The First Criminal

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Jesus was hung on the cross between two criminals. The two guys were both sentenced to die. We are not sure what they did, but it’s safe to assume that it was pretty bad. Similar to Jesus, these two criminals were suffering tremendously. Crucifixion was just plane out bad. Both of them looked at Jesus and each of them saw something entirely different.

One looked at Jesus and hurled insults at him. He told him to save himself and to save them while he was at it. This guy must have had a lot of pent up anger in his life and he was taking it out on Jesus. Jesus did nothing to deserve this guy’s insults. The guy didn’t even know him. But still all of his anger was turned toward Jesus. This criminal’s life was coming to nothing. He was rapidly losing strength, yet he mustered up enough energy to insult Jesus.

I have known people like this. They have many hurts in their life. They are just plane angry, but they don’t know who or what to be angry at, so they take it out on God. The only person who could truly help them; The only person who could understand; they only person who could change their destiny, is the very one that they hurl insults toward.

Don’t be like that criminal on the cross. Don’t turn your anger toward Jesus. Instead, see Jesus like the other criminal did. But we will cover that tomorrow. Have an amazing day as you live the life that God has called you to.

Watch, Sneer, or Mock

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While Jesus hung on the cross there are three groups of people mentioned in Luke 23. People stood watching. Rulers even sneered and soldiers mocked him. These three groups of people at the cross represent many people’s reaction to Jesus today.

The people stood there and watched. They weren’t active in crucifying Jesus. They may have been quite passive - Spectators even. But they still rejected the messiah. Don’t passively ignore and reject the one who is unavoidable.

The rulers looked at him and sneered. They hated him. They were fueled by jealousy because he was messing with what they controlled. In their anger they lashed out at Jesus. Jesus is the King of kings and he rules with perfection. Will you let him rule or will you sneer at him?

The soldiers were also at the cross and they mocked him. Jesus would have been different from everybody else they ever crucified, so they had some fun with him. They thought they were in control of everything. The problem with mocking the Son of God is that he always gets the last laugh.

My question today is: How will you respond to Jesus? Will you just watch? Will you sneer at him? Will you mock him and think he’s a joke? Or will you embrace him as the Son of God?

Father Forgive Them

In Luke 23:34 we find Jesus on the cross between two thieves. I can imagine him looking out at all the people around who were all just part of the action. I don’t know how many were there, but there must have been quite a few. We know there were people standing around watching. The rulers were there. They had sentenced him to death and they were now there sneering at him. And the Roman soldiers were also on the scene. They had fun with Jesus and mocked him.

Jesus saw all these people who all had something to do with his crucifixion. And as he looked out at them, he said one of the most amazing statements recorded in the history of mankind. He looked at the evil people who were killing him. He turned his head to heaven and said,

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

In the middle of his crucifixion, Jesus was thinking about the souls of the ones doing the crucifying. He saw beyond their immediate actions and he saw their eternal destiny. He didn’t look down and see executioners. Instead, he looked down and saw future evangelists, prophets, preachers, elders in the church. He saw their potential.

May we have that same attitude as we see people. May the Lord give us eyes to see beyond a person’s immediate actions and may we see their God-given potential.

And, oh, by the way, I am convinced that many of those at the cross became followers of Jesus in the months to follow.

Visitors from Alaska

Over the next couple weeks our dear friends Marian, Joe and Lucy are in our area visitings. They are from Togiak, AK. This is the town where our church has been pretty involved over the years and these are the three main leaders from that village. Marian is from Russell and has been a missionary to Alaska for the past 12 years or so and Joe and Lucy are a Yupik couple who are two of the most precious people I have ever met.

Last night we met as a leadership team with Joe and I sat there in awe of the amazing people He has placed in our midst. As Joe spoke to us I could see a man of God, full of wisdom. I just wanted to hear more and I wanted to learn everything I could from this man.

The Yupik culture places a high value on the "council of Elders". They often refer to wisdom in terms of the elders. You may be in conversation with someone and they will say, "the elders say..." and they share some great nugget of truth.

May we always honor those great men and women of God who are our elders. Not just in age, but also in wisdom.

The Future is Bright

Seth's dad is one of the worship leaders at Praise Fellowship. In this video he is behind Seth. Seth adores his dad and wants to do everything he does, especially playing the guitar and leading worship. May the Lord use the "dads" of the world to give an example for the next generation to follow.

Olympian Kelly Clark

Kelly Clark: Head Over Heels in Love

By Shaun Brown and Barbara Cornick
The 700 Club

CBN.com – “Being 16 years old and growing up on the road by yourself without supervision, you get into some pretty bad things.”

Champion snowboarder Kelly Clark is at the top of her game literally. She won Olympic gold in 2002 as the youngest member of the U.S. team. In February 2005, Kelly boarded her way to first place at the World Cup competition in Italy.

You’d think that with all this success, Kelly’s life was ideal. But if you ask her, you might not get the answer you expect.

“I achieved the highest in my sport. I was famous,” she says. “I had money. I had an Olympic gold medal. Everything that anyone could have wanted, and I found out that wasn’t what I was looking for.”

So Kelly did what she thought would fill the void in her heart.

“I strived to drink the most. I strived to be the rowdiest... all this silly stuff. That didn’t seem like a very good idea, but at the time that was what I thought was gonna make me cool. I wanted people to like me.”

Neither Kelly’s gold medal nor her partying was enough to take away her deep sense of emptiness.

“I had spiraled into this depression and into this place that was just real dark. I was at this contest, and I was staying by myself. I spent the morning writing about how I didn’t want to live anymore and how it wouldn’t even matter.”

Kelly didn’t know it, but she was about to find out just how much her life did matter and to Whom.

“Snowboarding’s still going great from the outside perspective. My life’s great. I’ve got it made. I’m living the dream, but on the inside I’m dying. I’m standing at the bottom of the pipe.

“This girl comes down, and she’s crying ‘cause she fell on both of her runs and she didn’t qualify. This other girl goes up to her, [and] I’m standing there. They didn’t know anybody was listening. She was like, ‘Hey, it’s all right. God still loves you.’ I was blown away. If there’s a God who loves me like I need to know Him.

“She was staying in my hotel, and I found out what room number she was in. So that night I knocked on her door. She told me about having a relationship with Jesus, and she started telling me that was what it was about. My Creator wanted a real relationship with me, and He loved me very much.”

After taking some time to think about what she’d just heard, Kelly made a decision.

“I gave my life to the Lord that day," Kelly says. "It was pretty cool. The Lord really apprehended me at that point.”

United States snowboarder Kelly Clark is one of the most aggressive riders on the team. Usually in a competition like the half-pipe, a rider drops into the pipe along with their board. But according to Kelly, this year she’s not going in alone.

“Now having a relationship with the Lord, I find that there’s a lot more freedom in snowboarding for me," she explains. “I’m just so in love with Him. Every time I think about Him I have to tell Him I love Him ‘cause I’m head over heels. He makes me smile.”

Gotcha Day

Today is Jason's Gotcha Day. It was 3 years ago today at 6:35 EST that we met our little boy in the hotel lobby in Guatemala. After about a year of waiting we first held the adorable little 8 month old that was our forever child. We are so thankful to the Lord for this amazing gift and Sandie and I truly say that the Father in Heaven handpicked our two boys for us. Thank you, Jesus. I can hardly remember and can't even imagine life without Jason.

Be forever be thankful for the gifts that God has given you - especially your kids.