It all started so good—“very good” (Gen. 1:31). But Satan was determined to turn the garden into a graveyard. Man was created to live in fellowship with his Creator. God desired that man live in constant communion with Him. Doing so would bring perfect peace and abundant joy, such as could not be found in any other source. But sin changed all that, depriving man of what God intended.

 

Since sin entered the world life is a constant struggle-everything is now difficult. Nothing comes easy anymore. Even the food we eat must be earned by the sweat- of- our brow. We live in a wicked world and we are weak. Instead of subduing the earth we find ourselves being brought into submission to it. That is not what God intended. So now, in our natural state, we are forced to live a life that is “of few days and full of trouble”(Job 14:1). And our prospect for the future is even worse. As sinners we face an eternity of separation from God. That’s the bad news!

 

The good news is that Jesus came to change all that. He came to redeem man and restore him to fellowship with God. To do this He had to suffer and die in our place. O, how amazing it is that He, who is without sin, would be made sin for us, “that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Cor. 5:21). That sounds too good to be true-but it is true! The proof that God is able and willing to do this is found in the resurrection of Christ. The fact that He lives sweeps away all doubt for those who trust him. They have a hope that goes beyond the grave!

 

The world, however, is always trying to pull us down and bury our hopes and dreams and joy beneath a deluge of difficulties. That’s exactly where some of you are at this very moment. Your joy is buried under an avalanche of adversities, and you feel you will never laugh again. But, it doesn’t have to be that way. Jesus came to raise our hopes and His resurrection proves He can. Because He was raised from the dead, He can raise you up out of the ash-heap of sin and restore you to fellowship with God. Why would anyone not trust a God like that?           ———HDS  4/12/09

And they crucified Him. –Mark 15:24

A medical doctor once gave a detailed description of what happens when someone is crucified:

“The cross is placed on the ground and the exhausted man is quickly thrown backwards with his shoulders again the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flex and movement. The cross is then lifted into place.

“The left foot is pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees flexed. The victim is now crucified. As he slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating, fiery pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain–the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves. As he pushes himself upward to avoid the stretching torment, he places the full weight on the nail through his feet. Again he feels the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the bones of his feet.

“As the arms fatigue, cramps sweep through the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push himself upward to breathe. Air can be drawn into the lungs but not exhaled. He fights to raise himself in order to get even one small breath. Finally carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream. Spasmodically he is able to push himself upward to exhale and bring in life-giving oxygen.

“Hours of this…pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from his lacerated back as he moves up and down against the rough timber. Then another agony begins: a deep, crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart.

It is now almost over–the loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level–the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues–the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. He can feel the chill of death creeping through his tissues…finally he can allow his body to die.”

The Bible records this process of death by crucifixion in just a few simple words. How often we take for granted the pain and suffering Jesus endured when He died on the cross for you and me. Let us remember this Easter the sacrifice He made.  Thank Jesus for the price He paid for your sins through His painful death on the cross.. ( From Senior Living)

Do we really understand when we say “Bless me, God?”

The word for bless in the Greek New Testament is eulogéo, which means to speak well of.

We are really quite daring when we ask God to speak well of us. When we bless God we are eulogizing or speaking well of Him, and He indeed is worthy of being well spoken of. But how dare we ask Him to speak well of us? In the Bible, God’s words are God’s actions. The Lord created the world with His word. So when we ask God to speak well of us, it is the same as asking Him to act in our lives.

So many of us have the wrong idea about the blessing of God. We have a tendency to believe that God should hold a rubber stamp and automatically approve our plans.

“How can you look so pleasant tonight?” a man asked his friend. “You have had a score of interruptions this afternoon, when you had plans to accomplish so much.” “That is all right,” was the answer. “Every morning I give my day to Christ. I take what He sends. These interruptions came in the way of duty. Why should I complain about the service He has appointed?”

Would you really ask God to bless you if you knew that He might interrupt your planning?

–Copied

He is risen—-Mark 16:6

At the University of Chicago Divinity School, each year they have what is called “Baptist Day.” On this day each one is to bring a lunch to be eaten outdoors in a grassy picnic area. Every “Baptist Day” the school would invite one of the “greatest minds” to lecture in the theological education center. One year they invited Dr. Paul Tillich. Dr. Tillich spoke for 2 and  a half hours, attempting to prove that the resurrection of Jesus was false. He quoted scholar after scholar and book after book. He concluded that since there was no such thing as the historical resurrection the religious tradition of the church was groundless, emotional mumbo-jumbo, because it was based on a relationship with a risen Jesus, who, in fact, never rose from the dead in any literal sense. He then asked if there were any questions.

After about 30 seconds, an old, dark skinned preacher with a head of short-cropped, wooly white hair stood up in the back of the auditorium. “Docta Tillich, I got one question.” All eyes turned toward him. He reached into his sack lunch and pulled out an apple and began eating it. “Docta Tillich”…CRUNCH, MUNCH…”My question is a simple question.”…CRUNCH, MUNCH…”Now, I ain’t never read them books you read”… CRUNCH, MUNCH… “and I can’t recite the Scriptures in original Greek”… CRUNCH, MUNCH… “I don’t know nothin’ about Neibuhr and Heidegger”… CRUNCH, MUNCH… and then held up the core of the apple he had just finished, “All I wanna know is” This apple I just ate-was it bitter or sweet?”

Dr. Tillich paused for a moment and answered in exemplary scholarly fashion: “I cannot possible answer that question, for I haven’t tasted your apple.” The white hair preacher dropped the core of his apple into his crumpled paper bag, looked up at Dr. Tillich and said calmly, “Neither have you tasted my Jesus.” The 1,000 plus in attendance could not contain themselves. The auditorium erupted with applause and cheers. Dr. Tillich thanked his audience and promptly left the platform. (From a sermon by Ken Trivette)

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficent unto the day is the evil thereof. –Matthew 6:34

It doesn’t matter if you’re asleep or wide awake, there are two thieves that often try to creep into your heart and mind to rob you of your peace and joy. They are known as “yesterday” and “tomorrow.” Jesus told us not to worry about tomorrow because He knew we would have more than enough to handle today. He doesn’t want you to dwell on past mistakes or tomorrow’s potential difficulties. Even though this seems to be a simple concept, most people have difficulty in grasping it.

Before you know it, they suddenly catch a bad case of the “what ifs.” What if I can’t pay my bills next month? Where is my next meal going to come from? What if the medicine and treatments don’t work? It can be maddening to those who are overwhelmed by the “what if” syndrome, commonly known as worry. But this only covers the thief named “tomorrow.”

“Yesterday” is a completely different kind of bandit. People find themselves engulfed with the regrets of yesterday. We must realize everyone makes mistakes for “every man shall bear his own burden” (Galatians 6:5)-big, small, medium-sized-they are all sin in the eyes of God. He doesn’t judge you any more or less, because Christ’s blood covered all sins equally.

Everyone has his load of difficulties in life stemming from yesterday, actively working today, or building for tomorrow’s explosion. But, as believers we must understand that the only way to free ourselves of worry and experience true peace is to have faith that God will work everything out in His time. Consider Him your heart’s anti-theft system-He cleanses past mistakes and has every detail carefully planned out for your future.

Ask the Lord to help you focus on today and serving Him at this very moment, rather than worrying about your past or future. (From Senior Living, Scripture references changed to KJV)