100 Sermon Illustrations on Victory

“Don’t let success go to your head or failure go to your heart.”

-- Anonymous, cited in BITS & PIECES (B&P)

“Success comes to those who know that life is first born in thought, who seek the vision before the deed, and conform the deed to the vision.”

-- B.Z. Bokser

“Show class, have pride, and display character. If you do, winning takes care of itself.”

-- Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant

“The greatest secret of success in life is for a person to be ready when their opportunity comes.”

-- Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881), British Prime Minister and writer, B&P

“The secret of success is constancy of purpose.”

-- Benjamin Disraeli

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

-- Thomas Edison, QFTM 5/24/03

“Try not to become a success, but rather try to become a man of value.”

-- Albert Einstein, QFTM 11/19/02

“There are no victories at bargain prices.”

-- Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890 - 1969), 34th U.S. President, B&P

“The walking of Man is falling forwards.”

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson, QFTM 11/25/02

“Success depends on a plus condition of mind and body, on the power of work and on courage.”

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success.”

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Success is a continuum. At one end is what we call failure; at the opposite end is success and satisfaction. Success begins with failure and ends with accomplishment. Seen this way, failure is an integral, anticipated part of the success process.”

-- R. Moshe Gans

“Three rules for success:

Number 1. Do what’s right. Be on time, be polite, and be honest; remain free from drugs;

and if you have any questions, get out your Bible.

Number 2. Do your best. Mediocrity is unacceptable when you are capable of doing better.

Number 3. Treat others as you want to be treated. Practice love and understanding.”

-- Lou Holtz, QFTM 7/28/00

“You either have to be first, best, or different.”

-- Loretta Lynn, country music singer, B&P

“Learn and grow all you can; serve and befriend all you can; enrich and inspire all you can.”

-- Pope John Paul II, Quotes From The Masters (QFTM) 11/19/02

“Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better.”

-- Pat Riley, basketball coach, B&P 11/18/02

“There is no success without sacrifice. If you succeed without sacrifice it is because someone has suffered before you. If you sacrifice without success it is because someone will succeed after.”

-- Adoniram Judson, missionary, SermonCentral.com newsletter, 5/20/03

“Once a man has made a commitment to a way of life, he puts the greatest strength in the world behind him. It’s something we call heart power. Once a man has made his commitment, nothing will stop him short of success.”

-- Vince Lombardi

“Accept the challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.”

-- General George S. Patton, QFTM 3/15/03

“When building a team, I always search first for people who love to win. If I can’t find any of those, I look for people who hate to lose.”

-- H. Ross Perot, QFTM 3/15/03

“To succeed in life one must have determination and must be prepared to suffer during the process. If one isn’t prepared to suffer during adversities, I don’t really see how he can be successful.”

-- Gary Player

“A man can lack integrity and character and prove to be a success in law, business or government. However, in the ministry a lack or decline in integrity and morality ends up in ultimate failure.”

-- Charles Swindoll

“My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose - somehow we win out.”

-- Ronald Reagan, QFTM 3/15/03

“I can give you a six-word formula for success: Think things through - then follow through.”

-- Captain Edward V. Rickenbacker, QFTM 5/31/03

“Success, real success, in any endeavor demands more from an individual than most people are willing to offer - not more than they are capable of offering.”

-- James Roche, cited in BITS & PIECES

“If you want to be successful, it’s just this simple. Know what you are doing. Love what you are doing, and believe in what you are doing. Yes, it’s just that simple.”

-- Will Rogers

“Men were born to succeed, not to fail.”

-- Henry David Thoreau

“Today I shall look upon every obstacle as a down payment towards my success. I will use them to strengthen me and not weaken me.”

-- R. Twerski

“Successful people have clearly defined goals and action plans. They have a specific sense of direction, and that direction is based upon their own desires - not those assigned by someone else.”

-- Dennis Waitley

“Plan purposefully. Prepare. Proceed positively. Pursue persistently.”

-- William A. Ward

“Success is an active process of accomplishments along the way.”

-- Shiela West

“You can get everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”

-- Zig Ziglar, cited in More of...The Best of BITS & PIECES

“There’s nothing to winning, really. That is, if you happen to be blessed with a keen eye, an agile mind, and no scruples whatsoever.”

-- Alfred Hitchcock

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.”

-- Vincent T. Lombardi, QFTM 6/5/04

“In whatever man does without God, he must fail miserably or succeed more miserably.”

-- George MacDonald, 19th century writer

“I can give you a six-word formula for success: Think things through – then follow through.”

-- Captain Edward V. Rickenbacker

“I realized early on that success was tied to not giving up. Most people in this business gave up and went on to other things. If you simply didn’t give up, you would outlast the people who came in on the bus with you.”

-- Harrison Ford

“Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, ‘What’s in it for me?’

-- Brian Tracy

“Success is a journey not a destination. The doing is usually more important than the outcome. Not everyone can be Number 1.”

-- Arthur Ashe

“The twin killers of success are impatience and greed.”

-- Jim Rohn

“Never continue in a job you don’t enjoy. If you’re happy in what you’re doing, you’ll like yourself, you’ll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined.”

-- Rodan of Alexandria

“Success always occurs in private, and failure in full view.”

“The most successful men in the end are those whose success is the result of steady accretion. . . It is the man who carefully advances step by step, with his mind becoming wider and wider - and progressively better able to grasp any theme or situation - persevering in what he knows to be practical, and concentrating his thought upon it, who is bound to succeed in the greatest degree.”

-- Alexander Graham Bell (inventor)

“The first and most important step toward success is the feeling that we can succeed.”

-- Nelson Boswell

“People of mediocre ability sometimes achieve outstanding success because they don’t know when to quit. Most men succeed because they are determined to.”

-- George Herbert Allen (football coach, executive)

“Success and Failure. . . Success and failure are usually not the result of a single event. Failure is the result of neglecting to make the call. . . to go the extra mile. . . to say, I Love You. In the same way that failure follows this string of small decisions, success comes from taking the initiative and following up. . . persisting. . . eloquently expressing the depth of your love. What simple actions could you take today to produce a new momentum toward success in your life.”

-- Anthony Robbins

“To be successful one must make change an ongoing process. Quality is a race with no finish line.”

-- David T. Kearns

“The only time success comes before work is in the dictionary.”

“The first quality of courage is the willingness to launch with no guarantees. The second quality of courage is the ability to endure when there is no success in sight.”

-- Brian Tracy

“The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you’ve got it made.”

“Be willing to launch in faith, with no guarantees of success. This is the mark of personal greatness.”

-- Brian Tracy

“The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving them. Even the most tedious chore will become endurable as you parade through each day convinced that every task, no matter how menial or boring, brings you closer to fulfilling your dreams.”

-- Og Mandino

“The softball game between members of our church and a local synagogue was tied until the bottom of the ninth inning, when our pastor hit the game winning home run. He jokingly attributed his success to the benediction he had given before the game. The following week we presented him with a trophy inscribed “Most Valuable Prayer”

-- Reader’s Digest

“Just being yourself, being who you are, is a successful rebellion.”

