A little devotional that I wrote recently:
Today our Lord has risen! It seems like a dream come true. Was it really only Friday that we left the foot of the cross that held his lifeless body? We understood so little. We never expected him to die even as he told us that it would happen. He is the messiah! He cannot die! He is setting up his kingdom! Oh Father, all of that ended that day.
(NIV Mark 15:34) And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"--which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
(NIV Luke 23:46-47 46) Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last. The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, "Surely this was a righteous man."
Even the Roman centurion expressed regret over the death of our beloved Rabbi. We cowered and trembled through that cold, dark night and even into two more days and one more night. Huddled in our hiding place we feared the Jews, now that the Son of man was entombed and even guarded. The Jews told them we would try to steal the body. Can you imagine that? How could we ever accomplish the rolling away of the huge stone covering the entrance, much less try to steal the body and for what purpose?
Then this day arrived and Mary Magdalen returned from the tomb with the unbelievable news! He is risen! Our Lord is risen! Our Lord and our God has breathed the Holy Spirit on us. We proclaim the gospel to all who will listen. We understand now and we will do His will. To Yahashua be the glory forever and ever, amen.
Here we are almost two millennia and thousands of miles from that blessed event. Our Lord is even more alive to us though we cannot see Him with our eyes of flesh. We see Him in our hearts and in the hearts of our beloved brethern. We see Him in worship and wherever we gather in His name. May our Lord again enter into time from eternity. May we see you in full glory on that moment that we rise to meet you!
(NIV 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 16) For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.
Until that glorious day may we continue to evangelize our fellow man. May we each strive to faithfully carry out the Grand Commision:
(NIV Matthew 28:18-20) Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Now to the pont:
NIV Romans 8:1-9
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man,
4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;
7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.
8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
So Seeker,
You sound like a kid whistling his way through a graveyard, muttering to himself, "I don't believe in spooks".
Take your pick on the humongous disasters that we are ont he edge of. Do I have to name them for you? It took a miracle to bring Israel back to Palestine in '48. It's only through the grace of God that we did not start shooting missles at each other in '62, '67 and '73. God really stuck the false prophets on that last one, eh?
Now we have the environment, viral warfare and a million man army that could assemble and march to the border of Israel in about sixty days. When that happens, are we gonna nuke 'em or stand by and let 'em go to it? Israel has about fifty warheads that could kill a lot of Arabs and Chinese or Russians or all three.
That Great Trib is gonna' be a rough time for those who are left behind.....
NIV Matthew 24:36-42
36 "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;
39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.
41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
ASV Revelation 19:13-17
13 And he is arrayed in a garment sprinkled with blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which are in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and pure.
15 And out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty.
16 And he hath on his garment and on his thigh a name written, KINGS OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in mid heaven, Come and be gathered together unto the great supper of God;
NIV Matthew 13:37-42
37 He answered, "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.
38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,
39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
40 "As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age.
41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.
42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
NIV Mark 13:19-27
19 because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now--and never to be equaled again.
20 If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them.
21 At that time if anyone says to you, `Look, here is the Christ !' or, `Look, there he is!' do not believe it.
22 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect--if that were possible.
23 So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.
24 "But in those days, following that distress, "`the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light;
25 the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.'
26 "At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.
27 And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.
Yep, I hope you enjoy the fireworks!
Cheers,
Rex
