MAX on GOOD FRIDAY

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

^1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

Why not go to Max today…

Six hours, one Friday. Mundane to the casual observer. A shepherd with his sheep, a housewife with her thoughts, a doctor with his patients. But to a handful of awestruck witnesses, the most maddening of miracles is occurring. God is on a cross. The creator of the universe is being executed.

It is no normal six hours. It is no normal Friday. Far worse than the breaking of his body is the shredding of his heart. And now his own father is beginning to turn his back on him, leaving him alone. What do you do with that day in history? What do you do with its claims? They were the most critical hours in history.

Nails didn’t hold God to a cross. Love did. The sinless One took on the face of a sinner so that we sinners could take on the face of a saint!

2 Corinthians 5:21

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Be blessed this GOOD FRIDAY.

I love you all!

Happy Easter…

Freedom Church

Pastor GDelaney

MAUNDY THURSDAY

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

^1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

Many of you who know me well know of my passion for communion; the Lord’s Supper.

I grew up in a house where communion was priority. We always took communion with us on vacation just in case we couldn’t make a service while away. My father in law even hand-crafted some travel communion sets for when we all were together on a trip.

We took that “as often as you gather” command pretty seriously.

We still do.

For the Last Supper is so deeply significant.

It was the final time Jesus would be with His closest friends.

It was the event when Jesus would both synthesize and commemorate what was to about to take place

His body to be broken for us.

His blood to be shed for us.

Forgiveness offered for us.

GOD’s redemption for us.

Matthew 26:26-29

During the meal, Jesus took and blessed the bread, broke it, and gave it to his disciples:

Take, eat.

This is my body.

Taking the cup and thanking God, he gave it to them:

Drink this, all of you.

This is my blood,

God’s new covenant poured out for many people

for the forgiveness of sins.

Today is what some call Maundy Thursday, the day of that last supper; the day communion was birthed.

And now over 2000+ years later that last supper is to be remembered.

1 Corinthians 11:24 & 25

“Do this to remember me.”

It calls to mind the broken body and shed blood of Jesus; that amazingly powerful blood that cleanses us from all our sin.

GOD required blood to cover sin and Jesus poured all that he could on the altar of the cross: He took upon Himself all sin—past, present, and future—and died to pay the full penalty for us.

The Lord’s Supper and Maundy Thursday are now here to call to mind the amazing sacrifice that was to come on that horrific Roman cross; that “good”Friday when Jesus would give His all so that we might have it all.

Ephesians 1:7-10

Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.

Pause today. Thank and “remember” Him for remembering us.

I love you all!

Freedom Church

Pastor GDelaney

YESTERDAY AT BAY

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

^1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

Bumped into this little quote recently…

You messed up yesterday. But you’ll mess up more if you let yesterday’s mistakes sabotage today’s attitude. God’s mercies are new every morning. Receive them.

But that is sure hard to do sometimes isn’t it being able to let things the bad days go?

We cling to their memory, let their bitterness linger, their frustrations maintain a grip on us. Like the quote says, sabotaging whatever GOD had planned for us for this day.

There is a great recovery saying that says we can’t live life looking out of the rear view mirror, we must keep our eyes focused on what is in the windshield.

But many of us struggle with “the past”; with yesterday. We like to replay the mistakes and the missteps over and over again wishing we could call Marty McFly and borrow his time machine and repair the damage. Or worse yet we get so preoccupied with tomorrow, “the what if’s” I call them, that we waste time on more things we can’t control.

It is why GOD encouraged us to live in the place where we have “the most” control and that is the present.

Matthew 6:34

Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now

Learn from yesterday but don’t dwell on its mistakes and errors. Plan for the future but don’t allow your fixation to cause you to miss what GOD has for you for this day.

Embrace today. Pour your heart and mind into what it has to offer. Apply those lessons learned from the past. Allow those learning to shape your responses and decisions today!

"Steep yourself" as Jesus instructs into the things presented to you today.

Matthew 6:33

…Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

Don’t let yesterday impact the blessings of today. GOD has something amazing planned for you. How do I know? God has something amazing planned for us every day. We just sometimes are too busy with “other days” to catch it.

Here’s what you need to keep in mind. You no longer have yesterday. You do not yet have tomorrow. You have only today. This is the day the Lord has made. Live in it.

I love you all!

Freedom Church

Pastor GDelaney

ALL ARE WELCOME HERE

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

^1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

“All are welcome here, as we are, as we are. All are welcome here every heart.”

This is a little lyric we shared yesterday in worship at AHOP.

