Resurrection

Friday Night or Sunday Morning – Where Do You Anchor Your Faith?

by Andy Wood on March 21, 2016

in Exploring the Possibilities, Five LV Laws, Hoarders, Insight, Life Currency, LV Alter-egos, LV Cycle, Principle of Eternity

Empty Tomb of Jesus at Night

For the last 2,000 years people from all over the world have staked their futures around two events that, for them, represent the most transforming experience in history. I’m referring to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

One of the most compelling proofs of the power of those two events is in the changed character of Jesus’ followers.  Talk about Jekyll-and-Hyde! This ragtag group of crazies went from cowering wimps to a fearless army of witnesses with a single message:  Jesus lives.

These people didn’t wait until the resurrection to believe in Christ.  But they experienced a profound change in their faith when they encountered a living, victorious Lord.

So will you.

Even today it’s possible to know in your head that Jesus is alive, but live as though it’s still Friday night. In other words to believe in Jesus as though He were dead.  So how can you tell the difference?  Here are five signs you’re living on “Friday night” faith: [click to continue…]

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Vanishing Points

by Andy Wood on December 29, 2014

in Executing Your Plan, Five LV Laws, Life Currency, Love, LV Cycle, LV Stories, Principle of Eternity

Dirt road in nature in Sri Lanka

This is about a Father with four sons…

A Sailor.

A Driver.

A Flyer.

A Walker.

The Father provided richly for each of his sons.  He gave them a home in which to flourish.  He provided resources upon which to build their futures.  He even saw to it that each was uniquely equipped and trained to succeed, according to his own natural bent.

Yet despite their obvious advantages, each son seemed convinced that there was more to life than living under the watchful, seemingly all-knowing gaze of his Father.  Each seemed determined to find fulfillment on his own terms.  And despite the obvious objections of the Father, each chose to go his own way. [click to continue…]

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Missing

by Andy Wood on August 1, 2011

in Ability, Five LV Laws, Life Currency, Love, LV Alter-egos, LV Cycle, Pleasers, Principle of Freedom, Tense Truths, Waiting

I.

It all started with a dream last week,

About a friend I hadn’t seen in more than a decade,

And hadn’t talked to in six years.

Even though it had been so long

And so much life had passed us by,

I realized how important he still is to me.

My love for him and his family is as strong as ever.

And that dream made me take a look at the tapestry of my relationships

And realize somebody was missing.

[click to continue…]

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Get Out of That Tomb!

by Andy Wood on May 19, 2011

in Ability, Allocating Your Resources, Five LV Laws, Life Currency, LV Cycle, Principle of Abundance

It’s time for a resurrection.

Namely, yours.

You have focused on death long enough.

It’s time for another kind of reckoning.

Christians worldwide seem to have a fascination with death.  Pass most any church and somewhere you’ll find a cross – a symbol of public execution and death.  Listen to us talk about spiritual growth and overcoming sinful habits and somebody will mention the Bible principle of being dead to sin.  Listen to our music or examine what there is of our art, and you hear descriptions of a life so surreal you have to, well, die to get there, or we celebrate the death that Jesus died to make it possible.

Lest I be misunderstood, all of that is true.  But it’s only half the truth.  [click to continue…]

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I Need to be Saved

by Andy Wood on January 4, 2010

in Ability, Five LV Laws, Life Currency, Principle of Freedom, Tense Truths

Dirty HandsYou read it right.  I need to be saved.  Not in the sense we church folk  usually toss the word around, but I need it nonetheless. 

Yes, I have repented of my sins, and I have trusted Christ as my Lord.  I know I’m going to heaven and that I’m a child of God, a joint heir with Jesus Christ.  But more than ever, I need the wholeness, the deliverance, and the healing that only He can offer.  I need to be saved.

Salvation is a three‑faced experience.  I have been saved; I am being saved; I will be saved.  Past, present, and future.  The Bible words:  justification, sanctification, glorification.  All of this is possible through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross and His victorious resurrection.  And all of it comes as a package deal. 

