Brown's Daily Word 4-8-10

Good morning,
The Lord blessed us with a wonderful Wednesday gathering, with a wonderful meal, great fellowship and wonderful Bible study. We looked at the Resurrection passage from Mathew. The Resurrection should leave no doubt in our minds that all of Jesus claims are true. It is nice to have such a certainty about such a vital issue, especially since so many things in our world are so uncertain. The world, even the world of science, in whom so many place their trust, rarely can say anything with certainty. For example…

Harvard Medical School Has Just Reversed itself again.
1950—salt causes hypertension;
1960—salt does not cause hypertension;
1970—salt causes hypertension;
1980—salt relieves hypertension;
1998—the AMA Journal evaluates 114 separate studies and concludes that salt does not affect hypertension either way.
—Paul Harvey

Unlike the definitive word of Harvard Medical School, the Resurrection is a true and unchanging sign from God of Jesus' authenticity. Jesus made a lot of exceptional and important statements about Himself. He claimed to be the one and only divine Son of God. He claimed to be absolutely the only way to go to Heaven. He claimed to be the one and only true source of life, fulfilling and eternal. He claimed to be completely without sin, the perfect expression of God the Father. Certainly, even a cursory reading of the Gospels will show us that Jesus claimed to be much more than a "good teacher", "spiritual leader", or a "prophet." Jesus did not claim to be one of many ways to God, but said that He was God and that He was the only way to God.
There is an anecdote of an extremely educated man who once said to a little girl who believed in the Lord Jesus, "My poor little girl, you don’t know in whom you believe. There have been so many Christs. In which one of them do you believe? The little girl replied, “I know which one I believe in. I believe in the Christ who rose from the dead!"
Michelangelo once said to a group of artists, "Why do you keep filling galleries with endless pictures on the theme of Christ in weakness, Christ on the cross, and most of all, Christ hanging dead? Why do you concentrate on this passing episode as if it were His last work? That dreadful scene lasted only a few hours, but to the unending eternity Christ is alive; He rules and reigns and triumphs!"
In 1989, an 8.2 earthquake almost flattened Armenia, killing over 30,000 people in less than four minutes. It’s hard to imagine the pain, and suffering that was felt there as a result of a momentary rumbling of the earth. In the twinkling of an eye, worlds were shaken and lives crushed. Surprisingly, such tragedies often bring out the best in people, or at least they provide a wide open window to peek at the contents of each heart. In the midst of the chaos and destruction, a father rushed to his son’s school. Instead of a school, he found a shapeless heap of rubble. The sight of rubble and ruin made him spring into action. He ran to the back corner of the building where his son’s class used to be and began to dig. All he knew was that he had made a promise to always be there for his boy. It was this promise that animated his hands and motivated his heart.
As he began to dig, well-meaning parents tried to pull him out of the rubble saying, "It’s too late!" "They’re dead!" "You can’t help!" "Go home!" "There’s nothing you can do!" Then the fire chief tried to pull him off the rubble by saying, "Fires and explosions are happening everywhere. You’re in danger. Go home!" Finally, the police came and said, "You’re angry, distraught, but it’s over. You’re endangering others. Go home. We’ll handle it!"
The determined dad continued to dig for eight . . . 12 . . . 24 . . . 36 hours. Then, in the 38th hour, he pulled back a boulder and heard his sons’ voice. Immediately, he screamed, "ARMAND!" Back came the words, "Dad!? I told them! I told the other kids that if you were still alive, you’d save me! You promised me you’d always be here for me! You did it, dad!" A determined father, a promise kept, and a stone rolled away to reveal life and give freedom.
The story of Armand’s dad reminds me of the events of that first Easter when the Heavenly Father kept a greater promise by rolling away a much more difficult stone. With the rolling away of that stone, came eternal life, and true lasting freedom in Christ! Our Heavenly Father is still in the business of rolling away stones.
Jesus is Risen. He is the Risen Rock..
In Him,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il94HoX5rRo