Mark 16:4-7 ~ just as He told you

Mark 16:4-7

4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

6 "Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.' "


"He planted the only durable hope amid the widespread despair of a hopeless world."
Dr. Carl F. Henry

Hope Sermon, by Reverend Ray Steadman. Edited and condensed

There Mark ends his story. You notice the resurrection begins after the darkest day in human history -- that black Saturday when Jesus lay in the grave. But it ends with the women who had come to the tomb leaving filled with such joy and awe and exploding hope that they dared not breathe a word of it to anyone.

It is this that sent them out to establish a rumor of hope in the midst of the hopelessness of mankind. I want to look with you now at this brief account from Mark, to see what it was that made these women change like this.

The account opens with the words, "And when the sabbath was past..." The other gospels do not mention the Sabbath, but Mark gives us this brief account of it. If we have any imagination at all, it would be easy to understand that that Saturday before the resurrection must have been the darkest day these disciples had ever experienced. What a dreary, interminable day it must have been! A day of shattered hopes, of broken dreams, of desolated spirits, and of wounded and frightened hearts. A dark and dreary day indeed, a day in which the future was grim and foreboding. All their brightest hopes had collapsed around them, all their choicest dreams had perished with the death of Jesus. These disciples, crushed, their hopes dashed, their dreams demolished, tried to live through that dark Saturday with no hope for the future, no belief in the resurrection. Every act on that day must have been torture for them, with every fiber of their being crying out, "What's the use! Why go on?" It was a day they would never forget as long as they lived.

I think some of us have felt something of that. And you know, there are more human beings today who live constantly in the despair and hopelessness symbolized by that dark Saturday than have ever lived in the drama of Friday or the victory of Easter. Someone has called our present generation "Saturday's children," and it is an apt term.

Saturday's children - an increasingly godless world, despair grips people's hearts everywhere. Hopelessness and meaninglessness come crushing in on us from every side.

When the proper hour arrived for the disciples to sit down and write their accounts, this dark day had so dropped into the background, was so lost in the joy of resurrection, that the most they felt it necessary to say is only: "And when the sabbath was past..." Their hope had swallowed up their despair. Why was this true?

The first thing was that the stone was rolled away from the tomb. They came concerned and worried about that stone. Any of you who have been to the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem, where I think this event indeed took place, know that the stone is no longer there, but that you can see the narrow grooved platform along which it was rolled, right in front of the tomb. And the entrance into the tomb itself is almost as tall as a man. The stone which covered the entrance to that tomb must have weighed at least a thousand pounds. It was indeed a very large stone, as the account tells us, and these women were naturally concerned about how to roll it away so that they might anoint the body of Jesus with the spices and ointments which they had brought. But when they arrived, the stone was already rolled back.

Matthew tells us that very early, long before daybreak, an angel had come and rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightening bright and shining, so that he dazzled and dismayed the guards who had been detailed to watch over the tomb. They fell as dead men on the ground, and, then, as they recovered their senses, stumbled off into the darkness in fear. All of this had happened before the women arrived.

Then, when they went into the tomb, the body of Jesus was gone!

And the words of the angel to these women contain the answer to all the skepticism of twenty centuries. For the angel said some things to them which answer most of the claims which have ever been raised in questioning the actuality of the resurrection. The first thing the angel said was, "This Jesus of Nazareth, this One who was crucified, this same one whom you seek, has indeed risen from the dead."

He says to the women, "This very same Jesus, the One you knew from Nazareth, whom you accompanied about the hills of Galilee and Judea, the Jesus who was crucified, whom you saw on the cross with the nails in his hands and the blood running down his side, that same One whom you are seeking, is risen from the dead." That establishes the identity of Jesus. So the angel underscores the claims of Scripture that Jesus is alive, that he rose bodily, and that he is available in specific places.

The third thing the angel says is put in these extraordinary words that only Mark records: "But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee." That is a wonderful touch. What a gentle, tender word that is! The last time we saw Peter in this Gospel account, he was standing in the courtyard of the high priest during the trial of Jesus. Peter kept denying Him; three times he denied Him. Peter denied it with curses and oaths: "No! I don't know him! I've never met the man."

What a tender thing it is for the angel to say to these women, "Go and tell the disciples and Peter that he goes before you to Galilee." It puts him right back into the apostolic band.

What does this say to us? Well, that says that Jesus is available to individuals -- not just to the crowd at large, not just to the world in general, or the church, but to you. Put your own name in there.

This accessibility to individuals has been the hallmark of Christianity ever since. Each one of us can know Him personally, intimately -- not just as a figure of history, nor as a coming King, nor in a general sense, as we know about the President of the United States, but in that intimate, personal, real, conscious sense of knowing which we share in the most intimate communion. He knows us as we know ourselves.

The last thing the angel said was, "He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him, as He told you." That is, these are faithful words. Jesus had already promised He would do this. This ought not to have taken them by surprise, because He had said He would go before them to Galilee when he rose from the dead, and there he would meet them. The angel is here underscoring the reliability of the words of Jesus. He is absolutely trustworthy; He does what He says He will do. His promises can be believed. Whatever He said, He also fulfilled, and you can rely upon it to the very last letter.

Now, this is what changed the people who knew Jesus. This is what filled them with hope, brought them from the very depths of dark despair to trembling ecstasy, so that they went out with gladness to spread this rumor of hope throughout the world -- the only durable hope the world has ever known.

John 3:1616"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.

Isaiah 12:2-6 ~ Sing praises to the Lord, for He has done gloriously

Isaiah 12: 2 - 6

2 "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation."
3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
4 And you will say in that day: "Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name; make known his deeds among the nations, proclaim that his name is exalted.
5 "Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be known in all the earth.
6 Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel."


Romans 6: 3 - 11

3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
6 We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.
7 For he who has died is freed from sin.
8 But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.
9 For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
10 The death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.
11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Isaiah 55: 1 - 11

1 "Ho, every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in fatness.
3 Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.
4 Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples.
5 Behold, you shall call nations that you know not, and nations that knew you not shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.
6 "Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near;
7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return not thither but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.


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Father forgive them, they know not what they do

Peter Paul Rubens painted Descent from the Cross many times. It was a theme he returned to over and over. This painting is c. 1617. Jesus Christ is supported in silent grief by Joseph of Arimathaea, Nicodemus and the young John the Evangelist. Mary, gently holding her son for the last time, symbolises the Christian virtues of love and hope. Mary Magdalene has fallen to her knees, the personification of repentance.

Matthew 27:49-54 (American Standard Version)

And the rest said, Let be; let us see whether Elijah cometh to save him.

And Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit.

And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake; and the rocks were rent; and the tombs were opened; and many bodies of the saints that had fallen asleep were raised; and coming forth out of the tombs after his resurrection they entered into the holy city and appeared unto many.

Now the centurion, and they that were with him watching Jesus, when they saw the earthquake, and the things that were done, feared exceedingly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God.”

Front page, Houston Chronicle online:

1 Corinthians 15: 12-20

12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead

Article by Kurt Wise

The central tenet of Christianity is that by His resurrection from the dead Jesus Christ was declared to be the Son of God (Rom. 1:4). In 1 Corinthians 15 stated that if Christ is not risen then Christian's are without hope. He recognized that Christianity stands or falls on whether Jesus was actually raised from the dead. No other religion is founded on this kind of an historically grounded miraculous event. In his defense of the fact of the resurrection, Christian scholar Gary Habermas points to several generally accepted historical facts surrounding the Christ's crucifixion and the birth of Christianity that indicate that Jesus was truly raised from the dead.

These facts include: 1) Jesus died due to the rigors of crucifixion and 2) was buried. 3) A Praetorian Guard, which consisted of four hardened soldiers was left at Jesus tomb. 4) Sanhedrin Council documents record the trial and death, as well as discussion of Jesus while alive. 5) The historian Josephus records Jesus, the facts of His death, the continuation of his disciples, conversion of his brothers and acknowledges His followers grew into a church after His death. 6) Jesus’ death caused the disciples to despair and lose hope. 7) Many scholars hold that Jesus was buried in a tomb that was discovered to be empty just a few days later. 8) Critical scholars even agree that at this time the disciples had real experiences that they believed were literal appearances of the risen Jesus. 9) Because of these experiences, the disciples were transformed from doubters who were afraid to identify themselves with Jesus to bold proclaimers of his death and resurrection, even being willing to die for this belief.

10) This message was central in the early church preaching and 11) was especially proclaimed in Jerusalem, where Jesus had died shortly before. 12) As a result of this message, the church was born and grew, with Sunday as the primary day of worship. 13) James, the brother of Jesus and a skeptic, was converted to the faith when he also believed he saw the resurrected Jesus. 14) A few years later Paul the persecutor of Christians was also converted by an experience that he, similarly, believed to be an appearance of the risen Jesus. (Did Jesus Rise From the Dead? The Resurrection Debate, Terry L. Miethe, Ed.; Harper and Row: San Francisco, 1987, pp 19-20)

The significance of these facts rests in the transformation that took place in a group of Jewish disciples made up of fishermen, tax collectors, zealots, and even women (a negative in that culture). The impact of these events in their lives was such that they were willing to give their lives to proclaim a message that could have been disproved by the simple evidence of a rotting corpse. But it was not only the disciples who were impacted by encounters with a resurrected Christ, it was also skeptics and even enemies of the faith.

While there is much more evidence to be examined regarding the resurrection, the facts listed above serve as a foundation for the veracity of the Christian claim that Christ is risen!

~ In the 8th century BC, the prophet Isaiah, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, told us of God’s plan for us to become children of God. To be cleansed and made holy by giving us His Son.

Isaiah 53
1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken.

9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

11 After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied ;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.


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John 13:3-17 ~ the One who Sent Him

John 13:3-17

3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"

7 Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."

8 "No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet."
Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."

9 "Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!"

10 Jesus answered, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you." 11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. 13 "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.


Jesus Christ, Son of God. Jesus, himself, washes us clean from the roads and choices we have made in life.

Philippians 2:5-7

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant

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Matthew 26:14-25 ~ from that moment

Matthew 26: 14 - 25

14 Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests
15 and said, "What will you give me if I deliver him to you?" And they paid him thirty pieces of silver.
16 And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.

17 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the passover?"
18 He said, "Go into the city to a certain one, and say to him, `The Teacher says, My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.'"
19 And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover.

20 When it was evening, he sat at table with the twelve disciples;
21 and as they were eating, he said, "Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me."
22 And they were very sorrowful, and began to say to him one after another, "Is it I, Lord?"
23 He answered, "He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me, will betray me.
24 The Son of man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born."
25 Judas, who betrayed him, said, "Is it I, Master?" He said to him, "You have said so."

Exodus 12:
When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. 26 And when your children ask you, 'What does this ceremony mean to you?' 27 then tell them, 'It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’

This Year, 2009, at Passover, children will ask, “What does this ceremony mean to you?” To Christians, on that particular evening, the Passover meals became the Last Supper, as the Lamb of God spared the children of God.


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Psalm 71:1-6,15,17 ~ In Thy righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline thy ear to me, and save me!

