Tag: centrality of the resurrection

Where Exactly Is Our Hope Placed? Temporary Centrality of Our Hope Only In Ourselves. Proverbs 11:4-8

In a worship song from the early 2000s, singer/songwriter Brian Doerksen sings, “Jesus, hope of the nations/ Jesus, comfort for all who mourn/ You are the source of heaven’s hope on earth.”

Looking outward into the world for all of the hope to be found and mined from the ground in all of the far reaching places we have ever traveled on this planet?

Looking upward into the heavens and the uncountable number of far reaching constellations of stars and planets we can never hope to reach – we are limited to this time – to this place – unto these bodies – to these tents which wear out.

But, why should we seek to limit ourselves and where we look for our hope, to look in all the places where the only thing likely to be found is disappointment?

If the only thing we believe we can ever find in life is one disappointment after the other, how is we can continue to justify our personal search for true hope?

Proverbs 11:4-8 The Message

4 A thick bankroll is no help when life falls apart,
    but a principled life can stand up to the worst.

5 Moral character makes for smooth traveling;
    an evil life is a hard life.

6 Good character is the best insurance;
    crooks get trapped in their sinful lust.

7 When the wicked die, that’s it—
    the story’s over, end of hope.

8 A good person is saved from much trouble;
    a bad person runs straight into it.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

Where is Your Hope?

There is a well known country song with the title of “I’ve Been Everywhere.”

Some of the places which account for having “been everywhere” include:

I’ve been to Reno, Chicago, Fargo, Minnesota
Buffalo, Toronto, Winslow, Sarasota
Wichita, Tulsa, Ottawa, Oklahoma
Tampa, Panama, Mattawa, La Paloma
Bangor, Baltimore, Salvador, Amarillo
Tocapillo, Baranquilla, and Perdilla, I’m a killer

I’ve been to Boston, Charleston, Dayton, Louisiana
Washington, Houston, Kingston, Texarkana
Monterey, Faraday, Santa Fe, Tallapoosa
Glen Rock, Black Rock, Little Rock, Oskaloosa
Tennessee to Tennessee Chicopee, Spirit Lake
Grand Lake, Devils Lake, Crater Lake, for Pete’s sake

I’ve been to Louisville, Nashville, Knoxville, Ombabika
Schefferville, Jacksonville, Waterville, Costa Rica
Pittsfield, Springfield, Bakersfield, Shreveport
Hackensack, Cadillac, Fond du Lac, Davenport
Idaho, Jellico, Argentina, Diamantina,
Pasadena, Catalina, see what I mean

I’ve been to Pittsburgh, Parkersburg, Gravelburg, Colorado
Ellensburg, Rexburg, Vicksburg, El Dorado
Larimore, Atmore, Haverstraw, Chatanika
Chaska, Nebraska, Alaska, Opelika
Baraboo, Waterloo, Kalamazoo, Kansas City
Sioux City, Cedar City, Dodge City, what a pity

I’ve been everywhere, man
I’ve been everywhere, man
Crossed the desert’s bare, man
I’ve breathed the mountain air, man
Of travel I’ve had my share, man
I’ve been everywhere

Where exactly in all of those places the song writer has claimed to have been, where exactly was their hope for what ever it was they hoped for, searched for, which compelled them, moved them from one geographical locale to another?

In a worship song from the early 2000s, singer/songwriter Brian Doerksen sings, “Jesus, hope of the nations/ Jesus, comfort for all who mourn/ You are the source of heaven’s hope on earth.”

Looking outward into the world for all of the hope to be found and mined from the ground in all of the far reaching places we have ever traveled on this planet?

Looking upward into the heavens and the uncountable number of far reaching constellations of stars and planets we can never hope to reach – we are limited to this time – to this place – unto these bodies – to these tents which wear out.

But, why should we seek to limit ourselves and where we look for our hope, to look in all the places where the only thing likely to be found is disappointment?

If the only thing we believe we can ever find in life is one disappointment after the other, how is we can continue to justify our personal search for true hope?

Recognizing God’s Sovereignty, Letting God Be True

Luke 12:16-21 English Standard Version

16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one  who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

In actuality for all of their bravado, sinners have a little fun – while alive.

They make huge plans for pleasure and posterity.

They expect and hope to do bigger and better things.

They plan to get everything rolling along more perfectly.

Then they die.

Then they have nothing but a casket to show for it.

Then they are nothing – except the book of memories from their funerals.

Death is the great equalizer.

It mercilessly rips from the rich all their wealth; it tears from the strong any athletic prowess; it corrupts the face, body, and hair of the beautiful; it removes the wits and memories of the intelligent; it neuters the authority and power of leaders; it takes from parents their beloved children; it leaves homeless those who loved their fine homes.

No matter what the sinners expected or hoped to do, Our Sovereign God sends His Shepherd to us on our deathbeds and just like that, God takes it all away.

And still we sinners must somehow still find and focus on these words of hope:

Job 1:20-21 English Standard Version

20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Instead of focusing on the ‘hope’ found from these words: “Curse God and Die.”

From the Parable in Luke’s Narrative, Jesus told of a rich man who planned new barns to hold his great wealth, and he said to himself, “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”

But God said to him, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” (Luke 12:16-21).

Worldly men and woman arrive in life very naked and ignorant, and without exception, they leave the same helpless way – ignorant of what heaven holds.

Ignorant of what incomparable, indescribable, hope the Hope of Heaven has.

Yet they will still waste their lives chasing goals that disappear in one second – the second they die.

They see others die and take nothing with them, yet they keep running as fast as they can on the unmerciful treadmill of ambition, greed, and covetousness until it lets them go, hurls them and sends them off into their death and hell.

Psalm 14:1 New King James Version

Folly of the Godless, and God’s Final Triumph

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

14 The fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt,
They have done abominable works,
There is none who does good.

One just wants to shout: “Curse God and Die,”

What fools!

Then they have nothing.

Then they are nothing.

Are such words too harsh?

Are such words not harsh enough?

They are nothing compared to the shock of the first second in hell.

In a horrible flash of understanding, every sinner will know there is a God, that their whole earthly life was a waste, that they’ll have an eternity of unbearable torment ahead.

They will not think for a second about the legacy of their big plans on earth, for in an instant they’ll be entirely gone – and remembered by only a precious few.

Why do we think strong warnings about such a future are unabashedly harsh?

Am I deceived by my illusion of the importance of my personal sovereignty?

Are you also deceived of the importance of your own personal sovereignty?

The world is insane!

They set goals of high salaries, prestigious positions, large houses, fancy cars, fine clothes, the most expensive schools for their children, and other ambitions.

Some of them say, even more will find their bully pulpits and charismatically preach and teach and so live like, “He who dies with the most toys – wins.”

They chase after their neighbors “accomplishments” daily to make sure they are not left behind in the mad rush to accumulate things, experience pleasure.

Then “here today then gone tomorrow” they lose everything in one second.

Consider what David wrote about this madness in Psalm 39.

He wrote, “Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them” (Psalm 39:6).

Solomon, after experimenting with more than you can even imagine, added this summary: “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit” (Ecclesiastes 1:14).

Believe it!

Consider what David wrote in Psalm 49.

Psalm 49:16-20 English Standard Version

16 Be not afraid when a man becomes rich,
    when the glory of his house increases.
17 For when he dies he will carry nothing away;
    his glory will not go down after him.
18 For though, while he lives, he counts himself blessed
    —and though you get praise when you do well for yourself—
19 his soul will go to the generation of his fathers,
    who will never again see light.
20 Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

There the Lord ridiculed the insanity of the rich and their ambitions.

It is a sermon to warn all men of the vanity of worldly riches.

Whether a man or a woman is wise or foolish, they die, and they cannot take anything with him.

There is nothing a rich man or woman can do to buy their way out of death.

Everything sinners hope for and plan for ends at death – their expectations and hopes perish.

All they valued is totally wiped out by the reality of the grave they’ll rest in.

They will never again be able to travel across the vast expanses of the earth, watch another Super Bowl, attend a World Series, or bet on March Madness.

But righteous people have eternal hope in their death (Proverbs 10:28; 14:32), for their expectation is of another world that infinitely far outstrips this world by every degree and measure as light is infinitely superior to chaos and darkness.

Centrality of Hope Found Only in the Resurrection

1 Corinthians 15:51-58 New King James Version

51 Behold, I tell you a [a]mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

55 “O[b] Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

As believers in Jesus Christ, we recognize and worship Jesus Christ as the only true hope of the world, and yet it remains undeniably astounding how often we still pin the length, breadth, depths and heights of our hopes on ­human beings.

In all of our history books, it is clear that people are more inclined to find hope in sinful leaders, politicians, and celebrities rather than upon the one true God.

Why do we do this?

Proverbs 11:4-8 continually warns readers even today that placing ‘forever’ hope in humans is futile because human power will 100% come to nothing.

As the apostle Paul tells us, “There is no authority except that which God has established” (Romans 13:1).

By saying this, Paul is assuring believers that in all situations, even in the midst of national turmoil and global crises, God forever remains the only one who has all the Sovereignty and will 100% perpetually hold on to all of God’s ­authority.

Jeremiah 29:10-14 English Standard Version

10 “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11  For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare[a] and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me  with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

Any human who has “power” has it only because God allows it to be so.

In other words, our hopes and desires must be found, must lie, must rely on and with the only One who created and sits upon the throne of the universe.

Our prayers must be oriented toward Christ, for he is truly the only hope—

The only one with the Authority and the Sovereignty and the Power who can change our minds, transform hearts, disperse powers, and bring restoration.

Children of God, make no boast of tomorrow, for you do not know what will happen tomorrow (Proverbs 27:1).

Proverbs 27:1 New King James Version

My Son, Be Wise

27 Do not boast about tomorrow,
For you do not know what a day may bring forth.

While God allows us to make business plans, God expects us to do so in prudent wisdom, because we will not even, ever, know if we will be alive tomorrow, so we are to submit your plans to God’s will with these words: “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that” (James 4:15).

We need the breath of life and the breath of God, for any of our plans to work.

In the name of God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 19 The Message

19 1-2 God’s glory is on tour in the skies,
    God-craft on exhibit across the horizon.
Madame Day holds classes every morning,
    Professor Night lectures each evening.

3-4 Their words aren’t heard,
    their voices aren’t recorded,
But their silence fills the earth:
    unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.

