Tag: risen
Guilt and Hope Matthew 11:28
We live in a fallen world! Violence, crime, natural disasters are all around us! From earthquakes, cyclones, floods, fires, pestilences and disease covers the world with tragedy! Wars and rumors of wars! From cop killers to Islamic Jihadist law and order seems like a distant hope? Political failures at home and gains by terrorists seems daunting! Guilt is the product of our fallen world! Guilt drives the Islamist terrorists! They believe the only sure way to get to Heaven is to commit Jihad! Kill themselves and others! How sad! God has a plan to defeat guilt and sin and it lead Him to the Cross! Jesus was raised from the dead for our fallen world! God shed His blood to cover our guilt! To reject God’s blood is to shed man’s blood! Guilt and sin leads to more sin! One sin to cover another! One lie to cover another lie! Bring your guilt to Jesus! Jesus said to come to Him those that labor and are heavy laden! A ship that is heavy laden will sink! Jesus bore your sin on the Cross! A yoke is designed for two oxen! Let Jesus come along side you and carry your load! Do not try to carry too much! God made you to trust Him! Not by your own efforts! Jesus went on to say He would give you rest! Rest means to pause from your own efforts! It means to refresh! That is why God gave us the Sabbath! At Creation God Himself rested from His work on the 7th day! Are you greater than God? Many have tried! The burn out of American families today is the result of not honoring the Sabbath! The 24-7 schedule takes no time for rest in the Sabbath! God not only saves us but he sanctifies us! Philippines 1:6 says we are confident that the good work He has begun in us He will perform in us until the day of Jesus Christ! Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever! His purpose within us will continue forever! Why miss out on the peace and joy of Jesus living in you? Pride and the fool says i can make it on my own! No one ever did! That was Satan’s plan! Sorrow and death is his constant companion! Do you want rest and freedom from guilt and shame? Ask Jesus! Humble yourself and ask for help! It is not that hard to do! What is hard to do and impossible is to try to live without Jesus! He will raise you up from your fallen condition! Pastor Oscar Cope, Mount Vernon Baptist Church, Fairburn, Georgia.
Grave Yard Charm! India 1985
Sound appealing? Would any church leader surround his church with a grave yard? Probably would not be a draw for big crowds? Most people here in America today want a grave yard placed out of their sight! In our mission work in India I discovered churches completely surrounded by grave yards? It seemed foolish at first until I spent a few years there and then it made sense! What the British did in India for 200 years was take the Gospel to the people! One of the problems faced there was Hindu’s and Muslim’s taking over a church, desecrating the altar and erecting a temple or mosque over it. This same problem going on in Britain and America today. So the British surrounded the churches with grave yards especially in remote area’s of India! Halloween would have been a big hit there! The Muslim’s and Hindu’s were fearful of grave yards so they left those churches alone! So the British protected their central worship centers while reaching out to the community in evangelism. We discovered this first hand because we rented out an old fellowship hall next to the grave yard and no one would attend our meetings! So we moved our location from the church and Hindu’s and Muslim’s began to attend services! The fear of death is a bondage to men! This is why Easter reminds us and confirms to believer’s in Christ that death has been conquered! He is risen! He who also promises us to raise us from the dead! As I used to walk through the grave yard on my way to worship services I was reminded of my mortality and that Christ who I serve defeated death for me! My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Blood and righteousness! Jesus is more than a man He is God! Only God could achieve the miracle of the resurrection from the dead! O’ death where is thy sting? O’ grave where is thy victory? The opposite of fear is love! For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son! Christ will return to judge the living and the dead! No one escapes! Accept the judgment Christ took for you on Calvary! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Good Grief! Ecclesiastes 7: 2-4
We need healing conversations this morning! Solomon says grief brings joy! American culture tries to pass by death! We want to avoid conversations about it! Solomon says in verse four that the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning. John 11: 32-35. Jesus knows how to grieve! In fact we see in this scripture that Jesus gets blamed for Lazarus death! Where have you buried him? Jesus wept! Why did Jesus stop and weep when He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead? We cannot skip over the sad places in our life! Jesus was fully man and fully God and is illustrated so plainly in these events! We cannot celebrate the miracles without paying attention to the process! Psalm 137. Two third’s of the Psalm’s are complaints and lamentations. The Jews were taken captive and taken to Babylon! The Babylonians took the best of the population back to Babylon and left the sick and elderly in Israel. Many of the grandchildren never saw their grandparents again! As the Jews sat by the rivers of Babylon they remembered Zion and wept! How do we grieve properly? First we must admit a new reality! Something is new about my life! Everything has changed about my life! It may be from a loss of a spouse, mother, father, sister, brother, job loss, sickness, financial loss, home or something else. I lost my dad in 2005. I miss dad but now a new reality. Second take time to weep. They wept in Babylon! Jesus wept! Slow down and grieve! Grieve properly! It is decompressing! Third remember the past! I have many good memories of my father! My father developed a barbeque sauce! He always wanted to get a patent on it. What my mother did not tell us for years is that she added some ingredients to the sauce so we could eat it! Tell the stories that make you smile at a funeral! See God’s imprint on our lives! Tell the stories that heal us and carry us on! What happens when we grieve properly? Our pain is confronted! We cannot ignore pain! In fact there is more pain for avoiding pain! Drug addiction is caused by trying to avoid pain! Invite the Holy Spirit into our pain! Jesus invited His Father into the pain in the Garden of Gethsemane! When we grieve properly we become available again! Your story matters! Millions of American’s have lost loved ones in battles of war in American history! Their stories matter! God is not finished with you yet! Your story is not over! Your final chapter is not the last one! God needs you available again! God will heal your heart! Even Jesus own disciples thought it was all over for them as Jesus went to the Cross! They scattered and went back to their old jobs! They could not look forward? God needs you available again! God knows what it is to grieve! Life was never the same when I lost my father! Storms are not forever! As we prepare for Communion let us remember the grieving of our Lord He has gone through for us on the Cross! Because He lives this morning we can live! He suffered so that we could have victory! He conquered death for us! Joy comes in the morning! He has Risen! Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado.