My First Christmas in Heaven

My First Christmas in Heaven

 

 

Dear Champions,

 

The following poem has given a lot of comfort to my wife, Beth, as this is her first Christmas without her mother.  The poem was written by Beth s mom to Beth after Beth s father died 11 years ago.  We do not know who wrote the poem, but we thought that it may bless others that are missing a loved this Christmas.

 

My First Christmas in Heaven

 

I see the countless Christmas trees around the world below,

With tiny lights, like heaven s stars, reflecting on the snow.

 

The sight is so spectacular, please wipe away that tear,

For I m spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year.

 

I hear the many Christmas songs that people hold so dear,

But the sounds of music can t compare with the Christmas choir up here.

 

I have no words to tell you, the joy their voices bring,

For it is beyond description, to hear the angels sing.

 

I know how much you miss me.  I see the pain inside your heart,

But I am not so far away.  We really aren t apart.

 

I send you each a special gift, from my heavenly home above.

I send you each a memory of my undying love.

 

After all LOVE is the gift, more precious than pure gold.

It was always most important in the stories Jesus told.

 

Please love and keep each other, as my Father said to do.

For I can t count the blessings or love He has for each of you.

 

So have a Merry Christmas and wipe away that tear.

Remember, I m spending Christmas, with Jesus Christ this year.

 

Author unknown

 

Champions, have a Merry Christmas!-David Vining

 

P.S.  If you have not seen this video of the Christmas story, then you will be blessed to take just a little over 3 minutes to watch it. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWq60oyrHVQ

The Undeniable Rather Than the Unexplainable

The Undeniable Rather Than the Unexplainable

Dear Champions,

The following is part of a sermon by Andy Stanley, and the Scripture is  John 9:6-7 After saying this, Jesus spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man s eyes.  Go, he told him, wash in the Pool of Siloam (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

You do not have to understand everything or have all your questions answered to believe in something or to put your faith in someone.  The lie that some of you struggle with is that you have lots of questions and you have bought into a mentality that says until I understand everything I cannot believe in anything as it comes to God and His son Jesus Christ.  Even though there are some things that are unexplainable there are also some things that are undeniable.  We focus on the unexplainable and avoid focusing on the undeniable, so we will never have faith.  But as you begin to embrace the undeniable then the unexplainable will not shipwreck your faith.

 

Everybody has misunderstandings about God, and one reason Jesus came was to clear up this misunderstanding.  What they believed back then was that a person born blind was paying for his sins or for someone else s sin.  When the blind man was healed his neighbors keep asking how he got healed, and the blind man was probably thinking, Who Cares?  I have been a blind beggar all my life, and now I can see.  All you want is an explanation, but how about let s have a party and a celebration.  I do not know how I got healed because it certainly does not make sense to me.  All I know is that I can see, and will someone just celebrate with me and get me a cake and hire a band and get a parade going?

 

Jesus should have known better than to heal someone on the Sabbath-who does He think that He is?  The Pharisees basically said, this man is not from God because we know what God is like.  We have God here in a box.  We know what God does and does not do, we know how He acts, and we have God completely under control because we are smart and know God like no one else knows God.  Since we know that God would not heal on the Sabbath, then God did not heal this man-end of case.  What happened does not make since with how we view God, therefore we know that it was not God. 

 

What a bunch of narrow minded, arrogant, ego centric people to think that they know so much about God that they would know everything that He could or could not do.  They could not explain it, so they refused to believe it.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

Gratitude

Gratitude

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Andy Stanley, and the Scripture is Luke 18:17-18   Jesus asked, Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?  Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?

There are two hidden sins that no one ever goes knows about.  One is greed, and the other is ungratefulness.  No one thinks that they are greedy, and no one thinks that they are ungrateful.  If you could interview the nine men that did not come back and thank Jesus, they all felt grateful and would deny being ungrateful.  However, unexpressed gratitude communicates ingratitude and is actually a form of rejection.  If gratitude is not expressed, then it does not exist. 

We gravitate toward environments and relationships where we feel accepted, and we are repelled by environments where we fell rejected.  Unexpressed gratitude drives people s hearts out of the relationship.  Gratitude closes the loop in our relationships with God and with others.  To refuse to pay my debts of gratitude is to live with an inflated view of myself.  You have never met an arrogant person that is grateful, and you have never met a humble person that is not grateful.  A returner is someone that is willing to go back to thank those that allowed them to go forward.  We all owe someone a debt of gratitude.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

A Tribute

A Tribute

 

The short excerpt is by me, and the Scripture is Proverbs 31:30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

 

Monday morning, November 14 at 4 A.M. my wife, Beth, and I got the phone call that her mother, Ina Frazier, had passed away.  While it was not unexpected as she was in her last stages with her battle with cancer, it still brought lots of emotions and tears to us both.