4-5 God makes a huge dome
    for the sun—a superdome!
The morning sun’s a new husband
    leaping from his honeymoon bed,
The daybreaking sun an athlete
    racing to the tape.

6 That’s how God’s Word vaults across the skies
    from sunrise to sunset,
Melting ice, scorching deserts,
    warming hearts to faith.

7-9 The revelation of God is whole
    and pulls our lives together.
The signposts of God are clear
    and point out the right road.
The life-maps of God are right,
    showing the way to joy.
The directions of God are plain
    and easy on the eyes.
God’s reputation is twenty-four-carat gold,
    with a lifetime guarantee.
The decisions of God are accurate
    down to the nth degree.

10 God’s Word is better than a diamond,
    better than a diamond set between emeralds.
You’ll like it better than strawberries in spring,
    better than red, ripe strawberries.

11-14 There’s more: God’s Word warns us of danger
    and directs us to hidden treasure.
Otherwise how will we find our way?
    Or know when we play the fool?
Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh!
    Keep me from stupid sins,
    from thinking I can take over your work;
Then I can start this day sun-washed,
    scrubbed clean of the grime of sin.
These are the words in my mouth;
    these are what I chew on and pray.
Accept them when I place them
    on the morning altar,
O God, my Altar-Rock,
    God, Priest-of-My-Altar.

Creator God, you made every living thing, and you hold all things together. Lord, bring restoration to this world that desperately needs your leadership and authority.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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Becoming More Like Christ; Comfort and Encourage: God Shows Through Our Experiences. 2 Corinthians 1:3-7

2 Corinthians 1:3-7 Amplified Bible

3 Blessed [gratefully praised and adored] be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts and encourages us in every trouble so that we will be able to comfort and encourage those who are in any kind of trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For just as Christ’s sufferings are ours in abundance [as they overflow to His followers], so also our comfort [our reassurance, our encouragement, our consolation] is abundant through Christ [it is truly more than enough to endure what we must]. 6 But if we are troubled and distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted and encouraged, it is for your comfort, which works [in you] when you patiently endure the same sufferings which we [a]experience. 7  And our [b]hope for you [our confident expectation of good for you] is firmly grounded [assured and unshaken], since we know that just as you share as partners in our sufferings, so also you share as partners in our comfort.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

Come! Listen! Let Me Tell You What My Savior Has Done For Me.
Psalm 66:16-20 The Message

16-20 All believers, come here and listen,
    let me tell you what God did for me.
I called out to him with my mouth,
    my tongue shaped the sounds of music.
If I had been cozy with evil,
    the Lord would never have listened.
But he most surely did listen,
    he came on the double when he heard my prayer.
Blessed be God: he didn’t turn a deaf ear,
    he stayed with me, loyal in his love.

The writer of Psalm 66  wants to tell us his “GOD story” when he says, “Come and hear, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me.”

The psalmist does not want to talk about his accomplishments or achievements.

The Psalmist wants to talk about what God has done for him throughout his life.

His life had not been easy.

He had been tested and refined like silver.

He had experienced many burdens.

But through it all God had been with him and by listening to his cries for help,

God had led him, guided him, directed him to “a place of abundance.”

Like the Psalmist, each and every one of us has a strikingly similar story to tell.

All of us can bear great witness to the weight of burdens we have had to carry.

All of us can testify to hardships in our lives—but also to the one irrefutable fact that God, and God alone, has always been there and always acted on our behalf.

We must make sure we tell our story.

We must make sure you tell about God’s presence in our life and about his amazing grace in the midst of our much diverse and various degrees of trials.

We must wake sure we tell, re-tell it to our children and our grandchildren.

Someone once said to me,

“If something were to ever happen to you, I am sure I would not know anything about any legitimate kind of relationship to God or His Son or the Holy Spirit.”

Don’t let that happen to you.

Start contemplating your story.

Start writing or telling your story today!

A story which begins with (Song by Bill & Gloria Gaither and Ladye Love Smith)

Days are filled with sorrow
Days are filled with sorrow and care
Hearts are lonely and drear
Burdens are lifted at Calvary
Jesus is very near

Troubled soul, the Savior can see
Every heartache and tear
Burdens are lifted at Calvary
Jesus is very near

and ends with ….

A repetition of this guided affirmation of faith in our Savior Jesus Christ ….

Burdens are lifted at Calvary
Calvary, Calvary
Burdens are lifted at Calvary
Jesus is very near

Burdens are lifted at Calvary
Calvary, Calvary
Burdens are lifted at Calvary
Jesus is very near

Burdens are lifted at Calvary
Calvary, Calvary
Burdens are lifted at Calvary
Jesus is very near

Let Us Now Lift Up Our Hearts Unto Calvary Because Jesus is Very Near

I want us to imagine that we are each standing at the end of a long hallway.

The hallway represents the entirety of our life so far on earth.

To begin with, look down to your feet, where you are standing is todays date; all the way down at the far distant other end of the hallway is the day of your birth.

Now, just begin walking – please do not run, skip or jog or sprint or fast walk, Neither get on your skateboards, roller blades or roller skates or your bicycles.

Leave your car keys, your truck keys, your mini-van, your hybrid or EV car keys.

You are not driving anywhere – you are only and just walking with Savior Jesus.

Go outside of self and stretch your legs a bit, start working that heart muscle.

As you begin walking down the hallway heading back in your life, I want you to take notice of all of the notice various and diverse sizes of pictures on the wall.

These pictures are all of the “events” from your life; it’s like a photo album of your entire life which someone has taken the time to paint or print and hang.

Some are large framed pictures; they are the most significant experiences you have had so far.

Some are good; some are bad; some are happy; some are sad.

As you steadily walk down this hallway of your life, I want you to take a long and considered look at the content and context of all of these large pictures.

What significant events from your life do you see that stand out?

Is there a wedding?

The successful purchase of your first home?

The Birth of your first child?

Are there family vacations or sporting events pictured on the walls?

Is there an achievement like a high school or college diploma or an award?

Is there a significant milestone depicted – high professional achievements?

Is there a significant milestone depicted – your long awaited retirement?

Are there spiritual experiences like your coming to faith in Christ or a time God miraculously entered into your sub-conscience, especially touched your life?

Are there significantly painful experiences—a divorce, the death of someone you really loved, a failure, a betrayal, abuse, alcoholism, a difficult to care for child which leads to a hardcore challenging, difficult marriage, a significantly threatening health diagnosis, an over abundance of “no money,” an addiction?

Take some time now to walk beyond all of that, walk all the way to the end of this hallway of your, notice “self-portraits” in all these significant experiences in your life… contemplate, take notice of all the ones named “my aloneness.”

[NOW TAKE SOME QUALITY TIME WITH GOD IN SILENT REFLECTION].

As I pray, for you like the Psalmist did, I plead with you to realize that all these experiences have actually shaped who you are today, whether you like it or not.

I pray for you to realize there is no time for self-blame, or blame God, He didn’t cause all of these hard things to happen, but did allow them to happen to you.

What GOD wants to do with us, within us, is to use all of these experiences–Good and Bad–to grow us spiritually and mold us into the likeness of our Lord and Savior Jesus and to shape us for the unique purposes He has for our lives.

His intent is not to cause us any harm (1 John 4:7-12 The Message)

God Is Love

7-10 My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.

11-12 My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!

By the unmeasurable enormity of this love He expressed through Calvary,

He does not intend nor want even one of our life experiences to be wasted.

With a very God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit specific long term intention:

Romans 8:28-30 Amplified Bible

28 And we know [with great confidence] that God [who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose. 29 For those whom He foreknew [and loved and chose beforehand], He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son [and ultimately share in His complete sanctification], so that He would be the firstborn [the most beloved and honored] among many believers.  30 And those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified [declared free of the guilt of sin]; and those whom He justified, He also glorified [raising them to a heavenly dignity].

God takes every single one of our life experiences—whether positive or painful, intentional or accidental, known or unknown, avoided or not, caused by you or by someone else, to shape all His Children for His unique calling in their lives.

Romans 8:28-30 may be, for some of us, the most personal verses in the Bible:

We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

Your life experience and my own are one of the most overlooked ways that God uses to mold, shape, and transform us for the way He wants each of us to serve Him and others in this world, to edify, that is, to build up, His Kingdom alone.

The Bible says that God is working in every experience you have—our mistakes, our decisions, our successes and failures, our education or lack thereof, all of our different jobs, relationships, our lack of relationships, our unemployment, our disabilities, our marriages, our health issues, our finances—you name it.

God is working in every single thing in our lives—even in and through our own continued and continuous bent to our sins–to accomplish His purpose for you.

What Is The “God Specific” Purpose For Which God Is Even Now Working In Every Single Thing In Our life?

He is always working for the good in our lives.

Reverend Rick Warren puts it this way:

God can take the mess in our lives and bring a message out of it.

He can take the tests in our lives and create a testimony out of it.

He can take any crisis and show all of our Savior Jesus Christ through them.

GOD does not, never will, waste any experience any one of His Children have.

Moses murdered a man and had to flee into the wilderness between Egypt and Israel to save his life.

Some 40 years later God came to him in the vision of a burning bush and said, Moses, I have chosen you to go back down to Egypt to set my people free from slavery and guide and lead them through the wilderness to the Promised Land.

Moses knew the wilderness; he had lived there, learned its ways for 40 years.

Likewise, as Moses did, that through God, not our wits, God wants to use the wildernesses of our lives to help guide others, to find God’s way for their lives.

Joseph, his father Jacob’s favorite, was conspired against, thrown down a well and eventually sold to merchants into slavery by his hyper jealous brothers.

He ended up a slave and a prisoner in Egypt, but God gifted him and made a way for him to become the Prime Minister of Egypt and second only to the Pharaoh.

When famine threatened the very existence of God’s people, God used Joseph to plant, grow, harvest, store, manage the supply the grain that His people needed.

And when his brothers came to him starving, Joseph said to them: You intended to harm me, but God long intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the housing, settling and feeding, ultimately the saving of many lives.

But notice carefully God does not just do this for everybody.

God works His good for those who love Him and follow His plan.

The promise of Romans 8:28 is not for everybody.

God does not work His good in our lives when we don’t love Him or we turn our backs on Him.

It’s not that God turns His back on those who don’t follow His plan for their lives – God loves everybody, but He cannot help and use those who close their hearts, souls, minds, strengths and lives to Him and His plan for their lives.

One of the most common ways God uses our life experiences for good is to help others – to empathize, give comfort and encouragement while God works.

