This video is two messages in one, from Mike Crane and myself. Mike Crane is an elder at Forward Church and a former Georgia Senator.
Mike brings a powerful word about our responsibility as influencers of society. I go on to point out the prophetic nature of Mike’s message regarding our responsibility as citizens of Heaven and as citizens of the United States. Both of us address the current possibility of the overturning of Roe vs Wade and the state of abortion in our nation.
God is not mad at you. Not even a little bit. If he's not mad at you, he's not mad at your neighbor. If he's not mad at you, he's not angry at that person that hurt you. God is not even mad at your enemy. You might be, but he isn't.
Why isn't he mad? Because Jesus bore all of God's wrath on the cross. All of it!!
That leaves us in a good place with him. But it also leaves us in an exciting position with the world. We have been reconciled to God through Christ, but many of your friends and family members don't know that yet. So it's good news for people to hear that God is not mad at them. Who can you think of that would benefit from hearing that message?
Jesus is praying for you. That’s part of his role as the High Priest over the new and better covenant. At this very moment, he is at the Father's right hand, interceding for you. What do you think he is praying?
We know this, he is not perpetually making offerings and sacrifices for your sin as the priests did under the former covenant. He doesn’t have to because his body and blood were a sufficient one-time offering for all sin. You can rest assured that you are forgiven in Christ.
The author of Hebrews does a masterful job of describing Christ’s role as the High Priest of Heaven. Hebrews is multi-faceted, but one of the major themes is the priesthood of Jesus. Walk with me through the passages in Hebrews that cover this fascinating topic. Hebrews covers a lot of ground, I am going to address the passages related to Christ’s new high priest position.
What happened once Jesus died on the cross? Some say he went straight to the Father. Some say he went into Hades as a conquering king to defeat the devil. But there’s a much more profound truth. Jesus passed into the grave to suffer your death. His faith eventually overcame death, hades, and the enemy as God prepared to rescue him from the pit.
God didn’t unjustly punish Jesus instead of us, something much deeper happened. God performed the opposite transaction in Jesus that he does in us.
In him, we die to sin and are made alive, but when Jesus was made like us, he died as us. He was a man in all ways like we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15), but God changed that on the cross. He made Jesus a sinner by nature. Jesus never sinned, but God made him to be sin. If he didn’t, God would be unjust in punishing our sin in Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:21 God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
God didn’t symbolically place our sin on Jesus like an Old Covenant lamb. He quite literally made Jesus to BE sin to the core.
How do you become spiritually minded? Fill your mind with thoughts that are true about spiritual realities. For example, when you are feeling sad, you can begin to meditate on the idea that the joy of the Lord is your strength. Once that becomes a reality in your heart, your experience will change, and joy will replace sadness.
There is plenty of instruction in scripture on what and how to think. In any situation you face in life, there is a promise related to your spiritual existence. The external status may not change, but your inner man and the state of your life don't have to be swayed by those external circumstances.
It's not just positive thinking; it's about changing your thoughts and feelings to match what God says is possible, rather than embracing the physical circumstance. As you hold God's promise, specifically his Word concerning that promise, it can and will manifest into your life.
The Word of God is alive. The Word of God planted in a believing heart can and will produce joy, peace, healing, righteousness, transformation, and any other aspect of abundant life that Jesus died for you to have.
People misquote passages like “God’s ways are higher than our ways,” as a justification to be confused about God’s will. The fact is, if you are a Christian, God’s Spirit lives in you and is teaching you God’s ways. He even gave us a book to renew our minds so we would know his ways and be able to teach others his ways. Join us today as we discuss how to know God’s ways.
Jesus calls his followers salt of the earth and light of the world. Salt brings flavor, or fulfillment, and light brings clarity, or revelation. We are quite simply part of God’s story, life is not about us, it’s about him. We, as his followers, are to help people find fulfillment and enlightenment in him. Our only strategy is walking in love and communicating the Gospel. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. To be salt and light, we illuminate the Gospel so it can help people come out of the darkness and into his light.
