GO TO DARK GETHSEMANE

Today's promise: Christ is our Redeemer

Go to Dark Gethsemane

Then Jesus brought them into an olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, "Sit here while I go on ahead to pray."…He went on a little farther and fell face down on the ground, praying, "My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will, not mine."

Matthew 26:36-39 NLT

Go to dark Gethsemane, ye that feel the tempter's power; your Redeemer's conflict see; watch Him one bitter hour; turn not from His grief away; learn of Jesus Christ to pray.

See Him at the judgment hall, beaten, bound, reviled, arraigned; see Him meekly bearing all! Love to man His soul sustained. Shun not suffering, shame or loss; learn of Christ to bear the cross.

Go to Dark Gethsemane
James Montgomery (1771-1854)

Learning from Christ's passion

Step by step James Montgomery takes us through Christ's passion. We go with our Lord to the Garden of Gethsemane, where those troublesome thoughts of death assailed Him. While His trusted friends drifted off to sleep, Jesus fought off the temptation to avoid the Cross. It was a difficult time, and in Montgomery's simple text we feel the drops of sweat.

At Jesus' trial — a shabby excuse for justice if ever there was one — He bore the beating and badgering without speaking a word. He was carrying our sins with Him to the Cross. At the Cross we can only fall at His feet to worship.

At each point of this journey we have much to learn from our Savior. We can learn to pray when tempted and to endure suffering with patience. And Christ teaches us to rise in newness of life, to live in a way that honors Him, and ultimately to join Him in glory.

Our Holy Week readings are adapted from The One Year® Book of Hymns by Mark Norton and Robert Brown, Tyndale House Publishers (1995). Today's is taken from the entry for April 1.

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

WERE YOU THERE?

Today's promise: Christ is our Redeemer

Were You There?

As his body was taken away, the women from Galilee followed and saw the tomb where they placed his body. Then they went home and prepared spices and ointments to embalm him. But by the time they were finished it was the Sabbath, so they rested all that day as required by the law.

Luke 23:55-56 NLT

Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they crucified my Lord? O! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble! Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb? Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb? O! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble! Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?

Were You There? Traditional spiritual

Experience the "tremble"

This favorite hymn comes from the rich American spiritual tradition, probably developed in the early 1800s by African-American slaves. As in most spirituals, the words are simple, seizing on one central theme or concept.

Spirituals tend to have a lot of emotional appeal. As a result, this hymn, like few others, puts the singer there. We experience the "tremble" as we sing it. And in the triumphant final stanza, we experience the glory of a risen Lord. We are called out of the cold analysis of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection into the moment of living it. We are called out of the theological debate and into the stark reality. We hear the nails pounded into the cross, we see the onlookers wagging their heads, we smell the burial spices, and we feel the rumble of the stone rolling away. And we tremble… tremble… tremble.

Our Holy Week readings are adapted from The One Year® Book of Hymns by Mark Norton and Robert Brown, Tyndale House Publishers (1995). Today's is taken from the entry for March 21.

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

OUT OF CHAOS

OUT OF CHAOS

READ:

Exodus 8:1-15

Speak evil of no one,…

be peaceable, gentle,

showing all humility to

all men. –Titus 3:2

Everything I observe makes me believe this is true:  Order is not natural.  When I consider my office, I’m astounded at how quickly it descends into chaos and how long it takes me to restore order.  Order requires intervention; it does not happen naturally.

I shouldn’t be surprised.  God’s role in bringing order out of chaos is a prominent biblical theme.  He did it when He was creating the nation of Israel (Exodus 7-14).  When God said it was time to bring the Hebrew people out of Egypt, Pharaoh objected.  His nation’s economy depended on the Hebrew workers, so Pharaoh didn’t want to lose them.  To change Pharaoh’s mind, God sent 10 plagues to convince him.  Pharaoh’s magicians were able to duplicate the first two plagues.  But they could not reverse the plagues-any of them.  They could cause chaos, but they could not restore order.  Only God can do that.

With effort, we can bring order to our living spaces, but none of us can bring order out of the emotional and spiritual chaos of our lives.  Only God can do that.  He restores order to chaotic situations when we live as God intended-speaking no evil, being peaceable and gentle, and showing humility to all (Titus 3:2). – Julie Ackerman Link

Father, our world and our lives do have much chaos

and confusion.  We need You to restore our souls.

Help us to live as You want us to live-

loving others.

When we put our problems in God’s hands,

He puts His peace in our hearts.

INSIGHT

The Egyptian magicians could only mimic three of the miracles of Moses-staffs turned into serpents (Exodus 7:11), water turned to blood (7:22), and the frog plague (8:7).  Unable to mimic the remaining plagues (8:16-11:10), the magicians acknowledged that they were from “the finger of God” (8:19).

Have a blessed day.

God Our Creator’s Love Always

Unity & Peace

HOPE CAN KILL AS WELL AS COMFORT

Your Brother Daniel

For more great blogs as this one go to Daniel’s blog site at:  www.Mannsword.blogspot.com

Hope can Kill as well as Comfort

What is the most valuable thing that you can give to someone in pain? Hope! Traditionally, hope was to be found in an all-powerful and all-loving God. In 1978, Martin L. Gross wrote of the advance of a new game-changing hope, one promoted by modern psychology (MP):

·       This change in inner man has taken place quietly, yet it has altered the nature of our civilization beyond recognition. The major agent of change has been modern psychology. (The Psychological Society, 3)

·       For many, the [Psychological] Society has all the earmarks of a potent now religion. When educated man lost faith in formal religion, he required a substitute belief that would be as reputable in the last half of the twentieth century as Christianity was in the first. Psychology and psychiatry have now assumed that special role. They offer mass belief, a promise of a better future, opportunity for confession, unseen mystical workings and a trained priesthood of helping professionals devoted to servicing the paying-by-the-hour communicants. (9)

The hope that MP offers for a “better future” is the hope in ourselves. This hope is reflected in these kinds of statements: “You got whatever it takes.” “You got to believe in yourself!” “You have to empower yourself.” “You have the answers within you!”

As the hope in God began to wane, other sources of hope were sought to fill the vacuum. Various utopian schemes were tried and found lacking. These gave way to a hope in ourselves, a hope that now occupies a pinnacle of almost unquestioned acceptance – a self-evident truth.

But is it a self-evident truth or a destructive form of addiction – a mental rut? Let’s consider some ramifications of what happens when we place our hope in ourselves:

1.     In order to truly hope in ourselves in terms of both our moral status/identity and our abilities to handle the challenges of life, we are coerced to think more of ourselves than we ought. For one thing, we are filled with moral defects and failures. If we are to trust in ourselves, these will have to be glossed over or denied.

2.     Any management requires accurate data. However, if we can no longer clearly regard ourselves, we can no longer effectively manage ourselves.

3.     High self-esteem is positively correlated with anti-social behaviors.

4.     With our unwillingness to truly regard ourselves, self-alienation results – alienated from who we really are!

5.     Relationships require a shared common ground. However, if each party has an inflated view of themselves, that common reality is eroded. Dissonance then undermines intimacy.

6.     We understand life by seeing through the lens of self. If we cannot clearly see ourselves, we cannot clearly see others. If our understanding of ourselves is distorted, this distortion will affect everything else that we observe.

7.     In order to maintain a high self-esteem, criticism must be avoided. However, we require accurate feedback to make appropriate adjustments. This is especially true for relationships – work and otherwise.

8.     If our well-being rests upon a high estimation of ourselves, we will naturally become self-focused and self-absorbed. Where our treasure is, so too will our heart and attention be. Instead of offering freedom, self-trust  imprisons.

All of these raise the question – “Do we actually undermine ourselves when we place all of this weight of self-concern on our shoulders?” Jesus offered a different remedy:

·       “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

BIBLICAL CRITICISM AND THE BETRAYAL OF THE GOSPELS

Your Brother Daniel

For more great blogs as this one go to Daniel’s blog site at:  www.Mannsword.blogspot.com

Biblical Criticism and the Betrayal of the Gospels

We are a product of our culture, and we tend to underestimate this fact. Ironically, this is perhaps even truer of those with advanced degrees. After all, we have spent more time conforming to societal/professional expectations and seeking the approval of our colleagues.

This seems to be especially true in the world of biblical/textual scholarship, where we spend our efforts trying to understand the Bible from a scholarly perspective. Sadly, our cultural conformity often escapes our awareness and leads us in an unbiblical direction.

For example, the skeptics, noting the verbal similarities among the Synoptic Gospels – Matthew, Mark and Luke – charge that they are not independent accounts of the life of Jesus, but reflect the fact that these Gospels have borrowed from each other. (Actually, Luke admits that his Gospel is the result of his investigations of various eyewitness accounts.)

The more conservative scholars have countered that the Gospels represent the corporate oral traditions of a vast body of eyewitnesses, and this would account for their many verbal similarities.

However, both of these groups overwhelmingly fail to reason from the fact that the Gospels are not just the word of man but also the Word of God (1 Thess. 2:13). In other words, while the Bible-believing scholars believe that the Bible is the Word of God, this truth is often absent from their defense of the Gospels. Instead, they seem to exclusively treat the Bible as the word of man.

Jesus’ commission of His Apostles stands in direct opposition to this misguided emphasis. He informed them that their teaching ministry – at first oral and then written – would be the product of the Spirit, who would reveal all things to them:

·       “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:26)

·       “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.” (John 15:26-27)

·       “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.” (John 16:12-14)

In view of these teachings, the word of the Apostles – and they had been eyewitnesses from the beginning – was not primarily their own word (1 Peter 1:9-11; 2 Peter 1:19-21) but the Word of the Spirit. He would teach them all truth and remind them of everything.

Our research methods determine research results. If we start with methods that only take into account the humanity of the Bible, the findings will only reflect a human Bible.

Although Scripture is partially amenable to human analysis, it also comes from above. As such, it is not amenable to human analysis. Instead, when we analyze it as if it is merely man’s word, we betray the teachings of Jesus and our faith.

(Please read: http://www.raymondibrahim.com/in-the-media/why-is-christian-persecution-in-the-middle-east-under-reported/)

PARTAKE OF ME

Today's promise: Christ is our Redeemer

Partake of Me

I live by the power of the living Father who sent me; in the same way, those who partake of me will live because of me.

John 6:57 NLT

Bread of the world, in mercy broken, wine of the soul, in mercy shed, by whom the words of life were spoken, and in whose death our sins are dead;
Look on the heart by sorrow broken, look on the tears by sinners shed; and may Thy feast to us be the token that by Thy grace our souls are fed.

Bread of the World, in Mercy Broken
Reginald Heber (1783-1826)

A Communion hymn

Reginald Heber wrote this hymn specifically for use in the service before the Eucharist. Its simple lines focus first on Christ and then on the attitude of the singer. Christ has spoken words of life and has taken our sins to the cross with Him. We are sorry for our sins and take this "feast" of bread and wine as a "token" of the forgiveness that Christ offers.

For sixteen years Heber served as a parish priest in the village of Hodnet in western England. Three times he was asked to become the bishop of Calcutta, India, and twice he turned it down. Finally at the age of forty, he accepted the call and sailed for India with his wife and two daughters. Three years later, after preaching to a crowded church near Hindu shrines to Vishnu and Siva, he suffered a stroke and died.

While Heber's hymns initially met with official church resistance, many of them were eventually published shortly before his death and have been a blessing to believers for nearly two centuries.

Our Holy Week readings are adapted from The One Year® Book of Hymns by Mark Norton and Robert Brown, Tyndale House Publishers (1995). Today's is taken from the entry for April 4.

For more reflection on Holy week, see The Passion, Tyndale's companion book to Mel Gibson's powerful movie about the last twelve hours of Jesus' life.

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

HOSANNA, LOUD HOSANNA

Today's promise: Christ is our Redeemer

Hosanna, Loud Hosanna

The next day, the news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city. A huge crowd of Passover visitors took palm branches and went down the road to meet him.

John 12:12 NLT

From Olivet they followed mid an exultant crowd the victor palm branch waving, and chanting clear and loud; the Lord of men and angels rode on in lowly state, nor scorned that little children should on His bidding wait.

Hosanna, Loud Hosanna by Jeannette Threlfall (1821-1880)

Praising her victorious Savior

Today is Palm Sunday. The triumphal entry into Jerusalem was the scene of a curious exchange between Jesus and the religious leaders of the day. A crowd was following Jesus, waving palms and singing, "Hosanna!" This term, literally meaning, "Lord, save us!" was also a cry of praise.

This crowd included a number of children, no doubt caught up in the excitement of the day. The leaders asked Jesus to tell the children to stop such singing. Certainly Jesus wouldn't want innocent kids to be guilty of blasphemy. "Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked Jesus.

Yes, Jesus said, quoting Psalm 8:2, "From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise." (Matthew 21:16)

You might think that Jeannette Threlfall had many reasons not to praise God. Orphaned young, shuttled among relatives, she was injured in an accident and became an invalid. Yet she remained cheery and faithful, penning many Christian poems and hymns. Her life was a cry of hosanna! to her victorious Savior.

Our Holy Week readings are adapted from The One Year® Book of Hymns by Mark Norton and Robert Brown, Tyndale House Publishers (1995). Today's is taken from the entry for March 31.

For more reflection on Holy week, see The Passion, Tyndale's companion book to Mel Gibson's powerful movie about the last twelve hours of Jesus' life.

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

WHO'S AT THE CENTER?

WHO’S AT THE CENTER?

READ:

Psalm 33:6-19

The counsel of the LORD

stands forever, the plans

of His heart to all generations.

-Psalm 33:11

Recently, I had what for me was a “Copernican moment”:  I am not at the center of the universe.  The world doesn’t revolve around me.  It doesn’t move at my pace, in my terms, nor in accord with my preferences.

Though we might wish it to be otherwise, life is not all about us.  Everything revolves around the Lord.  In Psalm 33, we read that all nature revolves around Him and His control (vv.6-9).  He assigned the sea its boundaries and locked the ocean in vast reservoirs.  Everything in nature operates in accordance with the laws He has set.

The nations also revolve around the Lord (vv.10-12).  No plan or scheme can stand up against God’s .  Ultimately, it is the Lord’s plan that will stand forever.  His intentions can never be shaken.

Finally, the lives of all humanity revolve around the Lord (vv.13-19).  God sees the whole human race.  He made our hearts, and He understands everything we do.  And He has the power to intervene in our lives and deliver us from situations spinning out of control.

Our life is created to be centered on God, not self.  How thankful we can be to serve such a powerful God, who has every aspect of our lives under His control.  –Poh Fang Chia

Teach me, Lord, to live out the truth of Psalm

33.  May I revere You as I should.  May I and all

the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of You,

for Your counsel and plans stand forever.

**************************************

When we die to all about us,

we live to God above us.

INSIGHT

In this song of praise, the psalmist calls the righteous to praise God for His Word and His work (vv.1-3).  He celebrates God’s power in creation-“He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast” (vv.6-9)- and points to the special privilege and blessedness of being God’s chosen people (v.12).

Have a blessed day and week ahead.

God Our Creator’s Love Always

Unity & Peace

WHAT WAS THE MOST EFFECTIVE DISCIPLINE YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED?

Today's promise: God celebrates family

What was the most effective discipline you have experienced?

Now his father, King David, had never disciplined him at any time, even by asking, "What are you going?"

1 Kings 1:6 NLT

Rebounding skills

Suppose you get home from grocery shopping and discover your six-year-old is eating candy you didn't buy. It might be tempting to just scold him, send him to his room, and let it go at that. After all, it's only worth a dollar, and you're tired. But you'd miss an opportunity to turn this "miss" into a second chance.

It would be better to take away any uneaten candy, put your little shoplifter back in the car, drive to the grocery store, hunt up the manager, and tell your kid to apologize. Pay for the candy and deduct it from the child's allowance. Then, if the culprit is truly sorry, be sure to express your forgiveness — and God's forgiveness, too.

You've just boxed out the opposition and put your kid in position to rightly rebound. Because there will come another time in that grocery store or when he's passing a coveted pair of Nikes or — who knows?
Ricky Birdsong in Coaching Your Kids in the Game of Life

The Bible tells us that parents have the primary responsibility for the spiritual development of our children. And nowhere is the job given only to mothers and grandmothers. As Moses told the people of Israel, "Repeat [the command of God] again and again to your children" (Deut. 6:7). Why not begin today?

adapted from Men of Integrity Devotional Bible with devotionals by the editors of Men of Integrity magazine (Christianity Today, Intl), Tyndale House Publishers (2002), p 391

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It is easier to build boys than to mend men.
AUTHOR UNKNOWN

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

COMING SOON!

COMING SOON!

READ:

Revelation 22:7-21

“Surely I am coming quickly.”

