Richard Bandler tells a story about visiting a mental institution and dealing with a man who insisted he was Jesus Christ - not metaphorically, not in spirit, but in the flesh. One day Bandler walked in to meet this man. "Are you Jesus?" he said. "Yes, my son," the man replied. Bandler said, "I’ll be back in a minute." 
This left the man a little bit confused. Within three or four minutes, Bandler came back, holding a measuring tape. Asking the man to hold out his arms, Bandler measured the length of his arms and his height from head to toe. After that, Bandler left. The man claiming to be Christ became a little concerned.
A little while later, Bandler came back with a hammer, some large spiked nails, and a long set of boards. He began to pound them into the form of a cross. The man asked, "What are you doing?" As Richard put the last nails in the cross, he asked, "Are you Jesus?" Again the man said, "Yes my son." Bandler said, "Then you know why I’m here." 
Somehow, the man suddenly recalled who he really was. His old pattern didn’t seem like such a good idea. "I’m not Jesus. I’m not Jesus!" the man started yelling!

Starting on Sunday, March 11th, I will begin a sermon series on the cross of Jesus. As I began to pray and prepare a question kept coming to my mind, “Who was responsible for Jesus dying on the Cross?”

Was it the Romans?  Was it Pontius Pilate?  The Jewish mob? Herod? Judas Iscariot? Was it Satan himself? Perhaps you say it was us!  Hey, if it weren’t for our sin then He would not have needed to die. That’s right.
Fact is, there were many hands that had a part in holding the hammer which pounded the nails in Jesus’ hands. But what I’m asking is: Who was ULTIMATELY responsible for Jesus going to the Cross? Whose idea was it? 2 Corinthians 5:19 says, “That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself . . .” As I ponder that Scripture a thought comes to me, "GOD HIMSELF was responsible!" 

Let me see if I can make sense of this thought.
1. God sent His Son into the World. 
It all began with God. He saw our plight. He saw that we were helplessly and hopelessly lost in sin. We were cut off from any kind of relationship with Him. So He sent His only Son into the world on a dark but vital mission, behind enemy lines to purchase our salvation. From the glory of Heaven God sent Jesus
into the world so that the world might be saved through Him. 
 
2. God prepared Jesus for the Mission.
Isaiah 53:2a, "For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground."
Like a gardener, God planted His own seed in a virgin’s womb. He watched Him grow through childhood, into adolescence, into manhood - He grew up strong and holy. And all the while, God Himself was preparing Him for what He must do. He was preparing the tender plant to be cut down. For 33 years, God was preparing His Son for the mission.

3. God drew Jesus to the Cross.                                                                                                    When the time was right God summoned Jesus to Jerusalem. As He and His disciples travelled there He began to speak about dying. They didn’t understand it, but Jesus knew that He was being led by God into the final, all-important, conflict. 
Jesus wasn’t fooled by the crowd as He entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey (“Hosanna to the Son of
David”). He knew why He was there. By the end of the week everyone would desert Him and He would be crucified. 
It was the Father Who led Him into the garden where He would agonize over the task before Him. It was the Father Who led Him on to the trial and to the Cross.

4. God placed His Son on the Altar.                              
As Jesus hung there, suspended between earth and heaven, God’s hands came down, and He Himself wrung the precious blood of Jesus out on the ground. As the blood poured out on the ground, our penalty was being paid. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” He bore it all…all our shame, all our condemnation, all our grief - it was put on Him! 

Finally, Jesus cried out ,“It is finished.” At that time the mission was accomplished.  WHAT A SAVIOR!

The question is, “Why did God do all of this? Why did Jesus give Himself?”

The answer is, “Because He loves us that much!” John 3:16, “For God so love the God the world . . .” 

May we take time to meditate & remember HIS LOVE for us during this Lent season?  Remember, we are bought with an incredible price!

 God bless,
 Pastor Jim Asberry 


 
 

As I was driving down I.581 last night I noticed the large lighted heart that they  had placed on the side of Roanoke Memorial Hospital. I am not sure if they have  it there for the Heart Association or if it is there to celebrate Valentine Day  which is coming up. It doesn’t really matter except that it made me think about
the attribute of “love.’ During the month of February we often think of love  don’t we? Well, the Apostle Paul lists fifteen characteristics of Christian love  in 1 Corinthians 13.

