March 15, 2025 • 32 mins
The Cross of Christ stands at the central crossroads of all human history—a singular moment that forever altered the relationship between God and humanity. Yet how do we adequately express the depth and significance of what happened during those hours of suffering and sacrifice?
This message delves into the heart of God's kingdom by examining its most pivotal moment: the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Like "a Coke bottle full of pennies all wanting to spill out at once," there's an overwhelming fullness to this truth that defies simple explanation. The Roman cross—designed as a mechanism of torture and public humiliation—became God's chosen instrument to demonstrate the limitless extent of divine love.
What compelled Jesus to endure such suffering? Scripture tells us it was "for the joy set before him"—not merely the joy of returning to His heavenly position, but the profound anticipation of sharing His divine life with us throughout eternity. When Jesus looked at humanity, He saw beings worth dying for, worth suffering for, worth creating a path to relationship with, regardless of the personal cost.
The crucifixion represents far more than a historical event to be commemorated. It serves as the divine solution to humanity's fundamental problem: the condition of sin that brings death and rebellion against God. Through Christ's sacrifice, we witness the ultimate covenant exchange—our sin becoming His, His divine life becoming ours. No human effort could break these chains; only the blood of Jesus could liberate us from the compulsions and destructive patterns that damage our lives and relationships.
Following Christ means journeying to the cross, through the cross, and beyond—into resurrection life and our true identity seated with Him in heavenly places. What appeared as defeat to human eyes was actually the seed of unstoppable kingdom power. Three days after what seemed like failure, resurrection revealed the greatest victory in cosmic history.
Have you experienced this transformation from citizen of death to citizen of God's kingdom? Are you living in the freedom Christ purchased at such tremendous cost? This message invites you to look into the passionate eyes of Jesus and hear Him say, "I love you. I did this for you."
Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved!
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearoundthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life.
Shalom to you and your home.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Folks, I have been expressing, in various ways and
in various settings for the past50 plus years, the gospel of
(00:24):
God's kingdom, of the Lord JesusChrist, of the love of God that
he has for us, and every time,every time, every time I get to
(00:49):
this particular place inconveying that, it feels like my
mind is full of thoughts andthey all want to be released at
the same time, like a Cokebottle full of pennies and they
(01:18):
all want to empty out at thesame time, finding the exact
words to say, because every wordthat comes out of my mouth
seems close.
But there's so much more towhat's going on both within and
(01:46):
behind one, attempting to seeand I'm specifically referring
to the cross and Jesus Christoffering his life as a love
sacrifice for us on that crossthat mechanism of torture and
(02:17):
death perfected by the Romanculture of that particular time.
It was a heinous way ofexecuting someone, and yet that
was the way in which God choseto demonstrate the depth of his
(02:42):
love for us, the degree to whichhe would go in order for us to
have relationship with him.
And here we are again.
Here I am again.
(03:02):
Here we are again.
Here I am again concerning thekingdom of God being compelled
to convey the cross and JesusChrist offering his life on the
cross, the event that took placeon the cross and the events
(03:25):
that took place on the cross andthe events that took place
after his death on the cross,but him going to the cross on
our behalf.
(03:50):
There's so much love that'sthere For the joy.
The scriptures say, for the joy, for the joy set before him.
He, jesus, endured the cross.
What was that joy?
(04:12):
That joy must be him beingexalted to the place of his
divinity and being supremeoverall, granted, that being
true.
But the joy set before him wasthe fact that he was going to
share his life with the peoplethat had his life in them, the
(04:34):
divine life of God.
He was going to have a bridethat he was going to share that
life with throughout eternity.
That's us.
He saw us and he said because Iwant relationship with them,
because he wants relationshipwith you, he determined ahead of
(05:01):
time that he was going to seeto it that the way would be made
, regardless of the cost, thatwe would have relationship with
him.
And he did.
(05:24):
And he did, and he did in orderto defeat something that had
been defeating mankind since itsinception, since its
introduction.
