Eagle Heights Cathedral

Bishop James E. Collins: Galatians 6, 11 through 18. See what a great letter I used as I write to you with my own hand. Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.

Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised, that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh. May I never boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. What counts is the new creation.

Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, to the Israel of God. From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen. Father, I pray this day that as you did in the first service this morning, that you would take your servant, Lord.

I'm not eloquent, I'm not fancy. And Father, I don't know how to really stream together words that mesmerize people. But I don't want to mesmerize them. I want you to grab the reins of their hearts. Holy Spirit, take me and use me. Influence your people by the power of your spirit. And Lord, cause them to go out of this place better than they were coming in, and I thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen and Amen. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord.

At staff meeting this week, we had what I call the great debate. The great debate was as to whether or not I gave you the last part of the message that I'm going to give you today. In the first service, I said I gave the points. My staff says, you did not give us the point. And we went back and forth and back and forth and we were arguing about whether I gave the last part, the conclusion of the matter or not.

And finally, it came to the place where Shauna said, well, you gave us the points, but you didn't give us anything else. And the rest of them just told me, they said, we looked at our outline, and we don't have anything to prove that you gave it to us. So, today, I want to give you the conclusion of this message. I want to talk about why I cherish the old rugged cross. But let me start by telling you a story.

When I was a youth pastor in Worcester, Massachusetts, there was a man, a big man, about 6'4. Came into the church. He was sitting in the service, and as he was sitting in the service, all of a sudden, he jumps out, he runs through the back of the sanctuary into the hallway, and the pastor says to me, go out there and see what's going on. When I get out in the hallway, there's this big guy laying on the floor. He is demon-possessed, and he's lying on the floor.

And there's all these deacons and they're around him, and they're praying for him, and his wife is praying for him. And I said, let me watch this just for a few minutes. I wanted to see what was going to happen. The short of the story is, is that he got delivered before the day was over. But here's the part I want to emphasize. His wife had a plastic cross. It was about this big and about this wide, and she was knelt over him, and she was beating him over the head with the plastic cross, telling the devil to come out of the name of Jesus.

Let me tell you something. What she was doing was unbiblical, but the reason she was doing what she was doing is because she understood that I want you to something I want you to understand before we leave here today. There is power in the cross of Jesus Christ. There is power that flowed from Calvary. And we're going to reassert that in our lives.

You see, without the cross of Jesus Christ, there is no central focus of power in the kingdom. Without the cross of Jesus Christ, there really is no kingdom. There was a leader in Poland back in 1981 to 1990. He served as the Prime Minister from 1989 to 1990, during which time he ordered that all the crucifixes be removed from the walls in the classrooms, just as they had been banned in factories and hospitals and other public institutions.

Well, the Catholic bishops rose up, and they said, we're not going to tolerate this. Ultimately, the government relented, insisting that the law remain on the books, but agreeing not to press removal of the crucifixes, particularly in the schoolrooms. But there was one zealous communist school administrator, in a place called Garwolin, he decided that the law is the law. So, one evening, he had seven large crucifixes removed from the lecture halls, where they had hung in those schools by the founding of it 20.

Days later, a group of parents entered the school, and they hung more crosses. The administrator promptly had these taken down as well. The next day, two-thirds of the school's 600 students staged a sit-in. When heavily armed riot police arrived, the students were forced into the streets. They then marched, crucifixes held high, to a nearby church where they were joined by 2,500 other students from nearby schools for a morning of prayer in support of the protest.

Soldiers surrounded the church. But the pictures from inside of the students holding crosses high above their heads flashed all around the world. So, did the words of the priest, who delivered the message to the weeping congregation that morning. Chuck Colson said, there is no Poland without a cross. One of the most beloved hymns of the Christianity and of Christian Church today is The Old Rugged Cross.

Down through the histories of the church, it has stirred the hearts of the faithful all over the world. The words were formed in the heart of a man through the power of the Holy Spirit, by the name of George Bernard. When he was 16 years old, he lost his father in a coal mining accident. As he began to meditate on his suffering, he began to also meditate on the suffering of Jesus.

