Eric Ludy Sermon Podcast: Church at Ellerslie

This message brushes against some of the most controversial ideas of the Bible, but surprisingly, as it approaches the socially insensitive and forbidden topic of the "role of women," instead of creating spiritual indigestion, it paints a picture of ravishing beauty. Listen to this message at your own risk, for you may be converted to being a believer that the Bible, the whole Bible, and every word in the Bible, is good, right, and perfect. And what it produces in the lives of those that have ears to hear it and obey it, is also good, right, and perfect.

Eric Ludy says goodbye to the late David Wilkerson with this rousing message. Building on Wilkerson's final words from his final blog post, this message reminds us to never stop believing our God—no matter if He appears silent, if He appears to have forgotten His promises, if He seems to have failed us, or if the natural realm seems overpowering and all- convincing. No matter what, we grit our teeth and believe—that's our job! For our God has promised and He cannot lie!

No one would ever think of naming their boy Grace. It's a classic girl's name. To most Christian's today, grace simply means "the accepting hug of God as He overlooks our sinful mess." But this seemingly soft and delicate word with pink bows affixed to its hair boasts one of the strongest and most manly definitions in the entire Bible. Far from being a mere "God hug,” Grace is the grip of God upon our life which lifts us out of our sin, washes us clean, and sets our life in working order with the very quickening power of the Almighty. It's a word with nuclear-like power to alter and renovate the believing man's life, attitude, behavior, impact, and eternal destination. It's high time that we return to the Biblical idea of grace and stick the manly stuff back into the word.

This is a lit stick of dynamite for a Christian's prayer life. It's a fiery message crammed into 80 or so fast-moving minutes that functions almost as an encyclopedia on “prevailing prayer”—topped off with the recipe for “the impossible-for-God-not-to-answer prayer.” If you are perusing Eric Ludy sermons trying to decide which one to listen to—this one is a must!

Marriages are made great when Jesus Christ is placed in the very center of the love story. However, in addition to this all-important spiritual component, there are many practical dimensions to marriage that often go overlooked in the preparation seasons of Christian singleness. If a marriage is going to go the distance it needs two key things: Jesus spiritually and Jesus practically. This is a message that blends the two together, supplying a fantastic recipe for lifelong marital success.

This message formed as a result of little Hudson Ludy (six years old). Desiring to travel with his Daddy on some of his upcoming international adventures, Hudson wants to find orphans and rescue them. But Hudson's father knows that for a little one (such as Hudson) to join in on such taxing adventures demands a certain level of preparation, or "hero training." Every ready soldier must be first groomed for the challenges of war that lie ahead in order that they demonstrate uprightness and honor amidst the fray. This message encompasses the thirteen tier "basic training" that Eric Ludy is walking Hudson through in order to ensure that he is serious enough, honorable enough, and prepared enough for the unknown adventures that await. However, don't be surprised if you discover that the training of this little six year old is the precise training that many of us as grown adults are desperately needing in our personal walks with God. Each of us must be prepared as "little heroes" for the calling we have received.

This message outlines the great Gospel of Jesus Christ. It lays out the pattern for bringing a soul from death unto life. This isn't the 3-minute "salvation" prayer that we have all grown up with—this is the three to six- hour transformative process that the trained Gospelteer knows how to effectively wield in walking a newly readied soul into the corridors of life and liberty in Jesus Christ. We have been shortchanged in our Gospel understanding in this modern day, and thusly we spend years of our Christian lives wallowing in defeat, whereas if we had been established "In Christ" correctly from our spiritual infancy, we could have walked in triumph from the beginning. It's high time that we regain the stoutness and the majesty of the Truth and build this next generation of Christian lives firmly upon it from the outset.

This is a profoundly practical and much-needed message in our culture where the virtue of discretion is nearly lost. The Bible makes it clear that the manner with which a Christian man or woman employs their tongue defines whether their spiritual life is true or false. As a result, there is a tremendous significance to this particular theme in the Christian life. This message leads to a much-needed spiritual examination of our verbal behavior patterns and the daily use of our tongues as members of the Body of Christ. But it's not just a message that exposes our lack; it also supplies the great Gospel secret for bringing the tongue under control.

