An idol can be defined as anything (besides God) that becomes a controlling obsession in my life. I came across this idol inventory from a pastor friend…

Do I want this too much?

God doesn’t want to be the chief thing; He wants to be everything. The sense is not that you can have other gods as long as God is your favorite. No. There are to be no other gods allowed at all. There can be no competition for our allegiance.

The Bible goes into great depth to talk to us about what happens when we die, and what we begin to understand is that really the whole point of this life is actually preparation for the next.

Today, if you are a Christian I want to give you something to look forward to. I want to re-kindle the fires of your hope. This world is not our home. We are just passing through.

Just because someone rejects the idea of hell doesn’t make hell any less real. They might succeed in convincing people that hell isn’t there… but it’s STILL there!

Mankind tries to avoid it, tries to stave it off… but we’re all going to die. We will all die a physical death - because the wages of sin is death.

The phrase that Jesus uttered was a common bedtime prayer taught to every Jewish child. It would be similar to one of our childhood prayers, “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep and if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” Every night a child went to bed in Israel, they would kneel and say, “Into your hands I commit my spirit.”

While most of us have incomplete work, unfinished business and half-completed projects, Jesus finished everything He started. He completed every task He was given. He accomplished all that He had planned to do.

As we approach the 4th cry from the Savior as He hung on the cross, I’m overcome with a sense of inadequacy to fully comprehend the weightiness of this lament.

This morning we’re focusing on the ultimate family man. While Jesus never married and had natural children, He was committed to His family. We see this especially in His dying moments as we listen to the third cry from the Cross recorded in John 19:25-27.