Thankful

Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him; bless His name! 

Psalm 100:4

Sometimes we think we have nothing to be thankful for and it is at those times we need to thank God for the hard times.  When we are lacking or feel unloved we are still blessed by God's unfailing love for us.  We know that when things are at there worst, God is at His best.   

No matter what, we can trust God that He has a plan and that it will work for our good.  

And, even more, we can be thankful that God sent His Son, Jesus to redeem us and that God calls us His own.   

Raise your hand to heaven, and thank God for all He does for you every day. 

Proclaim the Gospel

 

While they were telling these things, He Himself stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be to you.”

But they were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit. And He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself, touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

And when He said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. While they still could not believe it because of their joy and amazement, He said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?”

They gave Him a piece of broiled fish; and He took it and ate it before them.

Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are the witnesses of these things.”

“And behold, I am sending forth the promise of my Father upon you, but you are to stay in the City until you are clothed with power from on high.”

And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they, after worshiping Him returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising God.

Luke 24:36-53

Jesus fulfilled His promise that He would return. His followers saw Him, recognized Him, ate with Him, fellowshipped with Him and were instructed by Him. There was no doubt that Jesus rose from the dead and was bodily human.

And, when Jesus returned what was His message? Jesus said that forgiveness and repentance for sin was through Him. He was and is the only way that mankind can be reunited with God.

Wars have been fought because of this of this proclamation, but that does not diminish the truth proclaimed by Jesus and by Christians: There is no other way to God, except salvation through Jesus Christ.

We do not apologize for our faith, nor do we deny others their right to believe what they will with regard to how they think they can be saved and reconciled to God.

But, we will proclaim the truth of the Gospel to all, so that no one can say, “I did not know that Jesus was the way.”

He Is Who He Is

I am the Alpha and the Omega,” Says the Lord God,

“who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

Revelations 1:8

God is who He is and there is no other.

 

Jesus Is Alive

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

While they were perplexed about this, behold two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.”

And they remembered His words, and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James; and also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles. But these words appeared to them as nonsense and they would not believe them.

But Peter got up and ran to the tomb, stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings only and he went away to his home, marveling at what had happened.

Luke 24:1-12

Jesus is alive. He overcame the power of death to make a way for us to come to God. We are no longer separated from God, but we are welcomed into fellowship with Him.

The power of the resurrection of Jesus brought us back to God.

A Man Named Joseph

And a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man (he had not consented to their plan and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the Kingdom of God; this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

And he took it down and wrapped it in linen cloth, and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever lain.

It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. Now the women who had come with Him out of Galilee followed, and saw the tomb and how His body was laid. They returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

Luke 23:50-56

Jesus was gone. All that was left was the shell of His body. And, God sent a man named Joseph to care for the body and to bury it in a tomb.

Everyone saw it, everyone knew it: Jesus was dead. His disciples and followers mourned.

But that was not the end of the story.

 

The Punishment

When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.

But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”  And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves….

It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, because the sun was obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two.

And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.”  Having said this, He breathed His last. 

Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God saying “Certainly, this man was innocent.”

And all the crowds who came together for this spectacle, when they observed what had happened, began to return, beating their breasts.

And all His acquaintances and the women who accompanied Him from Galilee were standing at a distance, seeing these things.

Luke 23:33-34, 44-49

Today is Good Friday.  Not because good things happened, but because on this day, Jesus, The Son Of God, was crucified - one man - for all our sins.  The ultimate sacrifice by God for our redemption.  

Now, we contemplate all God has done for us, and wait for Jesus' resurrection. 

The Same Arguement Over And Over

Now the serpent was craftier than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?”

The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees in the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it or you will die.’”

The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die.”

Genesis 3:1-4

It’s the same argument over and over, “Oh, come on, what is it going to hurt?”

Those who want to destroy our lives, think we don’t know what they are doing. But we do, and so we can give them the answer they don’t want to hear “No thank you.”

And, if we get too much heat for doing what is right, we can walk away. Walking away from evil makes a powerful statement.

It is better to be right with God than wrong with mankind.