Savoring His Sacrifice and Salvation
Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”
But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.
But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” - Mark 16:2-7
Long ago this is what they felt like when it happened. And this is how we should feel too. Because what it meant for them, it still means for us today. The grave is empty it! He is risen.
Prayer…
OKAY
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we have a door just kind of leaning over there…
NOW - whenever you walk through a door you’re going from one place to another.
AND - as you walk through a door you have certain emotions, depending on what’s on the other side of the door.
LIKE - when you walk through some doors you may have a feeling of excitement or joy.
AND WHEN - you walk through other doors you may have a sense of anxiety or of fear.
AGAIN - it all depends on what’s on the other side of the door.
OKAY – I want you to think about the various doors that you walk through on a regular basis…
AND… – I also want you think about the emotions that walking though these doors create within you.
SO – you ready?
QUESTION – what emotions do you feel (now seriously picture these doors in your mind)
What emotions do you feel when you walk through the door to:
• your home
• your room
• a sports arena or stadium
• a movie theatre
• your favorite restaurant (and you have $200 gift card)
• your best friends house
• your school or the class you dislike the most
• your place of employment (kind of depends on whether or not you are coming or going).
• Your bosses office
• a shopping mall (I feel that I need some oxygen – malls suck the life out of me)
• your dentist office for your annual cleaning (that depends on whether or not you have been flossing regularly and brushing your teeth 2 times a day.
AND HOW ABOUT – the doors to the church…
IN FACT - what emotions did you feel when you walked through the doors of this church a few moments ago?
Did you feel:
• a sense of excitement?
• a sense of anticipation?
• did you feel jazzed, stoked and pumped up – because it’s Easter/Resurrection Sunday! And your Savior is alive!
• Or did you feel a little uneasy, maybe, because this is your first Sunday at MG and you are not sure what to expect?
• Will I like the music?
• Will the people be nice?
• Will I have to do anything weird?
• Is the pastor going to be stupid and funny looking?
• Hey, I’m not stupid…
NOW - the reason I chose a door as the prop for Easter this year is because when you think about it Easter is all about a door.
UNDERSTAND - Two thousand years ago, God the Son (the alpha and omega… the beginning and the end… the prince of peace, the everlasting Father, the Mighty God)
LEFT - all the glories of heaven, put on (frail, finite, fragile) human flesh and walked through the door of human history… OR – should I say, walked through the door of HIS STORY…
YOU SEE – all of human history, every bit of it really is ‘His’ Story, right? I MEAN – in the beginning God create capital ‘E’ everything… and HE has been the One holding all things together ever since. AND LISTEN
SINCE – the dawn of creation the overriding theme of human History…
HAS BEEN - God’s passionate pursuit of a prodigal people.
HAS BEEN – the story of a loving God doing whatever it takes to bring people back to Himself.
AND – on that first Easter weekend, that doing whatever it takes led to an old rugged cross, a borrowed tomb and a Resurrection.
AND B/S – here we are 2000 years later in C’ville, Va…
Joining up with 2.3 billion people around the world celebrating Jesus! Celebrating…
WHO - He is and… WHAT He did for us.
For me… For you. For the world He so loved!
OKAY – here’s the deal… Let me up front about what my goal, my intent is for every person in this room this morning EASTER 2018… That we, that you experience, savor is for us…
TO – experience, TO – savor…
His Resurrection in a new and fresh way.
UNDERSTAND - I want us to feel what they felt 2000 years ago
BECAUSE – what His resurrection meant for them
IT – still means for us today.
GET IT?
“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. – Mark 16:6
AGAIN
THEY WERE – were looking for Jesus who was crucified. Jesus who was… arrested – bound – beaten – bruised – battered – mocked- insulted – punched - beard ripped out by the handful
whipped 39 times by a Roman scourge… Full of lead and broken pieces of pottery…
YES - they were looking for Jesus who was…
Stripped naked - Nailed to a blood stained cross - Crucified
Suspended for 6 hours - Who bowed his head at 3 pm and returned to the Father (It is finished, Father into your hands I commit my spirit)
They were looking for Jesus was who crucified…
NOW – the crucifixion that… that was Friday…
BUT LISTEN – from the very moment the Roman soldier pounded the first nail into the flesh of God Sunday was coming.
AND - on Sunday morning Jesus with GREAT POWER burst forth from grave…
YES – the grave is empty! He is risen. April, April fools!
Jesus is Alive! AND – our enemies… death, sin and the grave have been totally, completely and forever defeated!…
“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here…”
NOW UNDERSTAND – Jesus said that this (that what happened on that first Easter weekend – the betrayal/the arrest/the denials/the crucifixion/His death/ and His resurrection) were going to happen.
IN FACT
WHEN – Jesus came into Jerusalem to begin his ministry (after over turning tables – and driving the money changers out of the Temple) He said, “Destroy this Temple, and I will raise it up in three days…” (John 2:19).
AND HE SAID – (in Matthew 12:40, to some religious leaders who were challenging him after He had cast out a demon) as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
AND JESUS – said to His guys as He prepared to go to Jerusalem for the last time in… Matthew 16:21 that… he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
UNDERSTAND – from the beginning to the end of His ministry Jesus said that He would – suffer, die and rise again …
AND HE ALSO SAID – that His resurrection would be irrefutable proof that he was exactly who he said he was… God in the flesh. The bread of life. The light of the world. The Great I Am. The Savior King.
CHECK OUT – these words from the pen of Paul… He was declared to be God's Son with great power by rising from the dead. Romans 1:4
YOU SEE – His resurrection - is meant to remove any doubts whatsoever as to who Jesus is.
AND MGCC… - I stand before you today and based on the authority of the word God, human history and the empty tomb boldly and confidently proclaiming, that…
THE JESUS - that you love, Follow, Serve, Sing to and worship…
THE JESUS – we gathered in this place to honor this morning - is not just a prophet, a great teacher or a really nice guy – No, Jesus is God!
• HE - is the Alpha and the Omega… the beginning/end.
• He is Creator of all that we see
• Jesus is holy, mighty, all-powerful, all-knowing
• HE always has been and He always will be
• He is the Kings of King & Lord of Lords..
• He is before all things, over all things and He holds all things together…
AND LISTEN - Jesus if holds all things together… that means HE can hold our lives together…
Bottom line…
Jesus is huge… holy… mighty… is God
AND – because he is God this means….that He
• Has all the answers - Can deliver what he promised
• Bring peace to any conflict - Conquer any problem
• Calm any storm - Defeat any enemy
• What He said is true
• What He said He would do…He will do
YES MGCC
OUR - Jesus is God…!
AND OUR – Jesus is Alive!!!
AND LISTEN – Jesus wants you (He wants me) to come alive as well. IN FACT, Jesus said - I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10)
Some versions say ABUNDANT.
YES B/S - God wants you to live a new, abundant, passionate and purposeful life. One in which you’re fully alive.
BUT – a lot of people…
MAYBE - even a few in this room, aren’t fully alive.
I MEAN – truth be told they are just going through the motions of life - existing, not really living!
THEY’RE - in the survival mode, barely hanging on.
JUST – trying to get through the day.
A DAY – that seems hauntingly like every other day.
I get up – Go to work – come home
eat – go to bed and wake up
and then do it all over again…
QUESTION
WHY – is that?
WHY - are so many people not experiencing the full life that God wants for them and that Jesus bought for them on a blood stained cross 2000 years ago…?
WELL – to see why we settle for less than God’s best we have to go back to the very first couple. Adam and Eve.
NOW - Adam and Eve lived in a perfect world, a garden paradise.
AND – not only that, they had an up close and personal relationship with God who would come and hang out with them in the garden.
AND - God said to them, “all of these doors I’ve created are open to you – you can walk through any door you want and enjoy life. THERE’S - only one door that is off-limits. There’s only one tree that you can’t eat fruit from.”
SO – what did they do? THEY - went straight to that door – ate the fruit, disobeyed and messed up EVERYTHING!
NOW GRANTED – they did have a little help in going through that door…
AND - so do we…
YOU SEE – you & I have to do battle with the VERY same enemy that they faced…
AN ENEMY – that appeared to them in the form of serpent.
AN ENEMY – that Scripture describes as a roaring lion and an angry dragon…
AN ENEMY – who is determined to steal, kill and destroy the full and abundant life Jesus won for us on a blood stained cross 2000 years ago.
YES - Adam and Eve chose the ‘forbidden’ door…
AND YOU AND I - choose the forbidden door.
AND LISTEN – when we do, it creates a wall between us and God; a wall between God’s perfection and our imperfection.
A wall of sin and guilt and separation…
UNDERSTAND – we all have the same problem, we all sin and fall short…
YES - we all (by the choices we make to go through the forbidden door) build walls between us and God…
WALLS FOR…
• The time you lost your temper.
• The day you lost control.
• The years you had the wrong priorities.
• The time or times you gave up your purity
• The destructive words you spoke
• The bitterness you refuse to let go of
Just one guilty block after another.
AND LISTEN – after awhile that wall starts to get pretty high.
AND – it keeps us distant from God, separates us from Him…
IT CAUSES - us to be afraid of Him.