The introduction was sin, thatthree-letter word sin, or
whatever language you're using,the letters that make up that
(05:45):
word sin or whatever languageyou're using, the letters that
make up that word sin.
The entrance of sin into theequation has affected
relationship with God from thatpoint, and that there was going
to be a point in time in whichGod was going to make a way for
(06:18):
us to have relationship with him, in which we were going to
become partakers of his divinenature, not just observers of
who he is, but participating inhis very nature of him, offering
(06:57):
his only begotten son as asacrifice, as a blood, covenant
sacrifice in order to eradicatesin.
Sin Because sin, with itsintroduction, brought with it
death, a condition known asdeath, so that every person that
was born on planet Earth wasborn with a condition known as
(07:24):
sin and with that, an ultimateconsequence of being there is
death.
And with that death there was arebellion, a nature that was
(07:45):
rebellious, resistant toward God, people born with that, and the
only way to eradicate that wasgoing to be through a covenant
relationship with God, where Godwould say what's yours becomes
(08:13):
mine, even the sin.
And from his end, what is hisbecomes ours, even his divine
life, that divine exchange.
We become born again ascitizens free from sin,
(08:35):
victorious over it, by virtue ofthe sacrifice that Jesus paid
for on the cross, and then hisvictorious resurrection from the
dead.
From the dead, the powers ofdeath could not hold him.
He defeated them and, as proof,he rose from the dead.
(08:56):
He rose up from the dead,resurrected from the dead and
ascended now to the right handof God, soon to come again.
We are called into relationshipwith not just a mighty God, but
a God who is so moved by lovethat the passion that he has for
(09:21):
you knows no limit, even to thepoint of him shedding his own
blood so that there would be aremoval of that bondage, that
obsessive thing that goes oninside of your life, that thing
(09:43):
that just doesn't want to stopon its own.
You can't try as hard as youtry.
You can try, and you can't tryhard enough to make it stop.
You still do it, it stillhappens, it's still there.
Blood of Jesus paid for that,so that you don't have to be in
bondage to that, that way oflife, that compulsion to be
(10:08):
rebellious, that compulsion todo things that are damaging to
your own mind, to your own body,to those around you, those
things that damage things, thedeath nature that goes along
with sin, is defeated by virtueof Jesus Christ and placing
faith in him.
Where covenant is made with God, relationship is restored.
(10:37):
The cross If we just stop at thecross, we haven't gone far
enough.
But if we don't go to the cross, we haven't gone far enough.
But if we don't go to the cross, we haven't gone far enough
either.
We need to go all the way tothe cross, through the cross,
(11:02):
conquering death and ascendingwith Christ to the highest place
where we are seated with him,where our true identity is found
, securely hidden in him.
We're already there, we're onour way, and the process for us
(11:27):
getting there is one in which webecome sanctified, we become
perfected along the way.
We are victorious because hewas victorious.
When we follow him, we followin the steps of victory, but it
requires us following him andfollowing him to the cross, and
(11:49):
following him to the cross, andfollowing him through the cross,
and following him toresurrection life and following
him into ascension life.
But the cross, the cross, thepassion of God, to endure the
cross Now, to dwell on the cross, is very sadistic.
(12:23):
Sadistic, but to see it forwhat it's worth meaning, to see
it for what really, really,really really took place, is
absolutely necessary Tounderstand the depth to which
(12:45):
Jesus went in order for us tohave relationship with God.
And in studying the kingdom ofGod, the rule and reign of God,
we can't avoid the cross.
In fact, it's central.
The cross of Jesus is centralto the message of those of us
who have faith in him, those ofus who have relationship with
(13:07):
him, those of us who have arelationship with him, those of
us who call ourselvesChrist-like, born again,
citizens of the kingdom of God.
The cross carries with it acentral part of our conversation
(13:27):
, and not just our conversationour way of life, our thinking,
our way of life, our doing, ourway of life, our being.
The cross, and the cross beingthe very tool that would cause
(14:00):
anyone else to literally turnand go the other way.
If that were the cost for themto have a relationship with me,
if it were important for someoneelse, in order to have a
relationship with me and me withthem, that they would need to
(14:21):
shed their blood and go throughthe crucifixion process on the
cross, how many people do youthink would do that.
