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Just Thinkin'

~ Devotionals and thoughts for the journey.

Just Thinkin'

Monthly Archives: February 2016

Hey c|Life

29 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by Patrick A Cooper in Bible Study, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Devotional, Faith, Religion, Spirituality

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clife

 

The book of Joshua begins in transition. We find in the first two verses of the book God speaking to Moses’ right-hand man telling him, “Moses my servant is dead.”

What to do? What to do?

I can only guess what may have been running through Joshua’s mind at that moment but reading the text, God didn’t give him time to think about it, “Get going” are the very next words we read (The Message Bible). God don’t beat around the bush does he? In my mind I see a picture of Joshua sitting at a table inside his tent, head in hands, mind wandering, a little apprehensive about who he was and where he and the nation of Israel might be going next. “Yes sir, I know the promise, Moses talked about it often – Canaan, Milk and Honey, I got it. But I saw some big and really bad looking people over there, men twice my size. Too, we are going to have to get past the city of, not the community, or town of incidentally, but the CITY of Jericho. Have you seen the walls around that place? We don’t have a ladder that tall, and unfortunately; the catapult won’t be invented for several hundred years. Oh, by the way, did I mention the Jordan River? I haven’t put a tape on it, but I know it’s got to be over 100 miles long: No way around it and no way over it. I sure hope you’ve got a plan because I don’t”.

What to do? What to do?

Life is often filled with uncertainty and challenges. The size of those challenges is a reason for the uncertainty. It was to this day, though, that Joshua was born. Under the tutelage of Moses, he had been bred to lead; but when the proposed project is an against all odds enterprise without a blueprint, even leaders (the greatest of them) hesitate. How many times have you asked a few questions about what you felt a heavenly prompting to do? “Hey, God, got a minute? We need a pow-wow, you and me”. Perhaps that is why God repeatedly tells Joshua, “be strong and courageous” (Joshua 1:6,7,9). He knows the size of the project, Joshua’s, yours and mine; he’s the architect. It’s not a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces, they’re all there, some of them just fell out of the box when you opened it – look for them.

What we find in this story is a call to trust the architect; that he knows how long the river is and how to get across it. He knows the size of the walls and how to get over them. He knows how formidable your adversaries and how to overcome them. Not a single twist or turn has he not already navigated and mapped out for your success as a believer.

What to do? What to do?

Look back and remember. Don’t pitch tent, but remember. Where you were and where you are. Remember Egypt, how God brought you out of bondage when you determined to follow Jesus. Remember the wilderness, how God provided when times were hard. Remember the Red Sea, how God made a way when there wasn’t one. Remember Joshua, and just go. Isn’t it amazing what God does when his people decide the best way to lead is to follow.

That’s the story of Community Life Church – c|Life. A few people who heard the call of God to “Go”, to “be strong and courageous” and follow him. As we continue to trust the architect, we will see the structure continue to go up, foot by foot, floor by floor. What will it look like 10 years from now; a two-story building, a high-rise or skyscraper?, I don’t know, I’m just a sheep following the shepherd.

∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼

In a mountainside leap of faith, Community Life Church set up shop at Claybon Elementary School in Forney, Texas. It was ten years ago this month that with neither a parachute on their backs or a safety net to catch their fall, they jumped; by faith plunging headlong into a chasm of not knowing. What they did know, however, was this; people need to be connected to God and one another, and it was that idea, that conviction, “Connecting People To God And One Another” that took the lead role in creating c|Life’s identity. Today, ten years later, the Community Life Church has four active campuses that have witnessed hundreds come to faith in Christ and some 3000 people attending services each week. Did the three amigos (David, Paul, and,Randy) see it coming, have an inkling, a premonition perhaps? Probably not, they just kept singing the same song: Connect people to God and one another. My guess is they’ll be singing it ten years from now on our twentieth anniversary; but where will we put everybody then? You think Jerry Jones might cut us deal on AT&T (Cowboys) Stadium? Just thinkin’.

clifecc|Life anniversary celebration. For church info go to clifec.com

 

 

Debating the Debate

28 Sunday Feb 2016

Posted by Patrick A Cooper in Blog, Editorial, Opinion, Politics, Uncategorized

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debate

Unfortunately, being with my church community group Thursday evening (an important part of my life that definitely trumps Trump and the gang), I did not see the Republican debate. But after having watched several video clips on television and social media, and listening to a few sound bites coming from the local news station I tune into each morning on my drive into work; perhaps I should have begun this writing with the word “fortunately” instead of “unfortunately”.

