Dr. Rick Mandl - January 21, 2021
Winning Through Losing
Devotional Manuscript: Winning Through Losing
Message by Dr. Rick Mandl, January 21st, 2021, Eagle Rock Baptist Church
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA.
Hey church family, if you were with us this past weekend, you’ll remember that we talked about how Jesus way of winning is really the exact opposite of the world’s way. Well thinking a little bit more about that... Have you ever thought about the fact that any religion, any faith system that talks about heaven or hell always talks about heaven being “up” and hell being “down”? You find that same sort of imagery throughout the Bible.
For instance, Psalm 14:2 says, “The Lord looks down from heaven on the entire human race;" You see, the birth of Christ was really just the beginning of a round trip that Jesus took from heaven, down to earth, and then took back up to heaven. In the second chapter of a letter that Paul wrote called Philippians, Paul describes this round trip so that we can understand it better. The entire life of Jesus isn’t a story about somebody climbing a ladder; It is a picture of someone descending a ladder.
From eternity past, Jesus was at the top of the organizational chart of the universe. . . But He went from the top to the bottom. He left heaven and came to earth where He became an ordinary human being. He wasn’t born in a palace to a king and a queen but laid in a manger as a peasant son of an impoverished couple. From the time that He was born until the day He died, He spent His entire life doing two things: obeying God and serving others.
Why? He did it for you and me. In Mark 10:45 NLT – Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” In Luke 9:24 Jesus told us, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.”
There are no shortage of people around you who will tell you what you need to do in order to achieve greatness. Jesus made it really simple. He said . . . SERVE. He said . . . GIVE. When I give up my life for Christ, He gives me a new life in Him, and it is infinitely better than anything I could ever get for myself. I pray that, that is something that each of us would discover as we surrender ourselves to His Lordship, AMEN.
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA.
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