I know for one I wouldn't dothat.
On my own relationship withsomeone else.
I would say see you when I seeyou.
(14:45):
Wouldn't want to be you,unfortunate.
I might not be that cavalier,but you get the point.
But Jesus, jesus, jesus, jesus.
Jesus, our Lord and our Savior.
Jesus looked at the cross, thatpool of torment, and said I'm
(15:10):
going to demonstrate my strengththrough my weakest moment.
And he did.
God made an open spectacle ofthe powers of darkness when his
(15:31):
son was at his weakest moment,the last drop of blood being
shed and Jesus giving up hisspirit.
His body was at its absoluteweakest, but it was at that
point that his strength wouldbecome manifest.
(16:01):
And in manifesting his strength, he was going to give that
strength to us, and does givethat strength to us, gives us
identity, gives us the abilityto see and know who we are.
But the cross, that thing, thenight in which he was betrayed
(16:26):
betrayed literally, betrayed,betrayed Literally.
Having someone who worked withhim, ate with him, traveled with
him, was part of his innercircle.
He was going to betray him andhave him handed over to the
(16:49):
Roman government so that hecould be then tried by a Jewish
community, who handed him overagain to the Roman government,
who determined that he would becrucified.
Who handed him over again tothe Roman government, who
(17:11):
determined that he would becrucified.
An innocent, perfect man wasgoing to be betrayed.
What would you do if you knewit ahead of time that you were
going to be betrayed by one ofyour close inner circle people
(17:33):
and by then betraying you?
You're going to be handed overand you're going to be found
guilty in a mock trial, amockery.
What would you do?
I don't know what I would do.
(17:54):
I would be thinking of how do Iget out of here as quickly as
possible and into a safe place,or how many troops can I call in
to put an end to this nonsense.
But that wasn't it.
(18:14):
That wasn't the purpose, thatwasn't the plan, that wasn't
part of the plan.
But the cross was right there.
The cross was there as anopportunity for Jesus to say
(18:35):
everyone's got their limits andthis is mine.
I loved you up to that point,but there's got to be another
way.
But there was no other way,there was no other alternative.
(18:55):
There was no other way.
You see, I want to express inwhat I'm saying, I want to
express the love that is justbursting out of my heart right
now, the love that I feel fromGod, the willingness that I feel
(19:17):
from God, the fact that helooked at it as being something
that wasn't really evenmeasurable.
He had already counted the costand said that I'm worth it,
that I am worth it, that you'reworth it, that we are worth it.
He said you're worth it.
So he was betrayed and then hewas handed over Jesus, a man, a
(19:45):
literal man in his 30s, in theprime of his life, a man who
could have literally called uponthe angels of heaven and had
them come in military force andpower and do some major damage
(20:09):
to set him free.
They were at his back and call,and he didn't, because that's
not how he was going todemonstrate his power.
You see, the kingdom of Israel,in its introduction, looks so
(20:34):
small.
It looks so insignificant, likea mustard seed, like a seed
that you plant in the ground.
It doesn't look that large,like a little bit of leaven that
you put to leaven a big bunchof big batch of dough.
That that's the kingdom, butthe power that is within it, ha
(21:06):
ha ha.
Jesus dying on the cross lookedlike it was a defeat.
I mean, like, really, that'swhat the that's what all the
(21:27):
climactic event was all aboutwas a man being falsely accused
and his ministry came to an endbecause some people falsely
accused him and had himannihilated.
(21:48):
And a story right?
And a story Rather like amustard seed.
It's rather small.
Ah, come on Three days.
Three days later, jesus rosefrom the dead, firstborn from
(22:18):
among the dead of many who wouldfollow, that's us.
God now will demonstrate hiskingdom in great power.
Because of the cross, jesussaid that if he would be lifted
(22:44):
up he would draw all men untohim.
Well, he definitely got liftedup on the cross.
