It's All Pointing to Jesus

It's All Pointing To Jesus

Dear Champions, 

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the scripture is 2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 

The Scripture isn't man's reaching up for God; It is God's reaching down to us.  When people went to John the Baptist and asked, "Are you the one," he kept saying, "I'm not the One.  I'm testifying to the One.  I'm pointing to Something beyond me.  I bear witness to the One.

Every law, rule, text, and passage as pointing beyond itself to Jesus Christ. 

Let's look at the story of Joseph.  Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers.  He's betrayed, and they basically try to kill him.  They sell him into a life of misery and suffering, but he triumphs through it because he trusts in God.  And finally in the end he's ascended to the right hand of the throne.  When his brothers are dying of a famine, he could use his power to save his family and forgive them.  If you read 90% of the commentaries, they see it pointing to Joseph and say, "If I try hard, no matter how much I'm suffering or how much people have betrayed me, I can get through.  If I just believe in God, I can do anything.  If I try hard enough I can forgive." 

If you read it that way, then you will either become smug and self-righteous, or you'll become absolutely crushed with despair.  You'll say, "I'll never be able to do that."

Every part of the Bible is saying just what John the Baptist said:  "I'm not the One!  I'm pointing to Someone else!"

The real Joseph (Jesus) was sold and betrayed by the people who should have loved Him, yet He brought about redemption through His suffering.  Now He's seated at the right hand of the Father, and He has forgiven us.  Until you see yourself as the recipient of what Jesus Christ has done (as the true Joseph) you'll never have the melted heart necessary to forgive other people.  If Joseph is an example, he'll just crush you!  But if he's pointing to Jesus Christ, then suddenly there's freedom. 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

The Great Paradox

The Great Paradox

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by the late Chuck Colson and is found in Joe Gibbs book Game Plan for Life. Early in his career Colson was special counsel to President Richard Nixon, and he served prison time for obstruction of justice related to the Watergate scandal.  Colson founded Prison Fellowship Ministries after he was released from prison, and the Scripture is Luke 9:23-23 Then Jesus said to them all: If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.
Looking back, I can now see clearly the two great lessons from my life.  The first was the paradox I discovered in prison: If you really want to find your life, you have to lose it for Christ's sake.  After years of success and power, clawing my way to the top, I ended up empty and desperate.  But when I surrendered my life to Christ, I found in prison real peace, joy and purpose.

The second great lesson is also a paradox. God did not choose to use me when I was at the top.  He used me when I was broken at the bottom.  What I did not understand was that nothing is beyond the power of God.  In fact, God chose me precisely when I was weakest and most broken.  Why? Because then my own pride was out of the way and I could never glory in anything I did in the future. And I have not. God has used my life for His much greater purpose-to spread prison ministries around the world, far beyond anything I could ever dream of.  Indeed, He uses the weak and broken to shame the wise and mighty.

This former Marine captain and powerful White House aide thought he did not need God; the convict washing socks in a prison laundry knew how wrong he was.  The great paradox is that God will use your weakness, not your strength.
Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

God Is Bigger Than Your Problems

God Is Bigger Than Your Problems

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Max Lucado and the Scripture is Numbers 13:30-32 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it. But the men who had gone up with him said, We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are. And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored.

It helps for us to see God as the one in whom all the affairs of our life fit.  For instance, when the twelve spies went up from Kadesh Barnea to check out the Promised Land, ten of them saw only the size of the giants in the land. They did not see God looming larger than the giants. David, on the other hand, when he saw the giant Goliath, was not afraid of being smaller than the giant because he saw the giant as being smaller than God. If we look hard enough in this life, we will always find a problem bigger than our current one. But if we look with spiritual eyes, we will always see that God is bigger than them all. If you are facing a problem right now that is bigger than you are, look again. That problem nests inside Gods purposes for your life. The problem is larger than you, but God is larger than the problem.

Keep stepping back until God, not your problem, fills your vision.

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Mary Glenn Oliver

Mary Glenn Oliver

Dear Champions,

 

The scripture is John 16: 33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." and Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

 

Saturday morning I got an email telling me that my friend, 16-year-old Mary Glenn Oliver, had passed away.  She had taken her own life.  It was a punch to my stomach.  I cried.  I have known Mary Glenn her entire life.  She was beautiful, happy, joyful, kind, thoughtful and unselfish.  I kiddingly told her that I got married on February 15^th because it was two days after her birthday.  This would help me not to forget our anniversary.   She blessed all of us at Camp Greystone!  Her family is amazing!  I cannot imagine a better father and mother than Adrian and Sara Oliver or better siblings than Emma and Joseph.

 

So how does this happen?  I don't know.  I did find out that she had been battling depression the last couple of years.  I had no idea.

 

Here is what I do know.  Matthew 22:32 says, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead but of the living."  Mary Glenn is living in heaven.  She is not dead but is alive.  Jesus is the God of the living.  My pain is only a fraction of her family's pain.  Their pain is only a fraction of God's pain.  In John 11:35 Jesus wept when Lazarus died.  He knew that He was going to raise him from the dead, yet He still wept.  Why weep for someone when you know that you are about to raise him from the dead?  The answer is perfect love!