Other than what looked and sounded like a gloves off  romper room brawl, it doesn’t appear that I missed much – how disappointing. What you want to hear are grown-up men, not squabbling boys, address issues that matter; where you plan to take us as a country, and how you plan to get us there. We watch to see strengths and weaknesses; who will effectively field the hard questions and successfully navigate the landmines that we might stand up and say, “I trust his leadership, I can sleep soundly at night on his watch, I am confident this guy knows the way and will get me and my family safely through this field of explosives without being blown to bits”.

Yes, I expect there to be differences, I anticipate argument and tune in to see who best articulates and defends their position laying out a clear roadmap, a strategy that is both reasonable and viable. 

As it appears this debate didn’t get the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval and was more a farce than a Face the Nation with ideas and pertinent facts expected in a Presidential debate, argument worthy of the office respectable men attain too – I am disappointed; but I won’t be giving up on the Grand Old Party and hope you won’t either. I feel quite certain that once the dust has settled and the blood coagulates in Cincinnati come July; we will have forgotten this insane free-for-all, get behind the chosen one and pray for him, pray for our nation, that America will be great again under a new Republican Commander in Chief. Just Thinkin’.

The Hereafter Bag

26 Friday Feb 2016

Posted by Patrick A Cooper in Bible, Bible Study, Blog, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Death and Dying, Devotional, End-Times, Faith, Inspiration, Life, Religion, Spirituality, Theology, Uncategorized

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Old-suitcase

I am quite sure you have heard the old saying, “you can’t take it with you”, most have – but can you? Can you take anything with you as you leave this cruel world? Of course, we all know when it comes to stuff like money or other such earthly luxuries, no, those kinds of things you can safely leave where they are and rest assured your heirs will dispense with them as they see fit. If it isn’t your 401K in their bank accounts, then they will either sell, frame, or box up and store away your personal effects in the attic where they will collect dust and at some point down the road be passed along to their heirs who will surely follow suit, whatever, totally their choice; and of course, whatever can’t be used or converted to cash will probably end up on the shelves of your local Goodwill Store.

What will it matter anyway? You’re in the ground, six feet down or in an urn perhaps. Oh boy! An urn – that sounds a bit better doesn’t it? Your ashes in a nicely decorated box or vase sitting atop the fireplace in one of your kid’s home. Won’t that be grand? What used to be you, now an ornate conversation piece. Oh well, that’s better than being a bookend I suppose. At least, somebody will think about you now and then over drinks.

But wait; my-my-my, I’m getting ahead of myself here. I meant to ask earlier, do you by chance have an extra bag lying around the house? An overnight bag, something like a carry-on piece of luggage you’d board an airplane with? Why do I ask? Well, before you check out of this drudgery of a thing we call life, there are a few items you may want to consider tucking away for the hereafter – in your “Hereafter Bag”, will call it? You do believe in a hereafter don’t you? I mean, like, hey there! This is a Christian blog site you’re reading, and I do consider myself (though far from being the best) a Christian writer; so it should be reasonable to assume this is going somewhere Christian – please don’t hit delete just yet though – hang with me a couple of minutes and read on.

Believe it or not, there are some things you will be able to take with you on your departure from the land of the living and you might want to be sure they are securely in place before you go.

According to scripture everyone will stand in judgment, and what, or, who, you approach the bench with will be the determining factor in an irreversible, no appeals granted decision reached by the judge; and let me slip in this little piece of advice, it’s extremely important – you don’t want to represent yourself. But, if you should choose to give the wheel a spin and press your luck (I love them old game shows) that’s where you’ll need what you can take along when you kick the bucket.

So then, if you’d like to grab your bible from off the shelf, or, from that place where you stored it away last Easter Sunday; open it up to Revelation 20:12 (a damp cloth will help to settle the dust and prevent sneezing). In the New King James Bible the text reads like this:

“And I saw the dead (that’s you), small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.”

Bam! There it is, the one thing you will be able to take with you – your “works”, the things you have done while amongst the living. A quick list might include those hours spent as a hospital volunteer; the checks written to the church or a deserving charity; the nickels, dimes and quarters placed in those bright red kettles just outside the door when you went to Wal-Mart during the holidays; your humanitarian efforts and philanthropic activities, or just those self-flattering, egotistical times when you were a “Good Old Joe”. Those, and other such things are what you will have and need when the curtain falls, but only if you depart without having committed your life to Jesus. Why? Because then, you will be on your own, fully awake standing in the supreme court of the universe before the Chief Justice of the universe.

