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April 8, 2007 Reason to Hope [message] [daily meditations] [MP3]
Friday afternoon and Friday night and all day Saturday as Jesus lay in the tomb, it looked for all the world like He was, at best, the victim of a great miscarriage of human justice. At worst, he appeared to be the victim of the unleashed demonic powers of Hell. But on Sunday morning ... that amazing, incredible and wonderful Sunday morning, the truth became very clear: Jesus wasn't the victim. Jesus was the victor.
April 15, 2007 "Excuse Me" [message] [MP3]
A "Christus Victor mentality" is the persistent and prevailing mindset that "I am what I am because of God unmerited favor (grace) in Christ ... and I can be everything He wants me to be ... and therefore I am empowered to act in responsible ways. I'm not a victim of my past. I am a victor."
April 22, 2007 The 8th Deadly Sin [message] [daily meditations] [MP3]
When people are overcome by sadness for a very long time, they starting thinking "what's the use?" And when they start thinking "what's the use?" they stop caring about themselves, they stop caring about others and they stop caring about God. And when they stop caring about themselves, others and God, there is no real motivation towards righteousness and morality – what we would call goodness.
April 29, 2007 Letting Go [message] [daily meditations] [MP3]
We've got to become biblically literate. We've got to become as informed about God's calling on our lives as we are about the Chiefs' draft choices yesterday; as in-the-know concerning the drama of redemption as we are concerning the latest episode of "24." And not because we somehow win spiritual brownie points with God based on the number of Bible verses we can recite but because victory depends on it.
May 6, 2007 Priceless [message] [daily meditations] [MP3]
Victims tend to see very little purpose in their suffering. Victors tend to see suffering as God’s way of bringing forth the life of Christ in them.