Tag Archives: cross

The Hour Has Come, March 22, 2021

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

The scripture under consideration this week gives us some interesting points to explore as we approach Good Friday and Easter. It comes from the gospel of John, chapter 12.

Now there were a number of foreigners from among the nations who were worshipers at the feast.They went to Philip (who came from the village of Bethsaida in Galilee) and they asked him, “Would you take us to see Jesus? We want to see him.”So Philip went to find Andrew, and then they both went to inform Jesus.He replied to them, “Now is the time for the Son of Man to be glorified.Let me make this clear: A single grain of wheat will never be more than a single grain of wheat unless it drops into the ground and dies. Because then it sprouts and produces a great harvest of wheat—all because one grain died.”The person who loves his life and pampers himself will miss true life! But the one who detaches his life from this world and abandons himself to me, will find true life and enjoy it forever!If you want to be my disciple, follow me and you will go where I am going. And if you truly follow me as my disciple, the Father will shower his favor upon your life.

“Even though I am torn within, and my soul is in turmoil, I will not ask the Father to rescue me from this hour of trial. For I have come to fulfill my purpose—to offer myself to God.So, Father, bring glory to your name!” Then suddenly a booming voice was heard from the sky,

“I have glorified my name! And I will glorify it through you again!”The audible voice of God startled the crowd standing nearby. Some thought it was only thunder, yet others said, “An angel just spoke to him!”Then Jesus told them, “The voice you heard was not for my benefit, but for yours—to help you believe.From this moment on, everything in this world is about to change, for the ruler of this dark world will be overthrown.And I will do this when I am lifted up off the ground and when I draw the hearts of people to gather them to me.” He said this to indicate that he would die by being lifted up on the cross. (John 12:20-33 TPT)

Some translations say Greeks came to Phillip, but to the Jews, all foreigners were Greeks or Gentiles; the terms were synonymous to them. It’s like our phrase when hearing a foreign language or explanations that are intellectually challenging and exclaiming, “It’s all Greek to me.” These men may have been proselytes to the Jewish faith, or they may just have heard about Jesus’ miracles and wanted healing, food, or answers. Maybe they believed he could forgive and longed for freedom from sin or perhaps just curious about this man who raised so many questions among the people.

Phillip went to Andrew, and the two took the request to Jesus. We might have thought Jesus would say yes or no to the request or would have gone to the foreigners to give them an answer to the quest. Instead, we get what seems a rather peculiar response.

“The time has come. I’m about to be glorified. Unless a grain of wheat is buried and dies, it is alone. But if it dies, it will produce a harvest. If you love your life, you will lose it. If you hate your life in this world, you will keep it for life in the age to come. If anyone serves me, they must follow me. Where I am, my servant will be too. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor them.

Now I’m troubled, but I came for this hour. Father, glorify your name. Now, this world’s ruler will be thrown out when I am lifted up from the earth. And when I’ve been lifted up, I will draw all people to myself.”

What a strange answer to give Phillip and Andrew when the Greeks came to see Jesus! Throughout the gospels to this point, Jesus had continually told those around him, “My time has not yet come.” At the wedding in Cana, in conflict with demons, when Jesus told some he healed not to tell who healed them, and so many other instances. After his first confrontation with the Pharisees in Jerusalem, Jesus kept his ministry outside Jerusalem to avoid both the religious and political leaders there because ‘his time had not yet come.’

Jesus knew his death would coincide with Passover. It seemed he looked to a particular Passover. We might think he would aim to go to the cross on the day of atonement to look at the somber ceremony the Jews held for the forgiveness of sins each year, but he did not. He marched toward the Passover for a reason. In the Protestant church, we miss the meaning because we don’t understand the long, rich history of the Jews and why Passover held such a powerful meaning.

We know it marked the Exodus from Egypt, but the celebration meant so much more to the Jews, and we forget the early Christians, including Jesus, were Jews steeped in that history. Passover marked freedom from slavery. Freedom from the power of an evil King, Pharaoh. It marked the passage from death to life with the crossing of the Red Sea. It also brought the remembrance of their sin and death in the wilderness. Their sin wasn’t because of bad behavior but because of idolatry.

The word sin means missing the mark. Their failure to worship God. Their failure to be the image-bearers of God he gave them as their vocation in his covenant relationship with them. They missed the mark in their vocation. Their sin of idolatry kept them from the promised land until they cleaned up their act in the wilderness and learned to worship God in the tabernacle as he directed in the tablets of the law. Then they crossed the Jordan and began the conquest of the promised land.

