11 Weeks – 6/8/2015 to 8/21/2015
Overview: Perhaps you have described someone as looking at life through “rose-colored glasses”. It means they have a somewhat distorted view of things because of the lenses in front of their eyes. The book of Second Corinthians provides the “lens” of God’s will and word for our eyes about many things in life.
In this series, we look at a lot of issues faced in life through the lens of God’s spirit. We discuss things like grief, hardship, death, reconciliation, repentance, and spiritual warfare. The Apostle Paul speaks directly to all these subjects and more in this 11 week series.
The last message speaks about God using our weakness, to demonstrate His strength. That doesn’t make sense through the “lens” of the world system today. But it makes perfect sense to the Lord! Find out how and why!
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
Week 11 – 08/17/2015
His Strength, Our Weakness
2nd Corinthians 12:7-10
This Week: The word “paradox” is a word we don’t use often in every day conversation today. And yet it’s a word that we need to understand. A paradox is something that is contrary to common sense, yet is true. The most paradoxical statement in the Bible is what we study today in our last message from 2nd Corinthians. Paul told the people at Corinth that the Lord said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect (complete) in weakness.”
His Strength, Our Weakness, Podcast
Monday – We are all people who want other people to know our strengths! And yet, Paul discovered that God will do more in our weaknesses to demonstrate His strength, then we could ever do out of our own capacity. Doesn’t make sense, yet it is true. That is the great paradox of the Christian life.
His Strength, Our Weakness, Part 1
Tuesday – Paul talked about some great revelations God gave him about heaven. And yet to keep him from getting conceited from this, he believed that God permitted a “thorn in his flesh”. We don’t know what it was, but it was something in his life that tormented him. He then shares how God told him that God’s power would actually rest upon him- through his weaknesses!
His Strength, Our Weakness, Part 2
Wednesday – We share a quote of Max Lucado who shares how many people have gone through unbelievable burdens in life. And yet somehow, God was working in those burdens and through them in our lives. Think about the weaknesses you face in life. Is it possible God has already demonstrated or will demonstrate His strength through that weakness? It is!
His Strength, Our Weakness, Part 3
Thursday – This scripture has a past, present, and future component in our lives. We can all think perhaps of past experiences where God demonstrated His strength in our weakness. For others, it is going on right now, present tense! For still others, it is yet to happen, but it can and will. Where are you in that time line?
His Strength, Our Weakness, Part 4
Friday – We close with a powerful story of a man from Florida with a handicapped wife who has discovered firsthand how God works in the weaknesses of their lives to demonstrate His power. He describes how his wife has nothing more to use in her life other than her God given weakness! God will do more with a “surrendered weakness” than He might ever do with an “unsurrendered strength”. That doesn’t make sense, it’s paradoxical. Yet, it’s true!
His Strength, Our Weakness, Part 5
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
Week 10 – 08/10/2015
Parental Love?
2nd Corinthians 12:14-15; Deuteronomy 6:5-7
This Week: Parental love means a lot more to people that don’t experience it. They might not consciously think about it, but they’re impacted by a lack of love more than they know. In the book of 2nd Corinthians, the Apostle Paul tells the people of the church at Corinth, that he loves them with a “parental type love”. He gives a description of parental love that may be new to you!
Monday – Henry Ward Beecher said this generations ago, “We never know how much our parents loved us until we became parents.” The opposite may also be true, “We never know how much our parents didn’t express love to us, until we become parents. Paul describes parental love as not only “spending”, but being “spent” in terms of time, energy, and money. Does that speak to you at all in terms of your childhood and/or parenthood?
Tuesday – We illustrate parental love with a story about a young woman with dreams about making it on Broadway. She was a gifted singer who was told she had what it takes to go to the top. She chose marriage, motherhood, and teaching for her life’s path. What she describes will not only speak to you, but touch your heart. It really will. The love of a parent is unlike any other!
Wednesday – We share a companion passage from the Old Testament that says parents are to teach their children about the Lord, morning, noon, and night. It’s hyperbole or an exaggeration to make a point. We live in a culture where we rarely or ever talk about spiritual things with children. We quote a sociologist who uses a “word picture” about this that you will never forget! Never!
Thursday – Today, I share a story that has produced more response than any story I’ve used in the last 10 years! It’s about a man who was so physically abused by his mother, he “turned himself in” to the authorities. A foster mother’s love changed his life for the better. What he says about parental love moved people to tears when I shared this true story three years ago.
