June 4, 2025 • 34 mins
The words of a dying man reveal his true character. When that man is Jesus Christ, those words become a profound testament to divine love and purpose that continues to transform lives two thousand years later.
Hanging on a cross after enduring false accusations, mockery, and brutal torture, Jesus didn't respond with anger or despair. Instead, his seven statements revealed a mind still completely focused on his mission—bringing redemption to humanity. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" were his first recorded words, demonstrating extraordinary compassion even for those driving nails through his flesh.
This episode explores how Jesus wasn't a victim of circumstance but made a deliberate choice to go to the cross "before creation was ever created." His decision wasn't motivated by some mystical obligation but by pure love—a desire to bridge the separation between humanity and God. We examine how Jesus' words to the thief beside him show salvation requires nothing but recognition of who Jesus is, while his care for Mary reveals the establishment of a new spiritual family transcending blood relations.
Most poignantly, we unpack Jesus' cry of "My God, why have you forsaken me?"—the moment when he who knew perfect communion with the Father experienced our separation, bearing the weight of humanity's sin. This wasn't merely suffering; it was the culmination of a divine strategy to defeat the powers of darkness and create a new reality where we can walk in freedom.
What decisions are shaping your life today? Like Jesus, you're not where you are by accident but through countless choices. His sacrifice invites us into a relationship that transforms our decision-making and empowers us to live with divine purpose. Join us in exploring how the words spoken from the cross continue to create new life and possibility within us today.
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):
when he stopped and considered the fact that Jesus,
having gone through a whirlwindof activity for over 12 hours,
from the point in time in whichhe was arrested to the time in
which he was crucified on thecross, he had been falsely
(00:22):
accused, gone to trial.
He had been falsely accused,gone to trial, stood in front of
several dignitaries andreligious leaders, questioned,
beaten with whips and with rods,and then found guilty under
false charges, sentenced todeath and found himself being
(00:53):
nailed to a cross.
And he had the ability to saysomething that was coherent,
beyond coherent, that he wasable to say things that
penetrated to the very depths ofhumanity, and we have it
recorded.
What he said while he was onthe cross was not vile.
(01:21):
It was full of love and himidentifying with us, identifying
with our condition in life, inwhich there was an absolute
separation from God, not arelationship.
(01:44):
At best, there was religion andJesus, throughout his life, had
experienced perfectrelationship with his Heavenly
Father, and his decision-makingwas still intact while he was on
(02:09):
the cross.
In fact, his decision-makingled him to the cross.
It's an interesting point that,in life, what we decide to do
determines where we're at.
You're not where you're at byaccident.
(02:32):
You're where you're at as aresult of a whole host of
decisions, and Jesus was notplaced on the cross by people.
He decided to go there.
He decided to go to the crossbefore he was even born, in fact
(02:55):
, before creation was evercreated.
He was the lamb that wascrucified.
He made a decision to be theone that was going to make a way
for us to enter into thekingdom of God, the eternal rule
and reign of God, the place inwhich God dwells.
(03:18):
The heavens above heavens, thehighest heaven, the kingdom of
God, the kingdom of heaven.
For us to be citizens of thatkingdom, taken from the realm of
darkness, taken from a place ofseparation, taken from a place
of absolute bondage to death andsin, and given to us the
(03:43):
freedom to live a life that'snot just good, but life
energized by the very life ofGod, to have divine life within
us, compelled him to go to thecross out of love.
And so Jesus didn't wind up atthe cross by accident.
(04:04):
He wasn't being tortured byaccident.
He experienced all that byvirtue of decisions that he made
, and that's astounding, becausehis decisions were based out of
love.
His decisions were based out oflove, not out of some
(04:26):
sadomasochistic bend in his life, but literally out of love, out
of knowing that there was noother way for us to experience
the realities of salvation,meaning being set free in our
(04:47):
bodies, in our minds and in ourspirits to experience the full,
complete freedom found in thekingdom of God, in relationship
with God, for eternity, and forearth to be populated with the
(05:07):
very kingdom of God, for theinvisible kingdom of God to
become visible all throughoutthe earth, that the knowledge of
the glory of the Lord wouldcover the earth as the waters
cover the sea.
And that we're commissioned, aspeople empowered by his spirit,
to fulfill that very thing inwhich he died for, so that we
(05:34):
could experience the truereality of newness of life.
Talk about love and talk aboutdecision making.
Talk about love and talk aboutdecision-making.
Sometimes we are I might notsay we, okay, I'll say me
Sometimes I am very scattered inmy decision-making.
(05:58):
I'm getting better, but thereare times where I'm still.