But again, they missed the mark of the covenant, and God finally sent them into exile into Syria and Babylon, not because of bad behavior, but because of their idolatry. They failed in their worship. They gave power to idols rather than keeping the authority God gave to humans in having dominion over the world. Gods of wood and stone, crafted by men’s hands, were given power they did not earn but were given to them as men worshiped them. Idolatry polluted humanity, including the Jews, finally driving God’s people into exile.

The tabernacle, the ark, the mercy seat was the place God would come to meet with man. The lifeblood of the animal sacrifice cleansed and purified the altar and the mercy seat. It wasn’t the killing of the animal God wanted. It was the access to the purifying blood to place on the mercy seat. We know from medicine today that it is our blood that purifies our bodies. It carries the toxins and impurities to our liver and kidneys, which act as filters to flush them out of our system. Without blood filtering the cells throughout the body, the toxins we produce would kill us in minutes. Blood from the sacrificial animal cleansed the mercy seat where God met unclean humans, a picture of a future time when God would meet man at the cross with his life’s blood cleansing that sacred spot to bring us out of exile.

The blood was never for the forgiveness of sins. In the atonement sacrifice, the priest symbolically placed the people’s sins on the scapegoat’s head, and another priest led the animal out of the camp into the wilderness. The sin offering individuals might make throughout the year atoned for wrongs committed unwittingly or unwillingly, wrongs they didn’t know they committed. Committing a behavioral wrong knowingly meant harsh punishment, often death by stoning with the accuser casting the first stone.

Jesus and those around him knew all this. They lived it every day as part of the burden carried by the corrupted Jewish covenant. But when Jesus answered, he saw the cross. He knew the evil powers would soon break. The cross would overcome sin. He was the light of the world; he had almost completed his vocation as God intended for humanity. Jesus was about to take back the power of those idols through his death on the cross. His innocent death would usher in a new Passover; the power of forgiveness would find victory over the power of evil and the curse of death.

Jesus’ hour has come. The world is invited. The cross will bring victory, freedom, forgiveness, and power through God’s spirit. His vocation will find completion in the cross. Jesus knew more suffering would come, both to him and his followers, but that is the way of the cross. That is the way of love and forgiveness. The powers of evil, of idolatry, will not give up easily. They will fight. But Jesus moves steadily toward the cross because he also knows what lies on the other side.

The cross is in front of him. But so is Easter.

You can find me at richardagee.com. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Some Things Don’t Make Sense, February 3, 2020

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

Some things just don’t make sense. Why do most animals in a herd point the same direction in a field? Why do penguins live only in the coldest climate on earth? Why do most whales, the largest animals in the ocean, eat only the plankton, the smallest of sea life? Why is an octopus considered one of the smartest of sea creatures, incredibly ugly, and seldom seen in the wild? Why do some areas of the world get torrential rains while others get only a few inches of rain over decades?

We sometimes call them imponderables, things that have no concrete answers. Science is uncovering some logical responses, but still, we are baffled by the mysteries of the world and the whys that surround us every day. We have learned more in the last 100 years than in the rest of man’s history, but we still have many unanswered questions about the world in which we live.

We think we’re pretty smart today since we know a lot about quantum physics and how things stay together. We’ve learned about the universe and the fact we are not the center or even near the center of one of several billion galaxies. Our Milky Way seemed so large until we began to compare it to more enormous galaxies around us. We thought we understood the weather until we found we really don’t, and our weather folks still get it right about two-thirds of the time. Yep, we think we are wise today with the trillions of words housed in the Library of Congress on floating around on the Internet.

Paul got it right, though, when he wrote his first letter to the members of the church at Colossae in the first century.

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God.

He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Everyone around him thought they were wise, but compared with God’s wisdom, we are pretty foolish. We don’t know much of anything. Scientists will tell you the more we know, the more we figure out we don’t know. But God is the creator of all things. He knows it all. He’s the one who made all the rules we are just on the edge of trying to figure out. In the 1970s, we sent two experimental crafts called Voyager, to explore the outer edge of our solar system. Forty years later, they found out all our assumptions about the border of our solar system were wrong. Now those two satellites are still headed where no one has gone before but have barely scratched the surface of real space travel.