Friday – Paul ends his comments with a question, “If I love you more, will you love me less?” Is there something to the thought, whoever loves the least in a relationship holds the most power? We close with the story of a funeral where a son of the deceased man shares his most powerful memory of his dad, a retired FBI agent. What he says will not only surprise you but impact your life!
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
Week 9 – 08/03/2015
Spiritual Warfare
2nd Corinthians 10:3-5
This Week: Spiritual warfare to some is just as strange as science fiction. They look at the term with suspicion. And yet the Bible speaks with certainty about the reality of spiritual warfare in our lives. All this week on CrossHope, we discuss what the Apostle Paul told the church at Corinth about that warfare in chapter 10 of Second Corinthians, verses 3-5. What he says may surprise you!
Monday – We begin with a true story of a man sharing the pain of knowing that his son was in the Normand invasion of June of 1944. He tells of his prayers for protection of his son in warfare. We transition into the subject of spiritual warfare by talking about the results and fallout of that warfare all around us. What are they in your life?
Tuesday – Sooner or later in life you will realize that the struggle you face in life involves more than just “people or circumstances”. We do live in a spiritual world as well as a physical world. We quote C.S. Lewis who describes the two extremes that people believe about Satan and evil in our world. Both extremes are wrong; yet that warfare is real in our culture. It’s real in your life and mine!
Wednesday – Paul says that “though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.” Being in the world is different from being of the world. We explain the difference. Then he says that the weapons we use are not the weapons of the world. We describe what those special weapons are. You and I need to at least know what they are.
Thursday – We talk about spiritual strongholds in our lives. What is a spiritual stronghold? The answer is in the word itself. A stronghold is anything in life that has strong hold on my mind, spirit or soul. Is there something in your life that in your heart, you know has a strong hold on your life? Most people can think of something. Paul says that we “demolish” strongholds that are counterproductive in our lives.
Friday – The spiritual weapons we possess are both offensive and defensive. Why? We need both in the struggle of life. We close by talking about Paul’s comment that we even “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Everything in our lives flows out of our thought life, whether we know it or not. According to Jesus, every sin has its origin in our minds and thoughts. Most people realize that is true. Spiritual warfare is either true or false. What’s your verdict?
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
Week 8 – 07/27/2015
A Place Called Repentance
2nd Corinthians 7:8-10
This Week: Author Patricia Schultz has written two travel books that are best sellers. They both have to do with 1,000 places you need to see in this country and around the world before you die. In the “world version edition”, there is only one place in Ohio that she believes that you and I must see before we die. It completely surprised me; I think it will surprise you. All this week, we talk about a place that from a spiritual point of view, we must all visit. It’s a place called repentance.
A Place Called Repentance, Podcast
Monday – Most people think of the word repentance as an archaic and outdated word. Even the dictionary on your iPhone will possibly incorrectly define it. Most people define it as simply being sorry or contrite for your sins. It’s much more than that. The word in the Greek language means to turn 180 degrees; turning away from something in order to turn toward something else.
A Place Called Repentance, Part 1
Tuesday – The passage we study talks about “worldly sorrow” and “godly sorrow”. We all know the sorrow and regret of being discovered or caught in a sin. That’s worldly sorrow; sorry for the consequences. Godly sorrow is when you and I realize that all sin is a wound against the heavenly Father! It’s godly sorrow that actually leads to true repentance!
A Place Called Repentance, Part 2
Wednesday – Have you ever asked someone to tell you what they think your faults are? That can be a risky experiment. The word of God can do the same thing in our lives when we read it or listen to it. It actually can confront us about what is going on in our lives. What has God ever confronted you with? What did you do next? More than that, what did you refuse to do?
A Place Called Repentance, Part 3
Thursday – Today, I share what I honestly feel is the most powerful story I have ever told on the subject of repentance. I’m not exaggerating. It’s about a young man, sentenced to 12 years in prison for robbing 5 banks, and his coming to a place called repentance. Listen to what he says about his past, present and future as it relates to that word. It is a life-changing story!
A Place Called Repentance, Part 4
Friday – There is a rarely quoted verse in the book of Acts that says when we repent, not only are our sins blotted out, “times of refreshing” come. What does that mean? The phrase literally means, “Recovery of breath”; you can breathe again! That’s no small thing. When you and I visit a place called repentance, we can spiritually breathe again. How’s your breathing?
A Place Called Repentance, Part 5
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
Week 7 – 07/20/2015
Contamination
2nd Corinthians 7:1
This Week: Over 1,000,000 people die every year in our world due to contaminated water! And yet, do you remember the last time you heard that in the media? Contamination happens when a substance is rendered impure by the addition of another substance. The Apostle Paul talks about the “contamination” of our bodies and souls in 2nd Corinthians 7, all this week on “CrossHope”. How does that happen? We’ll discuss four ways that it happens in your life and mine.
Monday – We begin with the reading of last week’s text that talks about moral choices in life. All of life is really a series of choices to do or not to do, to say or not to say, and to think a certain way or not to think that way. Think of the decisions that you’ve made in the last day, week, or month. More than you and I may imagine. We share the text that says this: “Let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God!”
Tuesday – We share the first of four things that can contaminate our lives. Surprisingly, the first is anger. More men and women have contaminated their lives with anger than they’re aware. James says that “anger does not produce the righteous life that God desires”. Frankly, it does just the opposite. We’ll talk about that today.
Wednesday – The most requested message I have given on the radio in over 30 years is a message on anger. A Christian psychologist told me the reason is this: “We’re all the victims of someone else’s anger. But we’re also victim makers or victimizers.” The second cause of contamination in our lives is resentment. We talk about how resentment impacts lives, marriages, and families. Bitterness is the third cause of contamination. Bitterness does to the soul what sexual impurity does to the body.
Thursday – The last source of contamination we discuss is envy. There’s a difference between envy and jealousy. Also, the Bible talks of two types of envy: envy and bitter envy. We’ll explain the difference. If there is anger, resentment, bitterness, or envy in your life, you are contaminated! Why? Remember, contamination happens when a substance is rendered impure by the addition of another substance.
Friday – We close with a story of a woman from Russia who shares how people around the world deal with stress and guilt. What she says will surprise you and bring a smile to your face. The only “answer” to guilt and its stain upon our souls is the blood of Christ! God has challenged us in 2nd Corinthians 7:1 to avoid that which contaminates our souls. Are you up to the challenge of facing what that may be in our lives? Anger? Resentment? Bitterness? Envy?
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
Week 6 – 07/13/2015
Moral Choices
2nd Corinthians 6:14-18
This Week: To be honest, I was tempted to “skip” this passage when I preached this series. In our politically correct culture, this scripture is unthinkable in the lives of most people. It really is. This passage is not only politically incorrect; it is blatantly offensive to the sophisticated man or woman of our day. If you don’t believe it, just read it out loud. Listen to it from the world’s point of view, and you’ll see what we mean.
Monday – Paul begins by admonishing us: “Don’t be yoked together with unbelievers”. This is from a farming illustration in the Old Testament. A yoke was a device that put together two animals for plowing. It implies close proximity physically; Paul means it emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. Don’t be attached in those ways to those who don’t acknowledge the Lord God Almighty is the message. Easy to do? Not at all!
Tuesday – Who are the people you take your social cues from? Who are the people that greatly influence your behavior and moral choices that you make in life? Those are probably the people with whom you are “yoked”. We are yoked and connected to the people that impact what we do, what we say, and what we think.
Wednesday – What moral choices have you had to make this week, this month, or this year? Paul’s message to the church at Corinth had to do with “hanging out” with those who worship idols and thus being yoked to them emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually. Paul asks a rhetorical question: “What fellowship does light have with darkness?” The answer? None! We can’t be “Christ followers” on Sunday, and then be idol worshipers during the week.
Thursday – We tell a dramatic story of a man who had to make a moral choice that affected his future income. My guess is that most people couldn’t make the choice he had to make. Listen and see if you agree! When money is involved in moral choices, decisions are influenced in ways hard to measure. Often money rides in the front seat; ethics and morality ride in the trunk!
Friday – We begin with a disclaimer! This day’s edition of CrossHope may not be suitable for small children to listen to. It’s a description of a crime committed in southern California and its impact on the victim of the crime. His account of what the crime did to him psychologically and spiritually is really worth listening to, if you’re able to listen!
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
Week 5 – 07/06/2015
Reconciliation?
2nd Corinthians 5:1-10
This Week: Two days before I gave this message, I lost a brother in law suddenly and unexpectedly in death. Ironically, the last message he heard from the word of God was the same message you perhaps heard on CrossHope last week. It was from the passage in 2nd Corinthians 5, where Paul says, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” This message was given the next Sunday. What if this was to be the last message you heard? It’s from the same chapter of the book; it’s about reconciliation. Reconciliation is discussed, with the Lord and with other people.
