Sermon: "Don't Let The Attack Distract You"

Meme: Keep God In Your Life!

The Beating Of Jesus

Let’s talk about the beating of Jesus.

Not the soft version many people imagine.

The real one.

Because the cross did not start at Calvary.

The suffering began long before the nails ever touched His hands.

When Jesus was handed over to be crucified, the Roman soldiers first scourged Him.

This was not a simple whipping.

The Romans used a weapon called a flagrum or flagellum. It was a whip with multiple leather strands. At the end of each strand were pieces of bone, metal, and sharp hooks designed to tear flesh.

The purpose was not just punishment.

It was destruction of the body.

The victim was tied to a post, stretched so the back was exposed. Each strike caused the metal and bone to dig into the skin. When the whip was pulled back, it ripped flesh away from the body.

Early historians and medical researchers describe that Roman scourging often exposed muscle tissue and sometimes even bone.

Isaiah prophesied this hundreds of years before it happened.

Isaiah 52:14 says

“His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being.”

Think about that.

Music: "Chasing Rebels"

Meme: Self Care

 

Jesus Wants You To Know...

"One of the hardest things about trials is the uncertainty about how long they will last. Usually, you can’t predict or control the unpleasant circumstances. You just have to live with them indefinitely. At times you may feel as if you can endure no more, but you can always reach out to Me for help. As you cling to Me moment by moment, I enable you to persevere. This produces in you not only endurance but also a harvest of righteousness and peace." "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." - Hebrews 12:11 - "Jesus Lives" by Sarah Young

The Beauty Of Being Moldable

But now, O Lord,

You are our Father;

We are the clay,
and You our potter;

And all we are the work
of Your hand.

Isaiah 64:8 (NKJV)

When I was walking through one of the most difficult seasons of my life, God showed me a powerful picture. I’m not really a “vision” kind of girl. So at first, I thought it was just my imagination. But then I felt an impression on my heart that this really was from God.

What I saw inside my mind was a beautiful flower made from paper-thin glass. Then I saw a hand reaching out and wrapping itself around the glass flower. But as the hand closed around it, the glass shattered. It was delicately beautiful but too fragile to be worked with.

Next I saw the same flower formed out of shiny metal. Once again the hand closed around it - only this time, it didn’t change in any way. The steel was strong but not moldable. The metal flower was too hard to give way to the hand’s desired working.

The last time I saw the same flower, it was made from white clay. Every detail was the same, except now when the hand closed around it, the flower squeezed and moved. The hand folded, twisted, and worked with the clay until suddenly an even more beautiful flower emerged.

I asked God about the glass flower and the metal flower. They were beautiful - but not as beautiful as the white clay flower He molded.

I felt as if the Lord said to my heart: Lysa, I want you to be delicate, but I don’t want you to be fragile. If you’re like glass, when I try to make you into something new, you’ll just shatter. I also want you to be strong, but I don’t want you to be unmoldable. You see, Lysa, that steel flower will always just be a steel flower. And no matter how hard My hand presses on it, the metal stays hard. But if you surrender to My shaping, I can do a new and beautiful work in you.

Scripture: Ephesians 6:14-17