VICTORY OVER DEATH

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit.”  (1 Peter 3:18 ESV)

So many things in this world are private or restricted. You can be turned away because you don’t have a ticket, a membership, a reservation, an important friend, a recognizable name, the proper clothing, or a couple of C-notes to bribe the doorman. Not long ago, I showed up at a prestigious country club for a round of golf and was told that because I was wearing denim shorts, I’d have to come back some other time.

But when it comes to our Lord’s victory over death, there are no goons standing at the door to keep people out -- only Jesus to welcome us in. Hebrews 7:25 (NLT) says, “Therefore [Jesus] is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through Him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.”  

--  Adapted from “Free Refill: Coming Back for More of Jesus” by Mark Atteberry

#6290

THE GOD OF HOPE

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”  (Romans 15:13 NIV)

If you have no faith in the future, then you have no power in the present.  If you have no faith in the life beyond this life, then your present life is going to be powerless.  But if you believe in the future and are assured of victory, then there should be a dance in your step and a smile on your face.

-- Max Lucado

#5709

THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY GOOD NEWS

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son,…”  (John 3:16a NRSV)

Sometimes the hype and clichés of the season distract us. The clever marketing efforts succeed in making us desire tangible things we can hold in our hands and savor as gifts. However, marketing hype and catchy clichés cannot answer the deep questions of the heart, explain the mystery of God’s presence, or help us comprehend the meaning of our existence. Yet all these gifts are promised to us in the Advent Season.

Yes, it is true that God’s astounding and radical intervention in our human history cannot be contained in the tame and timid displays of Christmas lights, catchy slogans, or exchange of gifts. Advent confronts us once again with God’s unparalleled effort to communicate the message that all humankind is embraced and held close by a God of love. Jesus Christ has come, is present with us, and will come again in final victory when all darkness, pain, and evil will be no more. In Advent we begin again to try and make plain the wonderful truth of the most extraordinary good news the world has ever heard. Soon we will join the angelic chorus in singing, “Christ the Savior is born.”

“…so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.”  (John 3:16b NRSV) 

-- Adapted from the Introduction to “A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God” by Norman Shawchuck and Rueben P. Job

#5493

VICTORY IN JESUS

“Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie -- the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, He asked him, ‘Do you want to get well?’ ‘Sir,’ the invalid replied, ‘I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.’ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.”  (John 5:2-9 NIV)

Anyone who can be in a landscape of joy while maintaining immunity to it hasn’t come to the end of himself. He hasn’t experienced how good the good news really is. He should see that someone else’s victory over hopelessness is our own victory, because Christ has brought the same liberation to every single one of us willing to say yes, to stand, and to walk. Once we’ve been to the end of ourselves and the beginning of Christ, we share our victories together, and parties break out at unpredictable moments.

-- Kyle Idleman in “The End of Me: Where Real Life in the Upside-Down Ways of Jesus Begins”

#5400

LAST WORDS FROM THE CROSS

Jesus said, “It is finished.”  (John 19:30)

What was finished?

The history-long plan of redeeming man was finished. The message of God to man was finished. The works done by Jesus as a man on earth were finished. The task of selecting and training ambassadors was finished. The job was finished. The song was sung. The blood had been poured. The sacrifice had been made. The sting of death had been removed. It was over.

A cry of defeat? Hardly. Had His hands not been fastened down I dare say a triumphant fist would have punched the dark sky. No, this is no cry of despair. It is a cry of completion. A cry of relief. A roar of fulfillment. A shout of victory. 

-- Max Lucado in “The Cross: Selected Writings & Images”

#5330

BE NOT DISMAYED

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”  (Isaiah 41:10 NKJV)

By learning the suffering and burdens of [others], I became aware as never before of the life power that has survived the forces of darkness -- the power which, though never completely victorious, is continuously conquering. The very fact that we are still here carrying on the contest against the hosts of annihilation proves that on the whole the battle has gone for humanity. The world's great heart has proved equal to the prodigious undertaking which God set it. Rebuffed, but always persevering; self-reproached, but ever regaining faith; undaunted, tenacious, the heart of [humanity] labors towards immeasurably distant goals. Discouraged not by difficulties without, or the anguish of ages within, the heart listens to a secret voice that whispers: "Be not dismayed; in the future lies the Promised Land."

-- Helen Keller 

#4913

THE ULTIMATE TRIUMPH OF GOD’S WILL

Ultimately, hardship and suffering, evil and sin, will not have the final word… Isaiah 51:11 captures this well when God promises the Jewish exiles living in Babylon, who had absolutely no human reason to hope for a return to Zion, “The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads.” To those who had no hope, God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah, “I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.”  (Jeremiah 29:11)

We may not always live to see this hope fulfilled. The Jews were in exile for fifty years in Babylon, but they died with the hope that their descendants would return to Zion -- and they did!