Monday – We begin with the story of the “Miracle on the Hudson”, the plane that had an emergency landing on the Hudson River in New York City. One writer described what happened as a “jolting experience.” That’s probably putting it mildly. Coming to Christ can be a jolting experience. Being reconciled to another person can be such an experience.
Tuesday – We are not only reconciled to God through what Christ accomplished on the cross, we can be reconciled to others. According to the Apostle Paul, we have been called to a ministry of reconciliation. As people who have been made “brand new”, we have the opportunity to be instruments of reconciliation. Has the Lord used you lately for that purpose?
Wednesday – How do you “look” at people? We can look at people politically, racially, educationally, economically, and even sexually. Paul tells the Corinthians that as Christians, we look at people from God’s point of view. We see people who need forgiveness in their lives and who need to be reconciled to others. That’s why we all are called to the ministry: the ministry of reconciliation. Make sense?
Thursday – When a person comes to Christ, everything is different- especially your perspective on life! You will look at your house, your car, your job, even your family differently because of Christ. When you have a different view of life, death, and eternity, it changes everything you look at. It really does!
Friday – We close with a true story from the 1980’s. A woman who was involved in the sinking of a large sailboat on the Atlantic was one of only two survivors. She went through a horrible ordeal. She made the comment that she had “always believed in God in a vague Sunday School kind of way.” I’m not sure we can make it in life in 2015 with that kind of belief. We need to believe in the God of reconciliation; the One who makes reconciliation possible though what happened on the cross.
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
Week 4 – 06/29/2015
Death and Life
2nd Corinthians 5:1-10
This Week: A person’s view of death and life does color how someone looks at everything! Your view of death and life will impact how you treat your family and friends. It really does. Second Corinthians 5 tells us what happens when we are “absent” from the body. We transition into the presence of God. Either that is a cruel joke, or a great truth of scripture. You and I need to decide what we believe about that. Why? It impacts all of life!
Monday – We tell the story of Nancy from Massachusetts who tells of tragically losing her brother and how her family coped with the loss. They simply believed in love (not God or the Bible), and she feels that was the basis of their comfort. Interestingly enough, God takes credit for teaching people how to love. If that’s true, the basis of comfort is in the One in whom she refuses to believe.
Tuesday – There is a growing movement in this country to have “non-Christian” funerals. It’s an effort to celebrate life, without talking about anything Biblical or having to do with Christ. While it is certainly people’s right to do that, it offers little hope to the living. Ironically, any hope in death is connected to the One who claimed to be the “resurrection and the life”.
Wednesday – According to the Apostle Paul, we are in one of two places. We are either “in this body” or away from the Lord. Or, we are “absent from this body” and present with the Lord. For some, that is too simplistic. And yet Paul says that it’s one way or the other. The more you think about that and believe it, the more power those words have in your life!
Thursday – Verse 10 tells us something very politically incorrect in today’s world: “For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ.” No one wants to be held accountable for anything in our culture today. Therefore, people “stand in judgment” of anything in Scripture that speaks of God’s judgment with us. Talk about irony!
Friday – We close the message with a story told by a California attorney of a six-year old boy who lost his mother in a train accident. What the boy expressed to his grandmother in his grief conveyed his childlike belief in life after death. He believed he would someday be reunited with his mother. The only hope we have in death is connected to Jesus Christ. Do you believe that?
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
Week 3 – 06/22/2015
Light and Darkness
2nd Corinthians 4:1-6
This Week: The word light has a literal, physical meaning. We can see or visualize nothing without it. Light also has a spiritual meaning. Jesus referred to Himself as the “light of the world”. God is light; the word of God is light. Truth can be light in a dark world. We take a look at light and darkness through the looking glass of Christ from 2nd Corinthians 4 this week.
Monday – Pastor Jim Cymbala of Brooklyn, New York tells the dramatic story of a former heroin addict nearly dying of an overdose on the roof of the building behind the church. What happens to her physically and spiritually will speak to your life about an important subject: light. She went from the darkness of addiction and death to the light of God’s truth in Christ.
Tuesday – Paul begins by talking about “renouncing” secret and shameful ways in our lives. We know what it’s like to renounce a friend or friendship. In modern lingo, it’s “defriending” someone. Most men and women have something going on in their lives that they need to “defriend”. It means to walk away from something going on in our lives, saying “I’m done with this!”
Wednesday – Verse four says that the “god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers” so they cannot see the light of the gospel of Christ. The god of this age is Satan. He really doesn’t care what you do or don’t do, as long as you are blind! The two most common ailments that Jesus healed in his earthly ministry were blindness and lameness. We define both spiritually.
Thursday – Spiritual blindness is refusing to see the sin in our own lives. Spiritual lameness happens when we are so focused on the past, present, or future, we can do little or nothing spiritually in terms of forward motion. Veterinarians speak of a condition known as “untreatable lameness” in a horse or dog. Jesus would say that the cares of this world can choke out anything spiritual in our lives. Sound familiar?
Friday – We close with the story of professional golfer, Payne Stewart who tragically lost his life in 1999 in a plane crash. Telling his story involves telling about his coming to the light of Christ before his untimely death. Hopefully, we all come to the point of seeing the light of the world in our lives before we come to the end of our lives. What gives Payne’s family hope, even in death is the One who is the resurrection and the life! Got hope with a capital H?
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
Week 2 – 06/15/2015
Facing Hardship
2nd Corinthians 1:8-11
This Week – Sooner or later, we all face hardships. Sometimes they are medical, other times financial. Sometimes they involve family, sometimes they involve others. The Apostle Paul tells the church at Corinth that the hardships he faced were not only beyond his ability to endure them; he sometimes despaired of living! If you can relate to that in any way, this message is for you.
Monday – We begin with the lyric to a country western song: “I’d Like to Have a Problem like That.” A line of the song goes like this, “I’d like to be too rich, I’d like to be too thin, I’d like to be too young, I’d like to be too in.” Have ever wished you had someone else’s problems? We all face problems in life, and the Lord speaks to that issue in your life and mine.
Tuesday – God doesn’t necessarily deliver us “out” of a hardship, but He does deliver us “in” those hardships. Paul says the God who raises the dead is the One we appeal to in dealing with our hardships of life. We appeal to the One who has the power over life, death, and eternity.
Wednesday – Paul didn’t know for a fact that God would actually deliver him in his hardships, but he believed that He would! That’s important. We explain how that observation applies to your situation and mine. On the basis of his trust, Paul moved forward with living and serving. So can we!
Thursday – We tell the story of John from Knoxville, Tennessee. He lost his father tragically, and yet he tells how the Lord used his father’s death to change his life. God didn’t deliver him out of the tragedy, He delivered him in it. Could it be the Lord can use the hardships in your life and mine to minister to others in ways never imagined? He can; He does!
Friday – If you’re a parent, job one for you is to pray for your children. If you’re married, job one is praying for your spouse. Unfortunately, most people don’t understand that. The highest office in the body of Christ is to be an intercessor. It’s part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to encourage us in every problem of life, including the hardships.
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
Week 2 – 06/15/2015
Facing Hardship
2nd Corinthians 1:8-11
This Week – Sooner or later, we all face hardships. Sometimes they are medical, other times financial. Sometimes they involve family, sometimes they involve others. The Apostle Paul tells the church at Corinth that the hardships he faced were not only beyond his ability to endure them; he sometimes despaired of living! If you can relate to that in any way, this message is for you.
Monday – We begin with the lyric to a country western song: “I’d Like to Have a Problem like That.” A line of the song goes like this, “I’d like to be too rich, I’d like to be too thin, I’d like to be too young, I’d like to be too in.” Have ever wished you had someone else’s problems? We all face problems in life, and the Lord speaks to that issue in your life and mine.
Tuesday – God doesn’t necessarily deliver us “out” of a hardship, but He does deliver us “in” those hardships. Paul says the God who raises the dead is the One we appeal to in dealing with our hardships of life. We appeal to the One who has the power over life, death, and eternity.
Wednesday – Paul didn’t know for a fact that God would actually deliver him in his hardships, but he believed that He would! That’s important. We explain how that observation applies to your situation and mine. On the basis of his trust, Paul moved forward with living and serving. So can we!
Thursday – We tell the story of John from Knoxville, Tennessee. He lost his father tragically, and yet he tells how the Lord used his father’s death to change his life. God didn’t deliver him out of the tragedy, He delivered him in it. Could it be the Lord can use the hardships in your life and mine to minister to others in ways never imagined? He can; He does!
Friday – If you’re a parent, job one for you is to pray for your children. If you’re married, job one is praying for your spouse. Unfortunately, most people don’t understand that. The highest office in the body of Christ is to be an intercessor. It’s part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to encourage us in every problem of life, including the hardships.
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
Week 1 – 06/08/2015
Comfort in Grief
2nd Corinthians 1:1-4