Galations 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me ”

     These words mean the breaking and collapse of my independence brought about by my own hands, and the surrendering of my life to the supremacy of the Lord Jesus. No one can do this for me, I must do it myself. God may bring me up to this point three hundred and sixty-five times a year, but He cannot push me through it. It means breaking the hard outer layer of my individual independence from God and the liberating of myself and my nature into oneness with Him.  It means not following my own ideas, but choosing absolute loyalty to Jesus. Once I am at that point, there is no possibility of misunderstanding. Has that breaking of my independence come or not? Because all the rest is religious fraud. Will I give up or will I surrender to Jesus Christ, placing no conditions whatsoever as to how the brokenness will come? I must be broken from my own understanding of myself. When I reach that point, immediately the reality of the supernatural identification with Jesus Christ takes place. And the witness of the Spirit of God is unmistakable—“I have been crucified with Christ.”  The passion of Christianity comes from deliberately signing away my own rights and becoming a bondservant of Jesus Christ.  This humility, or laying down of our own lives is a medium through which God's power can flow.  We must first be emptied of ourselves for God to work in us and through us to a hurting world.  Are you ready today to pick up your cross and follow Him up the hill to Calvary? He needs us!!                    God Bless,  Rusty

Colossians 1:27, “God willed to make known what is the riches of His glory of the mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

     The Christian worker has to be a sacred “go-between.” He must be so closely identified with his Lord and the reality of His salvation that Christ can continually bring His created life through him. I am not referring to the strength of one individual’s personality being put on another, but the real presence of Christ coming through every aspect of the worker’s life. When we preach the facts of the life and death of our Lord as they are conveyed in the New Testament, our words are sacred. God uses these words, on the basis of His salvation, to create something in those who listen which otherwise could never have been created. If we simply preach the effects of salvation in the human life instead of the revealed, divine truth regarding Jesus Himself, the result is not new birth in those who listen. The result is a refined religious lifestyle, and the Spirit of God cannot witness to it because such preaching is in a realm other than His. We must make sure that we are living in such harmony with God that as we proclaim His truth He can create in others those things which He alone can do.  Only then can His true glory, Christ, be revealed through us.  When we say, “What a wonderful personality, what a fascinating person, and what wonderful insight,” what opportunity does the gospel of God have through all of that? It cannot get through, because the attraction is to the messenger and not the message. If a person attracts through his personality, that becomes his appeal. If, however, he is identified with the Lord Himself, then the appeal becomes what Jesus Christ can do. The danger is to glory in men, yet Jesus says, "If I be lifted up."  "Christ in us," is the only glory that can change our world.  Our glory just won't cut it any longer.  Amen!!      God Bless,  Rusty

2 Corinth 6:2, " now is "The acceptable time," behold, now is the day of salvation.

     Now is the acceptable time, for what?  Now is the day of salvation.  What is special about today?  There is nothing at all special about this particular day over another.  One of the reasons is that days are just a function of time, and time is a function of our physical being on this planet.  Time has no bearing on God in a sense that today He has to do this or He's going to do something special on this day.  All of God's plans come when the fullness of time is right.  When everything has happened that is supposed to happen, or when the cup becomes full, it just pours over into the next event.  God doesn't deal in days.  They were created for the human body and all it's surroundings because of man's makeup.  So when God says that, "This is the acceptable time and this is the day of salvation," what is He talking about?  Let me ask you a question?  Is there anything that you have in your life that you know you need to get rid of?  Maybe something that keeps you from a closer walk with God.  You have tried but you're always waiting for the right encounter, or maybe the right alter call.  You know that it has to be dealt with, but it's just not the right time.  Well today is the day to deal with it, right now!  You see God has already dealt with it at the cross.  It's already been bought and paid for.  So with God, every second of eternity is the proper time to get rid of things in our life.  Every second we breathe we have the right to come to God and get these things taken care of.  It doesn't take a special anointing or a special meeting, it just takes faith.  God, because He doesn't exist in time is available to cleanse you any second that you choose.  He's just longs to hear you cry out, "I'm ready now Lord.  Today is my day! "  When you lay it down before Him and give Him permission to take your baggage you will hear Him cry out across the universe of time, "Today is the day of your salvation!!"         God Bless,  Rusty 

Matthew 13:23, "And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit, and brings forth, some a hundred fold, some sixty, and some thirty."