 

Ina Frazier spent most of her adult life as a missionary in Africa with her husband and seven children sharing the gospel.  She was a prayer warrior and a rock to so many, and my wife lost not only her mother but her best friend.  Close to her final days and breaths here on Earth, she insisted that her tithe check make it into the church offering plate and that a good donation was made out of her account to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, a Baptist church offering that goes to support missionaries. 

 

Matthew 6:31 says that where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  Ina Frazier is now spending eternity where her treasure was when she was here on Earth.  Now she has a new body, and in heaven there is no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. (Revelation 21:4). 

 

I can almost hear the words spoken from heaven.  Well done, good and faithful servant!  You finished the race well!

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Listening To A Different Voice

Listening to a Different Voice

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Max Lucado, and the Scripture is in the excerpt.

I witnessed something similar to this on an airplane once. I kept hearing outbursts of laughter. The flight was turbulent and bumpy, hardly a reason for humor. But some fellow behind me was cracking up. No one else, just him. Finally I turned to see what was so funny. He was wearing headphones and apparently listening to a comedian. Because he could hear what I could not, he acted differently than I did.

The same was true with Jesus. Because he could hear what others could not, he acted differently than they did. Remember when everyone was troubled about the man born blind? Jesus wasnt. Somehow he knew that the blindness would reveal God s power (John 9:3). Remember when everyone was distraught about Lazarus s illness? Jesus wasnt. Rather than hurry to his friend s bedside, he said, This sickness will not end in death. It is for the glory of God, to bring glory to the son of God (John 11:4). It was as if Jesus could hear what no one else could. How could a relationship be more intimate? Jesus had unbroken communion with his father.

Do you suppose the Father desires the same for us? Absolutely. Paul says we have been predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son (Rom. 8:29 NRSV). Let me remind you: God loves you just the way you are, but he refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to be just like Jesus. God desires the same abiding intimacy with you that he had with his son.

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

No Greater Love

No Great Love

 

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is from Bobby Bowden and is found in his book, Called To Coach.  The Scripture is in the short excerpt.

 

One of my favorite devotionals I told our team is a touching story about two children in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.  A little girl was hurt and needed a blood transfusion to save her life.  They could not find an adult with the same type of blood in her village, so they had to draw blood from her 12 year old brother.  Doctors asked the boy, Are you willing to give blood to your sister to save her life?

 

The little boy said he would do anything to save her.  As the doctor started to put a needle into the boy s arm, the little boy started to cry.  Why are you crying?, the doctor asked him.

 

Will it hurt when I die? The little boy asked.

 

The little boy really thought he was going to die by giving blood to his sister, but he loved her so much he was willing to die for her.

 

John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one s life for one s friends.

 

John 10:15,18  I (Jesus) lay down my life for the sheep. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

Smiling At The Guards

Smiling At The Guards

 

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the Scripture is Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

 

There was a Highland Scott named Murdo McDonald; and during WW2 he was captured with another Scott and put in a prisoner of war camp.  Both Scotts acted as chaplains and were on opposite sides of the fence, one with the British group and one with an American group.  Once a day they were allowed to go to a big fence in the middle of the prisoner of war camp and talk with each other briefly.  They had to do it in the presence of the guards who knew English and French as well as German.  The two Scotsman discovered that these guards did not know Gaelic, the native tongue of Scotland, so they communicated with each other in Gaelic. 

 

It turned out that one of the Americans had a short waved homemade radio that the Germans did not know about, so everyday Murdo would bring news about the war to the other Scott.  One day he came to the gate and said that Germany had surrendered; and the war was over, but the guards did not know about it because communication had totally broken down.  The other Scott went back to the British barracks, and the next thing you know, you could hear this tremendous cheering going on.  For the next three days were still prisoners, but we walked around as though we were at a party.  We did not complain about the food anymore, and we smiled and felt sorry for the guards and did not hate them anymore.  Four days later the Germans had gotten the word, and the guards were gone and the doors were opened.  But Murdo says, We were liberated by the news before we were liberated by the guards.