We esteem "big hearts" in Christianity today. Men and women of compassion, tender mercies, and deep affections are essential for a working Body. However, there is not the same esteem for "big kidneys" in the Church today—men and women who speak straight about sin, demand purity within the Body, and protect the health of the Church. Big kidneys are rather offensive to our modern sensibilities. But the Bible makes it clear that without functional kidneys in the Church, heart disease will set in. While the heart circulates life within the body the kidneys purify that life. The Bible calls the heart and kidneys the "heart and the reins." God tests the hearts and reins of His people to ensure that they are functioning as they ought. For health to reign within the individual body and the corporate Body of Christ, we must have functional hearts AND functional kidneys.

WARNING: This message pulls no punches. It speaks straightforwardly on a topic that most of us would rather avoid—and that is wolves in sheep's clothing in the modern church. There are wolves in the sheep pen of modern Christianity undermining the timeless, eternal truths of Scripture and thus altering the nature and the pattern of the Gospel. But these wolves don't look like wolves; they are wearing very convincing sheep costumes. They appear to be humble and wise men, with spectacles roosted on the ends of their noses. They appear to be cordial men, kind and thoughtful. It's their fruit that exposes them. For they have one singular question that they are asking the body of Christ today: "Did God really say that? Are you certain? Could it be that you have it wrong?" They are proffering the notion of an "open mind"—a mind more tolerant to new religious thought—a mind hospitable to ideas outside the pale of the Biblical framework. 6,000 years ago this was the tactic of the serpent in the garden, and it's still the serpent's primary tactic today.

The human body demands constant refueling. We don't eat once in a lifetime, but everyday; and not just everyday, but often three to five times daily. The body needs food in order to live, and the spiritual man is no different. There is a need for the believing man or woman to learn to partake of the heavenly feast, not just once, but daily; and not just daily, but daily without ceasing. This message is meat and potatoes for the spiritual man. It's the most basic food of Heaven that the spiritual man must constantly be chewing, swallowing, and digesting in his soul.

This is a peek into the intimate worship of the apostles and the Church triumphant throughout the ages. It's on the sweet-smelling savor of the saints being offered forth before the throne of Jehovah. Many of us know how to sing our praises, but it's those who know how to live out their praises that truly stir the heart of their King at the deepest levels. The concept of the "upside-down cross" comes from a famous quote from the venerable Jerome (an early-Church father) writing about the martyrdom of the apostle Peter, and it is sure to stir you.

There are many bold and brawny statements in the Bible regarding the believer's Cross-purchased authority and position over the powers of earth and hell. But many of us feel awkward appropriating such grandiose notions into our personal faith. For some reason, it feels presumptuous. As a result of this hesitation, an ever-growing discrepancy between the grand promises of the Word of God and the modern Christian demonstration of the Word of God continues unabated in our generation. We must ask ourselves, “Are these grand promises merely poetical phrases to offer us psychological encouragement? Are these promises to be deemed merely wishful thinking? Or does God mean what He says?” It's high time that we stop lowering our expectations of God to the level of our personal experience and start raising the expectations of our personal experience to the level of God's promises. Because if we actually were to believe the Word of God, we would find that the Church of Jesus Christ is supposed to be an unstoppable force within this world. (NOTE: one of our cameras had problems about halfway through the sermon, and as a result, the final 40 minutes of the video version of this message is captured only from the side camera angle. Please forgive us for this.)

Christianity's greatest heroes are not of the celebrity sort. Rather, they are the ones who have forsaken reputation and have allowed God to bend them into the prayer closet, and thusly, often into anonymity as well. But it is an anonymity for the glory of King Jesus. For it is the anonymous praying saints, and not merely the famous preaching ones, that carry the match to light Heaven's bonfire here on earth. Throughout Christian history, men and women have willingly placed themselves "under the stage"in travailing prayer in order that the message being trumpeted on the platform above would ignite the hearts of its listeners. And the same history attests that when such a force of prayer was present in the undergirding of the proclamation of the great Gospel message, culture-shaping revival inevitably followed closely in its wake.

The 38th Parallel is an internationally instituted boundary line between two hostile nations, North Korea and South Korea. If a soldier of either side takes one wrong step into the territory of the other, it's instant death. This line marks a demarcation between two kingdoms, two value systems, two agendas, two opposing powers, and has historically meant the lifelong separation of loved ones. Like this earthly boundary line, there is a spiritual equivalent in the Line of Blood that divides the two opposed kingdoms of Heaven and Hell. For the kingdom of Heaven to thrive on earth, this line must be guarded with all vigilance. In fact, how we monitor the 38th Parallel in our spiritual lives will define whether it will be Heaven or Hell that will ultimately hold sway over our earthly bodies. This is war!