“Making a success of the job at hand is the best step toward the kind you want.”

-- Bernard Mannes Baruch (stock broker, public official, political advisor)

“Be sensitive to the plight of others. You have to know about the tragedies as well as the triumphs, the failures as well as the success.”

“Judge your success by Come, work for the Lord. The work is hard, the hours long and the pay is low. But the retirement benefits are out of this world.”

“Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day; while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day. It is the accumulative weight of our disciplines and our judgments that leads us to either fortune or failure.”

-- Jim Rohn

“Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure.”

-- Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993)

“The most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at the goal itself, but at some ambitious goal beyond it.”

“Success is living up to your potential. That’s all. Wake up with a smile and go after life. Don’t just show up at the game or office. Live it, enjoy it, taste it, smell it, feel it.”

-- Joe Kapp, Former football player and coach

“Pray that success will not come any faster than you are able to endure it.”

-- Elbert Hubbard

“To some people, I am kind of a Merlin who takes lots of crazy chances, but rarely makes mistakes. I’ve made some bad ones, but fortunately, the successes have come along fast enough to cover up the mistakes. When you go to bat as many times as I do, you’re bound to get a good average.”

-- Walt Disney

“To have a successful relationship I must learn to make it look like I’m giving as much as I’m getting.”

“The twin killers of success are impatience and greed.”

-- Jim Rohn

“Cutting remarks won’t carve your way to success. . .”

“Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted.”

-- David Bly

“The ladder of success is never crowded at the top.”

-- Napoleon Hill

“Good luck is the lazy man’s estimate of the workers success. . . and. . . Musicians who play by ear should remember people listen the same way. . .”

“Behind every successful man, stands a surprised mother-in-law.”

-- Hubert Humphrey

“A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.”

-- Bob Dylan

“We are never alone when we are alone with Jesus. . . and. . . Easy is the enemy of success.”

“People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of success.”

-- Norman Vincent Peale

“A word of encouragement during a failure is worth more than an hour of praise after success.”

-- Anonymous

“The road to success is dotted with very tempting parking places. . . . and they are patrolled by VERY unforgiving meter police. . .

-– Anonymous

“Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.”

-- William Feather (1889-1981)

“The ability to confront issues is really important to a successful career, maybe even a successful life.”

-- Amy Digeso

“Failure is the tuition you pay for success.”

-- Walter Brunell

“If at first you don’t succeed...skydiving is not for you.”

-- (unknown)

Hollywood, having had its fill of religious boycotts, is bending over backwards with the new DreamWorks production about Moses, THE PRINCE OF EGYPT. I felt privileged to be invited not once, but twice to a private screening of the animation in process - until I learned that several hundred other people had made the same pilgrimage to meet with Jeffrey Katzenberg at DreamWorks.

What an industry! For four years, 400 people, many of them skilled artists, have been working on a project that cost well over $100 million. They'll know in two weekends whether it will make or lose a bundle. No wonder they want the religious community on their side.

THE PRINCE OF EGYPT is a fine film by any standard and takes surprisingly few liberties with the biblical story. Impressed, I agreed to write a chapter for Destiny and Deliverance, the book that will serve as a companion to the film, with the proviso that I could write about Deuteronomy, the recap of Moses' life. That book, often overlooked, contains personal outpourings by Moses as poignant and heart-rending as anything in the Bible.

Consider, for example, Moses' depiction of the horrors awaiting those who disobey the covenant (Deut. 28:64-68):

Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of

the earth to the other.... there the LORD will give you an

anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart.

You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night

and day, never sure of your life. In the morning you will say,

"If only it were evening!" and in the evening, "If only it were

morning!" - because of the terror that will fill your hearts and

the sights that your eyes will see. The LORD will send you back

in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make

again. There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies

as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.

As the Israelites stepped across the Jordan River, curses like these rained down on them from a choir standing on a mountaintop. Antiphonally, another choir shouted out potential blessings. In this natural amphitheater, the two choirs loudly vocalized the stark alternatives of obeying or disobeying the covenant with God.

In addition, Moses set up large stones coated with plaster on which were written the words of the law. God longed for the covenant to succeed: "OH, THAT THEIR HEARTS WOULD BE INCLINED TO FEAR ME AND KEEP ALL MY COMMANDS ALWAYS, SO THAT IT MIGHT GO WELL WITH THEM AND THEIR CHILDREN FOREVER!" Repeated rebellions in the wilderness had taken a toll, however. After Sinai, even God spoke of the future with a tone of resignation, like the parent of a drug addict helpless to stop his own child from self-destructing.

Two staged memory lessons were not enough. Write down a song, God said, and teach it to the Israelites as a witness to history. Laws written on stone and plaster, curses and blessings broadcast from the mountaintops - these sights and sounds will fade away. Make them learn my words by heart. Drill the message inside them.

Thus, at the birth of their nation, euphoric over the crossing of the Jordan River, the Israelites premiered a kind of national anthem, the strangest national anthem that has ever been sung. It had virtually no words of pride or hope, only doom.

When I submitted my chapter to the readers at DreamWorks, they were scandalized. Why this pessimism, this fatalism, this latent anti-Semitism in a book celebrating the grand miracle of the Exodus? In the margin beside some of the strongest passages, a Jewish proofreader wrote, "Where is this from!?" I pointed out that each questionable quotation came directly from Deuteronomy, part of the sacred Torah.

Modern readers, excited by the thrill of the Exodus, pay little attention to the 400 years of misery that preceded it, or the abysmal failures that followed. Which is why the Bible includes Deuteronomy in the first place, and why we optimistic Americans ought to pay it more mind.

Others have borrowed parts of Moses' message, but no one has quite got it right. Liberationists of all stripes have appropriated the language of Exodus, yet all lack Moses' unstinting realism. They drift into utopian promises of a Promised Land that has never been - and will never be - realized this side of eternity. Often these utopians end up creating a political system more tyrannical than the one they sought liberation from.

Likewise, pietist Christians have borrowed Moses' vision to describe a Victorious Christian Life on the other side of Jordan. The last seven chapters of Deuteronomy should forever disabuse us of that notion. Life with God is never so easy, so settled. Not for the Hebrews then, and not for us living today. The pilgrim must ever progress, uphill, meeting new enemies around every bend.

The Old Testament should come with a warning: Don't read Exodus without also reading Deuteronomy. It would save a lot of disillusionment - for moviemakers, for politicians, and also for preachers.

In our women’s Bible study, we have been talking about the strongholds by which Satan binds us. Some examples of this are: negative thinking, anger, unforgiving spirit, fear, etc. We have been holding each other accountable in claiming God’s victory over them.