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. concluded his final sermon, preached on the night before he was shot to death in Memphis, Tennessee, by drawing upon the biblical picture of Moses, standing on the mountaintop looking over the promised land just before his own death. King told his audience that he had been to the mountaintop. He, like Moses, had seen the promised land -- for King that was a land of freedom and equality for all people. But then King, in a prescient moment, told his audience that he might not enter the promised land with them. But he was not afraid. He was, in fact, happy because, “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!” That’s what faith in the God who will ultimately triumph looks like!  

-- Adam Hamilton in “Why?: Making Sense of God’s Will”

#4856

WHERE TRUE TRANSFORMATION BEGINS

Too many of us have lost a sense of expectancy that God will show up and transform our lives. Because of that disposition, we do not cry out with urgency or find ourselves willing to pay a price for revival to happen within us. In Ephesians 3:19, Paul prays that we would “know this love that surpasses knowledge -- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” To be filled with the fullness of God, we have to go beyond intellectual knowledge of the Lord and find intimacy in the presence of God. We need to hunger for more of God and seek Him with all our hearts. This is where the true transformation begins. Did Jesus die on the cross so we could feel and be just a little bit better on occasion? Was it for small victory or life-changing victory? Have we settled for less than God’s fullness in our lives and [churches]?

If God speaks into your heart and He lovingly humbles you, don’t run. Go to the Scriptures and pray, “Lord, through Your Holy Spirit, reveal Your truth to me, even if it’s painful. I am yours.” 

-- Madeline Carrasco Henners, from the book “Firm Foundation”

#4847

OUR TOUGH GOD

“Do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My victorious right hand.”  (Isaiah 41:10 NRSV)

We have a tough, problem-confronting, problem-solving God. He does not retreat from either the problems we have brought on ourselves or the problems life has dished out. And He wants to make us much tougher people. He wants to give us a new perspective on our problems, exercise our prayer muscles, and strengthen the fiber of our souls. Instead of wringing our hands in consternation or running away in panic, He wants to make us people He can use.

…He wants to transform our approach to problems. He wants us to think of ourselves as being men and women of valor because of His might at work in us. And He assures us that His abiding presence is available to help us tackle every problem with His strength and direction -- confident that problems are not a sign of His absence.

…We all have problems. That’s life. But we also have a Lord who not only helps us grow through our problems, but gives us the power to triumph over them.

-- Lloyd J. Ogilvie in “If God Cares, Why Do I Still Have Problems?”

#4376

IN GLORY

One of the most amazing teachings of the Scriptures is that in Jesus, God Himself knows the pain of surrender.  Jesus knelt in a garden and prayed, “Let this cup pass from Me.  Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours be done.” (Luke 22:42)  And just as surrender led to resurrection for Jesus, so it does for His followers.  The apostle Paul wrote, “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” (Colossians 3:3)

What does it mean that you will appear with Him “in glory”?  It means the day is coming when it will be a glorious thing to be you.  One of the noblest thoughts about God ever recorded by a human being came from Moses’ encounter on Mount Sinai.  Moses asked, “Now show me Your glory.” (Exodus 33:18)  We might expect special effects -- thunder and lighting and earthquakes and power.  But instead God said, “I will cause all My goodness to pass before you.”

The most glorious thing about God is how good He is.  One day you will share in that goodness.  Everything that is small or petty in you will be gone.  To glorify God means to be the kind of person people will look at and say, “What a great God God must be to have thought up such a creature!”

That will be you.  “In glory.”  Glorious.

The only way to glory is through humility.  The only way to freedom is through submission.  The only way to victory is through surrender.

-- John Ortberg in “The Me I Want To Be”

#4318

ALREADY BUT NOT YET

“And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”  (Philippians 1:6 NIV)

It has been said that Charles Wesley’s hymns always begin on earth and end in heaven. So it is with John Wesley’s theology. He was firmly convinced of the coming day of Christ, which is not yet, but toward which humankind, with the whole of creation, is moving. For Wesley, it was necessary to stress God’s ultimate victory; but it was also important to affirm the penultimate reality of God’s presence, now experienced as life that is drawn to God in increasingly focused love. John Wesley had a doctrine of final things, an eschatology, in which God’s Kingdom is being presently realized even as it points toward a consummating future. The Christian lives with the lively hope that God, who has begun a good thing, will fulfill it in the day of Jesus Christ.

