Blessed Repentance
For the next thirty years, the man who didn’t think he’d live to see forty lived and served God as a changed believer in Jesus. His license plates changed too—from “BROKE” to “REPENT.”
“BROKE” was the street name Grady answered to and those five letters were proudly emblazoned on his license plates. Though not intended in a spiritual sense, the moniker fit the middle-aged gambler, adulterer, and deceiver. He was broken, bankrupt, and far from God. However, all that changed one evening when he was convicted by God’s Spirit in a hotel room. He told his wife, “I think I’m getting saved!” That evening he confessed sins he thought he’d take with him to the grave and came to Jesus for forgiveness. For the next thirty years, the man who didn’t think he’d live to see forty lived and served God as a changed believer in Jesus. His license plates changed too—from “BROKE” to “REPENT.”
Repent. That’s what Grady did and that’s what God called Israel to do in Hosea 14:1–2. “Return, Israel, to the Lord your God. . . . Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to him: ‘Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously.’ ” Big or small, few or many, our sins separate us from God. But the gap can be closed by turning from sin to God and receiving the forgiveness He’s graciously provided through the death of Jesus. Whether you’re a struggling believer in Christ or one whose life looks like Grady’s did, your forgiveness is only a prayer away.
Written By: Arthur Jackson
Source: Our Daily Bread
The Resurrection of Jesus and Watergate
“In Watergate 12 of the most powerful men in the world couldn’t keep a lie for three weeks! (but) 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible!”
Christians claim the resurrection actually happened. While other religions are based on untestable spiritual claims independent of history, the claim to a historical resurrection opens Christianity up to scrutiny. “If this did not happen,” says Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, “the whole thing is false and we are pathetic… “(that’s my paraphrase).
The most likely alternative to the resurrection story is the disciples invented it, but that doesn’t make sense. If you’re making up a story like that, you’d make it a spiritual resurrection not a bodily one! And, it would’ve been easy to produce a body and end the whole charade.
And finally, as Chuck Colson learned from his Watergate experience, “12 men testified they’d seen Jesus raised from the dead, proclaimed that for 40 years, never once denying it,” despite beatings and torture. “In Watergate 12 of the most powerful men in the world couldn’t keep a lie for three weeks! (but) 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible!”
That’s because they were telling the truth.
Written By: John Stonestreet
Really Alive
Is He really going to raise us from the dead? Is He really going to keep all His promises?
Since it was the week after Easter, our five-year-old son, Wyatt, had heard plenty of resurrection talk. He always had questions—usually real stumpers. I was driving, and he was buckled into his seat behind me. Wyatt peered out the window, deep in thought. “Daddy,” he said, pausing and preparing to ask me a tough one. “When Jesus brings us back to life, are we going to be really alive—or just alive in our heads?”
This is the question so many of us carry, whether or not we have the courage to speak it aloud. Is God really going to heal us? Is He really going to raise us from the dead? Is He really going to keep all His promises?
The apostle John describes our certain future as “a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1). In that holy city, “God himself will be with [us] and be [our] God” (v. 3). Because of Christ’s victory, we’re promised a future where there’s no more tears, no evil arrayed against God and His people. In this good future, “There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (v. 4).
In other words, in the future God promises, we’ll be really alive. We’ll be so alive that our life now will seem a mere shadow.
Source: Our Daily Bread
Written By: Winn Collier
The Tomb Was Empty
The women knew Jesus was dead. Some of them had seen Him die. And they were sure His body was in the tomb; it had been there since Friday. But when they went to anoint the body on that Sunday morning, the tomb was empty!
Today's Truth
He is not here; He has risen! (Luke 24:6, NIV).
Friend to Friend
The boys and girls in Mrs. Stephens’ fourth grade Sunday school class entered the room and quickly found their seats. The girls were dressed in frills and lace and chatting excitedly about the candy-filled baskets they had received that morning. The boys pulled at the unfamiliar ties around their necks and quickly discarded the sports coats they had obviously been forced to wear. The room was filled with excitement – for good reason. It was Easter Sunday.
Mrs. Stephens wanted to help her students understand that there is so much more to the Easter holiday than new clothes, chocolate bunnies, and egg hunts. Easter is more than family gatherings and tables filled with luscious food. Easter is about life. Easter celebrates the certainty of Jesus’ death on the cross, the fact that He was buried, and that He came out of a burial tomb to conquer death so that we can live now and eternally.
Mrs. Stephens came up with a plan. After sharing the Bible story of Jesus’ resurrection, she gave each one of her students an empty plastic egg and said, “We are going to take a walk outside, and I want each one of you to find one sign of life and put it in your plastic egg.”
As the children filed out of the room, Mrs. Stephens noticed Danny, a little boy with Down syndrome who had been coming to her class for some time. His bright smile and sunny disposition had immediately won her heart. In fact, when it came to Danny, she often thought he had taught her so much more about the unconditional love of God and the joy of simply being a child of God than she could ever teach him. When she heard the other children make fun of him, it broke her heart. She always corrected the children and tried to help them see just how special Danny was, but Danny seemed oblivious to their hurtful words, and thought of each child as his “buddy.”
The children soon returned from their walk, depositing their eggs on the teacher’s desk as they made their way to their seats. Inside one student's egg was a lady bug. In another was an ant. Others had collected flowers, twigs, blades of grass and leaves to fill their eggs. But one egg had nothing in it. Everyone knew whose egg it was. Mrs. Stephens silenced the giggles with a look of warning. When she asked Danny why he had not put anything inside his egg to show signs of life, his face broke into a huge grin as he responded, "Because the tomb was empty."
Danny got it. He truly understood the profound truth of Easter. The empty tomb is the ultimate sign of life and a miracle like none other.
Jesus Christ had risen from the dead. The women knew Jesus was dead. Some of them had seen Him die. And they were sure His body was in the tomb; it had been there since Friday. But when they went to anoint the body on that Sunday morning, the tomb was empty! The body could not have been stolen. Nobody was playing tricks on them. They were not merely fooling themselves. The miracle was real. They could see the empty tomb with their own eyes. Jesus Christ really had risen from the dead!
I would love to have been there that morning when the women went to the tomb – expecting to deal with death and instead found life, wouldn’t you? You may be dealing with death in your own life – the loss of a loved one – the death of a dream – the pain of a broken body. Just as Jesus Christ rose from the dead, He can breathe new life into your heart and mind. Right now, quietly turn to Jesus. He is waiting for you – healing and restoration and new life are in His hands.
Let’s Pray
Father, Thank You for the miracle of life – abundant life here, and eternal life with You in Heaven. Help me celebrate that life every day as I seek You and follow Your plan for my life. Today, I say with the Apostle Paul, “Where, O death is your victory? Where, O death is your sting?”
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
Now It’s Your Turn
Consider this truth: Satan has no answer for the empty tomb. What does the resurrection of Jesus Christ really mean to you?
Set aside time today to remember what Christ has done for you through His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. Read Luke 24 and celebrate the life only He can give.
Source: Crosswalk
Written By: Mary Southerland
The Gift of Easter
Easter is about what we can give, but even more, it is about what God has given.
Last March, at the beginning of the Lenten season, I wrote a blog suggesting that my readers find ways to speak the name of Jesus to as many as possible, as a Lenten commitment. Easter is about the great gift of Jesus that God gave the world. Acts 4:12 reads: “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” I hope that you have found opportunities to share the name of Jesus during these Lenten weeks.
I wrote another blog post about the young boy who found a twenty-dollar bill in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel. His dad was killed in Afghanistan shortly after he was born. The 8-year-old gave his “found money” to another soldier that walked into the restaurant. I suggested that each of us keep a twenty-dollar bill handy and allow the Lord to show us the person who needed it.
I want you to know that I don’t challenge my readers with things that I don’t also challenge myself with. I have shared the name of Jesus with several interesting people over these weeks. Just recently the Lord showed me who needed my twenty-dollar bill. I was late for an appointment with no time to spare. Isn’t that ALWAYS the way ministry works? God usually doesn’t give us time, he asks us to take the time to serve him.
I was in my car, getting ready to leave a store parking lot when a man approached me. He kept a safe distance so as not to scare me and there were many other people around. He said his niece and her baby were in the car and he was out of gas and money. He was trying to get back home. He asked if I could please help out, saying that he would appreciate anything I could give.
I’m always cautious at times like this. We all read the news reports of bad things that can happen. I usually hesitate to give cash, not knowing if I am enabling an addiction or weakness. If I had not needed to get to my appointment, I would typically have asked him to follow me to a gas station so I could fill the car with gas.
But I felt a peaceful sense that God wanted me to help. I made sure I was safe and looked for my wallet. I had several ones and thought I would give him those. But then, I saw the folded twenty and knew I was to give him that instead. I told him that the Lord wanted him to have it and that I hoped it would be a blessing in his life.
When he saw the bill, his eyes filled with tears and he ran over to his car. He pressed the bill against the car window and told his niece, “We are home!” He then waved and thanked me over and over, looking up to the sky in gratitude. For me, the gift was not a big thing…but for him – it meant he could go home.
I prayed for the man and his niece as I drove away, praying that they would submit their lives and circumstances to God.
It is Maundy Thursday, the day Jesus sat with his apostles and shared the Passover meal with them. The New Covenant with mankind was presented when Jesus taught his disciples what he wanted them to “remember” from then on. The bread and the wine were to be our reminder that Jesus gave his body and his blood for all of us, so that we could receive complete forgiveness for our sins.
Easter is about what we can give, but even more, it is about what God has given. Who will you share the good news of Easter with before Sunday? Who will you invite to share your Easter Sunday celebration? People need to know Jesus, but they need someone to help them know how that is possible.
The commitment to “give” isn’t just about the Lenten season. Easter Sunday God’s children will celebrate the fact that Jesus is our Savior. Monday, let’s “remember” that Jesus is also our Lord.
All of us at the Denison Forum wish you a blessed and holy Easter!
Source: Foundations with Janet
Written By: Janet Denison