Our brilliance turns into ignorance when we see all that is out there beyond the confines of our puny planet. Our greatest wisdom appears as foolishness compared to God’s understanding. And what does Paul use as his comparison? The cross.

How can we explain why God would do such a thing? We can’t, except that he loves us more than we can ever understand. We disobey him, but he loves us. We run from him, but he loves us. We curse him and do everything he asks us not to do, yet he loves us enough to wrap himself in human flesh and live among us to show us just how much he loves us.

He died the most horrible death imaginable, crucifixion at the hands of Roman soldiers, after an unjust kangaroo trial. He never did anything to justify the suffering he endured, but he took it, all the same, to show us how much he loves us. Jesus taught radical lessons that said follow a pattern set by a heart filled with love instead of the rules given to the prophets and priests. He said to do two things, and you’ll be in good stead with the creator. Love God and love others.

He never said it would be easy to follow those two rules, but that’s a straightforward list to remember. It’s sure a lot easier than remembering the laundry list of dos and don’ts most organized religions give us to follow. Just love.

Paul tells us what that looks like, and again, it doesn’t make sense to us. It looks like the cross. Be ready to be hated by the world. Be ready to be misunderstood. Be ready to suffer when you share the good news of what God has done to redeem us from the deceiver who wants to capture our soul. It sounds crazy to those who have not given themselves to him. But for those who have, for those who know his forgiveness, the cross is the answer. The empty tomb is proof.

Are you ready to let go of the wisdom of the world and accept the wisdom of the one who created all things? It takes faith. It costs everything. God never accepts second place in your life. He wants everything you have and everything you are at his immediate disposal. But God never makes mistakes. He knows how best to bring you safely home. All you need to do is believe and follow him. It’s a good day to start.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked NIV are taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV): Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™. Used by permission of Zondervan

Who Gets the Praise this Year? November 25, 2019

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Today’s Podcast

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

The focus of the lectionary readings for this week didn’t seem to fit the Thanksgiving season very well as we think of it in the United States. We gear up for the big meal with family followed by the football game complete with all the Black Friday advertisements. Then the enormous Christmas season.

Commercialization has taken over what use to be a time of joy and merriment. Now we rush around trying to find the same marvelous gift that is a must-have for every child if a parent wants to be a model parent. Of course, the stores sold out of that must-have present six months ago, but that’s not the point. We have to get that perfect present to make Johnny happy. We rush around doing too much. Decorating too much. Expecting too much of our families when they come home. We expect Christmas to meet our perfect 1950’s Donna Reed Show expectations. Then we show our disappointment when they don’t.

When you stop to think about it, though. Christmas isn’t about all that stuff. In fact, Christmas isn’t even about Jesus’ birth. If that were all that happened, we wouldn’t be celebrating. We would recognize a nice man who did some good things, taught a little and died.

But something happened that blew the socks off the disciples and caused them to give their lives for this man. They understood him to be God incarnate. It wasn’t because of some magic tricks. There were plenty of sorcerers and magicians in their day that fooled the people with magic tricks.

They didn’t willingly give up their lives because Jesus had nice words to say. He didn’t. He proclaimed things that got all of them in trouble with the establishment, both religious and government. He said things like, “Eat my flesh and drink my blood.” That won’t win you any friends at the dinner table.

Those men and women followed Jesus because they believed he rose from the dead. Not just a ghost or a vision they thought they saw. They knew he rose bodily from the tomb. They talked to him. They ate with him. They touched his flesh. They couldn’t explain how he appeared behind locked doors, but it was Jesus, their leader, their Rabbi, their Messiah. The one just a few days earlier they had seen beaten to the point of death, forced to carry his cross to Golgotha, hung there to die, stabbed with a spear, laid in a tomb bloodied, beaten and bruised, dead. But now, alive.

So Paul could write to the congregation that met at Colossae and encourage them with these words.

“May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his [Jesus] glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Where does this encouragement come from? The first Easter. The first resurrection. Jesus burst from the tomb, conquering death. He proved his ability to win over the grave and so his ability to forgive sin. He bought our redemption. The old sacrificial system disappeared with his perfect sacrifice. He paid for our sins, so we no longer need to wallow in guilt that comes from disobedience to the God who created us.

Paul goes on to say, ” He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

The resurrection empowered Jesus’ followers to do extraordinary things because they knew he was only the first of many to come. The promise of the New Covenant said those who believed in him would not die but have everlasting life. A resurrection day gives us assurance of a new life. Jesus rose, and all who believe will be raised with him. Courage comes from that belief.