CHECKOUT - what God said about this wall through the prophet Isaiah 700 years before His Son put on flesh.
Your sins are the roadblock between you and your God. – Isaiah 59:2
DO YOU – see the picture those words paint?
THIS WALL – is a roadblock between you and God.
BETWEEN YOU – and the life God created you to live.
BETWEEN YOU – and a life that is new, full and abundant.
BUT LISTEN - the Good news of Easter is that…
Our guilt, our sins, our mistakes and our failures are no longer the final word about our lives…!
UNDERSTAND - Jesus through HIS death and resurrection (defeated sin, conquered the grave and paid our debt in full) KNOCKING DOWN the wall and OPENING UP for all of mankind the door back to both Himself and to life…
Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit. At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. – Matthew 27:50,51
YES – we (you and I)… we build walls… and Jesus on Easter knocked them down and opened up doors.
AND THIS MORNING – in our time remaining I want to talk about 3 doors that Jesus invites you to walk through in a conversation called, ‘Savoring His Sacrifice and Salvation.’
NOW – this is actually the 2nd conversation of a 3 part series that we are doing at The Grove called ‘Come Alive…’
OKAY – here’s the deal… Jesus came so that we live a full and abundant life… so that we could come alive…
AND – in this 3 week message series…. WE - are discovering that coming alive in Him, is the by product, is the natural result of…
As we saw last week…
SEEING Him for who He is
And as we will see next week…
STRIVING for His purposes (going after the life He has called us to live)
AND – as we see discover today…. Coming alive in him is the natural result, the by product, the unavoidable awesome consequence of…
SAVORING His Sacrifice and Salvation.
AND – as we will soon see… what is intended to launch this savoring in our lives is when we choose to walk through doors that Jesus opened up for us on that first Easter Sunday…
• the door of forgiveness
• the door of restoration
• the door of hope
YES – today is about savoring His sacrifice and salvation.
Now ‘savor’ is a pretty awesome word… a few definitions.
• to enjoy an experience, activity, or feeling as much as you can and for as long as you can
Bill savored the view as he cruised along the coastline
• ‘Savor’ to enjoy the flavor of something as much as you can by eating or drinking it slowly
I sipped my coffee, savoring every mouthful.
UNDERSTAND - whether it’s a feeling of joy or a piece of chocolate cream pie — when you savor something, you are enjoying it to the fullest.
I googled some pictures… of people savoring... take a look at them
UNDERSTAND – it is not an accident that you are here in this room today, Easter 2018.
BECAUSE – God has some things He needs to say to you and to me, to us.
BECAUSE – there is not, when He comes to Him and what Easter really means (forgiveness, restoration, and hope)
There is not near enough savoring in our lives.
GET IT?
LIKE – I said, this three week series is about living fully His abundant life, it’s about coming alive in Him.
AND B/S – I don’t know any other of saying it, then to just come out and say it…
SO – here goes…
My experience as Jesus follower for the last 38 years…
Is that in the church, a place where I should a bunch of people who are fully alive, I still see quite a few dead people.
I still see people who are living far short of the abundant life, that Jesus bought for them on a blood stained cross…
QUESTION…
• Why is that?
• What’s the deal?
• What’s the problem?
• What is going on?
NOW - I think the problem is twofold…
Some people even though they occasionally attend church have never actually walked through those doors that Jesus open up for them (forgiveness, restoration, hope)
And some people even though may have walked through those doors have never really savored what is on the other side of them…
UNDERSTAND – there are some things that if you taste them, it is pretty much impossible for you not to savor them…
SO – in our time remaining I want to talk about these three doors that Jesus is inviting you to walk through this morning…
NOW – I am sure you have heard of the good news of…
Forgiveness – Restoration – and Hope
Many times before
I mean you have seen the door, maybe even stood next to it.
But have you ever walked through it?
And if you walked through it, are you really savoring what God has for you on the other side?
I want us to watch something again…
And then we are going to talk about walking though the doors of… Forgiveness – Restoration – and Hope
What it meant for them – it means for us…
IT MEANS…
That the doors to forgiveness, restoration and hope have been opened!
I. The Door Of Forgiveness
UNDERSTAND – we all need God’s forgiveness.
Because… we all sin and fall short.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. – Romans 3:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 6:23
NOW - if anyone ever needed to know that the door to forgiveness had been opened. IT WAS - a distraught, guilt ridden, sun weary fishermen named Peter...
Peter was standing with John when the 2 Mary’s came running into town... AND - when they came Peter and John ran to them... "Slow down, slow down -- we can’t understand you... what, the tomb is empty! Jesus, isn’t in the tomb! He’s alive!