Psalm 71:1-6,15,17

1 In thee, O LORD, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame!
2 In thy righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline thy ear to me, and save me!
3 Be thou to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for thou art my rock and my fortress.
4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
5 For thou, O Lord, art my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth.
6 Upon thee I have leaned from my birth; thou art he who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of thee.
15 My mouth will tell of thy righteous acts, of thy deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge.
17 O God, from my youth thou hast taught me, and I still proclaim thy wondrous deeds.

When thinking of the cruelty Jesus suffered this week, I think of all the people we know, during all of the gospels, doing anything to ridicule Jesus’ message of faith, hope and love. How difficult for Jesus to have seen the disciples desert Him, even before the Roman and temple guards came for Him. One in malice, one in thoughtlessness & self-preservation, all in weakness & all in fear. Psalm 71 reminds us of the fear and prayer than must have been in the disciples hearts during our Holy Week. Even in their fear, even though His Son was suffering, God heard their prayers. God continued their ministries, strengthening them to do His work.


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John 12:1-11 ~ believing in Jesus

Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, by Jan Vermeer van Delft , c. 1654
Vermeer painted very few religious pictures, and it's typical of Vermeer to use an intimate, rather homey setting. Jesus is relaxed, Martha and Mary are comfortable & at ease in their own home.


John 12:1-11

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’

When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.

Written by Reverend Nigel Cowgill

At this point in the Gospel of John, we are nearing the end of Jesus' life. For him to come to Jerusalem was an act of great courage: he had been made an outlaw by the authorities. Bethany had been marked out as the 'official' place for the overflow of pilgrims who had been travelling to celebrate the Passover festival in the city of Jerusalem.

When Jesus arrived in Bethany, Mary and Martha made him a meal. It may have been that they shared the house with their brother Lazarus. It seems that as the meal was being served Mary's heart ran over with love. She had a pound or pint (depending on the translation) of very expensive ointment or perfume, and with it, she anointed Jesus' feet.

The disciple Judas Iscariot questioned the motive and accused her of wasting such an expensive item. The money spent on the perfume could have been given to the poor. But this was Mary's way of showing her undying love for her Lord, and so she used her hair to wipe Jesus' feet.

In Palestine, at the time, from the day a woman married her hair would be bound up and never seen flowing in public. However, Mary was not bothered about what people might think. She was happy to show her love for Jesus.

In verse 3, John includes the sentence "the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume", which also tells us something about love. Many of John's statements have two meanings: one which lies on the surface and one which might need a little more working out. Some have suggested that this verse also refers to the room being filled with the sweet memory of Mary's actions. A lovely action that adds to life is something which time can never take away.

To Ponder
When was the last time you showed love to someone in a act of unselfconsciousness like Mary? Look for an opportunity to do so again.

Are there things in your life which you feel need attention? Remember that failure to act, especially failure to express love, might bring regrets.

2 Corinthians 2:14-17

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.

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Jeremiah 20:10-13 ~ He rescues the life

Just as Jeremiah's friend and servant, Baruch's seal, has been discovered, so has this tablet that confirms the existance of Nebo-Sarsekim. The financial record of a donation made a Babylonian chief official, Nebo-Sarsekim. There are only a small number of scholars worldwide who can read cuneiform script. One of them is Dr Jursa, who told The Times yesterday that the British Museum tablet was so well preserved that it took him just a couple of minutes to decipher.

Jeremiah 20:10-13

10 I hear many whispering,
"Terror on every side!
Report him! Let's report him!"
All my friends
are waiting for me to slip, saying,
"Perhaps he will be deceived;
then we will prevail over him
and take our revenge on him."

11 But the LORD is with me like a mighty warrior;
so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail.
They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced;
their dishonor will never be forgotten.

12 O LORD Almighty, you who examine the righteous
and probe the heart and mind,
let me see your vengeance upon them,
for to you I have committed my cause.

13 Sing to the LORD!
Give praise to the LORD!
He rescues the life of the needy
from the hands of the wicked.

From Clarke’s commentary:

“Jeremiah, on account of his prophesying evil concerning Judah and Jerusalem, is beaten and imprisoned by Pashur, chief governor of the temple, 1, 2. On the following day the prophet is released, who denounces the awful judgments of God which should fall upon the governor and all his house, as well as upon the whole land of Judah, in the approaching Babylonish captivity, 3-6. Jeremiah then bitterly complains of the reproaches continually heaped upon him by his enemies; and, in his haste, resolves to speak no more in the name of Jehovah; but the word of the Lord is in his heart as a burning flame, so that he is not able to forbear, 7-10. The prophet professes his trust in God, whom he praises for his late deliverance, 11-13. The remaining verses, which appear to be out of their place, contain Jeremiah's regret that he was ever born to a life of so much sorrow and trouble, 14-18. This complaint resembles that of Job; only it is milder and more dolorous. This excites our pity, that our horror.”

My mother-in-law told me during the times in her life involving sadness, her relationships changed. People who were old friends didn’t have the words of wisdom, new friendships came to be. Just as Job found his hope in the Lord began to sustain him again, to have abundant life, Jeremiah did not end his life on this earth in misery. The Lord says:

Jeremiah 32:26,27
26 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 27 "I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?

The Babylonian king was part of God’s plan for Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 39:12
He ordered Nebo-Sarsekim to look after Jeremiah: "Take him, and look well to him, and do him no harm; but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee."

Even to Baruch, servant of Jeremiah, the Lord said:
Jeremiah 45:4,5
4 The LORD said, "Say this to him: 'This is what the LORD says: I will overthrow what I have built and uproot what I have planted, throughout the land. 5 Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not. For I will bring disaster on all people, declares the LORD, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life.'

Again and again, Jeremiah speaks of his sense of Gods abiding presence: ...for I am with you to save you and deliver you, says the Lord (15:20);

Jeremiah 15:20

20 I will make you a wall to this people,
a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you
but will not overcome you,
for I am with you
to rescue and save you,"
declares the LORD.