And now we lift him up in ourpraise, in our exaltation of him
, in our proclamation of who heis the supremacy of Jesus Christ
(23:04):
, who died on the cross, who isdead and buried and on the third
day rose again from the dead,who ascended to heaven and is
now seated at the right hand ofGod, our Father, soon to come
(23:24):
again.
We have the cross to look atand say hey, even though our
(23:45):
logical minds go tilt, go tilt,our inner man, who becomes the
recipient of newness of life,says yes.
(24:07):
Charles Wesley said in his hymn,amazing Love.
Thine eye speaking of God's eye, thine eye diffused a
quickening ray.
All of a sudden, my dungeonflamed with light.
(24:30):
My chains fell off and I wasfree.
I rose, went forth to followthee.
Amazing love, how can it bethat thou, my God, shouldst die
for me?
In the next few episodesconcerning the passion of Jesus,
(24:58):
concerning him facing the cross, concerning him dying on the
cross, concerning hisresurrection from the dead and
his ascension, they're going tobecome central to the kingdom of
(25:23):
God, teachings that we havebeen looking at over the course
of the past few weeks.
We're going to be focusing inon the cross of Christ.
In fact, it's going to find avery central place to all that
(25:43):
we say and do.
The Apostle Paul said at onepoint he said I took a group of
people.
He goes.
When I came, I didn't come witheloquence of speech, but I came
in the demonstration of thespirit and power and the message
that I had was this Christ andhim crucified.
That's all I knew, that's all Icould say, that's all I could
(26:04):
talk about was Christ and himcrucified.
Something happens when we dothat.
Something happens.
Something happened to me,something happened to me.
Well, I really heard thatmessage and the Spirit of God
made that alive and I realizedhow lost I was at the age of 13.
I mean, how lost could you getat the age of 13?
(26:28):
No, I saw the lostness ofmankind and I was part of
mankind.
And I saw my lostness ofmankind and I was part of
mankind and I saw my loss.
I saw that I was on a coursethat was literally.
The end result was going to bedeath, the world of the dead,
(26:48):
hades.
I saw it, I knew it, and then Iwas offered a free gift that
was eternal life.
Eternal life as a result ofwhat Jesus did on the cross, and
(27:10):
if I could believe that he didthat for me, it would be counted
unto me as righteousness and Iwould be saved.
That has taken place and thatproduced an experience within my
life that no one can take away.
That experience is that I amborn again.
(27:31):
I was transformed from theinside out.
I was once a citizen of death,a citizen of this world system,
and now I'm a citizen of thekingdom of God, a son of
righteousness, part of the brideof Christ.
Hallelujah, free at last, freeat last, free at last.
(27:55):
Thank God, thank God, I'm freeat last.
So we're going to be focusingon the cross Now.
I know that perhaps some of ushave heard dismal messages
concerning it and spoken in thewrong way.
Without the power of the Spiritof God, they can be absolutely
dismal, but with the anointingthat comes upon men, women and
(28:30):
children who express the messageof the cross and the good news
concerning the kingdom,involving what took place on the
cross and the resurrection,there's a power that's released,
that is unsurpassed and for usto focus our attention and to
appreciate, to appreciateexactly what Jesus did and what
(28:55):
it was that he faced.
Sometimes we have to see.
I know I saw.
I saw in a vision, the firsttime I really saw.
In a vision.
I saw the face of a man who wasso marred, his beard was pulled
out in so many differentdirections.
His face was so swollen itwasn't black or blue, it was
purple, not black, not blue,purple, not even purple and his
(29:21):
passion, the passion that was inhis eyes when he looked at me
and said I love you, I did thisfor you.
It so moved me, it reduced meto a man who couldn't stand up.
It wasn't until I tried tokneel down.
I just fell down at his feetlike I was dead, and then he
(29:46):
said get up.
And it's filled me with thespirit.
And now, here I am, claiming thegood news of Jesus Christ and
of him crucified, and we'regoing to focus on this because
it's part of the message, thegood news of the kingdom of God
(30:08):
that's come to earth.
Let's pray.
That's come to earth was free.
Father, father, father, god,thank you.