AND THEN – Peter says, “hey stop a minute did I hear you right… Yes Peter I am sure, the angel said go tell the disciples and Peter?”
But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” - Mark 16:7
UNDERSTAND – those 2 words, ‘and Peter’ were like a cool flowing stream in a desert wasteland… I MEAN – it was as if all of heaven watched Peter fall… and all of heaven was waiting to see him get back up.
Go tell the disciples and be sure to tell Peter that he gets another chance… 3 strikes and you are not out!
AND - somewhere, we don’t know where, maybe on the shoreline overlooking the Jordan or on a dirt road outside of the city…
BUT - the important thing is not where it happened, but that it did happen.... T
HE – apostle Paul even makes a point of telling us in I Corinthians 15:5, that Jesus appeared to Peter… and then to the 12."
NOW - the Bible doesn’t give us any details -- of that meeting. It doesn’t tell us what Peter said... I for one don’t think Peter said much of anything...
I PICTURE - Peter alone, sitting with his head down and his heart broken... HE - had set high standards for himself. Standards that he could never have live up to. After all he was just a man.... BUT - because he couldn’t forgive himself, Peter couldn’t believe that Jesus could forgive him either...
"No way. Not after what I have done... I went too far... I don’t deserve His forgiveness Jesus. While my Lord and my friend was being beaten, scourged, crucified - I denied I that I ever knew him.
IF ONLY - I could go back and undo it all, I would… but I can’t. There’s no way that I can ever make this right."
AND THEN - Peter felt a hand on his shoulder… HE TURNED – his head to see who it was… and his heart nearly stopped beating when he saw that the hand was pierced.
AND - I picture Jesus with his hand on Peter’s shoulder saying "It’s alright Peter. It’s alright. I know. I know. But it’s alright now. Peter look at me. Look at me. I forgive you my friend. Completely. Peter look at these wounds – look at them… they’re all for you. These wounds are why I came. They’re what I’m about. These wounds, these strips have healed you from your sin and guilt – from your shame and failure...”
NOW – I don’t know about you but I have been where Peter was. AND – truth be told I still find myself there at times, more times than I care to admit…
THAT’S WHY – Easter Sunday pumps me up! BECAUSE – it is a huge reminder that 2000 years ago forgiveness became available.
• My sins can be washed away
• 1,2,3 – even 7 x 70 falls does not make me a failure!
• It’s no longer about my denials – it’s about His death
• It’s no longer about what I did or do… but about what Jesus already did!
Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. – Acts 13:8
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” – Acts 2:38
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. – 1 John 1:9
“Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight. Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of sin. - Romans 4:7,8
II. The Door Of Restoration
What if…
• Restoration is possible
• We could become the person we long to be
• We could live the life we always dreamed of living
• Rise above overcome the mistakes of our past
I’M – going to read 2 incredible passages of Scripture and then talk about our restoration.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! – 2 Cor 5:17
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. – Ephesians 2:10
LISTEN – there is more to Christ’s Resurrection; Then fact that Jesus is alive (as awesome, necessary and glorious as that it is)… and that our sins can be forgiven (as amazing and as needed as that is)… and that we will spend eternity in a perfect forever (as sweet as that will be)…
UNDERSTAND – His Resurrection also means that we can be restored to who we were always meant to be…
NOW REMEMBER – in the beginning, in Genesis, we are told that man was made in the image of God. That man was created to be picture, a portrait, a reflection of what God is like…
BUT – as we said earlier, sin quickly came into the world (man ate the forbidden fruit) and that image got distorted…
BUT B/S – this distortion is no longer the final word of our lives… Why? Because Jesus is alive and His Resurrection changes everything!
THE RESURRECTION – enables us to become a new creation….
IT – creates us anew in Christ Jesus.
NOW I’VE – always loved what God wrote through Paul in 2 Corinthians 3…
So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. – 2 Corinthians 3:18
BUT HEY… could I get real with you for a minute…
SOMETIMES – this concept of restoration totally pumps be up…
AND SOMETIMES – it totally bums me out.
AND IT – pumps me up because there is nothing I want more than to become the person God created me to be and to live the life He created me to live…
BUT – sometimes it bums me out because I got this gap.
AND – sometimes I think this gap is getting smaller and other times I think that it is getting bigger…
LORD, I don't know how to become the person you want me to be. I mean, how do I really get there?
"I AM the way, and the truth and the life..." John 14:6
Great answer. Thanks Jesus!
One of the most important truths we will ever learn is that this restoration becomes a reality not by trying harder but by drawing closer.
God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him – Phil 2:13
‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty. – Zechariah 4:6
Again it’s not about trying harder – it’s about…
drawing closer
hanging out with Jesus
staying connected so the fruit of the Spirit will grow in our lives…
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control
At Maple Grove… we are ALL ABOUT
Restoration… connecting people to the life they were created to live.
III. The Door Of Hope
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead… - 1 Peter 1:3
QUESTION…
SO – how are you doing today with the ‘hope’ thing?
I MEAN - when you woke up this morning were you more hopeful or hopeless about your life?
UNDERSTAND – many times we don’t do soo good on this hope thing…
AND – why is that….
BECAUSE - we place our hope in the wrong place…
WHAT ARE - some wrong places that people tend to put their hope in?
Money - 401 K – Career – Stuff - Relationships
Good times - success
CHECKOUT – this question the psalmist asked himself when he was extremely bummed out…
“Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?…” - Ps 42:11
NOW – that’s a good question to asked ourselves whenever we find ourselves down, discouraged and losing hope…
Why are we so down?
AND I LOVE – how the psalmist answers his own question with a statement/command/a re-focus …
Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. – Psalm 42:11
It was a cold October afternoon in 1982. Badger Stadium in Madison Wisconsin was packed out. That day there were more than 60,000 die-hard University of Wisconsin football fans watching their team take on the Michigan State Spartans.
It didn’t take long to determine who the better team was. Michigan State was moping up the field with the Badgers.
But what seemed odd was that even as the score became increasingly lopsided against their team, there were bursts of applause and shouts of joy from the Wisconsin fans.
How could they cheer when their team was getting trounced so decisively? It turns out that 70 miles away the Milwaukee Brewers were beating the St. Louis Cardinals in game 3 of the 1982 World Series.
Many of the fans in the stands were listening to portable radios and responding to what was going on in another game, in another sport, in another place.
YOU KNOW - there is something to be said for being plugged into what is going on elsewhere.
Sometimes, the things that are going on where you are become extremely difficult. That’s why the bible tells us that we need to make sure we have our radios tuned to a different game.
You see there in another game going on beside the one that you are in at this moment.
Understand there is so much more going on then what is in front of you. THAT – is what Jesus reminded His guys of as they walked to the garden on the night of His arrest.
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
– John 14:1-3
LISTEN – because of Easter there is a lot more going on then what is right in front of you….
HIS RESURRECTION – allows us to walk through the door of Hope to tune into another a game.
A GAME – where:
Jesus is even now, building a place for us in His fathers house in an incredible forever!
We who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls… - Hebrews 6:18,19
NOW - a lot of people believe in the resurrection. George Gallup did a poll that said 84% of Americans believe Jesus rose from the dead.
It’s a historical fact. I mean it wasn’t done in secret. The whole city of Jerusalem knew about it and eventually the whole Roman Empire. It was big news.
If Fox News or CNN would have been around they would have had it live. There are at least 15 historical references to Jesus meeting people after He rose from the dead. Over 500 people talked to Him after He was raised.
YES - Jesus rose from the dead.
BUT - the real question is what difference does it make in my life today?
It makes all the difference in the world if you let it. The Door to Forgiveness, The Door to Restoration and the door of Hope are open to you.
During the presidency of Andrew Jackson (in 1829), George Wilson, a postal clerk, robbed a federal payroll from a train and in the process killed a guard. The court convicted him and sentenced him to death by hanging. Because of public sentiment against capital punishment, however, a movement began to secure a presidential pardon for Wilson (first offense), and eventually Jackson intervened with a pardon. Amazingly, Wilson refused it.
The Sheriff was unwilling to hang Wilson – for how can you hang a pardoned man. Since this had never happened before, the Supreme Court was asked to rule on whether someone could indeed refuse a presidential pardon. Chief Justice John Marshall handed down the court’s decision: "A pardon is a parchment whose only value must be determined by the receiver of the pardon. It has no value apart from that which the receiver gives to it. George Wilson has refused to accept the pardon. We cannot conceive why he would do so, but he has. Therefore, George Wilson must die."
And so, as punishment for his crime, George Wilson, on a day appointed by the court, was taken from his cell and hanged to satisfy the requirements of the law. Pardon, declared the Supreme Court, must not only be granted, it must be accepted.
What I want to do today is point you to the most powerful word in the English language and it’s mentioned twice in this verse.
“I tell you, NOW is the time of God’s favor, NOW is the day of salvation.” - 2 Corinthians 6:2
NOW is the time. NOW is all we have. We’re always looking for someday. We’re always looking for that miracle someday, but the miracle is in the moment. The miracle is always in the moment because that’s all we have.