I find myself not really beingdecisive.
Or, if I am, I'm makingdecisions based upon my
appetites, whether or not I want, you know, to have an ice cream
bar, or whether or not I wantto watch a movie, or you know
(06:21):
things that are relativelybenign, but they occupy time,
and Jesus was a master atshowing us how to be decisive,
how to make good decisions, howto make decisions that really
(06:41):
matter and how to really manageour time.
When you stop and think aboutwhat he accomplished in three
years, the Apostle John saidthat if there were enough books
that could be written, therewouldn't be enough to cover all
that Jesus accomplished while hewas walking on planet Earth
(07:07):
prior to the crucifixion.
And he then said we're going todo greater things than these,
because he went to the Fatherand sent to us his spirit so we
can be empowered to do what hedid, and in an even greater way,
(07:29):
because the kingdom of God isadvancing Amazing.
But we've been looking at whatJesus said while he was on the
cross Because we stated before,when a person is in transition
(07:49):
and also when a person is reallyexperiencing pain, it can kind
of reveal where you're at inlife.
Where you're at in life, we cantalk a good game when things are
going well, but when things arechanging and our point of
(08:20):
center shifts and we're in atransition, sometimes we see
another side of who we are or wefind out that there is more to
us than we thought, or we findout that there's a lot of work
(08:41):
we have left to do.
And the same thing goes whenthere's you know pain, when you
factor pain in, because thosethings really tell a lot or they
drive to the surface what we'rereally made out of.
And Jesus.
Jesus revealed what he wasreally made out of on the cross
(09:17):
and the first thing that we haverecorded, what came out of his
mouth while he was hanging, sentto death, he said Father,
forgive them, for they know notwhat they do.
(09:38):
Father, forgive them becausethey don't know what they're
doing.
These people were being drivenby a power that they weren't
know what they're doing.
These people were being drivenby a power that they weren't
even one bit in tune withUnderstanding.
They were being motivated inmany respects by the powers of
(10:02):
darkness.
But Jesus was actually therehanging, enticing the powers of
darkness to come.
He was there with them,thinking that they were going to
(10:28):
put an end to his involvementand his interruption with the
affairs of their agenda, whichwas to become the rulers of the
universe.
Rulers of the universe, insaneas that is, there was a real
(10:53):
battle going on and Jesus wasthe sacrificial lamb that drew
in the powers of darkness andthe people that were involved in
the crucifixion process werepawns in the hands of the demons
(11:20):
and Jesus in love said Father,forgive them.
They don't know what they'redoing.
And it was true.
They did not know what theywere doing and sometimes that's
true for us.
We've done things that later onwe look and say, man, what was I
(11:43):
thinking?
Well, perhaps it wasn't man,what was I thinking?
Well, perhaps it wasn't thefact that it was you thinking.
Sometimes there are thingsbehind the scenes that motivate
us to do things that are verydestructive, like these people,
(12:05):
something that just is later,when you look at it, it just
doesn't.
It's like what was I?
Once again, what was I thinking?
And so we can look at thesefolks and say, man, they were
(12:25):
just really off the wall.
But if we're really honest withourselves and with God, we've
done some off-the-wall stuffourselves and some of our
off-the-wall stuff has been theresult of us being demonized.
I can't say everything, butthere are some things that have
(12:51):
and we need to experiencedeliverance from those things,
and Jesus provides deliverancefor us and forgiveness from the
acts we've done.
Talk about a Messiah, a Savior,a Redeemer, jesus.
(13:15):
Second statement I tell you thetruth Today you'll be with me
in paradise.
He said that to a thief who wassentenced to death, who was on
another cross next to his, whorecognized Jesus as for who he
(13:44):
was, and that was God, the Son,the Messiah.
And he just simply said Lord,remember me when you go today
into paradise.
And Jesus said today you'll bewith me in paradise.
(14:04):
He accepted that man'sdeclaration as sufficient.
On the man's deathbed, he saidwell, man, is that really fair?
You know?
I mean, I've been serving Godall my life, and how does a guy
like that come in?
He wasn't even baptized, hedidn't go through confirmation,
(14:25):
he didn't go right.
All those things, well, thosethings can be important, but
what's really important is whodo you say that Jesus is?
Who do I say that Jesus is?
That's where it starts.
Is he just a good teacher?
(14:47):
Is he just a prophet?
Is he just a good teacher?
Is he just a prophet?
Is he just a historical figure?
Or is he who he said he was andis and will be, and that is God
in the flesh.
God, the Son, the Word.
The Word became flesh and dweltamong us.