God can and does take each and everyone of our experiences, especially the painful ones, and turns them around, transforming them in a positive way.

Who better to help someone who is struggling than another person who has gone through the same struggle?

2 Corinthians 1:4 says, God, through Christ at Calvary, comforts and encourages us in all of our troubles so we can then, in turn, comfort and encourage others.

From Calvary then, when others are troubled, we will be able to reciprocate, to give them the same comfort and encouragement from Calvary God has given us.

Our troubles can become the very ministry God will use to help other people.

That uniquely painful experience in your life that you keep locked in the inner recesses of your soul could become your singularly unique, greatest ministry.

God has used the failures and hurtful experiences of my own life more than anything else to mold, shape and transform me exclusively for His purposes.

Those bad life experiences of my have helped me grow uniquely, spiritually.

Truthfully, in the good and happy times of my life, I have usually just coasted spiritually, taking God’s grace for granted that He will always, forever be there.

I have to see, from the long shadow extending outward from Calvary, and into eternity, God does not want me to allow my experiences to count for nothing.

I have to become the better person, through Christ, God needs me to become.

Now, it is my relationship with God which continues to keep me looking more forward versus more backwards, instead, a day at a time – Sweet Savior Jesus.

He was my Best Forever friend, much better than a brother I never had.

I was so “at ease, more comforted, more encouraged” with my Sweet Savior Jesus, stark comparison to the “disease of sin” I was struggling to recover from.

He truly brought wholeness to my life, an indescribable joy and immeasurable degrees of comfort that will always and forever be etched deep in my memory.

In His time on earth; Jesus had completed God’s mission for His life; and there is no doubt God touched uncountable many lives through him.

Through Calvary, by my walk to Calvary, My Sweet Savior Jesus helped me to see how life is supposed to be lived—in tune with my GOD and the Holy Spirit.

He helped me to find God and my family, the church to which my wife and I go.

On more than one occasion, the Bible says that God chooses to use weaker vessels to do His work so that He may get the glory.

In 2 Corinthians 12:9, God says: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Paul responds: “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

God can help people more through their weakness than we can through our strengths.

That’s why we need each other; it’s why we need the supportive fellowship of the church.

You can learn from others who have gone or who are going through the same struggles you are.

Perfection, if we could achieve it, would help nobody.

What experiences have we had to confront in our own lives which GOD could use to help comfort and encourage others?

“I Thirst” and then “It is Finished”

John 19:28-30 Amplified Bible

28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said in fulfillment of the Scripture, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar full of [a]sour wine was placed there; so they put a sponge soaked in the sour wine on [a branch of] hyssop and held it to His mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and [voluntarily] [b]gave up His spirit.

At Golgotha, the Place of the Skull, At Calvary, the death of the perfect Son of God was the darkest moment in world history, but look back at the portraits in the length and breadth and width of your hallway at how God used Jesus’ death.

Jesus’ death atoned for every single one our sins and everybody else’s sins and made for each of us an unobstructed way back to God, into heaven when we die.

Out of Christ’s crucifixion, God brought to all mankind the ultimate comfort and encouragement – God brought salvation for all who trust and follow Jesus.

This is our hope in Jesus Christ!

On that first Easter Sunday two millennia ago, God brought life out of death.

Jesus Christ died, three days later he arose from the dead and is now a living presence among us right now— forgiving us, delivering us, shaping us, guiding us, loving us, living in and among us and wanting to use us for His purposes.

God can use all your life experiences, good and bad, to shape you for His unique calling in your life—if forego any resistance to any, all change, if we let Him.

Hebrews 3:12-16 Amplified Bible

The Peril of Unbelief

12 Take care, brothers and sisters, that there not be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving [a]heart [which refuses to trust and rely on the Lord, a heart] that turns away from the living God. 13 But continually encourage one another every day, as long as it is called “Today” [and there is an opportunity], so that none of you will be hardened [into settled rebellion] by the deceitfulness of sin [its cleverness, delusive glamour, and sophistication]. 14 For we [believers] have become partakers of Christ [sharing in all that the Messiah has for us], if only we hold firm our newborn confidence [which originally led us to Him] until the end, 15 while it is said,

“Today [while there is still opportunity] if you hear His voice,
Do not harden your heart, as when they provoked Me [in the rebellion in the desert at Meribah].”

16 For who were they who heard and yet provoked Him [with rebellious acts]? Was it not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?

“Today, while there is still opportunity, if we WILL hear His voice …”

“Do not harden your hearts again and again, with further acts of open rebellion …”

God’s Call and Invitation to each and everyone of us through Mount Calvary:

God has 3 callings in the lives of each and everyone of His Children:

(1) He calls you to salvation and a new life in Jesus Christ;

(2) He calls you to be an active part of His church;

(3) He calls you to serve Him and comfort and encourage others in the unique way He has gifted and shaped you.

Encouraging one another is an important part of our daily walk with Christ.

Comforting one another is an important part of our daily walk with Christ.

We live in a world corrupted by unbelief, sin, and, at times, persecution.

How can we stay firm in our faith?

Scripture gives us this recipe:

Comfort, Love, Encourage, and Daily Pray for one another.

In God’s grace, the Holy Spirit uses these acts of mutual and shared comfort, care and encouragement to guide us, see us, through the most trying of times.

When fellow believers are struggling, be quick to extend your helpful, sharing hand.

Be graceful and be generous.

Be gentle and be merciful as unto the Lord.

Be comforting and be encouraging.

Offer words of comfort and prayer, as well as tangible acts of help, encourage people around you, and be surprised by how much you are encouraged yourself!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Would you pray this prayer with me?

Almighty God and my Everlasting Father, Lord of my life, I offer back my life to You. Everything I’ve been through, Lord, use it for Your glory. Jesus, I give You my all. In your name I pray and commit myself to Your continuing work in this world. Lead, Guide and Direct my Steps back towards Calvary from whence comes my Savior. That I may be a comfort as I was comforted, I may be an encourager as I was encouraged. For indeed, there is no other name under heaven through which mankind is saved.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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When We Feel Stuck, When We Are Not At All Convinced We Can Still Make a Difference With Our Life. John 21:15-19

John 21:15-19 Amplified Bible

The Love Motivation

15 So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these [others do—with total commitment and devotion]?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I [a]love You [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend].” Jesus said to him, “Feed My lambs.” 16  Again He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with total commitment and devotion]?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend].” Jesus said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with a deep, personal affection for Me, as for a close friend]?” Peter was grieved that He asked him the third time, “Do you [really] [b]love Me [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend]?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend].” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.

Our Times Are in His Hand

18 I assure you and most solemnly say to you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and walked wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and arms, and someone else will dress you, and carry you where you do not wish to go.” 19 Now He said this to indicate the [c]kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. And after saying this, He said to him, “Follow Me [walk the same path of life that I have walked]!”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

(Psalm 144:4) Man is like a mere breath;
His days are like a shadow that passes away.

Perhaps there exists something so natural to us we take it too much for granted.

Perhaps that something which so very natural to us is our time alive, our time allotted to us by God to simply breathing and moving and living on this earth.

Do we take the time to ponder exactly how Time is so precious — time with our families, children, parents, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ – With God?

How do we invest our time?

When do we invest our time?

Where do we invest our time?

With whom do we invest our time?

Why do we invest our time with whomever we invest our times?

You know, when it comes right down to it, getting back to the basics of life, our time with God and each other is really more valuable than the money we invest.

Once the present time and its opportunities are gone, they can’t be reclaimed.

So as we begin each day, as we look at the sunshine through the rain, perhaps contemplate “time management” “thought management,” ask God we will be able to “know His time,” to see it for what it is, to use it for its greatest good.

Irretrievably so, time – God’s Time” passes quickly, like the shadows of early evening, it’s not long before it is absorbed into the gathering darkness of night.

When We Feel “Forever Stuck” In The Moment?

From time to time, while in the process of drafting a new devotional, I find myself in a deep mental conundrum – my mind and my spirit seem to go blank.

The kind of blankness I so desperately want to escape, but as every cliched movie villain always says, “escape is futile, resistance to change is futile”

Sometimes the same conundrum affects me on an emotional level, even spiritually – what difference is anything I write about a particular subject I believe the Holy Spirit provides, going to make in anyone I truly care about?

I feel a certain way and don’t want to, but the villain tells me yet again, escape is futile – In other words, I’m feeling stuck in my moment- or so I tell myself.

The first kind of hindrance is writer’s block, something every author eventually faces during his or her artistic pursuits.

Then there’s the kind of barrier we can all relate to, where we’re looking for a change on an emotional or spiritual level, but find ourselves confused, maybe even miserable – we are longing for answers but find none – That’s a life block.

We encounter them in our relationship with God, with each other.

We find them on the job and at home and on vacations.

We find them in ourselves and of ourselves.

In other words, we contend with a seemingly insurmountable problem; but only to us, the problem is not seemingly, but definitely perceived as insurmountable.

We’re stuck in a moment of time, or in a memory, or so we will take great pains to try to sell it that way to ourselves.

Escape is futile, we keep talking to ourselves and therefore we come to believe.

Yet, the reality is, deep down, we know the movie villain is 100% exaggerating.

For the dramatic effect and for their audiences, they will always exaggerate.

There is a way through the barrier, a way to get unstuck, a way back to writing those stories, transforming perspectives, having the right perspective of God.

Though the frustration and confusion may be too deep, ceaseless, unrelenting, too aggravating, too anger provoking, the solution is simple and two-fold.

First, take a break; not in the sense of giving up, but in the sense of ending your striving.

There’s only so much we can control in our lives.

The sooner we realize this, the more peace we will find.

After you take a break, either wait or look for inspiration.

Sometimes finishing a devotional requires that I stop writing for ten minutes so that I can go for a walk or have a quick moment to wander around my home.

Sometimes finishing a devotional requires me to temporarily set it aside, to pray to God and then as God will’s it, come back after a day or longer.

That time off from the writing effort is useful for conjuring up, discerning new ideas, letting the Holy Spirit work and gaining insight from God or other people.

Creating distance from the problem at hand often helps with developing a more objective perspective.

The same applies when we’re navigating relational conflict, battling addiction, battling mental health issues, family issues or just trying to discern God’s will.

After we take a break from all the struggles of doing things our own way, we can find “Father, Son and Holy Spirit” inspiration for tackling our circumstances.

Proverbs 16:1-4 Amplified Bible

Contrast the Upright and the Wicked

16 The plans and reflections of the heart belong to man,
But the [wise] answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
2 
All the ways of a man are clean and innocent in his own eyes [and he may see nothing wrong with his actions],
But the Lord weighs and examines the motives and intents [of the heart and knows the truth].
3 
[a]Commit your works to the Lord [submit and trust them to Him],
And your plans will succeed [if you respond to His will and guidance].
4 
The Lord has made everything for its own purpose,
Even the wicked [according to their role] for the day of evil.

Inspiration comes only through our connection to God, sometimes through people, sometimes through nature, and sometimes through so much more.

Inspiration also finds us through God’s Word, the wisdom of the Cross, and a visit from Jesus helping us see with a perspective that doesn’t come naturally.

Stuck in His Guilt, Peter is Restored to Discipleship

John 21:18-19 Amplified Bible

Our Times Are in His Hand

18 I assure you and most solemnly say to you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and walked wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and arms, and someone else will dress you, and carry you where you do not wish to go.” 19 Now He said this to indicate the [a]kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. And after saying this, He said to him, “Follow Me [walk the same path of life that I have walked]!”

On the night Jesus was arrested, Peter had instantly revoked his discipleship.

Under threat of arrest and exposure and potential death sentence, by those in the courtyard he had denied three times that he was a follower of Jesus – each time he publicly proclaimed his denials more desperate than the previous one.

Luke 22:54-62 Amplified Bible

Peter’s Denials

54 Then they seized Him, and led Him away and brought Him to the [elegant] house of the [Jewish] [a]high priest. And Peter was following at a [safe] distance. 55 After they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat among them. 56 And a servant-girl, seeing him as he sat in the firelight and looking intently at him, said, “This man was with Him too.” 57 But Peter denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him!” 58 A little later someone else saw him and said, “You are one of them too.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!” 59 After about an hour had passed, another man began to insist, “This man was with Him, for he is a Galilean too.” 60 But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him,  “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.” 62 And he went out and wept bitterly [deeply grieved and distressed].

Again, to emphasis, the power of the moment, its deep significance, when he realized what he had done, he went out and wept bitterly (Matthew 26:69-75).

In that moment frozen forever in time, He was indescribably overwhelmed by incalculable shame and immeasurable guilt.

Luke 24:36-43 Amplified Bible

Other Appearances

36 While they were talking about this, Jesus Himself [suddenly] stood among them and said to them, “Peace be to you.” 37 But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a spirit. 38 And He said, “Why are you troubled, and why are doubts rising in your hearts? 39 Look at [the marks in] My hands and My feet, [and see] that it is I Myself. Touch Me and see; a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.” 40 After saying this, He showed them His hands and His feet. 41 While they still did not believe it because of their joy and amazement, He asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave Him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and He took it and ate it in front of them.

Even as Peter with the other disciples in the Upper Room, heard the words from the resurrected Jesus – “Peace be To You,” the question – “why are you troubled and why are doubts rising in your hearts,” having been offered the opportunity to look at the marks in His hands and feet, to even touch them for his own self,

We can say that Peter’s heart, despite all of the irrefutable evidence offered by the resurrected Jesus to the contrary, Peter kept significant doubts of himself.

He looked directly into his Messiah’s eyes when he betrayed Him and wept bitterly and inconsolably – only an exchange of words with eye to eye contact would make any significant and lasting difference which did not happen here.

Such a moment required utmost discretion couples with the utmost presence of God in Christ and the utmost intimacy and the utmost compassion, forgiveness.

Jesus comes to the lakeshore.

After breakfast, Jesus and Peter together, go much further down the beach.

Jesus quietly looked into Peter’s eyes and quietly asked Peter a few questions.

But the questions were not “What were you thinking?” “Why did you abandon me when I needed you?” or “Why didn’t you have the guts to stick up for me?”

It was simply “Do you love me?”

Jesus had died on the cross for Peter’s sins.

What Jesus wanted to know now was only whether or not Peter still loved him.

Peter’s sins were in the past; Peter’s expression of love would shape his future.

When Peter said, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you,”

Jesus, the conqueror of sin and death and the Lord of life, graciously invited him to take up his discipleship again and forgiven, follow him into the future.

Doing the same with us, Jesus is astonishingly gracious.

He doesn’t bring up our past sins, betrayals, or infidelities.

He simply wants to know if we love him.

He simply wants to know, to hear He can still make a difference in Peter’s life.

He simply wants to hear Peter acknowledge he still believed in himself, in his ability to move through and beyond his transgressions, to make a difference in the lives he will come to engage with until his own death at some future point.

Did Peter believe, though still being stuck in the brutality of his mistakes, he could still make a significant difference, significant impact in God’s kingdom?

Forward through the Ages for Christ’s sake – for that makes all the difference.

Whatever horrendous mess you might be stuck in now, are you seeking Jesus?

Forward in His Forgiveness, Forward through the Ages,

Do you Still love Him as He still loves you?

Will you still serve Him as He first Served you (Mark 10:35-45, Luke 19:9-10)?

Micah 6:6-8 Amplified Bible

What God Requires of Man

6 
With what shall I come before the Lord [to honor Him]
And bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings,
With yearling calves?
7 
Will the Lord be delighted with thousands of rams,
Or with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I present my firstborn for my acts of rebellion,
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 
He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
Except to be just, and to love [and to diligently practice] kindness (compassion),
And to walk humbly with your God [setting aside any overblown sense of importance or self-righteousness]?

He invites us to go out and serve him today!

Steadfast and Immovable Gracious and Compassionate In Him.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Eternal God, please give me the wisdom to use the time given me today to do what is best, right, good, and profitable for Your Kingdom. I want to better invest my time in what is truly enduring and redemptive and transformative, living in and loving out from the depths of resurrection, from the depths of your mercy and forgiveness for all my sins. Please help me use my time to influence and bless all those with whom I may interact with so that they too are brought closer to you. In Jesus’ name, I pray.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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Affirming Other’s Doubts, Receiving, Answering the Hard Questions About Our Lord’s Resurrection, Are All Very Necessary Steps Forward Towards Guiding Others unto Belief in Jesus. John 20:24-29

John 20:24-29 New Living Translation

Jesus Appears to Thomas

24 One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin),[a] was not with the others when Jesus came. 25 They told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”

26 Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”

28 “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.

29 Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

Answering the Kingdom of God’s Hardest Questions

What is the hardest question we, as Christians will ever ask another person?

Reverend John Wesley, founder of Methodism gives the very simplest answer:

“How is it with your your Soul today?”

A very simple, non threatening, open ended openly friendly question to be sure.

But one that is not so frequently asked perhaps for the fear that someone might actually and truly take 20 minutes to “chew your ear off” giving their response.

Who is actually ready to suddenly separate 20 minutes, perhaps even more, for the extra donut and coffee, out of their day to truly engage this inspired soul?

Not going to risk being late for work?

Picking up one’s child from school?

Missing the wife’s best meatloaf dinner?

Being late for the opening pitch of your home teams baseball game?

Not really interested in risking that new friendship which might transpire?

Not really interested in receiving tough theological questions you are unsure you are able to give a sufficient non threatening answer for – “who is Jesus?”

Some churches don’t want you or me to ask those hard and honest questions.

Their mindset is they are reluctant or do not to respond to those questions which have no obvious and clear cut answers, which present no evidence of God, His existence, His attributes, His Miracles, His Sovereignty or Authority.

That’s sad, I think.

If we have been Christians awhile in these churches, we kind of get trained to know which questions we find easiest to ask and which ones to simply let go.

That’s where Curious Unbelievers and New Christians can be so refreshing.

They ask bold and fresh and honest and naïve, thought provoking questions.

They’re not afraid to seek for the Lord and find his answers.

Thomas is our designated doubter.

His doubts and questions enable our doubts to be expressed and to receive an answer from the Lord himself.

All A Necessary Part of God’s Plan All Along

First things first: The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is 100% central to our Beliefs.

For their is no other name under Heaven by which man is saved! (Acts 4:8-12)

and also …

Romans 10:9-13 New Living Translation

9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. 11 As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” [a] 12 Jew and Gentile[b] are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. 13 For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”[c]

Jesus in The Synoptic Gospels

Though Jesus mentioned many times that He would rise from the dead, it never seemed to penetrate the minds and hearts and souls of any one of His disciples.

After all, the crucifixion would have left them completely dumbfounded.

They would not know what to respond with do or how to handle the prophecy.

They would or could never be sure where they should go or what they should do.

And when they finally heard that Jesus was alive, it came as a surprise to them.

Mark’s Gospel says,

“Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead” (8:31 NLT).

The disciples couldn’t begin to wrap their minds around the idea that the ugly crucifixion was or could possibly be any part of God’s plan for their prosperity.

How could something as ugly and brutal like that be called any “good thing?”

How could all that brutal humiliation, suffering and sacrifice have any value?

But it would be through Jesus’ death that death is defeated, eternal life came.

Jesus was saying,

“I’m in control. I know it sounds radical when I say that I will suffer and die. But I’m also saying that I will rise again. This is part of the plan. I know what I’m doing.”

This is what God says to us as well.

There are times in our lives as Christians when we may not understand what God is doing.

Why did He allow this thing to happen?

How could He allow this thing to happen?

Why did He allow those problems?

How could He allow these problems?

Why did He allow that tragedy?

How could He allow to that tragedy

And why hasn’t He intervened?

Why doesn’t He intervene?

It is hard to know why sometimes.

It is hard to receive the questions that are being asked here.

Because we simply have no way of giving any reasonable or correct answer.

But Jesus is saying to all generations,

“I am in control. I know what I am doing. I always know what I am doing.” (Psalm 46:10-11 AKJV)

10 Be still, and know that I am God:
I will be exalted among the heathen,
I will be exalted in the earth.
11 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

The absolute truth for every Christian is whatever we give up to follow Jesus will be more than made up to us in this life and in the life to come.

It will be worth it all.

It was all a part of God’s plan all along to reveal and to affirm the pathway it is necessary for any one, whether a non-believer, new believer or mature believer, to travel first declaring their unbelief, need for miracle to believe, then believe.

This Roadmap to Belief? God’s Plan For Us All Along

Hebrews 10:12-18 New Living Translation

12 But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 13 There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet. 14  For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.

15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For he says,

16 “This is the new covenant I will make
    with my people on that day,[a] says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their hearts,
    and I will write them on their minds.”[b]

17 Then he says,

“I will never again remember
    their sins and lawless deeds.”[c]

18 And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.

It’s hard to fathom Christ’s final, agonizing hours upon a Roman cross.

The floggings, torture, and humiliation He endured were reserved for the worst of criminals.

It is no wonder, then, that with His last breath, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, Tetelestai!—“It is finished” (John 19:30).

But what was this cry?

Was Jesus simply announcing His own death?

Was it an acknowledgment that the cruelty and pain were now finished?

Was it even something of a cry of defeat?

On this point, the Bible is clear: Jesus’ final word was actually a shout of victory, of triumphant recognition (Colossians 2:15; Hebrews 10:12-14; 1 Peter 3:18).

He had fully accomplished the work He had come to earth to do.

In the realm of eternity, in perfect fellowship and harmony with one another, the Father had planned, and the Son along with the Spirit had willingly agreed, that this would be the way—and now their purpose was being accomplished.

So we must always remember that Christ’s sacrificial death was according to the Father’s plan.

Christ was chosen to bear the penalty of mankind’s sins “before the foundation of the world” (1 Peter 1:20).

Likewise, Isaiah prophesied concerning the Suffering Servant who was to come, saying, “It was the will of the LORD to crush him” (Isaiah 53:10).

From all of eternity, the Father chose the Son to be the Perfect one who would provide an “one and done for all time” atoning sacrifice for the sins of many.

The Father’s plan is paralleled by the Son’s sacrifice.

When Jesus walked onto the stage of human history, He was clear concerning His role and mission: “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38).

The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus was not coerced.

Rather, He laid down His life in full awareness of and voluntary submission to the Father’s plan.

The truth and reality of this covenant plan of redemption is applied to our lives by the Spirit’s testimony.

The Spirit of God repeatedly affirms and continually testifies through God’s Word, in no uncertain terms, reminding us all of the wonder of what God has accomplished for us through Christ Jesus’ finished work on the cross (Hebrews 10:15).

Christ’s offering means we stand perfected in God’s sight.

Our sin has been removed by His Son, and we are clothed in the righteousness of His Son.

The death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was never Plan B.

Nothing could be further from the truth!

In eternity past, the triune God determined that the road to Calvary would be the only way of salvation.

Bow today under the simple beauty and wisdom of God’s redemption plan, asking the Holy Spirit to help you understand more fully and appreciate more deeply what it meant for the Son of God to bear and take away your sin.

Receive the doubting Thomas’ who all too often choose to remain anonymous and separate from the joy and triumph first found in that Upper Room that day.

Let’s not be so anxious asking any one of those doubting Thomas’ the question:

“How is it with your soul, today?”

Let’s be careful not to squash asking those honest and seeking questions.

Of course,

Our goal isn’t so much in asking the question, but in our and some Thomas receiving an authentic faith in the Lord, who is the answer to our questions!

“Are We Able … to Ask of the Master …

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Father, stir my heart to continue to seek after you. I want to know more about you, and I also want to be more aware of your presence in my life. I want my character to be conformed unto your will. So please know that my doubts and questions are my seeking you and not my seeking some random tidbit of knowledge. Give me the Spirit of revelation to know you more completely so that I might be transformed by your will rather than being conformed to the culture around me. In Jesus’ name, I pray.

Adeste Fidelis! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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Remember The Root Command: We Are All Rooted in Christ, Unto Each Other: Abiding in Love into a Hurting World. Colossians 1:1-8, John 15:15-17

Colossians 1:1-8 The Message

1 1-2 I, Paul, have been sent on special assignment by Christ as part of God’s master plan. Together with my friend Timothy, I greet the Christians and stalwart followers of Christ who live in Colossae. May everything good from God our Father be yours!

Working in His Orchard

3-5 Our prayers for you are always spilling over into thanksgivings. We can’t quit thanking God our Father and Jesus our Messiah for you! We keep getting reports on your steady faith in Christ, our Jesus, and the love you continuously extend to all Christians. The lines of purpose in your lives never grow slack, tightly tied as they are to your future in heaven, kept taut by hope.

5-8 The Message is as true among you today as when you first heard it. It doesn’t diminish or weaken over time. It’s the same all over the world. The Message bears fruit and gets larger and stronger, just as it has in you. From the very first day you heard and recognized the truth of what God is doing, you’ve been hungry for more. It’s as vigorous in you now as when you learned it from our friend and close associate Epaphras. He is one reliable worker for Christ! I could always depend on him. He’s the one who told us how thoroughly love had been worked into your lives by the Spirit.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

It is wonderful when someone comes into the kingdom of God.

That person receives God’s gift of grace through faith in Jesus, and they begin a new life of walking with the Holy Spirit.

The new believer realizes that their old life of selfish pursuits offers nothing that will ever satisfy.

They have turned their back on the darkness and are enjoying the light of the world, Jesus. Praise God for his love!

Paul is filled with thanks to hear that the people of Colossae have come to faith in Christ Jesus and are showing their love for all God’s people.

He even says, “We always thank God . . . when we pray for you . . .”

They have become wonderful examples of living by faith in Jesus.

They believe and trust, they love, and they hope in what God has already stored up in heaven for them.

Drawing all this together, we can witness and testify with Paul that the faith of the new Colossian believers was rooted in Jesus Christ.

But What of the Root Witness and Testimony of a More Mature Community of Faith Such as Today’s?

John 15:15-17 Amplified Bible

15 I do not call you servants any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you [My] friends, because I have revealed to you everything that I have heard from My Father. 16 You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed and placed and purposefully planted you, so that you would go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit will remain and be lasting, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name [as My representative] He may give to you. 17 This [is what] I command you: that you love and unselfishly seek the best for one another.

John 15:16-17 The Message

16 “You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.

17 “But remember the root command: Love one another.

The Bible is often referred to as a love letter or love story; an incomparable history of hearts laid bare, broken, hurting and taking great pains, believing.

Filled with incomparable songs of love, promises of love, and commands to love, God’s Word is clear – Love, rooted in Christ is our purpose, our mission.

I believe we embrace the Bible as a love story in no small part because the Bible shows us, testifies to us exactly and exactingly who, whose we are—sins and all.

It pulls us up by our roots, from the dirt and dust in Genesis through a far off cataclysm of warfare unto final victory through our Savior Christ in Revelation.

And yet, at the heart of it is still the refrain that God so loves the world, anyway.

It’s most interesting to note that although Jesus talks about loving God, your neighbor, enemies and more all throughout Scripture, he wraps his message of love in John 15 in that of abiding in him, even though the world may not love us.

He begins with the image of himself as the vine we draw sustenance from His roots and yet ends with the reality that the world will hate those who love him.

As he paints a picture of humanity stretching forth into the Kingdom of God, bearing fruit only by the power of the vine rooted securely in Christ, he says in John 15:12, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”

To be sure the importance of his command is felt, he says it again in John 15:17, with greater clarity:

This is my command: Love each other.

Or as the Message Bible states it:

“Remember the Root Command: Love One Another.

John 15:1-10 The Message

The Vine and the Branches

15 1-3 “I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn’t bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken.

4 “Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me.

5-8 “I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.

9-10 “I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love. That’s what I’ve done—kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love.

Let’s note some general observations about how we each grow as Christians.

Let’s consider how our spiritual growth is gracious, gradual, and guaranteed.

One of the most important things we ought to notice about spiritual growth and wellness is that spiritual growth and wellness is the result of God’s work in us.

Though we each definitely have a critically important role to play, even our determination to flourish with the fruit of the Spirit is evidence of God’s grace.

The Holy Spirit is the one who empowers, inspires, stimulates our inner desire to grow in Christ, to stay rooted in Christ and to branch out from Christ alone.

Growth is gracious.

Growth is slow and steady and sometimes painful to watch and to experience.

As we watch the new sprouts emerge from the cold of winter into the spring, it takes a great deal of time and effort for that sprout to emerge from the branch.

But those new sprouts will emerge, will grow, will be nourished to full bloom only from the truest quality and quantity of the trees centralized root system.

We water the ground under the tree to give it a chance to grow deep and strong.

We fertilize the ground around the tree to provide additional growth nutrients.

Creator God does the rest underground where we cannot see, have any control.

Jesus is offering himself here, as he does for eternity, as our unseen root source of true, abundant life when our winterized lives requires us to re-emerge in the spring season, to choose to reach for the “Son-light”, choose love over death.

He is assuring us that we draw our ability to draw our nourishment, our love from Him—the only vine that makes our inept winterized branches bear fruit.

Without him, we wither and amount to nothing as he describes in verse 6.

The one who loves us so much that he gives his very lifeblood to reconcile us to our Creator knows…that as his followers, we’re up against a world of hatred.

So, he commands us: root ourselves to hatred or to love, to choose love anyway!

How?

Remain in him.

Remember His words. And, as he says in John 15:10, “keep my commands.”

So, What Did This Look Like In That Upper Room?

Luke 24:36-43 New King James Version

Jesus Appears to His Disciples

36 Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” 37 But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. 38 And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”

40 [a]When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. 41 But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” 42 So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish [b]and some honeycomb. 43 And He took it and ate in their presence.

What does this “Stay Rooted in the Vine” “Stay Rooted in Christ” look like for an imperfect human, a group of imperfect human beings, in a hurting world?

It often takes surrendering your perceptions of what being rooted in an agenda really means – rooted to the Kingdom of God versus the kingdom of our enemy.

The resurrected Jesus Himself came and stood among His frightened disciples.

And the first words out of His mouth were: “Peace to You!”

Then to further settle the moment further: He asks, “Why are you troubled?”

The resurrected Jesus takes immediate command of the moment.

Immediately turns everyone’s eyes, ears, hearts spirits and souls to Him alone.

Away from their fear of everything external over which they have zero control.

40 [a]When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. 41 But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” 42 So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish [b]and some honeycomb. 43 And He took it and ate in their presence.

For the disciples to respond, it definitely required a willingness to claim utter dependence on a love supply greater than any of them, and perfect in its plan.

It definitely required them to step away from themselves in moment of their gravest doubts and concerns over their futures – to consider sharing with their resurrected Messiah, a meal of fish and honeycomb, then to watch Him eat it!

We have to give our doubts and our fears and our brokenness permission to see the entrance of our resurrected Savior, hear His words of peace and of comfort over our paralyzing words of anxiety, our self-deprecating words of abject fear.

When Peace Like a River Attendeth our Ways and Sorrows like Sea Billows Roll, Welcome His Presence, Welcome His Words, Welcome His offer of a good meal.

Remaining Rooted in the Love of Christ, remembering to remain rooted in His Love involves our consciously seeking Him in our prayers when hatred prowls around, like a crouching lion seeking to rip away and to burn up our branches.

It means our crying, asking God for the wisdom to choose love, instead of hate.

It means overcoming, our seeing even those who hate us as needing love, too.

Does Jesus say to set those haters straight?

Does Jesus say to bear a grudge, go passive -aggressive, angry, rotten fruit?

Not at all. He later says in John 15:27 that in presence of hate, we testify.

By judging?

By dividing and conquering and failing at both?

By divisiveness?

By poking “sharp sticks” into each other’s eyes?

By casting stones and sometimes even boulders at each other?

Performing on a stage whose audience is waiting for the “last one standing?”

Well, In this passage, there’s only way – By remaining rooted in Christ’s loving.

Philippians 2:1-4 New King James Version

Unity Through Humility

2 Therefore if there is any [a]consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

So, rather than get our branches in a twist, and risk breaking off from the One strong enough to grow us, let’s not respond to the reality of hate with hate.

Let’s abide, by asking what the vine would have us do to show His love instead.

Friends, my prayer is we will have faith in Christ Jesus; my hope for us is, that in Jesus’ name we are loving others, giving ourselves up for them, and growing in hope in all that God has promised and Christ is storing up for us in heaven.

Remember the Root Command: Stay rooted in Christ,

Let’s abide, by asking what the vine would have us do to show His love instead.

Anticipating the reality of God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 46 The Message

46 1-3 God is a safe place to hide,
    ready to help when we need him.
We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom,
    courageous in sea storm and earthquake,
Before the rush and roar of oceans,
    the tremors that shift mountains.

    Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
    God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.

4-6 River fountains splash joy, cooling God’s city,
    this sacred haunt of the Most High.
God lives here, the streets are safe,
    God at your service from crack of dawn.
Godless nations rant and rave, kings and kingdoms threaten,
    but Earth does anything he says.

7     Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
    God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.

8-10 Attention, all! See the marvels of God!
    He plants flowers and trees all over the earth,
Bans war from pole to pole,
    breaks all the weapons across his knee.
“Step out of the traffic! Take a long,
    loving look at me, your High God,
    above politics, above everything.”

11     Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
    God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.

Adeste Fidelis! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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Will My God Ever Give Up On Me As I Have Given Up on Him? Luke 22:54-62

Luke 22:54-62 Amplified Bible

Peter’s Denials

54 Then they seized Him, and led Him away and brought Him to the [elegant] house of the [Jewish] [a]high priest. And Peter was following at a [safe] distance. 55 After they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat among them. 56 And a servant-girl, seeing him as he sat in the firelight and looking intently at him, said, “This man was with Him too.” 57 But Peter denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him!” 58 A little later someone else saw him and said, “You are one of them too.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!” 59 After about an hour had passed, another man began to insist, “This man was with Him, for he is a Galilean too.” 60 But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him,  “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.” 62 And he went out and wept bitterly [deeply grieved and distressed].

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

I remember a secular song popular many years ago called “River”.

To this day, lines from that rather somber Joni Mitchell song stick with me.

She sang, “I’m always hard to handle. I’m selfish and I’m sad. Now I’ve gone and lost the best baby that I ever had.”

The words came to mind again this week while reading a post from a Christian who said, “I still struggle with being angry, ungrateful, and cranky.”

I added her words to what several people have written recently about Apostle Peter in today’s discourse from Luke 22.

As much effort as Peter made to assure and then reassure Jesus and the other disciples to never give up on Jesus – no matter the circumstances – He failed.

He failed in the worst way possible.

He failed himself.

He failed his friends and fellow disciples.

He failed his mother and his father

He failed to uphold every single thing he held to about his faith in God.

He failed his sworn and covenanted oath to God.

He failed his Messiah – denying him thrice times and very publicly.

When his Messiah needed and required him to be there for Him, as Messiah had predicted, before the cock crowed three times, Peter was nowhere declaring his his utmost confidence and faith in his Messiah nor his willingness to even die.

How much worse could it possibly get in that moment?

Then that fateful glance in the courtyard where Peter’s and Jesus’ eyes met after Peter thrice times emotionally, very publicly refuted his association with Jesus.

61 The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.” 62 And he went out and wept bitterly [deeply grieved and distressed].

They have preached this passage, taken a long look at this passage, been very self-introspective of this text as it was preached to them – and they CRIED TOO!

We can probably, without much effort, safely guess what emotions were going on in Peter’s much anguished heart and soul: “Will God Now Give Up On Me?!?”

They cried, proclaimed – “I was not there when my Savior needed me most!”

They cried and declared – “I got so very tired, so very much worn out by it all!”

The cried and declared – “I feel like I have simply given up on God, My Savior!”

They have likewise asked of themselves, “Will God ever give up on me?” 

Gravely worried because they think they have already and repeatedly done the one single thing that’s “finally too much for God to take,” they are feeling fear.

Many Will Worry About Keeping God’s Love

Now, their concerns aren’t just about their repeated failures toward conquering their anger, their fears, their broken promises, their ingratitude, or crankiness.

Some are worried about other things like unrelenting unswerving doubts, their waning and waxing faith, a fresh sin committed, or a repeated sin committed.

But, this lingering question comes rushing back to many people at different times, at too many inopportune times

“Does God give up on us as we all too often give up on Him?”

A significant question with what they believe has severe eternal implications.

I can safely confess here that despite what I staunchly believe is a steadfast and immovable faith – a “Superman Faith” if you will, I’ve certainly had that fear. 

Have you?

At times, I’ve wondered if I have let God down too much or too severely or made that “one too big a mistake” with the severest of eternal implications possible.

It hurts my spirit.

It puts a giant strain, an immovable millstone upon my heart and upon my soul.

I will simply never have the necessary knowledge nor the required wisdom nor any of the maximum allowable strength to even begin to move it or remove it.

Responding to the Lord’s “Once In a Lifetime” Look

Luke 22:61-62 Amplified Bible

61 The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.” 62 And he went out and wept bitterly [deeply grieved and distressed].

Two captivating stories are happening at the same time.

Inside the high priest’s court Jesus reveals his true identity as the Messiah.

Outside near the fire in the courtyard Peter denies his Lord three times.

Then the climax brings the two story lines crashing together.

Jesus’ eyes look directly at Peter’s eyes and quite literally changes everything.

Peter surrendered to the paralyzing fear of his faith’s ability at standing alone.

But fortunately Jesus enabled Peter to break out of the cage of conformity.

The rooster’s crow activated the alarm of Peter’s conscience.

Immediately he repented.

In extreme sorrow, Peter wept bitterly.

Do We Lose God When We Are Selfish and Sad?

As in Joni Mitchell’s sobering song, do we lose the best loved one we’ve ever had – our God and our Savior – when we are selfish and/or broken or sad? 

No!

Absolutely Not!

It’s a guarantee that after we receive Jesus Christ as Savior, we still won’t be perfect! 

And God knows that! 

Instead, we all have a lot of “cleaning up” to do even at that point. 

But, that is something only God can do in your life.

Yes, you and I must cooperate, we must be and remain willing participants.

The way we do that is to believe Him that He loves us and has changed us.

That He IS always and forever changing us.

And, in addition, you and I must learn, and re-learn, how to receive His love.

With regards to Peter and His coming to terms with his catastrophic failures;

Later in the Upper Room he reaffirmed his love for Jesus by being there and not running away, fleeing from His presence, when Jesus appeared to the disciples.

Still later, doubts intact, Peter is recommissioned as the Lord’s representative.

John 21:15-17 Amplified Bible

The Love Motivation

15 So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these [others do—with total commitment and devotion]?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I [a]love You [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend].” Jesus said to him, “Feed My lambs.” 16  Again He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with total commitment and devotion]?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend].” Jesus said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with a deep, personal affection for Me, as for a close friend]?” Peter was grieved that He asked him the third time, “Do you [really] [b]love Me [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend]?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend].” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.

In John 21 we find that Jesus refused to let Peter cover up his unresolved past.

Three times the Resurrected Jesus asked Peter how much he loved his Lord.

And Peter asserted repeatedly, “Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus then empowered Peter, gave divine approval and permission, God’s own blessings, to just put his past behind him and walk confidently into his future.

Jesus’ aim is to come to us, bless us, reassure us, reconcile with and rehabilitate us whenever we feel the full weight of our millstones, when we fall from grace.

And our conscience can halt us before we yield to temptation.

But even when if we inevitably slip back into sin, God wants to restore us.

God does not stand behind home plate like an umpire at a baseball game with a great cloud of witnesses present waiting to signal and then shout, “You’re out!”

Instead, He comes to us on our lakeshores, draws us to Himself with kindness.

For us this means responding to the raucous alarm of our conscience, removing ourselves from the moment and place of temptation, repenting of our sin, give God permission to take our millstone, to reaffirming our loyalty to Jesus Christ.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 13 The Message

13 1-2 Long enough, God—
    you’ve ignored me long enough.
I’ve looked at the back of your head
    long enough. Long enough
I’ve carried this ton of trouble,
    lived with a stomach full of pain.
Long enough my arrogant enemies
    have looked down their noses at me.

3-4 Take a good look at me, God, my God;
    I want to look life in the eye,
So no enemy can get the best of me
    or laugh when I fall on my face.

5-6 I’ve thrown myself headlong into your arms—
    I’m celebrating your rescue.
I’m singing at the top of my lungs,
    I’m so full of answered prayers.

Psalm 139:23-24 The Message

23-24 Investigate my life, O God,
    find out everything about me;
Cross-examine and test me,
    get a clear picture of what I’m about;
See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong—
    then guide me on the road to eternal life.

Lord, we read Your text from Luke’s Gospel and we know that your convicting look is filled with thy convincing, affirming grace. Thank you for your transforming power!

Adeste Fidelis! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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Are The Disciples Asking Themselves: How Can We Know and Can We Trust God Will Keep Us in His Perfect Peace? John 20:19-23, Isaiah 26:1-4

John 20:19-23 Amplified Bible

Jesus among His Disciples

19 So when it was evening on that same day, the first day of the week, though the disciples were [meeting] behind barred doors for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them, and said, “[a]Peace to you.” 20 After He said this, He showed them His hands and His side. When the disciples saw the Lord, they were filled with great joy. 21 Then Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you [as My representatives].” 22 And when He said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of anyone they are forgiven [because of their faith]; if you retain the sins of anyone, they are retained [and remain unforgiven because of their unbelief].”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

In those moments of the death and resurrection, behind those barred doors of the Upper Room, can we even begin to imagine those disciples’ state of mind?

Many of Jesus’ followers had scattered for fear of their lives, and his closest disciples were hiding behind closed doors in fear of the religious authorities.

Their much beloved Rabbi (“Teacher”) had been crucified and then buried.

They had walked with Him for three long years and witnessed much, they had believed in him as the Messiah (the “Anointed One”), their promised deliverer.

Now, “cast off” doubts came rushing in – had it all been “too good to be true”?

Sure, they had just heard Mary’s highly excited message that Jesus had risen.

Peter and John had run to see the now-empty tomb, but that wasn’t even close to being the same thing as what Mary had experienced – seeing “Jesus IS alive!”

Was Mary mistaken?

Was it all “wishful thinking?”

Standing at the tomb in the dark, in her indescribable, immeasurable grief, had she only imagined seeing Jesus, through tear stained eyes, in an empty garden?

Did she see only what her impossibly desperate state of mind needed, wanted, to see, that she might find the only means of coping with the unbelievability?

Had others taken the body?

And Mary could not “handle the gravity” nor implications of, that possibility?

Where was her Rabbi that believed in her when no one else had dared to believe?

Bad news can be so easily believable!

Good news can seem so easily unbelievable!

Crucified and buried men don’t roll away unmovable stones, walk out of graves!

Were they being asked to believe: “impossible” witness and testimony of Mary?

Jesus didn’t keep his disciples waiting long.

That evening, “Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’”

He stood before them, and then He spoke these words to them.

He showed them his wounds.

He greeted them with a familiar blessing, “Peace Be With You.”

Jesus gave them the peace and presence they had been missing.

And they were overjoyed.

Things had not been the way they were supposed to be, but now they were!

Today we too celebrate that God is with us!

God’s Peace is With Us!

Christ has risen!

He is alive, and he lives in us! Hallelujah!

Peace is possible!

But, how can we know such a magnitude of God’s Peace through Christ is real?

I cannot claim any similar experience as those disciples in the Upper Room.

I do not know if anyone outside of those disciples in the Upper Room can claim the Resurrected Jesus just appeared to them in their homes or anywhere else?

So we read the post resurrection texts from the Gospels of Luke and John and because I believe in the Word of God for His Children, I “accept” their efforts.

But still, there are the questions being asked by everyone of this moment such a sequence of events are wholly, miraculously unique to the Christian experience.

How about our giving God, through Christ Jesus the benefits, prayers of doubts?

How about our confidence in the Word of God regarding “God’s Perfect Peace?”

How about our confidence in ourselves such a magnitude of Peace is achievable?

You know, actually believing more in the promises of God than the promises of our enemies rust laden promises which we grow fat on, we obsessively feed on?

How Can We Know God Will Keep Us in Perfect Peace?

Isaiah 26:1-4 Amplified Bible

Song of Trust in God’s Protection

26 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

“We have a strong city;
He sets up salvation as walls and ramparts.
2 
“Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter,
The one that [a]remains faithful and trustworthy.
3 
“You will keep in [b]perfect and constant peace the one whose mind is steadfast [that is, committed and focused on You—in both [c]inclination and character],
Because he trusts and takes refuge in You [with hope and confident expectation].
4 
“Trust [confidently] in the Lord forever [He is your fortress, your shield, your banner],
For the Lord God is an everlasting Rock [the Rock of Ages].

Peace is possible even in our stressful, troubled world.

In Isaiah 26:3, the Bible promises that God and God alone “will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.”

Here’s what it means to do that, so you can experience peace in any situation.

What Does ‘He Will Keep in Perfect Peace’ Mean?

Everyone who chooses to keep their minds steadfast because they trust in God can count on experiencing perfect peace while they do so, according to this verse.

That means you can enjoy a state of perfect peace as long as you focus your mind from beyond your circumstances to God, and trust him to help you no matter what.

As a result of choosing to trust God, you welcome God’s peace into your mind.

Some people chase after peace of mind from worldly achievements, such as through the wanton pursuit health and wealth and wellness.

Good circumstances may help you enjoy a temporary feeling of peace.

However, only God can actually provide complete and lasting peace.

God, who alone is perfect, is the only reliable source of peace.

Thankfully, God is willing to give that perfect peace to everyone who decides to trust him to provide it.

Trusting God involves being at peace with God through Jesus Christ since Jesus made it possible for all humanity to have relationships with God. 

Ephesians 2:14 says about Jesus: “For he himself is our peace” and Ephesians 2:17-18 points out that, “He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.”

When we have that close connection to God, we can experience peace even during the most challenging circumstances, because “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

John Gills Commentary puts it this way:

“this peace is true, real, and solid; in which sense the word “perfect” is used, in opposition to a false and imaginary one; and it will end in perfect peace in heaven: moreover, the word “perfect” is not in the Hebrew text, it is there “peace, peace”; which is doubled to denote the certainty of it, the enjoyment of it, and the constancy and continuance of it; and as expressive of all sorts of peace, which God grants unto his people, and keeps for them, and them in; as peace with God and peace with men, peace outward and peace inward, peace here and peace hereafter; and particularly it denotes the abundance of peace that believers will have in the kingdom of Christ in the latter day.”

What Is the Context and Background of Isaiah 26:3?

Isaiah 26:3 is part of a song of praise in which the biblical prophet Isaiah celebrates God’s trustworthiness to provide all that people need, including their ultimate need: salvation.

Isaiah sings about how Israel will be judged for their sins yet also restored by God, in his mercy. Isaiah predicts that God will save people from their sins.

Although people may sometimes be faithless toward God, God will always be faithful to his people, Isaiah emphasizes.

God is willing to redeem and restore, and his perfect peace enters the souls of all who decide they have worn out their trust in the world to just trust in Him.

So, Isaiah urges readers to trust in God.

He writes that it is “because they trust” in God that God “will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast”.

The very next verse after Isaiah 26:3 emphasizes trust: “Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal” (Isaiah 26:4).

How Can We Be Sure That We Will Be Kept in Perfect Peace?

We can be sure that God will keep us in perfect peace.

The Holy Spirit will renew our minds whenever we ask for help doing what’s necessary to be at peace: focusing on God and trusting him. 

Romans 12:2 urges us all:

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his pleasing and perfect will.”

The Spirit will help us access the perfect peace that God offers us.

Jesus promises in John 14:26-27:

“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

Peace is one of the nine “fruit of the Spirit” listed in Galatians 5:22-23.

As you invite the Holy Spirit to renew your mind, you can count on the Spirit’s help to do what Isaiah 26:3 calls you to do: trust in God with a steadfast mind.

A powerful way to pursue peace is to pursue wonder because experiencing wonder expands your awareness of God’s work in your life, and that gives you the assurance you need to trust God and be at peace.

And it can be a wonderful way for anyone to seek the perfect peace that only comes from God.

Here’s how it works:

Visualize Jesus on the cross, visualize the specific things that are troubling you.

Then see yourself walking toward Jesus and laying those things down at the foot of the cross for him to take care of for you.

Through a brief prayer, ask Jesus for help with every specific thing you’ve left there for him.

Entrust it all to his care.

See yourself walk away afterward, with your mind and heart open to receiving peace from Jesus.

Prayer ushers peace into your heart and mind,

according to Philippians 4:6-7, which says:

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Characteristics of God’s Perfect Peace

We can be confident that the perfect peace God gives us will last.

The temporary peace of mind we may find from good circumstances in our lives can relieve some stress and anxiety for a while.

However, the peace that God gives isn’t limited to certain times or tied to specific circumstances.

The perfect peace of God is much more than simply the absence of stress and anxiety; it’s a deep and abiding knowledge of being loved and cared for by God no matter what.

Although that peace is beyond our understanding, it will guard our hearts and minds, promises Philippians 4:7: “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Psalm 139 describes how near God’s Spirit is to us at all times and in all places.

Verses 7-10 point out:

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”

We can be sure that we’re never out of the Holy Spirit’s reach.

So, we’re always able to access the perfect peace that God offers us through his Spirit.

After celebrating God’s sovereignty over all circumstances in life, the psalmist ends with a plea for God to renews his mind:

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

That can be our prayer in any situation.

When we pray to experience God’s peace through a steadfast mind that is focused on him, we can count on that happening.

The Holy Spirit will strengthen our faith by renewing our minds, and peace will come to us as a result.

“Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” Romans 5:1 explains.

When you follow the advice of Isaiah 26:3, you can be confident that you’ll experience perfect peace from God.

Simply pray and ask the Holy Spirit to renew your mind whenever you need help centering your focus on God.

The Spirit may direct your attention to a wondrous sign of God’s work in your life, or simply quiet your mind.

In the process, perfect peace will flow into your soul!

Perhaps that is why John added the words of John 20:22 to this narrative:

John 20:22 Amplified Bible

22 And when He said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

Words of Purpose!

The first words Jesus spoke to his frightened disciples after his resurrection were words of reassurance: “Peace be with you!”

Then he quickly gave them a renewed sense of purpose: “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

With those words, Jesus was passing his mission on to his followers.

Perhaps you’ve seen a relay race in which one runner comes up behind the next and passes off the baton.

That’s what Jesus was doing here.

He was passing off the baton to his followers and saying, “Go! Finish the race!

Carry on the mission I began!

I ran the first leg; now you run the next.

Just as God the Father sent me into the world, now I am sending you into the world! Go!” (See John 17:18.)

18 Just as You commissioned and sent Me into the world, I also have commissioned  and sent them (believers) into the world.

Later, Jesus would remind his disciples again of that mission:

“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).

With whom can you and I share this good news of God’s Ultimate Peace today?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Dear Lord, Help me daily to remember you are indeed Lord of my life. You have the right to rule all that I think, believe and do. When I allow my mind to run to places that destroy my peace, remind me these are unauthorized thoughts. You do not want me to dwell on thoughts and emotions that contribute to unreasonable fears. I know my mind will remain in perfect peace as I fix my thoughts on you; so Lord Jesus, let your peace rule in my heart. Remind me of the peace I have in the shadow of Your Cross and in your family, and I pray the Holy Spirit to teach me how to be thankful for those circumstances that cause me to run to you, focus on you, and abide in you. I never need to live with fearful, anxious thoughts. Truth is, you alone are in control!

