TODAY’S QUOTE: It is difficult to know at what moment love begins; it is less difficult to know that it has begun. ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Friends,

You will hear nuggets from this pen for years to come, even as I have given you nuggets for many years past. In all that is written remember that there is a vote that overrides all decisions. There is a card that trumps every hand. There is a law that supersedes all laws. That is Love. We make contracts with people because we are not sure of our future with them and any circumstances that may arise. God made a covenant with us for our benefit; He did not need it. Know therefore that Jehovah thy God, he is God, the faithful God, who keepeth covenant and lovingkindness with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. Deuteronomy 7:9 In the garden there was only love. Before there were laws, there was love. Before there was an old or new covenant, there was love. Love is who lives in you. The mastery of love is what you saw in Jesus when you felt His embrace of salvation. But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet show I unto you a more excellent way. LOVE (1 Cor. 12:31)

HEALTH TIP: A healthy attitude is contagious but don’t wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier. -Tom Stoppard

Many people went to bed last night thinking they were safe from any economic storm. Millions are waking up this morning feeling very uneasy and nervous. In the past, common sense would tell you to invest in the stock market. People of common wisdom would tell you to buy real estate because it always goes up. It’s a sure bet. This morning they are discovering that common sense is not giving them peace of mind. Watch what bed you put your heart to rest in, because you can’t afford sleepless nights. The Word tells us: “The rich man’s wealth is his strong city: the destruction of the poor is their poverty.” Proverbs 10:15 If your heart is in your strong city of money then it could be crumbling right now. We have learned over the years as we have dared to go around the world without a strong city of wealth, that God has been there with us – He has become our resting place. Jehovah also will be a high tower for the oppressed, a high tower in times of trouble. “The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.” Psalm 9:9 Jesus is the best banker. He receives your offerings and multiplies them where nothing can get to them. We are in a Safe Place when we are reaching the world with His Gospel. We are confident of His favor and provision as we do His number one job of reaching the lost. You are welcome to our safe place.

The greatest miracle of all is when an individual encounters the living God, and He comes to meet with them and live in their hearts. Something happens. A life is changed; a heart is forever impacted and forever transformed, because the Holy Spirit takes up residence in human flesh—in your flesh* in my flesh. Once that happens, you experience the life of God and the real purpose that He has for you.

In these words you will hear the echo of His majesty, the echo of His voice, the echo of His redemption, and the echo of all that He has done for you. We will discover four beautiful
pictures that cause us to realize that God exists, and that He is for us. He is not some ethereal cosmic essence of creation, He is the author of creation. And as the author of creation, we know there are certain principles He laid down for all generations. These foundational principles will enable you, your family, your community, your church, your business, and your ministry to
experience all the miracles that God has for you. So, allow me to share with you this message that I call the four pictures of redemption: our redemption story.

Picture 1: God’s Creation

In picture number one we get the image of God’s creation. Here we understand that God, by His creative power, set in place the entire universe. And into the very center of that universe—in a
garden—He created people who were formed in His image. Man was designed to experience the very breath of God, the depth and width and height of all God’s being, because we are created in
His image. The entire universe would revolve around that relationship God had established between Himself and people. This is picture number one, and in that picture we discover that
God is good, and that we are the apple of His eye.

We were created to walk with God and to experience joy in His fellowship, but something happened. Satan came into the garden and stole that life, because we freely turned it over to him. The devil came with a lie…

Picture 2: Satan’s Deception

Picture number two is not one we like to contemplate, but it answers a lot of questions for us. The reason is because picture number two tells us why bad things happen to good people. This
picture tells us why a tsunami could take out half an island, or why a madman could gun down innocent schoolchildren. Though disturbing, this picture tells us that it is not God’s will, or
God’s desire, to send a tsunami or sickness or tragedy.

Most important, picture number two tells us that, yes, there is evil, and evil has a name. Evil’s name is Satan; he is very real, he is very prevalent, and he is very interested in destroying
life. Through deception, Satan attempted to pervert what God had set in place in creation for us

We Believed a Lie

Satan was once a beautiful being called Lucifer, and the Bible says he was created for fellowship with God. Lucifer was a being of music and worship, an instrument of praise to the living God. But he said of his own desires, “I will ascend the throne of God. And when I ascend the throne of God, I will be like God.”

That’s the lie he told Adam and Eve, and the same lie he tells us today: “Hey, you can be like God…Is it really true that God said you must not eat from any tree in the garden?” Folks,
you don’t have to be like God because you are created in the image of God. And when you call on His name and open up your heart to receive Him, He moves into your life in His entire
presence and His entire being. You become just as it was in the beginning: a spirit being in a flesh body in contact with the living God.

Satan didn’t like the fact that there were so many who could walk in this earth to reflect the very glory and image of God. No, he wanted to steal what God had intended for humanity,
which was fellowship, dignity, purpose, and beauty in life. How did he do it? It was not with some great miraculous power; he did it with a simple lie.

The same lie is prevalent even unto this day, and that lie is that we must be like God. No other being on earth was created with an intellect and a will, as well as the ability to make
decisions and act on them, and to use creative thought to improve life. Only humanity was created in the image of God. Only humanity was given the right, the ability, and the authority to
walk with the living God; to speak words as He spoke, to create as He created, to live as He lived, and to fellowship as He fellowshipped.

But Satan didn’t like this. I can only imagine that day when God said, “and let there be light.” Scripture says darkness and chaos covered the earth, yet out of nowhere a voice spoke.
And when the voice said “Light, be!” it was as if someone flipped on a switch in a dark room. Suddenly, the devil found himself facing something different. So once the beauty of creation
was in place, he convinced the man and woman to believe his lie and sin against God.

Sin Brought Separation

With that one lie and that one act of defiance against God’s command, evil entered the world and God could no longer dwell with His people. They were now separated from Him.
The book of Romans says that “all have fallen short of the glory of God.” It tells us that the wages of sin is death. Genesis 2 says that God had to separate Himself and send Adam and
Eve out of the garden. Why? Because perfect holiness cannot dwell with sin.

But I believe God stood at the edge of that garden and said, “My children, listen…don’t go very far away. I’ve got a plan and I’m coming after you. I’m going to meet with you again,
and we’ll walk together.”

Picture 3: Jesus’ Substitution

God’s plan can be summed up in one word: Jesus. In the midst of all the evil Satan wreaked on Planet Earth—and human life in particular—Jesus, the Son of God, came in the form of a man
(fully God yet fully human) to be a substitute; to provide the resolution to the problem that existed. So we see that where evil existed, God had another plan. He had, if you will, the ability
to step in through His own Son and resolve evil in this world. Jesus did for us what we could not do for ourselves. Because He was God in the flesh, He was perfect and without sin. And so when
He shed His blood on the cross, He became the perfect sacrifice for all the sins of the world, paying the price that we could not pay.

Jesus’ substitution shows us that God loves us. It shows us that God had already made a plan to deal with what we could not do for ourselves. Picture number three is a resolution to the
sin problem and the separation we experienced from God because of sin.

Jesus stood in our stead and took our punishment upon His body. Now we no longer have to be enslaved to sin; instead we reign because of what took place on the cross. The Scripture
says, “the Messiah would reconcile the world to Himself.” If you do not get the cross—if you do not understand what happened on the cross—you will miss the entire story.

Picture 4: Our Restoration

In picture number four we find our restoration. What is our restoration? Our restoration is the reality that we can come back to the garden. We can walk again with God arm-in-arm, hand-inhand,
face-to-face, breathing His breath as He breathes our breath. We can experience His life as He experiences our life, expressing His joy even as He expresses back to us joy in knowing that
relationship. All it takes is saying yes to Jesus.

Jesus’ Blood Removed the Wall of Separation

At the moment when Jesus died, sin was forever removed from those who would believe. All the law that we could not keep was nailed to Him. And for that moment, Jesus was separated from
God. So what did He do for us? He reconciled humanity to God by His redemption through His blood for the forgiveness of sin. Hebrews 9:13-14 says, “How much more shall the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

Jesus made peace through the blood of His cross and reconciled all things unto Himself. He rose again from the dead and is seated today at the right hand of God. He is our living Savior.
All those who were far off from God have now been brought near by His blood. Through His blood, the wall that had separated us is now removed.

This is the gospel story. It is the fourfold picture of the beauty of a living God, as He desires to fellowship with a living humanity.