Insurrection

The beating, indispensable heart of the bible is the gospel of Jesus. Sinners that we are we have the wrath of God upon our heads, we are slaves in need of freedom and only Jesus Christ who lived a perfect life could satisfy God's holy demands, and for the joy that was set before Him Jesus endured the cross and took upon Himself our sins and the punishment of death that came as a result of our wicked abandonment of the holy ways of God. Jesus died for all then He came back to life for death could not hold Him, and in doing so He destroyed the power of sin that was holding captive God's children and He provided for us complete forgiveness and obtained for His chosen ones an inheritance into the family of God that will last for an eternity. Such is the unimaginable gift of the gospel of Jesus Christ, a gift that so displays the majesty of God's grace that it is utterly incomprehensible in its magnitude.

And yet, I have listened to many preachers and teachers of the body of Christ who tell the stories of the bible and quote the scriptures some with eloquence others with force, but very few embedded and centered in the gospel of Christ, consequently, they lose their power as their words build sand castles that fall from lack of a strong foundation, buildings with no cornerstones. I pray that as preachers we won't stray down paths that lead others to beautiful insights and compelling illustrations that have no staying power and just like a gorgeous rose with time lose all their loveliness. Let's be bold, let's be faithful to our Lord's mission, "To seek and to save that which was lost." Let us say with the apostle Paul, "But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."