Watch this now; Approaching the bench, you may think yourself a Racehorse Haynes, or, a Johnny Cochran (rest his soul), but the judges decision won’t be based on how skilled you are at oratory or how cleverly you might weave a defense, but only on what is in your Hereafter Bag, and you may want to make clear note of the fact that this Judge plays by the rules, adhering to the strict and rigid letter of Constitutional Law (The Bible); no loopholes, no ambiguities, no gaps, no wiggle room nowhere; no sidebars either; your entire case is in the bag (no pun intended). But there may be a problem; you see when the final draft of the Constitution (The Bible) was drawn up and ratified, it read clearly,

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV).

So then, when your name comes up on the docket, you will be allowed to present your argument along with the content of your bag (your evidentiary exhibits) for the judge’s determination of admissibility, but he will look for one thing and one thing only – the gift, the gift of God you just read. All other articles will be overruled, and found inadmissible.

What, or, who is the gift referred to? Scripture confirms the gift to be Jesus; an act of God’s grace giving up his son for all (Romans 8:32). It is whom James speaks to when he writes, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17 NIV); the “heavenly gift” of Hebrews 6:4, Jesus identifying himself as being that gift when he said to the Samaritan woman at the well, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water” (John 4:10 NIV).

What’s in your wallet (kidding)? Better said, not what, but, who are you carrying with you in your Hereafter Bag? If Jesus, then take heart. No matter how dark your life on earth may heave been, praise God, “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1) who has promised; and you can rest secure “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion” (Philippians 1:6 NIV).

On Death and Dying (My Story)

24 Wednesday Feb 2016

Posted by Patrick A Cooper in Uncategorized

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Revised with added info. Thanks for reading.

Just Thinkin'

winter

It looks to be about 10′ by 10′, I’m not that good at eyeball measurements though, it may be a 12′ by 12′. Beige colored walls reach about 10 feet vertically to connect with the white tiled doctors officeceiling above my head; a solitary light fixture at center – very bright. To my left, a workstation with a stainless steel sink, cabinets above and below. A paper towel dispenser, hand sanitizer, a few magazines, a sharps disposal container, two boxes of examination gloves and a tube of some kind of ointment sit neatly on the counter-top. Directly across from where I sit, in a relatively comfortable chair (my wife seated next to me), an examination table that I will occupy when the doctor comes into the room.

It was about six months ago when I got the news of having cancer. It was a simple follow-up visit for a procedure performed…

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On Death and Dying (My Story)

23 Tuesday Feb 2016

Posted by Patrick A Cooper in Bible, Bible Study, Blog, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Death and Dying, Devotional, Faith, Inspiration, Religion, Spirituality, Uncategorized

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winter

 

It looks to be about 10′ by 10′, I’m not that good at eyeball measurements though, it may be a 12′ by 12′. Beige colored walls reach about 10 feet vertically to connect with the white tiled doctors officeceiling above my head; a solitary light fixture at center – very bright. To my left, a workstation with a stainless steel sink, cabinets above and below. A paper towel dispenser, hand sanitizer, a few magazines, a sharps disposal container, two boxes of examination gloves and a tube of some kind of ointment sit neatly on the countertop. Directly across from where I sit, in a relatively comfortable chair (my wife seated next to me), an examination table that I will occupy when the doctor comes into the room.

It was about six months ago when I got the news of having cancer. It was a simple follow-up visit for a procedure performed a couple of weeks earlier. The doctor had discovered a diverticulum in my bladder so that instead of draining, as it should, the bladder was retaining urine that if left untreated could lead to a breach of the bladder wall and a few other lesser, yet important complications, he had said; a simple prostate resectioning procedure should take care of the problem and get me back to normal in no time at all. Previous biopsies were good, no issues of concern or need for alarm indicated. It would be a quick, see the doctor, pay my co-pay and go to lunch kind of day.

My urologist entered the examination room his jovial self. No change in demeanor, nothing that would indicate the curve ball he was about to throw. I had bounced into his office a half-hour or so earlier looking forward to an all is well, coast clear, see me back here in six months report. In no way was I ready to hear the information he was about to dispense – cancer.

Have you ever had the wind knocked out of you? Been unexpectedly kicked in the gut? Startled and shocked? All three at the same time, simultaneously taking you to your knees in one horrifying swoop? I wasn’t in that room, sitting in a now extremely uncomfortable chair for manthis reason. Not the purpose of today’s visit, but it was what it was; it is what it is.

