God Gold News

God Gold of the Day

Below you will see a video about the news of a recent fire that broke out at a church in West Virginia. The reason this news is getting an extreme amount of publicity, it’s not the church building that was destroyed or the fire itself, but it’s what remained throughout the scorching hot flames of the fire.

At the end of the fire, firefighters stood in amazement. As they said, there was times the flames were so hot that they had to halt from going in the building, but what they found that remained untouched and unharmed, the Bibles that the church had there and the cross that hung in the church! That makes zero sense right?!? How could these two things be unharmed but the church itself be destroyed? The Bibles are made of paper and the cross is made of wood, I’m no fire expert but don’t those two things burn more easily than most?

The conclusion of this can’t be explained by any kind of science or man-made reason. The over-arching theme of this wild event was spoken by the pastor at this church as he responded to the reporter upon hearing of the unharmed Bibles; ““In the midst of the fire, God’s word will always stand.”

How powerful and true is this statement made here by this pastor! It’s something as Christians we claim to believe but LOOK!!!! Look at what happened here, this statement is more true than we could ever imagine!!! There is no fire or nothing that can stand against or harm the Word of God or the truth that resides in it being the Good News of Jesus where by His sacrifice on the cross, a way was made for us when there was no way!

Wow God!!!! He never ceases to amaze us and I hope this awesome event that only God could be in control of strengthens your faith and opens you up to walking deeper into these two things that can’t be harmed or touched in our lives; the Word of God and the Cross of Jesus Christ!

What blew my mind even more from this wild news was that the church building burnt down but these two things remained. It really convicted me, as I live in the Bible belt of the deep south and in a country like America where so much emphasis and focus is put on facilities, the size of church buildings, the styles, and so forth. This event opened me up to see a lot of truth in the fact that yes, church buildings and facilities are great to be used for God’s purposes in reaching others with His truth. But at the end of the day, I hate to think that at times we can get so caught up in our church building and the beauty of it that we lose focus on the only things that really matter, and that is the Word of God and the cross of Jesus!!! I can’t imagine the revival that would occur if the focus becomes shifted to see what God says is the main thing and keeping it the main thing! Just something to think about because as we see here this church building was destroyed just like any other could be, but the only things that matter to God and that should matter to us were kept unharmed and untouched even in the most impossible odds! I hate this news for this church family but I am 100% positive they will be alright because they still have all that God has shown us that we need, His Word and the Gospel of Jesus!

Jesus Over Everything

God Gold of the Day

“Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.”

Mark 8:34-35

 

These verses have sat on me heavy lately and I’m so thankful I get to share the experience of my weaknesses and the strength in God’s powerful  Word. Jesus taught many important truths to the disciples but this is a big one, it’s a foundation truth or a starting point into life with Christ. I’ve heard this verse a ton and every time I’m like, “yep, deny yourself, take up your cross, okay I got it.” I may have heard it and think I got it but the truth is I don’t got it. We can’t truly know what God’s Word means or how powerful it really is until we actually apply it to our lives. It’s extremely hard to admit that we don’t have a clue or that we’re weak, to deny ourselves because our pride usually gets in the way and that truth stinkin hurts. I like to think I know best a lot of the time and my way feels like the way to go but nobody knows what’s right or knows what the best way to go is more than Jesus Christ! Sometimes I’m influenced by others opinions or beliefs on what’s right and wrong about which way leads to the fullness of life but only Christ and Christ alone can tell us and show us God’s truth, only He can lead us into the fullness of life that God has planned for us and wants to give us for eternity. And on top of our pride, we know if we deny ourselves and take up our cross daily, that means we put Christ first in our lives, that means we have to follow His example, embrace suffering in this life just like Jesus did on the cross and keep our eyes on the heavenly prize. We may not get everything we want, we may have to go against the devils lies saying, “c’mon, you can do this one little thing, yeah it’s a sin but you know you’ll enjoy it, God has plenty of grace and mercy to forgive you.” By taking up our cross daily, we are to embrace suffering, going against what we want like temporary pleasures and being comfortable in our lives, making excuses and justifying stuff telling ourselves it’s not that bad, trying to save our lives which only leads to losing our lives. Suffering comes in denying ourselves, its hard and it gets even harder when we have to deny our want to fit in with everyone else. This is one of the hardest parts for me. Why should I have to deny myself from all the fun and cool things everybody else is doing? It’s so hard to go against the current when all the fish are swimming easily downstream and you have to swim as hard as you can to swim upstream. I guess the big lesson for me is realizing I don’t have a clue what I’m doing and I’m too weak to swim upstream by myself and from the times I’ve followed Jesus instead of myself and my wants, put following myself and anything, anyone else to the side, through Christ I can deny myself, He gives me the strength to look past my pride, my desires and want to be comfortable and only through Him as the Shepherd and me as a sheep can I live in His gift of freedom and life. I know this isn’t the most popular thing to talk about and prob makes ya a little uncomfortable, I know I feel that way but it’s Gods truth given to us for our salvation and our instruction. Once you realize you’re just a dumb sheep and see Christ, my leader, my Shepherd, as the only way to truly have life, it gets a little easier to deny yourself, to embrace putting your wants of comfortability to the side and get uncomfortable in the suffering by taking up your cross. It gets a little easier to lose your life when we see the importance of the stakes at hand and the love of a Savior for coming down to teach us this truth, for suffering a death that we should’ve died so that we could have salvation and life, the importance of every moment following ourselves, anything, or anyone else instead of putting our self to the side and chasing after Christ as hard as we can with our eyes set on the prize He has for us, those are wasted moments for ourselves but more importantly for everyone around us getting a chance to see an example of Jesus’ truth and light flowing from us into them. Its hard but it’s so daggum awesome at the same time! I’ve continuously struggled to apply this truth to my life and I’m not trying to be hard on myself, that’s real talk cause I know God made me for more than what I’m capable of, God made us all for more because if He’s at the lead, He’s capable of anything!!! Please pray for me that I can embrace this truth and live it out! I’ll be praying for you too!