(15:11):
The Word that was there atcreation when God said and the
Word came out, and then theSpirit brought it to be.
The Father conceived it, theSon spoke it and the Spirit
enacted upon it and there waslight.
(15:31):
Hallelujah Thirteen.
He said dear woman, behold yourson.
And then he looked at John andsaid Behold your mother.
(15:53):
And how Jesus had the heart tocare about what was going to
take place in his mother's life,but not just his mother.
When people are widowed and ina place of real dependency, god
(16:19):
cares.
God cares for the widows andthe orphans in a special way,
because there's a dependencythat is not known to others,
except if you've everexperienced being a widow or
being orphaned, you know whatthat means.
And also, jesus was setting upthis whole unique dynamic of a
(16:48):
family of God.
Of course, mary wasn't John'smother, but they were family.
They were family.
There's something more to beinginvolved in church life than
just attendance, just membership.
It's much deeper than that.
(17:12):
We are called to lay down ourlives for each other.
I mean, coming to Jesus is thebeginning point, but it doesn't
stop there.
It's coming to him and sayingGod for all you've done for me.
I give you my everything andI'm sorry for my everything
(17:36):
that's ever been done that hascreated a division between us.
God, please forgive me, and Iwill do anything you want me to
do.
I am yours, lock, stock andbarrel, complete, I am yours.
And where we can say to eachother I am your brother, I am
(18:00):
your sister, I am your son,you're my mother, I am your
father.
Wow, we can love each other onthat level, in a pure way.
You're my mother, I'm yourfather.
Wow, we can love each other onthat level in a pure way, not
(18:22):
using it for a point of controlor some sort of cultish way of
manipulating people, mindcontrol.
No man Talking about love,freedom, creating things from
what we say.
And Jesus did On the cross?
He was still creating things.
(18:42):
He created them in thebeginning and he was creating
them still while he was on thecross.
He was continually creatingthings.
Jesus is a creator.
He said that when he was goingto his ascended place.
(19:02):
He goes, I'm going to go toprepare a place for you.
He's still creating, he has acreative element to his life and
he's given us that same spirit.
He's given us that same mind.
He's given us that same abilityto be creative creative with
our tongues, creative with ourminds, creative with our hands,
(19:24):
creative with our hands,creative with our voices,
creative, creative.
We serve a God who's creative.
He's not an imitator.
Satan can't create, he can onlyimitate, and he's not even all
(19:47):
that good at that, and,furthermore, jesus went to the
cross to defeat him completely.
It's not an easy thing to have ahigh ranking heavenly being
brought into a place of justiceand judgment.
It has to be done seriously andmethodically.
(20:09):
Being brought into a place ofjustice and judgment, it has to
be done seriously andmethodically so that there is no
way that any reference couldcome back to God and say, ah,
that wasn't fair, that wasn'tright, that wasn't just no, no
wasn't just no.
(20:30):
The judgment was made whenSatan, in his pride and
rebellion, looked to elevatehimself independently, separate
from relationship to God, andbecome God.
Sound familiar.
That's the thing that we wereborn into.
(20:51):
It's called sin and death.
That's the fabric that had tobe overcome, and the only way
for that to be literally brokenwas through the cross or through
death and the shedding of bloodof an innocent man on our
(21:13):
behalf, and that was Jesus.
He was the sacrifice that brokethat power, his blood broke
that sin and death curse, andnow we can walk free and the
ones that the Son has set free,they're free.
Indeed, we're free, we're free,we're free, we're free to live.
(21:36):
We're free to walk away fromthose old habits, we're free to
walk away from those old ways ofdoing things that are
destructive, damagingrelationships, that fall apart.
We're free to walk away fromand become creative.
Hallelujah, hallelujah, jesussaid.
(22:03):
Fourthly, he said my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
That's a very confusingstatement on the surface,
because we're talking about theSon of God, isn't he God?
(22:28):
How can God forsake God?
Well, jesus set aside his deityand became completely man and
dependent upon the Father, sothat he could model for all of
us what it's like to bedependent upon God.
(22:49):
So him hanging on the cross washim as a man hanging on the
cross, and God was his God.
The Father was his God, and atthat point in time, jesus began
(23:11):
to bear the weight of all thesins of the world.
Not just the sense of pain thatcomes from being tortured, but
the agonizing pressure ofreceiving that separation from
someone that you've never beenseparated from before, someone
(23:33):
you've had intimate relationshipwith completely a divine
connection, all of a suddenbroken and Jesus was taking
straight from Psalm 22, wordsthat David prophesied hundreds
(23:55):
of years earlier.
Being a seer, david prophesiedthe scenario of Jesus on the
cross.
It wasn't just poetry thatDavid spoke.
It wasn't just him being somesort of man involved in
(24:16):
divination.
He saw and expressedprophetically what Jesus was
going to experience on the cross, so that when Jesus spoke what
he spoke, he was fulfillingprophecy.
Amazing.
(24:42):
I would encourage you to readPsalm 22 again and read it with
the understanding that David wasprophesying about the death of
Jesus hundreds of years beforeit took place, so that when it
took place and Jesus spoke thosewords, he was confirming the
(25:02):
fact of exactly who he was, whohe is and who he will be, and
that is the Savior of mankind,who he will be and that is the
savior of mankind.
But the weight of thatexperience was crushing in on
him and the demonic powers wereencircling him and putting upon
(25:24):
him every evil pressure theycould come up with and all of
the heinous acts that could everbe committed and all of the
heinous acts that could ever becommitted murder, rape, slander
the whole list of things thatinvolve such gross, gross
(25:46):
demonstrations of humanity'sdepravity that I don't even want
to get into listing thembecause, once said, they stick
in our minds.
But those things Jesus bore onthe cross and some of those
things you've done, some ofthose things you've done and you
(26:08):
say, could God?
Could God forgive me?
Can God forgive me?
The depth to which Jesus went tothe cross to experience our sin
and separation is ademonstration of the depth of
his love for us and how much hewants relationship with you and
(26:31):
me, with us, and how he has aplan, how he has a kingdom.
That's being demonstrated rightnow.
It's the whole good newspackage, the gospel of the
kingdom, the king and now hispeople who become his bride.
(26:53):
Wow, what an amazing God weserve.
He goes, my God, my God.
Why have you forsaken me?
Because that's what it feelslike to not have a relationship
with God, that God has forsakenGod.
(27:13):
Who God?
Who Forsaken?
Yeah, the feeling of disconnect, and sometimes we actually have
grown accustomed to that.
Some of us, myself included,lived for a period of time
accustomed to being separatefrom God and it didn't really
(27:36):
bother us that much until we metthe Lord and he revealed
himself, and then it became soevident how far we were away and
how much we needed him.
But we couldn't get there.
(27:57):
Except he offered to pay theprice for us to get there and
did in blood, in blood, thecovenant blood, the covenant
relationship, the blood,covenant relationship.
Blood is the blood of Jesus.
That was paid so that we canexperience what he now has again
(28:26):
, but what we didn't have before, in which, when he experienced
what we in some sense had grownaccustomed to, he goes my God,
why have you forsaken me?
It crushed him.
We need a savior.
(28:50):
We need to be delivered fromour own blindness.
Some of us have watched.
Some of you might still bewalking around like that.
We need a Savior.
We need to be delivered fromour own blindness.
Some of us have watched.
Some of you might still bewalking around like that and
you're listening to this andyou're saying man, I don't know
what it is, but it's makingsense.
That's because Holy Spirit isdrawing you into relationship.
This is all about relationshipwith God.
(29:10):
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
Well, jesus experienced on thecross the pressure of every sin,
(29:30):
of all mankind, and it saidthat he died of a broken heart.
In fact, he said no one takesmy life.
I give it.
Amazing right.
(29:52):
We're going to look at thatvery culminating act.
When he gave his life, he gaveit up right there in what he
said.
My God, my God, why have youforsaken me?
He took it on.
He took upon himself the sinsof the world.
(30:14):
He became the scapegoat.
He's worthy of our affection,he's worthy of our love, he's
worthy of our worship and ourcomplete surrender.
He is God.
He is our Savior.
He is God, he is our Savior, heis King of Kings and Lord of
(30:38):
Lords, and he loves us.
Man, let's pray.
Father.
It's amazing.
I can call you Father, and forit not to have that religious
(31:00):
overtone to it, but you're my,you're Papa, you're Abba.
Heavenly, your name is perfectin holiness, set apart from any
other.
Holy is your name.
Your kingdom come, yeah, yourkingdom, kingdom come.
(31:25):
Will of God, the purposes ofGod Be done, multiplied All
throughout the earth, as it ishappening right now in heaven.
(31:47):
God, thank you, thank you, thankyou for the work that you
accomplished through your son,jesus.
Jesus, thank you for offeringyourself, giving yourself so
that we can have newness of life.
Holy Spirit, thank you forgiving us resurrection, life and
power, giving us a foretastebeing the down payment.
(32:11):
Thank you, thank you, thank you, we love you, we love you, we
honor you, and God, I invite youto infuse us with your power so
we can serve you with greatmight and see your kingdom
demonstrated all throughout theearth.
In the name of your mighty sonJesus, we stand here, amen, amen
(32:34):
, we.
We stand here, amen.
We say it again, amen and again, amen, amen.
All right, folks, I love you.
If you have any thoughts,questions, concerns, once again,
feel free to drop us a line atLife Around the Fire or you can
at gmailcom.
Excuse me.
Once again, feel free to dropus a line at lifearoundthefire
or you can at gmailcom.
(32:57):
Excuse me, type inlifearoundthefire at gmailcom or
look us up on the web.
Type in lifearoundthefire, andwe would love to hear from you
in the meantime.
God bless you.
Adios amigos.
when he stopped and considered the fact that Jesus,
having gone through a whirlwindof activity for over 12 hours,
from the point in time in whichhe was arrested to the time in
which he was crucified on thecross, he had been falsely
(00:22):
accused, gone to trial.
He had been falsely accused,gone to trial, stood in front of
several dignitaries andreligious leaders, questioned,
beaten with whips and with rods,and then found guilty under
false charges, sentenced todeath and found himself being
(00:53):
nailed to a cross.
And he had the ability to saysomething that was coherent,
beyond coherent, that he wasable to say things that
penetrated to the very depths ofhumanity, and we have it
recorded.
What he said while he was onthe cross was not vile.
(01:21):
It was full of love and himidentifying with us, identifying
with our condition in life, inwhich there was an absolute
separation from God, not arelationship.
(01:44):
At best, there was religion andJesus, throughout his life, had
experienced perfectrelationship with his Heavenly
Father, and his decision-makingwas still intact while he was on
(02:09):
the cross.
In fact, his decision-makingled him to the cross.
It's an interesting point that,in life, what we decide to do
determines where we're at.
You're not where you're at byaccident.
(02:32):
You're where you're at as aresult of a whole host of
decisions, and Jesus was notplaced on the cross by people.
He decided to go there.
He decided to go to the crossbefore he was even born, in fact
(02:55):
, before creation was evercreated.
He was the lamb that wascrucified.
He made a decision to be theone that was going to make a way
for us to enter into thekingdom of God, the eternal rule
and reign of God, the place inwhich God dwells.
(03:18):
The heavens above heavens, thehighest heaven, the kingdom of
God, the kingdom of heaven.
For us to be citizens of thatkingdom, taken from the realm of
darkness, taken from a place ofseparation, taken from a place
of absolute bondage to death andsin, and given to us the
(03:43):
freedom to live a life that'snot just good, but life
energized by the very life ofGod, to have divine life within
us, compelled him to go to thecross out of love.
And so Jesus didn't wind up atthe cross by accident.
(04:04):
He wasn't being tortured byaccident.
He experienced all that byvirtue of decisions that he made
, and that's astounding, becausehis decisions were based out of
love.
His decisions were based out oflove, not out of some
(04:26):
sadomasochistic bend in his life, but literally out of love, out
of knowing that there was noother way for us to experience
the realities of salvation,meaning being set free in our
(04:47):
bodies, in our minds and in ourspirits to experience the full,
complete freedom found in thekingdom of God, in relationship
with God, for eternity, and forearth to be populated with the
(05:07):
very kingdom of God, for theinvisible kingdom of God to
become visible all throughoutthe earth, that the knowledge of
the glory of the Lord wouldcover the earth as the waters
cover the sea.
And that we're commissioned, aspeople empowered by his spirit,
to fulfill that very thing inwhich he died for, so that we
(05:34):
could experience the truereality of newness of life.
Talk about love and talk aboutdecision making.
Talk about love and talk aboutdecision-making.
Sometimes we are I might notsay we, okay, I'll say me
Sometimes I am very scattered inmy decision-making.
(05:58):
I'm getting better, but thereare times where I'm still.
I find myself not really beingdecisive.
Or, if I am, I'm makingdecisions based upon my
appetites, whether or not I want, you know, to have an ice cream
bar, or whether or not I wantto watch a movie, or you know
(06:21):
things that are relativelybenign, but they occupy time,
and Jesus was a master atshowing us how to be decisive,
how to make good decisions, howto make decisions that really
(06:41):
matter and how to really manageour time.
When you stop and think aboutwhat he accomplished in three
years, the Apostle John saidthat if there were enough books
that could be written, therewouldn't be enough to cover all
that Jesus accomplished while hewas walking on planet Earth
(07:07):
prior to the crucifixion.