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John 1:14 ~ the Word became flesh and lived among us

Artwork by Rebecca Cooper

JESUS CHRIST:
OUR NEXT DOOR SAVIOR
By Max Lucado

"There’s something wrong with this picture."
Remember those handouts in elementary school? The teacher would pass out drawings with the question at the bottom, "What’s wrong with this picture?" We’d look closely for something that didn’t fit. A barnyard scene with a piano near the water trough. A classroom with a pirate seated on the back row. An astronaut on the moon with a pay phone in the back-ground. We’d ponder the picture and point to the piano or pirate or pay phone and say, "This doesn’t fit." Something is out of place. Something is absurd. Pianos don’t go in barnyards. Pirates don’t sit in classrooms. Pay phones aren’t found on the moon and God doesn’t nurse from Mary’s breast or sleep in Peter’s boat.

But according to the Bible he did both! He did God things and man things. He is all God and all man.

"For in Christ there is all of God in a human body." (Colossians 2:9 LB)

Jesus was not a God-like man, nor a man-like God. He was God-man. And because he was, we are left with these scratch-your-head, double-blink, what’s-wrong-with-this-picture moments: Mary changing God’s diaper. A 12-year-old Jesus stumping religious scholars. Ex-lepers hugging kids. The formerly blind taking art classes.

Wine where there was water. The crippled sponsoring the town dance. A sack lunch
satisfying five thousand tummies.

And, most of all, a grave: guarded by soldiers, sealed by a rock, yet vacated by a three-day dead man. John has a word for such moments: "Glory."

"The Word became flesh and lived for a while among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son...." ( John. 1:14)

My prayer is that we, over the next few months, might see the same. For the balance of the year we plan to use our Sunday morning lessons to journey through the life of Jesus.

Beginning with Jesus in pre-birth continuing on to Jesus at his promised return. We’ll pause along the way at the "glory moments." Those occasions where Jesus’ humanity and divinity converge, those conjunctions of diverse sources where the majestic intertwines with the mundane and we are left open-mouthed.

In fact, God being our helper, open mouths will be the first-fruit of such a quest. If his claims are true, he is the single most important person who has ever lived. No one comes close. He is not at the head of the parade; he is the parade. He’s not the main event; he’s the only event. He’s not the MVP; he is the entire league. And—this is important—he does not just answer prayers, he is reason for faith.

The reward of Christianity is Christ.

Philippians 3:8 (New International Version)
8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.

The reward of seeing the Grand Canyon is not the T-shirt or the glass bubble with the snowflakes that fall when you shake it. The reward of the Grand Canyon is the Grand Canyon. The wide-eyed realization that you are a part of something ancient, splendid, and powerful. Something greater than you.

The reward of Christianity is Christ. Not money in the bank or a car in the garage or a healthy body or a better self image. Those are likely, yet secondary and tertiary fruits. But the first fruit, the cache, the treasure of faith is Him. Fellowship with Him. Walking with Him. Pondering Him. Exploring Him. The heart-stopping realization that in Him you are a part of something that is ancient, endless, unstoppable, and unfathomable.

And that He, who can dig the Grand Canyon with his pinkie, knows you and thinks you’re worth dying for. Christ is the reward of Christianity. Why else would Paul make Him his supreme desire?

Philippians 3:10
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
We ponder Christ to stir our awe.

We also study the incarnation to balance our faith. The title of the series may trouble you. Jesus: Our Next Door Savior is, for some, unsettling. Some are bugged by the "next door" part. To think that Jesus could be as human as the fellow you see changing his oil on Saturday morning? Some don’t like that. Others don’t mind the humanity; it’s the divinity they resist. Call him prophet, a teacher, a revolutionary, but a Savior? Don’t go that far. But we must. We must let him be all God and all man. All God so he can save you. All man so he can understand you. Dismiss either expression and you have to take issue with many passages of Scripture.

Hebrews 1:3
The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

John 8:58
"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!"

Paul urged Timothy to:

2 Timothy 2:8
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel

See the confluence? "descendant of David" (next door) and "risen from the dead. (Savior).

Jesus: accessible enough to live next door. Mighty enough to be our Savior.
Such words can be said about no other person. He resists any effort to be lumped with
Buddha, Mohammed or Moses. He cannot claim what he claimed and be regarded as a good man or great prophet. He is either divine or deluded, God or godless. Any attempt to categorize him in between is inaccurate.

My prayer is that these lessons will lead all of us to state for the first or the thousandth
time, "I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God."

**** Extra note, Jesus isn’t just the guy next door, Jesus Christ promises to live in us and to dwell in us.

Deuteronomy 10:15
Yet the LORD set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today.

1 Corinthians 3:16

Do you not know that you are God's Sanctuary, and that the Spirit of God has His home within you?

Romans 8:9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

Corinthians 6:16 Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.

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Daniel 3:14-20,91-92,95 ~ There is no need for us to defend ourselves before you in this matter

This clay cylinder is 1 of 3 cylinders found in the ruins of ancient Babylon. The cylinder describes Nebuchadnezzar's royal palace in Babylon. He actually built 3 palaces and his summer palace was on the Euphrates River. The Nebuchadnezzar II Clay Cylinder is an important discovery in Biblical Archaeology, it mentions Nebuchadnezzar by name and confirms the Biblical account of Nebuchadnezzar's palace. Daniel 4.

Daniel 3: 14 - 20, 91 - 92, 95

14 King Nebuchadnezzar questioned them: "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you will not serve my god, or worship the golden statue that I set up?