My heart sank deep into the pit of my stomach and began to burn, breathing became a little labored, but I tried hard not to let it show. Fighting back the moisture attempting to exit my eyes, I squeezed my wife’s hand; she squeezed mine, a poor attempt at reassurance. It’s time to die, I thought; and the more I tried to process the unexpected news, the more I tossed the thought of dying around in my head, the more nauseating were my thoughts and the more difficult damming up my tear ducts became.

cancer

Prostate Cancer

An abstract snapshot of the disease formed in my head taking center stage. It was that of a hideous demon unleashed in my body to destroy it, a foul imp-like creature busy about getting his assigned work done of which he was quite proficient –  a talon here, a spur there. My internal organs were in a state of decay, rotting; a stench filled my nostrils. Had payment for my sins come due? Was this the price tag attached to the indiscretions of my youth? Had my many transgressions and improprieties finally caught up with me now to exact vengeance?

A thousand scenarios began to play out in my mind, not one of them good. What will my wife do after I am gone? How will she make it? My kids, they will be devastated. My funeralgrandchildren, what will they do without pawpaw around to cheer them on at the ballpark? My precious friends at church, men and women I have grown to love and so look forward to being with each week; my family. Dammit! I’m not ready to say goodbye. Furthermore, I’m a hospice chaplain, I suppose to be the one helping not the other way around; No-no-no, this isn’t happening.

A deceitful web had been spun and I was trapped, held fast in its stickiness unable to free myself. Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock: time was moving much faster now. An increased heart rate and quickened pulse set off a slight throbbing at the base of my skull that escalated into a full blown migraine. I saw myself as if standing on a landmine and I couldn’t help but wonder; when will weakness in my trembling legs override the strength I desperately need to stand and the bomb explode? How long do I have?

In that hour a chain reaction of thoughts was set into motion and spinning recklessly out of control; each one morphing into something far more hideous than the disease itself – the picture I saw of me.

It’s one thing to have had a heart attack, which had happened almost ten years ago. But cancer, cancer is different, it’s nasty, it’s ugly; a bile like corrosive, a battery acid of sorts eating away at your flesh making you ugly. You’re ugly now, Pat, I thought to myself, and you know no one likes ugly; no one wants to be around ugly. Come on, be a realist guy, be honest with yourself and accept the facts. Do people frequent the gym just to buff up? No, but to look good. Women don’t put on makeup for health benefits, do they? No, but to cover up their perceived imperfections and be attractive – you know it. We are by nature social creatures and in order to fit in, to gain acceptance and hopeless-man-waterthe degree of respect our ego decrees we must have, we’ve got to look good but it ain’t happening for you brother. In fact, Pat, old friend, you really don’t look good at all.

Furthermore, man, you’re going to die. You don’t see people hanging out at the funeral home for social purposes do you –  to make friends? Of course not. They’re just there paying their dutiful respects. Truth is, they’d just soon stayed at work and not lost a few hours pay. People don’t like death, they don’t like to talk about it and prefer to not think about it. Dying sucks, and since the dying represents death, and death is taboo, who’s going to want to be around you? Yep, you got it – nobody. Face it, dude, you’re done with. You may be breathing at the moment, but you are going to be an ugly abandoned outcast. Like Tom Hanks in Castaway, find yourself a Wilson; a soccer ball, basketball, whatever; dress it up a little and give it a name. At least, you’ll then have a little company to join you on your trip to the grave.

You may think such thoughts to be a little overboard but believe me, they’re not. This is my personal testimony; a preconceived self-image shrouded by the unexpected, unfortunate and unwanted news of having cancer, and I am but one of so very many in a similar boat paddling upstream. Those battling life-limiting illness and disease (the aging too), daily struggle with fears of no longer having purpose and meaning, of no longer being useful and of being abandoned. Yes, as believers, followers of Jesus, we are aware that in the spiritual realm we are never alone and that our relationship with Christ is to us an ongoing supply of comfort and a source of encouragement even though unseen. But those who struggle often need a physical hand to hold and a warm body to sit close by and just listen.

holding hands

 

Dear Reader, It is so important that we learn to care and are able to tune in and hear the silent cries of those who struggle, who are in a fight they will not and cannot win. They often know it, and that in itself is a major force in the battle they must contend with.