One of the most dangerous places on planet earth today is inside a mother's womb. The place that all natural reason would suggest is the safest place of all has become a modern-day Auschwitz. In America, one in four babies doesn't make it out of Mommy alive. And yet, rather than fighting to see this horrific trend change, the Church has all but gone silent on the issue. Oh, we may speak out at the ballot box, but we've been socially hogtied and gagged from doing anything beyond that. This provocative message isn't a call to mere political action and picket lines— it's first and foremost a call to get down on our knees and pick up our spiritual sword for these vulnerable ones. This message was accompanied by a powerful video trailer produced by The Life Project.

This particular message could easily transform your life. It addresses one of the most important themes in all of Paul's Gospel training and effectively demystifies some of the most complex notions of sin, the flesh, the old man, the indwelling Spirit, and the body. For those of you who have struggled to fully grasp some of the grand themes in many of Paul's writings, this message will help to remove scales from your spiritual eyes.

Due to popular demand, we are making available this message of Eric Ludy's that he delivered in October of 2009. This is the message from which the Ellerslie Short Film, Depraved Indifference, was constructed. In this audio, Eric is speaking at a Pro-Life Gala in Santa Barbara, California. He had originally intended to deliver an entirely different message that night, and yet as he drove from the airport in Burbank, California to Santa Barbara, God placed these words upon his heart. We hope you are blessed by this stirring message.

In no uncertain terms, Jesus says to his disciples, "It's either the world or me—you can't have both; it's either or." When we choose to follow Jesus, like Jacob we are touched in the hollow of our thigh, and in this world's eyes we have a limp. We no longer have that ultra-cool swagger we once possessed. We now appear weak, foolish, lesser, and intellectually inferior. We are now Christians, and there has never been, throughout all of history, anything hip and vogue about following Jesus Christ with abandon. None of us wish for such a limp, but such a limp must accompany the Church triumphant, so that the impediments of self-centeredness and self-glory may be shed and so that the believer might run their race with humble, heavenly gusto.

In our western world, very few of us understand the meaning of covenant. And thusly, we struggle to fully comprehend the covenant meal, known in Scripture as “the Lord's Deipnon,” or “the Lord's Supper.” And the strangest thing about it is that the meal Jesus was referring to wasn't bread and wine—the meal was Jesus, Himself, and the bread and wine were merely symbols of his body and blood. Jesus was saying, "My body is real food, and my blood is real drink." And unless we partake of Jesus, we can have no part in Him. Jesus is meant to enter into our bodies, to be digested into our inner man, to come in and wholly alter us. He was the body of God made food. And we are called to follow His example and feed a spiritually hungry world with our obedient lives.

Featuring special guest star, five-year-old Hudson Ludy, this message has "little kid" written all over it. And yet is a surprisingly powerful enunciation of some of the most beautiful and complex Gospel Truths.

It took Eric Ludy four years of spiritual wrestling before he was ready to deliver this super-charged message. After all, within a modern Christian system that has been greatly undermined by the "health, wealth, and prosperity gospel”, no one in the "Biblically conservative" camp really wants to touch this issue which lies right smack in the middle of the "Charismatic" and "Faith Movement" controversy. But it's high-time that the Church of Jesus Christ gain a Biblical and sound answer to this important issue of healing without blindly throwing the blanket answer of "cessation"over it. Was healing merely an outward seal upon the ministry of the Messiah and His apostles, or is it something that is intended by God to be included in our understanding of the atonement? The answer to that question has far-reaching ramifications.

There is a common spiritual ache that bonds those of us at Ellerslie together, and that is the longing for more of Jesus Christ. We all, at various points within our spiritual journeys, have wondered if what we see of modern Christianity is all God intended it to be. The question, "Is there more to this thing called Christianity?" pokes at us all. And here in Windsor, Colorado, we have come to the conclusion that there is a lot more of Jesus to be had. We ask daily for Christ to increase within us, to expand our love, to enlarge our faith, and to increase our strength, courage, and daring. We want to make sure that there isn't one single crumb of promise that was blood-purchased at the Cross that goes unrecognized. So, this naturally begs the question, "Is our request and expectancy for more actually in concert with Scripture?"

