Sozo Today

“But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Luke 2:19 From that first angelic encounter when she was told she had been hand-picked by God to deliver the Messiah, to the visit from the shepherds, Mary had experienced a lot in a very short time. I’m sure as a young person it must have seemed overwhelming, yet Mary never dismissed any of these memorable moments, but instead treasured them. She didn’t consider any of these moments to be insignificant or coincidental, but instead she counted each encounter as extremely valuable and she stored these treasured moments[…]

“Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has visited and redeemed his people.” Luke 1:68 Who can forget the Bible story about the donkey that talked? Balaam was on his way as a “hired prophet” to curse the Israelites when the Angel of the Lord stood in the roadway with his sword drawn. Although invisible to Balaam, the donkey could see the danger ahead and sat down in the roadway, refusing to go another step. Out of his fury, Balaam began to beat his trusted Donkey when the Donkey spoke up in his own defense and said, “I’m[…]

“But as they arrived, they looked up and saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled aside.” Mark 16:4 Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome were all on a mission. They wanted to take care of Jesus’ body, giving him the proper burial they felt He deserved. It’s obvious God was behind all of this because He wanted them to be the first to announce that Jesus was indeed the resurrected Savior. The only thing standing in their way was the “very large stone” that the Roman garrison had rolled over the opening[…]

“Come with great power, O God, and rescue me! Defend me with your might.” Psalm 54:1  In Numbers 16, Korah incited a rebellion against Moses that led to him and over 250 of his followers meeting a tragic end. In the moment, Korah didn’t realize that in choosing to fight against Moses he was actually fighting against the Lord Himself. Moses, instead of making it about him, put the whole thing in the Lord’s hands and relied on the Lord to be his defense, and in that, God showed the Hebrews that He would be the one who would appoint[…]

Who will come from Mount Zion to rescue Israel? When God restores his people, Jacob will shout with joy, and Israel will rejoice. Psalm 53:6 The TV show Overhaulin’ had great success on both TLC and the Discovery Channel for several seasons. In each episode the “mark” would be an unsuspecting antique or classic car owner that would make the list to have their car fully restored. Family members would be in on the ruse coming up with some story as to why the car was missing long enough to be restored. But it would all be worth it for[…]

“Abba, Father,” He cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Mark 14:36 Have you ever had those moments in life when things were expanding, yet with that came intense pressure and challenges? Moments when you knew you were headed in the right direction, but things were coming against you and the pressure seemed super intense? Deep inside you knew you were on the right track, but at the same time you were experiencing opposition that came at you from multiple directions all[…]

 “Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” Psalm 51:7  In 2 Samuel David committed the two “biggies.” Not only did he commit adultery, which is pretty bad, but he also committed murder. According to the Levitical Law, David should have been drug out to the center of the city and stoned to death. There was no ambiguity in the law when it talked about an “eye for an eye.” And, when David finally did repent for these heinous sins, it wasn’t like he did it on his own.[…]

“Realizing how much the man understood, Jesus said to him, ‘You are not far from the Kingdom of God.’ And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.” Mark 12:34 A trained pilot will tell you that it only takes being off just a few degrees to completely miss your desired destination. Like so many other things, “being close” isn’t quite good enough. When a pharisee asked Jesus to sum up the law, what he wanted Jesus to do was give him a manageable formula by which he could accomplish the fulfillment of the law.  What Jesus did instead[…]

“Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures?” ‘The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone’.” Mark 12:10  Any idea what Elon Musk, Michael Jorden, Walt Disney, Elvis and Jesus all have in common? They all suffered great rejection. Walt Disney was fired as a newspaper writer for “not being creative enough.” Michael Jorden was cut from his high school basketball team because he wasn’t tall enough. Elvis was told by a manager, after his first performance at the Grand-Ole Opry, that he needed to go back to driving a delivery truck, and Elon Musk was laughed[…]

“I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart.”  Mark 11:23  Walmart is doing their best to win the battle for the online shopper. They realize the sophisticated shopper wants to avoid the inconvenience of shopping and goes to the store only when necessary. So, Walmart has created what it calls the “Pickup Tower” and it’s pretty cool. When I saw one in our local store, my first thought[…]