     The parable of the sower.  Most of us are familiar with it.  It's about a sower who sows seed and the results of where the seed lands.  In this particular scripture Jesus is defining the effects of seed that landed on good ground.  I've often wondered why the parable wasn't called the seed.  After all, it's really about the seed isn't it, or, is it?  What about the sower?  I mean, after all, if a sower really wanted a harvest, wouldn't he just throw all the seed on good soil?  Why would he throw the seed where it wasn't going to bring forth life?  Maybe it's really about the heart that is receiving the seed.  I believe that it is true that some people have a prepared heart and some don't.  Some have been softened by life's situations or their own failures.  Still others might have heard the word over and over and it kept turning over rocks and breaking up the ground to find the good soil.  Maybe you just happened to reap a harvest where others have been sowing for some time.  But, what if the parable doesn't have as much to do with receiver's heart as it has to do with the sower's heart?  What if the one who is sowing the word has a clean, pure heart which is filled with the love of God?  What if they have no motive other then they love you and just want to see you receive eternal life?  What if they are truly concerned about your soul?  Even if this parable is not about the heart of the one that sows the seed, I believe that the sower's heart is the fertilizer that helps the seed to grow.  The bottom line is this.  Why are you telling someone about Jesus?  What are your own motives for even doing it?  Do you truly love the person?  Have you prayed for them and stood in the gap?  Have you travailed for them?  This devotional has no punch line, just questions?  What's the shape of your heart?        God Bless,  Rusty

Jeremiah 1: 11+12, " And the word of the Lord came to me saying, "What do you see Jeremiah?" And I said, "I see a rod of an almond tree."  Then the Lord said to me, "You have seen well, for I am looking over My word to perform it."

     An almond tree is the very first tree to bud.  It buds ahead of everything else.  It is the first to bear any fruit.  A rod, or a stick used for walking, has leaves on it and they are ready for germination.  God compared this to Him looking over His word to perform it.  How does that fit?  Well, first of all we must realize that God is the one that will do what His word says, not us.  This is the first and perhaps most important thing that a Christian must learn.  God will take care of what He said He would.  You don't have to worry about it, just be a sower.  We are supposed to walk through this world, with the walking stick, or the rod of the almond tree.  Everyplace we walk, the stick touches the ground and releases it's seed.  In other words, focus in on our daily walk with the Lord.  Everything, or person, or place we come in contact with causes the seed on the stick to be released which will bring forth possible germination, or the start of spiritual life.  Every step that we take the seed is being thrown over the spiritual ground of peoples heart.  Our biggest problem is that when seed falls, we just want to stay there and make it grow.  We want to watch over it and see that nothing happens to it.  As we stop and look back upon the seed that just fell we can hear God scream, "NO!  Let it alone.  Your job is to keep on walking.  I'll watch over it and I will perform it.  It's My word not yours.  Your job is to keep on walking and keep on spreading the word!!"  We must continue to be sowers and let the rest up to God.  We must stop trying to make God's word happen.  That's not our job.  Our job is simply to spread the gospel.  Tell some one about Jesus today every where that you go.  Our job is easy. Just throw out the seed.  God will take care of the rest.  Amen!     God Bless,  Rusty

Romans 7:19+24, "For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that  I do not wish. What a wretched man that I am"

     I've heard a lot of people, especially in counseling sessions, tell me how disgusting they feel.  All the shame and the guilt that's inside due to things that they did.  In fact, there are many times in my life that I have looked at myself and thought, "I'm a mess.  How could God even want to use me?"  But in these times I'm always reminded of Paul.  His experience encourages me and I use it to encourage others.  Paul, was not a rookie when he wrote this letter.  He had already been beaten many times.  He was stoned, dragged out of the city and left for dead.  People tried to kill him.  This was not some amateur want-to-be.  This was the greatest apostle that ever lived.  His cry is the same that we, as humans, lift up every day, "Oh Lord, I've done it again.  Oh Lord, I didn't get it done.  When am I ever going to make it?"  In these cries, we find the greatest tool that God has ever, or ever will give to humanity, His grace!  Yes, Paul understood grace more then everyone else around him.  God's grace is the only thing that allows me to continue to go forward every day of my life.  God's grace is sufficient.  The wretched stench that we smell inside of our own lives, whether we let other people smell it or not, is good.  It's good because we understand that we can't do it on our own.  We understand, every time we smell it that we are but mere human beings that don't have a chance to make it on our own.  It's humbles us to a place where we cry out to God," What a wretched person I am!!  Please help me Lord!!"  What do I tell people when they feel this way?  I say, "Good, don't ever lose that feeling."  You see, the more wretched we see ourselves, the more His grace comes to us.  If we don't feel bad about anything and we think we have arrived, look out because we're in serious trouble.  I'm not saying that we are not victorious through Christ or that we should walk around feeling bad all the time.  I'm not saying that God doesn't fill us with His love and joy and peace.  I'm not saying that we should walk around feeling guilty or shameful.  Please hear me.  What I am saying is that we must understand who we are in Christ and even in the best of times and seasons, we should never lose track of who we really are without Him, which would be nothing.  Only by grace, only by grace, only by grace.  Receive His grace today and get back into the fight.  He needs us today more then ever.  Are you game?   God Bless, Rusty

     1 Sam 17:46 +51," I will strike you down and remove your head from you.  Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of it's sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it."

     Last week we talked about contending for the faith.  Getting into the ring as a contender to bring victory.  The god (Satan) of this world has the belt and we're looking to take it away from him.  Some times we don't want to think this way but that's why we've been given armor, to fight the good fight of faith. (1Tim 6:12)  We must get in and get toe to toe with his snarling, roaring, looking bad self and not be afraid, but determined.  Determined to take back everything he has stolen from us.  Determined to take the belt and put it on the one who rightly deserves it in this life.  The one who already paid the price, Jesus.  The problem is we want to be like Rocky. The night before his fight with Apollo he said, "If I can just stay in there and not let him knock me out."  He did exactly that.  He stood in the ring with Satan and let him beat the tar out of him and when it was all over he thought he had accomplished something but the truth is HE LOST THE FIGHT!!!  He was all beat up and still lost!!  WE don't need to stand in the ring with him and take a beating, we need to get a new mentality and purpose to not only knock him out but as soon as he hits the mat we must pull our swords and take off his head.  The church was not meant to be some tired old body just waiting for the rapture.  The church is supposed to be a victorious, glorious army in the last days.  We must wake up!!!  It's time to take the head off, and to stand strong in the Lord and the strength of His might.  Take the word of God and stand on it.  Put on the full armor of God and get in the battle, not just to get beat up but to defeat the enemy in your life.  Take his head off and don't let him get back up.  That's our challenge for the church and for our own lives.  We must stand up for Christ and not walk in defeat but take the gospel to the world.  Whatever it is that holds you back, I pray that today you would take on a new attitude and go on the offensive.  The best news is that Jesus has already cut his head off, we just have to have the faith to walk in it!!!    Do it today.  It's time, don't you think?               God Bless, Rusty

Matthew 15:32, "And Jesus called His disciples to Him and said," I feel compassion for the multitude."

     Jesus felt compassion for the multitude.  What is a multitude?  It could refer to a disorganized or an organized crowd.  It could also mean Israel, a heathen nation, or simply an organized assembly.  One thing is definitely for sure.  It has to do with people.  Hurting people who need the word of God.  I see the world today as a multitude of hurting people.  I believe if Jesus were here in person He would be weeping over the lost and hurting people of this world, and I'm not just talking about non Christians, because there are a lot of Christians hurting today the same as everyone else.  I think the reason He would weep more then anything is that we don't gather to see Him any more.  We don't come to sit and hear Him teach anymore.  If He was on the TV networks talking, the same night as the presidential debates or the Super Bowl, which would we watch?  What or who would we want to hear.  Many times Jesus wept when they came.  I wonder if He held a press conference today if He would still be weeping, or even if anyone would care?  Will the world ever wake up from it's blindness?  New Presidents, economic bailouts, new tax packages, bigger parties and celebrations, gay rights and partial birth abortions.  Nothing will ever be the answer that the multitudes are looking for.  The only answer is the word of God and the only way we can truly hear it is to come to hear Him.  He's filled with compassion more then ever.  He's weeping over our nation and all the nations of the world.  He's the only answer to the problems of our country and the world, but we continue to push Him further away.  We have treated Him like a parent who just got shuffled off to the nursing home with the promises of, "I'll come see you all the time."  That's what we continue to tell Him.  He weeps because there's no one there to listen.  His compassion raises up inside of Him, even in the midst of our rebellion, He still wants to feed the people.  Are you hungry?  He is waiting with the bread of life.  You won't be satisfied with current events or the news channels any more.  The only thing that will satisfy is Him.  He's there right now weeping for you.  He wants to talk.  Are you available?                 God Bless, Rusty

1 Peter 2:9, " But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you might proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."

    We have been called into His light.  Jesus said, "I am the light of the world and then in His teaching He proclaimed that we were the light of the world.  Well, one might ask, "are we the light or is He the light?"   The answer to that question would be YES!  We are only the light because Christ, the hope of glory, lives in us.  We don't understand the power of the light.  If we look throughout scripture we will find God's lightning doing various things.  Some of the main acts being accomplished by His lightning are the destruction of our enemies and the deliverance of His people.  The question today is, "What is lightning?"  Obviously all you have to do is look at the word to see that it is light.  It is very concentrated light that has more power and has been recorded as being hotter then the sun.  Well, were is this light?  It's inside of us.  We are the light.  The point I'm trying to make is that God's light, or His very power is inside of each one of us.  We are to show it to the world in many different ways.  We are to let it be released through us which will reveal God's glory to the world. There are times, however, when God's light inside of us needs to be released in a concentrated way so as to release His power into situations.  I believe this happens in real intercessory prayer.  I believe when we fall on our knees and wrestle and travail in prayer that what we are doing is taking the light inside of us and gathering it to be released.  The Holy Spirit becomes a magnifying glass and when the conditions are right, BOOM!!   God's word shoots out of us into a situation and the power of God just moves mountains to deliver people and to destroy the plots that the world has set against us.  There is power in real prayer.  I'm not talking about just a simple prayer.  I'm talking about praying until the answer is received.  I'm talking about staying on the mountain all night, every night, if that's what it takes.  We were called into His marvelous light so that He could be released into this world.  If we would concentrate on the problem areas around us and keep on praying, not ever giving up, when the conditions are right, the lightning will be released.  That's good news.   God Bless,  Rusty

“I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ ” (Colossians 1:24).

     The Christian worker has to be a sacred “go-between.” He must be so closely identified with his Lord and the reality of His redemption that Christ can continually bring His creating life through him. I am not referring to the strength of one individual’s personality being superimposed on another, but the real presence of Christ coming through every aspect of the worker’s life. When we preach the historical facts of the life and death of our Lord as they are conveyed in the New Testament, our words are made sacred. God uses these words, on the basis of His redemption, to create something in those who listen which otherwise could never have been created. If we simply preach the effects of redemption in the human life instead of the revealed, divine truth regarding Jesus Himself, the result is not new birth in those who listen. The result is a refined religious lifestyle, and the Spirit of God cannot witness to it because such preaching is in a realm other than His. We must make sure that we are living in such harmony with God that as we proclaim His truth He can create in others those things which He alone can do.
When we say, “What a wonderful personality, what a fascinating person, and what wonderful insight!” then what opportunity does the gospel of God have through all of that? It cannot get through, because the attraction is to the messenger and not the message. If a person attracts through his personality, that becomes his appeal. If, however, he is identified with the Lord Himself, then the appeal becomes what Jesus Christ can do. The danger is to glory in men, yet Jesus says we are to lift up only Him (see John 12:32).

John 16:33, " These things I have spoken to you,  that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world."

     There is no one that is reading this scripture today that does not fully agree that we, in fact, have tribulation all around us today in our world.  But let me take it a step further, or, let me open this scripture up just a little bit for us today.  In chapters 14-16, Jesus is warning them about His death, their relationship to the world through His death, His prayer promises and most importantly, the Holy Spirit.  So when He says that there will be tribulation in the world, He's talking about the physical world, but I believe He's also talking about while we're in the world there will be tribulation in us.  In other words as long as we're in this world, there will be a battle raging inside of us.  Because of the Holy Spirit inside of us we experience conflict.  Not because of Him, but because of the work He's trying to accomplish inside of us.  That's one of His jobs, to conform us into the image of Jesus.  The only way to do this is to tear down fortresses and strongholds that rage in our minds.  I don't know about you, but before I really got saved I never had any problem with drinking and drugs and sex.  They were just normal for me so there was no conflict.  But the day I was filled up with His presence the battle started, and it's still raging today.  There is a war going on inside of me and it grows stronger every day.  There is constant tribulation in side of me between God's will and the world.  The only thing that keeps me from going insane is the presence of Jesus.  He brings a peace, not as the world brings, but a perfect peace that sustains me all the way through in every situation.  Maybe you don't see it that way, and that's okay, but in my life that's the case.  Jesus has already overcome all my stuff and so I can have peace in the midst of the battle.  That's the only thing that keeps me going sometimes, how about you?       

