Reaching the Lost. Discipling the Saved. Sharing the Love of Jesus with Everyone.
EASTER SUNDAY!!
The men said to them, “Why do you seek the Living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.”
Luke 24:5b-6a
This Sunday marks the highest, most Holy day of the year; because the Resurrection of Jesus changed our eternity!
It is the quintessential pivot point from despair to joy; from no future to an everlasting one; from death to life!
It is also the culmination of our journey this Lenten season “from GENESIS to JESUS“.
Join us as we celebrate!
On Friday, March 18, 2025, at 7:00 PM, we will worship and “celebrate” Good Friday with a form of a “Service of Darkness.”
It will be a meaningful, but difficult service. We pray you will attend.
The term “reparations” has become extremely loaded and controversial in our time in society right now. What it means is simply trying to make amends for a wrong. How those amends are done, for whom, why, etc.; those have become very politicized. But the fact is there are circumstances where reparations are proper, appropriate, and even necessary.
Our sins and those of the world are a wrong that exceeds comprehension; are too immense to fathom; that reach beyond our understanding. Our sins are a wrong that needs to be corrected. They have created the need for amends – payment – to be made.
And we couldn’t do it. We wouldn’t do it.
The enormity of the gap between what we owed and the perfection God demands can never be accomplished by anything that we do.
God demands perfection. We aren’t perfect. Jesus is.
Jesus is the only acceptable payment for our sins. He is the amends for our wrongs. He is the solution to our problem. He is the Savior for our sins. He is the victor our defeat. He is the life for our deserved death. He is the ultimate reparation – the only preparation – that could happen.
That matters. He is everything.
His painful, brutal, willing sacrifice on that cross means forgiveness, life, and salvation for us that we couldn’t achieve, didn’t deserve, or could even imagine.
The darkness and depth of Good Friday is a part of the reality of the need for reparations for the fall and sin. And because Jesus – the only satisfactory sacrifice – willingly and painfully died for us, it is the only reason that today can be considered “good.”
“Thank You, Lord Jesus, for enduring the cross, scorning its shame, for us and our salvation. Thank You, Lord God, heavenly Father, for accepting Jesus’ sacrifice as a reparation for our wrongs. Forgive us when we continue in our sin and move us by Your Holy Spirit to seek Your ways in everything that we think, say, and do, from here on, to the best of our abilities. In Jesus name in sacrifice; Amen.”
More information on “Good Friday” and a “Service of Darkness” from
lifebridgesealy.com/ministries/worship/good-friday/.
“Good Friday.” Such a strange name for the day when the innocent Savior of humanity and God’s Son died horribly. Yet, for us, the day marks a pivotal event in history. A holy and unbelievable imbalanced exchange: His perfection and innocence for our sins and guilt.
And twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head and put a reed in His right hand. And kneeling before Him, they mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they spit on Him and took the reed and struck Him on the head. And when they had mocked Him, they stripped Him of the robe and put His own clothes on Him and led Him away to crucify Him.
Matthew 27:29-31
Lord, have mercy!
And He did. Have mercy. For us. When we were still in sin and rebellion.
We worship and “celebrate” this event and exchange with a form of a “Tenebrae” service. Tenebrae means “darkness” and the service takes its name from the ceremony of extinguishing the worship candles in such a way that the Church is gradually cast into darkness, except for the light of a single candle. The focus of the Tenebrae is the consequence of sin and the magnitude of Jesus’ sacrifice. The worship ends in darkness and silence, symbolizing our Savior’s death upon the cross. The single candle symbolizes the hope of our Savior’s resurrection. At the completion of the Tenebrae service, the worshipers are asked to leave in silence, in order to maintain the spirit of the Good Friday commemoration of our Savior’s crucifixion.
Experience the depth of God’s love for you on Good Friday so that you can sour with the news of His resurrection on Easter Sunday!
You will be blessed.
Being a “rebel” today is a badge of honor for some. Star Wars had the Rebellion. Billy Idol had his “Rebel Yell.” (Ok, I know both of those references are dated!) When we call someone “a rebel” it’s usually a term of endearment or respect rather than of scorn or derision.
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Genesis 3:6
That may very well work for culture and today’s world – especially if you’re talking about rebelling against an unjust, unrighteous, or immoral system. But it doesn’t work when we’re talking about rebelling against God and what He has given. What He has commanded. What He calls us to do or be. We are called to be obedient, not rebellious. Follow, not lead. Submit not subvert.
The third stop on our journey “from Genesis to Jesus” and reason for the need of a savior comes to “rebellion.” The rebellion of Adam and Eve by taking the forbidden fruit. The numerous rebellions that we commit against God every day. Rebellion directed toward God. Directed toward His plan, His will, His way, His Word. A rebellion that wasn’t content with paradise and thought we could do better.
Nonsense!
The choice is simple. The choice is binary. Right or wrong. Good or bad. God or us. When put in these terms the answer is clear: it’s God’s way or there is no way.
How blessed are we that when we chose the wrong answer, when we chose our way, when we rebel against God and His perfect way, He forgave us. Jesus came, suffered, and died so that our rebellion would be no more. Not only defeated, but invalidated. Reversed. Through faith in Jesus our way – our sin – is forgiven and forgotten. Only His way remains. Only His perfect way remains. The rebellion is done. The rebellion is conquered. The rebellion has failed. Christ is victorious over it – over all of it.
Thanks be to God!
“Thank You, Lord Jesus, for being victorious and putting our rebellion to rest forever. Thank You for overcoming our reckless rebellion and oversight. Grant us Your Holy Spirit to live, breathe, desire, and share Your perfect way from here on out. In Jesus name, Amen!”
We are continuing our journey through Deuteronomy! Today we are at Deuteronomy 23:9ff.
Let’s go!
So many requirements can be made for joining organizations or applying for grants or completing forms for the government – even for some churches for their membership. There can be long lists of requirements that have to be done or fulfilled in order for something to happen.
In creation, when God put Adam and Eve in the garden to care for it, He didn’t have a huge list of requirements. He didn’t have a ton of laws that needed to be fulfilled. He had one requirement: “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.” (Genesis 2:17)
The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Genesis 2:16-17
That was it! Nothing else. No other rules, laws, ordinances, statutes, or anything else. One simple requirement: not to eat from one singular tree when countless others were available to them.
How did things go so wrong? How is it that they couldn’t keep that one solitary requirement?
It seems a bit preposterous to us. Such a simple requirement. Such a simple thing to do – or in this case not do – to continue living in a garden of paradise while being able to walk with and commune with the Lord daily. It’s hard to conceive of what that temptation must have been like to put all of that into jeopardy. Almost inconceivable to fathom what could possibly be better that would jeopardize that situation and relationship by breaking that one requirement.
Yet if we try to get too high on our horse and judge Adam and Eve too harshly we should remember: not only do we break the requirement to have Him as our one and only God, our pinnacle of focus, our ultimate desire, but we break so many more of His requirements, too. And we also have a fellowship with God, an indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and a friendship with our Lord Jesus that is paradise itself through faith in Jesus. That is to be envied, sought, and desired beyond everything else in our lives. And we, like Adam and Eve, put aside God’s requirement and seek our own satisfaction.
How utterly foolish. How arrogantly small. How ridiculously myopic.
We are so blessed that God wasn’t satisfied with Adam and Eve breaking His one requirement. We are so blessed that He wasn’t satisfied with our breaking of His requirements. We are so blessed that He is satisfied with Jesus fulfilling all requirements on our behalf. Because we didn’t. Because we wouldn’t. Because we don’t. Because we won’t.
“Thank You, Lord Jesus, for fulfilling all the requirements for us so that we would be forgiven, saved, and have eternal life. Grant us the Holy Spirit so that we are strengthened, not just to do what You require, but desire it as well. In Jesus’ name; Amen.”
We are continuing our journey through Deuteronomy! Today we are at Deuteronomy 21:22ff.
Let’s go!
Today is Transfiguration Sunday when we hear of a literal “mountain-top experience” that had to be far beyond the descriptions we get in today’s and the parallel accounts.
A voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to Him!”
Luke 9:35
In all of the accounts we hear of Peter’s (misguided) suggestion to build three tents; one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.
Also in all three the disciples do not tell anyone of the event for the time being. (Jesus commands this in Matthew and Mark.)
So, Peter seems to want to stay on the mountain and, when he does have to come down, can’t talk about it right away. Hmmm.
Perhaps we have more in common with Peter than we care to admit!
We like to have the “mountain-top experiences” and don’t want to come down from them and we don’t seem to want to share the majesty, glory, beautiful, reality of our life because of Jesus with others.
Ugh!
We have been to the mountain-top through faith in Jesus, God’s Son, and are to “listen to Him,” share Him, and live in that reality.
We are to live the transfigured lives we have been given – a life where we have been forgiven of all our sins, share in the Sacraments of the Lord, have joy, comfort, and power through the Holy Spirit, and the reality of eternal life in God’s presence!
God wants us to realize that reality daily; share it constantly; live it confidently!
Our decent from the ‘mountain’ isn’t so that we are relegated to the valleys as a kind of torture after having been to the Top; it’s to live in the joy we have knowing what is ours in Jesus forever, sharing for others to ascend, and knowing our eternal reality will climb even higher than we can imagine!
We are to live transfigured because we are transfigured! We are share Jesus who transfigures so others can be transfigured!
Let’s “shout it from the mountain-top!”
“Thank You, Jesus, for dying and rising for our forgiveness and everlasting life! Thank You, Holy Spirit, for filling us with peace, joy, power, and love! Thank You, Father, for sending Your Son; help us ‘listen to Him,’ share Him, live in Him! In Jesus’ name; Amen!”
We are continuing our journey through Deuteronomy! Today we are at Deuteronomy 19ff.
Let’s go!
APOLOGIES that the video starts at chapter 20! User error for the loss of chapter 19 there.
“Bad company corrupts good morals.”
That’s in our text for today, and anyone who has lived for awhile knows it to be true.
Of course that doesn’t mean that those with good morals can’t or don’t have a positive influence on those where morals are lacking. Fair enough. But many a godly people who have seen themselves as being the self-appointed ‘savior’ of folks who will ‘win then over’ have seen their heart, mind, and actions be perverted instead.
Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning.
1 Corinthians 15:34a
Of course we need to be the Light of Jesus to the dark world around us. But we should not deceive ourselves into thinking the dark world has little or no influence on us.
Our Scripture today tells us to “wake from [our] drunken stupor…and [not to] go on sinning.”
We need to be ever watching; ever cautious; ever vigilant. We need to remember that the enemies of the Devil, the world, and our own sinful nature seeks the downfall of our morals and, ultimately, our faith. We need to continually be fortified in the Word of God, the gathering of believers, the in the living of the Holy Spirit, in the good deeds of our lives, and in the saving Gospel of Jesus. We need to stand firm in our Scriptural beliefs and in our sanctified living around all.
We will never be the savior for those who are “bad company,” but we by our careful, consistent, living and sharing of the Savior Jesus, we can and will shine His light to those who need it.
It is through Christ all shall “be made alive.” When we focus of being and remaining in Him, knowing He is the one who saves, the Holy Spirit uses us to affect His will and change for others.
Watch yourselves, brothers and sisters! Focus yourselves on the Word; on the Holy Spirit; on the Gospel of Jesus! Stop sinning and placing yourselves in “bad company.” Be in HIS company and He will use you for His will and ways!
The Lord has saved you. Remain in Him and trust Him to be the savior of others.
“Thank You, Lord, for saving us. Forgive us when we try to save and instead fall into sin. Strengthen and uphold us in Jesus and let us share Your Light in Your way according to Your plan. In Jesus’ name; Amen.”
We are continuing our journey through Deuteronomy! Today we are at Deuteronomy 18ff.
Let’s go!
APOLOGIES that the video starts at chapter 20! User error for the loss of chapter 19 there.
If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
1 Corinthians 15:19
Jesus affirms again and again the truth of the resurrection of the dead. And in His rising from the dead He places this doctrine as central and to who He is and what it will look like in the hereafter.
Many Christians act as if the resurrection and the hereafter isn’t really a thing. Or they just play lip-service and don’t take it to heart.
Our text clearly tells us that “if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain.” It says we are “false witnesses of God” if there’s no resurrection. It says if Christ has not been raised our “faith is empty” and we “are still in [our] sins.” That if Christ has not been raised then we are to be pitied as ones having no hope.
Those words are quite an endorsement of both the resurrection and its importance both in this life and in that to come.
Yet so many times Christians live as if this isn’t either true, important, or applicable to life. They live like there is no hope. They cling onto this life because they are unsure of what is to come. They fear the hereafter because they don’t really take to heart that there is one. But “Christ has been raised from the dead” and that is what gives us hope. Not just hope here, hope for what is to come. All that is to come. That there is a time to come. That what happens here is not the end of us. It is not the end of life. It is the beginning of new life. New creation. Full hope. All this because Christ has been raised from the dead is at the right hand of the father and goes and prepares a place for us that He might bring us to be where He is. Forever. With new life. With resurrected life. With full hope. With glorified bodies. Jesus came to suffer, to die, and to rise so that we would rise. He came to conquer death so that death wouldn’t be the end for us. We don’t know what our new, glorified, resurrected bodies will be like, but we know that it will be beautiful, incorruptible, perfect. We know that it will be in Him and be forever. And that’s a hope that we can take to the grave – and beyond. That’s something worth living for and not fearing dying for. Because that’s not permanent. Our time with God forever in resurrection is.
“Thank you, Lord, for conquering death and giving us resurrected hope forever. Help us to live in this life in that resurrected hope now because we have that to come. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
We are continuing our journey through Deuteronomy! Today we are at Deuteronomy 16:18ff.
Let’s go!
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