Sunday Night Reflections- A Packed House

Every chair was taken during our second service. If anyone else would have showed up, they would have been standing. Preaching Jesus out of the Old Testament is a great joy of mine. Seeing Christ in the OT is an amazing display of the divine authorship of the Bible. Number 21 teaches, the dangers of looking away from the Cross. I used this analogy.

What do these things have in common: Crucifix, Backslide, Backward Victory, Eye Gouge, ½ Nelson , Airplane Spin, Boston Crab, Corkscrew and the Cross-Face Chicken Wing? These are all official WWE wrestling moves. There is another move that doesn’t have an official name but it should. If you have ever wasted an evening watching a wrestling match, have probably seen this move. It is the climatic momentum shifter; THE LOOK AWAY. A wrestler has just pulled off the perfect body slam. His opponent is squirming on the mat. Since it is impossible to resist the temptation for self-glory, the wrestler looks away, throwing his hands in the air while breathing in the intoxicating cheers of his adoring fans. The cheers of the fans have suddenly changed though. In a moment they become frantic calls of concern and attention. Unable to pull himself from the moment of glory the wrestler is unaware that his opponent has recovered and is fast approaching with an aluminum chair! WHACK! The look away gets them every time.

There is a similar sin that gets US every time, LOOKING AWAY FROM THE CROSS.

Looking away from the Cross is taking our eyes off of the saving and dilivering power of God. Instead we look to ourself, our jobs, our circumstances etc. When we look away from the truth, we get snake bitten. The remedy? Look at the serpent on the pole, (a picture of the finished work of Christ on the Cross) and live.

What a victory it was to see the alter filled with men and women who responded to the question, "Who needs to look back to the Cross, and Who needs to look to Cross for the first time?" It's times like that that I feel the grace of God abounding greatly as He allows me to participate in this great message called The Gospel.