Me, I’m good, at least for now. The cancer is confined to the prostate and in an early enough stage to not warrant chemo or any other advanced measures of treatment. But as we all know, things change, sometimes more quickly than we’d like. Yes, life has a way of taking unexpected turns often winding up in a traffic jam. For many, however, those less fortunate than myself; they need someone who won’t mind riding shotgun. Someone to get in the car with them, not turning the radio on, but listening to a song they need to sing, their song, a ballad telling a story about life and loss.

Please, will you step up to the plate? Will you sit with a person who has gotten terrible news and is lost in it? Will you with tender mercies, care, and compassion, not looking for or seeing the disease or the aged face but the person in front of you; will you hold their hand in reassurance and comfort? Don’t be distracted by the disease, it’s on the inside; outside there is a person, a man, woman, boy or girl who is the most beautiful creature in the world to God and they need to be reminded of that. Sooner or late it will be my turn, and yours.

Personally, having a wonderful wife, family, and great friends through our church community group; and above all else, through faith in my God who I know loves me and has promised saying, “fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10 ESV), and knowing confidently that “. . .he will not forsake his saints.They are preserved forever. . .” (Psalm 37:28 ESV); I look to each day in hope of tomorrow and expectation of a good long life still ahead. But if you’d like to walk with me, or others such as myself, we’d be happy to have you alongside.

IMPORTANT NOTE (Please Read): If you feel a tug at your heart strings and would like to walk with the terminally ill in their journey. Talk to your pastor about people in your church who might benefit from your visit with them. You might also contact a local Hospice provider and become a volunteer, or visit with the Social Worker or Activities Director at a Nursing Home or Assisted Living Facility. If you live in the Dallas, Texas area, as the Director of Chaplains for Cornerstone Hospice Care, I would love to talk with you and share the many ways you can get involved.

 

 

Does God Care?

22 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by Patrick A Cooper in Bible, Bible Study, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Devotional, Faith, Inspiration, Life, Religion, Spirituality, Theology, Uncategorized

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God-Cares-300x200

The last public execution in the United States took place in Owensboro, Kentucky on August 14, 1936. Rainey Bethea was led to the gallows having been convicted of the robbery, rape, and murder of seventy-year-old Lischia Edwards. It is estimated that 15-20,000 people made the journey to Owensboro to witness the hanging.

Although we have no way of knowing the exact number of people who stood beneath the cross of Calvary the day Jesus died. Luke tells us it was “a great multitude” (Luke 23:27 ESV), the same Greek word (plēthos) used in Hebrews 11:12 concerning God’s promise to Abraham that his offspring would be as numerous as the stars in number. At any rate, it was a large crowd of people, a sneering and jeering mob heaping insult upon insult, loudly and boisterously mocking the Son of God. The difference between Jesus and Rainey Bethea though is this; Rainey was admittedly guilty, Jesus was not. Rainey confessed to his crime, Jesus had committed no crime to confess too.

Among the crowd, according to John’s gospel (19:25-26 ESV), Jesus’ mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene stood near the cross; the disciple whom he loved was there with them too, all watching the Lord’s agonizing last moments. How they must have felt I can only imagine, especially his mother. Little doubt her life was a train wreck, a mangled mound of emotions few will ever know or understand.

I once stood in the room with my son and his trembling wife as they held their sweet lifeless baby in arms failing of strength, unable to understand why. It was my loss too, my grandson, but my pain and there’s was different. I had not carried him for nine months as she had. I was not the expectant father collecting little boy baseball gloves and footballs in anticipation of future little league games with Daddy’s little man. None-the-less, my heart was broken and my pain real. In spite of that being true, the last person on earth I would expect to reach out to me at that moment would have been my son. He had his own cross to bear at the moment. I suppose the same might be true of those few supporters who stood at the foot of the cross that dark day so long ago. Mary wanted to be there for her son, as did the others, to bear a small cup of comfort, a show of solidarity.

Amazingly, though, that small cup of comfort didn’t work its way from the ground up, but from the cross down. The gaze of his swollen eyes drawing his mother’s attention in the direction of John, the disciple he loved, Jesus said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son;” then to John he said, “Here is your mother” (John 19:26-27 NLT). What was Jesus saying?

As history is noticeably silent concerning Joseph, the husband of Mary, his death must be presupposed. Given his half-brothers did not believe on him at the time, Jesus’ mother’s well-being was his concern at the moment, not himself, and he looks to her care committing it to John, the disciple he loved

Is it not a bit mind-boggling? That Jesus could, or even would, look to the needs of someone else in that moment?

As I recall the worst episodes of pain I have experienced in life, not once in those moments was my thoughts on anyone or anything other than myself, and I certainly wasn’t praying good or future usefulness over my tormentor. I cursed that ladder I fell from; I spoke damnation over the things that inflicted the agony my body went through, and my minuscule afflictions (though great to me at the time) could never be compared with the torturous sufferings crucifixion wreaked on Jesus.

Not long ago I sat with a patient listening as he recounted his six-year fight with rectal cancer. In vivid detail, he described various treatments and their side effects. Although not everyone will have the same experiences and should not disregard a doctor’s recommendations based on one man’s story; he told of his bodies’ reaction to one particular procedure causing an unusual infection to set up in his buttocks. “The pain was excruciating”, he told me. “Positioned on my hands and knees, my butt sticking up in the air, needles were inserted to drain the accumulating pockets of puss. I screamed, for ten, maybe fifteen minutes, I shrieked in pain; I yelled out, I cried. It was the absolute worst experience of my entire life”, he explained. “Being naked wasn’t an issue”, he added. Whatever sense of pride, shame or modesty I may have had at one time had been taken from me long before”. “What was your feelings towards the medical staff”, I asked. “They can all go to hell”, he snapped back. “That’s exactly how I felt,” he said plainly.

His thoughts and mine speak to the norm, the way most people react when others force intense pain on us. But not Jesus, to the end his thoughts were of others, his care and concern was for everyone but himself. How big is that?

On a personal note: That Jesus would care for me at all is irony; that he would at the worst possible moment of his life, on the darkest day in human history, when bearing in his mangled body the full force of God’s wrath for the sins of mankind look down in concern for me – unimaginable. But, that is what happened, the way it was, the way it is.

“Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders,” Psalm 55:22 (The Message) tells us, “he’ll carry your load, he’ll help you out. He’ll never let good people topple into ruin”.

“Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you” (1 Peter 5:7).

“Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge” (Psalm 62:8 NIV).

Whatever you may be going through at this or any other moment in life, always know and never doubt, God cares for you, he is a rock upon which you can stand in hope against hope, “an anchor for the [your] soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19 NIV).

Acknowledgments

I gratefully acknowledge Community Life Church (c|Life) teaching pastor, Casey Coats, whose message on Sunday morning, February 21, 2016, inspired me to write. Casey found a needle in the haystack and used it to stitch together a beautiful tapestry of God’s love for mankind found in Jesus. This message is part of the current sermon series titled, “Last Words from the Cross” and can be viewed at clifec.com later in the week.

When God breaks His promises…

17 Wednesday Feb 2016

Posted by Patrick A Cooper in Uncategorized

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Source: When God breaks His promises…

Lessons From A Thief

15 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by Patrick A Cooper in Bible, Bible Study, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Devotional, Faith, Inspiration, Life, Religion, Spirituality, Uncategorized

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thiefWhen Jesus said to the thief hanging next to him on the cross, “today, you will be with me in paradise”, no doubt the greatest sense of relief a man could ever know filled his life (though slowly and painfully slipping away) with a hope that beyond this moment there was something more. Was it Jesus’ selfless prayer “Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing” that tipped the scale for a condemned man? Wow! What faith, or was it?

The question for me becomes this; was his a genuine act of faith? A true belief that Jesus was Messiah, or, was it a “why not shot in the dark, an I’ve nothing to lose act of a man who really didn’t have anything to lose?

In the second message from a seven-week series titled, “Last Words”, Community Life Church co-pastor Randy Wade demonstrated how all the ingredients of saving faith are present in this dying man’s plea and the far-reaching implications of just what that means for you and me today.

Brief as this moment may have been, in these final tics of life’s clock, the repentant thief simply fell on God’s mercy? No long discourse on his part, no attempts at justification, no excuses made; he acknowledges his guilt and accepts responsibility for his sin understanding fully the consequences of it, “don’t you fear God”, he asks his taunting cohort. He was keenly aware of who he was ultimately responsible to and took the same leap of faith you and I must take today – into the merciful hands of Jesus.

Interesting and often overlooked is both thieves sought the Lord’s help. The difference was the ridiculing thief looked only to God for deliverance from his suffering, a way out; “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” he said (Luke 23:39). The other looked to Jesus in sincere repentance.

You may not be sitting in a jail cell at the moment, you may have never committed a crime. In fact, you may not be a bad person at all; but apart from having received God’s pardon made available only through faith in Jesus, you are as condemned as that thief, guilty of sin and just like him, your biggest problem is not getting caught, you’re already caught. Your biggest problem is what comes next, to stand before a righteous God in judgment. But as Randy pointed out, it’s not too late, there is still hope.