15 Be ready now to fall down and worship the statue I had made, whenever you hear the sound of the trumpet, flute, lyre, harp, psaltery, bagpipe, and all the other musical instruments; otherwise, you shall be instantly cast into the white-hot furnace; and who is the God that can deliver you out of my hands?"

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered King Nebuchadnezzar, "There is no need for us to defend ourselves before you in this matter.
17 If our God, whom we serve, can save us from the white-hot furnace and from your hands, O king, may he save us!
18 But even if he will not, know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the golden statue which you set up."

19 Nebuchadnezzar's face became livid with utter rage against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace to be heated seven times more than usual 20 and had some of the strongest men in his army bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and cast them into the white-hot furnace.


91 King Nebuchadnezzar rose in haste and asked his nobles, "Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?" "Assuredly, O king," they answered.
92 "But," he replied, "I see four men unfettered and unhurt, walking in the fire, and the fourth looks like a son of God."


95 Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent his angel to deliver the servants that trusted in him; they disobeyed the royal command and yielded their bodies rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.


If I was about to be thrown into a white-hot furnace, I would start explaining. I just know I would. I have never been chosen to represent God’s chosen people. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego have their troubles, if they explain about Jehovah being a jealous God, the king isn’t going to be pleased with Daniel’s friends. But Nebuchadnezzar has large troubles of his own, he dismantled the temple, Jerusalem and God’s chosen people. And Nebuchadnezzar is basking in his own glory of being the conquering destroyer. Nebuchadnezzar is sitting on a land mine - Nebuchadnezzar isn’t a typical tyrant, he has misunderstood Daniel to proclaim Nebuchadnezzar’s reign as golden.

Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2:31
"You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. 32 The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay.

Daniel completes God’s message to Nebuchadnezzar by saying: Daniel 2:36
"This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. 37 You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; 38 in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.

Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem (circa 597 BC) and deposed King Jehoiakim, then (in c. 587 BC), destroyed both the city, the temple, and deported a sizable portion of the Jewish population of Judea to Babylon as slaves. Jeremiah repeatedly told God’s chosen people to turn back to Him. Nebuchadnezzar does not see himself as fitting into God’s plans, but setting forth a blazing path of glory for himself.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego see clearly Nebuchadnezzar has heard from the Lord, but the message has been bent to be self-love. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego leave it up to God to defend His word.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered King Nebuchadnezzar, "There is no need for us to defend ourselves before you in this matter.


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John 8:1-11 ~ Jesus went to the Mount of Olives

Olive Orchard, painted by Vincent Van Gogh.

One of Jesus’ favorite places was the Mount of Olives; Jesus went at least 11 times, the gospels record. It is named for the olive groves once covering its slopes. The Mount of Olives is a 2600 foot hill outside of Jerusalem, located just a few hundred yards east of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, 80 meters higher than the Temple Mount and offering a panoramic view of the Temple site. Zechariah 14 records the final Day of the Lord will begin on The Mount of Olives, were the dead will rise first to live with the Lord’s eternal Kingdom.

Luke 22:39
Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him.

Have you had a time in your life when trouble seemed to be the glue of the events of your life? Jesus certainly did, all the time during His ministry. Jesus constantly battled with the Pharisees to proclaim mercy over sacrifice. Jesus proclaimed mercy at His own expense, day after day. The day before Jesus defied the traditional stoning of the woman from adultery, Jesus spent time away from people, with his disciples, where Jesus was known to pray with His Father.

Almost all the verses of today’s scripture tell of Jesus’ redeeming the woman away from being the bloody, violent entertainment of the crowd for that particular day. Jesus worked to find real justice, not just worldly justice, and opposed the powerful Pharisees and teachers of the law. Jesus sought to teach every single person involved with the woman’s public trial that we are all sinners. This includes us today. Jesus wanted the woman to know her redemption was bought with a price and Jesus looked forward to the woman living her redemption with a new life and hope in Him.

Verse one tells us Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Jesus was the son of God, but He lived His ministry with preparation. When Jesus was being tempted by the devil, in Matthew 4, the devil repeatedly asked Jesus to act in supernatural ways. Jesus wants us to remember He had time set aside for contemplation and prayer with His Father. Jesus took his disciples with him to these times of prayer, we know, He invites us in prayer too.

John 8:1-11


1. But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

2-6 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

7,8 But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9,10 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

11 "No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

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John 11:1-45 ~ had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in Him

Today, we could look at 3 tombs for Lazarus. His soul will not be resting in any tomb.

The first tomb of Lazarus, in Bethany, is a place of pilgrimage to this day. The tomb, as it was described in 1896, was entered down a flight of twenty-four rock-cut steps from the then-modern level, to a square chamber serving as a place of prayer, leading by more steps to a lower chamber that was reverenced by Muslim and Christians as the tomb of Lazarus. This is where Lazarus rose from death.

Early Church tradition said Lazarus was the first bishop of Marseille, France. Pilgrims visited their family tombs, with Mary and Martha, at the abbey of Vézelay in Burgundy. This is what I heard of, in my Christian elementary school, from a monk. Early Church history documents clearly show Lazarus and his sisters lived on the French coast after leaving the Christian persecution in Israel. This monk had also visited the tomb of Mary Magdalene, where her body is known to be intact. There is also a cave Lazarus is said to have lived, after landing in a boat from Israel.

Lazurus’ relics were taken to Constantinople in 898. In 1972, human remains were discovered under the altar and were identified as the Lazurus’. His tomb said “Lazarus, the friend of Christ.”

Whether we believe these are Lazurus’ remains are not, it is easy to believe Lazarus would be remembered as a friend of Jesus. Lazarus put his faith in Jesus.

John 11:1-45

1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick."

4 When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea."

8 "But Rabbi," they said, "a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?"

9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world's light. 10 It is when people walk at night that they stumble, for they have no light."

11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up."

12 His disciples replied, "Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better." 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

14 So then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."

16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."

17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 "Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."

23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."

24 Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."

25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

27 "Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."

28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. "The Teacher is here," she said, "and is asking for you." 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 "Where have you laid him?" he asked.
"Come and see, Lord," they replied.

35 Jesus wept.

36 Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"

37 But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"

38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 "Take away the stone," he said.
"But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days."
40 Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?"

41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me."

43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."

45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him.

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Deuteronomy 10 ~ Yet the LORD set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and He chose you

Deuteronomy 10

1 At that time the LORD said to me, "Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain. Also make a wooden chest (a wooden ark). 2 I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Then you are to put them in the chest."

3 So I made the ark out of acacia wood and chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. 4 The LORD wrote on these tablets what he had written before, the Ten Commandments he had proclaimed to you on the mountain, out of the fire, on the day of the assembly. And the LORD gave them to me. 5 Then I came back down the mountain and put the tablets in the ark I had made, as the LORD commanded me, and they are there now.

6 (The Israelites traveled from the wells of the Jaakanites to Moserah. There Aaron died and was buried, and Eleazar his son succeeded him as priest. 7 From there they traveled to Gudgodah and on to Jotbathah, a land with streams of water. 8 At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister and to pronounce blessings in his name, as they still do today. 9 That is why the Levites have no share or inheritance among their brothers; the LORD is their inheritance, as the LORD your God told them.)

10 Now I had stayed on the mountain forty days and nights, as I did the first time, and the LORD listened to me at this time also. It was not his will to destroy you. 11 "Go," the LORD said to me, "and lead the people on their way, so that they may enter and possess the land that I swore to their fathers to give them."

12 And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to observe the LORD's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

14 To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. 15 Yet the LORD set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today. 16 Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. 17 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. 18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. 19 And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt. 20 Fear the LORD your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. 21 He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. 22 Your forefathers who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.

The children of Israel are being given another chance. Our Abba is explaining it again.
Today, Abba has chosen to love and bless you. Abba says not to stay on our stubborn paths, but to find regeneration, renewal, a new beginning and hope in His Love. Abba is the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome. Abba does not store up favors to be called in, but fully anticipates and delights in us to want to give to others. To give the love and care He has given to us in our neediest condition. We are to remember in the forefront of our words and actions, in different ways, we have been the alien, the fatherless, the widow & the one in need. He has lovingly given to us and we are to give to others in need

Luke 6:38
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

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Psalm 107:1-16 ~ hungry and thirsty their soul fainted within them

All communities have food banks, but Christian food banks are more difficult to find.

When Jesus began his ministry, he started by preaching good news to the poor. He wasn’t overwhelmed by the poor, He gave hope they weren’t forgotten and He fed them spiritually as well as physically.

In the book of James 1:22-24
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

Jesus agreed in the gospels with Deuteronomy, the poor will always be with us:
Deuteronomy 15:11 - "For there will never cease to be poor people in the land; that is why I am commanding you, 'You must willingly open your hand to your afflicted and poor brother in your land.”

Jesus also had advice for us in helping those in need:
Luke 3:11 - "He replied to them, 'The one who has two shirts must share with someone who has none, and the one who has food must do the same.”

When we are doers of the word:
James 1:25
But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

Psalm 107:1-16 - Listen

1 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
whom he has redeemed from trouble
3 and gathered in from the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.

4 Some wandered in desert wastes,
finding no way to a city to dwell in;
5 hungry and thirsty,
their soul fainted within them.
6 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
7 He led them by a straight way
till they reached a city to dwell in.
8 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
9 For he satisfies the longing soul,
and the hungry soul he fills with good things.

10 Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,
prisoners in affliction and in irons,
11 for they had rebelled against the words of God,
and spurned the counsel of the Most High.
12 So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor;
they fell down, with none to help.
13 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,
and burst their bonds apart.
15 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
16 For he shatters the doors of bronze
and cuts in two the bars of iron.

Hunger in the United States
35.5 million people—including 12.6 million children—live in households that experience hunger or the risk of hunger. This represents more than one in ten households in the United States (10.9 %)

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Exodus 7:8-24 ~ tell Aaron, "Take your staff and stretch out your hand

Exodus 7:8-24 (Today's New International Version)

8 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 9 "When Pharaoh says to you, 'Perform a miracle,' then say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,' and it will become a snake."

10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. 11 Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: 12 Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. 13 Yet Pharaoh's heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.

14 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river. Wait on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. 16 Then say to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened. 17 This is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. 18 The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.' "

19 The LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs—and they will turn to blood.' Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in the wooden buckets and stone jars."

20 Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. 21 The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.

22 But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh's heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said. 23 Instead, he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart. 24 And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water, because they could not drink the water of the river.

Have you ever been in an accident or tragedy, in a crowd, that happened quickly? Later when police or news reporters pull together the evidence, everyone saw a piece of the activity. Stories conflict & people saw things differently. We were once in a car accident and it became a hit and run. I wrote down the license plate and the color of the truck, witnesses wrote down another license plate and had the wrong color of the truck.

Or another example, someone tells you someone looks very similar to someone else. Usually, the person being told doesn’t even see the resemblance.

The Ipuwer Papyrus in Dutch National Museum of Antiquities, the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, Netherlands was written by someone very upset when the government couldn’t control or maintain Egypt during a set of tragedies. The writer of the papyrus (it is dated from 1850 BC to 1300 BC depending on the source of age determiner) doesn’t see God of the Universe, but unbelievable change, social upheaval, loss of the Pharaoh as never before, loss of livestock & food, then former slaves were given gold from their former masters. And another plague is also identified, convincing many of the validity of this document as an Egyptian eyewitness account of the Exodus. The water of the Nile became blood.

