Jesus is Alive!

                                                                        He is risen!!!!!

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Resurrection Son-day

Easter Sunday, 1960

“Now I make known to you, brethren, the Gospel…that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time!”  (1 Cor. 15:1,3-6)

            It was the third hour when they crucified Him. When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land…At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice…”My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”…Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink (Mark 15:25,33-36)

            Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid….they laid Jesus there. (John 19:30,41-42)

            Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked in the tomb; and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.”

            When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there…Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher). (John 20:1,11-14a,16)

Jesus said to her, “I am the Resurrection and the Life, he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me, will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)

On this Good Friday before Easter Sunday 2013, I ask you, “Do you believe in Jesus?”

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Faithful Friend

My children and friends, Bogalusa, Louisiana 1980s

“A (faithful) friend loves at all times…” (Prov. 17:17)

            Jesus hand picked twelve friends to walk with Him for three years along the dusty roads of Israel as He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and set the captives free.

           The night before His crucifixion, Judas, one of the twelve, came up accompanied by a crowd with swords and clubs, who were from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. (Judas) had given them a signal, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him and lead Him away under guard.”

            After coming, Judas immediately went to Him, saying, “Rabbi!” and kissed Him.

            They laid hands on Him and seized Him. (Mark 14:43-46)

            When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing!” (Luke 23:33-34)

            A faithful friend “is patient and kind, not jealous or boastful or proud or rude, keeps no record of being wronged, never gives up, never loses faith, and endures through every circumstance.” (1 Cor. 13:4-7).

            There is a (faithful) friend who sticks closer than a brother (Prov. 18:24), and His name is

JESUS!!!!

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In the Garden

My dear mother-in-law in her garden, late 1980s

Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. (Gen. 2:7-8)

           

Many of the fond memories I have of my father and mother-in-law took place in their lush vegetable and flower gardens. God undoubtedly crafted their hands with “green thumbs”.

            It’s intriguing to me that man’s journey with God began in a garden; and, in Jesus’ final hours before His crucifixion, He met with Father God in... the garden.

            They came to a place named (the Garden of) Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here until I have prayed.”

 And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled. And He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.”

            And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by.

            And He was saying, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.” (Mark 14:32-36)

            Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, Jesus gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave…He humbled Himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross(Phil. 2:6-8). So that those who accept, by faith, His substitutionary death for their sins, will have forgiveness of sin and eternal life. 

           

Come to the Garden of Salvation today through faith in Jesus Christ and fellowship with your Savior!

I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses;

And the voice I hear, falling on my ear,

The Son of God discloses.

And He walks with me and He talks with me

And He tells me I am His own,

And the joy we share, as we tarry there,

None other has ever known!¹

¹ IN THE GARDEN, Words and tune, C. Austin Miles, 1912.

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His Last Meal

Family meal at my grandmama's house, 1972

“And (Jesus) said to them, ‘I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’” (Luke 22:15-16)

            Jesus, knowing that…He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself. Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet…

            So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “ Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did for you (John 13:3-15).

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

…through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  (Gal. 5:13-14)

           Have you received God's love through Jesus? Do you show God's love to others?

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