 

Every other religion is works based, and they say that maybe you will eventually be saved by what you do.  Murdo McDonald gives us a perfect illustration of what our lives can be like to the degree that we understand that we are saved by mercy and by what Jesus has done in history, not by works and what we are doing now.  If you are not able to walk around no matter what prison that you are in and smile at the guards, if you do not stop complaining about the food, you do not know how complete that your salvation is.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Not Your Sins But Your Good Deeds

Not Your Sins But Your Good Deeds

 

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the Scripture is Matthew 22:11-12 But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.  Friend, he asked, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?  The man was speechless.

 

What is so intriguing about the parable from Matthew 1-22 is that the only person who gets thrown out is not the bad, but a person who feels that he is fine.  It is not your sins that keep you from God; but it is your good deeds and damnable good works, the things that you think make you good enough.  Religion is middle class, and it appeals to the people who say, I can do it if I work hard enough. 

 

The gospel says that no one is good, not one (Romans 3:10).  There is nothing in your heart that is good.  Even your good deeds have been done to feel superior to other people and to try and get control and leverage over God and to get Him to owe you.  Even your best deeds are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).  You are filled with self-righteousness, and you are no better than the person who has lived an immoral life.  Therefore, you are utterly lost, there is no love of God in your heart, and there is only one hope and possibility.  Jesus Christ, the rich one, became poor.  When you come to God you must come and say, Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling. You have every right to send me to Hell, but I want your mercy because of what Jesus Christ did. 

 

Religion says, I give God a record of righteousness, and then God owes me blessing.  But the gospel says, God through Jesus Christ has given me a perfect record of righteousness which I receive by faith, and now I live for him. 

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Small Deposits of Time

Small Deposits of Time

 

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is by Andy Stanley, and the Scripture is Ephesians 5:15-16 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

 

There is a cumulative value to investing small amounts of time in certain activities over a long period.  There are certain things that if you will give them a little bit of time on a consistent basis will have a big payoff at the end.  One installment does not make any difference, but it is the adding all of those installments that make the difference.

 

The reason we ignore this is that there is no immediate benefit to any one singular installment of time.  If you have not been exercising and you get all motivated and go out tomorrow and work out hard and you go to work the next day no one is going to look at you and go, Wow, what did you do?  Because there is no benefit in any one singular installment it is just easy to think that there is no value in any one installment, but there is cumulative value of investing small amounts of time in certain activities over a long period.

 

The other reason that we do not do this is that there is no immediate consequence if you skip an installment.  If you are pretty regular at exercise and you decide to take Wednesday off it is not like your body falls apart.  Because there is no consequence when we skip one installment we begin thinking that there is no benefit from making these installments to begin with. 

 

Because there is no immediate benefit or no immediate consequence, it is easy for us to talk ourselves out of investing those bits of times in the critical disciplines and in the critical relationships and in the critical things that relate to our spiritual life.

 

If you were God who loves you and knows that your days are numbered and knows the number of your days, what would He say to you about how you use your time?

 

Small deposits of time over time make all of the difference.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

What We Are Made For

What We Are Made For

 

The short excerpt is by Steve Chesnee, and the scripture is John 10:10. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

 

How do you decide whether a watch is a good or a bad watch?  You have to know what it is made for.   For example, it is terrible at hammering nails, but that is okay because it is very good at telling me the time.  Therefore, until I know what it is built and designed for, it is impossible to even talk about whether it is a good or a bad watch.

 

We are told very clearly in the Scriptures that God made you like Himself somewhat like a glove is made in the image of a hand.  It is not a hand, but it reflects a little bit of what a hand is like.  God put His print on you to reflect at least a little bit what He is like; and in all that He has made, the only thing that He made in His image is you and me.  God not only made you like Himself, but He made you for Himself just like a glove is made for a hand.  Now a glove could sit in a drawer for 10 years, but it would always be a glove-Sort of.  You see, it is only when a hand comes inside a glove that a glove really becomes what it was made for.  It is a hand that gives the glove its purpose and meaning.  Like a glove is made for a hand, God made you for Himself.  That is to say, He built you, and He made you with this God shaped vacuum on the inside so that He and only He could come inside and show you what you were made for and what you were meant to be.  God made you so that He could come inside and satisfy you, fill you up, set you free, and show you all that life was meant to be.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Your Advocate

Your Advocate

 

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the Scripture is Hebrews 7:18,27 Therefore Jesus is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them . . ..  He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.

 

 

What do you look like in court?  You look like your advocate (attorney).  If you are in court and your attorney is brilliant and skillful, then all of that comes to you. It is his performance, not yours that will make or break you.  If your advocate is eloquent or brilliant, then quite literally you are eloquent and brilliant.  All of the benefits of that eloquence and brilliance are going to be imputed to you.  If your advocate wins, then you win.  If your advocate loses, then you lose.  You are in your advocate, and he is your substitute.  This is what it means to be a Christian. 

 

To be a Christian is not simply to have Jesus as your example but to be in Him.  It is union with Christ; and it is to have Him be your substitute.  A lot of people believe that they are Christians because they come to church, they try to obey Christ s teachings, and they have some general understanding that Christ died for their sins.  That is not the same thing as understanding Him as an advocate.  Jesus Christ is the ultimate advocate; He stands as your representative before the ultimate throne in the ultimate trial before the only court that counts.

 

Jesus intercedes for us.  He says, Father, you demand justice, and you are a just God.  My friends here, the people on whose behalf I am speaking, are guilty.  But I have made payment, there is my blood, and it would be unjust to get two payments for the same debt.  Therefore, because I have made payments for them on this debt, I am not here asking for mercy for my brothers and sisters.  Instead, I demand justice.  Your very justice, your very righteousness demands your complete embrace and acceptance of them throughout all eternity. 

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Evil and Sinful Yet Accepted and Loved

Evil and Sinful Yet Accepted and Loved

 

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Rebecca Pippert.  In this excerpt she is counseling a woman that could not forgive herself over aborting her unborn child.  The Scripture is Matthew 9:12-13 Jesus said, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.

I cannot forgive myself!  I have confessed this sin a thousand times, and I still feel such shame and sorrow.  The thought that haunts me the most is how could I murder an innocent life?

 

I took a deep breath and said what I had been thinking.  I do not know why you are so surprised.  This is not the first time your sin has led to death; it is the second.  She looked at me in utter amazement.  When you look at the cross, all of us show up as crucifiers.  Religious or nonreligious, good or bad, aborters or nonaborters-all of us are responsible for the death of the only innocent who ever lived.  Jesus died for all of our sins-past, present, and future.  Do you think there are any sins of yours that Jesus did not have to die for?  It does not matter that you were not there two thousand years ago.  We all sent him there.  So if you have done it before, then why could you not do it again?

 

She stopped crying.  She looked me straight in the eyes and said, You are absolutely right.  I have done something even worse than killing my baby.  My sin is what drove Jesus to the cross.  It does not matter that I was not there pounding in the nails, I am still responsible for his death.  Do you realize the significance of what you are telling me?  I came to you saying I had done the worst thing imaginable.  And you tell me I have done something even worse that that.

 

I grimace because I knew this was true.  Then she said, if the cross shows me that I am far worse than I had ever imagined, it also shows me that my evil has been absorbed and forgiven.  If the worst thing any human can do is to kill God s Son, and that can be forgiven, then how can anything else-even my abortion-not be forgiven?

 

I will never forget the look in her eyes as she sat back in awe and quietly said, Talk about amazing grace.  This time she wept not out of sorrow but from relief and gratitude.  I saw a woman literally transformed by a proper understanding of the cross.

 

Tim Keller puts it this way.  The gospel message is that you are more sinful and evil and weak than you ever dared believe, but you are more valued and accepted and loved than you ever dared hope. 

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

Trust Him

Trust Him

The short excerpt is by Lee Burns, headmaster of the Presbyterian Day Schoo (PDS) in Memphis, TN, and the Scripture is at the end.

Lady Vols basketball coach Pat Head Summitt, the winningest coach in college basketball history, announced recently that she had early-onset dementia, a precursor to Alzheimer s disease.

By all accounts, that cruel disease will, at some point, rob her not just of her mental sharpness, but of her memory. The winningest coach of all time will have snatched from her the recall of eight national championships and all the sweet moments and relationships she forged and all the ways she mentored countless players and coaches along the way. She will likely forget the work ethic and drive she consistently demonstrated, the integrity and character she displayed no matter the circumstances and pressures, and the fact that 100% of her players earned their college degrees. She will forget that she was a pioneer for womens athletics. But most sadly of all, she will probably forget who her family is and what they have shared together.

What do we do when we reach a season in our lives when life seems to be taking more than it is giving? Who are we when we do not have our jobs, our health, our identities, when we are stripped even of our memories?

We teach boys a lot of things at PDS, though we know that much of it will be forgotten. But the most important thing we teach, and the thing that I hope is never forgotten, is that we are all children of a loving God, who created and knows us, who has lovingly redeemed us through His Son, who has conquered death, who will restore our forgetful minds and decaying bodies—and even this broken world—to a perfect state.

It is difficult to believe in God amidst such pain, suffering and loss. It is challenging to trust in God when we are so accustomed to trusting in ourselves. It is hard to find our rest and identity in Him when we are such a restless people so often obsessed with our own performances and achievements. It is challenging to put faith in that which we cannot see. But that is Gods call to us, His command. And it is one done out of His love and grace, giving us more than we deserve, promising us more than we can imagine.

Psalm 62:5-8  My soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.

Roots

Roots

The short excerpt is by Ron Hutchcraft, and the Scripture is in the excerpt.

One day I went on a nature hike.  There was the river bed; the desert section, and so on, and the guide showed us two kinds of trees: First, there were these beautiful White Alder trees. They grow lushly by the river bed, and he said they can evaporate up to 400 gallons of water a day!

Now, the roots of the White Alder are very shallow. They get plenty of water and therefore they have shallow roots. But when the floods come, we have got a problem. He showed us the desert zone trees, and the ones in the desert survive on 40 gallons of water a year sometimes. How come? They use everything they get, and their roots are deep. Guess which one is still standing after a violent storm? Yeah, the one with the roots.

Colossians 2:6-7   So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

In many ways, we American Christians, are the White Alder tree that I described earlier—the one that has all that nourishment that evaporates up to 400 gallons of water a day, lives by the river bed, saturated but with weak roots. We are saturated with Christian resources. We have got Christian radio, websites, books, TV, Bible studies, seminars, and conferences.  But we are depending on meetings and feelings, and events, and miracles, and experiences. We have got weak roots, and we are vulnerable to the storm.

Now, you talk to Christians in the desert places like China, for example, and they know where their roots are: consistent, personal Bible study every day; fervent prayer; deep roots in the church; always learning...always growing. But we get lazy here in our spiritual rain forest. It takes a heavy hit to show us that what we have is broad but not very deep, and maybe then it is too late.

You know, maybe it is time now for us to see that our roots need to be growing, not just our leaves. You could be saturated but not strong. You have to build your roots; so that when the storm or the drought comes, you will stand tall through it all.

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

God First, Others Second

God First, Others Second

 

The short excerpt is by Braxton Brady and Lee Burns book, Flight Plan, and the Scripture is Philippians 2:3-4 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,  not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

 

Captain Johnny Ferrier, a pilot for the famed Blue Angels, shreds across the blue sky.  Onlookers at the national air show notice smoke billowing from the back of his Navy jet.  On the radio, his superior pleads for Johnny to save his life.  But Johnny does not make his move.  He knows that if he bails, thousands of innocent bystanders will lose their lives in the crash.

 

Bail out!  You still have time, his superior pleads.  The stress of the G-force only allows Johnny to answer his superior by blowing three puffs of smoke, just to let him know that he was alright-that he was under control.  The crowd watches in amazement as Johnny courageously steers his plane to the only place not occupied by people.  A small meadow is where Johnny makes his final statement to the world.

 

Captain Johnny Ferrier s statement was one of ultimate honor for the people down below him.  His courage to take his own life, for the lives of others, might be hard for people to understand, especially in light of Johnny s beautiful wife and children he left behind.  However, the card his wife found tucked away in his wallet the day of his death explains why he gave his own life.  It simply read, God first, others second, and myself third.  Success in the mind of Captain Ferrier was different from what our culture teaches us.  He was willing to give up the things of this world for the glory of God and the good of others.

 

Champions, have a great week and summer!-David Vining

Greater Love Has No Man

Greater Love Has No Man

 

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the Scripture is 1 Peter 3:18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.

 

Charles Dickens novel, A Tale of Two Cities is about Sydney Carlton and Charles Donnas.  They both love the same young woman, but she marries Charles and starts having children.  This is the French Revolution; and so Charles Donnas is arrested and is taken to prison, and he awaits his execution.  On the night before his execution, Sydney Carlton, who looks quite a bit like Charles Donnas, steals into the prison and says, Look Charles, you have a wife and a child, let s switch places.  Let s change clothes, and I will die in your place.  Charles Donnas says, No way!  Are you kidding?  I will never let you do such a thing!

 

So Sydney Carlton smacks Donnas over the head and knocks him out cold, and he puts his clothes on himself.  Sydney s peace passes onto Charles, and Charles punishment passes to Sydney.  He has some people take Charles, who is now out cold, and he assumes his place in the prison waiting to be executed. 

