive?
The reason that we can be people of hope in a hopeless world is that the grace of Jesus Christ has changed everything for us. It has changed who we are, it has changed how we live, it has changed where we are going.
If you have ever gone through an extremely difficult season in life—perhaps harder than you expected—or if you are experiencing one now, this sermon is for you. God, in His wisdom, gave us the book of Revelation to prepare us for life’s hardships.
For those of us who follow Jesus, God gives us a sure & certain promise of hope in Revelation. Yes, we will experience suffering & sorrow in this life. But Jesus rules from heaven and he assures us that, in the end, he will make all things right.
Navigating life based on the things around us may be common, but it is not the best way. Jesus told us these things will change, be threatened, or turn against us. We need an unchanging reference point—one we can trust and follow. That unchanging reference point is Jesus.
The whole idea of the book of Revelation—the whole purpose—is that God wants you to know, in a general sense, what is going to happen in the future so that you can have resilient faith as that future unfolds.
We all have a soul craving of some kind. We hunger for something—maybe love, maybe truth, maybe wisdom, maybe power. Each of us is looking to a particular source to satisfy that craving….The affections we hold in our hearts are incredibly important because they determine the trajectory of our lives.
Farewell to Shadowlands 