Risky… True!!!

So here we are John 20.   The most glorious part of the bible documented by John.    Who does John choose to document the resurrection with (Besides himself)

1.  Peter who  had just three days ago denied he knew Jesus.

2.  John the beloved disciple who sprints to the tomb, and calmly enters the tomb.

They He saw and believed that Jesus’ body was not there,

8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.

but….

9(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10Then the disciples went back to their homes,

(Emphasis added, after pointed out in comments my mistake.)

3.  Mary Magdalene, the woman who sat at Jesus’s feet and learned from him… She in her grief does not recognize Jesus’ voice at first but when she turns to him… “Rabboni !!!”   Only to run, and tell others the news.

16Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!”

The announcement of the resurrection of Jesus by a woman to the disciples is Historically significant.  The testimony of a woman at the time was considered worthless.  Most at the time would call John foolish for taking the word of a woman, he could have lost all credibility.  For John to include Mary in his writing in this way was very risky,   So risky that it had to be true.

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To see the other entries for John Chapter 20 click here.

Friday Verses #20

Every Friday Saturday I am going to go back to my weekly reading and post the verses that stood out to me.   The kicker is I will offer no explanation as to why they stood out, I will just post the verses.  They will speak for themselves.

(If I can get it together, come back  next Friday for a special addition of Friday verses.)

This week Jerimiah 31

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18 “I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning:
‘You disciplined me like an unruly calf,
and I have been disciplined.
Restore me, and I will return,
because you are the LORD my God.

19 After I strayed,
I repented;
after I came to understand,
I beat my breast.
I was ashamed and humiliated
because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’

20 Is not Ephraim my dear son,
the child in whom I delight?
Though I often speak against him,
I still remember him.
Therefore my heart yearns for him;
I have great compassion for him,”
declares the LORD.

31 “The time is coming,” declares the LORD,
“when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.

32 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their forefathers
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to ^[d] them, ^[e] “
declares the LORD.

33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time,” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.

34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the LORD.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”

35 This is what the LORD says,
he who appoints the sun
to shine by day,
who decrees the moon and stars
to shine by night,
who stirs up the sea
so that its waves roar—
the LORD Almighty is his name:

36 “Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,”
declares the LORD,
“will the descendants of Israel ever cease
to be a nation before me.”

37 This is what the LORD says:
“Only if the heavens above can be measured
and the foundations of the earth below be searched out
will I reject all the descendants of Israel
because of all they have done,”
declares the LORD.

What if…..they lose?

The questions in this post came to me as I ministered a co-worker the other day.

The basic premise is:   WHAT IF?

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There is a line often used by a believer in Christ, when in a debate with an unbeliever.

If you are wrong and I am right, you lose everything.  I if I am wrong and you are right I lose nothing.

What if though that person, the unbeliever, has lived a morally outstanding life? Yeah they have hit bumps along the way. but largely they are successful. House, Nice cars, big tv, extra money to spend when they want something new.  Maybe they have a strong loving marriage and Family: Loves their spouse deeply. Never thought of cheating on their spouse. They have enough money they that they are  very generous with. Kids well behaved.  Lots of friends,  and all in all friends would say just a great person. Now that person dies…  What do they lose?

What if that person just can’t catch a break?  Born to a decent family.  Mom and Dad not the best but do what they can.  Tries to work through everything, just to get ahead.  Always has a plan for the future, moves where the plan seems best.  Always wishes for the better car, and wonders why they can’t get the toys.  Married maybe. Has the same problems in marriage their parents did.  The lure of the other person is tough to ignore.  Would give if they could.  Friends are few but never close to know the true hurts.  Now that person dies… What do they lose?

What if that person has had a rough life?  Born into a broken family.  Maybe they don’t even know there Mom or Dad.  They do what it takes to get buy, lie steal, cheat.   Wandering from place to place without a real home.  Watch the cars drive by.  Reach through holes in their pockets to find no money for a cup of coffee.  Lonely for most of their life.  Relationships come and go.  The only friend may be a bottle at the end of the night.  Now that person dies… What do they lose?

Have you meet one of these people?  They could be a mixture of the descriptions or completely different.   Can you picture them in your head?  Maybe you see them at work everyday, at the grocery on a regular visit, on the street corner…….  What do they lose when they die?

Have you talked to them in the break room, said excuse me in the grocery, passed them buy on the corner?  Have you shown them Jesus?  …….What do they lose when they die?

Have you been quick to share the sports score with them, but not the victory of Christ?  Have you cut them off in the parking lot, with your ichthus (fish) on the back of your suv?  Have you passed them buy with an unopened bottle of water in your hand? ……… What do they lose when they die?

What if? You said hey it was a great game or good tv show, but can I tell you about my savior and His victory?   What if you stopped them at the grocery ask if they were ok, and introduced them to the one who could right the wrongs?  What if you stopped the car handed out the water, and showed the love we are commanded?

What if they all believe because you introduced, because you asked, because you loved?   What if then they died? …. What do they lose?

John 14:5-6 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”  6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Math 16:15-16 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

Acts 8: 34-38 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

36As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?” 38And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.

If that person is you? Please know that you do not have to lose anything when you die.  If you just believe in him, He will forgive you of your sins, and you gain everything He promises.  What do you have to lose?

Romans 5:6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 6:8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

John3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

You have a choice to make…

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“Crucify! Crucify!” … the Flesh.

I just can’t get past one word.

John 19

15But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”
“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.
“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

16Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18Here they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

This is what our sin did.  This is what our flesh is capable of.   When we sin we are the ones yelling “Crucify! Crucify!”

stauroo -

1. to stake, drive down stakes
2. to fortify with driven stakes, to palisade
3. to crucify
   1. to crucify one
   2. metaph. to crucify the flesh, destroy its power utterly (the nature of the figure implying that the destruction is attended with intense pain)

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To see the rest of the posts for John 19 click here.