 

There is a little young woman, who is also about to be executed, and she knew Charles Donnas previously and when she hears that he is there she seeks him out and comes out and starts talking.  Do you remember this, do you remember that?  Sydney Carlton is, of course, looking away hoping that she will not look too closely, and suddenly she sees and realizes that it is not Charles Donnas, and her eyes get real big.  She says, Are you dying for him?  He says, Yes, and for his wife and children?  She says, Stranger, I had a feeling that I would not be able to face my death, but can I hold your hand because if someone as brave and as loving as you holds my hand, then I think that I will be okay.

 

John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one s life for one s friends.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Greater Than Our Hearts

Greater Than Our Hearts

 

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the Scripture is 1 John 3:20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

 

The thrill that you usually call being in love is basically an ego kick.  Here is somebody that I think is admirable to other people, and he or she digs me.  That is enough to give you a kind of rush for a while, and it will last several weeks at least.  Eventually, you will begin to realize that there is a decision that has to be made.  You have to move on and let the thrills die and realize that the more that you act in loving, the more that you give, the more that you serve, the more that you will find yourself falling truly in love.  There has to be a death of the thrills to move into real love, and a lot of people never ever let that really happen.  Love is commitment to serve people first; and love is an action first that leads to feeling and not a feeling that leads to an action.  

 

Jesus Christ is the one who says, A bruised reed He will not break and a smoking flax He will not quench until He brings forth judgement to victory (Matthew 12:20).  If you are so bruised like a bruised reed, He will treat you so gently that you will not break off.  If you are so dim that you are like a smoking flax, like a candle that has basically gone out but there is just a glimmer of flame there, He will not quench you.  He is someone who will bring you to victory and who will not let you go.  He will tell you about your faults but at the same time He is so completely committed to you, and He continues to say to you, I love you and I care for you.  He is greater than your hearts, and He overcomes everything that anyone else has ever said of you.  You are His bride, and He sees you through the rags and says, I am going to make you pure and spotless, and I am devoted to you.  I love you, and I will complete you.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

God Holds On To Us

God Holds On To Us

 

The short excerpt is by Joe Novenson, and the Scripture is John 10:27-28 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.

 

I have an acquaintance who has died now named David Ireland.  I wish that he was a friend, but I did not have enough time to get to know him.  When David was married, he wanted very much to have children and just after he found out his wife was pregnant he found out that he had a disease like Lou Gehrig s disease that would quickly sap his physical ability.  It started with just dragging his left foot, and then soon increasingly he could not walk.  He found part of the use of his hands disappearing and his body just began to shut down.  It happened very quickly, and he began to think; I am going to die before my baby is born, so he started writing letters to an unborn child.  He realized, I may not ever be able to see my kid, so I have got to parent him or her before I die.  He started writing these letters, and I want to tell you just about one of them.  His wife published them after he died, and it is called Letters To An Unborn Child.

 

In it he tries to introduce his baby boy to his mother, and he says, My child, I want you to know what your mother is like.  She is absolutely incredible, and I think that I can make it clear to you by just telling you what happens when we go out to eat at night.  When we go out to a restaurant, this is what she has to do.  Because I am a quadriplegic now and in a wheelchair she has to bathe me, dress me, empty the urine and fecal bags that are strapped to my legs, then put me in the wheelchair, drive me out to the garage, open the garage, open the door, get out a board, pull up the arm on my chair, slide me across the board, put me in the car, put down the arm, fold up the chair, open the trunk, put in the chair, close the trunk, close the door, get in the car, back it out, close the garage door,  and drive to the restaurant.  When we get there the whole process is reversed.  We sit down at a table, she feeds me, wipes the drool from my mouth because I can barely eat, gets up, pays the check, and then the whole process is reversed again.  Go out to the car, open the door, take off the arm, put down the board, slide me across, put down the arm, fold up the chair, go to the back, open the trunk, put up the chair, close the trunk, get in the car, drive.  Get to the garage, up goes the garage door, everything else reversed, take me in, clean me, empty the fecal and urine bags, bathe me, put me in my pajamas, and lays me in my bed.  He says, Son, these are her last words to me.  Thank you honey for taking me out to eat tonight.

 

The Bible says that when we get to heaven God is going to say, Well done good and faithful servant, and I think that I am going to feel like Dave Ireland.  I am like a quadriplegic!  When I get there it will not be because I held onto God but because He held onto me.  He deals with the worst parts of me when I disobey and get scared and want to give up, but He does not let me go.  

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Love: An Exclusive, Permanent Commitment?

Love:  An Exclusive, Permanent Commitment?

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the Scripture is Matthew 19:5-6 Have you not read, Jesus replied, that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female and said, For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.

When people say, Why don t we live together, and why do we need to be married?  I love you, so why do I need a piece of paper to show you that love?   If you define love as a feeling; that is right, but that is not what the Bible ever means when it means love. Biblically, if somebody says, I love you, but I do not want to marry you; what they mean is, I do not love you that much.  There is no way around that. 

 

A person who says, I love you, and I want to marry you, loves you more than the person who says, I love you, but I do not want to marry you.  Why?  Because love by definition biblically is an exclusive and permanent commitment.  That is what you most want, and you know that.  When somebody says, I do not need a piece of paper to show that I love you-yes you do!  If you love a person the way the Bible says that two people are supposed to love one another in order to share their lives together, it means that you have no problem making a legal, permanent and exclusive commitment to them.

 

At some point love is simply a decision to serve somebody and be committed to that person regardless of your feelings and regardless to how that person acts.  Your feelings can take you to the door.  The person attracts you, there are a lot of things that you like about them, you have fun together, but at a certain point you simply make a decision that you are going to love this person because your feelings will always come and go.  A lot of people do not get married because they are sure that if this is the one, My feelings will never ebb, and I will never have any problem.  I will always feel like giving myself to them, and I will never look at that person and feel, Ugh!

 

You will wait until Hell freezes over if you wait for that. 

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Jesus Risen From the Dead

Jesus Risen From the Dead

 

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is from Cliffe Knechtle, and the Scripture is  Matthew 20:17-19  Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law.  They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified.  On the third day he will be raised to life!

 

1 Corinthians 15:3-6 says that over a period of forty days Jesus appeared to more than five hundred people.  Many of these eyewitnesses died for what they had seen-the dead Christ risen to life.  They stood before Roman soldiers who said, The decision is simple. Say, Caesar is lord and live, or say, Jesus is Lord and die!

 

The early Christians said, We have seen Jesus risen from the dead.  Jesus is Lord!  They died, not for a belief, a religion, or a political persuasion, but for a person they had seen come back from the dead.

 

If the early Christians had made up the resurrection story, they never would have died in such large numbers.  Someone would have revealed the fabrication under penalty of death.  You cannot get a large group of people to die for a known lie.  History reveals that Peter, Andrew, Philip, Simon the Zealot, James the son of Alphaeus, and Bartholomew were crucified.  Matthew and James the brother of John were put to death by the sword.  Thaddaeus was shot through with arrows.  James the brother of Jesus was stoned.  Paul was beheaded.  Why?  Because they had seen Jesus risen from the dead.  They were willing to die for what they had seen.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Why Die for a Lie?

Why Die for a Lie?

 

The following is an excerpt from Chuck Colson, and the Scripture is 1 Corinthians 15:14,19  And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith and we are to be pitied more than all men.

 

It was the Watergate cover-up that left me convinced that the biblical accounts of the resurrection of Jesus Christ are historically reliable.

 

In my Watergate experience I saw the inability of men-even powerful, highly motivated professionals-to hold together a conspiracy based on a lie.  It was less than three weeks from the time that Mr. Nixon knew all the facts to the time that John Dean went to the prosecutors.  Once that happened Mr. Nixon s presidency was doomed.  The actual cover-up lasted less than a month.

 

On the other hand, Christ s powerless followers maintained to their grim deaths by execution that they had in fact seen Jesus Christ raised from the dead.  There was no conspiracy, no Passover plot.  Men and women do not give up their comfort-and certainly not their lives-for what they know to be a lie.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Seek First His Kingdom

Seek First His Kingdom

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller of New York City, and the Scripture verse is Matthew 16:16  What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?

Adversity and blessings can show you the idols of your heart.  Cynthia Hymal used to write for the Village Voice, and she lived in New York City for many years and got to know a lot of people when they were struggling artists, actors and actresses.  Afterwards some of these people would hit it big and become celebrities, so she knew a lot of people before and after.  Here is what she says about celebrities.

 

 I pity celebrities, I really do.  Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and Barbara Striestand were once perfectly pleasant human beings, but now their wrath is awful.  I think when God wants to play a really rotten little joke on you, He grants you your deepest wish and giggles merrily when you want to kill yourself.  You see, Sly, Bruce and Barbara wanted fame.  They worked, they pushed, and the morning after each of them became famous, they wanted to take an overdose because that giant thing that they were striving for, that famed thing that was going to make everything okay, that was going to make their lives bearable, that was going to provide them with personal fulfillment and happiness had happened, and they were still them.  The disillusionment turned them howling and insufferable.

 

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness . . . (Matthew 6:33)

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

When Jesus Touches You

When Jesus Touches You

 

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the Scripture is Matthew 8:2-3 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.  Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man.  I am willing, he said.  Be clean!  Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.

