Looking Back, Looking Forward

Looking Back, Looking Forward

. . . saying, “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.”
Luke 24:7  

Recommended Reading Matthew 16:21-28

  
Suppose someone told you of two unlikely events that would happen in the future—one in a few days, the other at an undetermined time in the future. In spite of the details he gave about each event, you found it hard to believe that he could predict the future with that kind of accuracy. Within a few days you learn that the first predicted event took place exactly as the man said. How would that change your thinking about the likelihood of the second event?

It would probably change your thinking radically. Strangely enough, even though Jesus Christ predicted His own death and resurrection on the third day—both of which were fulfilled in detail—many people don’t take seriously His promise to return to earth. On the same occasion in which Jesus told His disciples of His impending death and resurrection, He said, “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works” (Matthew 16:27).

It would be unwise to look back at Christ’s death and resurrection in belief, and not look forward to His Second Coming with expectation.

The future is as bright as the promises of God. Adoniram Judson

Read-thru-the-Bible 
2 Kings 18:1 - 20:21

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Today is Holy Thursday, a.k.a. Maundy Thursday. It is the day where Christians commemorate the Last Supper when Jesus shared the Passover meal with his disciples on the night before he was crucified.


Tomorrow is Good Friday, which is the day we remember and commemorate when Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross to save mankind from their sins. Upon confession and repentance of sin and belief in Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives because of what he did for us on the cross of Calvary, we can be united to our Savior and ask for the Holy Spirit of God to indwell our hearts. The Holy Spirit leads us into all truth, helping us to read and study the Bible, do good works because we love God, and have the desire to please and serve him.  The Holy Spirit helps us to discern good vs. evil.


While reading through the March/April/May, 2002 devotional booklet called "Our Daily Bread" this morning, I was trying to decide which daily devotional to present on my blog today. I had bookmarked at least five of them as possibilities, until I turned the page once again and found THE ONE that I thought was perfect for this time of year. After reading through the devotional, I started to turn back the pages to find out the name of the author so I could give credit to him. You see, typically only the initials appear at the end of each devotional, but the authors are listed at the beginning of the booklet so we can know who they are. When I turned back, I noticed that I had skipped one page (two devotionals) that I may have most likely chosen to share today. They are so good - as are most of the devotionals - but because the pages stuck together, I didn't see them at first. One is called "Murphy's Laws," the other "The Good Life." Needless to say, I can always present them here at a later date. The one that I already made up my mind to share  (or, maybe the Holy Spirit's leading brought me there?) is the one that is best for today. It is called "Compelling Love."
~Christine

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Compelling Love

Read: 2 Corinthians 5:9-15

The love of Christ compels us.
-2 Corinthians 5:14

I read a story some time ago about an aspiring young golfer who spent hours in his backyard practicing his golf swing. He wasn't allowed to use a real golf ball close to the house, only a plastic, practice ball.

One day, when he thought both his parents were gone, he longed to hear the sweet click of a club head meeting a real golf ball. So he went outside, teed one up, took a mighty swing, and accidentally hit the ball through his parents' bedroom window.

I'll let him tell the rest of the story: "I heard the glass shatter, and then I heard my mother cray out. I ran into the house and up the stairs to her bedroom. She was standing there in front of the broken window and she was bleeding. I started to cry and I couldn't stop. All I could say was 'Mom, what have I done! What have I done! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!' Her response was to hug me and say, 'It's all right; every thing's going to be all right.' After that I never wanted to take a real golf ball into the backyard."

When we think about our Lord suffering for us on the cross, we want too live "for Him who died for [us] and rose again" (2 Corinthians 5:15). After we've heard His words of forgiveness, there are things we just never want to do again--in the backyard, or in any other place. - DHR (David H. Roper)

Down from His splendor in glory He came,
Into a world of woe;
Took on Himself all my guilt and my shame,
Why should He love me so? - Roth

 WHEN WE PONDER CHRIST'S LOVE FOR US,
WE'LL WANT TO LIVE FOR HIM.

Hat Tips:

David Jeremiah.org

Our Daily Bread Devotional, March/April/May 2002, May 22nd reading.

An Empty Tomb or an Empty Faith?

From David Jeremiah.com:

Do you ever wonder how your life would be different if certain events hadn’t taken place? Our lives are often full of, “What if’s.” What if we had chosen a different college? What if we had never gotten married? What if we never had children? Some people even question the validity of Jesus Christ. What if Christ never rose from the grave? What then? What would be the implications? Dr. Jeremiah outlines five realities of an unrisen Savior.

View the entire broadcast:

Dr. David Jeremiah: An Empty Tomb or an Empty Faith?

EASTER PROGRAMMING
Dr. David Jeremiah

“An Empty Tomb or an Empty Faith”
1 Corinthians 15:12-19

April 4, 2010
Corinthians 15:14

I. If There Is No Resurrection Our Preaching Is Foolishness

II. If There Is No Resurrection Our Personal Faith Is Futile
1 Corinthians 15:14, 17

III. If There Is No Resurrection Our Profession Is False
1 Corinthians 15:15

Acts 1:22
Acts 2:32
Acts 3:14-15
Acts 5:30, 32
Acts 10: 39

IV. If There Is No Resurrection Our Promise of a Future Is Fraud

1 Corinthians 15:18
John 14:19

V. If There Is No Resurrection Our Prospect for this Life Is a Fantasy

1 Corinthians 15:19
1 Corinthians 15:20
John 1:12

What Was So Good About It?

Yesterday, I attended the 12 noon Good Friday service at my former church. It is good to be in the house of the Lord to commemorate His sacrificial death on the cross. Jesus did what he did for the forgiveness of our sins - the sins we ALL commit and would ultimately die with; staining our souls forever. If not for Christ's greatest act in all of Creation, we would not have any way to be reconciled back unto God.

The pastor asked the question, "What is so good about Good Friday?" After viewing a portion of the movie, The Passion of the Christ where we saw Jesus beaten so severely by the Roman soldiers, and forced to carry that heavy cross to Golgotha (which means "the place of the skull") while the soldiers continued to whip Jesus during the terrible journey; that question has to come into every mind that witnessed such a horrid event.

In previous posts on Good Friday, (see Calvary, Good Friday and The Power of Christ's Cross, I discussed many aspects surrounding the Cross at Calvary and why people who do not yet know Christ, still seek him today:

On a KLOVE radio show back in 2007, the host said, "people fall into two camps; those who know Jesus Christ and those who want to know Him."

Wow. Simple but profound. Even those who won't admit it, still want to know Him. Why? Because to know Him is to know God. Jesus was God in the flesh. That is why it is said in the Bible, "they shall call him Immanuel." "Immanuel" means "God with us."

Some people question why Christ had to endure what he did:

Why was Jesus tortured, maimed, spit upon, beard torn, whipped beyond recognition, stabbed in the side, nailed to a cross, humiliated unto death? Because that is exactly what evil does. God allowed those forces of evil to do what they did in order to send us a message so strong that we couldn't possibly miss it.

The enemy of our souls has the goal of devouring us in our sin. He prowls around like a roaring lion, bringing along with him evil, sin and death. That very thing was conquered by Christ at the cross. Because he was the "sinless Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world," he accomplished what no ordinary man could ever do. He kept the Law while on earth, then paid the penalty for our sin so that we would not suffer an eternity without him! He was bodily resurrected to life on that first Easter morning approximately 2,000 years ago, and that event changed the world forever.

Why would Jesus endure all of this for us? The Bible tells us, "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Put another way through a popular Christian song that plays on the radio (speaking of Jesus' sacrifice), "You would rather die, than to ever live without me."

As I watched the scourging of Jesus, once again, in church yesterday, I was reminded of the fact that what happened and what we witnessed was exactly "what evil does."

Scripture tells us that for a time, God the Father turned His back from His beloved Son as he hung on the cross with our sins laid upon him. It was the only time that Jesus did not call God "his Father" - he yelled out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

Forsake means: "to quit or leave entirely; abandon; desert" and "to give up or renounce."

God cannot look upon sin. He is Holy and Righteous, so at the moment of humanity's sins being laid upon our Savior, Jesus Christ, God the Father forsake his son.

But look at the second part of the meaning of the word "forsake." It says, "to give up or renounce." Christ's body was given up for our sakes, his blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins. His body was terribly bruised, beaten, and bloodied because that is what evil does. The horror of that event is relived each time we see any depiction of the crucifixion. It was a terrible and horrendous way to die.

Look at it this way. Our sins were nailed to the cross. They were buried in the grave. Only Jesus, risen in holiness and righteousness came out of that tomb!

In another scene from The Passion of the Christ, we see Jesus' earthly mother - Mary - rushing to pick up and comfort her son when he had fallen down as a young child. The scene shifts to the current day, where Mary witnesses her son falling under the heavy weight of the cross on his way to being crucified. She runs towards him, wanting to comfort him once again as she did when he was a child. However, Jesus says to her, "Mother, I am making all things new." After he said those very words, he finds the strength to stand up with that heavy burden of a cross and continue on the journey to death. What a powerful moment! It was as if he was saying, 'I'm doing this for you - and for all mankind.'

He was.

That is exactly why he did this.

It is exactly why he WILLINGLY went to the cross - for our sakes.

We know from Scripture that Jesus could have called down legions of angels from heaven to relieve him from that cross. People who witnessed the crucifixion even mocked Jesus, challenging him to prove that he is the Son of God by coming down from the cross!

Mat 27:40 And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest [it] in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.

But if he did that, then we would not have had our sins forgiven. There would be no salvation for mankind, no means of reconciliation between sinful, evil men and Holy, Righteous God. Jesus would have re-entered heaven alone.

Why would Jesus endure all of this for us? The Bible tells us, "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Put another way through a popular Christian song that plays on the radio (speaking of Jesus' sacrifice), "You would rather die, than to ever live without me."

THAT is what is so good about Good Friday.

Recall what Jesus said about "this temple" (he meant his body):

Jhn 2:19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

Mat 26:61 And said, This [fellow] said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days.

He is ABLE! Jesus was, is, and forever will be ABLE to accomplish what no man or angel in heaven could have EVER achieved!

Christ's resurrection from the dead was the greatest event in human history! When Christ arose, he had a new, resurrected body (to show us what our new bodies will be like when resurrected for the Millennium), but with the markings of the scars of the crucifixion (recall, the risen Christ told doubting Thomas to put his hand in his side - where the Roman soldier's spear pierced him after Jesus was dead on the cross) to remind all of heaven who he is and what he has done for the salvation of men.

Recall that the disciple John was the only one who stayed with Jesus at the cross. He was later sent to the island of Patmos, where he was brought "into the spirit" and saw visions of what will occur at the culmination of human history.

Revelation 5 (NLT) helps explain to us why Christ is worthy to break the seals of the scroll in the end times:

Rev 5:1 And I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who was sitting on the throne. There was writing on the inside and the outside of the scroll, and it was sealed with seven seals.


Rev 5:2 And I saw a strong angel, who shouted with a loud voice: "Who is worthy to break the seals on this scroll and unroll it?"


Rev 5:3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll and read it.


Rev 5:4 Then I wept because no one could be found who was worthy to open the scroll and read it.


Rev 5:5 But one of the twenty-four elders said to me, "Stop weeping! Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David's throne, [fn] has conquered. He is worthy to open the scroll and break its seven seals."


Rev 5:6 I looked and I saw a Lamb that had been killed but was now standing between the throne and the four living beings and among the twenty-four elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits [fn] of God that are sent out into every part of the earth.


Rev 5:7 He stepped forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne.


Rev 5:8 And as he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense--the prayers of God's people!


Rev 5:9 And they sang a new song with these words: "You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were killed, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.


Rev 5:10 And you have caused them to become God's Kingdom and his priests. And they will reign [fn] on the earth."


Rev 5:11 Then I looked again, and I heard the singing of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and the living beings and the elders.


Rev 5:12 And they sang in a mighty chorus: "The Lamb is worthy--the Lamb who was killed. He is worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing."


Rev 5:13 And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They also sang: "Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever."


Rev 5:14 And the four living beings said, "Amen!" And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped God and the Lamb.

NLT Footnotes:
(5:5) Greek the root of David.
(5:6) See note on 4:5.
(5:10) Some manuscripts read they are reigning.

We Will Rise - Victorious in Jesus

The unrelenting bribes and push for the terrible ObamaSCARE HELLcare bill is enough to drive all of us crazy with grief over what this awful ObaMAO administration and Liberal Dem Congress is doing against the wishes of a great majority of the American people!

While driving home from the grocery store, I was listening to Chris Tomlin's beautiful song "I Will Rise." For some reason, a statement uttered by the actress Olympia Dukakis in the movie Moonstruck came to my mind. Dukakis played the role of an older, married Italian woman (Rose Castorini) who knew that her husband (Cosmo Castorini played by Vincent Gardenia) has been cheating on her with another woman. Knowing that her husband had just come home from being with his mistress, she simply stated, "Cosmo - no matter what you do one day you are going to die, just like everybody else."

Later, she asked the "can't commit" fiancee (Johnny Cammarini played by Danny Aiello) of her daughter Loretta (played by Cher), "Why do men cheat? Why does a man need more than one woman?"

He told her in a questioning fashion, "Because they fear death?"

And Rose Castorini replied, "THAT'S IT! Thank you for answering my question!"

She is correct. One day we all will die. Me, you, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Rahm Emanuel and all the rest of those who one day will have to answer to God for all that they have said and done - the good, the bad, and the ugly - while on this earth.

Do YOU fear death?

Depending on whether or not a person is born again in Jesus Christ will determine how, where, and when they will each face Jesus Christ - the Lord of the universe. Believers will face Him at the Judgment Seat of Christ, where the Worthy Lamb's shed blood at the cross of Calvary will have saved them from the punishment for their sins. It will be a judgment of rewards.

The unsaved, will meet a different fate. They will face Jesus Christ at the White Throne Judgment. Without Christ's sacrificial death on the cross and Resurrection to life to atone for their sins, they will each have to face eternal judgment with their own sins on their souls. The result of their choice not to believe in Christ will be separation from God forever.

No matter what happens with this gangster government regime while they are in power (for a brief moment in time compared to eternity!), all that they think that they have (or will accomplish) will fall to dust and blow away when the Lamb of God calls his own unto Himself and ushers them into the Kingdom of God.

The fact that Jesus is the ONLY ONE worthy enough to open the scrolls at the end of the age shows how foolish those who do not believe in Him will be.

Listen carefully to the great lyrics (many taken straight from Scripture!) of Chris Tomlin's "I Will Rise" in this music video!

YouTube Video Link: "I Will Rise" by Chris Tomlin

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death. - Revelation 2:11 (NIV)

Easter 2009

He is Risen!

Mat 28:1 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.


Mat 28:2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, [fn] and sat on it.


Mat 28:3 His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.


Mat 28:4 And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.


Mat 28:5 But the angel answered and said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.


Mat 28:6 He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.


Mat 28:7 And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you."


Mat 28:8 So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.


Mat 28:9 And as they went to tell His disciples, [fn] behold, Jesus met them, saying, "Rejoice!" So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.


Mat 28:10 Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go [and] tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me."


Pastor Miles McPherson's Easter message today was truly awesome! Although the post is not up just yet, check back tomorrow and view it.

The Rock Church Messages Page

While visiting the site, click on any one of the other messages listed there. They are all good!!

We attended the 8:00 a.m. service today. The music by The Katinas was terrific! Pastor Miles celebrated not only Easter Sunday today, but it was also his 25th anniversary of being a born again Christian! Dozens of people went forward at the end of the service to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior! What a great "spiritual birthday" present for Pastor Miles!

Happy Resurrection Day everyone!

Love in Christ,
Christine