And what a wonderful promise that is!

ALL are welcome! Every heart!

GOD welcomes us to HIMSELF just as we are!

That is wonderful news in a culture where “fitting in” is way over-emphasized.

“Am I sporting the ‘right’ look?”

“Do I associate with the ‘right’ people?”

“Am I a member of the ‘right’ organizations?”

Yet GOD wants you to know this morning that He loves YOU for YOU! GOD wants you to be reassured that once you have accepted Him and you are free to enjoy rich intimacy with Him. GOD wants you to remember that YOU yes YOU, are the focus and emphasis of his love each and every day!

Isn’t that awesome!

Ephesians 1:5

How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.

Read that carefully. Thanks to JESUS, GOD loves and accepts you “WHOLELY”; you are acceptable in His sight!

Titus 3:7-8

Our Savior Jesus poured out new life so generously. God’s gift has restored our relationship with him and given us back our lives. And there’s more life to come—an eternity of life! You can count on thiI know the enemy wants you to believe that GOD doesn’t accept you. He plants seeds of doubt and perpetuates lie after lie.

Lies like "We should be afraid of GOD" or "Our sins are too great to be forgiven”. Lies like “We haven’t been meeting GOD’s expectations” or “You are going to be kicked out for what you have done.”

Don’t “BUY THE LIE”.

Instead revel in the acceptance that is yours THROUGH CHRIST JESUS!

1 John 5:11

God gave us eternal life; the life is in his Son. So, whoever has the Son, has life…

In other words acceptance.

So this morning accept His “WELCOME HERE” invitation! Delight in being accepted as part of the family.

Once you do Jesus confirms…

John 6:37

…once a person is with me, I hold on and don’t let go”

You see that? JESUS is not letting go. Not ever!

Even if this morning you woke up on the heels of an “unacceptable”weekend.

Acceptance is waiting.

How do I know?

Thanks to JESUS, "All are welcome here as we are, as we are."

I love you all!

Freedom Church

Pastor GDelaney

STEER CLEAR of the "SQUIRRELS"

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

^1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

Sure is easy to get “DISTRACTED” isn’t it.

When I think about distractions I always think of the happy-go-lucky talking pooch from UP, DUG.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrAIGLkSMls

There he is explaining his amazing affection for his master and then suddenly…SQUIRREL!

Sound familiar?

I believe if we were to admit it, we all are a little like DUG from time to time aren’t we? We do our best to stay focused on our love for “the Master”, efforting to obey and honor Him with our decisions our speech and our actions only to “get distracted” by all the “squirrels”around us.

Without a doubt the devil uses “SQUIRRELS” to knock us off the beam, divert our attention and to disrupt our path constantly.

The self-centered “squirrel”.

The angry “squirrel”.

The pity-party “squirrel”.

The envious “squirrel”.

The busy agenda “squirrel”.

Each and every one of them designed specifically to DISTRACT us from our “MASTER” and His plan and purpose for us.

Therefore when the squirrels emerge, we must refocus and remember that wonderful “truism” penned some years ago.

"The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."

-- Stephen R. Covey

What is that main thing?

To constantly be striving to seek, find, and walk in the WILL of the “Master” for our lives.

Paul understood and encouraged himself and others this way…

Philippians 3:14

…I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus.

His eye was on where his “Master” GOD was leading him and that was to emulate, imitate and incorporate "JESUS" in each and every facet of his life and efforts.

We need to do the same; ditching the distractions, ignoring the “squirrels" and sharpening our focus to that MAIN THING…

1 Peter 1:13

…As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness.

So pause and listen for what GOD would have you do today and don’t get distracted. Allow the “Master”to lead you onward to Jesus.

Ephesians 1:17-18

…ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers…

And steer clear of those "squirrels".

I love you all!

Have a blessed weekend!

Freedom Church

Pastor GDelaney

LACE 'EM UP

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

^1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

I went over to the First Four with a good friend and my son last night. THE NCAA tournament is one of my favorite times of the year. I love filling out the bracket, the upset specials, the story lines, the passion and the drama! It ushers in spring for me and leads right into the MASTERS, which is arguably, the best that golf has to offer. It is must see TV for me.

But as I was sitting there munching popcorn and watching warm-ups a little thought occurred to me. Those coaches from LIU Brooklyn and James Madison were pumping their teams up in the locker rooms below. They were convincing them that they had what it took to win last night. They likely mapped out a strategy on the chalkboard, gave an inspiring speech, and did their best to convince their team that it had what it took to win!