That’s the Cross

God Gold of the day

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12:1-2‬ ‭

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12:11-12‬ ‭

Both of these pieces of Scripture hold so much powerful truth. I’ve read these before and seen lessons of discipline, hard work, and so many things but today I gathered a whole new outlook on it all. To start off I have to tell you of a dream I had and before you start thinking I’m crazy, this is really the dream I had last night.

I had dreamed that I was told that I had to be crucified. Yeah, seriously! This may have something to do with my habit of listening to sermons as I fall asleep but this was the dream, that I had to get nailed to a cross and die. After hearing this news I was shaking with fear, I remember thinking “no way, I can’t do that.” Especially after I looked around at my loved ones and my life, I wanted no part in dying much less the pain that would come in dying on a cross. I was literally terrified.

Then, during the dream, another person came up and asked to go up on the cross in my place. I was so scared and so afraid of what the pain would be like that I didn’t say yes, but I didn’t stop it either. I was going to let this other person sacrifice themselves because I was too chicken to face it myself. Then……

I woke up, shook, scared and honestly sweating a little bit. All from the thought of having to be hung on a cross til death. I don’t know about you but as a Christian, I’ve heard of what Jesus has done on the cross more times to count. After awhile, it sometimes can be of a lesser magnitude because of the constant hearing of this Good News. You know what I mean? Until, this dream and this new perspective of what the cross really means in my own life and so many others. That’s the death I deserved to have, and when faced with it in what felt like reality, I didn’t want any part of the pain and agony that goes along with it. Then Jesus steps in, takes our place on the cross and makes the sacrifice to save us from all the pain and struggle we face. Seeing it in terms of, “that should’ve been me on that cross.” It brought it to a much more real and personal perspective.

Jesus tells us on multiple occasions to take up our cross and here we see an example of how Jesus took up our cross for us. In our lives, we don’t face the threat of being crucified on a cross but we do face a lot of pain and struggle in living a life that is centered around picking up our cross, and dying to self. I don’t know about you but putting aside my selfish desires, my lust, my addictions and sins, it’s not easy by any means. But there is such a powerful example by Jesus here and in the truth of these Scriptures. We are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, people around us everyday in many different areas of our lives and it says to take off all the weight that is caused by our sins, and run the race Christ has set before us. It’s not easy to just let that weight go, actually it’s involves a lot of pain. It’s not easy to be focused on others around us instead of on our selves. There is pain that comes from letting ourselves go and picking up our cross.

Then we see that we are to fix our eyes on Jesus, the “pioneer and perfecter of our faith,” Jesus our Savior and the One who gave up Himself, took the weight of our sins, and took up our cross all on Himself. That’s Jesus, the example we look to. As Jesus took His place on our cross, the one that we more than deserved to be on ourselves, He took the pain, He took it all just so that we could have life, to the fullest and complete joy of God. Jesus endured and gave up everything so we could have everything.

That’s the cross. That’s what happened on an old rugged cross years ago that has set us free and set us up as children of God. When you think about it in those personal terms that we deserved that pain, but Jesus took it so we didn’t have to. Just imagine if someone told you that you were going to be crucified, what’s your reaction? Yeah, I know, same here!!! The pain seems to be too much to bear but good thing is Jesus has already taken that pain.

