The Cross

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#Heresy#FalseDoctrine#SayWhat?

Wednesday, April 7th, 2021

I prefer to stay out of politics. I think I do pretty well with that. So what I am about to post has NOTHING at all to do with politics, even though it involves a politician (who probably ought to stick to his wretched politics).

Raphael Warnock, who calls himself Reverend Raphael Warnock, is the “pastor” of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. Historically, it is the church Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was the pastor of before his death. On Easter Sunday Mr. Warnock tweeted the following:

The meaning of Easter is more transcendent than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Whether you are Christian or not, through a commitment to helping others, we are able to save ourselves.

All I can say is, “Say what?” The blowback was quick and strong.

“With all due respect, this is literally the opposite of what the Gospel says. Ephesians 2 states that clearly. Faith alone, Christ alone,” tweeted Jason Romano, an author and the director of media at Sports Spectrum. “Love God, Love others. We should always help others. But … that’s [not] how we’re saved. Romans, Ephesians, the Gospels all make it clear we can’t save ourselves. If we could, then Jesus dying on the cross for nothing.”

Mark Jackson, the pastor of Oakhurst Baptist Church in Clarksdale, Miss., responded to Warnock by tweeting, “You sir have totally missed the meaning of this day. Without the resurrection of Christ, there is no hope of salvation at all. There is no greater meaning of this day than that of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

And here is one I totally agree with:

Another person tweeted, “This is a false gospel and heresy. We cannot save ourselves.”

First, Mr Warnock campaigned on the idea the Bible condones abortion. Now he says this. Seriously? Mr. Warnock should stick to politics rather than spread around the kind of false messages he is busy doing.  This latter one is just sheer poppycock. And blatant false teaching.

Now you know how I really feel. 🙂

Posted in Church, Doctrine, Easter, Faith, Resurrection, Scripture look, The Cross | 5 Responses »

#NeverTooLate#Song

Thursday, April 1st, 2021

I was on my way to the office this morning (Thursday) and was listening to Kutless. I have been listening to them lately and I’m sure I heard this song but never paid much attention.

Until this morning.

I realized how pertinent it was given the meaning of this whole week. The day we honor tomorrow (Good Friday). The day we celebrate on Sunday (Resurrection).

And the ache we have in our hearts for those we know and/or love who have continued to push Jesus away.  I know I do.  I offer this to you to be encouraged to not stop praying and hoping. It is never too late until that last breath is breathed. Until then…

Here is the song.

Posted in Christian living, Compassion, Death, Doctrine, Easter, Family, Forgiveness, Friendship, Grace, Opinion, Pick me Up, Resurrection, Story, The Cross | 2 Responses »

#Story#Replacement

Monday, March 29th, 2021

Perhaps you have heard this story before. Maybe not. Since I have never read Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities I can’t say I have except in a passing glance. But I used the following story in my sermon yesterday and since it is the week leading up to the crucifixion and resurrection, I thought I would start your week off with a thought-provoking story.

A man named Charles Darnay is condemned to die by the guillotine.  In our vernacular, all means of appeal had been made. The verdict kept coming back “Guilty.” “Condemned.”

As he sat in his cell and thought about his wife and child, he heard the shuffling of feet in the stone passage, a turning of a key, and a quick open and shut door. With a finger to his lips, Sidney Carton stood face-to-face before Darnay with a slight smile on his face. This man had come to trade places with Darney. Carton, an innocent man, is willing to go to the guillotine so that Darnay can be free to live and rejoin his family.

After the exchange has been made, and prisoners are gathered to be taken to their execution, a little seamstress approaches him. “Are you dying for him?” she whispered. “And his wife and child,” he replied.

Sidney Carton died so that another might live. But as great as his act was, it still does compare with what Christ has done for us.  You see, Carton died for 3 people. Jesus died not for just three, not for a hundred, but millions upon millions of people. Jesus died mercifully for a humanity caught in rebellion against God. By His death Jesus reconciled us (made us friends) with God.

Romans 5:8 says, “God demonstrates his love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Think on that truth as we begin this final week leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus.

Posted in Death, Doctrine, Easter, Jesus, Opinion, Pick me Up, Scripture look, The Cross | 6 Responses »

#Heart#Cross#Dichotomy

Friday, March 26th, 2021

Hey! Thanks for dropping by my blog. I had planned on posting one more time before this weekend but a quick and last minute trip to Ohio to visit with our daughter and grandson took precedence and me out of the loop. So I’m playing a little bit of catch up and this is one of those places. I have to forego the post I was going to do and post this one instead.

The old hymn used the refrain, “So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross/’Til my trophies at last I’ll lay down.” The question which begs to be asked is, “How can someone cherish the cross? What we know of it and the horrors and torture which surrounded it says anything but “cherish.” It was an ugly instrument of death.

The past two weeks I have been looking at the cross and will do the same this week. This Sunday is commonly called Palm Sunday because it showcases the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem surrounded by followers laying palm branches on the ground.  It introduces what is called Holy Week, so-called because it is the last week of Jesus’ earthly life/ministry before His crucifixion and resurrection.  Some have called this week and crucifixion as being the week where we get to see a perfect example of cosmic child abuse.  Progressive “Christianity” is whacked and the purveyors of it are complicit in its and their “whackness.”