A man built by God must know when to draw the steel blade to fight and when to draw the cup of cool water to serve. The two notions (steel and down), though seemingly opposite one to the other, are actually intended by Heaven to be complimentary dimensions of a heaven-constructed man. Whereas last week brought us "Men of Steel," this week's message trumpets the virtue of a man who knows how to be soft when softness is required. Combine "steel" with "down" and suddenly a glorious picture of the ultimate man, Jesus Christ, emerges into clear view.

There may not be anything more thrilling than seeing a man living as a man ought to live—strong when he must be strong, weak when he must be weak, firm when firmness is required, and soft at the very moment when softness must be supplied. In this age, when the Church of Jesus Christ walks about with a limp in its gait and a frailty in its wrist, there is a very real and pressing need for God's men to arise and prove their mettle. Men of steel, where are you?

The great preacher, Leonard Ravenhill, once stated that the American church has exchanged a true and lasting Godly peace and joy for the counterfeit form of peace and a counterfeit form of joy found in Hollywood entertainment and professional sports. Psalm 16 claims that "In God's presence is fullness of joy and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore." The question is, "Do we actually believe it?" Is it really possible to find fulfillment in God's presence alone? Just imagine if the answer to that question was "yes."

The Bible reveals our God to be so far above us in regality, purity, power, mind, strength, love, and wisdom. He is perfect—without an Achille's heel, without a gap of vulnerability, without a trace of weakness. Our God—rock- like and immovable—was moved by love to come to this earth and rescue us. And to pull off this extraordinary rescue, our God deigned it right take on the utter weakness of our humanity. He came, knowing full well the cost of such a venture. He purposely chose the route. He was misunderstood and vilely mistreated. He was mocked, slandered, and falsely accused. He was beaten, scourged, and crucified. And He walked His mission out as the Arnion—as the Lamb. It's almost too much to conceive. Almighty God became a lamb? It's both bewildering and utterly beautiful. But for His great mission to succeed, Almighty Highness needed to fully bear our earthly weakness.

This last week was an extraordinary one on the Ellerslie campus. God's presence was sweet and intimately near, but also deeply soul-searching and convicting. It was an entire week on our faces, beholding the holiness and yet also the amazing grace of our Beloved. Amidst this campus- wide revival, the enemy attempted with great energy and ammunition to counter the forward steps of the saints. This led to a showdown, a classic gunslinging shootout between the best lies of Hell and the best Truths of Heaven. This message is an introduction to the facts that never fail, the Word that never returns void, and the Truth that truly does make the Christian free. Because in such a showdown—the Cross of Christ always proves victorious.

Adoption is one of the centerpieces of the Gospel. And it is important to note that the idea of adoption strikes the Christian at two levels. The first being in our own personal adoption as believers to the Heavenly Father. And the second being in adopting the burden and love of God for the vulnerable around us, willingly becoming a conduit of the love and mercies of our Heavenly Father by inviting "outsiders" to become "insiders" in our homes and churches. If you desire to know the heart of God, then begin to explore this precious truth at a deeper level.

As strange as it may seem, there is a pattern for "dying well" and "dying triumphant" found in the pages of Scripture. And this pattern is evidenced in the deaths of the greatest and most godly men and women throughout the ages. For instance, Stephen was stoned, James (the brother of John) was beheaded, Peter was crucified upside down, Paul was beheaded, Philip was crucified, Matthew was slain with the sword, James (the brother of Jesus) was stoned and clubbed, Matthias was stoned and beheaded, Mark was dragged to pieces, Jude was crucified, Bartholomew was cruelly beaten and then crucified; Thomas was thrust through with a spear, Luke was hung, and John was thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil (and removed unscathed) and then exiled to Patmos. But in all their deaths, these Christian men exhibited a superhuman behavior—a pattern for facing the most extreme suffering with a brave calm and a steadfast courage. And it is this pattern that we as Christians are to begin practicing in our daily lives.

WARNING: This message contains forthright and unabashed answers to very uncomfortable questions and in no way is politically correct. This month is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and thusly our country is lacquered in pink and laced with pink ribbons. There is every corporate and political advantage to "pink-wash" your product or campaign. How should a Christian deal with this issue? Should we leverage this cause to our advantage? Should we be marked with pink, race for the cure, and seek the united power of human compassion? Or should we be marked by something greater?

There is a strange paranoia in the modern church regarding the idea of spiritual "work." To lift a finger in spiritual labor has been classified as "legalism" by many, and of course, none of us wish to be legalists. The key to removing the paranoia is to clearly define "God's work" as contrasted with “the believer's work." For the problem of legalism arises when believers attempt to do God's work instead of their work as assigned clearly by God for them to be doing. So the question is, “What is God's work and what is the believer's work?” The answer to that simple question may very well set you free.

To join God's armed forces, God asks of his soldiers that everything precious to them be left behind—father, mother, wife, and even children. Everything must be counted loss. And the recruit must realize that sorrow and sufferings are guaranteed companions in the ensuing enlistment period. With such an extreme and high cost, why is it that countless multitudes of fighting men and women have counted it the highest privilege to serve this King in battle and gladly die for His fame to be spread? What is God giving His soldiers to cause them to forsake their bodies and blood for Him with such loving abandon? The answer to that question is the essence of the Gospel.

When we think of Jesus as a rock, most of us imagine a big lump of granite. But not all rock is created equal. And our God is no ordinary rock; He is the Rock of rocks. In Scripture, there is an amazing term utilized: “adamant.” This fascinating word is a wonderful invitation into a majestically expanded understanding of the strength and power of our almighty God.

Over and over again throughout Christian history, mighty men and women of God have singled out one very specific spiritual action as the "Christian secret" to their personal triumph and effectiveness in the kingdom of Heaven. Hudson Taylor, Leonard Ravenhill, A.W. Tozer, D.L. Moody, Oswald Chambers, John Bunyan, C.T. Studd, Amy Carmichael, Ian Thomas, and countless more all point to the very same thing. So, what is it?

Plain and simple: God builds heroes. He doesn't build self-centered egotists nor self-obsessed circus clowns—He builds men and women who have wholly forgotten themselves and are ready to spend and be spent for the glory of almighty God. And He calls such a masterpiece a "Christian."

The historic concept of "praying through" has gone missing in our modern- day version of Christianity. But "praying through" was the essence of the George Muller, Rees Howells, John Hyde, Hudson Taylor, William Booth, Leonard Ravenhill, C.T. Studd model for effectual fervent praying. How do we get this powerful, wrestling, persistent prayer back to the center of Christian life in our day?

We have a dorm wing on our Ellerslie Campus that we know as "The Etceteras Wing." It's a strange name, yes, but it has deep significance among us. In the early 1900's, the great missionary, C.T. Studd, coined the phrase "The Etceteras" when referring to the men and women called to give up their lives as death-defying missionaries. And to be quite frank, Studd's description of what makes up an "Etcetera" is something that each and every one of us on the Ellerslie campus longs to see formed within our souls. It is our hope that we might brush off the dust from the term "The Etceteras" and give this hallowed title a fresh run in this modern day.

The Old Ground is the place where lame walk and blind see. It's the place where the poor and the least are seen as royalty. It's the place where a handful of fish and bread feed a multitude of hungry. It's the place where helpless little lambs gain the faces of lions and march victoriously on the gates of hell. It's the place of God's presence in a flame of fire. It's holy ground. The Old Ground is the ancient message of the Gospel, and oh, how dearly it is needed in our day.

The Irish Elk once roamed the forests of Eurasia, boasting a head over ten feet in height and a rack of antlers that sprawled twelve feet in width. Even the thought of such a creature elicits awe and admiration. But the Irish Elk is no more. It is extinct. And its grandeur is merely a thing of legend and its rack of glory is now only an entry in the fossil record. And like the Irish Elk, a brawny, lionhearted, outrageously triumphant form of Christianity once roamed planet earth. But as of today, it's become only a thing of legend and its rack of glory has been isolated to merely the pages of Scriptural text. It’s time this rack of glory returns!

Just as there are gradients to the color blue, there are gradients to the grandeur and substance of a Godly man. On a scale of 1 to 10, Jesus ranks a ten—the deepest and richest royal shade of blue, so to speak. He was the perfect man, demonstrating the heavenly hues of majesty and holiness. Jesus has set forth a pattern of manhood, and it is a standard so far beyond the average pew-sitting man of our day. So, the question is, “Are we to ignore Christ's righteous pattern or are we to expect God to work the almighty manly pattern into our manhood?” History will show the significance of the men of God of our day answering that question rightly.

The ancient war-cry of the Hebrew nation was, "Rak Khazak." And today, those fiery words still turn Israeli soldiers into steely fighting machines. It was first introduced by Moses in his Deuteronomic commission and then carried on by Joshua as he stepped into the Promised Land with the face of a lion. Translated into English, the words mean "be strong and of good courage!" Those ancient words have prefaced supernatural victory time and again throughout history. And they are the very words needed for this hour.