As we take up our cross daily and run the race before so many witnesses, keep the cross that Jesus died on in mind. I want no part in dying on the cross but we are still called to pick up our cross daily. To let go of self and pick up our cross it takes discipline and like it mentions in the verses above, discipline is PAINFUL!!! But, only for a short time, so as we set our eyes on Jesus we see His example to endure, to continue pushing through the pain of picking up our cross out of thankfulness tif the price Jesus paid for us on the cross. Jesus has hooked us up with a pretty daggum good deal but I won’t lie, I struggle to sacrifice and being disciplined in my life. All because of the pain doesn’t sound too fun. At the end of the day as we set our eyes on Christ, we know we deserved a pain so so so much worse so we have nothing to complain or make excuses about. We just have to pick up our cross, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees!!!! We have a race to run and it’s time to embrace the pain for the sake of Christ and others getting to know the sacrifice He made for them too so they didn’t have to! The cross continues to get bigger and bigger, way bigger than us, so lay aside self today, pick up your cross, push through the pain all while setting your eyes on Jesus, the only One who could endure and the only One who can help us endure now!!

The Cross

God Gold of the Day

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to walk through “the way of the cross”, it’s a walk through of each scene of Jesus’ walk to the cross, death on the cross, and His resurrection. My church has been doing it for a few years now and this was my first experience, pictures were set up in stations, showing scenes from what happened at the cross. We had pamphlets with Scripture regarding each scene, a short write up as a reflection, and some blank lines to write what we reflected from it. It was a huge heart and eye opening experience for me as the Gospel, what Jesus did and what He went through became more real than I had ever felt it. The point of the “Way of the Cross,” was for it to be an intimate setting learning about the Gospel, deeply seeking the Lord through each station, and being able to reflect on it all more deeply and personally with the Lord. I wish I could walk each of you through it but I just want to share with you my experience and how it’s really opened my heart to who Jesus is, what He’s done for us and all He endured through it, all out of love for us. It’s amazing.

I am putting a video below from the movie, “The Passion of the Christ.” It’s the scenes of Jesus’ walk to the cross and His time on the cross. I know, it’s not easy on the eyes, there is a lot of goriness to it but it’s the best example I could find to give you as real of a view as possible of what Jesus went through. I’m also putting the scripture from Jesus’ walk to the cross and His time on the cross below. I just pray that you will be able to use these resources to spend some time, alone, sitting quietly before the Lord and have a time of deep personal reflection with Him. I pray this time of reflection moves you ever closer to our Savior who took it all for me and you so we could have LIFE. I pray it may change your life as it continues to change mine daily.

“Then Pilate had Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip. The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a purple robe on him. “Hail! King of the Jews!” they mocked, as they slapped him across the face. Pilate went outside again and said to the people, “I am going to bring him out to you now, but understand clearly that I find him not guilty.” Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said, “Look, here is the man!” When they saw him, the leading priests and Temple guards began shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” “Take him yourselves and crucify him,” Pilate said. “I find him not guilty.” The Jewish leaders replied, “By our law he ought to die because he called himself the Son of God.” When Pilate heard this, he was more frightened than ever. He took Jesus back into the headquarters again and asked him, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave no answer. “Why don’t you talk to me?” Pilate demanded. “Don’t you realize that I have the power to release you or crucify you?” Then Jesus said, “You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above. So the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.” Then Pilate tried to release him, but the Jewish leaders shouted, “If you release this man, you are no ‘friend of Caesar.’ Anyone who declares himself a king is a rebel against Caesar.” When they said this, Pilate brought Jesus out to them again. Then Pilate sat down on the judgment seat on the platform that is called the Stone Pavement (in Hebrew, Gabbatha ). It was now about noon on the day of preparation for the Passover. And Pilate said to the people, “Look, here is your king!” “Away with him,” they yelled. “Away with him! Crucify him!” “What? Crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the leading priests shouted back. Then Pilate turned Jesus over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus away. Carrying the cross by himself, he went to the place called Place of the Skull (in Hebrew, Golgotha ). There they nailed him to the cross. Two others were crucified with him, one on either side, with Jesus between them. And Pilate posted a sign on the cross that read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” The place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, so that many people could read it. Then the leading priests objected and said to Pilate, “Change it from ‘The King of the Jews’ to ‘He said, I am King of the Jews.’” Pilate replied, “No, what I have written, I have written.” When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided his clothes among the four of them. They also took his robe, but it was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. So they said, “Rather than tearing it apart, let’s throw dice for it.” This fulfilled the Scripture that says, “They divided my garments among themselves and threw dice for my clothing.” So that is what they did. Standing near the cross were Jesus’ mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.” And he said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from then on this disciple took her into his home. Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. It was the day of preparation, and the Jewish leaders didn’t want the bodies hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath (and a very special Sabbath, because it was Passover week). So they asked Pilate to hasten their deaths by ordering that their legs be broken. Then their bodies could be taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs. One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out. (This report is from an eyewitness giving an accurate account. He speaks the truth so that you also may continue to believe. ) These things happened in fulfillment of the Scriptures that say, “Not one of his bones will be broken,” and “They will look on the one they pierced.””

‭‭John‬ ‭19:1-37‬