Christian Recording Artist and Lead Pastor of The Exchange, Joel Engle, wrote this on his Facebook wall this evening:

Christian, don’t fall into despair over your sinful failings! Christ has freed you from wrath, has made you holy and will give you victory!

That gets me excited! It is the Gospel message. Jesus took your punishment and God isn’t mad at you anymore. Truly this is the heart of Christianity that should be the heart of every sermon. So often we let the enemy, or the world, or ourselves, lie to us about who we are in Christ and the miraculous transformation He has done in our heart and is doing in our lives. When you receive Christ He gives you His Holiness! You are justified (just as if I’d never sinned) and God removes your sin from you as far as the east is from the west! It is a miracle and it is good news.

When we consider the story of the Prodigal Son, who spent his share of the inheritance with “loose living” and was still welcomed home by his father when he returned home then we get a glimpse of the heart of our Heavenly Father. He never looses His love for you no matter what you choose to do. Yes, sin has consequences and can lead you to an early grave and an unhappy life, but remember you can always run to a loving God who loves you more than you can ever imagine. Always.

God poured His wrath out on His Son Jesus so He will never pour it out on you. Remember that when you sin (and you do) that God isn’t angry with you. He loves you with an eternal love. Run to Him and receive your forgiveness, don’t run away in fear and go deeper into destruction.

Are sermons about the dangers of sin important? Of course they are and all scripture is God-breathed and is good for instruction and even correction. But looking at your sin is not going to bring about change in your life. It’s when you look at the Cross and what God did for you that you realize you can trust the King of the Universe to bring you safely to your destination. And you can trust Him with your problems and your secrets. He already knows and He couldn’t love you any less.

Always remember and never forget that at the core of any and all Christian messages is (should be) the complete forgiveness that you receive when you receive Christ. Joel calls it The Exchange.  It’s the best deal ever offered in the history of the universe.  You Exchanged your mess for His Glorious Kingdom! When you do that you become His kid and a part of the family! Now start acting like it :-)

Joel Rosenberg is a best selling author and also the founder of the Joshua Fund.  He just finished a conference in Jerusalem and while there recorded a two hour radio special. Here is an excerpt where Joel talks about how God feels about dividing up the land of Israel.

I had the great privilege to cover his story as part of my part time job with Teen Challenge of Arizona. It’s amazing to see God work in the lives of men and women to get them back on track of His best!

Your righteousness won’t get you any closer to God than the next fellow. Only God makes you righteous by your faith in His Son. Religion will tell you that you need to clean up your act in order for God to love you, bless you or approve of you. It’s just not true.

Sin IS deadly and will surely bring consequences in this life, but I repeat, if you have Jesus as your Savior God is not holding your sins against you. He is FOR YOU NOT AGAINST YOU!

This may be the best hour you invest all week and highly recommended for current and future Christians. It’s called the good news for a reason! Here is Pastor Duane Sheriff from November 28, 2010. Please listen:

Here are the sermon notes.

You can listen to and download all of Pastor Duane’s messages here, or just subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. You’ll be glad you did.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
-Ephesians 6:12 (NASB)

²⁸“I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.

²⁹Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.”
-Joel 2:28 & 29 (NASB)

I Think as Christians we do well to look at the War on Terrorism just as we should anything else on in this temporary life… with an eternal perspective. Jesus has already won! We have victory in Him! While radicalized Islam is a real threat to our country and this world, our first response should be to pray. Pray for our enemies, as Jesus said.

Then we should act with the Love of Christ! One great example of that is the Joshua Fund. A ministry started by best selling author, Joel Rosenberg.

Joel Rosenberg was on FOXNews Easter morning. He talked about how God IS pouring out His Spirit and how thousands upon thousands are coming to Christ.

I had the great privilege of interviewing Joel Rosenberg in late March of 2008. Actually it was just three days before his appearance on FOXNews above. You can listen to the entire interview here, on Family Life Radio’s web site. I will post this portion here where Joel talked about how God is pouring out His Spirit and Muslims are coming to Christ in large numbers through visions and dreams!
Joel Rosenberg Interview – Dreams & Visions

It’s amazing to me. While I was yet a sinner, Jesus gave His life for mine!

^8″But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
-Romans 5:8 & 9

Yes, wrath is coming for those who don’t believe. When Jesus returns, it ain’t gonna be for a picnic. He says that when He returns, it will be to judge all the nations. But, because Jesus died, those who have accepted His gift will be spared the wrath that is coming. And Jesus didn’t just die for you and me. Jesus died for THE WHOLE WORLD!

¹⁶“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
¹⁷“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
¹⁸“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

The emphasis is mine, but the sacrifice Jesus made was for everybody! A free gift paid at a high price. The shedding of God’s innocent blood! Amazing. Knowing that God Himself who created all things, and through who’s power all things are being held together, has all of this deadly serious nonsense under control. We can rest in Him, even while the world yells and screams and burns and smolders, because when you come right down to it, our home is in Heaven, not here.

The bottom line? Pray for the lost. Whether they be al-Qaeda or family members. Jesus is coming soon. We need to be ready, and we want as many others as is possible to be ready too!