-- Thomas Langford in “Practical Divinity”


#4167

THE ULTIMATE TRUE STORY

The gospel is the ultimate story that shows victory coming out of defeat, strength coming out of weakness, life coming out of death, rescue from abandonment. And because it is a true story, it gives us hope because we know that life is really like that.

-- Tim Keller

#4023

KNOW YOUR ENEMY

If you struggle with an addiction -- be it substance abuse, or pornography, or gambling, or whatever -- you certainly know by now that making a turnaround is not something that happens overnight. It takes a true change of heart and usually a good long time. Nothing easy about it.

But one of the changes that needs to occur is your ability to see these temptations for what they really are. The rush that draws you to want a drug or a drink or a wide-eyed drive on the Internet is not coming from a friendly camp. Yes, these alluring appeals show up with claims of sweet relief. They feel like something you want and need. But actually, they are more like an "arrow that flies by day," like a "pestilence that stalks in the darkness," like a "plague that destroys at midday" (Psalms 91:5-6). Whenever they show up -- morning, noon, and night, or all of the above -- they are hired killers. They are sent to destroy.

Read all sixteen verses of Psalms 91 with this kind of focus and mind-set. See if you don't spot some new names, accounts, and descriptions of what your battle is like every day. And see if you don't find hope in the powerful protection of your Lord and Savior, who can enable you to "tread upon the lion and the cobra . . . to trample the great lion and the serpent" (Psalms 91:13).

Know your enemy. Trust your God. Live your victory.

Prayer: Lord God, expose the teeth and sharp edges of every temptation that comes my way. Help me see them for what they are, and realize that I can only stay safe by stepping out of their path. Amen. 

-- Joe Gibbs, from “Two-Minute Drills with Coach Joe Gibbs"

#3966

A FULL AND SURE HOPE

(NOTE: Dr. J. Ellsworth Kalas, longtime pastor, author, and teacher, passed away yesterday. He was an inspiration to many. He lived and died with A FULL AND SURE HOPE of eternal life through Christ Jesus.)

Here's the good news about Easter.  The tomb was now full.  And it has been full ever since.

[Full of] victory, for instance.  One of Charles Wesley's great hymns challenges the domain of the tomb by a series of questions: "Where, O death, is now thy sting?... Where's thy victory, boasting grave?"  ("Christ the Lord Is Risen Today?")  Tombs have for so long declared themselves the ultimate winners; after all, no mortal escapes them!  But no longer.  We do indeed die, but with a sublime confidence that we will rise again.  We will win!  Our Lord has taken conquest of the grave, turning its emptiness into a habitation of victory.  The game we humans have been losing since Adam and Eve is now turned into victory.

And hope too.  The tomb is now full of hope.  During my nearly forty years as a parish pastor, I stood many hundreds of times at the open grave, speaking the words of committal, and knowing that as soon as our gathering left the cemetery, workers would lower the vault into the ground and would begin to throw dirt upon it.  But I conducted such "final rites" with hope.  As a fellow human being, I wanted often to weep with the mourners, and sometimes I did; I felt for their loss, particularly in those instances where death seemed to have come earlier than was its right.  But my tears were of sympathy, not of despair.  The tomb is now full of hope.  I remember my father pausing for the last time at the casket of my mother and saying quietly, "I'll see you in the morning, Mother," and I knew he was right.  Such is our hope.  Simple, yes; but full and sure.

-- J. Ellsworth Kalas in New Testament Stories from the Back Side

#3766

ALREADY ACCOMPLISHED

“The moment you began praying, a command was given.”  (Daniel 9:23)


This one revelation has the power to change your perspective on prayer.  It will inspire you to dream big, pray hard, and think long.  The answer is given long before it is revealed.  It’s not unlike the Jericho miracle when God said He had already given them the city, past tense.  Do you realize that the victory has already been won?  We’re still waiting for its future tense revelation, but the victory has already been won by means of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It is finished.  This isn’t just when God made good on grace; it is when God made good on every promise.  Every single one is yes in Christ.  Past tense.  Present tense.  Future tense.  The full revelation won’t happen until His return, the return that Daniel prophesied, but the victory has already been won, once and for all, for all time.


-- Mark Batterson in The Circle Maker




#3682

THE MESSAGE OF EASTER

I have heard that possums are smart animals. You wouldn’t think so because you hardly ever see one except when it’s dead on the road. There’s a joke that goes, “why did the chicken cross the road? To prove to the possum that it could be done!” But possums, it turns out, are smart. They won’t enter a hole if there’s just one set of tracks going into it. They know there’s something in there. But if there are two sets of tracks. The possum will enter and not be afraid.