We made an appointment to meet on May 6, 2000 at the beach in order to pray over our strongholds and then throw them in the fire — symbolizing their destruction through the power of Christ. Let me try to share what happened that night:

The fire pits at the beach are spaced rather closely together so it’s hard to have total privacy. On one side of us there was a group of Asian-American Christian young people (30-40 of them) singing praise songs and having fellowship together, which made a great back drop for what we were doing. On the other side of us was a group of ten or so drunken individuals, yelling at the tops of their lungs, using vulgarities and profanities.

There were 15 women in our group and after a light supper, we gathered around the fire and went over our individual strongholds. Then we started to pray, one-by-one, finishing our individual prayer by throwing our list of strongholds into the fire. This was a time consuming process.

The noise and vulgarities continued. Finally, our group leader went over to the loud group, told them that we were trying to have a Bible study and prayer and would they mind quieting down for a while. “Sure” they said. It lasted about five minutes — then they were at it still louder this time and even more profane and vulgar. It was interesting to me that when prayer was being focused on one of the women who was in crisis (suicidal, abuse, etc.) the volume would increase even more.

Finally, our group leader couldn’t take it anymore. Instead of throwing up her hands in defeat, she said let’s pray. Her prayer was bold and powerful, calling upon God to make a difference in our evening. She told Him that we had come to spend time with Him and to bind ourselves even closer to Him and that demonic forces seemed to be at odds with us. She reminded Him that where 2 or 3 were gathered in His name that He would be there with them. She said “Lord, in the name of Jesus, make these people sit down and shut up.” Her prayer continued a while, and then she said “and Lord, if there is anyone in that group who doesn’t belong there, pull them out and send them over here to us.” With that she finished the prayer.

We continued our praying in the circle about our strongholds … and I could not believe my ears. Within five minutes, it was quiet with the exception of the praise songs being sung by the Asian-American young people. The group that had been so loud and obnoxious were lying quietly on the sand, looking into the fire, or at the sky. It was amazing and it was quiet the whole rest of the time we were in prayer.

The beach closes at 10 p.m., so the young people began to break up for the evening. We asked the guitar player and some of them to come to our fire pit to sing with us. They gladly obliged. We stood singing and praising God and again … I could not believe my eyes. Out of the formerly loud, vulgar and profane group walked a young woman, about 22-25 years of age. She was crying and walked over to our fire. Our group leader reached out to her. The young woman said “I want to come home.” With tears of rejoicing and much prayer, we welcomed her while she re-committed her life to Jesus. We spent quite a bit of time with her — I talked with her a little. She said “I feel so confused and yet I feel SO good and SO at peace and free.” We swapped phone numbers.

Unbeknown to our group leader, while all this was happening, a young man wandered over from a distant fire pit. He had been designated the driver for the evening. His friends were getting more and more drunk. He walked over to take a break. He had been a Christian for only a week.

Praise God. May this be an encouragement to all parents who have wandering children. Somewhere out there, a Godly mother’s prayers were answered in a powerful way.

God WILL honor the prayers of parents and WILL bring our children back into the Light.

Promises that came to mind:

• He will save our children:

° Malachi 4:5-6

° Isaiah 43:5-7

° Isaiah 49:25

• He will restore the years the locust have eaten:

° Joel 2:25

Today I am looking at the palm tree. Again we see a tree with some varieties that can live up to 1000 years! Smith’s Bible Dictionary states …

“The palm tree frequently attains a height of eighty feet, but more commonly forty to fifty. It begins to bear fruit after it has been planted six or eight years, and continues to be productive for a century. Its trunk is straight, tall and unbroken, terminating in a crown of emerald-green plumes, like a diadem of gigantic ostrich-feathers; these leaves are frequently twenty feet in length, droop slightly at the ends, and whisper musically in the breeze. The palm is, in truth, a beautiful and most useful tree. Its fruit is the daily food of millions; its sap furnishes an agreeable wine; the fibres of the base of its leaves are woven into ropes and rigging; its tall stem supplies a valuable timber; its leaves are manufactured into brushes, mats, bags, couches and baskets. This one tree supplies almost all the wants of the Arab or Egyptian.” — Bible Plants.

The palm branch is a symbol of victory. We see it used when Jesus entered into Jerusalem in John 12:13 and also in

“After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white and held palm branches in their hands.” — Revelation 7:9

But the godly will flourish like palm trees and grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon. — Psalm 92:12

Here we are compared to the palm tree. The flourishing palm tree, lush, full and fruitful. With its crown it is easily distinguishable. They are actually regarded as princes of the plant world. They have the largest seed — some coconuts can weight 44 pounds! The largest inflorescence — one one species it rises 33 feet above the top of the tree and can bear several million flowers! The longest leaf of all plants belong to palms — one variety has leaves extending 83 feet from the trunk!

Wow!! And we are compared to this prince of trees! It changes the whole perspective doesn’t it! It must take your breath away to walk down the beach and see one of these flowering giants! What testimony do we have before the world as they look at our lives? Are we flourishing? When they look at us do they see the blessing of God on our lives? Do they see families full of love and blessed children? Do they see the victory in our lives? Are we seeing the growth of these things in our lives? I’ve got to share this from the Amplified version:

“The uncompromisingly righteous shall flourish like the palm tree (be longlived, stately, upright, useful and fruitful); he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon (Planted in the house of the Lord, they shall flourish in the courts of our God. (Growing in grace) they shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be full of sap (of spiritual vitality) and rich in the verdure (of trust, love and contentment)” — Psalm 92:12-15

They are living memorials to show that the Lord is upright and faithful to His promises; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. Living memorials to the faithfulness of God!! Isn’t that great! He gives us the victory! Praise God! Have a great day in the Lord!

It's hard to believe anyone could be as low as former Baylor University basketball coach Dave Bliss.

Following the murder of Patrick Dennehy in late July, Bliss was under scrutiny for alleged NCAA violations that included the illegal paying of tuition for Dennehy and another player.

Bliss was proud of his squeaky-clean reputation at Baylor, and he wanted to keep it that way. So, rather than fess up to the infractions, Bliss concocted a story that Dennehy got his money from selling drugs, rather than from Bliss himself. The coach even tried to get his players and coaches to go along with the tale.

But the Fort Worth Star-Telegram uncovered the plot, thanks to one of Bliss's assistants who taped several conversations. Bliss resigned before the tapes were made public, after a Baylor committee had discovered the wrongdoings anyway.

“I think the thing we want to do -- and you think about this -- if there's a way we can create the perception that Pat may have been a dealer,” Bliss told one of his players. “Even if we had to kind of make some things look a little better than they are, that can save us.”

Bliss told his players that they could pin the deed on Dennehy because he was dead and couldn't set the record straight.

Talk about disgusting. Coaches are entrusted with a great responsibility to instruct, discipline and care for the players under their charge. But encouraging his players to lie and besmirch Dennehy's character after his death is a blatant shirking of that responsibility.

If Bliss was simply guilty of violating NCAA rules, as bad as that is, he probably could have salvaged his career and found another position before too long. Other coaches have done the same. But by attempting to cover up the infractions in such a heartless way, Bliss has sacrificed everything.