And he then said we're going todo greater things than these,
because he went to the Fatherand sent to us his spirit so we
can be empowered to do what hedid, and in an even greater way,
(07:29):
because the kingdom of God isadvancing Amazing.
But we've been looking at whatJesus said while he was on the
cross Because we stated before,when a person is in transition
(07:49):
and also when a person is reallyexperiencing pain, it can kind
of reveal where you're at inlife.
Where you're at in life, we cantalk a good game when things are
going well, but when things arechanging and our point of
(08:20):
center shifts and we're in atransition, sometimes we see
another side of who we are or wefind out that there is more to
us than we thought, or we findout that there's a lot of work
(08:41):
we have left to do.
And the same thing goes whenthere's you know pain, when you
factor pain in, because thosethings really tell a lot or they
drive to the surface what we'rereally made out of.
And Jesus.
Jesus revealed what he wasreally made out of on the cross
(09:17):
and the first thing that we haverecorded, what came out of his
mouth while he was hanging, sentto death, he said Father,
forgive them, for they know notwhat they do.
(09:38):
Father, forgive them becausethey don't know what they're
doing.
These people were being drivenby a power that they weren't
know what they're doing.
These people were being drivenby a power that they weren't
even one bit in tune withUnderstanding.
They were being motivated inmany respects by the powers of
(10:02):
darkness.
But Jesus was actually therehanging, enticing the powers of
darkness to come.
He was there with them,thinking that they were going to
(10:28):
put an end to his involvementand his interruption with the
affairs of their agenda, whichwas to become the rulers of the
universe.
Rulers of the universe, insaneas that is, there was a real
(10:53):
battle going on and Jesus wasthe sacrificial lamb that drew
in the powers of darkness andthe people that were involved in
the crucifixion process werepawns in the hands of the demons
(11:20):
and Jesus in love said Father,forgive them.
They don't know what they'redoing.
And it was true.
They did not know what theywere doing and sometimes that's
true for us.
We've done things that later onwe look and say, man, what was I
(11:43):
thinking?
Well, perhaps it wasn't man,what was I thinking?
Well, perhaps it wasn't thefact that it was you thinking.
Sometimes there are thingsbehind the scenes that motivate
us to do things that are verydestructive, like these people,
(12:05):
something that just is later,when you look at it, it just
doesn't.
It's like what was I?
Once again, what was I thinking?
And so we can look at thesefolks and say, man, they were
(12:25):
just really off the wall.
But if we're really honest withourselves and with God, we've
done some off-the-wall stuffourselves and some of our
off-the-wall stuff has been theresult of us being demonized.
I can't say everything, butthere are some things that have
(12:51):
and we need to experiencedeliverance from those things,
and Jesus provides deliverancefor us and forgiveness from the
acts we've done.
Talk about a Messiah, a Savior,a Redeemer, jesus.
(13:15):
Second statement I tell you thetruth Today you'll be with me
in paradise.
He said that to a thief who wassentenced to death, who was on
another cross next to his, whorecognized Jesus as for who he
(13:44):
was, and that was God, the Son,the Messiah.
And he just simply said Lord,remember me when you go today
into paradise.
And Jesus said today you'll bewith me in paradise.
(14:04):
He accepted that man'sdeclaration as sufficient.
On the man's deathbed, he saidwell, man, is that really fair?
You know?
I mean, I've been serving Godall my life, and how does a guy
like that come in?
He wasn't even baptized, hedidn't go through confirmation,
(14:25):
he didn't go right.
All those things, well, thosethings can be important, but
what's really important is whodo you say that Jesus is?
Who do I say that Jesus is?
That's where it starts.
Is he just a good teacher?
(14:47):
Is he just a prophet?
Is he just a good teacher?
Is he just a prophet?
Is he just a historical figure?
Or is he who he said he was andis and will be, and that is God
in the flesh.
God, the Son, the Word.
The Word became flesh and dweltamong us.
(15:11):
The Word that was there atcreation when God said and the
Word came out, and then theSpirit brought it to be.
The Father conceived it, theSon spoke it and the Spirit
enacted upon it and there waslight.
(15:31):
Hallelujah Thirteen.
He said dear woman, behold yourson.
And then he looked at John andsaid Behold your mother.
(15:53):
And how Jesus had the heart tocare about what was going to
take place in his mother's life,but not just his mother.
When people are widowed and ina place of real dependency, god
(16:19):
cares.
God cares for the widows andthe orphans in a special way,
because there's a dependencythat is not known to others,
except if you've everexperienced being a widow or
being orphaned, you know whatthat means.
And also, jesus was setting upthis whole unique dynamic of a
(16:48):
family of God.
Of course, mary wasn't John'smother, but they were family.
They were family.
There's something more to beinginvolved in church life than
just attendance, just membership.
It's much deeper than that.
(17:12):
We are called to lay down ourlives for each other.
I mean, coming to Jesus is thebeginning point, but it doesn't
stop there.
It's coming to him and sayingGod for all you've done for me.
I give you my everything andI'm sorry for my everything
(17:36):
that's ever been done that hascreated a division between us.
God, please forgive me, and Iwill do anything you want me to
do.
I am yours, lock, stock andbarrel, complete, I am yours.
And where we can say to eachother I am your brother, I am
(18:00):
your sister, I am your son,you're my mother, I am your
father.
Wow, we can love each other onthat level, in a pure way.
You're my mother, I'm yourfather.
Wow, we can love each other onthat level in a pure way, not
(18:22):
using it for a point of controlor some sort of cultish way of
manipulating people, mindcontrol.
No man Talking about love,freedom, creating things from
what we say.
And Jesus did On the cross?
He was still creating things.
(18:42):
He created them in thebeginning and he was creating
them still while he was on thecross.
He was continually creatingthings.
Jesus is a creator.
He said that when he was goingto his ascended place.
(19:02):
He goes, I'm going to go toprepare a place for you.
He's still creating, he has acreative element to his life and
he's given us that same spirit.
He's given us that same mind.
He's given us that same abilityto be creative creative with
our tongues, creative with ourminds, creative with our hands,
(19:24):
creative with our hands,creative with our voices,
creative, creative.
We serve a God who's creative.
He's not an imitator.
Satan can't create, he can onlyimitate, and he's not even all
(19:47):
that good at that, and,furthermore, jesus went to the
cross to defeat him completely.
It's not an easy thing to have ahigh ranking heavenly being
brought into a place of justiceand judgment.
It has to be done seriously andmethodically.
(20:09):
Being brought into a place ofjustice and judgment, it has to
be done seriously andmethodically so that there is no
way that any reference couldcome back to God and say, ah,
that wasn't fair, that wasn'tright, that wasn't just no, no
wasn't just no.
(20:30):
The judgment was made whenSatan, in his pride and
rebellion, looked to elevatehimself independently, separate
from relationship to God, andbecome God.
Sound familiar.
That's the thing that we wereborn into.
(20:51):
It's called sin and death.
That's the fabric that had tobe overcome, and the only way
for that to be literally brokenwas through the cross or through
death and the shedding of bloodof an innocent man on our
(21:13):
behalf, and that was Jesus.
He was the sacrifice that brokethat power, his blood broke
that sin and death curse, andnow we can walk free and the
ones that the Son has set free,they're free.
Indeed, we're free, we're free,we're free, we're free to live.
(21:36):
We're free to walk away fromthose old habits, we're free to
walk away from those old ways ofdoing things that are
destructive, damagingrelationships, that fall apart.
We're free to walk away fromand become creative.
Hallelujah, hallelujah, jesussaid.
(22:03):
Fourthly, he said my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
That's a very confusingstatement on the surface,
because we're talking about theSon of God, isn't he God?
(22:28):
How can God forsake God?
Well, jesus set aside his deityand became completely man and
dependent upon the Father, sothat he could model for all of
us what it's like to bedependent upon God.
(22:49):
So him hanging on the cross washim as a man hanging on the
cross, and God was his God.
The Father was his God, and atthat point in time, jesus began
(23:11):
to bear the weight of all thesins of the world.
Not just the sense of pain thatcomes from being tortured, but
the agonizing pressure ofreceiving that separation from
someone that you've never beenseparated from before, someone
(23:33):
you've had intimate relationshipwith completely a divine
connection, all of a suddenbroken and Jesus was taking
straight from Psalm 22, wordsthat David prophesied hundreds
(23:55):
of years earlier.
Being a seer, david prophesiedthe scenario of Jesus on the
cross.
It wasn't just poetry thatDavid spoke.
It wasn't just him being somesort of man involved in
(24:16):
divination.
He saw and expressedprophetically what Jesus was
going to experience on the cross, so that when Jesus spoke what
he spoke, he was fulfillingprophecy.
Amazing.
(24:42):
I would encourage you to readPsalm 22 again and read it with
the understanding that David wasprophesying about the death of
Jesus hundreds of years beforeit took place, so that when it
took place and Jesus spoke thosewords, he was confirming the
(25:02):
fact of exactly who he was, whohe is and who he will be, and
that is the Savior of mankind,who he will be and that is the
savior of mankind.