What can you risk when you know you cannot die? What can you give up when you know life does not end here? What can you do for God when you know nothing can really harm you? With God on board, you truly are invincible.

Death in this life is a transition for those who believe in him. The criminal on the cross beside him found forgiveness and found himself in paradise. The resurrection is real. Thousands upon thousands gave their lives because they knew the truth of the resurrection.

So, what should Thanksgiving and Christmas and our holidays focus on each time we celebrate? Not gifts or food or trying to impress family and friends. But remember the fact of the resurrection. Remembering Jesus changed the world as the first to show the grave can not hold those who live in him. Remembering there is more to this world than what the world wants you to believe. Jesus told those who would listen, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

What did he mean? Open your eyes. Look around. See God in the world around you. Help others see God by loving them into his kingdom. John said, “God is love.” Jesus said, “They will know you are mine if you love each other.” He also said, “You cannot love God whom you cannot see if you cannot love your neighbor who you can see.”

Those are sobering thoughts as we already begin the bombardment by the politicians for next year’s election here in the United States. The other party is not the enemy. The other country is not the enemy. The other race is not the enemy. God made us all.

Jesus said, “Love your neighbor.”

What does that look like? 2000 years ago, a man with the Hebrew name Joshua, translated Jesus in Greek, was nailed to a rough wooden cross and lifted up to have it slammed into the ground. He hung there most of the day. At last, he said, “It is finished.” And he died, much faster than anyone expected. When he did, the veil separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple split in two. The earth shook. Darkness fell over the land for three hours, far too long for an eclipse. Love looks like a cross.

Remember that cross as you begin preparations for the holidays this year. Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas, New Year, all the holidays that jam our calendars over the next few weeks are meaningless without Jesus. Let’s stop and give Him thanks for what he has done. He does deserve it, after all.

Scriptures marked NIV are taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV): Scriptures taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™. Used by permission of Zondervan

Why the sacrifice? April 22, 2019

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Today’s Podcast

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

Easter is just behind us. We’ve gone through a season of Lent to ask ourselves the questions early Christians asked: who is Jesus?; what does it really mean to be lost and then to have his forgiveness?; and what is the cost of committing my life to Jesus? This self-examination of our faith is important as we live in a world increasingly hostile to the thought of living a life of faith. A recent Gallop poll shows within the US population, affiliation with any church has dropped 20% in the last decade. Now less than half of us in this country even think of ourselves as belonging to a Christian church, much less faithful in attending one.

Perhaps it’s time to look at why the cross is so important. Why do we need to believe in such a horrendous act as that which hung a man we believe is the son of God, God incarnate, on a cross to die in our place? What is so special about this execution of an innocent man that millions have followed him through the centuries and sometimes willingly sacrificed their own lives rather than deny his deity? Why would God choose such a method to want us to follow him and win our confidence and worship and faith?

The Apostle Paul writes to the early congregation gathering in Corinth with these words: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

It is true. Unbelievers find the message preposterous. Why would we believe the events we just celebrated really happened in the first place? What causes us to think the crucifixion and resurrection story is nothing more than a religious fairy tale? Why would so many people give themselves as martyrs to such a ridiculous tale?

I think the answer is, so many would not give themselves as martyrs to such a ridiculous tale if it were only a tale. Historically, from the writings of some non-Christians we know there was a man named Jesus who lived and died in the manner described in the Gospels. We know from the writings of the early church leaders in the first century the teachings of this man and the impact he had on the entire world.

Every time archeology tries to disprove something in scripture, it seems to only find evidence that it is true. Today, we continue to uncover evidence of the things recorded in scripture just as it was portrayed. Believers’ stand on the authenticity of God’s word finds justification from the scientific world despite efforts to thwart it.

But why would God choose death? Why such a brutal end to his own son? And as we understand the trinity, one Godhead, one God manifested as three, Father, Son and Spirit, physical death to a part of himself. Does it make any sense? Well, we have to go back to Paul’s writing. “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

It might not make sense to us, but it is how God chose to reveal his love to us in a profound way. He goes back to the very beginning of his relationship with man. He goes back to those early conversations with Adam and the understanding Adam had of life. The blood that coursed its way through the veins of the animals around him and through his own body held the secret to life. Without that blood providing the necessary nutrients to the cells in the body and carrying away the toxins those cells produced as byproducts of their activities, the body dies. Adam didn’t understand the science behind the biological processes as we do today. But he knew blood was essential to life because God told him so.

