"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live...." (John 11:25, KJV--from today's Gospel reading)
This is one of the first passages of Scriptures I memorized. Little did I know that years later it would save my life. There, as I stood beside and slightly behind Sarah as she sat at the grave-side service, somewhat stunned and disbelieving this could happened, I looked at that little casket. I have been surviving to this day because Jesus was also "there" also, speaking our text once again to me.
Do you remember the context? News had come that, "Lazarus was sick...." Jesus basically then told the disciples not to worry about it. In effect He told them, "You are about to see resurrection power." It is notable that Jesus had only been told that Lazarus was sick. We have no record that news then came of Lazarus' death. Jesus knew that, however, and we don't get any attempt from Jesus to soften reality here. "Jesus...told them plainly, 'Lazarus is dead.'" No one is better equipped to face death head on than the Follower of Jesus. His life principle is, "Looking unto Jesus." He "looks" and sees, "The Word of God"; He "looks" and hears "Wonderful Words of Life," the glorious, "God-Breathed" Words of Jesus. He reads and receives promises unimaginable. In face of his sin, mistakes in life, failures, he presses in and on and upward, "Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." Jesus' Blood, Death and Resurrection is the guarantee of our resurrection.
It's Christmas Time; we even have had some snow flurries this morning. Snow and Christmas, nothing better. Yet as I write this, I have tears in my eyes, tears because I still miss Stephen Paul very much, but tears also because of Holy Ghost joy and victory; as the grave marker says, "Until the Trumpet Sounds." And what about you today, my friend? Yesterday we received word that Jonas, the young German boy for whom many were praying, died after many months of battle with the same force which took Stephen. Maybe you have lost someone recently or decades ago. It really doesn't matter, does it? The empty chair still somehow makes the room empty. But rejoice today and, "Be strong in the Lord [Jesus Christ] and the power of His might," because only in the, "power of His might," do you and I have any power at all to live here and now. "The body they may kill: God's truth abideth still, His Kingdom is forever"------------- and so are you and I in Jesus Christ. Enjoy Him and the Season.
Father, in Jesus' Name, some do not believe You because they choose not to. I believe because I have to, and I rejoice that my have-to is based upon Your proven Words. Amen.
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Please say a prayer for our 2016 Berlin Mission
This is one of the first passages of Scriptures I memorized. Little did I know that years later it would save my life. There, as I stood beside and slightly behind Sarah as she sat at the grave-side service, somewhat stunned and disbelieving this could happened, I looked at that little casket. I have been surviving to this day because Jesus was also "there" also, speaking our text once again to me.
Do you remember the context? News had come that, "Lazarus was sick...." Jesus basically then told the disciples not to worry about it. In effect He told them, "You are about to see resurrection power." It is notable that Jesus had only been told that Lazarus was sick. We have no record that news then came of Lazarus' death. Jesus knew that, however, and we don't get any attempt from Jesus to soften reality here. "Jesus...told them plainly, 'Lazarus is dead.'" No one is better equipped to face death head on than the Follower of Jesus. His life principle is, "Looking unto Jesus." He "looks" and sees, "The Word of God"; He "looks" and hears "Wonderful Words of Life," the glorious, "God-Breathed" Words of Jesus. He reads and receives promises unimaginable. In face of his sin, mistakes in life, failures, he presses in and on and upward, "Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." Jesus' Blood, Death and Resurrection is the guarantee of our resurrection.
It's Christmas Time; we even have had some snow flurries this morning. Snow and Christmas, nothing better. Yet as I write this, I have tears in my eyes, tears because I still miss Stephen Paul very much, but tears also because of Holy Ghost joy and victory; as the grave marker says, "Until the Trumpet Sounds." And what about you today, my friend? Yesterday we received word that Jonas, the young German boy for whom many were praying, died after many months of battle with the same force which took Stephen. Maybe you have lost someone recently or decades ago. It really doesn't matter, does it? The empty chair still somehow makes the room empty. But rejoice today and, "Be strong in the Lord [Jesus Christ] and the power of His might," because only in the, "power of His might," do you and I have any power at all to live here and now. "The body they may kill: God's truth abideth still, His Kingdom is forever"------------- and so are you and I in Jesus Christ. Enjoy Him and the Season.
Father, in Jesus' Name, some do not believe You because they choose not to. I believe because I have to, and I rejoice that my have-to is based upon Your proven Words. Amen.
*******************
Please say a prayer for our 2016 Berlin Mission
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