 

I do not get salvation by being strong and accomplished but by admitting that I am not.  I do not get salvation by negotiating with God but by surrendering.  The way the world looks at power and recognition and status and achievement and accomplishment and beauty and privilege do not matter to the person who has had the salvation of Jesus Christ transform them.  Jesus Christ comes and touches the leper and says the most astounding thing.  I am cleanliness.  No matter how defiled, stained, tainted or no matter who you are or what you have done or what your record is, the minute I touch you, you are fit for the presence of God.  The minute I touch you, my cleanness becomes your cleanness. 

 

Jesus says, I am not one more religious leader telling you how to make yourself fit for the presence of God.  I am the fitness for the presence of God; and the moment you come into contact with me, you are instantly in.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

Perfect Love

Perfect Love

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt this is by Tim Keller, and the Scripture is John 11:33-35 When Jesus saw Mary weeping (because of the death of Lazarus), he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. Where have you laid him? he asked. Come and see, Lord, they replied.  Jesus wept.

Mary asks Jesus, Lord, why were you not here because you could have stopped this? Jesus cannot even speak, but He just weeps.  Now this has startled me about this passage for years.  When Jesus moves into a situation like this He knows why it happened, the purpose of it, and He knows how He is going to turn it into a glorious manifestation of the glory of God.  He knows that in just 10 minutes or so that everyone there will be rejoicing when He raises Lazarus from the dead. 

 

If we went in this knowing that we were about to turn everybody s weeping into joy in about 10 minutes, then why would we weep?  Does it make psychological sense that if you knew that you were about to turn everything around in 10 minutes that you would be weeping and that you would enter into the grief and the pain and the trauma of their hearts?  Why would He do that?  Because that is perfect love.  Jesus will not close His heart even for 10 minutes, and He will not refuse to enter in the pain. 

 

There is nothing wrong with weeping at a time like this and kind of falling apart.  Jesus Christ was the most mature person that ever lived, and He is fallen into grief.  Therefore, the best people will be the biggest weepers.  Frankly, the people that are more like Jesus are going to be the people who cannot and do not avoid grief and who find themselves just pulled into the grief of other people that are hurting.  There is nothing wrong with that, and there is actually something very right about it.

 

Matthew 11:28-30  Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

The Gap Behind and In Front

The Gap Behind and In Front

 

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller and the Scripture is Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

 

Many people often say that nobody can know about God and be sure that they are right.  How can they be sure about that since it itself is a belief about God?  How can you be so sure that you are right about not being able to know about God?

           

The answer is faith. You cannot prove it, so it is a statement of faith and you are basing your eternal destiny on that belief. You take what you cannot prove and live your life based on it, and that is faith.  The author of A Severe Mercy tells of a conversion experience: 

 

I began to see a gap between the possible and the proved, and it would take a leap of faith to cross it. I did not want to do that. If I was going to stake my life on the risen Christ, I did not want there to be any gap. I wanted proof, and I wanted letters across the sky. Then I realized there was a gap behind me as well. I could not prove Jesus is God, but I could not disprove Him either.  I realized that I could not reject Jesus without a great step of faith, and then I realized I could not go ahead without a great step of faith. Once I saw that the gap behind me was as great as the gap before me, I went across the gap before me and came to Jesus.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

The Shepherd That Took Our Place

The Shepherd That Took Our Place

 

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the Scripture is Hebrews 13:20-21  May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, . . .

 

I have heard people say that the way that you know that Christianity is true is because of changed lives.  I know a criminal who has become honest through Jesus.  I know of drug addicts and alcoholics who have become sober through Jesus.  I have seen people start to live the way they ought to live through Jesus.  That is how I know that Christianity is true.

 

True, but if you are really going to say that is how you know that Christianity is true, then just keep this in mind.  Every single religion and moral community in the world can produce changed lives, and they do.  All moral, structured communities that have shepherds have a set of rules on how you live and can shape people.  They can take dishonest people and make them honest, they can take addicted people and give them self-control, and they can produce changed lives.

 

In fact C. S. Lewis in his book The Abolition of Man compares the kind of lives that Jesus, Moses, Confucius, Buddha and Mohammed wants you to live, and he says that they are not that different.  What Jesus says is that all shepherds basically tell you how you should live; but I am the only Shepherd who became a sheep and does not just tell you how you have to live, but I came to live the life that you should have lived and died the death that you should have died in your place.  So when you come to God in my name, He delights in you now.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining