End Times Update - Are You Forgiven?

You might be wondering why I included this video of major animal die off all over the world this year? You might even ask what has this got to do with forgiveness? Well, I think what is going on in the world has everything to do with forgiveness of sins. You see, I believe we're living in the "end times" the "last days" or whatever name you use to describe these apocalyptic days. Don't you get the sense that we're approaching a major fork in the road? Look at the economy (globally!), the Muslim uprisings, earthquakes, famine, calamity of every sort. Look most of all at tiny Israel and the world wide clamoring for a dividing of  Jerusalem and a two state solution (all was foretold in the Bible). Something of monumental proportions is about to happen. I don't pretend to know dates or predict future events but something's coming! I have a great peace knowing that having put my faith and trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ I have forgiveness of sin and the guarantee of Heaven. If it all goes to pieces tomorrow I'm out of here! Have you seen that commercial on television with the three boys in the back yard. Two of the boys are holding a laundry basket connected to long rubber band connected to a couple of trees. A third boy is sitting in the basket about to be shot up into the sky from their giant "sling shot". I like what the the boy in the basket says to his friends..."Launch me fellas!". I watch the world implode and I tell God on a daily basis..."launch me". I'm ready to go because of the object of my faith not the quality of my faith. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Have you believed on the Lord Jesus? Do it today!

Forgiveness Made A Way

Saturday night, October 15th, I attended a Christian concert with my wife and two of our close friends at the Lied Center located on the campus of the University of Kansas. The concert featured the David Crowder Band but I was most blessed by an artist named Chris August. He is finding time on national broadcasts with a couple of big hits, "Starry Night" and "7x70". The song "7x70" is a story about his childhood experience of growing up in a broken home and finding freedom in the ability to forgive. Here are the lyrics to that song...
Lyrics to 7x70 :

I’ve been living in this house here
Since the day that I was born

I’ve been living in this house here
Since the day that I was born
These walls have seen me happy
But most of all they’ve seen me torn
They’ve heard the screaming matches
That made a family fall apart
They’ve had a front row seat
To the breaking of my heart

7 times 70 times
I’ll do what it takes to make it right
I thought the pain was here to stay
But forgiveness made a way
7 times 70 times
There’s healing in the air tonight
I’m reaching up to pull it down
Gonna wrap it all around

I remember running down the hallway
Playing hide-and-seek
I didn’t know that I was searching
For someone to notice me
I felt alone and undiscovered
And old enough to understand
Just when I’m s’posed to be learning to love you
Let me doubt again

7 times 70 times
I’ll do what it takes to make it right
I thought the pain was here to stay
But forgiveness made a way
7 times 70 times
There’s healing in the air tonight
I’m reaching up to pull it down
Gonna wrap it all around

I lost count of the ways you let me down
But no matter how many times you weren’t around
I’m all right now

God picked up my heart and helped me through
And shined a light on the one thing left to do
And that’s forgive you
I forgive you

7 times 70 times
If that’s the cost I’ll pay the price
7 times 70 times
I’ll do what it takes to make it right
I thought the pain was here to stay
But forgiveness made a way

7 times 70 times
There’s healing in this house tonight
I’m reaching up to pull it down
Gonna wrap it all around
Yeah
I’m gonna wrap it all around

I’ve been living in this house here
Since the day that I was born

 

 

Of course, August got the song title from the answer that Jesus gave his disciples after they asked Him how many times should they forgive a brother who offends them. I think the words that struck me the most was the line that says...

God picked up my heart and helped me through
And shined a light on the one thing left to do
And that’s forgive you
I forgive you

Forgiveness is uniquely a "God thing" it is not a human characteristic and that is why August went on to say ...

"I'm reaching up to pull it down"! I hope you have experienced the forgiveness of sins that only Christ can supply and I hope you are using the gift of forgiveness in your personal relationships. I'm gonna wrap it all around!



Forgiveness Provides Confidence In The Hour Of Crisis

University of Kansas Medical Center

The knowledge that you have been unconditionally forgiven and that the Lord God has removed your sins and cast them as far as the east is from the west can give a person great confidence when the storms of life are about to blow your house down.
This past week my brother received a phone call from the transplant team at the University of Kansas Med Center informing him that they had received a liver for his procedure. This was a particularly huge blessing because my brother's days on this earth were fast evaporating with each passing day. As we sat in his ICU room that night and listened to the doctor discuss the possible outcomes of this surgery we were confronted with the real possibility that he could lose his life in this difficult procedure. After a few hours of dialysis and just minutes from his departure for the operating room my brother made a very bold statement. He told his wife that "If this surgery doesn't go well tonite I know where I'm going". He went on to say "Regardless of how this surgery turns out it will be better for me". If the surgery was a success he would begin the long road to better health and if it was a failure he would be in the presence of the Lord!
How does a person acquire that kind of confidence? By trusting in what Jesus did on the cross and His resurrection from the dead as being sufficient payment for sin! My brother came to that faith and trust many years ago and his confidence has not wavered. Maybe you're going through a particularly difficult time in your life, do you have that kind of unshakeable confidence? If not, trust Jesus today.

1 John 5:13

King James Version (KJV)

 ¹³These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.