-Revelation 22:20

A ”COMING SOON!” ANNOUNCEMENT OFTEN PRECEDES FUTURE EVENTS IN ENTERTAINMENT AND SPORT, OF THE LAUNCH OF THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY.  The goal is to create anticipation and excitement for what is going to happen, even though it may be months away.

While reading the book of Revelation, I was impressed with the “coming soon” sense of immediacy permeating the entire book.  Rather than saying “Someday, in the far distant future, Jesus Christ is going to return to earth,” the text is filled with phrases like “things which must shortly take place” (1:1) and “the time is near” (v.3).  Three times in the final chapter, the Lord says, “I am coming quickly” (Revelation 22:7, 12, 20).  Other versions translate this phrase as, “I’m coming soon,” “I’m coming speedily,” and “I’m on My way!”

How can this be-since 2,000 years have elapsed since these words were written? “Quickly” doesn’t seem appropriate for our experience of time.

Rather than focusing on a date for His return, the Lord is urging us to set our hearts on His promise that will be fulfilled.  We are called to live for Him in this present age “looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). –David McCasland

Marvelous message we bring,

Glorious carol we sing,

Wonderful word of the King:

Jesus is coming again!-Peterson

******************************

Live as if Christ is coming back today.

INSIGHT

As with today’s text, 2 Peter 3:1-10 deals with Jesus’ imminent return.  Peter explains that “the Lord is not slack concerning His promise…but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (v.9).

Have a blessed day.

God Our Creator’s Love Always

Unity & Peace

THE MARCH OF WESTERN INSANITY AND ITS APPEAL

Your Brother Daniel

For more great blogs as this one go to Daniel’s blog site at:  www.Mannsword.blogspot.com

The March of Western Insanity and its Appeal

Criticism of the Christian faith is becoming both increasingly outlandish and fashionable – so fashionable that reason no longer matters.

·        A Parti Quebecois (PQ) candidate [Louise Mailloux] who said baptism and circumcision were equivalent to rape is being defended by party leader Pauline Marois as a “supporter of our charter on religious neutrality.” http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/quebec-premier-defends-candidate-who-compares-baptism-and-circumcision-to-r?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=0b827a5901-LifeSiteNews_com_US_Headlines_06_19_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0caba610ac-0b827a5901-326211134

·       Mailloux compared Christian baptism and Jewish circumcision to rape since she said a child’s religion is forced upon him or her at birth.

Equating baptism and circumcision with rape is monstrous! Such an equation obscures and denies the horrors of rape, reducing it to a mere familial ritual. It claims that rape involves a trauma no greater than that of baptism.

In contrast to this insane equation, both my daughter and granddaughter requested baptism without any adult prodding. Have you ever heard of anyone requesting to be violently raped?

Although I don’t believe in infant baptism, I still feel compelled to defend this practice against the charge of “rape since… a child’s religion is forced upon him or her at birth.” If this is rape, then all forms of childhood training are rape – teaching values, potty training, wearing cloths, going to the doctor, eating, speaking, … everything! Consequently, it is impossible to not rape one’s child! This, of course is madness. Of course, when the government takes and educates our children, this is not rape!

Nevertheless, Marois defends Mailloux by virtue of her “religious neutrality”:

·       “Her writings are eloquent, I respect her point of view,” said "She is a supporter of our charter on religious neutrality and we appreciate her support.”

There is nothing neutral about Mailloux’ stance! She has equated Christian and Jewish practice to rape. Do hospitals also rape the newborns by circumcising them? By performing operations? By feeding them intravenously? By forcing medication upon them?

It seems that she reserves her vitriol for religion. However, she too is just as religious. After all, what are value statements if not religious? They are not science. Science tells us what is and not what ought to be. The latter is the role of religion, whether the religion invokes a higher being or not. How then can this political party claim neutrality and then, from its alleged pinnacle of neutrality, demonize those the regard as religious rapists?

This is the “logic” of the day. It need not be logical, just socially acceptable or politically correct. Can civilization survive on such a junk-food diet of hypocrisy? I don’t see how!

While I am surprised to see how quickly Western Civilization is plummeting into insanity, I shouldn’t be. This has all been prophesied. Jesus proclaimed this verdict on humanity:

·       “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” (John 3:19-21)

Nor is this a victimless verdict or a costless love:

·       “All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them.” (John 16:1-4)

These are the fruits of the darkness of evil and the delight of the Western Elites.