Thank you for who you are, forwhat you're doing, how you've
done things, why you've donethings, why you're doing things,
how you have reached into ourlives and are transforming them
(30:32):
from the inside out.
Holy Spirit, continue to fixour eyes upon Jesus so we can
look full in his wonderful faceand that the things of this
world would grow strangely dimin the light of his glory and
(30:53):
grace.
And we stand here in his name.
We declare to be so in Jesus'name.
Amen, amen, amen, amen.
All right, folks, I love you.
If you have any other thoughts,questions, concerns, please
feel free to drop us a line attheliferonthefire at gmailcom.
(31:15):
That's liferondthefire.
All one word, all lowercaseletters liferondthefire at
gmailcom.
We would love to hear from you.
Type your name or, excuse me,type liferondthefire in on the
web and look us up, drop us anote.
We would love to hear from youagain.
As I said in the meantime, godbless you.
(31:35):
Adios amigos.
Folks, I have been expressing, in various ways and
in various settings for the past50 plus years, the gospel of
(00:24):
God's kingdom, of the Lord JesusChrist, of the love of God that
he has for us, and every time,every time, every time I get to
(00:49):
this particular place inconveying that, it feels like my
mind is full of thoughts andthey all want to be released at
the same time, like a Cokebottle full of pennies and they
(01:18):
all want to empty out at thesame time, finding the exact
words to say, because every wordthat comes out of my mouth
seems close.
But there's so much more towhat's going on both within and
(01:46):
behind one, attempting to seeand I'm specifically referring
to the cross and Jesus Christoffering his life as a love
sacrifice for us on that crossthat mechanism of torture and
(02:17):
death perfected by the Romanculture of that particular time.
It was a heinous way ofexecuting someone, and yet that
was the way in which God choseto demonstrate the depth of his
(02:42):
love for us, the degree to whichhe would go in order for us to
have relationship with him.
And here we are again.
Here I am again.
(03:02):
Here we are again.
Here I am again concerning thekingdom of God being compelled
to convey the cross and JesusChrist offering his life on the
cross, the event that took placeon the cross and the events
(03:25):
that took place on the cross andthe events that took place
after his death on the cross,but him going to the cross on
our behalf.
(03:50):
There's so much love that'sthere For the joy.
The scriptures say, for the joy, for the joy set before him.
He, jesus, endured the cross.
What was that joy?
(04:12):
That joy must be him beingexalted to the place of his
divinity and being supremeoverall, granted, that being
true.
But the joy set before him wasthe fact that he was going to
share his life with the peoplethat had his life in them, the
(04:34):
divine life of God.
He was going to have a bridethat he was going to share that
life with throughout eternity.
That's us.
He saw us and he said because Iwant relationship with them,
because he wants relationshipwith you, he determined ahead of
(05:01):
time that he was going to seeto it that the way would be made
, regardless of the cost, thatwe would have relationship with
him.
And he did.
(05:24):
And he did, and he did in orderto defeat something that had
been defeating mankind since itsinception, since its
introduction.
The introduction was sin, thatthree-letter word sin, or
whatever language you're using,the letters that make up that
(05:45):
word sin or whatever languageyou're using, the letters that
make up that word sin.
The entrance of sin into theequation has affected
relationship with God from thatpoint, and that there was going
to be a point in time in whichGod was going to make a way for
(06:18):
us to have relationship with him, in which we were going to
become partakers of his divinenature, not just observers of
who he is, but participating inhis very nature of him, offering
(06:57):
his only begotten son as asacrifice, as a blood, covenant
sacrifice in order to eradicatesin.
Sin Because sin, with itsintroduction, brought with it
death, a condition known asdeath, so that every person that
was born on planet Earth wasborn with a condition known as
(07:24):
sin and with that, an ultimateconsequence of being there is
death.
And with that death there was arebellion, a nature that was
(07:45):
rebellious, resistant toward God, people born with that, and the
only way to eradicate that wasgoing to be through a covenant
relationship with God, where Godwould say what's yours becomes
(08:13):
mine, even the sin.
And from his end, what is hisbecomes ours, even his divine
life, that divine exchange.
We become born again ascitizens free from sin,
(08:35):
victorious over it, by virtue ofthe sacrifice that Jesus paid
for on the cross, and then hisvictorious resurrection from the
dead.
From the dead, the powers ofdeath could not hold him.
He defeated them and, as proof,he rose from the dead.
(08:56):
He rose up from the dead,resurrected from the dead and
ascended now to the right handof God, soon to come again.
We are called into relationshipwith not just a mighty God, but
a God who is so moved by lovethat the passion that he has for
(09:21):
you knows no limit, even to thepoint of him shedding his own
blood so that there would be aremoval of that bondage, that
obsessive thing that goes oninside of your life, that thing
(09:43):
that just doesn't want to stopon its own.
You can't try as hard as youtry.
You can try, and you can't tryhard enough to make it stop.
You still do it, it stillhappens, it's still there.
Blood of Jesus paid for that,so that you don't have to be in
bondage to that, that way oflife, that compulsion to be
(10:08):
rebellious, that compulsion todo things that are damaging to
your own mind, to your own body,to those around you, those
things that damage things, thedeath nature that goes along
with sin, is defeated by virtueof Jesus Christ and placing
faith in him.
Where covenant is made with God, relationship is restored.
(10:37):
The cross If we just stop at thecross, we haven't gone far
enough.
But if we don't go to the cross, we haven't gone far enough.
But if we don't go to the cross, we haven't gone far enough
either.
We need to go all the way tothe cross, through the cross,
(11:02):
conquering death and ascendingwith Christ to the highest place
where we are seated with him,where our true identity is found
, securely hidden in him.
We're already there, we're onour way, and the process for us
(11:27):
getting there is one in which webecome sanctified, we become
perfected along the way.
We are victorious because hewas victorious.
When we follow him, we followin the steps of victory, but it
requires us following him andfollowing him to the cross, and
(11:49):
following him to the cross, andfollowing him through the cross,
and following him toresurrection life and following
him into ascension life.
But the cross, the cross, thepassion of God, to endure the
cross Now, to dwell on the cross, is very sadistic.
(12:23):
Sadistic, but to see it forwhat it's worth meaning, to see
it for what really, really,really really took place, is
absolutely necessary Tounderstand the depth to which
(12:45):
Jesus went in order for us tohave relationship with God.
And in studying the kingdom ofGod, the rule and reign of God,
we can't avoid the cross.
In fact, it's central.
The cross of Jesus is centralto the message of those of us
who have faith in him, those ofus who have relationship with
(13:07):
him, those of us who have arelationship with him, those of
us who call ourselvesChrist-like, born again,
citizens of the kingdom of God.
The cross carries with it acentral part of our conversation
(13:27):
, and not just our conversationour way of life, our thinking,
our way of life, our doing, ourway of life, our being.
The cross, and the cross beingthe very tool that would cause
(14:00):
anyone else to literally turnand go the other way.
If that were the cost for themto have a relationship with me,
if it were important for someoneelse, in order to have a
relationship with me and me withthem, that they would need to
(14:21):
shed their blood and go throughthe crucifixion process on the
cross, how many people do youthink would do that.
I know for one I wouldn't dothat.
On my own relationship withsomeone else.
I would say see you when I seeyou.
(14:45):
Wouldn't want to be you,unfortunate.
I might not be that cavalier,but you get the point.
But Jesus, jesus, jesus, jesus.
Jesus, our Lord and our Savior.
Jesus looked at the cross, thatpool of torment, and said I'm
(15:10):
going to demonstrate my strengththrough my weakest moment.
And he did.
God made an open spectacle ofthe powers of darkness when his
(15:31):
son was at his weakest moment,the last drop of blood being
shed and Jesus giving up hisspirit.
His body was at its absoluteweakest, but it was at that
point that his strength wouldbecome manifest.
(16:01):
And in manifesting his strength, he was going to give that
strength to us, and does givethat strength to us, gives us
identity, gives us the abilityto see and know who we are.