The cross was absolutely essential to the story of salvation.  Take away the cross and you take away the heart of the whole story.  The Bible tells us this is the way it had to be!  JESUS DIED WILLINGLY, laying down His life on His own accord.  He wasn’t forced or tricked or blackmailed or threatened with the extinction of His people. He did all of this willingly. In fact, Hebrews 12 says, “For the joy set before Him.”

My purpose this Sunday is to show the heart of the cross.  I want to show how Jesus defied common wisdom and practice and instead of whining and crying and fighting, He willingly laid down His life for me, for you.”  I even have a great story which Charles Dickens included in The Tale of Two Cities which I will be using in the sermon.  (If you are unable to watch or attend and are good, I will include it in a post this coming week). 🙂

Please join me in person or online on the church’s FB page or YouTube channel.  You can check out the church’s website for those links.  And as always, if you are unable to do either, please pray for me, for us. Thanks.

Posted in Church, Doctrine, Easter, Forgiveness, God, Opinion, Preaching, Sermon Series/Topic, Story, The Cross | 2 Responses »

#Necessity#Cross#FulfillGod’sPlan

Friday, March 19th, 2021

Paul wrote the following words: “The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.” (NLT)

The cross has always been the central symbol of Christianity.  And while some wear it as jewelry around their neck or dangling from their ears or even carved into their body, the power of the cross has never been diminished. Some think the cross is a dead symbol. One man is quoted as saying, “A void has opened in the heart of Christianity. Where the cross once stood is now a vacuum.”

Remember two words: Penal substitution. Odds are you may have not even heard of them. Penal denotes punishment.  Substitution speaks of a replacement or a proxy.  Penal substitution atonement is therefore where one person bears the penalty someone else deserves.

All NT writers agree on this: Christ was our sinless substitute, and He died to pay the penalty for our sins. Sin has turned us all into criminals and there is no escape hatch from the pathway to destruction except by way of the cross.

My series on the cross continues this Sunday with the sermon titled The Necessity of the Cross.  There can be no Christianity without the cross. Humanity is not going to get better (do you remember the riots of this past summer?)  Yeah…I wouldn’t call that getting better.  As someone has said, “There is no death of sin without the death of Christ.”

Join me please if you are able to do so. Either in person or online. If not, prayer is greatly appreciated.

Posted in Doctrine, Faith, Jesus, Opinion, Preaching, Sermon Series/Topic, The Cross, Truth | 2 Responses »

#FurtherLessonsfromaShadow

Wednesday, March 17th, 2021

In my previous post I wrote about the lessons the shadow of the cross teaches us. I covered three in that post and I want to cover the last three in this one.  As I stated, these were given this past Sunday in my sermon on The Shadow of the Cross. They come from Paul David Tripp’s book Journey to the Cross, a 40 day devotional to be used from Ash Wednesday to Resurrection Sunday. I highly recommend it.  The main thoughts expressed below are his; the commentary is mine.

#4- The shadow of the cross teaches us what God offers.  I think this is the cream of the crop! The cross teaches us that God offers us the one thing we cannot solve on our own: what to do with our sin. He offers us the grace of forgiveness. Without the cross there is no salvation and without the cross there is no need for change.  In fact, there is no hope for salvation without the cross.

#5- The shadow of the cross teaches us how to live. Two words fall from my brain to my lips. Two word easy to think and say but very VERY hard to do. FULLY. SURRENDERED.  I used the acronym W.H.A.Y.S.  to help me remember: Wise. Humble. Alert. Yielded. Sensitive to the Spirit’s leading.

#6- The shadow of the cross teaches us that hope and courage is ours for the asking. The cross takes away our fear of sin and its consequences and sets our feet on a higher plain. The cross tells us victory is ours because of Jesus being victorious.  His victory over sin tells us we can also enjoy that same victory.  His crushing defeat of death tells us we can have that same crushing defeat over our enemy.

I closed my post last weekend and then closed this section of the sermon with the words from a Petra song: “Never perfect…but perfectly forgiven….This is life as we know it forgiven and free, life as we know it abundant and free.” I hope there lessons help you as your prepare for the celebration of Jesus’ death on the cross.

Posted in Christian living, Doctrine, Opinion, The Cross | 2 Responses »

#LessonsfromaShadow

Sunday, March 14th, 2021

Yesterday I preached on the Shadow of the Cross. In my last post, I mentioned there were 6 lessons from a book I planned to use during the sermon and then I was going to post here.  I’d like to share three here and then three in the next post.

#1- The shadow of the cross teaches us who we are. The cross should and must humble us. Very few of us look at ourselves with humility. Instead, we compare and tell ourselves we aren’t really too bad. We need to rekindle the thoughts we had when we initially were saved-a sinner in need of and saved by grace.

#2- The shadow of the cross teaches us what we need. The cross teaches me I need inward change.  I don’t need to change my circumstances, my lot in life, my place of living, or even a physical change.  I need an inward, heart change.  And here is the kicker: I am incapable of making this change happen on my own.