Sometimes we get the idea that we can be justified (forgiven of our sins) and glorified (taken to heaven) and bypass the sanctification (being conformed into Christ’s image).  But the fact is, there is no salvation without sanctification.  If you see no evidence of the Holy Spirit transforming you into the image of Jesus, you’d best check out whatever it is you call your “profession of faith.” 

How do I know I need to be saved?  Simple.  [click to continue…]

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This Changes Everything – Easter 2009

by Andy Wood on March 29, 2009

in Uncategorized

Real people, real stories, real living Christ!  If you’re in the South Plains (Texas) area, please help us get the word out… no matter what you’re facing, a Risen Lord changes everything.  Join us at Turning Point for our Easter 2009 celebration on April 11-12.  Saturday service:  5:00 pm.  Sunday Services:  9:00 and 10:30 am.

Click here to go to the web site for directions and more information.

If you live elsewhere, please pray for us, and let me know in the comments section below how we can pray for you this Easter season.

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The Resurrection Army

by Andy Wood on January 26, 2009

in Enlarging Your Capacity, Life Currency, Love, LV Cycle, Tense Truths

Tense Truth: If you are a follower of Jesus, you are a citizen of a kingdom that is always one generation from extinction, and you are that generation. On the other hand, you are part of a kingdom that will never die. Armed with the most relevant, life-giving message ever known to mankind, we reach out with urgency to a dying generation, yet with confidence in a living God.

angel-prayerBorn on the first Easter and commissioned forty days later, the history and destiny of the world has been forever changed and shaped by an army sent forth by the Lord Jesus Himself. You are now part of that army.

Conceived in the eternal heart of God, nurtured in the womb of a rich man’s grave, this army entered the world with very little fanfare. There were no parades. No marches. No legions of soldiers with their pomp and circumstance.

Rome hardly noticed; most of Jerusalem heaved a sigh of relief. The Rabble-rouser was dead, His disciples terrorized, His followers shocked numb. The Armies of Death had won again, and life(!) would go on as usual.

Then came Sunday. Oh, then came Sunday!

Then rolled the stone.

Then fell the guardians of the grave.

Then rose the Lamb, the Lion, the Prince of Peace!

Out came the cry, at first as hoarse as a whisper: “He’s alive! And He’s calling for you.”

From everywhere they came: Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, male and female, the religious and the rebels. They saw for themselves the difference a risen Savior would make. And true to the prophecies of Daniel, out of the kingdom of Rome there rose a kingdom that would never, never die – one that would subdue all other kingdoms and fill the world. And true to God’s promise, that kingdom and its Resurrection Army – your Resurrection Army – is still alive and well today.

What gives this Resurrection Army its power to overcome? [click to continue…]

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Love Crucified Arose

by Andy Wood on March 21, 2008

in Five LV Laws, Principle of Eternity

(with a big salute to Michael Card)

Empty TombHe waited, and waited, and waited. He put up with so much. While His love was spurned, He suffered long, awaiting that one climactic moment in time that was a part of His eternal plan.

When that moment came, He took the initiative and arrived on the scene. In kindness He reached out to us with tangible expressions of His love – a healing touch, the pleasure of His company, a word of forgiveness. His kindness was refreshing, because it touched those who weren’t used to receiving it.

He was criticized, questioned, suspected, and ultimately undermined by jealous people. But there wasn’t a jealous bone in His body.

He went toe-to-toe with an establishment of hypocrites who loved to parade themselves before men. But in spite of His immense popularity, He never flaunted Himself.

[click to continue…]

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Because He is Risen

by Andy Wood on March 19, 2008

in Five LV Laws, Principle of Eternity

He puts smiles on the faces of little boys.
He sprinkles sweetness on little girls.
He gives dignity to solemn vows, and sacredness to relationships.
He brings purpose and satisfaction to the striving and seeking of your life.
And it is this life of Jesus that brings healing and peace into the broken life.
I live – I live – because He is risen.

Those words, from a musical titled “Living Witnesses,” profoundly impacted my life more than 30 years ago. So much so that we had them printed on the cover of our wedding brochure in 1983. And on this week in which all over the world we pay attention to the fact that Jesus lives, I find myself thinking of them again. Read them again, slowly. Deeply.

[click to continue…]

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