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This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” ~~Apostle Paul
We celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. We share in His resurrection and live a resurrection life. We get to share the adventure and an adventure it is. We shout like children, “What’s next?”
Who knows but it will be fun. So very exciting. We live a resurrection life.
This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” ~~Apostle Paul Romans 8:15 (MSG)
What is Jesus’ favorite thing to talk about?
What is Jesus’ favorite thing to talk about? It is the way things work in God’s world (Kingdom).
This is core of the message of Good News. God’s world is real. God is in control. God wants us to be loyal and do what He wants. He has a plan to be implemented.
So, after His resurrection, he met with the disciples face to face. The had no doubt about the resurrection. They saw him and talked with him for 40 days.
He lives!!
In face-to-face meetings, Jesus talked to them about things concerning the kingdom of God. (Acts 1:5 The Message)
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Where does my identity come from?
Jesus knew before he selected Judas that he would betray him. He wanted him as a part of the 12 regardless.
He knew Peter would deny Him. He wanted him as a part of the 12 regardless.
He knew Thomas would, at his core, doubt Him. He wanted him as a part of the 12 regardless.
He knew John was way too competitive. He wanted him as a part of the 12 regardless.
Would I do that? Probably not. Betrayal hurts. Denial hurts. Doubt hurts. Competition hurts. It hurts to the core. But Jesus also knew that his Holy Spirit would fill them. He knew they would perform greater signs and wonders than He did. He knew that day would come, when, after His resurrection, they would be transformed and fill with Power.
Jesus’ identity did not come from anyone but His Father. And he knew how much His Father loved Him. He knew it in his core. So he could select a bunch of men who would betray Him, deny Him, doubt Him, be way too competitive with each other and yet be open to Him. They would leave Him alone at the most important moment. He knew it. He was grounded in His Father’s love and pleasing Him. He loved them no matter what.
May I do the same. May my identity come from my Father who is so perfectly good all the time. May my love come from my Father who is always in a good mood and has my best interest in mind. May my heart be grounded in Him!!
So be it!!! Whoo Hoo!!!
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How did Jesus present himself?
The Apostles were absolutely convinced of Jesus resurrection from the dead. Luke, the author of Acts, is careful to document it.
Jesus presented Himself. Not as a ghost. Not as a spiritual being. He presented himself alive. He did it over and over. He did it for forty days. He did it many different places.
He is alive!! He lives. He sits at the right hand of the Father, in control of God’s World (Kingdom).
After his death, he presented himself alive to them in many different settings over a period of forty days. (Acts 1:4 The Message)
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Where is Jesus now?
Jesus is now in heaven sitting at the right hand of God. This is central to our faith and believe. He came to earth, He died for us, He was physically raised from the dead in a resurrected body AND He is now in control. God has given everything over to Jesus.
Do we believe this? Does our daily life reflect that fact? Do we allow our actions to reflect it?
Dear Theophilus, in the first volume of this book I wrote on everything that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he said good-bye to the apostles, the ones he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and was taken up to heaven. (Acts 1:1 The Message)
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Am I willing to suffer and mature? Will I rejoice and be happy?
Jesus, the Son of GOD, came to earth and suffered for us. Imagine that. Take a minute to think about it.
He felt everything we, as humans feel. Anticipating His death for us, he cried in the pain of anticipation. He offered up prayers as He got ready for this awful sacrifice. They were the prayers of a priest. He is now the most High Priest. Because He is GOD’s Son, God answered His prayers and honored His sacrifice for us. In GOD’s world, we are all now a nation of priests. We intercede, with Jesus, on behalf of all who are in need of Him.
Now get this, he was God’s very own Son. He didn’t have to do any of this for us. He came to earth and learned trusting-obedience by what he suffered. He didn’t have to suffer.
We sometimes wonder, why do we have to suffer? Well, we join in the ministry of Jesus by sharing in suffering, just as Jesus did. By suffering, Jesus arrived at the full stature of his maturity. Imagine the Son of God having to mature. He did as a man on earth. In that maturity and perfection, Jesus became our priest. In his death and resurrection, he became the source of eternal salvation to all us who obey him.
While he lived on earth, anticipating death, Jesus cried out in pain and wept in sorrow as he offered up priestly prayers to God. (Hebrews 5:7 The Message)
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Where is the sting of death?
Česky: Kříže – symbol utrpení Ježíše Krista a jeho ukřižování (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Death has no power. It has been swallowed up whole by the triumphant resurrection of our Master Jesus. This is reality. Does death have the last word on things? Not hardly. No way. Jesus has seen to that. It is over.
Who should be afraid of death knowing what we know? No one. Certainly not me.
It was not following God’s plan that gave death it’s leverage. It doesn’t have that hold now. Jesus has given me, in one single victorious stroke of life, a life free from guilt. A life free from sin. A life free from death. The old life of trying to live up to all the rules is gone. How destructive was that? Way too much guilt for sure. But it is gone in His redeeming power of His death and the victory of His ressurection.
May I experience that gift every day. May I experience it today for sure!!!
When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:54-57
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How puzzled would I be?
After Jesus was crucified, he was hastily buried as the clock was ticking moving toward the Sabbath. No work could be done. So they had to wait. And wait. And wait. It must have seemed like an eternity that long Saturday. On Sunday they were up and at it at the crack of dawn. When they got to the tomb, they couldn’t find Jesus body. And they were puzzled. I know I would have been as well. Probably more than puzzled.
But they moved on from being puzzled into belief. The angels explained it all to them. Jesus wasn’t there but raised up from the dead. And they remembered Jesus’ words.
Belief. Faith. Joy.
At the crack of dawn on Sunday, the women came to the tomb carrying the burial spices they had prepared. They found the entrance stone rolled back from the tomb, so they walked in. But once inside, they couldn’t find the body of the Master Jesus.
They were puzzled, wondering what to make of this. Then, out of nowhere it seemed, two men, light cascading over them, stood there. The women were awestruck and bowed down in worship. The men said, “Why are you looking for the Living One in a cemetery? He is not here, but raised up. Remember how he told you when you were still back in Galilee that he had to be handed over to sinners, be killed on a cross, and in three days rise up?” Then they remembered Jesus’ words. via Luke 24 MSG | YouVersion.
Who is in charge?
Who is Jesus? The very Son of God who, as man, died for us and is now resurrected. But in His resurrection, God has put Him in charge of everything. Nothing is exempt at all. Not a single thing.
So, how long will he be in charge? Imagine billions and billions of years. Imagine it never ending. That is hard to get my mind around some days because this is a world where things come to an end. In Jesus, who is in charge of everything forever, I live and have the same life. This is His gift to me.
All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. Ephesians 1:20 via Ephesians | YouVersion.
Nothing sparse at all: A Poem
He has always been supreme.
He was in the beginning and
He will be in the end.
He is leading the resurrection parade.
The Captain in the lead.
He is there for me from the beginning
to the end.
He is always there, never leaving.
He towers strong and mighty
above everything and everyone.
No one can match His marvelous love.
He is spacious in His love.
He has so much room
there is nothing sparse in His love at all.
He has so much room in His love
that everything finds its place
without any crowding at all.
everything dislocated,
everything out of place
and put it all together again.
He has put it all together in harmony.
Nothing out of place.
All fitting in His spacious room of love.
He did this through His blood
and His death.
That precious blood
that poured down from the cross.
of what He can do through His love.
I had turned my back on Him.
I had rebellious thoughts day and night.
I gave Him trouble every chance I got.
But now I have given myself completely to the cross,
knowing He actually died for me.
I am made whole and holy in His love.
I can’t walk away from a gift like that.
I must stay grounded.
I must stay steady.
I must honor that bond of trust.
I must stay constantly tuned in to His Message.
I must lean in and hear what He is saying.
There is no other message at all.
This is the only message.
Every creature in heaven
and earth gets the same message.
May I be His faithful messenger.
He has taken everything broken,
I am a case study.
I am His completely.
Authority in God's world
I live and work in a world where authority comes from a vote or an appointment. I see, every day, titles of people who have been “hired” or appointed to do something. Is that where my authority comes from?
No. It comes from Jesus and God. That is all there is to know. In God’s world (and that is the world I really live in), He is in control. He makes the appointments. My authority comes from Him. That is all there is to it but it is way to easy to forget that.
I, Paul, and my companions in faith here, send greetings to the Galatian churches. My authority for writing to you does not come from any popular vote of the people, nor does it come through the appointment of some human higher-up. It comes directly from Jesus the Messiah and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. Galatians 1:1-5
He is not here
It is a simple message but the most powerful one I can know. I should not be afraid. Jesus was crucified. He has risen! God so loved me that He sent him to redeem me. The price has been paid and He has risen, defeating death.
What an amazing God we have! And how fortunate I am to have Him! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, I’ve been given a brand-new life!
May I fully know the power of the risen Saviour.
But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. ‘Don’t be alarmed,’ he said. ‘You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. Mark 16
Should I keep quiet?
How often do I keep quiet when I should say what I believe? If we believe in a God so powerful that He raised Jesus from the dead, what should we say in any given circumstance? Really, what should we say about our belief?
Well, if we believe that nothing is impossible with God we can’t be quiet. We have to say the truth no matter how “bad” things look. God is God. He wants to deliver. We must have faith and believe. If we do, he will.
We’re not keeping this quiet, not on your life. Just like the psalmist who wrote, “I believed it, so I said it,” we say what we believe. And what we believe is that the One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive. Every detail works to your advantage and to God’s glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise! 2 Corinthians 4:13-15
Sticking up for me
What does His love look like? He is in there sticking up for me. When I am accused of something, fair or not, he sticks up for me. He is loyal to the core. For me!! With me!!! Nothing can seperate me from that loyal love and His courage for me.
No one can drive a wedge between Him and me. No matter what comes our way, it doesn’t faze us. No matter what I do or bad I am, the worst sin, nothing can seperate me from Him. He is sticking up for me!!!
The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture: They kill us in cold blood because they hate you. We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one. None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us. Romans 8:35-39
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