When Cain killed his brother Abel, God’s call to Cain included the observation that Abel’s blood spilled into the ground. His life left him because of the spilled blood. God declared life is precious and condemned Cain’s murderous act placing a mark upon Cain that signified his guilt for all to see. We don’t know what that mark was, but we know Cain carried it and all who saw him recognized his guilt and shame because of it.

God required blood sacrifice to cleanse away the guilt of disobedience. Adam and Eve lost their prolonged life in the Garden of Eden and their animal sacrifices from that time on reminded them of the life they lost and sin they brought into the cosmos. Their actions disrupted the harmony of the universe. The symbol of life through the spilling of the blood of a sacrificial animal as a substitute for their own life gave recognition to God that he alone is worthy of worship and praise and glory.

God established rules for sacrifices. He wanted an intimate relationship with his most favored and highest creation. But we, his highest creation, continued to think we were able to live without his rules, without the restrictions he imposed for our good, without him. We wanted our selfish ways to live life however we might choose. We expected God to bend to us instead of bowing to him. We forgot he is God and we are not. And mankind paid the price. God sent a flood to destroy us. Only Noah and his family survived.

But even from this most righteous family, sin, passed through the seed of Adam sprang up as Noah and his son Canaan fell prey to wickedness. We know Noah became drunk on wine and Canaan found him naked in his tent. I have a feeling there is a lot more to the story than those few verses we read in Genesis. I have a feeling both Noah and especially Canaan deserved much more than the punishment we read about in the narrative. God wanted to start over with a new family devoted only to him. And Noah’s family failed the test, too. Just as Adam and Eve and their family did.

What is it about us that we do the things we do even though we know the consequences can be so dramatic? Why do we know what is right but continue to live in ways that push against the will of a loving God? It’s all there in the Book of Genesis for those who believe. Adam sinned. We inherited his nature through his ‘seed.’ Every human offspring born by the joining of a sperm and egg to form an embryo in a mother’s womb carries within that sperm the genetic material that Adam shares with us, the bent toward evil.

But then comes Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah. He was born of a virgin. No earthly father. No inherited genetic material from Adam. No bent toward evil. No inherited self-centeredness. Jesus, the God/Man, perfect in spirit because he did not come from Adam’s ‘seed,’ but from the Father’s. One set of chromosomes, not two. One strand of DNA, not two. How? I don’t understand it. Impossible? Not with God. Isaiah says he was not so handsome. Nothing to look at. In fact, Isaiah infers his looks might even be a little on the grotesque side. Like Quasimodo, the Hunchback of Notre-Dame. Certainly, not the face of the brown haired Roman figure we see in most of the paintings of Jesus adorning the walls of many churches and homes around the country. Yet this gentle, homely, peculiar man attracted thousands because of his words and actions.

This peculiar man. One of a kind. Perfect in spirit. Born of a virgin. Son of God. Allowed himself to be hung on a cross. His life’s blood spilled to the ground as a substitute for my life and yours. The penalty for disrupting the perfect harmony of the universe. My disobedience brings chaos to the cosmos. So does yours. When we create that chaos that ripples through the galaxies, what should the penalty be? When all the stars and planets and galaxies and all things within and around them feel the effects of our disobedience to their creator, how should we make it right? The only way to stop the carnage we create is to snuff us out. Take our life. Stop our further chaos.

But God is full of mercy and grace. He gave himself so we can still live. If we accept his gift of life and follow him we can have life eternally with him. Why the cross? I don’t understand it all. I accept that I will not understand it because I am not God. I am only one of his created beings. But I am loved by him and accept his mercy and grace. The cross was for me, but he took my place. I am forever in his debt.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