#3- The shadow of the cross teaches us who God is. Bluntly put: He is God and I am not.  But it goes much deeper than that. The cross teaches me that God is unrelentingly merciful.  The cross teaches me God is full of grace. The cross teaches me that He is the One who wants to be in charge and I am incapable of managing and running my own life. When God takes over ownership of my life, He wants to be the One in charge. He does not need a backseat driver telling Him what to do with my life.

The main ideas are from the book by Paul David Tripp entitled Journey to the Cross.  The commentary is mine. As you think about the upcoming season of the cross and Resurrection Sunday I hope this helps put things in perspective.  I will post the next three on Wednesday.

Posted in Doctrine, Easter, God, Jesus, Lent, Opinion, The Cross | 4 Responses »

#Cross#Shadow

Friday, March 12th, 2021

I missed Ash Wednesday. Well, not really. I was aware of it. I knew when it came (and went). But since I am not from a tradition that typically observed/observes it, I often consider it just another day on the calendar. However, I do try to be more aware of its significance.  I do know that Ash Wednesday is the start of what we call the “Easter season.” It is the start of the 40 day journey to Resurrection Sunday.

I may sound somewhat cynical here but please don’t take it as being any less sincere: I don’t need a reminder of how sinful I am. I see that every day-whether as I read my Bible, journal, interact with people, or just live my life. I feel like the Apostle Paul in Romans 7:15- “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”  Busted!

But thank God for the cross!! A most unusual psalm fits in right here: Psalm 130. That psalm is the basis for my sermon Sunday on the shadow of the cross.  I’m borrowing from Paul David Tripp’s new book, Journey to the Cross for this message. He gives 6 lessons the shadow of the cross teaches us.  They will be the first part of my message followed by a look at Psalm 130.  I also plan to share those 6 lessons in two posts next week.  I’d love to have you join me and the church I pastor either in person or online.  And as always, if you are unable to do so, then prayer is always appreciated.

I’ll close this post with words from a Petra song: “Never perfect, but perfectly forgiven…This is life as we know it forgiven and free, life as we know it more abundantly.”  (Life As We Know It)

Posted in Doctrine, Easter, Forgiveness, Lent, Opinion, Preaching, Salvation, Sermon Series/Topic, The Cross | 4 Responses »

#Lent#32

Friday, April 10th, 2020

Today, April 10,2020 is Good Friday. A day of sickness and death for many, but for people all over the globe it is a day with a different meaning,

From Darkness to Light.

From Pitch Black to Blinding Luminescence.

From Dark Rumbling Clouds to Glorious Sunshine.

From Hatred to Love.

From Loss to Gain

From Loser to Winner.

From Death to Life.

It’s Friday…but Sunday’s Coming!

Posted in Death, Doctrine, Easter, Lent, Resurrection, Story, The Cross, Truth | 3 Responses »

#Lent#31

Thursday, April 9th, 2020

Not growing up in a religious tradition that observed the traditional trappings of a holiday like Easter is a learning experience. No, I did not grow up as part of the Jehovah Witness cult. I grew up in an independent Christian Church that had two pastors from Moody. So you might as well say I grew up Baptist. However, I went away to a college from the independent group after getting a new pastor who favored that tradition (denomination), but claim no allegiance to anymore.  While I had heard of Good Friday and we often went to Good Friday services our church observed with other churches in the community, there were still some phrases and “special days” I was ignorant of.

I had never heard of or observed Lent. To me, lent was something you did for someone else. They wanted to borrow something so you “loaned” it to them.  You lent it to them. So when I got deeper into church work, I heard of Lent but still never made a big deal about it.

Speaking of Lent, how about Ash Wednesday? That was a new one to me as well. I do remember being in high school and one of my teachers, Mr. Bano, had this smudge mark in the middle of his forehead. I can remember sitting there wondering, “Does he know? Should I tell him?” The wiser Bill said to keep my business to myself. I reckon that was a good thing. He was Catholic and that was part of his tradition…but I didn’t know.

Today is a day called Maundy Thursday. What in the world is that? I found out it was the day Jesus washed the disciples’ feet during what is known as the Last Supper the night He was betrayed.  Maundy is from the Latin word which means “command” and finds its meaning in when Jesus told His disciples “A new command I give you; Love one another.”  Okay, sounds plausible although I still am lost as to why that has been made into a holy day.

Then there is Good Friday. As if the crucifixion can be seen as “good.” But you and I know it can and will continue to be for all those who know Jesus. While some skeptics call it cosmic child abuse, I call it “essential.” Without that cross, I have nothing. No forgiveness of sins. No answer to my shame. And then there is…

Resurrection Sunday!! Now THAT I know! Without it I have no hope, no purpose, no reason to live. So no matter what tradition you belong to-one that observes all the holy days of the last week of Jesus or one that doesn’t (like me then and now), the resurrection is the game-changer.  We are drawing closer to that celebration. Keep your eyes looking ahead. In fact, maybe you might want to keep one eye on the sky as well.

Posted in Church, Easter, Lent, Opinion, Story, The Cross, Truth | 3 Responses »

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