Adeste Fidelis! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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Come! Please Look For Yourselves! To Witness The Stone is Now Rolled Away, Testify Death Is Now Utterly Defeated! Luke 24:1-8

Luke 24:1-8 New King James Version

He Is Risen

24 Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, [a]and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. 2 But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 3 Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 And it happened, as they were [b]greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. 5 Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but is risen!  Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ ” 8 And they remembered His words.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

There is a new song of Triumph coming forth from the Heavens above.

Psalm 19 The Message

19 1-2 God’s glory is on tour in the skies,
    God-craft on exhibit across the horizon.
Madame Day holds classes every morning,
    Professor Night lectures each evening.

3-4 Their words aren’t heard,
    their voices aren’t recorded,
But their silence fills the earth:
    unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.

4-5 God makes a huge dome
    for the sun—a superdome!
The morning sun’s a new husband
    leaping from his honeymoon bed,
The daybreaking sun an athlete
    racing to the tape.

6 That’s how God’s Word vaults across the skies
    from sunrise to sunset,
Melting ice, scorching deserts,
    warming hearts to faith.

7-9 The revelation of God is whole
    and pulls our lives together.
The signposts of God are clear
    and point out the right road.
The life-maps of God are right,
    showing the way to joy.
The directions of God are plain
    and easy on the eyes.
God’s reputation is twenty-four-carat gold,
    with a lifetime guarantee.
The decisions of God are accurate
    down to the nth degree.

10 God’s Word is better than a diamond,
    better than a diamond set between emeralds.
You’ll like it better than strawberries in spring,
    better than red, ripe strawberries.

11-14 There’s more: God’s Word warns us of danger
    and directs us to hidden treasure.
Otherwise how will we find our way?
    Or know when we play the fool?
Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh!
    Keep me from stupid sins,
    from thinking I can take over your work;
Then I can start this day sun-washed,
    scrubbed clean of the grime of sin.
These are the words in my mouth;
    these are what I chew on and pray.
Accept them when I place them
    on the morning altar,
O God, my Altar-Rock,
    God, Priest-of-My-Altar.

Except, who is listening to these raucous words of song and triumph?

The heavens sing their words of the Glory and Triumph of God!

They emanate from the deepest reaches of heaven down to the earth below.

They begin echoing outward unto a sleeping humanity from a place of death.

Hushed and Quiet though they may be in this moment at that place of death, they are none the less quite real and quite audible to those who will come to it.

The song will come unexpectedly to those whose hearts and whose souls were prepared to be curious about it, receive it and see it and then utterly believe it!

In this place of uncleanness and death, there is a sure and certain witness here!

In this place of darkness and stench, there is a sure and certain testimony here!

Let us now lend our eyes and ears to what this witness and testimony might be.

“Welcome to this Happy morning!”

“Welcome all ye curious ones!”  

“Welcome all ye despondent ones!”

“Welcome all ye silent and tearful and mournful ones!”

“Welcome all ye defeated, downtrodden and broken ones!”

“Welcome all ye faith-filled and faithful and hope-filled hopeful ones!”

“It is wonderful to gather in our beautiful Kingdom of God to celebrate the glory and triumph of God and the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Yes! there is, emanating from here a new, fresh song of witness and testimony.  

Except, no one in particular is hearing, even listening to the words of welcome.

In fact, if we were to look at this place in that moment, we would see nobody.

Perhaps because the deafening silence of the glorious words “He is not here!” “praise God” are coming from an empty tomb which has been beckoning others where no others are paying attention, in close proximity or listening distance.

The expectancy of the glorious and triumphant message found from within the empty tomb is not one that is even the least bit anticipated, shared nor shouted.

The “Behold, Our God Wins!” witness and the living breathing testimony of the empty tomb sits all alone in a darkened silence in a place of the unclean dead.

Now, finally – a group of women come over the hill and down a path leading to the tomb of the one whom in life had been believed to be their “Messiah King.”

Three days ago, he had been brutally killed, humiliated as the ultimate criminal.

Because of Sabbath rules, he had been hastily buried and sealed behind a rock.

The women came bearing spices which they had prepared to finish preparing the not so pleasant smelling body of their dead best friend and their king.

But instead of finding a sealed tomb they came upon an open one.

Amazingly, unexpectedly, the stone had somehow been rolled off to the side.

Curious and probably just a wee bit afraid of what they would or would not find, they enter the tomb of their Rabbi and find it empty – there was just no corpse.

The women had come to anoint his body for the burial when they suddenly encountered a pair of angels asking this question – “so, why are you here?”

Followed up by the good news, “He is not here; he has risen!”

What a great and wholly unexpected sequence of “GOD” events for their souls.

Such wonderful good news.

The faith-filled faithful of God went to the tomb before all others were awake.

With their whole selves, in the darkness, their eyes beheld an open tomb and a rock much too heavy for them to remove by themselves rolled off to the side.

Instead of running away and screaming into the night to tell somebody else, the curiosity of the words to a new song reached their souls, so they all went inside.

They lingered inside and witnessed to an unanticipated, unexpected, emptiness inside the tomb of their fallen Rabbi they could not understand nor easily grasp.

As they were all greatly perplexed by this sequence of events, they clearly see the two men in shiny garments standing there, they clearly hear their words:

5 Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but is risen!  Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ ”

“He is NOT here!”

“But, IS Risen!”

Jesus is alive!

Death is defeated!

Witness to, Testify that, The Stone Was Rolled Away

Luke 24:5-8 The Message

4-8 They were puzzled, wondering what to make of this. Then, out of nowhere it seemed, two men, light cascading over them, stood there. The women were awestruck and bowed down in worship. The men said, “Why are you looking for the Living One in a cemetery? He is not here, but raised up. Remember how he told you when you were still back in Galilee that he had to be handed over to sinners, be killed on a cross, and in three days rise up?” Then they remembered Jesus’ words.

The gospel of Luke opened with angels delivering messages to Zacharias, Mary, some shepherds quietly going about their everyday duties protecting the sheep.

And to the shepherds, it was a melodious message of great joy for all people.

The message delivered here was also a message of great joy to all people.

Death had been conquered.

Jesus had defeated the power of death.

No longer do we have to fear death.

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians. 15:55).

Implications: the Witness and Testimony of a Rock Rolled Away

When we consider Jesus as Messiah, most of us think immediately in personal terms: Jesus is my Messiah. He forgives my sins. He lives in me. 

All of which, of course, is true.

But 1st-century Jewish expectations concerning the messiahship of Jesus were far broader than that.

If we had talked with a 1st-century Jew about his or her messianic expectations, we would have discovered hopes that were, in a sense far grander in their scope.

The Jews anticipated that their long-awaited Messiah would come to defeat the pagans who held sway over them, to decisively conquer their enemies, then to rebuild the temple, and to once again establish God’s just rule upon the earth.

Theirs was a nationalistic hope—a hope that the Messiah would come and vindicate the nation of Israel.

Jesus’ arrival, together with the miracles He performed, stories He told, and the prophecies He fulfilled, built to a great crescendo of high expectation among His followers, that Jesus was in fact sent of God as their true conquering king.

But just when they began to think that He really would be the one to politically redeem the people of Israel, at Calvary they saw all of their messianic hopes hanging up on a Roman gibbet, a gallows, an ugly instrument of pain and death.

And when Jesus cried out, “It is finished” (John 19:30), many of them must have quite literally agreed – any hope for their future of prosperity – was “finished.”

Now the question beckons us: How, then, did this group of believers, whose messianic hopes had been buried in a Palestinian tomb, not only continue to believe that Jesus was the Messiah but stand in the streets near where He had been executed and make an unashamed declaration of His messiahship?

The answer comes reverberating through the pages of the New Testament is found in the witness of an immovable rock having been summarily removed, somebody physically entering an empty tomb: the bodily resurrection of Jesus!

The angelic announcement to the women who had brought spices to embalm a corpse provoked a radical reassessment of what the believers had witnessed on the past Friday and a complete change in their view of their lives and futures.

When the Messiah reappeared among them, as alive as ever, these previously sad, sorrowful, defeated, brokenhearted disciples were radically transformed into bold, joyful witnesses with the loudest heartfelt songs of God’s triumph.

They now have a sure and certain witness, bearing testimony to the reality of Christ resurrected with a body that could be seen, handled, and touched, and yet also possessing capacities to do what His pre-resurrection body had not done.

His earthly work of salvation was finished;

His life and His reign were most certainly not!

By His Resurrection,

By God’s own Authority and only through God’s power,

His life and His reign were most certainly never going to end

Only in the disciples’ actions that night, seeing the rock moved away, their display of courage and not fear, to physically enter the tomb, enter, witness its emptiness, exit the tomb, hear the words of the two white clad angels, their recognition of His risen presence did Christ’s messiahship finally make sense.

Indeed, what the early Jewish believers discovered when they “found the stone rolled away from the tomb” (Luke 24:2) and saw “Jesus himself stood among them” entering through a locked and sealed door and into the Upper Room (v 36) was that an eternal hope, joy, and triumphant power ignited within their hearts.

And these remain available to all who put their trust in Jesus, the resurrected Messiah.

It is the triumph of the resurrection, and only the triumph of the resurrection, changes our witness of sadness, sorrow, and defeat into hope, joy, and power.

It is the resurrection, and only the resurrection, that declares that our Messiah will defeat His enemies, will restore His people, and will rule from sea to sea.

The Glory of God, The Triumph of God that morning, The resurrection of Jesus our Lord, Savior will change everything about how you go about your day today.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

We Are One with the Risen Christ

Lord of life, we lift our hearts to you. As the dawn breaks, may we carry the unity we share into every moment knowing that we are one with the risen Christ. Lord, we lift our eyes to you. As the sunrises, may this moment stay with us, reminding us to look for the beautiful colors of promise in your word. Lord, we lift our prayers to you. As the dew air falls, may we breathe this morning in and know that like the earth, you sustain us, keep us and work within us always. And so, we lift our voices to you. We celebrate the greatest day in history, when Jesus rose from death, defeated darkness and bathed the world in stunning resurrection light. May we ever live to praise you! Thank you Lord of my my life and my Salvation that, in you, I no longer need to fear death and its great unknown. Instead, I can face it with confidence, knowing that you have truly defeated it. And, that on the other side of death, I will be with you forever.

Adeste Fidelis! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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