The Sanctuary Downtown

Is there a Good Jesus and a Bad Jesus? A Loving God and a Not-Loving God? A Good Fire and a Bad Fire? Like God is Two, and not One? But God is One, and each of us are Two. When we trust that God is One, we will be One.

"Whose side are you on?" asked Joshua. "NO!" replied the Commander of the Lord's Army. He doesn't hate the people on the other side of the wall. He doesn't hate the "Herem." And he doesn't hate his own mother. He hates the wall. Every wall will come tumbling down.

The Winepress is a tree just outside the walls of Jerusalem. There on the cross, our Lord receives our confessed sin, grapes of wrath, and tramples them in his own flesh, the broken body of Christ, transforming our sin into His Mercy, blood that is wine and wine that is blood, the "harvest of this earth." When you forgive, you surrender your vengeance and bleed God's Vengeance; the blood of Christ; the grace of God; the consuming fire that is God.

Jesus paid the "Bride Price." On the Cross, He absorbed your skin and bore your flesh to destruction in the Valley of Gehenna. It's done. It's finished. The only question is how long it will take you to believe. Heaven is believing that the surgery is finished. Heaven is believing that you have been saved by Jesus Christ and Him crucified, the circumcision of Christ.

David danced before the Ark, giving gifts to God and Israel. Queen Michal despised the dance and bore no fruit. Queen Michal despised the Seed of David, the Life of Christ. The process for getting pregnant is vastly different from the manner in which we go about obeying laws. Faith is Fruit. Faith is the life of Christ in me. To take credit for faith, is to crucify Christ and make oneself an Anti-Christ - a FrankenChristian.

The Law was hidden under the Mercy Seat. Wrath is actually contained in Mercy. Judgment is contained in Grace. The Old Covenant is contained in the New Covenant - the Eternal Covenant. The Presence, Judgment and Power are not in the law, but what covers the law - Mercy. "God with us," is Mercy.

This is Satan's challenge: "God, there are no men made in your image; there are no men that love you for no reason." God replies: "Have you considered my servant Job; my servant Jesus; my servant....Have you considered My Champion?" Justice is not People getting what they deserve. Justice is God getting what He deserves. He deserves a universe of champions.

Christmas from the perspective of "The Innkeeper." Founder of the Hyatt Bethlehem.

The Sacred doesn't need to be protected from the profane. The manger doesn’t profane the baby; the Baby sanctifies the manger. The "Principalities and Powers" want you to think that the Sacred may fail, for then, you’ll make laws, build walls and go to war; you’ll try to save Christmas… and never come to realize, that it’s Christmas that saves you.

Who's behind the curtain? Is he a Stalker? No. He's a Romancer. THE POWER OF ROMANCE: "It's like I had created a good free choice; faith hope and love...for me...in my Bride. If she took credit for it, it wouldn't be it - free Love. You might say 'she chose' because she was chosen."

STEP 1: God subjects all creation to futility (Romans 8:20)
and "consigns all to disobedience" (Romans 11:32a) 
STEP 2: We crucify Him and "He has mercy on all." (Romans 11:32b) 
STEP 3: He rises from the dead and says "Touch my wounds and believe.” How do we touch the wounds on the Body of Christ? 
Well, where is the wounded Body of Christ, that you might touch it?

When God is dead (or feels dead to you)... 
but you desperately wish he were alive;
 When you barely believe...
 but desperately want to believe...
 You anoint Him with the most precious oil.

What is Masculinity?
"Behold The Man." (John 19:5) 
Rules won't change you. The Law can't change you.
 But beholding The Man will "transform you 
from one degree of glory to another." (2Cor.3:18)

Drink the cup the Lord has for you. It's not "the cup Judas has for you," or "the cup your enemies have for you."
It's the cup your Heavenly Father has for you. It's your best life NOW.

The Glory of God is hidden in your wounds. "In my deepest wound I see your glory and it dazzles me." St. Augustine

Are you dreaming your life away? Dreaming your wife away? 
Church away? Jesus away? Judas did.
Your dream bride will kill your real bride. God's dreams are better that your dreams. Nobody bleeds in Stepford.