No other school should ever give Bliss any consideration for a coaching job. His career is essentially over, and his reputation is shot. Everything Bliss has worked to achieve over so many years -- gone in an instant because of his willingness to sacrifice good judgment for self-preservation.

Of course, if Bliss hadn't broken the rules to begin with, he never would have gotten this deep.

Bliss's stomach-churning behavior shows just how enslaving the pursuit of victory can be. He probably didn't set out to make a fool of himself and earn the disdain of his players, assistant coaches and thousands of fans.

But somewhere along the line Bliss sold his soul, and winning became all that mattered. Thus, fabricating a story about the character of one of his deceased players became acceptable behavior to Bliss, who was interested only in saving his basketball program.

It's proof of how intoxicating winning can be, and how important it is never to put victory ahead of doing what's right.

*

Iwo Jima was one of the hardest fought battles of World War II. The small island, though hundreds of miles from the mainland, was actually part of the Japanese homeland and was the first such territory to be invaded by the Americans. Over 100,000 United States Marines were confronted by 20,000 deeply dug-in Japanese regulars. Despite the common perspective, the famous flag raising on Mount Suribachi happened near the beginning of the battle rather than at its finale. Over 26,000 American casualties would follow on the island's eight square miles.

The Japanese soldiers knew they would be annihilated before the first Marine landed but they were determined to make it as costly as possible. Very few surrendered and it was not uncommon for Marines to be fired upon from tiny dugouts and caves long after an area had been “secured.”

The battle was declared over in late March 1945. Yet on January 8, 1949, the last two Japanese defenders surrendered. They emerged from their caves clean and well fed; for four years they had foraged food and clothing in nighttime raids on the compounds of American occupation troops on the island. They decided to give up after reading, in a fragment of the U.S. Army newspaper “Stars and Stripes,” of how American forces were celebrating Christmas in Japan. This told them that the war was over.

The original Christmas must have seemed an insignificant event to the average person of that day. It was only one poor baby in an out-of-the-way place. Only the supernaturally aware would have recognized that it meant the war for the world’s souls was now over.

*

Have you ever known someone who seemed persistently angry? With their critical and grumpy attitude, you could always sense them coming from a mile away. Maybe you are that way yourself.

Angry people are easy to spot. Like an out-of-control tornado, they seek to destroy everyone and everything in their path. Instead of identifying the source of their animosity and resolving the true issue, they usually vent their frustrations on innocent individuals around them. Hurtful words, hateful tones, and harmful attitudes follow them like a black cloud. Quite simply, angry people seem to wallow in bitterness.

Unfortunately, anger permeates our society. In a culture that often operates under a "what have you done for me lately" mindset, we are bombarded by the consequences of uncontrolled, selfish anger. School shootings, road rage, domestic abuse, and terrorism are a few. Sometimes it's easy to look at these extreme examples and believe that all forms of anger are sinful; however, that simply is not true.

In Mark 3, Jesus heals a man with a withered hand in the synagogue. After watching Him perform this miracle, the Pharisees and Sadducees accuse Christ of healing on the Sabbath. Jesus looks at them in "anger, grieved at their hardness of heart" (verse 5). He could not believe they were so cold-hearted toward this disabled, disadvantaged man. So, through the example of Jesus, we can see that all anger is not sin.

But when does justified anger - or righteous indignation - become selfish and sinful? Like Christ, a righteously indignant person is solely concerned with correcting a wrong in someone else's life, not their own. Justified anger isn't explosive, rage-filled, and selfish. It isn't an excuse to hate someone but, rather, it is a caring, unselfish anger entirely focused on improving someone else's circumstances.

Think of how Christ handled His emotion. Did He explode and attack the Pharisees and Sadducees? Of course not. Jesus actually "grieved" over their callousness. He didn't become enraged toward them, but He sorrowed over their spiritually deprived state. Even though Christ was frustrated with them, He was also saddened by their hardened heart.

Unfortunately, though, most of our anger is far from righteous. Resentment and rage, if unmanaged, can lead to devastating consequences such as depression, an unforgiving spirit, and a host of physical ailments.

In Ephesians 4:26-27, Paul tells us to "be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger," he says, "and do not give the devil an opportunity." These harmful feelings must be dealt with swiftly, because if we allow them to sit, seethe, and build up inside of us, our unforgiving spirit will alienate us from God and we will become prime targets for Satan.

Unless we turn to God and release our bitter spirit, Satan will begin manipulating our thoughts and actions. Resentment will turn to rage, rage may turn to violence, and we will ultimately find ourselves in a dire predicament-all because we allowed our emotions to control us.

We must make a conscious choice to let go of bitterness. Regardless of how we have been wronged, we cannot expect to live for Christ while this debilitating emotion consumes us. Selfish anger builds a barrier between us and God. With this sin in our life, we are useless to God, unable to display the forgiving nature of Christ to those who need His message.

1) Identify sources of anger in your own life. Who and what provokes you? Is there bitterness you need to let go or people you need to forgive? Prayerfully hand over your burdens to God.

2) Read the key passages for this month and think back on instances in your life where you became angered easily. How have these verses given you insight into what God expects of you when you are dealing with anger?

3) Do you know people that are being mistreated? Just as Christ defended the disabled man in the synagogue, how can you come to the defense of those that may need your help?

4) Commit Ephesians 4:26 to memory and recite it every night before you go to bed. Make a point to deal with your anger swiftly and never go to sleep in a foul mood. Instead, release your burdens to God and enjoy the peaceful rest that comes with a clear conscience.

Friday is the day on which for thirty pieces of silver Judas sold his master; but Sunday is coming.

Friday is the day on which Peter denied Christ three times, swore he never knew Him; but Sunday is coming.

Friday is the day soldiers made a crown of thorns for Jesus, mocked him, spit on Him and humiliated Him; but Sunday is coming.

Friday is the day the mob preferred armed robber Barabbas to the Son of God Jesus; but Sunday is coming.

Friday is the day the Roman Governor tried to wash away his guilt in travesty of Justice; but Sunday is coming.

Friday is the day Jesus prayed in agony, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me”; but Sunday is coming.

Friday is the day that same voice cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” but Sunday is coming.

It's Friday. Christ is dead. The disciples are scattered. The devil is triumphant. Darkness is everywhere. But Sunday is coming!

Sunday has come! And we celebrate life and not death; we celebrate the victory of good over evil.

Sunday is glorious. The condemned is now the Lord of lords. God, who seemed to abandon Jesus on Friday, raised Him up by His power. He gave Him a name above every other name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee must bow.

In your Fridays, remember God has not forgotten you. He would not turn His back on you in the dark nights of your soul. Do not fear. As it was with Jesus, so is it true for you.

Sunday is coming!

”There fell down many slain, because the war was of God.” (1 Chronicles 5:22)

As God’s warrior, fighting under the banner of the Lord Jesus, observe this verse with holy joy, for as it was in the days of old so it is now. If the war is of God, the victory is sure. The sons of Reuben, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh could barely muster forty-five thousand fighting men, and yet in their war with the Hagarites, they slew a hundred thousand men, for they cried to God in the battle, and He was entreated of them, because they put their trust in Him.

The Lord saves not by many nor by few; for it is ours to go forth in Jehovah’s name if we are but a handful of men, for the Lord of Hosts is with us as our Captain. They did not neglect buckler, and sword, and bow, neither did they place their trust in these weapons. We must use all fitting means, but our confidence must rest in the Lord alone, for He is the sword and the shield of His people. The great reason of their extraordinary success lay in the fact that “the war was of God.”

Beloved, in fighting with sin without and within, with error doctrinal or practical, with spiritual wickedness in high places or low places, with devils and the devil’s allies, you are waging Jehovah’s war, and unless He himself can be worsted, you need not fear defeat. Fear not before superior numbers; shrink not from difficulties or impossibilities; flinch not at wounds or death. Smite with the two-edged sword of the Spirit, and the slain shall lie in heaps. The battle is the Lord’s and He will deliver His enemies into our hands. With steadfast foot, strong hand, dauntless heart, and flaming zeal, rush to the conflict, and the hosts of evil shall fly like chaff before the gale.

The media reports that national security is questionable, lawlessness is rampant and the economy is literally bankrupt. And, we deduce, morality is at an all-time low, with the education system undermining family values.

God’s Word, meanwhile, states, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope’” (Jeremiah 29:11 NAS).

If you listen to the media’s reports, you will embrace the prospect of being a victim.

If you believe that your heavenly Father holds the future, you can move toward being a victor, trusting God through adverse circumstances.

The choice is yours.

As a professor I have two primary responsibilities to students. The first is to provide instruction in the subject matter; the second is to measure whether they have mastered it, usually in the form of a test. It is always my desire that students earn a high grade. But I do students no favor if the test is too easy, and it is not a reliable measurement if it is too difficult.

Spiritually, I must be willing to apply the same principle to my life.

When my loving heavenly Father deems that I have mastered a biblical truth, He likely will provide an opportunity for me to demonstrate an ability to apply it. This opportunity normally presents itself in the form of a test to reveal the quality of my integration of the biblical truth into my life. It is comforting to know that my heavenly Father wants me to pass the test at the top of my class, not simply squeak by. James 1:2-5, in fact, teaches me that the testing of my faith should produce deeper communion and greater trust in Christ that, in turn, nurture a stable, godly character.[1]

When you discern that your heavenly Father is testing you, do you anticipate being a victim or a victor?

Biblically, we know that Satan is our adversary and “walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8-9 NAS). That is, he is essentially seeking opportunities to overwhelm us with temptation, discouragement and persecution. If we succumb to his ploys, we become victims.

However, if we resist him and live according to God’s Word, we are victors! James 4:7 instructs us to “submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (NAS). When we make the choice to submit to God, we are taking a stand against Satan by choosing to trust God rather than circumstances.

Developing trust

Numerous biblical truths can be a formula for us to become victors amid life’s tests:

Truth One -- Our gracious heavenly Father, not Satan, is the one who tests us. Abraham stands as a stark example of having the sincerity of his faith tested as God asked him to sacrifice his long-awaited, promised son (Genesis 21:1-19).

Truth Two -- We are to make concentrated effort to rejoice amid the tests (James 1:2). Knowing this is impossible in our own strength, we must actively draw our strength from the Lord (Philippians 4:13).

Truth Three -- The testing of our faith produces endurance or perseverance. When we trust our heavenly Father to endure the test, our character is refined. Once the test is passed, we have a stronger foundation for usefulness in our Lord’s Kingdom (Romans 5:3; Colossians 1:28, 4:12; James 1:3-4).

Truth Four -- Endurance is a command for believers, not a suggestion, to deepen our relationship with our heavenly Father (1 Peter 5:10).

Truth Five -- Though “fast food” does exist, there is no such commodity as “fast faith.” Among biblical role models who validate this truth:

• Abraham and Sarah waited 25 years for Isaac (Genesis 17:19, 21:2).

• It took Joseph 13 years to get from the pit to the palace (Genesis 37-41).

• Moses spent a number of years in leadership candidacy school (Exodus 2:11-3:22)

• David endured much abuse from Saul before he was inaugurated king (1 Samuel 18-31; 2 Samuel 2; Psalm 11).

Truth Six -- We must proceed through the entire test to achieve it. The Lord Jesus provides the greatest example of trusting His heavenly Father and remaining under the test through its completion (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Truth Seven -- Consistently saturating our minds with God’s Word builds a “spiritual bank account” so that when adversity strikes we have the spiritual ammunition to “extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one” (Psalm 1, 119:11; Jeremiah 17:7-8; Ephesians 6:10-20). Mary, the mother of Jesus provides an incredible role model for us (Luke 1:46-56).

Truth Eight -- Just as the refiner’s fire assesses the quality of metal, so the genuineness of our faith and trust is assessed through tests (1 Peter 1:7).

Truth Nine -- If we are more interested in comfort than character, we will waste the test. However, if our gracious heavenly Father is adamant that we pass the test, we will have the opportunity to enroll in His remediation course if we fail it (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Truth Ten -- We must stay firm and fight hard (Ephesians 6:18-20). Remembering that God is using us to build His eternal Kingdom, we must run into the conflict, rather than shrink back (Hebrews 10:39). Such action reflects that we are trusting God and are seeking His direction regardless of the circumstances (Matthew 6:33).

You can be assured there will be tests. Just as I want my students to conquer academic tests, so our gracious heavenly Father desires that we to conquer all of our spiritual tests (Romans 8:31-39). The choice is ours. Through God’s strength I will choose to be a victor (Philippians 4:13; 1 Peter 5:6-9).

________

[1] John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible (Nashville: Word: 1997), note at James 1:5.

[2] Random House Webster’s College Dictionary, 2nd ed., s.v. “victim,” “victor.”

He will swallow up death in victory. — Isaiah 25:8.

Three forms of death my Saviour Christ

will swallow up in victory

For He is God, the fount of life,

and death, through sin, an enemy.

The dead in soul, who look to Him,

He quickens by the Spirit’s breath

New heart, new Spirit they receive,

eternal life, in place of death.

The body which in stillness lies,

a broken thing, made out of dust

He shall transform and resurrect:

His victory in those who trust.

And I, the self who hinders Christ,

I, too, must die, must willing be

To count all things but loss for Him

that I may live His life in me.

0 mighty Conqueror of death,

Let me not fear to yield Thee all.

An hundredfold Thou givest now,

And Heaven shall Thy name extol. — Dorothy Langford.