The message of Easter is that we can enter the grave - we don’t have to fear death because there are tracks leading out of the tomb. Paul preached the proclamation of Easter - "'Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?' The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." This is the message that we need to hear at Easter! Jesus is risen!

-- Author Unknown


#3420

NO APRIL FOOL'S JOKE

"We live in a culture where death rules like a lord. Ever since Adam, death has claimed to have the last word. But a victory has been won. Christ has put death behind Him. We share that victory. When we die with Christ, we are raised in Him and live with Him. Now we laugh at death, for the sting is gone. Death is not lord; JESUS IS LORD." (Richard Wilke in DISCIPLE: Becoming Disciples Through Bible Study)

Last Friday, March 29, was the anniversary of our son Dustin's death in 1998. Last Friday was also Good Friday. 1998 we buried our son on a Good Friday. On Good Friday it seemed like "death has claimed to have the last word." But now on Easter Monday -- whether 15 years ago or today -- we can claim that Christ has won the victory.  "Death is not lord; JESUS IS LORD." And that's no April Fool's Joke!

This SOUND BITES Ministry™ was begun on the first anniversary of Dustin's death as a way to keep his memory alive and to proclaim that "when we die with Christ, we are raised in Him and live with Him." So on this 14^th anniversary, as we have done each year, we invite you to share how SOUND BITES has ministered to you and how you have used SOUND BITES to minister to others. Since SOUND BITES is now available via e-mail, blog or Facebook, you are welcome to respond through any of those means.

Easter blessings…

Rev. Dave Wilkinson
SOUND BITES Ministry™


#3090

BLESSED ASSURANCE

"Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life."  (1 John 5:12-13 NIV)

What is unique about the kingdom of God is that you are assured of victory.  You have won!  You are assured that you will someday stand before the face of God and see the King of kings.  You are assured that someday you will enter a world where there will be no more pain, no more tears, no more sorrow. 

-- Max Lucado


#3059

CROSSING THE GOAL LINE

Here are the key ingredients to making a difference…

Have a mission in life. You have to be a part of something bigger than yourself. Get involved in making life better for people. Adopt a needy child or become a foster parent. Be a coach or a tutor to inner-city kids or run for school board.

Seek out and surround yourself with great role models. Frankly, I don't like hanging around mediocrity. I don't want my mind affected by a "just good enough" attitude. When you're on a team with great people, everyone in the group motivates and inspires each other to work their hardest and be the best.

Work hard. It may mean taking extra classes, doing more reading, watching less TV. If you really want it -- whatever "it" is -- you'll get it done. If you don't get it done, then you don't really want it, you just wish you had it.

Be bold, be daring, be courageous. If you want to win big, you've got to take some calculated risks. If you care enough about serving Jesus Christ, then you don't worry so much about what other people might say about you or do to you.

Be persistent. Very few touchdowns are made with a single 99-yard pass. Most come at the end of a 10- or 15-down drive made up of five- and three-yard gains, even some lost yards. If you don't hang in there, you'll never get to cross the goal line and do the Lambeau leap! But if you're persistent, ain't nobody gonna stop you.

-- Reggie White in Men of Integrity magazine, September/October 2002, Vol. 5, No. 5


#2706

WE'VE ALREADY WON!

Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life." (John 5:24 NIV)

Soon after moving to Cleveland, Ohio in 1985 I took my dad and my son to a Cleveland Browns and Green Bay Packers football game. My son rooted for the Browns and my dad rooted for the Packers. Having lived in Wisconsin for 34 years I had a loyalty to the Packers, but also had some allegiance to the home team. I sat between my dad and my son and found myself cheering for both teams.

I remember hearing the story of someone who had followed the Browns for many years. When asked how this fan dealt with all the frustrations of dropped passes, missed field goals, fumbles, and "three yards and a cloud of dust," the man had this reply. He said that he would video tape all of the games and would not watch them until he learned of the outcome. If the Browns lost the game, he erased the tape. But if they won, then he popped the videotape in and watched every play. When the Browns lost yardage, or fumbled, or did any of those things that would make most Browns' fans cringe, this fellow just laughed. He knew that no matter how bad things looked at the moment for the Browns, they had won the game.

What a perspective! As Christians we need to have that same attitude. Christ has already won the game. Christ has already made us winners through what He did for us on the cross given to us through our belief in Him. We are champions in the game of life. Now, let's act like it!

-- Rev. David T. Wilkinson


#2704