But as the clock wound down to game time, all the talk all the rhetoric all the speeches and strategies had to give way to execution; it was time to “lace ‘em up” and play. It was time to apply all the knowledge, strategy, and emotion to the effort on the court. It was time to “shut up and get to work!”

I think the same can be said for us in our walk with Jesus. Sometimes it is time to “shut up and get to work”;or more gently uttered, “stop with the talk and walk the walk.”

1 Corinthians 15:58

…Throw yourselves into the WORK of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.

One of the real cripplers to an advancing recovery is what I call “I’m gonna” disease. It is brutal to our Christian pursuits as well.

“I’m gonna start a bible study.”

“I’m gonna volunteer my time to the kids at church.”

“I’m gonna get busy getting a steady job.”

“I’m gonna help that mission.”

“I’m gonna listen to my sponsor.”

Almost as dangerous is the “I should be” affliction.

“I should be getting to my meetings.”

“I should be sticking with my life plan.”

“I should be avoiding those people places and things.”

“I should be DOING more for Jesus.”

But sadly the “I’m gonna’s and the I should be’s” don’t carry the mail when it comes to our walk with Christ or our recovery. They all sound great in the locker room and they can really fire us up, but unless we PUT ACTION behind those “good intentions”, they are nothing but hot air.

Ephesians 2:10

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good WORKS, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

I don’t see anything in that verse that says we are created for “good intentions” or “good speeches or ideas”. No we are created in CHRIST Jesus for APPLICATION; for doing the WORK GOD called us to do; not to just "strategize" it or marinate on how to do it nor to just “pontification and emote” about it.

We are to as NIKE said, “JUST DO IT.”

So don’t get trapped by the “I’m gonnas or I should be’s” today. Replace the "I'm gonna's" with "I am" and the "I should be's" with "I will now's".

Let’s zip the lip. The time for rhetoric and rah-rah is over.

Let’s “lace ‘em up” hit the floor and GET TO WORK!

I love you all!

Freedom Church

Pastor GDelaney

HE KNOWS YOU

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

^1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

I adore Madison Carver.

Now for those of you along this DISPATCH DISTRIBUTION who have no clue who Ms. Carver is, I will tell you this. If you DON’T know her, you wish you did. Rarely do you find someone so dear, so compassionate, so reverent and so singularly focused.

Maddie is what I like to call “all in”. GOD gets her attention in the morning, she walks with Him from sun up to sun down and she trusts Him with her slumber. At the core of Maddie’s heart is a genuine fire and passion for Jesus and it is on display 24/7 365. In good times or in bad in ups or downs, Maddie just doesn’t sing it, she KEEPS Jesus at the center of her life.

So why the Maddie update today?

Maddie shared a passionate encouragement at our choir rehearsal last night; an emotional reminder of the intimate, unbridled passion that GOD has FOR US.

Confirming again that GOD does indeed KNOW us. And not casually mind you, but deeply and exhaustively. From pre-conception to when the last eulogy is read, GOD knows us.

Jeremiah 1:5

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you...

Yet it is easy to forget that GOD is that “invested in us”. It would seem He has too much on His plate to be THAT concerned for each of us. There is just no way He could have the bandwidth to keep up right?

Wrong.

Matthew 10:30

And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

GOD isn’t casual when it comes to us. He too is “all in”. And He desires for us to know Him like He knows us; intimately, relationally, deeply and unwaveringly. So much so that:

He knows our hurts and He wants them.

He knows are fears and He wants to dispel them.

He knows our apprehensions and doubts and He wants to quell them.

Truth be told, He knows us better that we “know us”.

Matthew 6:8

This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need…

So why not trust Him today?

Why not take Him at His Word when He says He has planned your steps, knows your thoughts, and understands your trials.

Why not embrace the promise that nothing escapes His attention, His doting love or His investment in us?

Why not realize that we are...

Psalm 139:1-6

...an open book to you (GOD); even from a distance, you know what we're thinking. You know when (we) leave and when (we) get back; (we are) never out of your sight. You know everything (we are) going to say before we start the first sentence. (We) look behind (us) and you’re there, then up ahead and you’re there, too— your reassuring presence, coming and going...

That is staggering isn’t’ it?

But don’t just be in “awe”, instead embrace the intimacy!

Love Him back!

1 John 4:19

…love because he first loved us.

Share yourself with GOD. Get to know Him like He already knows you; deeply lovingly and completely! Begin this morning!

And thanks to Maddie for showing us the way.

I love you all!

Freedom Church

Pastor GDelaney