How do you grieve? (Luke 23:28-31), January 13, 2017

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Today’s Podcast

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
Jesus told the onlookers at His march to Golgotha not to weep for Him but for themselves. How do you grieve and are you ready to avoid the grief that will come at His return?
Scripture
1. Luke 23:28-31
2. Jesus (to the people in the crowd): Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me. Weep instead for yourselves and weep for your children. Days are coming when people will say, “Blessed are the infertile; blessed are the wombs that never bore a child; blessed are the breasts that never nursed an infant.” People will beg the mountains, “Surround us!” They’ll plead with the hills, “Cover us!” For if they treat Me like this when I’m like green unseasoned wood, what will they do to a nation that’s ready to burn like seasoned firewood?
Devotional
1. Military travel gives opportunity to observe various cultural differences in the grieving process
2. Native-American
  1. Tribes are different
  2. Some burial is not important and may not even bury the body but let nature dispose of remains
  3. Some bury observing the importance of a circle symbolizing the circle of life
  4. Most are not concerned about preserving the body, so embalming is not a concern but mutilation is taboo. Asking for native american to donate organs may be seen as disrespectful
3. Asian-American
  1. Very concerned about the body
  2. Watertight casket
  3. Warm clothing
  4. Stoic so might be depressed from internalizing grief
  5. Picture or plaque of the deceased along with personal items kept in the home as a memorial or shrine
4. African-American
  1. Family and friends gather
  2. Might express great emotion
  3. Cremation not as readily accepted as in other cultures
  4. Sharing meals with loved ones
  5. Wear white as symbol of resurrection
  6. Integration of church observances
5. Haitian-American
  1. Family and friends gather at home of deceased
  2. Wear dark clothing to funeral and as sign of mourning
  3. Share meals before and after the funeral
  4. Express great emotion
6. Hispanic-American
  1. Dependence on priest for arrangements
  2. Gathering of family and friends
  3. Many family and friends participate in procession and in service
  4. Family members often make promises in name of deceased
  5. Money gifts common to help defray expenses
7. European-American
  1. Family and friends comfort family at home of deceased
  2. Funeral director or clergy help in arrangements
  3. Dark clothing although now more color to mark celebration of the life of the deceased
  4. Funerals usually more somber
  5. Gather at home of survivors for meal or refreshments after funeral service and interment
8. Lots of forms of grief, Jesus says don’t grieve for Him, but for us. He’s coming back and we need to be ready when He comes. Imagine what that day must be like if those who are left will be asking the mountains to fall on them rather than face the events God has in store for them. We might grieve in different ways, but don’t be caught needing to grieve on that day. It won’t be a pretty sight grieving for yourself.
If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

Take up your cross (Luke 9:23-25) October 20, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Proverbs 31

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 9:23-25
Jesus: If any of you want to walk My path, you’re going to have to deny yourself. You’ll have to take up your cross every day and follow Me. If you try to avoid danger and risk, then you’ll lose everything. If you let go of your life and risk all for My sake, then your life will be rescued, healed, made whole and full. Listen, what good does it do you if you gain everything—if the whole world is in your pocket—but then your own life slips through your fingers and is lost to you?

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

From the baby boomer generation on, we have continued down a slippery slope of self indulgence. Almost everything we do as a society and as individuals starts with this unconscious question, “What’s in it for me?” We want to know the payback on everything we do. There are even instructions on how to work a room so that you don’t waste time with people who cannot benefit your long term goals. Conversation tips that help you know if they can add to your bottom line and if not, how to move out of the conversation quickly without making them an enemy.

We want to know the best return on our money and how quickly our investments can double or triple so we have plenty for our comfortable retirement. We want to figure out how we can retire at fifty so we can really enjoy our later years without struggling with the maladies of old age while we travel to exotic places and enjoy that retirement nest egg we’ve built for ourselves.

We want everything and we want it now. Oh, and we want all of it at no cost, no sacrifice to us personally or to those closest to us. We want it all. Period. Each generation seems to get a little worse than the one before. No one seems to want to look out for anyone but number one. That’s the way of the world today. But that is counter to what Jesus tells us to do. He says to take up our cross and follow Him. What did He do? He gave up everything for us. Even His life.

The writers of the New Testament letters continue this same theme. Die to self. Crucify your old life. Take up your cross. Let Christ live in you. Be transformed. Let baptism be the demonstration of death to self and life in Christ. There is this radical change that happens when we really give ourselves to Christ. We give up the rights to our will and let Him decide our course. Where most of the English translations use the same word, life, for the Greek words bios and zoe, they are different concepts in the Greek language. Christ gives us new zoe when He comes to abide in us.

Zoe is the reason for living. It is the purpose and direction behind our biological processes. It is the drive that pushes us toward a given goal in these seventy or eighty years we breath air and consume food on this planet. Bios describes that physiological process that we call life. Breathing, blood circulating through our body, the various processes that make this body move and and respond to various external stimuli. But zoe is why it all takes place. It is the purpose for which we live.