Isaiah 63 — The Coming of the Deliverer

63:1-6 The Coming in Judgement

• historical — Psalm 137:7, Obadiah 1, 12-13 (contra Edom)

• future — Revelation 19:11-16 — note similarities

• historical — victory achieved singlehandedly by one man on the cross — Colossians 2:13-15

63:7-14 The Coming in Mercy

• ‘hesedh’ — lovingkindness, mercy, tender mercies, love, grace, goodness

• in what practical ways are these dividne attributes shown herein?

• what is implied by the ‘Angel of His Presence’?

• how have people responded to that mercy?

• how does God? — Leviticus 26:42-44

63:15-19 Prayer for God’s People

• what are the petitions?

• what is the basis for asking these requests?

At that time ye were … aliens … and strangers … But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. — Ephesians 2:12, 13.

A Frenchman who lived in England a number of years, desired to become naturalized. He accordingly went to London, went through the necessary ceremony, and paid the customary fees. When he returned to his friends, one of them said, “Well, I suppose you are an Englishman now, but I don’t see any difference.” “Ah! but there is a difference,” he said, “Yesterday Waterloo was a defeat, to-day it is a victory.” So those who have changed, not their country but their nature, obtain victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

As strangers once to God we lived,

filled with enmity and fear;

Our souls from death He has reprieved,

love revealed and brought us near.

Quickened, raised, and in Him seated,

we a full deliverance know;

Every foe has been defeated,

every enemy laid low. — G. W. Frazer.

Bibliophiles would consider it a crime. If it is a crime, I only committed it once, and I was only twelve at the time. My best friend and I were so engrossed in Catherine Marshall’s novel CHRISTY that we simply could not wait to find out which of the two handsome men the likable heroine would marry. We flipped to the last page and read the ending.

What is it about good stories that holds us in their grip? Try telling someone caught in the spell of a page-turner, glued to the couch by suspense, that “It’s only a story,” and you will likely be met with an icy glare. Although novels may take us to a fictional world, as long as you are immersed in that world, the destiny of its characters seems very important!

It is a strange thing to hold a book in your hand and to know that the ending has already been written. It has been fixed by the author and is in no way dependent upon you, the reader. But once you open that book, this knowledge flies and makes no difference.

Unlike characters in a novel, we can close a book and draw back from a story, or even flip ahead and end the suspense. Similarly, God stands outside of time and is able to see our story -- the story of the world that He has made. We are told that God declares “the end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:10). Because He is not bound by time, He is not plagued by the suspense that -- in the form of anxiety and fear -- rules our lives.

As Christians, we believe God has made the ending of the story known to us. God will be victorious in all his purposes, and those He saves will reign with Him forever. So why doesn’t this knowledge do away with our suspense? The answer is that there is more than one variety. In their handbook to literature, Harmon and Holman delineate two different types of suspense: “[I]n one, the outcome is uncertain and the SUSPENSE resides in the question of who or what or how; in the other, the outcome is inevitable from foregoing events...and the SUSPENSE resides in the audience’s anxious or frightened anticipation, in the question of when.”

As characters in our story, it is right and proper that we feel a sense of suspense. The thing that we need to be mindful of is that we should be feeling the second sort of suspense rather than the first. When we feel anxious, we are living in the wrong suspense. We are not in doubt about our outcome; we are only in doubt about timing. And while that second sort of suspense may feel like doom when the known outcome is an unpleasant one, when the outcome is known to be good, suspense is a high form of pleasure!

We should remind ourselves often that we know the end of the story. The one who is not bound by time has made known the end from the beginning, and we get to watch it unfold, safe in the knowledge that all will end well. This does little to detract from the drama, but even as we watch the plot twist and turn, it may be possible to enjoy the suspense.

________

Copyright © 2007 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

You would think Jan. 26, 1997, would be the best day of Darius Holland’s life. As a member of the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers, he had joined a select fraternity. Holland had just become a world champion.

Holland’s first moments as a Super Bowl winner were everything he had dreamed. All eyes were on him and his teammates. They had the trophy. They felt the confetti fall on their faces. Everywhere they went was a party, and that party would last all night long.

But before Holland headed out on the town to celebrate with his teammates, he had to stop in to check on his family. He had brought them to the Super Bowl, paying for any expense they might have. But when he arrived at their hotel rooms, arguments flared. They fought about what they were going to eat and where they would sleep.

Holland was devastated.

“I went back to my room, sat down on my bed,” Holland said. “And this is what I said, ‘If this is the pinnacle of my life, I’m sunk. I am absolutely sunk. Because this isn’t working.’ I thought that I could outrun my problems. And it was not working.”

Holland wept.

For the next seven years, Holland continued to play professional football. The next year his Packers lost in the first of John Elway’s two Super Bowl wins to finish out his career. Through wins, through losses, through trades – nothing seemed to solve the inner desperation in his soul. At his lowest point, after what Holland believes must have been a period of depression, he turned his life over to Jesus.

More than a quarter century later, Chaplain Captain Holland is now serving another group of men who are coming together for a specific purpose. As an Army chaplain representing Southern Baptists at Fort Bragg, Holland cares for the spiritual needs of soldiers.

Holland grew up on a military installation. His mom was Roman Catholic, and the family went to chapel regularly. When they left the installation, the family attended a local Catholic church, but Holland said he didn’t pay much attention to religion at the time.

Painfully shy and struggling with interpersonal skills, at age 12, Holland grew up fast when his father died. Suddenly, he had to learn to defend himself. Plus, his family had little money. He and his brother shared three pairs of pants and two pairs of shoes. Growing up Black in a New Mexico town that was half white and half Hispanic, Holland was regularly called racial epithets by his own football teammates.

“I learned to hide in plain sight,” Holland said. “But I also learned that in order to get out, I needed an outlet and football allowed that. I remember the day when I went out and played as a freshman or 10th grader. They made me play on junior varsity for one game. I just dominated the kid I was against. My coaches told me I had the football ability to get out of my situation.”

When University of Colorado football coach Bill McCartney, a professing Christian and founder of Promise Keepers, recruited Holland to play football, part of the reason he accepted was because of McCartney’s religious faith. Though not a believer at the time, Holland was looking both to leave home and to find the father figure he didn’t have.

Holland played for some of the greatest collegiate teams of the 1990s at Colorado, concluding with an 11-1 top five finish in 1994. But he still struggled through poverty in college. Drafted in the third round of the 1995 NFL Draft, Holland said he felt more relief than excitement.

“When I got the call, it was like sweet,” Holland said. “I am out. I’m not going have to live the way I was living. It wasn’t a celebration of accomplishment. It was a celebration of release.”

Money, Super Bowl wins, trades to new locations and even the camaraderie of his teammates couldn’t heal what was broken in Holland. By 2003, life seemed to turn upside down. He hadn’t played much in 2002 as a member of the Minnesota Vikings. He still hadn’t found the peace he had been searching for.

That year he met physical therapist Brett Fischer. It didn’t take long to realize something was different about Fischer’s life. He had joy that Holland longed for. Fischer introduced him to his pastor, who flew to Denver (where Holland was playing in 2003) weekly to disciple him.

One day, when he was driving home, everything began to fall into place.

“I just started pouring out lots of water, crying like a baby,” Holland said.

God showed him that the pain in his life wasn’t a result of his mom, his dad, or anyone else in his life. It was his sin.

“Lord, OK, I see it. I get it. I understand,” Holland said. “But if you’re going to do this, you can’t let me ever go back. I can’t. It would crush me if I ever had to go back [to the life I had]. So, I’ll do whatever you want.”

Holland’s career came to an end shortly after that. He left a million dollars on the table because he no longer needed football to run away from his past. He was ready to move on.

Though he is a strong introvert, God would in time call him into ministry. He pastored True Life Church in Thornton, Colorado, for more than a decade. In 2015, he graduated from Gateway Seminary with a Master of Theological Studies and earned a doctorate from Gateway a few years later.

A friend told him he’d make a good chaplain, but Holland figured he was too old and broken by that time to go into the military. Yet when he read Nik Ripken’s book The Insanity of God, the Lord challenged him with a probing question: “How far are you willing to go for the Gospel?” God brought chaplaincy to mind.

Holland had spent a lot of his early life running. He wouldn’t run from God’s call again. For several years, he served as both a pastor at True Life and a chaplain with the National Guard. Then, in 2020, God called him to North Carolina to serve at Fort Bragg.

Holland said his job is to provide advice from a faith perspective and help soldiers get what they need to celebrate their faith. He also advises leaders on issues of religion and morale in the context of their unit.

“You are spending your time trying to set up a hedge of protection for the people whom God has put into your care,” Holland said. “So when they walk in with a frame of mind that is dealing with a difficult situation, you can reframe it according to the Bible so that when they walk away, they can be different.”

What a pair of seemingly contradictory psalms teaches us about telling the church’s story.

________

Every Christian storyteller has a dilemma. When you want to communicate the history of your people — your church, your denomination, or the church as a whole — how do you frame it? As an encouraging story of corporate faith, courage, obedience, and success? Or a chastening story of God’s faithfulness and mercy despite corporate sin, confusion, and stubbornness?

If you’re casting vision or fundraising, you’ll want the former. Everybody likes hearing their victories celebrated and their sacrifices noted. But if you’ve read the Old Testament recently, you’ll notice how often the latter approach prevails. If anything, the Hebrew prophets and poets go out of their way to replace cheery pep talks with cold, hard looks at human intransigence and divine grace.

The storyteller’s dilemma is how to do justice to both. Simply repeating the encouraging version on loop (or whenever you need money) risks blowing smoke, and Pelagian smoke at that; people will assume their good works have merited God’s blessing. But hammering home the chastening version risks despair and apathy. If we’re all such miserable failures, riddled with incompetence and sin, then why bother?

Scripture provides a fascinating way through. Hidden in the Psalter at the end of book 4 lie two adjacent songs that tell Israel’s story in opposite ways. Psalm 105 gives encouragement, depicting an Israel that never puts a foot wrong. Then Psalm 106 chastens, with Israel getting hardly anything right. If we didn’t know the full Old Testament background, it would be hard to credit both portrayals as true.

In Psalm 105, the successes of the patriarchs (vv. 7–25), and especially of Israel during the Exodus and Conquest (vv. 26–45), provide reasons to praise God and remember his wondrous works (vv. 1–6). There is no mention of Israel’s failures, of grumbling in the wilderness, unbelief, or worshiping of the golden calf. “They asked, and he brought them quail” (v. 40) is a remarkably generous account of a fairly colorful incident. So is the psalm’s conclusion (vv. 44–45): “They fell heir to what others had toiled for — that they might keep his precepts and observe his laws. Praise the Lord.” It almost reads like a whitewash.

Then we turn the page and encounter a very different version of the story. Psalm 106 is a litany of disasters. “We have sinned, even as our ancestors did; we have done wrong and acted wickedly” (v. 6). Our fathers rebelled by the Red Sea (v. 7). You rescued them, but they quickly forgot about it (vv. 13–15), craving meat and putting you to the test (a rather different spin on the quail story). Our ancestors were jealous (vv. 16–18), idolatrous (vv. 19–20), forgetful (vv. 21–23), unbelieving (vv. 24–27), immoral (vv. 28–31), and disobedient (vv. 32–35) — to the point of sacrificing their children (vv. 36–39). The only reason we have not been destroyed is that God “remembered his covenant and out of his great love he relented” (v. 45).

Reading the two psalms in sequence is discombobulating. It prompts the disturbing question: Which version is true? The answer, of course, is both. Each focuses on some things and omits others, as all stories do. But both are faithful accounts of what happened, and both ultimately have the same objective, with their opening and closing lines calling Israel to praise the Lord. Did Israel trust God for deliverance from Egypt and the provision of land? Yes. Was Israel guilty of all sorts of evils along the way? Yes.

Here lies the solution to the storyteller’s dilemma. There is a place for honoring heroes of the faith and celebrating the courage and generosity that brought us this far. There is also a place for looking our sin and idolatry squarely in the face, acknowledging that God would have destroyed us long ago were it not for his gracious mercy.

We need both stories. When either is neglected, we can slide into a triumphalist hubris or a self-loathing torpor. But when both are told together, with successes appropriately celebrated and failures duly acknowledged — which is roughly what we see in Psalm 107 — we are chastened and encouraged as we remember how God’s grace carries us across mountaintop and valley alike.

I believe in the Resurrection primarily because I have gotten to know God. I know that God is love, and I also know that we human I beings want to keep alive those whom we love. I do not let my friends die; they live on in my memory and my heart long after I have stopped seeing them. For whatever reason human freedom lies at the core, I imagine God allows a planet where a man dies scuba diving in the prime of life and a woman dies in a fiery crash on the way to a church missions conference. But I believe if I did not believe this, I would not believe in a loving God — that God is not satisfied with such a blighted planet. Divine love will find a way to overcome. "Death, be not proud," wrote John Donne: God will not let death win.

--Phillip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, p.2218, 219

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. — 1 Corinthians 15:57.

The stroke of death may fall upon a Christian, but the sting is gone. It comes as a messenger of peace to conduct the weary pilgrim to eternal rest. Death is no longer the master, but the servant of the Christian. “For all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s” (1 Corinthians 3:21-23)

When the weary ones we love

Enter on their rest above

…

Hush be every murmur dumb,

It is only “till He come!” — E. H. Bickersteth

1. I heard an old, old story,

how a Saviour came from glory,

How He gave His life on Calvary

to save a wretch like me;

I hear about His groaning,

of His precious blood's atoning,

Then I repented of my sins

and won the victory.

Chorus

O victory in Jesus,

my Saviour, forever!

He sought me and bought me

with His redeeming blood;

He loved me ere I knew Him,

and all my love is due Him–

He plunged me to victory

beneath the cleansing flood.

2. I hear about His healing,

of His cleansing pow’r revealing,

How He made the lame to walk again

and caused the blind to see;

And then I cried, “Dear Jesus,

come and heal my broken spirit,”

And somehow Jesus came and brought

to me the victory.

3. I heard about a mansion

He has built for me in glory,

And I heard about the streets of gold

beyond the crystal sea,

About the angels singing

and the old redemption story–

And some sweet day I’ll sing up there

the song of victory.

*

In June 2002, in the worst wildfire in Arizona history, more than 350,000 acres were burned and upwards of 400 homes destroyed. As a 50 mile wall of flames approached the little town of Show Low (150 miles northeast of Phoenix), townspeople braced for the worst and hoped for the best.

More than 3,000 inhabitants of Show Low were evacuated while firefighters tried to save the town by carving a fire line around the community. With gas-fueled blow torches, the firefighters actually set fire to the cactus-ridden underbrush on the outskirts of town.

According to Jim Paxon, fire crew spokesman, the controlled burn would serve as a preventive measure so the advancing blaze wouldn't have anything to ignite. "It's what you call fighting fire with fire," Paxon said.

As a result of the measures taken, Show Low, Arizona, was spared.

Jesus recognized the importance of taking drastic action to protect oneself against disaster. He said if your right hand puts you at risk, cut it off to escape the flames of judgment. "It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for you whole body to go into hell" (Matthew 5:30).

Citation: Greg Asimakoupoulos, Naperville, IL; source: "NBC Today Show" (6-25-02)

Iwo Jima was one of the hardest fought battles of World War II. The small island, though hundreds of miles from the mainland, was actually part of the Japanese homeland and was the first such territory to be invaded by the Americans. Over 100,000 United States Marines were confronted by 20,000 deeply dug-in Japanese regulars. Despite the common perspective, the famous flag raising on Mount Suribachi happened near the beginning of the battle rather than at its finale. Over 26,000 American casualties would follow on the island's eight square miles.

The Japanese soldiers knew they would be annihilated before the first Marine landed but they were determined to make it as costly as possible. Very few surrendered and it was not uncommon for Marines to be fired upon from tiny dugouts and caves long after an area had been “secured.”

The battle was declared over in late March 1945. Yet on January 8, 1949, the last two Japanese defenders surrendered. They emerged from their caves clean and well fed; for four years they had foraged food and clothing in nighttime raids on the compounds of American occupation troops on the island. They decided to give up after reading, in a fragment of the U.S. Army newspaper “Stars and Stripes,” of how American forces were celebrating Christmas in Japan. This told them that the war was over.

The original Christmas must have seemed an insignificant event to the average person of that day. It was only one poor baby in an out-of-the-way place. Only the supernaturally aware would have recognized that it meant the war for the world’s souls was now over.

*

It is reported that at the close of the Battle of Waterloo, upon the issue of which hung the destinies of Europe, the English people were anxiously awaiting news of the result. Their only means of communication was a system of signal lights flashed across the English Channel. The fog became so dense that only a part of the message was made out. It read, “Wellington defeated.” Gloom settled upon the English. But imagine their joy when the fog lifted and they received the whole message, “Wellington defeated the enemy.”

When Christ was crucified, His disciples were so enshrouded by the fogs of doubt that they saw but one meaning to the sad event, “Christ defeated.” All hope was gone; Christ was dead. But Easter morning brought the glorious fact of the risen Lord, and the message read, “Christ defeated the devil.” How glorious! By dying, Christ conquered the grave; by ascending, Christ made possible our ascension even to heaven. Hallelujah! “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” “Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

________

William Moses Tidwell, “Pointed Illustrations.”

Chorus

Greater is He that is in me,

Greater is He that is in me,

Greater is He that is in me

Than he that is in the world.

1. Satan's like a roaring lion roaming to and fro,

Seeking whom he may devour– the Bible tells us so;

Many souls have been his prey– to fall in some weak hour:

But God has promised us today His overcoming pow'r.

2. On the day of Pentecost, a rushing, mighty wind

Blew into the upper room, and baptized all of them

With a power greater than any earthly foe;

And I'm so glad I've got it too– I'll let the whole world know.

*

Joseph Ton was a pastor of Second Baptist Church, Oradea, Romania, until he was exiled by the Romanian government in 1981. In “Pastoral Renewal,” he writes of his experience:

“Years ago I ran away from my country to study theology at Oxford. In 1972, when I was ready to go back to Romania, I discussed my plans with some fellow students. They pointed out that I might be arrested at the border. One student asked, ‘Joseph, what chances do you have of successfully implementing your plans?’”

He asked God about it, and God brought to mind Matthew 10:16 - “I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves” - and seemed to say, “Tell me, what chance does a sheep surrounded by wolves have of surviving five minutes, let alone of converting the wolves? Joseph, that’s how I send you: totally defenseless and without a reasonable hope of success. If you are willing to go like that, go. If you are not willing to be in that position, don’t go.”

Ton writes: “After our return, as I preached uninhibitedly, harassment and arrests came. One day during interrogation an officer threatened to kill me. Then I said, ‘Sir, your supreme weapon is killing. My supreme weapon is dying. Sir, you know my sermons are all over the country on tapes now. If you kill me, I will be sprinkling them with my blood. Whoever listens to them after that will say, ‘I’d better listen. This man sealed it with his blood. They will speak ten times louder than before. So, go on and kill me. I win the supreme victory then.’”

The officer sent him home. “That gave me pause. For years I was a Christian who was cautious because I wanted to survive. I had accepted all the restrictions the authorities put on me because I wanted to live. Now I wanted to die, and they wouldn’t oblige. Now I could do whatever I wanted in Romania. For years I wanted to save my life, and I was losing it. Now that I wanted to lose it, I was winning it.”

Friday is the day on which for thirty pieces of silver Judas sold his master; but Sunday is coming.

Friday is the day on which Peter denied Christ three times, swore he never knew Him; but Sunday is coming.

Friday is the day soldiers made a crown of thorns for Jesus, mocked him, spit on Him and humiliated Him; but Sunday is coming.

Friday is the day the mob preferred armed robber Barabbas to the Son of God Jesus; but Sunday is coming.

Friday is the day the Roman Governor tried to wash away his guilt in travesty of Justice; but Sunday is coming.

Friday is the day Jesus prayed in agony, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me”; but Sunday is coming.

Friday is the day that same voice cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” but Sunday is coming.

It's Friday. Christ is dead. The disciples are scattered. The devil is triumphant. Darkness is everywhere. But Sunday is coming!

Sunday has come! And we celebrate life and not death; we celebrate the victory of good over evil.

Sunday is glorious. The condemned is now the Lord of lords. God, who seemed to abandon Jesus on Friday, raised Him up by His power. He gave Him a name above every other name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee must bow.

In your Fridays, remember God has not forgotten you. He would not turn His back on you in the dark nights of your soul. Do not fear. As it was with Jesus, so is it true for you.

Sunday is coming!