LIFTED TWICE: ON THE CROSS AND FROM THE GRAVE

We need this.  We need to know how to live a lifted life.  Otherwise, we will repeat Peter's failed attempt.  Instead of walking on water, we too will just sorta slosh through life.  But Jesus' extended hand changes that sinking feeling into a lifted celebration.

The reason that I write of this today is because I am burdened in two strong ways. First, I carry a very real weight for young men and women in ministry who find the work so difficult that eventually they will quit.  I don't know if you would realize this, but most do give up, walk away, unable to crack the code of endurance.

And second, my heart is heavy as twenty-four years ago I sat at a murder scene of my daughter's fiance and his brother that still takes my emotions to task.  It was a scene like no other.  Blood, tears, and squad cars were everywhere we turned.  Our family couldn't escape the fog of that nightmare for weeks.  Police believing we could be targeted next at our house; a guard-dog was brought in to live with us while squad cars patrolled our street.

So what I feel motivated to say to you this morning is that you are to never give up. Whether you are in ministry or are facing life's robbing moments, never give up. Because of Jesus being lifted twice (first upon the Cross and next from the grave), it must be understood that if we are to follow him, we will...follow....him.

When your day seems to be going South, do not flinch.  The days of the Cross are supported by the enemy in hopes that he will take you out.  But you keep breathing. Transform that Cross into a launching pad of hope for others.  You pain is their gain. They need, just like we need Jesus, to know that you understand their pains.  Others are blessed to know that you didn't get your ministry from reading a book; but from shedding tears in the center of struggle and frustration.

There is nothing more alive than turning your sinking feeling into an assembly line of hopeful productivity.  If someone hurts your feelings, learn from this how half of the people you know are feeling and they could use a friend who never gives up.  If you are robbed of glory, thank God for now you identify with another portion of neglected ones.

Everything that goes wrong fits the code of the Cross.  It hurts.  And such agony will break into bigger life!  You....be....lifted....TWICE!