But the cross, that thing, thenight in which he was betrayed
(16:26):
betrayed literally, betrayed,betrayed Literally.
Having someone who worked withhim, ate with him, traveled with
him, was part of his innercircle.
He was going to betray him andhave him handed over to the
(16:49):
Roman government so that hecould be then tried by a Jewish
community, who handed him overagain to the Roman government,
who determined that he would becrucified.
Who handed him over again tothe Roman government, who
(17:11):
determined that he would becrucified.
An innocent, perfect man wasgoing to be betrayed.
What would you do if you knewit ahead of time that you were
going to be betrayed by one ofyour close inner circle people
(17:33):
and by then betraying you?
You're going to be handed overand you're going to be found
guilty in a mock trial, amockery.
What would you do?
I don't know what I would do.
(17:54):
I would be thinking of how do Iget out of here as quickly as
possible and into a safe place,or how many troops can I call in
to put an end to this nonsense.
But that wasn't it.
(18:14):
That wasn't the purpose, thatwasn't the plan, that wasn't
part of the plan.
But the cross was right there.
The cross was there as anopportunity for Jesus to say
(18:35):
everyone's got their limits andthis is mine.
I loved you up to that point,but there's got to be another
way.
But there was no other way,there was no other alternative.
(18:55):
There was no other way.
You see, I want to express inwhat I'm saying, I want to
express the love that is justbursting out of my heart right
now, the love that I feel fromGod, the willingness that I feel
(19:17):
from God, the fact that helooked at it as being something
that wasn't really evenmeasurable.
He had already counted the costand said that I'm worth it,
that I am worth it, that you'reworth it, that we are worth it.
He said you're worth it.
So he was betrayed and then hewas handed over Jesus, a man, a
(19:45):
literal man in his 30s, in theprime of his life, a man who
could have literally called uponthe angels of heaven and had
them come in military force andpower and do some major damage
(20:09):
to set him free.
They were at his back and call,and he didn't, because that's
not how he was going todemonstrate his power.
You see, the kingdom of Israel,in its introduction, looks so
(20:34):
small.
It looks so insignificant, likea mustard seed, like a seed
that you plant in the ground.
It doesn't look that large,like a little bit of leaven that
you put to leaven a big bunchof big batch of dough.
That that's the kingdom, butthe power that is within it, ha
(21:06):
ha ha.
Jesus dying on the cross lookedlike it was a defeat.
I mean, like, really, that'swhat the that's what all the
(21:27):
climactic event was all aboutwas a man being falsely accused
and his ministry came to an endbecause some people falsely
accused him and had himannihilated.
(21:48):
And a story right?
And a story Rather like amustard seed.
It's rather small.
Ah, come on Three days.
Three days later, jesus rosefrom the dead, firstborn from
(22:18):
among the dead of many who wouldfollow, that's us.
God now will demonstrate hiskingdom in great power.
Because of the cross, jesussaid that if he would be lifted
(22:44):
up he would draw all men untohim.
Well, he definitely got liftedup on the cross.
And now we lift him up in ourpraise, in our exaltation of him
, in our proclamation of who heis the supremacy of Jesus Christ
(23:04):
, who died on the cross, who isdead and buried and on the third
day rose again from the dead,who ascended to heaven and is
now seated at the right hand ofGod, our Father, soon to come
(23:24):
again.
We have the cross to look atand say hey, even though our
(23:45):
logical minds go tilt, go tilt,our inner man, who becomes the
recipient of newness of life,says yes.
(24:07):
Charles Wesley said in his hymn,amazing Love.
Thine eye speaking of God's eye, thine eye diffused a
quickening ray.
All of a sudden, my dungeonflamed with light.
(24:30):
My chains fell off and I wasfree.
I rose, went forth to followthee.
Amazing love, how can it bethat thou, my God, shouldst die
for me?
In the next few episodesconcerning the passion of Jesus,
(24:58):
concerning him facing the cross, concerning him dying on the
cross, concerning hisresurrection from the dead and
his ascension, they're going tobecome central to the kingdom of
(25:23):
God, teachings that we havebeen looking at over the course
of the past few weeks.
We're going to be focusing inon the cross of Christ.
In fact, it's going to find avery central place to all that
(25:43):
we say and do.
The Apostle Paul said at onepoint he said I took a group of
people.
He goes.
When I came, I didn't come witheloquence of speech, but I came
in the demonstration of thespirit and power and the message
that I had was this Christ andhim crucified.
That's all I knew, that's all Icould say, that's all I could
(26:04):
talk about was Christ and himcrucified.
Something happens when we dothat.
Something happens.
Something happened to me,something happened to me.
Well, I really heard thatmessage and the Spirit of God
made that alive and I realizedhow lost I was at the age of 13.
I mean, how lost could you getat the age of 13?
(26:28):
No, I saw the lostness ofmankind and I was part of
mankind.
And I saw my lostness ofmankind and I was part of
mankind and I saw my loss.
I saw that I was on a coursethat was literally.
The end result was going to bedeath, the world of the dead,
(26:48):
hades.
I saw it, I knew it, and then Iwas offered a free gift that
was eternal life.
Eternal life as a result ofwhat Jesus did on the cross, and
(27:10):
if I could believe that he didthat for me, it would be counted
unto me as righteousness and Iwould be saved.
That has taken place and thatproduced an experience within my
life that no one can take away.
That experience is that I amborn again.
(27:31):
I was transformed from theinside out.
I was once a citizen of death,a citizen of this world system,
and now I'm a citizen of thekingdom of God, a son of
righteousness, part of the brideof Christ.
Hallelujah, free at last, freeat last, free at last.
(27:55):
Thank God, thank God, I'm freeat last.
So we're going to be focusingon the cross Now.
I know that perhaps some of ushave heard dismal messages
concerning it and spoken in thewrong way.
Without the power of the Spiritof God, they can be absolutely
dismal, but with the anointingthat comes upon men, women and
(28:30):
children who express the messageof the cross and the good news
concerning the kingdom,involving what took place on the
cross and the resurrection,there's a power that's released,
that is unsurpassed and for usto focus our attention and to
appreciate, to appreciateexactly what Jesus did and what
(28:55):
it was that he faced.
Sometimes we have to see.
I know I saw.
I saw in a vision, the firsttime I really saw.
In a vision.
I saw the face of a man who wasso marred, his beard was pulled
out in so many differentdirections.
His face was so swollen itwasn't black or blue, it was
purple, not black, not blue,purple, not even purple and his
(29:21):
passion, the passion that was inhis eyes when he looked at me
and said I love you, I did thisfor you.
It so moved me, it reduced meto a man who couldn't stand up.
It wasn't until I tried tokneel down.
I just fell down at his feetlike I was dead, and then he
(29:46):
said get up.
And it's filled me with thespirit.
And now, here I am, claiming thegood news of Jesus Christ and
of him crucified, and we'regoing to focus on this because
it's part of the message, thegood news of the kingdom of God
(30:08):
that's come to earth.
Let's pray.
That's come to earth was free.
Father, father, father, god,thank you.
Thank you for who you are, forwhat you're doing, how you've
done things, why you've donethings, why you're doing things,
how you have reached into ourlives and are transforming them
(30:32):
from the inside out.
Holy Spirit, continue to fixour eyes upon Jesus so we can
look full in his wonderful faceand that the things of this
world would grow strangely dimin the light of his glory and
(30:53):
grace.
And we stand here in his name.
We declare to be so in Jesus'name.
Amen, amen, amen, amen.
All right, folks, I love you.
If you have any other thoughts,questions, concerns, please
feel free to drop us a line attheliferonthefire at gmailcom.
(31:15):
That's liferondthefire.
All one word, all lowercaseletters liferondthefire at
gmailcom.
We would love to hear from you.
Type your name or, excuse me,type liferondthefire in on the
web and look us up, drop us anote.
We would love to hear from youagain.
As I said in the meantime, godbless you.
(31:35):
Adios amigos.
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