God Bless,  Rusty

1 Kings 19:11+12, " So He said, 'Go forth and stand before the Lord.'  And behold the Lord was passing by!  And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains, and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind.  And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.  And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a small, still voice.

     God communicates to us through His Spirit.  His Spirit communicates through our spirit, and our spirit speaks to our mind.  This is basically how communication with God works.  But the bible teaches us that He is not in the breaking, or the earthquakes, or even the fire.  In other words, we cannot hear His voice in the midst of noise going on in our head.  Let me break it down for you.  We cannot hear Him in the midst of all the traffic. It's like driving through a large city full of cars swerving, beeping horns, stopping and starting, not to mention all the physical noise.  If you're hanging on to the wheel for dear life you would not be able to have a conversation even with the person right next to you.  We watch the news and listen to every one that tells us anything and before you know it you have a thousand different thoughts running through your head. "What do I do if? or What's going to happen when?"  You think about your job or relationships or what you're going to wear or cook later that night.  We have all this traffic going on.  Wait, there's the Mercedes economy just bearing down on you.  And there's the Chevy Iraq stopping right in your lane.  Over next to you, which you can barely see, but you know it's there, is the Toyota divorce and bad relationship car.  You have a big Volvo breaking news truck bearing down on you and beeping it's horn.  So much going on in our heads, no wonder we never hear God!!!  God speaks though stillness and peace and calm.  Sometimes we're so busy we couldn't hear Him if our life depended on it.  Brothers and sisters, if we want to find God and hear His voice, we must listen for Him.  Spend some time just listening and you would be surprised what He'll tell you.  Stop listening to everyone else and find someplace where you can just relax and hear Him.   He'll speak to you out of the midst of your tragedy.  You'll hear Him in a still small voice.  He's always speaking, we just need to listen.   Amen!

Matthew 9:9, " And as Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man, called Matthew, sitting in a tax office; and He said to him, "Follow Me!"  And he rose and Followed Him."

     This man named Matthew, or Levi, on the spur of the moment, left everything he had and everything he was doing, and got up and followed Jesus.  This is what I call, "Judgement Day."  Not the judgement day of the end of the world, but the day we run into almost every day of our life.  You see, we all hear that still, small voice inside of us on a daily basis.  It may not say exactly what Matthew heard, but it is just as much the sound of our Lord asking us to do something for Him.  Maybe it's to call someone or maybe it's to go see someone.  Just maybe that voice will ask you to pray for a stranger you don't know on the streets, or in a store.  Whatever the voice tells you to do, or asks you, if you will, a choice is available to each one of us.  Are we going to follow the Lord or not?  Are we going to walk in the path He has for us or not?  It's a judgement day every day of our life, whether we know it or not.  The question is never hard to understand, nor is it ever something hard to do.  Most of the time it's something very simple that just lets the love of God flow through us to someone else.  The only question becomes, will we stop doing what we're doing, or lay down our agenda for a second of eternity and follow Jesus?  That's the real question.  Do we follow Him or not?  It's a choice that you will make today over and over again, in many different situations.  I pray that today, when Jesus needs us, that we would respond out of His grace and just do what He asks.  It will be a much better world out there for all of us, don't you think?          God Bless,  Rusty

1 Corinth 1:18, "For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God."

     The basics of our Christianity lay at the cross.  His forgiveness, the wonderful substitution that was made, and His great love.  Imagine, if you will, a conversation some time before the world was created between Father and Son.  "I like the plan Father, but the only thing I'm a little concerned about is giving them free choice."  "I know Son, but if we don't give them free will then they will not be able to choose to love us, and that's important because We don't want to create robots."  "You're right, of course, but they will not make it without help, Father.  I love them so much I wish there was something I could do for them.  In fact I'd be willing to do anything!"  "Anything Son!  Would You be willing to go to the earth in a human form and die for them?" "Well, it would be very hard for me but, yes, I'll do it!"  The Father replied, "It will be very hard for me too!"  Right at that moment, "the Lamb was slain before the foundations of the world."  That's God and Jesus' love for us. "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son to the end that ALL that believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."(John 3:16)  God loves us more then we can ever imagine.  Not just the ones that are living for Him, but the drug addict and the prostitute, the alcoholic and the wife beater.  He loves the cheater and the liar.  He loves everyone the same because He created us all to love.  All we have to do is go to the cross and let the power of Calvary change us forever.  That is God's love for us and the power of the cross.  His power that was given to forgive us, to take our problems on Himself, and to just give us a home and family.  What a good God we serve!!!   God Bless,  Rusty

1 Corinth 1:18," For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

     The cross is the fundamental starting point of our Christian walk.  Yesterday we talked about forgiveness, which is the first thing we realize in the cross.  The next aspect we want to talk about today is substitution.  Most people don't truly grasp this truth.  Jesus took our sins upon His body and gave us His righteousness.  This is substitution.  In other words our sin is no longer ours, it's His.  When Jesus becomes real to us, the first thing we do is repent of our sins.  We ask Him to forgive us, and He does.  The bible says that He washes away our sins as far as the east is from the west.  But what happens the next time we sin?  What about the time after that, or how about all the sins we'll commit while we're on this earth?  Most people think that once they're saved, if they commit sin they have to go get saved again, and again, and again.  My friends, if you always go forward to get saved, you don't understand substitution.  When Jesus died, He took all of your sin on His body.  All means exactly what it says, all.  He took every sin that you will ever even think about and He died for it.  Do you feel ashamed after you sin?  Then you don't truly understand God's great exchange.  "Well, what do I do when I sin?"  You simply confess it.  Not to any man, but to Him.  But you're not confessing it because He doesn't know about it or He hasn't already taken care of it.  You're simply acknowledging that He is right and you are wrong.  As soon as you do that, the very split second of eternity in which you confess, He forgives you of your sin.(1 John 1:9)  Why does He forgive you?  Because He's already forgiven you.  All you do is appropriate the power of the cross back in your life.  It's already a finished work.  He doesn't have to do anything more, and neither do you.  You are immediately forgiven and made righteous in His sight.  "You are the righteousness of God in Christ  Jesus."  (I Corinth 5:21)  My friends, God doesn't want you to feel the shame and guilt that is involved in sin.  Jesus already felt all of it for you.  So when you feel guilty or ashamed of doing something, confess it and it's gone.  That's the greatest exchange that ever took place.  I don't have to feel guilty all the time.  How about you?  Have you taken your sin to the Father.  If not, do it right now and let the power of the cross set you free, Amen!        God Bless,  Rusty

1 Corinthians 1:18, "For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

     The cross of Jesus Christ is the power of our salvation.  If we don't understand the basics of Calvary we will never be able to live the way God has intended us to live.  The provision that God provided for us is essential to our Christian walk.  God's forgiveness, God's substitution, and His everlasting love.  These three things are the basics of our walk with the Lord and are all found in the cross.  Now, we must not worship the cross because the fact is, Jesus is no longer there.  That's right, He's alive and well, and seated at His Father's right hand.  But what took place at the cross is vital.  First, we'll talk about forgiveness.  Our God, through Jesus' death on the cross, purchased us and through this sacrificial act, now has the legal right to forgive us.  His forgiveness is essential to the work of the cross because without it we would all be condemned to hell's fire for eternity.  Hebrews 9:22, "Without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness for sins."    But because of the shedding of Jesus' blood, we can not only be forgiven, but now we find the power to forgive others just as God has forgiven us.  Our whole Christian walk starts and ends with God's forgiving power.  God forgives us for all of our sin.  He forgives us for the sin we committed yesterday, the sin we are committing today, and yes, all the sin we will commit in the future.  When we receive Jesus our lives are transferred to the cross and His blood covers us so that we can walk out salvation.  This is the power of the cross.  This is grace and mercy.  This is life in Christ Jesus.  So if you feel bad about the things that you've done and you can't seem to find any peace, just take them to the cross and receive God's unconditional forgiveness.  It's where we all must start.  So take the first step today.  You'll be glad you did.  Amen!   God Bless,  Rusty