I hope what I ramble about encourages you.
Mostly, I'm selfish- and each post I have written so far is as much (maybe even moreso) for my own heart and soul that it is for you. I hope I can encourage someone else while I attempt to teach/remind myself.
…
The gospel in my words:
We're screwed up people and can't help ourselves out of this mess that we have gotten ourselves into. Just look around, or inside your own heart, for the evidence of the brokenness of this world. We need outside help. It's time to look up because there is no where else to turn.
The cross, where Jesus died, was and is for you. -Romans 5:8 "Christ died for us WHILE WE WERE STILL SINNERS!!!"
It's by grace, through faith -not works- that you are saved… You can't save yourself. Plead with the Spirit for wide eyes, open ears, and an unveiled heart. -Ephesians 2:8-9 "It's God's gift to you"
Confess your need for Jesus, that He is Lord and believe in God's saving work through Christ's death. Call upon the Name of the Lord, you will be saved! Trust in that! Repent, turn from your sins, and worship Jesus as Lord. -Romans 10:9-10 "God raised Him from the dead, confess that Jesus is Lord"
You are now justified (just, right and valid before God) and are now being sanctified (set apart for a sacred purpose, freed from sin). You have Christ's righteousness, in exchange for your sin, because of His wrath absorbing death. -1 John 3:1 "And that is what we are! Children of God!"
Thanks be to God -through Jesus Christ our Lord! That He has mercy on sinners like us.
…
He has risen… Just as He said.
That's what the angel said to the women who came to look at the tomb roughly 2000 years ago. Recorded in Matthew.
"Yeah, Jesus isn't here. He rose… like He said He would. Go on now, tell the others."
I wonder how much joy the angels were containing as they told this to the Marys. I know that I'd go bananas. It makes sense that they "hurried away, afraid yet filled with joy, running to the disciples."
"What?!?!?! That same Jesus? The one that I saw hanging out on that tree yesterday isn't dead? C'mon, really… really? So he serious when he said he would be alive after being dead? Hold on, this is the guy that was flogged and mocked and crucified the other day right? That dude? ….Ridiculous. I believe you, angel. But that's just ridiculous."
I would simply be freaking out.
Like I freaked when I read "Congratulations!" on my acceptance letter to college {my ear is still ringing from your banshee yell grandma, thanks}
Like I freaked out at Kyle vs. Nebraska {2nd deck, 4th row, 50 yard line. 90,000 people. 30,000 white towels raining down from each deck, pre-War Hymn. Just got chills again}
Like I freaked when I saw Dirk a mile away, while celebrating the Mavericks Championship, at the parade in the Dub under a trillion degree Texas sun.
Like I freaked (by myself) after being retweeted by Shane & Shane and Tullian Tchividjian.
I can't fathom the amazement that would exude out of my heart, mixed with wonder and awe and questions and uncontainable joy and bewilderment of my mind, from hearing the words (from an Angel, no less), "He is not here; he is risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay."
Um, yeah. You go on ahead and look where he lay. I'm gunna sit down before I pass out. Because that guy just said that a dead man lives.
…
Do we really believe that 2000ish years ago a man was flogged to shreds with a whip (that word just sounds painful), spit on, mocked and then was nailed to a tree and left to hang until his lungs filled with blood?
And this was all after a lifetime filled with wonderful miracles and signs of His holiness.
He took our place, atoned for us, made amends on our behalf and died the excrutiating death we could not die after living the perfect life that we could not live. Then he rose.
I believe. Oh Lord, help me with my unbelief.
I cannot imagine the looks on the faces of the disciples after the women tell them that Jesus actually did what He said He was going to do.
Jesus is a man of His word. Taking a page from Paul- let's remember the gospel.
"Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you- unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep." -1 Corinthians 15:1-6
Paul is writing to those who already confess Christ as Lord and God, we need to do this much much more. The first 21ish years of my life were filled with sermons and instruction about how to better myself without much emphasis on that which is of first importance (aside from a call to the gospel at the last possible moment).
We were more concerned with what movies were good to watch, what music we should listen to, what Oprah and Bono believed, 3 steps to stopping bad habits, and how to live out loud in our communities… with not much emphasis on the gospel that has already completely transformed us!
I'm not bashing the churches I attended when I was younger, because the Spirit taught me a lot about discipline and I'm certain that many came to faith within those congregations. What I am saying is that Christ was not preached as of first importance.
A lot more time could have been spent on the truth of the gospel that transforms us right now. Paul David Tripp says, "Jesus didn't just die for my past or my future, He died for my present."
Let's look into what God did for us, let's be reminded who He says that we are, let's delve deeper into the holiness of God. Let's spend more time examining God's finished work, through Jesus Christ, on our behalf. Then, let's ask one another how to live in the light of the knowledge of what has been done for us.
How does that change us, because of what Jesus has done for us? Now that we believe, how can/do our lives change?
Either I should have been diagnosed with ADD as a kid, or there was a huge gap in plenty of sermons I sat through.
Our lives are completely different right now, since we believed. I can attest to that completely. And they should be different!
Isn't that what James writes about? There are now fruits that should be evident because of your belief in Christ. You're new!
Thank you Holy Spirit, because I definitely cannot produce patience, faith, or good works on my own. "I'm just a hot mess!" -props to my homegroup
…
Let's beseech the Spirit to show us how to practically live in the light of the knowledge of what has been done for us, in Christ. We are new creations, what does that even mean? We need God's help every moment.
"Even now," declares the Lord "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning." Rend your heart and not your garments. -Joel 2:12-13
This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'Return to me,' declares the Lord Almighty, 'and I will return to you,' says the Lord Almighty. -Zechariah 1:3
I finished Matt Chandler's Book "The Explicit Gospel" in 5 days. I highly recommend it, we all need to be reminded of the truths that are in the Book (Bible). And Chandler examines and explains them very well.
The blood of the cross has to be the central theme of the church. I want His shed blood to be the central theme of my life.
To quote my pastor, "Our hope should always be the gospel. Our hope should always be that people would hear, understand, and come to know God in a powerful way."