1. Love is patient. The Greek word (makrothumein) means patience with people and not patience with circumstances. It describes the man who is slow to anger and it is used of God Himself in his relationship with men. Such patience is not the sign of weakness but the sign of strength.

2. Love is kind. Origin had it that this means that love is "sweet to all." So much Christianity is good but unkind. Sadly, many good people have an attitude of criticism. I wonder how many “church people’ would have sided with the Jewish Rulers and not with Jesus if they had had to deal with the woman caught in adultery?

3. Love knows no envy. I have heard it said that there are only two classes of people in this world--"those who are millionaires and those who would like to be."  Well, there are two kinds of envy as well…the one covets the possessions of other people. The other is worse…he grudges the fact that others should have what he doesn’t have; he doesn’t so much want things for himself as he wishes that
others had not got them at all!

4. Love is not boastful. Some people are in love with the idea that they are doing somebody a favor. But the real lover cannot ever get over the wonder that he is loved. Love is kept
humble!

5. Love is not proud. The really humble man doesn’t focus on his own importance. William Carey, who was once a shoe cobbler, became one of the greatest missionaries the world has ever seen. This man actually translated parts of the Bible into thirty-four Indian languages. When he came to India, he was regarded with contempt. Once, at a dinner party of a highly thought of man, someone asked in a
condescending tone, "Mr. Carey, did you once work as a shoe-maker?" "Oh no,"answered Carey, "not a
shoe-maker, only a cobbler!"  This great man of God didn’t even claim to make shoes--only to mend them.

6. Love is not rude. In Greek, the words for grace and for charm are the same. There should be graciousness in Christian love which never forgets that courtesy, tact and politeness are lovely things.

7. Love is not self-seeking. Most of our problems in life could be avoided if we would think less of our rights and more of our duties. Whenever we start thinking about "ourselves" and "our place" then we begin drifting away from Christian love.

8. Love is not easily angered. When we lose our tempers, we lose everything. Kipling said that it was the test of a man if he could keep his head when everyone else was losing his. The man who is master of his temper can be master of anything.

9. Love keeps no record of wrongs.The word translated keeps (logizesthai) is an accountant’s
word. It is the word used for entering up an item in a ledger so that it will  not be forgotten. Isn’t that what many people do?  Too many people brood over their wrongs until it is impossible to forget them. To
have Christian love is to have learned the great lesson of forgetting.

10. Love does not delight in evil. This is best understood as meaning, “love finds no pleasure in anything that is wrong.” Christian love should not find any pleasure in bad reports.

 11. Love rejoices with the truth. Christian love has no desire to hide the truth; it has nothing to hide and so is glad when the truth is revealed.

12. Love always protects. It is possible that this may mean "love can cover anything."  Christian
  love would rather mend things than display them in public.


13. Love always trust. This characteristic has a twofold meaning. (1) In relation to God, it means that
love takes God at His Word. (2) In relation to our fellow men, it means that love always believes the best about other people. 
 
14. Love always hopes.Hope here means to expect to know! Love "knows" that God has everything under His control and rests in that promise.

15. Love always perseveres. The verb used here (hupomenein) is translated to bear or to endure but what it really describes is not the spirit which can passively bear things, but the spirit which can conquer.
 
In verse 13, Paul writes three final things about Christian love as he ends this chapter.
1. Love never fails. The Song of Solomon 8:7 says "Many waters cannot quench love, rivers cannot wash it away." The one unconquerable thing is love. Barclay says "When love is entered into, there comes into life a relationship against which the assaults of time are helpless and which transcends death."

2. Love perfects us. Love makes us complete. (I John 4:12-18) Love matures us, it allows us to see ourselves as we truly are and God for Who He truly is. Love keeps us from acting like children only concerned for our own desires. It is a process which will not be complete until Christ’s return.

3. Love is supreme. Faith and hope are great but love is even greater! Faith without love is cold, and hope without love is grim. You see, love is the fire which kindles faith and it is the light which turns hope into certainty.

 God bless,

 Pastor
Jim Asberry

Can you believe it... We are 1/2 way thru January 2012 already! Something hit me the other day; I realized that this is the
century in which I will die. Might sound kind of morbid but I believe this thought holds out a tremendous challenge for us. You see, most of us will not live to the year 2100. So we are faced with the reality of what our tombstones will say. 19 something to 20 something. I like what H.J. Brown, “Be bold and courageous. When you look back on your life, you’ll regret the things
you didn’t do more than the ones you did.” 

There is a lot of truth in that statement. The areas of life we  omit are harder to accept forgiveness from God, from others and from ourselves for than some of the sins we commit. When we look back on life, we very well may  regret the things we didn’t do a whole lot more than we regret the things we did.

So, in 2012 may we take a step in the right direction and resolve to do things like: Spend more time with family; Exercise more; Read more; Eat healthier; Do more for the community; Be more involved in church; Take up a new hobby; Enjoy the outdoors
more; Show love to those around us; etc. All these things are good but if we were to narrow it all down –  if we were to do only one thing, and concentrate on it for the rest of our lives  – what should that one thing be?

Let me ask you, when it’s all said and  done, wouldn’t you like to have the peace and sense of satisfaction that comes from knowing you chose the right thing? What is this one thing? 
The answer is found in Colossians 4:2,“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” The word “devote” is also translated as “to adhere to, to persist in, or to busy one’s self with.”  When I learned that “devote” means  “busy yourself,”  I
asked myself some questions to see if this was true of me. To see if I was really devoted to prayer.

How about you. . .Are you devoted to prayer? Answer these questions to help determine your answer:
1. Yes / No   When others refer to you, are they likely to say, “He/She is a person of prayer?”
2. Yes / No   When you tell someone,“I’ve been busy,” is it primarily because you’ve busied yourself with prayer?
3. Yes / No   Do you find yourself daydreaming about the next extended period of time that you could be alone with God?
4. Which is more likely of you?
a) To say no to something because it would cut in on your prayer time.
OR
b) To skimp on prayer because you have a lot of other things going on.

Are you really devoted to prayer? I hope that by  answering those questions, many of you could say, “Yes”  because you busy yourselves with prayer.

If you are currently not devoted to prayer then let me give you 7 reasons why you should be:
1 - Because it’s our duty as  Christians. “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” (Romans 12:12)

2 - Because we are promised that God hears. "The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their
troubles.” (Psalm 34:17)

3 - Because we need to hear from God. “I wait for you, O Lord; you will answer, O Lord my God.” (Psalm 38:15)

 4 - Because we need strength in temptation. “But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

5 - Because we need to overcome our own  wills. The night before Jesus was put to death he prayed in the Garden of
  Gethsemane, he said, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.” But in the end he still wanted God’s will to be done. “Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39)

6 - Because we need help for what lies ahead. “Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me…” (Psalm 25:4-5)

 7 - Because unbroken communion with God is possible. “I’m an open book to you; even from a distance you know what I’m thinking. You know when I leave and  when I get back; I’m never out of your sight. You know everything I’m going to say before I start my first sentence. I look behind me and you’re there, then up ahead and you’re there too – your reassuring presence, coming and going. This is too much, too wonderful – I can not take it all in!”(Psalm 139:1-6, The Message)

So, if you want 2012 (and the rest of your life) life to be different. If you want to have the peace that comes from doing one thing and knowing you chose the right thing. If you want to know the joy that comes from doing something you may have been omitting and seeing the hopes and dreams for your spiritual life and communion with God become a reality – THEN DO THIS ONE THING… DEVOTE YOURSELF TO PRAYER.

Suggestions for doing this one thing:
A. Begin to take every thought to God. (First thing when you wake up, when you’re waiting somewhere in line or driving down
the road, when you’re working whisper to Him what’s on your mind. At the end of the day let your mind settle on Him and go to sleep in His arms – take every thought to him)

B. Develop a quality Quiet Time. (Get in God’s Word, take time to get alone and pray, use devotional books to give you direction)

C. Keep a running prayer list or a prayer journal. (We have some available if you need one.)

There are many good things that you could do in 2012, but if you do only one thing, then let it be devoting yourself to prayer.
 
God bless,

Pastor Jim Asberry
Vision Pastor