History of the Exodus isn’t readily acknowledged, leaving people of faith confused. But just as statistics can be quoted to prove any point, people of faith should understand what evidence is available the Exodus did occur.

EXODUS 7:21 ... there was blood thoughout all the land of Egypt

PAPYRUS 2:5-6 Plague is throughout the land. Blood is everywhere.

~
EXODUS 7:20 ... all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.

PAPYRUS 2:10 The river is blood.
~
EXODUS 7:24 And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.

PAPYRUS 2:10 Men shrink from tasting -- human beings, and thirst after water.
~
EXODUS 7:21 ... and the river stank.

PAPYRUS 3:10-13 That is our water! That is our happiness! What shall we do in respect thereof? All is ruin!

For more of the comparisons to the 10 plagues, here is the translation of the Ipuwer Papyrus:
http://xenohistorian.faithweb.com/africa/Ipuwer.html

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Proverbs 1 ~ a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck

Sistine Chapel, Vatican. Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni 1508–1512. According to his own accounts, Michelangelo was originally commissioned to paint the 12 Apostles against a starry sky, but lobbied for a different and more complex scheme, representing Creation, the Downfall of Man, the Prophets and the Promise of Salvation through Jesus Christ.

There are many people who don’t understand Father God as a Father. Life hasn’t shown them an example of a father reminding them of God. Other people, usually women, feel religion hasn’t given honor to women since the Genesis chapter of Eve eating fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Frankly, I am very comfortable seeing God as Father and mankind as something I am part of. But the nature of God is Shepherd, looking for the one lost lamb and rejoicing over it. Genesis repeats the creation of mankind in the first and the second chapters –

Genesis 1:27
So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

Genesis 2 gives Adam a longer time being alone and then woman is made from Adam’s rib. Both Genesis chapters let us know, the blueprint image of man – God’s image – has male and female aspects. Adam’s rib was removed to create woman, Adam was split (forgive the pun) to be the Adam we consider mankind today.

Proverbs 1 honors women as the female aspect of God being wisdom. The Lord honors women in Proverbs 1. He doesn't dwell on women, verses 8 and 9 honor both parents together. This is parental advice from God the parent. But Abba isn’t One to dwell on the differences. He encourages love, because He is love.

Ephesians 5:25-33
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.


Proverbs 1

1 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:
2 for gaining wisdom and instruction;
for understanding words of insight;

3 for receiving instruction in prudent behavior,
doing what is right and just and fair;

4 for giving prudence to those who are simple,
knowledge and discretion to the young—

5 let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance—

6 for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.

7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

8 Listen, my son, to your father's instruction
and do not forsake your mother's teaching.
9 They are a garland to grace your head
and a chain to adorn your neck.

10 My son, if sinful men entice you,
do not give in to them.

11 If they say, "Come along with us;
let's lie in wait for innocent blood,
let's ambush some harmless soul;

12 let's swallow them alive, like the grave,
and whole, like those who go down to the pit;

13 we will get all sorts of valuable things
and fill our houses with plunder;

14 cast lots with us;
we will all share the loot"—

15 my son, do not go along with them,
do not set foot on their paths;

16 for their feet rush into evil,
they are swift to shed blood.

17 How useless to spread a net
where every bird can see it!

18 These men lie in wait for their own blood;
they ambush only themselves!

19 Such are the paths of all who go after ill-gotten gain;
it takes away the life of those who get it.

20 Out in the open wisdom calls aloud,
she raises her voice in the public square;
21 on top of the wall she cries out,
at the city gate she makes her speech:

22 "How long will you who are simple love your simple ways?
How long will mockers delight in mockery
and fools hate knowledge?

23 Repent at my rebuke!
Then I will pour out my thoughts to you,
I will make known to you my teachings.

24 But since you refuse to listen when I call
and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand,

25 since you disregard all my advice
and do not accept my rebuke,

26 I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you;
I will mock when calamity overtakes you—

27 when calamity overtakes you like a storm,
when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind,
when distress and trouble overwhelm you.

28 "Then they will call to me but I will not answer;
they will look for me but will not find me,

29 since they hated knowledge
and did not choose to fear the LORD.

30 Since they would not accept my advice
and spurned my rebuke,

31 they will eat the fruit of their ways
and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.

32 For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,
and the complacency of fools will destroy them;

33 but whoever listens to me will live in safety
and be at ease, without fear of harm."

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Luke 10:25-42 ~ sat at the Lord's feet listening to what He said

Luke 10:25-42

25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
26 "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"

27 He answered, " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind' [c]; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' [d]"

28 "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

30 In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii [e] and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'

36 "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

37 The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"

41 "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. [f] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

Footnotes:

c. Luke 10:27 Deut. 6:5
d. Luke 10:27 Lev. 19:18
e. Luke 10:35 A denarius was the daily wage of a day laborer (see Matt. 20:2).
f. Luke 10:42 Some manuscripts but only one thing is needed

~ sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said.

If you received a letter from the Lord, wouldn't you read it? Every time you read the Scriptures, you have read a letter written by the Holy Spirit for you. By faith, we believe Jesus Christ died specifically for us. The Scriptures are written for you. As you read the Scripture above, what does it say to you, without glancing back, what did you read?

When you remember what you read, that is the message for you.

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Psalm 81 ~ no foreign god among you

Psalms Chapter 81 - New American Bible

1
Sing joyfully to God our strength; shout in triumph to the God of Jacob!
2
Take up a melody, sound the timbrel, the sweet-sounding harp and lyre.
3
Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our solemn feast.
4
For this is a law in Israel, an edict of the God of Jacob,
5
Who made it a decree for Joseph when he came out of the land of Egypt. I hear a new oracle:
6
"I relieved their shoulders of the burden; their hands put down the basket.
7
In distress you called and I rescued you; unseen, I spoke to you in thunder; At the waters of Meribah I tested you and said: Selah
8
'Listen, my people, I give you warning! If only you will obey me, Israel!
9
There must be no foreign god among you; you must not worship an alien god.
10
I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. Open wide your mouth that I may fill it.'
11
But my people did not listen to my words; Israel did not obey me.
12
So I gave them over to hardness of heart; they followed their own designs.
13
But even now if my people would listen, if Israel would walk in my paths,
14
In a moment I would subdue their foes, against their enemies unleash my hand.
15
Those who hate the LORD would tremble, their doom sealed forever.
16
But Israel I would feed with the finest wheat, satisfy them with honey from the rock."

~ 9 There must be no foreign god among you; you must not worship an alien god.

Most of us, when we think of idols, think about some of the idolatry listed in the bible. The gods and goddesses worshiped long ago, required sacrifice and worship very different than our worship today. And then we think of materialism, maybe, in the 2nd category. In my area of the world, being industrious and self-sufficient is very important. I’d say to the point of being busy becoming a god.

Our church, Hopepointe Anglican, has focused this Lent on being still to know the Lord.

Psalm 46:10
"Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."

In a conversation recently, I heard someone say to feel peaceful they must be away from all other people, in the country. This amount of separation is not needed, but to be still and be quiet in prayer.

When God began to tell the children of Israel how to become the people He chose to bless and to love, in Exodus, He told them to honor the Sabbath and keep it holy. He asked them to set a time each week to allow for rest, a time set aside to honor the Lord (as well as to honor Him in our words and actions). Not only are we to keep Sabbath, we are to give Sabbath. We are to give the land rest. We are to give all of our laborers rest. Give every living creature the opportunity to rest and refresh. Sabbath is to be for every level of society.

I remember receiving information from my children's schools reminding us not to over schedule children. Lessons, play dates and learning are important, but each person needs time to just be.

Jesus told us doing good on the Sabbath is in His Spirit. He told us He fulfills the Law, not to be legalistic. Jesus' Father, our Abba, rested.

Be Still and Know I am the Lord - Video

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Psalm 78:1-39 ~ forgot His works and the wonders that He had shown them

Ipuwer Papyrus

Psalm 78:1-39

1 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
2 I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
3 things that we have heard and known,
that our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done.

5 He established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
6 that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
7 so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;
8 and that they should not be like their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.

9 The Ephraimites, armed with [2] the bow,
turned back on the day of battle.
10 They did not keep God's covenant,
but refused to walk according to his law.
11 They forgot his works
and the wonders that he had shown them.
12 In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders
in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
13 He divided the sea and let them pass through it,
and made the waters stand like a heap.
14 In the daytime he led them with a cloud,
and all the night with a fiery light.
15 He split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
16 He made streams come out of the rock
and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

17 Yet they sinned still more against him,
rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18 They tested God in their heart
by demanding the food they craved.
19 They spoke against God, saying,
“Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
20 He struck the rock so that water gushed out
and streams overflowed.
Can he also give bread
or provide meat for his people?”

21 Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath;
a fire was kindled against Jacob;
his anger rose against Israel,
22 because they did not believe in God
and did not trust his saving power.
23 Yet he commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven,
24 and he rained down on them manna to eat
and gave them the grain of heaven.
25 Man ate of the bread of the angels;
he sent them food in abundance.
26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
and by his power he led out the south wind;
27 he rained meat on them like dust,
winged birds like the sand of the seas;
28 he let them fall in the midst of their camp,
all around their dwellings.
29 And they ate and were well filled,
for he gave them what they craved.
30 But before they had satisfied their craving,
while the food was still in their mouths,
31 the anger of God rose against them,
and he killed the strongest of them
and laid low the young men of Israel.

32 In spite of all this, they still sinned;
despite his wonders, they did not believe.
33 So he made their days vanish like [3] a breath, [4]
and their years in terror.
34 When he killed them, they sought him;
they repented and sought God earnestly.
35 They remembered that God was their rock,
the Most High God their redeemer.
36 But they flattered him with their mouths;
they lied to him with their tongues.
37 Their heart was not steadfast toward him;
they were not faithful to his covenant.
38 Yet he, being compassionate,
atoned for their iniquity
and did not destroy them;
he restrained his anger often
and did not stir up all his wrath.
39 He remembered that they were but flesh,
a wind that passes and comes not again.

Footnotes
[1] 78:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
[2] 78:9 Hebrew armed and shooting
[3] 78:33 Hebrew in
[4] 78:33 Or vapor

Jeremiah 33:3 (American Standard Version)
Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and will show thee great things, and difficult, which thou knowest not.

Genesis 15:6 (New International Version)
Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Galatians 3:6,7
Consider Abraham: "He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.

~ 11 They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them.

The children of Israel numbered 40,000 as they left Egypt. With the number, we know they were in all different stages of faith. According to the Exodus, the people of faith grumbled during the 10 plagues and doubted Moses, but believed much sooner than the Pharaoh. The Ipuwer Papyrus, the papyrus in the Leiden Museum in Holland, an eyewitness Egyptian angrily saw the 10 plagues as a human failure of government to control the environment.

The Egyptian writing Ipuwer was angry enough to catalog the disasters, perhaps to insure future disasters should be better regulated, and the response more sure. In typical dynastic empowerment, the Pharaoh’s name is obliterated in the Ipuwer, but the events were terrible enough to keep the reminder. Egyptians wanted to remember.

The children of Israel forgot Father God’s power every time trouble came to them. But God tells them He has not forgotten them, many future generations will hear of His help and His love.

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