Jesus tells us be willing to suffer for the zoe He gives us. Don’t sacrifice your new zoe in Him for some temporal pleasure your bios might feel. Real life, zoe, is found in Him and that life goes on forever. Our physical frame dies, but our life goes on. And when we discipline our physical life, our bios to do what He tells us, to reach the goals He sets for us, we gain real life, zoe, the purpose He designed for us. But the reverse is also true. If we sacrifice the purpose for which God created us for the simple pleasures of this physical frame, we lose the real life, the real purpose and joy God intends for us. And His purpose and joy last for eternity, not just the few years we remain in these bodies of clay.

So what must we do to take up our cross and follow Him? I think if we focus on the second part, we will understand the first part. When we follow Him, we will find the cross we must bear. When we follow His commands, we will discover the world will not like what we do and we will suffer at the hands of those who do not wish the message of God spread to a world in desperate need of hearing it. It’s not hard now days to find crosses, but it is hard to find the path Jeus would have us follow. There are many false prophets that will tell you what you want to hear instead of the truth in God’s word.

Listen to Jesus. Read God’s word. Read for yourself the truth He gives us in the book that has survived every attempt to snuff it out. You’ll know the truth and the world will give you a cross if you follow it’s path.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Can you face Jesus’ baptism? (Mark 10:36-40) August 24, 2016

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Psalms 99-101

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 10:36-40
Jesus: What is it that you want?
James and John: Master, grant that we might sit on either side of You, one at Your right hand and one at Your left, when You come into the glory of Your kingdom.
Jesus: You don’t know what it is you’re asking. Can you drink from the cup I have to drink from or be ritually washed in baptism with the baptism that awaits Me?
James and John: We can.
Jesus: You will indeed drink from the cup I drink from and be baptized with the baptism that awaits Me. But to sit at My right or at My left is an honor I cannot grant. That will be given to those for whom it has been prepared.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Those followers of Jesus would be immersed in the same baptism Jesus was about to receive. But what was it? They really didn’t know and if they did, I’m not sure they would volunteer for it. I’m not sure I know anyone that would volunteer for the suffering Jesus would endure in the next few days. The Romans were really good at torture and causing intense, prolonged pain before execution. The fact that Jesus and the two thieves on the crosses near Him died on the same day the Roman soldiers hung them on the cross was an oddity. Seldom did their executions last a single day.

The Romans wanted their subjects to understand they were in charge and could cause immense agony for those that dared challenge Caesar’s authority. I expect the thieves did something other than just steal something. I expect they stole from a Roman official. That’s probably why they found themselves charged and sentenced with such a severe form of execution. Bandits were everywhere in Jesus’ day. Thievery was common. These two must have done something that caused the Romans to want everyone’s attention.

So Jesus asks His two Apostles if they are ready to endure the worst. They don’t know what He’s asking yet. They readily answer yes. We often jump to the same answers when we first meet Jesus. We answer quickly when we listen to a charismatic preacher or an inspiring sermon. We wave the Christian banner and quickly declare we will do anything for the kingdom of God. Bring it on! We will face anything and everything for Jesus.

But do we realize what we’re saying? And then do we stand by that commitment when the chips are down? Those questions are becoming more important every day. All we need to do is listen to the news and see the wickedness in our world to know the hatred of Christians and God in general is on the rise. People in this nation, that not long ago called itself a Christian nation, no longer want to wear that title as a nation. We have decided that calling ourselves a Christian nation makes us intolerant of other religions so we must be wary of using that moniker to describe us.

Of course, there is no such taboo on raising the awareness of other faiths. Any of the other religions are welcome to declare their tenets of faith and denounce the cause of Christ without interference. But Jesus promised us that would happen. He promised the world would hate us because of Him. So if you wear His name, you will be hated. If you declare Him Lord of your life, you will consistently be pushed aside and the world will do its best to defeat you.

Jesus promised His followers we would suffer in this world. But He also promised He has already overcome the world. He made this place and all that is in it. He has dominion over everything here. One day, all of creation, all of us, every person created will bow before Him and acknowledge that He is God and worthy to be praised. But until then, if we follow Him, expect to be immerse in the same baptism of hatred, suffering, persecution, that Jesus faced.

