Famous Last Words - It Is Finished! (Good Friday Message notes)

Posted by Randy | Labels: , , , , , , , , , | Posted On Friday, April 6, 2012 at 7:00 PM

I wasn't able to have notes printed for our Good Friday service, so I've placed them here on my blog, along with the pictures used during the message. I intentionally used a great deal of Scripture because I find them so revealing and, ultimately, inspiring. I hope this helps and blesses you!




April 6, 2012  •  Good Friday
Famous Last Words - Part 7
"It Is Finished!"



Matthew 27:45 (NLT2): “From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.”

Romans 3:23 (NLT2): “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”

Romans 6:23 (NLT2): “For the wages of sin is death….”

atonement – at-one-ment


Model of the Temple

Diagram of the immediate Temple area, including the location of the Holy of Holies

Drawing of the Ark of the Covenant (no actual drawings exist)


Model of the Cherubim over the Mercy Seat (no actual models exist)


The High Priest behind the Curtain


Hebrew placing blood of the lamb on the door jam before the Angel of Death's pass-over


John 1:29 (NLT2): “…John (the Baptist) saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’”

Jesus: “‘For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.’” (Mark 10:45 NLT2)

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV): “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Isaiah 53:4-6 (NLT2): “4Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down.… 5But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. 6All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all.”

1 Peter 2:24 (NLT2): “He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.”


Darkness over the land from the sixth hour until the ninth

Matthew 27:46 (NLT2): “About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ — which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”


John 19:28-30 (NLT2): “28Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’ 29A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

1 John 2:2 (NLT2): “(Jesus Christ) himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.”

It is finished – tetelestai (Greek)

Colossians 2:13-14 (NLT2): “13You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.”
  
Romans 5:8 (NLT2): “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

John 3:16-17 (NLT2): “‘16For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.’”

Romans 3:22 (NLT2): “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.”

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NLT2): “8God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”

receiving communion vs. taking communion

Philippians 3:9 (CEV): “…I could not make myself acceptable to God by obeying the Law of Moses. God accepted me simply because of my faith in Christ.”

Matthew 27:50-51 (NLT2): “50And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. 51At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.…”


The Curtain separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, torn from top to bottom at Jesus' death
Hebrews 10:11-12 (NLT2): “11Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. 12But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.”

Hebrews 9:12 (NLT2): “With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.”

Hebrews 10:19-22 (NLT2): “19And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. 21And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.”

Hebrews 10:23-25 (NLT2): “23Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. 24Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.”



Why I'm Not Playing Mega Millions This Week (or Anytime)

Posted by Randy | Labels: , , , , , , , , , | Posted On Friday, March 30, 2012 at 10:54 AM

I will never forget.... It was more than fifteen years ago, in a rural E. Texas town, and my wife Susan and I were at the small video store, thinking about renting a movie. As we looked around the store, I noticed a woman enter whom I recognized. She walked over to the counter and proceeded to purchase $10 of lottery tickets and then left. I don't think she spotted me.


However, a week later this same woman was in my office at the church I was serving, telling me she didn't have enough money to feed her two children, and asking if the church could help her out. She was not a stranger to our church, showing up 2-3 times a year for financial help, which is why I recognized her in the video store. The $10 she had spent that time on lottery tickets (and who knows if there were other times) could have fed her kids for a few days back then.


It was then that the statistics became so real to me. The lotteries and gambling tend (and notice my word choice) to be played most by those who can afford it least. Sure, there a lot of folks who gamble and play the lottery for whom the money spent doesn't affect the bottom line of their lifestyles. They spend it there while I spend it on fishing gear or an upgrade to my computer. It's discretionary money, and God entrusted resources to us with the idea that at times in our lives it's perfectly ok for us to spend appropriately on things we enjoy. 


But there are others who see it as their ticket out or their ticket up. Today (3/30/12) on my iPhone app, the USA TODAY headline reads, "Mega Millions jackpot sets off ticket frenzy," and the first line of the article reads, "With a world record $540 million (and growing) jackpot at stake, much of the nation is gripped by Mega Millions fever." This bothers me because I have seen families destroyed by gambling addictions, just as others have been destroyed by alcohol or drug or sex or shopping addictions. But my focus here isn't even those who battle addictions.


The USA TODAY article says there are places around the country where folks are waiting up to three hours to buy tickets. "It's something people here can really look forward to," says a woman in New Orleans. A guy in Minnesota said, "My 401(k) is worth so little. My only chance to retire is Mega Millions." (italics added) Someone on Twitter wrote, "I'm reading an article about what to do after you hit the mega millions jackpot. Next article, how to housebreak your unicorn." The chances of winning, according to Mega Millions - 1 in 176 million!


I have concerns about a lottery like this - actually I'm personally opposed. Let me just hit the high points. First, studies have shown that folks who win the big lotteries are not happier (in fact, most are extremely unhappy within a few years of winning), and many end up wishing they had never won it (and quite a few end up going bankrupt). Our joy and our enjoyment of life is not tied to having more stuff but having the right relationships, vertically with God and horizontally with others. Madison Avenue would lead us to believe it's all about having more stuff, but no matter how little or much we have, more is never going to be the answer.


Second, studies have shown that those who most often play the lottery tend to be those on the lower end of the economic ladder. Their odds of winning are so astronomically small, but they spend their hard-earned cash to try to get ahead, like the woman I encountered. Lotteries are effectively regressive taxes that often tax those who can afford it least. Lotteries discourage a healthy work ethic, leading some to believe they can get something for little or nothing. I have a real problem when our government promotes the lottery on one hand, but then pays out hundreds of millions to help those who are struggling economically. It's a very mixed message.


But above all, I have a problem when we put our hope and faith in something or someone besides Jesus Christ. He is the one hope who never fails us, yet too often we turn to him only after we have exhausted every other form of "hope" out there. God warned us to have no other gods before him, yet anything or anyone I put my hope in, other than God is a god, an idol. For too many, quick-fix wins through the lottery or gambling are some of those gods. The truth is, the gospel of Jesus Christ competes in this world against the promise that all our problems will go away if we win the big one.


And this is why I do not support the lottery and gambling. Not because some don't have a good time, but because some are tragically hurt as they are misled or falsely believe that the answer to their problems lies in winning the lottery. Jesus calls us to love our neighbors (Matthew 22:39), and Paul tells us to do nothing to cause our brother or sister to stumble (1 Corinthians 8:9). Cain discovered that we really are supposed to be our brother's keeper (Genesis 4:9) and protect those who are most vulnerable. All across our country this week some of the most vulnerable (children, spouses, families) will suffer a little more because so many spent tens, hundreds, even thousands of dollars for a chance to win big - a chance that probably isn't so different from being hit twice in a row by a lightning bolt.


In a perfect world, folks would always make the right decisions about whether or not they should engage in something like gambling. But this isn't a perfect world - it's a fallen world, with a real enemy who is out "...to steal and kill and destroy...." But Jesus says his purpose  "...is to give them (us) a rich and satisfying life." (John 10:10) That life comes as we put our faith and hope in Jesus Christ, not this week's Mega Millions jackpot. 
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