Word of Life Church Podcast

In the final hours before his crucifixion Jesus is blamed, accused, condemned. The Sanhedrin accused Jesus of blasphemy; Pilate convicted him of insurrection. But Jesus is neither a blasphemer nor a violent revolutionary—he is blameless. Indeed, he is the only truly blameless one—he is the innocent Lamb of God. But Jesus takes the blame anyway. All of it. He doesn’t try to defend himself. Jesus doesn’t argue, Jesus doesn’t defend himself, Jesus doesn’t even open his mouth. Why? Because Jesus takes all the blame. Jesus doesn’t deserve any of the blame, but… Jesus bears it. He takes it. He carries it. He absorbs it. All of it. Why? Because he’s the Lamb of God—the completely innocent scapegoat who takes all our blame. Jesus is the Lamb of God. And what does the Lamb of God do? The Lamb of God takes away all the sin of the world. Jesus takes away all the blame of the world. Where does he take it way to? To hell, to Sheol, to the grave. Where it belongs! And Jesus leaves it there…in hell…where it belongs…where satan belongs!

O LORD, the hope of Israel!
All who forsake you shall be put to shame.
Those who turn away from you
shall be written in the dust,
for they have forsaken the LORD,
the fountain of living water.
–Jeremiah 17:13

If we use the Bible to condemn other people…
If we use the Bible as a weapon to trap our enemies…
If we use the Bible as a barrier to dam the river of God’s mercy…
We are written in the dust.

The journey from Sinai to Tabor…
The journey from Exodus to Matthew…
The journey from the Old Testament to the New Testament…
The journey from God hidden in darkness to God revealed in light…
The journey from seeing the back of God to seeing the face of God…
Is the journey of the progressive revelation of God found in Scripture.
It's the journey from Back of God Theology to Face of God theology.

In Acts 2 we find the believers devoting themselves to “the prayers.” In Acts 4 we find the believers lifting their voices in spontaneous prayer. We need both: The formation of liturgical prayer and the spontaneity of improvisational prayer.

"Sitting with Jesus" is a form of contemplative prayer. There are breakthroughs in spiritual development that can occur through contemplative prayer that can occur no other way. Either we gain new perspectives through contemplative prayer or we forever look at the world through the same old lens of frightened self-interest. It is in contemplative prayer (or "sitting with Jesus") that universal love becomes possible.