TERROR OR TRIUMPH BEYOND THE GRAVE?
Are you prepared for what lies beyond your death and burial? Just as surely as you are reading these words, your death is inevitable — are you prepared?
Are you prepared for what lies beyond your death and burial? Just as surely as you are reading these words, your death is inevitable — are you prepared?
Of the thousands of Jewish men to choose from, God chose Joseph to be the “father” of the Messiah. Why? In Joseph, we find the ingredients of a godly man! There are things about Joseph that characterize the kind of person God uses.
In his classic book The Master Plan of Evangelism, Robert Coleman makes this observation: “What is more revealing about the disciples is that at first they don’t impress us as being key men. None of them occupied prominent places in the Synagogue, nor did any of them belong to the Levitical priesthood. For the most part, they were common laboring men, probably having no professional training beyond the rudiments of knowledge necessary for their vocation. Perhaps a few of them came from families of some considerable means, such as the sons of Zebedee, but none of them could have been considered wealthy. They had no academic degrees in the arts and philosophies of their day."
Peter, a proud, strong-willed man, was nevertheless called by Jesus to be a disciple. Over time and devotion to Christ he became humble, penning these words in his first letter: “…God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time” (I Peter 5:5-6).
Do you need forgiveness this day? Perhaps there’s someone you need to forgive — someone waiting for you to release them. Maybe God has been waiting for you to give what you’ve been given so that you can receive what the paralytic (Mark 2) received: healing.
Assume the faithfulness of God and commit yourself to what you know you are to do. I can promise you this: God never dishonors faith in Him.
God honors the step of faith; He honors vulnerability. To say we believe God is not the same as living as we believe. These men in Mark put their faith in Jesus on the line; they were counting on Him, utterly. That’s Biblical faith.
Conflict, controversy, slander follow those who stand for truth, especially the earnest, committed Christian! There was a common theme to Jesus’ ministry in Galilee — conflict! It began in Nazareth, was briefly stalled, then resumed at Capernaum with the healing of a paralytic — and never ceased
Where are you today in your walk with Christ? Is there a point of compromise in your life that needs to be submitted to the authority of Christ? Is Christ calling you to leave something behind — or to take something up? Do you need some kind of physical or emotional healing?
When we pattern our life after the “building code” of Scripture, when we yield to Christ’s authority, even when life makes no sense to us, when the storms pass, we will remain.