It's Monday! Jesus is Still ALIVE!!!

BULLETIN: It's Monday after Resurrection Sunday and JESUS is still very much ALIVE!!!

Our Resurrection Weekend at Harrisonburg First Church of the Nazarene was a tender and triumphant experience for all. 

On Good Friday, The Red Cross set-up all day so our people could donate blood. Then, at 5:30 p.m. our bilingual remembrance stations of the life and death of Jesus opened, concluding with a bilingual gathering for sacred worship and communion. 

Saturday, an overflowing group of families came to hear the story of Jesus and to share hot dogs and Easter eggs. 

Finally, our theme for our four Resurrection Day services was "Amazing Grace". A massive 30-foot Cross was suspended in our center aisle as an impossible-to-miss reminder of God's Amazing Grace and Love. The response time was undeniably fruitful. We are humbled, grateful and speechless.

Grateful, indeed.

    

  

Through Suffering We Gain A Friendship.

Suffering is grand when the heart is right with God. Through suffering we gain a friendship with God. Oh, unspeakably blessed is the suffering of the sanctified.
-- Oswald Chambers

I want to know Christ and the power of His Resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings...
-- The Apostle Paul, Philippians 3:10 (NIV)

Count it all joy! (James 1:2-4)
Grateful

Were You There?

Probably, you are familiar with the old spiritual song titled Were You There When They Crucified My Lord? I try to imagine often what the life of my Lord might have been like as He walked the dusty roads of The Holy Land. How must it have felt to live with the weight of His crucifixion looming on His horizon?

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?

Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?

Were you there when God raised him from the tomb?
Were you there when God raised him from the tomb?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when God raised him from the tomb?

Indeed, these sobering lyrics help out my imagination:

Click here: YouTube - Were you there? by CRYSTAL LEWIS

When He was on the Cross, I was there. So were you.
We were on His mind. Yes, and we were in His heart.
Grateful

The Most Obvious Confession of a Witness

In my mind over the past week or so, Philippians 3, verse 10, has been coming and going and coming again. To me it is the most obvious confession of one who longs to be a true witness of Christ. Dare I say, it is perhaps the most honest desire and proof of one who is and/or longs to be a true disciple of Christ as well?

(10) I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, (11) and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. (12) Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. (13) Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, (14) I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
-- Philippians 3:10-14 (NIV)

Click here: YouTube - Steve Fry - Oh I Want to Know You More

Click here: YouTube - Steve Green - Oh, I Want To Know You More
Click here: YouTube - Cadet Sisters - Oh I Want To Know You More

Count it all joy. (James 1:2-4)
Grateful

I Belong Between The Bread & The Blood

We have now entered that season between Christmas and Easter.

During the Holy Days of the Christmas season, it slowly but surely struck me that Bethlehem is called The House of Bread and Calvary is all about The Blood.

As we live between The Bread and The Blood, let us be in constant Communion with The One Who was born as our Baby King. Yes, and let us be intentional about an ever-increasing intimate relationship with Immanuel, The Lamb Who was once (and for all-time) slain for our sins (but is now Alive forevermore!)

Soon enough we will find ourselves in that celebration season between His glorious Resurrection and His powerful Ascension with the remarkable reality of Pentecost on the horizon.

Lord Jesus, during every season leading up to my faith finally becoming sight -- on that Day when You return for me -- I want to belong to You, and never betray You! I belong between The Bread and The Blood. Amen!

Click link below for Kathryn Scott's song "I Belong":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dg9TchaiOck&feature=related

(23b) The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, (24) and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me." (25)In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me." (26) For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. (27) Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. (28) A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. (29) For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. -- 1 Corinthians 18:23b-29 (NIV)

Lord, from Your first cry in Bethlehem's Manger to Your final cry on Calvary's Cross, You have given to me everything necessary to succeed spiritually in every season of life and death! You are so Faithful. Find me ever so...

...Grateful (for Bethlehem's Bread and Calvary's Blood!)

Resurrection Illustrated

Rarely do I post a link, but I believe this "Resurrection Illustrated" link describing a Ron Dicianni painting will bless your heart:

http://downloads.cbn.com/cbnplayer/cbnPlayer.swf?s=/vod/MW131v2_WS

"I was dead!" These three powerful words of testimony were spoken from the lips of our Resurrected and Glorified Christ and recorded by John in Revelation, Chapter 1 and verse 18 (NIV).

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Holy Wounds, Wholly Healed

HALLELUJAH!!! Jesus Is Risen! He is Risen, indeed!! And, surely in His Resurrection, our Resurrection is guaranteed. What a Great and Wonderful Joy! All Joy! Pure Joy! By His Holy Wounds we are Wholly Healed!!!

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Want to Breathe Again? Rest Area Open!

Due to financial cutbacks in The Commonwealth of Virginia, in 2009 our elected government officials in Richmond decided to close multiple rest areas designed for motorists along the interstate highways across the state. Because I am a reasonable citizen, I can surely understand financial shortfalls, but I must also say that when I heard many of Virginia’s roadside rest areas were closing down, it produced some measure of unrest in my peace of mind as a driver of vehicles. Especially as I grow older, I appreciate like never before the simple blessing of roadside rest in long-distance travel.

During the Christmas season in 2008, even with all of Virginia’s rest areas still open, our family came up on an awful automobile accident just north of Roanoke in the southbound lane. We were probably the third vehicle to approach the scene – a dear couple, in their late sixties, were traveling to southern Virginia to celebrate the holidays with their son and his family. The mother, who had been driving, had fallen asleep at the wheel. It was so sad. A failure to stop and rest adequately was the culprit. As the Pegasus chopper airlifted the father to UVA Medical Center, I called their son on the mother’s cell phone to tell him what had happened along the interstate highway. He didn’t answer so I left a careful and prayerful message on his voice mail. Months later, the daughter-in-law called me to thank me for assisting her in-laws. Her mother-in-law had survived. Her father-in-law had not. Tears.

Our spiritual lives can be illustrated as a car-trip on a highway. We travel along all excited about wherever it is we think we’re headed, all-the-while carelessly discounting the dangers of soul restlessness. As we ride south, the Resurrected Jesus stands alongside the highway with nail-scared hands outstretched. I can see Him holding a sign of hope in those nail-scared hands. His sign of hope is a simple but profound three-word invitation: Rest Area Open!

Matt. 11:28-30 (NLT) – Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light.”

Why do we as weary motorists need rest areas? That’s obvious. We need rest areas because we get weary. Staring through the windshield mile-after-mile can be dangerously mesmerizing and can easily cause us to carelessly forget that our lives are at stake, as are the lives of those traveling with us. Will we stop and rest? Will we take time to catch our breath before it’s too late?

Why do our eternal souls need Easter? We need Easter because it echoes loudly the personal, eternal-life-invitation of the One Who was dead, but is now alive, forever. (Rev. 1:18). Will we finally exit this Easter on the ramp that leads to R-and-R -- Rest and Resurrection? Do we Want to Breathe Again? Rest Area Open!

P.S. Under the leadership of a new governor, in 2010, The Commonwealth of Virginia has now reopened the roadside rest areas. :-)

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Looking Like The Gardener?

Rev. Bill Wilson planted this thought in my mind a few years ago:

Did you ever think that maybe the Resurrected Jesus came back in appearance on that first Easter Morning looking like "the Gardener" (to Mary Magdalene) so He could help us through the agony of our own Gethsemanes?

John 20:11-18 (NLT) -- (11) Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. (12) She saw two white-robed angels sitting at the head and foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. (13) "Why are you crying?" the angels asked her. "Because they have taken away my Lord," she replied, "and I don’t know where they have put Him." (14) She glanced over her shoulder and saw Someone standing behind her. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize Him. (15) "Why are you crying?" Jesus asked her. "Who are you looking for?" She thought He was the gardener. "Sir," she said, "if You have taken Him away, tell me where You have put him, and I will go and get Him." (16) "Mary!" Jesus said. She turned toward Him and exclaimed, "Teacher!" (17) "Don’t cling to Me," Jesus said, "for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find My brothers and tell them that I Am ascending to My Father and your Father, My God and your God." (18) Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, "I have seen the Lord!" Then she gave them His message.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Go to Calvary. Breathe Again.

For as long as I can remember, my Aunt Edith (my Dad’s only sister and only sibling) has been the organist at the church where I was raised – Free Grace Wesleyan Church. She’s not a flashy musician, but she is talented and dependable and her love for the Lord invites breathless souls to breathe again.

Aunt Edith was always content to let the pianist choose the selections for praise and worship. I only remember once when she requested we learn a new hymn. Well, it was written in 1921 by Jennie Hussey, so it wasn’t exactly “new”, but you know what I mean. It was “new” to us. As Aunt Edith passionately shared, it was obvious that this “new” hymn was a personal prayer from her very alive soul.

By the theme of the hymn, it must have been the season leading up to Easter when Aunt Edith brought it to our attention. The title is “Lead Me to Calvary”. To this day, whenever I think on the wonderful words of “Lead Me to Calvary”, it inspires and challenges me to consider each word carefully and prayerfully.

Here are the loving lyrics now. Let’s remember that before we can breathe again on Easter Resurrection Sunday, first the Lord must “Lead Us to Calvary!”

(1) King of my life, I crown Thee now,
Thine shall the glory be;
Lest I forget Thy thorn crowned brow,
Lead me to Calvary.

(Chorus)
Lest I forget Gethsemane, Lest I forget Thine agony;
Lest I forget Thy love for me, Lead me to Calvary.

(2) Show me the tomb where Thou wast laid,
Tenderly mourned and wept;
Angels in robes of light arrayed
Guarded Thee whilst Thou slept.

(3) Let me like Mary, through the gloom,
Come with a gift to Thee;
Show to me now the empty tomb,
Lead me to Calvary.

(4) May I be willing, Lord, to bear
Daily my cross for Thee;
Even Thy cup of grief to share,
Thou hast borne all for me.

Lord, I do not ever want to forget Your love for me. I want to go to Gethsemane and to Calvary, yes through Your agony, so my eternal soul can in gratitude breathe again – inhaling and exhaling for forever Your Resurrection Life. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

A Beautiful Opportunity

Let us not forget the sacred preseason that leads us to the Glorious Main Event of our Lord's Resurrection year-after-year. Yes, as Henri Nouwen said, The Lenten Season offers a beautiful opportunity to discover the mystery of Christ within us.

So let's sacredly soak in the seven-word, secret message written in Colossians 1:27 -- Christ in you, the hope of glory. And let's get the secret message out during the Lenten Season and every season.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful