The Lord blessed us with a wonderful
Wednesday Evening. There was food galore with lots of desserts. The Lord
always prepares a banqueting table before us. The study and sharing were
sweet. One of the men shared that his dad had gone to the doctor. They had
done the biopsy which showed that he had cancer. He was scheduled for surgery
yesterday. He went in. The doctor checked him again before the surgery. The
cancer was gone. The man came leaping and jumping and praising the Lord. This
is the power of the risen Lord.
We all go through life with skepticism and
doubts. We looked last evening at a passage about who had some skepticism and
doubts. On that first Easter evening, Jesus showed up among the disciples, but
Thomas was missing. When he returned, they told him the good news—Jesus was
alive—but Thomas was a skeptic. He said, "Yeah, right! I won't believe that
story until I can place my fingers in the nail prints in His hands." A week
later Jesus showed up, and this time revealed himself to Thomas.
One of my favorite paintings is the scene of Thomas and Jesus, as done by Caravaggio. It's as if Jesus was pulling Thomas' arm toward the gaping wound in His side, but we know what happened because the Bible tells us. "A week later His disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you!' Then he said to Thomas, 'Put your finger here; see My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe.' Thomas said to Him, 'My Lord and my God!'" (John 20:26-28).
There was Easter sorrow followed by Easter
seeking that led to Easter surrender. Here's an Easter question: Do we know
for certain you will go to heaven when you die? Most people believe if you are
good enough that you can earn your way to heaven. Recently, The New
York Times interviewed former New York City Mayor Michael
Bloomberg. He was talking about all the work he has done for gun control and to
battle obesity. Then he said, "I am telling you, if there is a God, when I get
to heaven, I'm not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading straight in. I
have earned my place in heaven. It's not even close."
I cringed when I read those words because
one of Satan's most popular lies is that you can be good enough to earn your way
into heaven. There is only one way to heaven, and that is when we fall before
Jesus and confess Him as your living Lord. The Bible says, "If you confess with
your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from
the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). The resurrection isn't just a miracle. It is the sign
verifying that Jesus is really who He claimed to be.
I recently read about a Muslim who had
become a Christian. He shared his testimony, "I was looking at the lives of
Mohammed and Jesus. Then I came to a fork in the road. One led to death and a
tomb in Medina. The other led to an empty tomb and a resurrection. I decided
to follow the living way." Jesus said, "I go
to prepare a place for you…I will come again and receive you unto Myself that
where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:2-4). The choice is
simple. Choose the living way.
A few years ago, some missionaries in
Bangladesh were showing the Jesus Film to several hundred villagers.
The villagers did not know the story of Jesus. They sat there enthralled with
the life of Jesus, but as the torture and crucifixion of Jesus ensued, there
were tears, gasps and people yelling in response to the treatment Jesus was
suffering. There was chaos among the crowd as Jesus was being tortured.
Suddenly, a young man jumped up and screamed, "Do not be afraid. He gets up
again! I saw it before!"
That's our Easter message: "I've seen the
Lord! He gets up again! Do not be afraid!". People do come back and get up
after they die. That's why we can sing, "Because He lives, I can face
tomorrow. Because He lives, all fear is gone. Because I know He holds my
future. And life is worth the living just because He lives!"
In Him,
Brown
https://youtu.be/4M-zwE33zHA
No comments:
Post a Comment