 

Sometimes beneath the surface people that we love are hurting, and we don't even know it.  If this is you, please tell someone. 

 

Pam Thum wrote a song "Life is Hard, but God is Good."  Life is hard, but God is good.

 

From the caringbridge website.  Mary Glenn passed away this evening (Sunday, Nov. 26) after a successful organ donation. Her family is grateful that she will live on in the body of others. They appreciate all of your prayers, kind words and support during this difficult time.

 

To the Oliver family, you are an incredible family!  God could not have placed Mary Glenn into a better family on Earth.  We love you, we weep with you, and we are praying for you!

 

Champions, with tears in my eyes, have a blessed week!-David Vining

 

P.S.  You can visit the caring page at the following address: https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/maryglennoliver

The Truth Hurts-The Truth Heals

The Truth Hurts-The Truth Heals

 

The short excerpt is by Tom Cnossen, and the Scripture is John 8:31-32 . . . Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

 

I am going to the doctor because my wife made an appointment for me.  I, like so many other human beings, am a classic denier of truth.  I do not want to know, so I avoid it – at least in the physical realm.  

 

I see people on Facebook living in denial.  They think they can keep up destructive addictions, and it will not affect them.  They go on and on this way and when one of theirs dies a tragic death they say, "He is in a better place, or "We will see him someday." We like to think that we can just live our lives the way we want and in the end the Lord is going to let everybody into heaven no matter what we believed and no matter how we lived out our lives.  This does not give me much comfort.  If that is true, think of all the evil men and women you will have the privilege of spending eternity with:  Hitler, Jack the Ripper, Sadaam Hussien – you name it and they will be there if this philosophy is true. The Bible tells me the truth:  If anyone's name was not found in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the Lake of Fire.   It says: Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.   Heaven is a place where truth reigns forever. No one will be there who does not come to God by the truth (Jesus) and lives by the truth (God's Word).  

 

I am a pastor and missionary.   I am kind of like a doctor in that I am responsible for telling people the truth:  You are a sinner, in this state you will go to Hell, and you need Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord.  Those are the hard, honest facts.  I am responsible that I present this truth in love and that my bedside manner reflects the great mercy of God, but I am not responsible for what people do with it.  The truth can only heal when it is applied by the person who needs it.  If a man was drowning and I threw him a life ring, he would have to grab it and hang on to it.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Walk On

Walk On

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Alan Williams from his book Walk On, and the Scripture is Mark 10:45  For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

The one glitch about the Wake Forest basketball team meeting room was that there were not enough seats on the sofas and chairs for all 16 players to sit.  Consequently, there were three or four stools directly behind the sofas-and this is where I always sat.  On days we met, I naturally passed over the sofas and sat on the steel stools.

For whatever reason, this particular day was different.  I walked into the locker room, got a Gatorade out of the cooler, and sat down in one of the big leather chairs.  It was an ambitious move, but I was tired of sitting on the stools.  As I sat down, one of the members of the basketball staff immediately confronted me and said, Come on man, let Josh and those guys sit in those chairs.

I conformingly nodded my head, got up from my seat, and made my way back to my stool.  I did not know it at the time, but Josh Howard happened to be right behind me and had heard my exchange with the coach.  He said, No, go back and sit down.  Alan is sitting there today, Coach.  I will sit on one of the stools back here.  The assistant coach, of course, could not say anything to Josh.  On that day, for the first time, I listened to the scouting report from the big leather chair.  Josh made me forget that I was a walk-on.

Josh Howard was the star of our team and probably does not even remember what he did, but I do.  He played all of the minutes and scored most of the points.  Conversely, I was the walk-on, who rarely got minutes and hardly ever scored points.  To this day, whenever I think of Josh Howard, I never think about the fact that he was the ACC player of the year or that he was a first-round NBA draft pick.  Instead, I think about the one day that he cared enough to give up his chair for a walk-on.

Josh in many ways reminds me of what Jesus did for me.  Jesus had a throne in heaven at the right hand of God, yet willingly and humbly gave up his seat to come to earth to save sinners like me.  And because of this undeserved grace, I am confident that even walk-ons like myself will one day have a seat in heaven-the greatest seat of all.R

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

A Debt That Must Be Paid

A DEBT THAT MUST BE PAID

Dear Champions,

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.

This idea of a debt that has to be paid for, surely if there is a God, can He not just forgive it?  No, He can't!

If someone really wrongs you, there is a debt.  It cannot be washed away or ignored.  There are only two things you can do with a debt.  You can make them pay it down by hurting them or by finding ways of making them suffer.  As you see them paying for their debt, you can sense the debt being paid down. At a certain point the debt is gone.  

The other thing you can do is forgive them.   To forgive means that when I want to hurt someone, I do not do it.  When I want to slice up their reputation by talking to other people, when I want to just think hateful thoughts about how they have done awful things, I do not do it. If I do that, I'll find as time goes on that my anger slowly subsides because I am paying the debt down myself.  It is costly and difficult, but someone has to pay the debt.  

There is no one on the face of the earth that can face an evaluation of how they have lived their lives.  We have wronged God and our neighbor, and there is a debt that must be paid.  When Jesus Christ cried, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me," the Father paid the debt! Jesus had to die.

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining