As we look around the world, there is not a lot to make the God-fearing, Bible-believing, Christ-confessing person feel overly optimistic. As we look out we are gutted to see a war going on in Ukraine. An unprovoked ware. A war of aggression. A war in which civilians are being killed. A war which has created as many as 10 millions refugees.
There is a legal and moral principle called “full disclosure.” Full disclosure means that in many situations it is required that you tell everything you know about something. For example, if you are selling your house and you know that every time it rains you get two inches of water in the basement, you are required to tell an interested buyer.
Who or what has made the biggest impression on you in your life? Who or what has had the biggest influence on who you are and what you are like? I suspect for many of us the quick answer is that mom or dad made the biggest impression.
Who or what has made the biggest impression on you in your life? Who or what has had the biggest influence on who you are and what you are like? I suspect for many of us the quick answer is that mom or dad made the biggest impression.
Christ is risen; He is risen indeed! And that means that the story goes on. Our Savior lives. He will never die again, and our life with Him will never end. So the story goes on. The story isn’t over. The story did not end on Good Friday or on Easter Sunday or even on the Sunday one week after Easter; that was only the beginning.
$2.16. That is what it will cost you for a ticket to enter the “Grotto of the Apocalypse.” The what? The “Grotto of the Apocalypse” is on the Greek island of Patmos. Patmos is where the apostle John had been exiled by the Roman government as punishment for preaching the good news of Jesus. Patmos is where John received the vision that is preserved for us as the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation.
The men said to them, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead? 6He is not here, but has been raised! Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee 7that the Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again?” 8Then they remembered his words.
We want to linger just a moment over the second last thing Jesus said on the cross. John is the only one of the Gospel writers who records these words. It makes sense. John was an eye witness that day. Watching, waiting. He saw with his own eyes and heard with his own ears those words of Jesus, “It is finished!” But just what was finished?
The year: 1948. The place: Saskatchewan, Canada. A very unique example of a last will and testament. A man named Cecil George Harris was pinned beneath his tractor after an accident, and he managed to get out his pocket knife and carve a simple message into the fender of the tractor. The message read: “In case I die in this mess I leave all to the wife. Cecil Geo. Harris.”
Holy Week begins today. And one of the things we will notice as we read through the Gospel accounts of this week is the recurring theme of “king” and “kingdom.” In fact, you might say Holy Week paints a portrait of Jesus as King. For example, Jesus is painted as the JUDGING King in Matthew 25.