As he pondered the cross of Jesus Christ over time, he wrote these words, on a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame. He began to speak about the suffering and the humiliation of the cross that Jesus died on. Then he gives us this chorus. So, I'll cherish the old rugged cross, till my trophies at last I lay down.

I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it from day someday for a crown. We read in Galatians 6:14, the Apostle Paul said, But God forbid that I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified in me and I unto the world. Church, this hymn and this verse reminds us this day, that without the cross of Jesus Christ, you and I have no Christian identity.

Without the cross of Jesus Christ, there is no salvation for without the salvation, the blood of Jesus, there is no salvation. Pastor Ray Pritchard said this, every religion and every ideology has its own symbol. For the Buddhist, it's the lotus flower. Judaism has the star of David, and Islam, the crescent. In this century, the communists were known for the hammer and the sickle and the Nazi swastika.

In our day, the Democrats have the donkey and the Republicans the elephant. And I thought about this and I said, and in this great nation, in New York Harbor, there stands a lady. She is called the Statue of Liberty. And I don't know about you, but I thank God for the Statue of Liberty because when I look at that Statue of Liberty, it reminds me that as imperfect as our country is, this is still the best country in the world to live in.

This is still the place where we have freedom. This is still the place that is so free that you and I can come into church and we can worship the Lord and nobody can run us out. There are some men that I'll never forget. Their names are Neal Inlow, Phil Inlow, Dwayne Nicholson, and Dave Colónan. From the day that Lady Brenda and I met them, they have always been friends of our family.

They were at one time a very powerful group, they were known as the Couriers. They sang in this church down through the years many, many times. Today their music still stirs my heart and there is one song that for the last few weeks keeps coming up in my spirit. And for a few minutes, I want to share it with you, and then I'm going to go back into this word. There's a song that they sing, it is called the Statue of Liberty.

Now, I want you to understand something. They're probably going to send me an email and say, you know, you could have put a younger picture up. I want you to know that they are old now. And when they sing this song, they are old back in that day. But I want you to listen to this old-time message that has not changed to this very day. I had them play that for you, because all week long, in fact, for the last two weeks, I've been singing that song day and night.

And I had them play it for you because I believe that there is a loss in the church today. The message of the cross seems to have lost its power to surprise us and thrill us in our hearts as it once did. There is seemingly no longer the stirring and the touch that runs through our souls when we recount that Christ what he went through in order to save our souls.

Every Easter many churches perform what is known as the Passion Play. Yet it seems in the 21st century church, we have lost our passion for the cross. I want you to tell you that I don't think that the church cherishes the old rugged cross anymore. And in a moment, I'm going to tell you the reasons why I think we no longer cherish it.

But before we go there, I want you to walk with me through that day that we call Good Friday, because Good Friday was good for us, but it was not good to Jesus at all. Any time you see the words written in red in the Bible, they are words that are spoken directly by Jesus. When I was a boy growing up, my parents always told me, they said, son, if you don't read anything else, read the red.

And there are two times when the Apostle Paul repeats words spoken directly by Jesus. The first one is in Second Corinthians 12, where Paul speaks of a thorn in the flesh, and he says, Lord, remove this thorn from my flesh. And directly from Jesus, the red says, Jesus said, my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Now, let me stop right there and say something of great import.

This is very important. Some of you are feeling very weak, some of you are feeling lost, some of you are feeling as though you can't go on. You are ready to quit. Some of you are feeling that your situation, there's nothing that can be done about it. And I want to drop into your spirit that you need to understand that you are finally where God wants you to be. God wants you to be so weak where no longer you think that your strength will get you through.

The Lord wants you at the place today where you say, Lord, I've reached my limit because God says, once you reach your limit, I will pick up where you leave off because I have no limitations. And some of you need to understand that when you get done being strong in the power of your might, his is going to kick in. You have limitations. And the Lord spoke to me and I keep hearing it on TV.

I never noticed it before. But I told Pastor Lopez and I told Lady Brenda. The Lord said to me, you need to tell somebody, you've come too far just to come this far. Somebody in this room needs to understand that dig in here. Because you're not yet where God wants you to be or intends for you to be. You have come too far to think that you have come as far as you need to go.

And there are others of you who have come too far to think that this is as far as you need to go. God is saying, you have not arrived yet. The second place where you see the red is in Second Corinthians 11:24 through 25. Let's key in on Second Corinthians 24, 11:24 through 25. The Bible says, and when he, Jesus, had given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat. This is my body which is broken for you.

Do this in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, and when he had supped, saying, this cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do ye as often as ye drink it in remembrance of me. Listen to what Jesus said. He said, whenever you take the communion, something ought to come up in your memory. Whenever you take the cup, whenever you take the bread, something ought to come up in your memory.

What should come up in your memory? It is not the ritual of taking communion. It is not the tradition of taking communion. It is not even the church you were in last where you took communion. It is not praying over the sacraments that should come up. In fact, church, look at me. It should not even be in your remembrance how many times we took communion. Somebody sent me an email many weeks or months back and they said, well, I stopped coming to Eagle Heights because you guys don't take communion often enough.

You ought at least take communion once a month. Let me tell you something. I'm going to tell you why we stagger our communion and why we do it when the spirit leads us. Let me tell you why in just a few moments. But listen to what Jesus says. He says, as often as you do take the communion, what did he say? He said, remember. What are we to remember? We are to remember the heavy price that was paid for our salvation.

And so, I want to take a few moments to help us remember because church, look at me, we really don't remember. How many times do we take communion? And we really, really, really think about the price that was paid for our salvation. I want you to start with me right here. See that he has already been beaten with a cat of nine tails. He has already been stripped of his clothing.

He has already had a helmet of thorns forced upon his brow. He has already been spat upon. I want you to see where he is so beaten and he is so mutilated and his face is so distorted that Isaiah said, when we look at him, there is nothing about him that draws us toward him. See him so badly beaten for our and wounded for our transgressions, that even his disciples flee from him.

I want you to really see this church because this is the real picture. See Jesus, as he moves along, he no longer has clothing on. His flesh, his muscles are literally sagging and hanging from his body as he is carrying his own cross. Whether it is because of pity or simply because Jesus couldn't go any further, your Bible tells you that they compelled a man, a man by the name of Simon of Cyrene, who was a black man, to come out and to carry the cross the rest of the way to Calvary.

I want you to try to imagine right now that you are standing at the foot of a hill called Golgotha. On a so-called day called Good Friday. Please understand that the cross is placed on the ground. It is not placed in the ground. They take Jesus' naked body, they pick him up and they toss him onto the cross. For more painful prepping must be done before the final blow of death.

See the precious lamb of God. He is thrown backward, and his shoulders are pressed against the wood. The Roman legionnaire begins to feel for the depression at the front of his wrist. He drives a heavy square wrought iron nail through his wrist deep into the wood. The pain is just beginning. He swiftly moves to the other side and repeats the action being careful to pull the savior's arms too lightly.

For they must be able to flex and have movement. It is then that that wooden beam is lifted in the air. Church, listen, they pick it up. They do not set it in the hole. They pick it up and they drop it in the hole, and Jesus' insides begin to feel as though they are going to explode. Then they take his left foot. It is then pressed against the right foot, and with both feet extended and his toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving his knees flexed.

He is now crucified. See it as he slowly sags with more weight on the nails in his wrists. Excruciating fiery pain shoots along the fingers and up his arms to explode in his brain. In reflex, he pushes himself upward in hopes of avoiding this stretching pain, but it is of no use, for then he feels the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves in his feet.

As the arms fatigue, cramps begin to sweep through the muscles, knotting them in deep relentless throbbing pain. I came upstairs the other day and Lady Brenda was lying in bed, and I saw her sit up. And I'd never seen her in so much pain. She had these these these these pains that were throbbing, these cramps that were in her leg. And I said, honey, turn your toes up, that'll stop it.

She said, honey, I've tried that. It's still not stopping it. And then she said, I tried to do this, and I tried to do that. And I looked at her, and I thought, my God, the pain that she feels, and then we both agreed, if she felt that much pain, can you imagine what Jesus felt? With the enduring cramps comes the inability to push upward and breathe. Feel this. Air can be drawn into the lungs, but not exhaled.

Jesus, he fights to raise himself in order to get even one small breath. He is approaching the hours of unending torture. There are cycles of twisting and joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from his lacerated body. Splinters dig in even as he moves up and down against the rough timber.

And oh, please do not rest your imagination for another agony begins. A deep crushing pain within the chest as his heart cavity fills with serum and begins to compress the heart. It's almost over. The agony, the pain, the loss of fluids has reached a critical level. The compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues.

The tortured lungs are making an anxiety-driven, frustrated effort to gasp in small gasps of air. Finally, the lamb of God can feel the chill of death creeping through his tissues. They take a sword. They drive it into his side. Blood and water flow. He looks up to heaven, and he says, it is finished. Then he bowed his head and he died.

Let me tell you what that means to us today. Whether you are saved or unsaved, that day Jesus expanded his sight across the eons of time all over the Earth, and he said, I want you to understand that this blood is for you. So, let me tell you. He said, when you take communion, it's not just a cracker. It's not just juice. It is not just tradition. It is not just a sacrament of the church.

He said, I want you to remember. It was no small thing that I did for you. And so, let me give you quickly four reasons why I cherish the old rugged cross. Number one, I cherish the old rugged cross because it's all-inclusive. Galatians 3:28, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for all are one in Christ.

The price of salvation, it does not exclude people by their color, their financial status, even by their sex. Listen to me, for some of you who don't understand this, though we may not agree with the lifestyle, it does not exclude sexual orientation. It does not exclude ethnicity. For John said in John 3:16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

See, we spend our energy trying to change people when they don't need us to change them. They need Jesus, and he will change them. You see, for centuries, many who do not believe mock Christians for worshipping a man who died on the cross. A German philosopher by the name of Frederick Nietzsche, called Christianity a religion for the weak and the feeble-minded. He made a mockery of a God who could be crucified.

Several years ago, evangelist and author Josh McDowell debated a well-known Muslim apologist in Africa. At one time, the Muslim leader tried to ridicule the Christian faith by saying that Christians are riding on the back of a crucified man. Josh McDowell wisely answered, you're right. We're riding on the back of a crucified man, and he's going to take us all the way to heaven. First Corinthians 1:18, for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.

Church, listen to me. There is no doctrine harder to accept than the doctrine of man's human inability. There is no doctrine that teaches us that there is nothing we can do to contribute to our salvation. See, we want to believe as human beings that there is something that we can do that can get us into heaven. If I can just be good enough, if I can do this, if I can do that.

And people believe that if I'm a good person, I can go to heaven. Jesus wants us to understand, all of that was eliminated at Calvary. Watch this now. While Jesus is in this great vortex of pain and despair, hanging on either side of him are two criminals. Luke 23 says that the dude on the left said, hey, mister big stuff, if you're really the Christ, save yourself. And by the way, while you're at it, why don't you save us too.

The other guy in verse 39 on the right. He leans forward and he looks around Jesus to the guy on the left. And he said, what is wrong with you? Don't you have any fear of God? Seeing you're about to be crucified too. And then he said, and by the way, we're getting what we deserve, but this man has done nothing. Then he sits back and he turns to Jesus and he says, Lord, remember me when you enter paradise.

And Jesus said to him, truly, truly, I tell you today you will be with me in paradise. Now, I want you to pay attention because I'm going to tell you three interesting, if not amazing, things from that small area of scripture. The first thing that is amazing that is very interesting. These guys hanging next to Jesus. The first one is proof that you can be very close to the cross and yet be so far away from Jesus.

He is literally seeing firsthand the sacrificial eternal love of God in action. We have churches and maybe some of you are here today, who are full of people who are proof of that mindset. When I say today that we are close to the cross, yet so far from Jesus, this is what I mean. The cross of Jesus Christ, and what it has done for us, it holds little power for us in the 21st century church.

Someone wisely said, we've sanitized the cross and domesticated it. We've gold-plated it, and we wear it around our necks. We put it on earrings and on our stationery. We hang ornate crosses in our sanctuary and on our steeples. We built churches in the shape of the cross. All of this would be unthinkable in the first century. So terrible was the crucifixion that the word was not even spoken in polite company.

If we want a modern counterpart, we should hang a picture of a gas chamber of Auschwitz in front of our sanctuary, or put a noose there, or an electric chair with a man dying in agony, his face covered, smoke coming from his head. The very thought of that sickens us, but that's what the cross meant to Jesus. And that guy that day, church, had no clue of the terrible, yet wonderful thing that was being paid for for his salvation.

He was so close, yet so far from Jesus. That is much of the church today. We are so close to the cross. We hang it around our necks. We push it on our lapels. We punch holes in our lapels. It is mounted on our fancy churches, earrings, stationery. Listen to me, church. I saw a singing group, a secular singing group, and I know you can be secular and still and still love Jesus.

But they sing the song, and then they stand there and they pray before they go out. And they pray and ask God to help them. And once they finish playing, praying, they go, hell yeah, we're going to do it. I thought, so close to the cross, but so far from Jesus. The second thing that stuck out to me. The other guy says to Jesus, just please remember me when you enter paradise.

I want you to see how interesting this is. He didn't ask Jesus to give him a break. He didn't ask Jesus, he didn't say, hey, Jesus, when you get up before God, why don't you put in a good word for me, and maybe God might let me just slide into heaven. All he said was, Lord, all I want you to do is when you are in the kingdom, please remember me. Jesus, every once in a while, would you just let your mind travel and would you think about me?

He didn't try let's play make a deal with God, like Christians do today. He knew he wasn't worthy. The third thing is really amazing. Jesus says in Luke 23:43, I tell you the truth, today, you will be with me in paradise. Now, I'm going to take a few quotes from a book that's written by Max Lucado. No wonder they called him Savior. And it's funny how God leads me to certain books.

I've had this book for almost 20 years. Haven't picked it up in 15 years. It's so old that when I picked it up, it smelled. But listen to what he says in this book. The only thing more outlandish than the request was that it was granted. Listen now, and granted beyond expectation. Jesus says to him, I'm not just going to remember you, I'm going to do you one better. He said, this day, when this is all over, you will already have a seat in heaven.

I want you to watch this, church. Jesus promised a crook that he had a seat reserved in the heavenly places before he went in the grave, before he rose from the dead, before we had Ephesians 2 and 6, where it says, and God raised him up with him and seated him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. This dude has got a seat in the heavenly places before Jesus is ever lifted up.

How much more do you and I have seats in the heavenly place? Listen to what Max Lucado goes on to say. Just trying to picture the scene is enough to short-circuit the most fanciful of imaginations. A flat-nosed ex-con asking God's son for eternal life, but trying to imagine the appeal being honored. Well, that steps beyond the realm of reality and into absurdity. But as absurd as it may appear, that's exactly what happened.

He who deserved hell got heaven. And we are left with a puzzling riddle. What for goodness sake was Jesus trying to teach us? What was he trying to prove by pardoning a strong arm, who will prove in all probability had never said grace, much less done anything to deserve it. He says, well, I got a theory. But to explain it, I've got to tell you a tale, you may not believe. And I remember this.

Several years ago, a couple of prowlers broke into a department store in a large city. They successfully entered the store, stayed long enough to do what they came to do and then they escaped unnoticed. What was unusual about the story was what the fellows did. They took nothing, absolutely nothing. No merchandise was stolen, no items were removed. But what they did was ridiculous. Watch this, church.

Instead of stealing anything, they changed the cost of everything. Price tags were swapped, values exchanged. These clever pranksters, watch this, took the tag off of a $395 camera and stuck it on a $5 box of stationery. The $5.95 sticker on a paperback book was removed and placed on an outboard motor. They repriced everything in the store. Crazy? You bet.

But wait. The craziest part of the story is what took place the next morning. You are not going to believe this. The store opened as usual. The employees went to work. Customers began to shop. The place functioned as normal for 4 hours before anyone noticed what had happened. For 4 hours, some people got great bargains, others got fleeced. For 4 hours, no one noticed that all the values had been swapped.

Isn't that hard to believe? But let me bring this thing full circle. That is what Jesus did 2,000 years ago. He swapped the price tag. He did that. He said, you that are bound for hell, I'm switching the tag with you. I'm giving you the heavenly tag. I'm taking the hell tag. And so, now we say John 8:36, whom the son sets free is free indeed. Oh, let me talk to you.

Second Corinthians 5:21, for he has made him to be sin for us, who knew so no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Tell somebody, he switched the price tag. Number two, I cherish the old rugged cross because it emancipates. Ephesians 2:1-7. And he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air.

The spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of the flesh and the mind. And were by nature children of wrath just as others. But God. Everybody say, but God. But God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, and raised up together, and made us to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come, we might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Let me say something. I'm going to give you the the brother translation of that. The brother translation. The devil once owned you, but he don't own you no more. Come on, somebody. Let me say something. The devil can only control you by what you yield to him. Now, let me show you two ways that he is controlling some of us. Max Lucado says this about that Friday.

The dialogue that Friday morning was bitter from the onlookers. Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God, from the religious leaders. He saved others, but he can't save himself. From the soldiers, if you are the King of the Jews, save yourself. Bitter words, a cynic with sarcasm, hateful, irreverent. Wasn't it enough that he was being crucified? Wasn't it enough that he was being shamed as a criminal?

Were the nails insufficient? Was the cross of thorns too soft? Had the flogging been too short? For some, apparently so. And Peter, who normally is given to not using many descriptive words, used this terminology in First Peter 2:23. He says, they were so disrespectful that they hurled, they heaped insults at the crucified Christ. They did not yell or speak or scream.

They hurled insults like stones. Listen, church. They had every intention of hurting and bruising the savior. Their attitude was this, we've broken the body, now let's break the spirit. So, they strung their bows with self-righteousness, and they launched stinging arrows of pure poison. All of the scenes around the cross, none of them causes indignation like these.

Here is the question of all questions. What kind of people would mock a dying man? Who would be so base as to pour salt on open wounds? How low and perverted to sneer at one who is laced in pain? Who would make fun of a person who is seated in the electric chair or who would point and laugh at a criminal who has a hanging man's noose around his neck? Then Max says this, you can be sure that Satan and his demons were the cause of such filth.

And then the criminal number two on the cross throws his punch. Aren't you the Christ? Well, show us something, save yourself and us. The words that were thrown that day, listen closely, church, were meant to wound. And there is nothing more painful than words that are said that are meant to hurt. That's why James calls the tongue a fire. It burns and it burns, and they are every much as destructive and disastrous as a blowtorch.

But there are some folks in this room today, I know that you know what I'm talking about. I don't have to explain this to you because you feel the pain, you've been inflicted by your share of words that wound. You have felt the sting of words sent by your way with the intent of inflicting great pain. Some of you have given your life to Christ, and you are on the way to a new destiny and a new life.

But your family keeps showing up to remind you of the person that you were before you came to Jesus. They keep digging up the person that you were. I will never forget when I told some of my family I was going into the ministry and one of my cousins. He smiled and he said, oh, you're going into the ministry. And all of a sudden, his face contorted like the devil came over him. And he said, how you going to be a preacher all the women you've been with?

Now, first of all, he ain't know what he's talking about in the first place. But here's what I want to tell you. Some of you, you got deep wounds. The injuries are not external, they are internal. Though the arrow has been extracted from some of you, the arrow head is still lodged under your skin. And all that it takes is somebody saying the right or the wrong thing, and unpredictably and decisively, they remind you of those harsh words, yet unproven.

Listen to the Holy Spirit today. No matter how you have been wounded, the cross came to emancipate you. What does emancipation mean? Emancipation means to free someone from restraint, control or the power of another, and especially to free from bondage or enslavement. Listen to me. If you've been wounded by people's nasty words, and I'm going to come back to that to close this point.

You need to bring it to the foot of the cross. You need to stay there with Jesus until you get that out of your system because Jesus died to emancipate you. He took that pain so that it has to hit him first and not get to you. But when you don't cherish the old rugged cross, you absorb things that you're not supposed to absorb. Let me tell you the second way that he seeks to keep you from being emancipated.

Now, I love the story of Sally and Jack. For once, it's not little Johnny. Praise God. Sally and Jack went to visit their grandpa's house. While they were there, grandpa took them to teach them how to use a slingshot. Jack was really good at it, and after a while, grandpa went off and by accident, Jack threw a rock with a slingshot, hit one of grandpa's ducks in the head and killed it. Sally said, ooh, I'm going to tell on you.

Terrified Jack cried out, please don't tell. Sally agreed and they went back to the house. When the kids arrived, grandma announces that she and Sally would clean up the house. With a sly look, Sally said, grandma, Jack would love to do the dishes. Wouldn't you, Jack? Jack doesn't mind doing the dishes. In fact, Jack, tell grandma how much you love doing dishes. Jack said, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, grandma, I like doing dishes.

Determined to get a bunch of housework done, grandma continued, well, then, Sally, we're going to vacuum the floor. Grandma, Sally replied, let me tell you about Jack and vacuuming. The boy is a natural-born vacuum person. Come on, Jack. Tell grandma how much you like to vacuum. Grimacing, Jack said through his teeth, grandma, I love being a vacuumer. Yes, I do. Well, then, we're going to dust the house. Oh, dust the house, grandma.

Jack, tell her how much you like dusting the house. Now, Jack is boiling right now. Yeah, I like dusting the house. He knew he was trapped not only that day, but for the rest of his life. Later that day, when Jack has done all the work that the kids are supposed to do, grandpa says, hey, Jack, come here. I saw a little episode earlier today. Let me tell you something, Jack. I know about that duck, but I didn't say anything because I wanted to see how long you were going to let Sally make you her slave.

All you had to do for to keep her from holding you a hostage was to tell me what you had done. Let me talk to some of you. God knows you killed the duck. You don't have to hide it. Satan wants you to remember that you killed the duck and hold you hostage to your guilt. Not only confessing to God that you killed the duck, but telling him also about the pain that has been hurled at you allows him to free you from the stronghold of Satan's control over your life.

Jesus died on the cross to emancipate you from not only the control of the evil one, but to heal your emotions. It's time that some of you did what Peter said Jesus did to those at the cross, who hurled their flaming arrows of insult at him. First Peter 2:23. This is the bomb for your pain, for the lacerations. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate.

When he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to the one who justly justly. Follow what Jesus did not do. He did not retaliate. He did not bite back. He did not waste time and energy planning how he's going to get even. Let me tell you what I would have done had I been on that cross. If I had been hanging there, I would have said, everybody look at me.

You know what God says? I smell a cesspool. Something stinks here. Listen to me very clearly. God, when he looks at us, you and I look on the surface, and on the surface, we Christians all look very, very good. But when God looks, he looks down at the bottom, and he says, as good as you are, there's still a lot of junk and muck and stuff down in the bottom of it that I want to pull out.

And let me tell you something, we are so evil that if God did not intervene, none of us could ever be saved. So, I thank God that this Bible says, when this old boy was an enemy of God, when I was so arrogant and thought I was living on my own, before I was in my mother's womb, 2,000 plus years ago, God said, I'm going to look over into the future. And there's going to be this kid by the name of James Collins.

He's going to be so full of himself that he's going to think that he can get to heaven in his own power, but one day somebody's going to point him to the cross, and they're going to remind him that when you were my enemy, I died for you. That is true for every last one of us. And lastly, I cherish the old rugged cross because it is the nexus between heaven and Earth. The word nexus means it is the link between heaven and Earth.

You can't go to heaven without the old rugged cross. Second Corinthians 5:1, for we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Now, I'm going to tell you something that happened the other day. I went to the gas station and there was this elderly man coming in. He was walking with his crutches, and so I stopped and I held the door for him, and he walks up, and he says, thank you, sir, taking care of the elderly, huh?

I said, yes, sir, because we're all headed that way. Now, let me say something. I intend to go to heaven a really old dude. But the fact of the matter is, I'm going. So, let me repeat the lie that is being perpetrated that is so dangerous. The lie that all religions lead to God. One young lady again was angry and said, when will people get it through their heads that God and Allah are not the same?

Listen to me, I have friends that are Muslim. I have had Muslim people get saved in the churches I have pastored. I have Muslim people who tell me they listen to you on the radio, but I want to tell you that the truth still remains that God and Allah are not the same. All religions do not lead to God. Please listen to the words of Fleming Rutledge. He said, with all due respect to the religions of the world, there is no other story like the Christian story.

The God who thunders, the God who persecutes and condemns, the God who wreaks vengeance. Yes, we know this God from the caricatures. We know this God from the old paintings. We know this God from hearing continual references to the Old Testament. But it is not who God is. The Old Testament God is the one who has come down from his throne on high into a world of sin and sinful human flesh.

And of his own free will and decision has come under his own judgment in order to deliver us from the everlasting condemnation and bring us unto eternal life. He has not required human sacrifice. He has himself become the human sacrifice. He has not turned us over or forsaken us. He was himself forsaken. This is what the Old Testament prophet Isaiah says, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.

Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities upon his upon him was the chastisement of us to be made whole, and with his stripes we are healed. Let me close with one more thought in a letter from Max Lucado. He said, I received a call from a friend named Kenny. He had just returned from Disneyland.

I saw a light I'll never forget, he said. He and his family were in Cinderella's castle. Suddenly all the children rushed to one side. Cinderella entered. She stood waist-deep in kids. Each wanting to be touched. Kenny turned toward the other side of the castle. It was now vacant, except for a boy. His age was hard to determine because of the disfigurement of his body. He stood watching, longing to be in the middle of the kids reaching for Cinderella.

But can't you feel his fear? Fear for yet another rejection? Fear of being mocked again? Don't you wish Cinderella would go to him? Guess what? She did. She walked across the floor, knelt at eye level with the stunned little boy and placed a kiss on his cheek. Kenny said to Max, I thought you would appreciate the story. Max said, I did. It reminded me of another one. The names are different, but isn't the story the same?

Rather than a princess of Disney, it's the Prince of Peace. Rather than a boy in a castle, it's a thief on the cross. In both cases, the lovely one performed a gesture beyond words. But Jesus did more than Cinderella. Cinderella gave only a kiss. When she stood to leave, she took her beauty with her. The boy was still deformed. What if Cinderella had done what Jesus did? What if she had assumed his state?

What if she had somehow given her beauty and taken his disfigurement? That's what Jesus did for you and for me. I'm so glad. I'm so proud to be called a Christian. To be named with a ransom and whole. Unashamed I'll proclaim that I trust in God, and the cross is our Statue of Liberty. Father, I pray that this day, this has not been just something that maybe stirred a few souls.

But that today we would be determined to live out Second Corinthians, that whenever we take the communion that our minds would go back, and we would remember. We would remember that what we celebrate on Easter, it began two days before with great pain and agony. And Lord, may we remember that if it was not for the cross, there would be no kingdom. Thank you, Lord. Remind us.

In your name I pray. I want to thank you for joining us today and for watching this message on our stream. We are flowing now from the worship of hearing and receiving God's word into the worship aspect of giving into the kingdom of God. And as God has spoken to your heart, I pray that you're able to join us in giving and bringing him his tithe and our offering. I want to share a little piece that's very interesting that you might even find interesting.

People were asked how much money would it take for us to have enough money. Remarkably, every person said, if I could have a 10% increase, it would be enough for me to live and have a comfortable lifestyle. I share that with you because it's interesting that God says, but if you will give me 10% in Malachi 3 and verse 8 and verses all the way to verse 11, he talks about if you give me that 10%, he says, you will have more than enough.

There will be an overflow. So, why is that number significant in your giving today? The number is significant in that in your desire to live and have a healthy life, you want 10%. God says, if you give me 10%, I'll make your 10% multiply in your life. And so, as God leads your heart today, I ask you to first be obedient to the Lord and bring that 10%, that tithe.

And then let the Holy Spirit speak to your heart as you give an offering above that. That will open the windows of heaven. I thank you in advance for your faithfulness in giving to the work of the kingdom so that we might expand God's kingdom. Let me pray for you now. Father, I thank you for these that have committed this day to be obedient to your word. Because Lord, they understand that sometimes Thanksgiving is merely an act of obedience.

And since we are thankful people, we obey you this day to bring you your tithe and to give our offering. We thank you in advance that you will open the windows of heaven, pour out blessing, we will not have room to receive. We will be blessed spirit, soul and body. And this we pray and believe for in Jesus' name. Amen. Just lift your hands where you are. Though you may not be in this sanctuary, you become aware that we have words on this wall that are not just words.

They are the biblical words from the very throne room of heaven. Let me speak them over your life. May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace. God bless you as you receive it.