When you expect to face the worst and He allows you to escape from some of the persecution and suffering His Apostles and our early church followers endured, we can stop and praise Him for His protection and comfort. But remember, the church thrives under persecution. It grows exponentially as people see how God’s children face the transition from this life to the next, all the while with a heart full of forgiveness for those that act without understanding the nature of the evil they commit at the bequest of Satan.

Do any of us want to face the kind of suffering Jesus faced? No. And none of us will face that kind of suffering. We may die for our faith. We may lose everything for Jesus. We may carry our own cross and walk beside Him in carrying His message to a lost world. But He carried all our sins on His shoulders. We will never suffer the way Jesus did. We can rejoice that He set us free from the worst Satan has to offer. Death didn’t hold Him and He’s promised a resurrection for us, too, if we will follow Him.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Three days of battle (Matthew 27:46) July 1, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Ezekiel 19-24

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 27:46
In the middle of the dark afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice.
Jesus: Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani—My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

The sun was blotted out. This was no ordinary eclipse. Darkness fell over the earth for hours while the Son of God hung on the cross. It was as if evil finally won and blotted out all the light that God created and said was good. Jesus had taken on the sins of the world and as Satan thought he won the battle, God let darkness creep over the land showing everyone present just how evil men could become.

Throughout His ordeal, Jesus continued to pray from scriptures He’d learned throughout His life. He quoted from the Psalms and poured out His heart to His Father. He used David’ words to gain the strength He need to endure the pain and suffering inflicted on Him by those around Him who didn’t understand the meaning of the sacrifice He made for them or the actions they took against God Himself by hanging Him on that tree.

And now, as Jesus neared the end of His agonizing sacrifice, He cries out in one desperate plea, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani.” Which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” When the human side of Jesus needed the Father most, He turned His face away because of the darkness of the sins He bore for us. The Man who committed no sin. The One who served as the perfect sacrifice for us. The Father, turned away to let Him die alone on the cross as the penalty for us, separated from Him for a time.

Utter darkness. Complete separation. Total abandonment. We have never experienced it because God’s Spirit is alive and active in our world today. He does not leave us alone in this place. But He did with His Son for those moments as He carried the whole world’s sins on His shoulders.

We have no record of what happened from the time Jesus was laid in the tomb until He burst forth in resurrection power. We don’t know the struggle that took place between He and Satan. We don’t understand the realm of the after life and what happened to Jesus’ spirit after He took that last breath and left this world to enter the next. But I imagine the real battle took place then.

Satan thought he won when He killed the physical shell that housed the God/Man. He thought it was over when Jesus’ heart stopped its rhythmic beat and His lungs refused to release and accept air in them. Satan thought when the physiological processes ceased, it was over. But I think he and his minions found the battle had only begun when Jesus’ last breath passed His lips.

I think it was at that point, when Jesus had become sin for us and died for us that He entered the depths of hell for us. And there He engaged His enemy in full force. I expect Satan never expected God to visit his domain. God is holy and would never step foot into the bowels of hell which reeks of evil and vice and sin. But when Jesus, the Son of God, became sin for us, then gave His life, and as Paul tells us, descended into Hades, the battle was on. Now the Son of God, covered in our sins, took on the demons of hell in their domain.

What could they do? Here was God in their midst. Satan thought He was defeated, but through His death it gave Him entrance to the very place God would not go because of His holiness. Now carrying our sins into the pits of hell, that place reserved for us, Jesus faced the tormentor for us. And the tormentor could do nothing but bow at Jesus feet because He is Lord of lords, King of kings, Creator of all things. Even the demons bow before Him.

Those days between Jesus’ death and resurrection remain a mystery for us all. One day we can ask what happened in that interim. Until then we can only surmise what Jesus did during that time. But I expect He did not just sleep. I expect He did not just lay on that stone slab in the cave dug out for Joseph’s final burial place. I expect Jesus was busy letting Satan know He had the last word. Sin would not conquer God’s holiness then, now, or anytime in the future. Jesus died to conquer death. Jesus became sin to destroy sin. Jesus paid a visit to hell to take hell off our vacation list and make it possible for us to avoid its trap.

God, the Father, forsook the Man as Jesus hung on the cross. I think the reason was so He would never have to forsake us. Once and for all, Jesus made possible real life without the dominion of sin and death hanging over us. He conquered it all and three days later burst out of the tomb dressed in glory, the garment of victory for all who follow Him.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.