If the power of the Gospel is to be fully realized in the life of a believer, that believer must first be emptied. The principle of the Gospel is always "first death, then life." Mary of Bethany took her most precious possession (the alabaster jar of spikenard) and poured it out upon Jesus's feet. Those near the scene grumbled that the cost of such a precious treasure was wasted in that fashion, but Jesus responded by declaring that such an act was a clear enunciation of the Gospel life. Taking on the life of Jesus Christ comes with a stiff cost: it means giving up everything. But let's not forget the fact that in giving up everything, we are getting the fullness of life in Jesus Christ.

The Gospel is more than forgiveness; it is a blood-speckled avenue into the fullness of the person of God. This is a message about living where God lives and comprehending the amazing truth that God Almighty wishes to enter in and take control of our very lives. This is the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to the saints.

The Emergent Church has proposed the outrageous notion that God's Word is evolving and each subsequent generation is responsible for interpreting God's Truth for their time. But the Word of God itself is in complete opposition to such a notion of a "changing" God and a "relative"Truth. Our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever—in Him is no variation nor shadow of turning. Our God is revealed as a rock, and He is immovable. His nature is perfectly consistent from generation to generation. His Truth is unalterable. His Gospel doesn't adapt. His promises don't go away. We can be assured that the same God that divinely crafted the Bible is the same God in our midst today and revealing to us the Scripture’s immutable meaning. Praise God for this fact!

The Apostle Paul mentions a certain sword, shield, helmet, breastplate, belt, and shoes in Ephesians, chapter six. He refers to them as the believer's "armor." Paul clearly commands us to dress ourselves in this "armor" in order that we may effectively fight this spiritual battle in which we find ourselves currently employed. However, even with the presence of a clear command, many Christians today are under the impression that this "armor" is merely for little kids in Sunday school class, and not something that mature Christian adults are supposed to actually "put on."In many ways, we have lost the grandeur and majesty of God's purchased weaponry, and many Christians think of God's "armor" as plastic, dime- store religiosity. The saints of God have not been left here on earth alone to fend for themselves. They have been given every last thing they could possibly ever need in order to thrive in life and godliness.

We experienced something very sacred in our midst this past week at Ellerslie. It was a powerful move of God upon our students and staff. It was a campus-wide revival that led to entire days of confession of sins, entire days of worship, and entire days of prayer. Here is the testimony as shared this past Sunday at the Church at Ellerslie (including student testimony). This service, as recorded here, was followed up with three hours of worship, confession of sins, and confession of faith. NOTE: a new microphone was implemented this past Sunday, and whereas the intention was to increase recording quality, it actually did the opposite. Please forgive the raspy mic clipping throughout the audio when Eric is speaking.

The book of Romans, chapter ten, makes a statement that is a bit unusual. "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace." At the pedestrian level of thought, "feet" are not typically considered beautiful. And the reason we don't understand this concept is because we don't understand the Biblical significance of feet. To the Hebrew mind, feet are more than just a body part; they are a symbol of something extremely powerful. So, as the idea of feet is Scripturally unlocked, likewise is the worshiping soul of the believer who desires nothing else but to shout heavenward, "How beautiful are your feet, Lord Jesus!" There is no better place to be than at the precious, lovely, life-giving feet of Jesus Christ.

We as humans can forgive those that wrong us, but we lack the ability, the power, and the love to forgive the way God forgives. Human forgiveness relinquishes resentment and anger, but it can't remove the magnetic pull of remembrance. Human forgiveness leaves us free from the rot of bitterness, but it does nothing to bring heavenly love into the soul towards the one who wronged us. God forgives unlike any man ever could. And His forgiveness must be a hallmark of grace within our souls as Christian men and women. While we can't as humans forgive as God forgives, we can allow God to forgive in and through us and thusly change us and change this world with the amazing love of Christ.

We as humans have problems. We have issues, and this world has a name for every single one of them—and not only a name for them, but also a man-crafted “solution” for each one. Yet every solution offered by man is nothing more than a counterfeit to the real solution that God has made available through the person of Jesus Christ. As Christians, we must learn to always turn to Jesus Christ and His Word first for our solutions rather than to earthly substitutes. He is our all in all. And He is more than prepared to handle our every need, our every crisis, and our every dire circumstance.