But the weight of thatexperience was crushing in on
him and the demonic powers wereencircling him and putting upon
(25:24):
him every evil pressure theycould come up with and all of
the heinous acts that could everbe committed and all of the
heinous acts that could ever becommitted murder, rape, slander
the whole list of things thatinvolve such gross, gross
(25:46):
demonstrations of humanity'sdepravity that I don't even want
to get into listing thembecause, once said, they stick
in our minds.
But those things Jesus bore onthe cross and some of those
things you've done, some ofthose things you've done and you
(26:08):
say, could God?
Could God forgive me?
Can God forgive me?
The depth to which Jesus went tothe cross to experience our sin
and separation is ademonstration of the depth of
his love for us and how much hewants relationship with you and
(26:31):
me, with us, and how he has aplan, how he has a kingdom.
That's being demonstrated rightnow.
It's the whole good newspackage, the gospel of the
kingdom, the king and now hispeople who become his bride.
(26:53):
Wow, what an amazing God weserve.
He goes, my God, my God.
Why have you forsaken me?
Because that's what it feelslike to not have a relationship
with God, that God has forsakenGod.
(27:13):
Who God?
Who Forsaken?
Yeah, the feeling of disconnect, and sometimes we actually have
grown accustomed to that.
Some of us, myself included,lived for a period of time
accustomed to being separatefrom God and it didn't really
(27:36):
bother us that much until we metthe Lord and he revealed
himself, and then it became soevident how far we were away and
how much we needed him.
But we couldn't get there.
(27:57):
Except he offered to pay theprice for us to get there and
did in blood, in blood, thecovenant blood, the covenant
relationship, the blood,covenant relationship.
Blood is the blood of Jesus.
That was paid so that we canexperience what he now has again
(28:26):
, but what we didn't have before, in which, when he experienced
what we in some sense had grownaccustomed to, he goes my God,
why have you forsaken me?
It crushed him.
We need a savior.
(28:50):
We need to be delivered fromour own blindness.
Some of us have watched.
Some of you might still bewalking around like that.
We need a Savior.
We need to be delivered fromour own blindness.
Some of us have watched.
Some of you might still bewalking around like that and
you're listening to this andyou're saying man, I don't know
what it is, but it's makingsense.
That's because Holy Spirit isdrawing you into relationship.
This is all about relationshipwith God.
(29:10):
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
Well, jesus experienced on thecross the pressure of every sin,
(29:30):
of all mankind, and it saidthat he died of a broken heart.
In fact, he said no one takesmy life.
I give it.
Amazing right.
(29:52):
We're going to look at thatvery culminating act.
When he gave his life, he gaveit up right there in what he
said.
My God, my God, why have youforsaken me?
He took it on.
He took upon himself the sinsof the world.
(30:14):
He became the scapegoat.
He's worthy of our affection,he's worthy of our love, he's
worthy of our worship and ourcomplete surrender.
He is God.
He is our Savior.
He is God, he is our Savior, heis King of Kings and Lord of
(30:38):
Lords, and he loves us.
Man, let's pray.
Father.
It's amazing.
I can call you Father, and forit not to have that religious
(31:00):
overtone to it, but you're my,you're Papa, you're Abba.
Heavenly, your name is perfectin holiness, set apart from any
other.
Holy is your name.
Your kingdom come, yeah, yourkingdom, kingdom come.
(31:25):
Will of God, the purposes ofGod Be done, multiplied All
throughout the earth, as it ishappening right now in heaven.
(31:47):
God, thank you, thank you, thankyou for the work that you
accomplished through your son,jesus.
Jesus, thank you for offeringyourself, giving yourself so
that we can have newness of life.
Holy Spirit, thank you forgiving us resurrection, life and
power, giving us a foretastebeing the down payment.
(32:11):
Thank you, thank you, thank you, we love you, we love you, we
honor you, and God, I invite youto infuse us with your power so
we can serve you with greatmight and see your kingdom
demonstrated all throughout theearth.
In the name of your mighty sonJesus, we stand here, amen, amen
(32:34):
, we.
We stand here, amen.
We say it again, amen and again, amen, amen.
All right, folks, I love you.
If you have any thoughts,questions, concerns, once again,
feel free to drop us a line atLife Around the Fire or you can
at gmailcom.
Excuse me.
Once again, feel free to dropus a line at lifearoundthefire
or you can at gmailcom.
(32:57):
Excuse me, type inlifearoundthefire at gmailcom or
look us up on the web.
Type in lifearoundthefire, andwe would love to hear from you
in the meantime.
God bless you.
Adios amigos.
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