You need to realize though you walk free in the world, apart from faith in Christ, you are none-the-less living on death row. The sentence may be carried out at any moment; a heart attack, a traffic accident, in any number of ways death is crouched just behind the door for all of us – after this, judgment (Hebrews 9:27). Without exception, Jesus calls on all to repent. The course you are on is wrong, change direction. The road you travel is a dead end, change roads. As scripture plainly declares, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25).

Please, don’t wait; don’t put this all-important matter off any longer. Steven Cole says it well writing, “Not all dying people have an opportunity to repent. Not everyone has adequate warning that death is just ahead. There are young people today that will step into eternity sooner than some of those advanced in years. Some people in good health will die before others who are in poor health. The fact is, we all are dying people, and unless we repent now, we may easily perish (Luke 13:3, 5).

I’d love to talk with you about it – write me today. At the least, please watch this sermon – look for it and the “Last Words” sermon series at http://www.clifec.com.

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Community Life Church co-pastor, Randy Wade

Flagstaff Christian Fellowship pastor, Steven J. Cole

 

Forgive Them – Are You Kidding Me?

11 Thursday Feb 2016

Posted by Patrick A Cooper in Bible, Bible Study, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Devotional, Faith, Inspiration, Life, Religion, Spirituality, Uncategorized

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Father forgive them

As Worship Leader, Randy Wolfe bared his heart in testimonial praise to the liberating power of God’s grace for a fallen man this past Sunday, it got me thinkin’. With a passion that found my heart melting in gratitude for the same grace that had been applied to my own fallenness, certainly I wasn’t alone in feeling something deep within fall prostrate before the Cross of Calvary as he sang, “No Longer Slaves”.

Next, co-pastor, David Griffin, took the congregation to the very foot of the cross. Losing sight of the man standing on the platform before me, the words he spoke brought into focus the man who occupied my spot on the cross – Jesus, and it wasn’t at all pretty; to the contrary, it was gruesome and shocking, far more hideous than what Hollywood had ever depicted on screen. The body of the man suspended between the heavens above him and the earth below that day was nearly unrecognizable to those who stood in witness. Was it indeed a man? Exposed bone, muscle, and internal organs made visible by ripped away flesh had distorted his bludgeoned figure to a grotesque rendering of something that appeared human, but some may have wondered if it really was. His own mother and committed followers who though at risk of being next were devoted enough to not abandon him stood in shock and disbelief; contempt perhaps, but what could they do? Most likely a bounty would soon be on their heads if not already, and they would be fugitives in hiding; Men on the run whose fate would be the same.

Once, as he looked ahead down the road, Jesus had said, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, [I] will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32 ESV), but no one really understood what he meant by that, at least not then. His disciples probably thought he spoke of that long awaited moment when he would set the record straight, put the Romans under foot and usher in the promised kingdom of God. Soon, he would take his place on the throne of David to rule and reign over Israel lifting her to her rightful place of prominence in the world; it was going to be glorious, or, so they thought. Dying a condemned criminal wasn’t the picture rolling around in their head at the moment he uttered those words.

Golgotha, the place of a skull – how befitting the name. It could well be called Vulture Hill, the place where scavenger birds hang out awaiting their next meal. Repulsive the thought – Yes, but a reality check for anyone who may think crucifixion something marginal, that the cross was anything less than sickening.

Interestingly, 1 Corinthians 1:18 tells us that, “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (NIV). The apostle’s assessment is correct, what happened on Golgotha’s hill that day as Jesus hung on the cross makes no sense at all. Looking from a purely human vantage point, “foolishness” is a good word, applicable.

Why would the God of all creation care what happens to us? That was David’s question in Psalm 8:4 when he asked, “what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” (NIV). When one stops and thinks through the events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion and the crucifixion itself, what unfolds is not at all human. Out of the entire New Testament narrative concerning the events in his life, the most difficult to wrap our minds around is not altogether his display of power over nature when he changed the water into wine or cursed the fig tree so that it withered and died. It isn’t his healing the sick, opening blinded eyes, causing the lame to walk, the dumb to talk or the deaf to hear. It’s not even his raising the dead to life. But the way he responded to Pilate, those who carried out Pilate’s orders, the ones who nailed him to the cross, those who consented to it and those who stood around gawking and mocking his sufferings; that’s what truly lies beyond our ability to make sense of.

Struggling to breathe, insults accompanied by sticks and stones hurled at his mangled body, he opens his swollen lips to curse his slaughterers, to pronounce condemnation on humankind? No! to pray for us.

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34 ESV).

Who would do that? Not me. I’d be praying God to rain down fire on the lot of them. Roast ‘em – slowly. May the fiery pits of hell consume every last one of them. That would be my response. I mean, nobody would pray forgiveness to be granted to his or her executioners, but somebody did. Yes, it is foolishness, farfetched indeed when seen through the eyes of human nature. But through the eyes of God, the cross is the means, the only means, whereby we are reconciled to him.

Though speaking of the future invasion and captivity of Israel by the Babylonians, Jeremiah 8 sees the people of God in dire straits. “Is there no balm in Gilead”, Jeremiah asks (v. 22). Nothing to heal the poisoned waters of v. 14 or the snakes bite of v. 17? Nothing to ease the hunger of v. 20; is there not a doctor to help (v. 22)? No, not then, not yet. But in a time to come, that healing balm would run red, the precious blood of Jesus would be that balm, sin’s cure, all sin, past present and future, but only when mixed together with the Lord’s words – “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”.

The cross of Calvary, the blood of Jesus is the means by which forgiveness is made possible, it is the vehicle, the carrier of God’s grace. But before forgiveness can be appropriated, it must be offered and received. Thus, we understand that what on the surface may appear “foolishness” is essential. Had Jesus not said those words, mankind would be without hope, eternally and irrevocably lost. And should you think you had nothing at all to do with it, that you, like Pilate, can just wash your hands and be free from guilt – think again. You placed Jesus on that cross, I put him there, and it was for both you and I that he prayed.

The Cross, foolishness to those who perish, but the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (1 Corinthians 1:18; Romans 1:16).

♥Inspired by the message from the “Last Words” sermon series preached by co-pastor, David Griffin, of the Community Life Church (c|Life) in Forney, Texas on February 7, 2016. To view this sermon or learn more about Community Life Church go to http://www.clifec.com. 

In Times Like These

06 Saturday Feb 2016

Posted by Patrick A Cooper in Bible, Bible Study, Blog, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Devotional, End-Times, Eschatology, Faith, Inspiration, Life, Religion, Spirituality, Uncategorized

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Most every follower of Jesus living in America will agree that our country appears to be going to hell in a hand basket and it seems we are on the fast track. We will also agree that Jesus is the answer, the only answer for the spiritual crisis sweeping across our 2 cornation. With each passing day, we see passivity growing in the heartland as people become more tolerant choosing to appease and please rather than stand against moral corruption and ethical decay. From my vantage point, I see Christians entering a period of time where 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 may become the song we sing should we choose to exit the mainstream highway of societal norms taking the road less traveled.

Is the curtain about to drop? Has the final countdown begun? Honestly, I don’t know, but in view of both Old and New Testament prophecy (when overlaid over the current world scene), there is good reason to believe that it has. That being said the church must step up – put on a bold face and be busy about the Father’s business.

As believers, it is our job, our spiritual duty, in fact, to bring Christ to the world. There is no time to sit back and foolishly debate the use of modern music, multi-media, and other such methods utilized by many churches today (the devil loves to see believers bicker). I too, like other baby boomers, was raised up in a traditional church setting singing the old hymns and listening to sermons preached from the King James Bible. Certainly there is nothing wrong with either and both have a place and role to play out in God’s redemptive plan. We cannot, however, permit trivial differences to blur our vision and get us off-track, keeping ever before us and making clear note of the great commission which does not establish a “how to do” set of rules, but “what to do”.

clifechurch

Community Life Church (Sunnyvale, Texas campus) – The Wknd Event (January 2016)

Personally, I want to be onboard with a risk-taking church. One that navigates the cutting edge of a razor blade without being on the bleeding edge; a church willing to adopt a Star Trek mentality to go “where no man has gone before”; a church willing to take advantage of technological advances using every resource at its disposal to reach out to the community and the world with the life-changing truth of the gospel; a church understanding people aren’t where we want them to be, they’re where they are, and that is where we must go. Jesus said, “I want my house full, go out into the highways and the hedges and compel people everywhere to come in“ (Luke 14:23 My Version).

The highway is the place where most gather doing what most do, the hedges are those out of the way spots where fewer people gather doing what a lesser number do, or we might say in this context, are willing to do. What I hear Jesus saying is “whatever it takes”. Get out of your comfort zone and tell people everywhere the table is set, the dinner bell is ringing; it’s time to dine.

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