Pastor Mike Impact Ministries

Todaywe are talking about the riches that we have in Christ Jesus. Sometimeswe think of the wealthiest people on earth such as Elon Musk being worth over$430 billion and Jeff Bezos, the owner and founder of Amazon, over 200-plusbillion dollars, and other wealthy people. The top five billionaires in theworld altogether—their wealth is over a trillion dollars—and we go, wow,wouldn't we like to have that? Well, my friend, I am telling you, you havesomething better than that. You have eternal riches.  Thefact that Paul is writing about wealth would be significant to his readers,because Ephesus was considered the bank of Asia. One of the seven wonders ofthe world, the great temple of Diana, was in Ephesus, and was not only a centerfor idolatrous worship, but also a depository for wealth. Some of the greatestart treasures of the ancient world were housed in this magnificent building. Inthis letter, Paul will compare the church of Jesus Christ to a temple and willexplain the great wealth that Christ has in His church. Paul is saying to us, "BE RICH!" Thatis what Paul says in verse three: “Blessed be the God and Father of our LordJesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlyplaces in Christ.” Our riches are not in a passing world, a temporaryworld, the temporary wealth of this world. Our riches are found in the eternalperson of Jesus Christ Himself. We have His riches. We are co-inheritors withHim of all the riches of God. Our Father in heaven owns it all.  TheHoly Spirit is mentioned many times in this letter, because He is the one whochannels our riches to us from the Father, through the Son. Not to know anddepend on the Holy Spirit's provision is to live a life of spiritual poverty.No wonder Paul began his Ephesian ministry asking some professed Christians ifthey really knew the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:1-7). We might ask professedChristians today, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Ifthe answer is no, then you are not saved." "Now if any man havenot the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His" (Romans 8:9). Unless youhave the witness of the Spirit (Romans 8:15-16), you cannot draw on the wealthof the Spirit. Inthese first verses of this chapter one of the guarantees that we're going tosee of our salvation and our eternal inheritance in Christ is based on the factthat we have been given the Holy Spirit (vv.11-14). In the Old Testament,promises were made to Israel that they would be blessed with prosperity, withwealth, with land, with material things. But my friend, the blessings that arepromised to the believer are eternal blessings. We're not called to be blessedwith riches physically. The prosperity gospel preachers are deceitfullymisleading many today to believe that God has promised us material wealth now.Actually Jesus promised us poverty and suffering now if we truly follow Him.  Ourriches In Christ are not in the sweet by and by. We are rich and blessed inChrist spiritually speaking right now! In Philippians 3, Paul said, "Icount all things but loss for the glory and the riches that I have in ChristJesus… that I might know Him and the power of His resurrection." Ourriches are found in the fact that we have the promise that “our God willsupply all our needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians4:19). “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians4:13).  Myfriend, today we have the power, the ability, and the desire to please God forheavenly riches, heavenly things, and heavenly results. You can't take yourmoney to heaven with you, but you can take people to heaven with you that youinfluence and impact with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Today,you are rich in Christ. You've been born into tremendous wealth in Christ. Youare seated with Him in the heavenlies even right now. GodBless!

We have talked about God's graceand how important it is that we experience God's grace before we can experienceHis peace—peace with God. The Bible definitely teaches that we'reat enmity with God before our salvation. We're enemies of God. We're alienatedin our minds by wicked works away from God (Colossians 1:21), and we needreconciliation.  Justnow the world is looking for peace in the Ukraine in the Middle East. But there will be no peace without the Man of peace.That's Jesus Christ. And I can tell you one day He will bring peace to thisworld. Jesus said to His disciples, "Let not your heart be troubled.You believe in God, believe also in Me" (John 14:1).   Ourhearts are yearning for peace. Your heart yearns for peace. There's somethingmissing inside because you literally are not at one with the Father in heavenwho created you, your Creator God. You've been alienated from Him by sin thatyou were born with in your heart. And there's only one way to make peace, andthat's through the blood of His cross. That's why Romans 5:1 says, "Therefore,being justified by faith," remember we talked about grace and faith.  Paulwrote to the “faithful in Christ” at Ephesus, those who have a savingfaith. And when you have a saving faith in the blood of Christ on the cross ofCalvary, you can then enjoy His peace. You're at peace with God only throughthe sacrifice and the blood of His Son Jesus Christ. Paul wrote, “Therefore,being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our LordJesus Christ" (Romans 5:1).  Peacewith Godis what we need and what we are longing for. No more war, no more enmity, nomore separation. We're reconciled to God. And it says He reconciles all thingsto Himself in Colossians 1:20, “And having reconciled all things to Himself,having made peace by the blood of His cross”. It's only through the bloodof His cross that you can experience by faith this wonderful peace with God.Have you ever come to the cross? Have you ever come to Christ through Hisblood?  InEphesians 2:13-17 Paul wrote, "But now in Christ Jesus, you who oncewere far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himselfis our peace, who has made both one and broken down the middle wall ofseparation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is the law ofcommandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new manfrom the two, thus making peace, that He might reconcile them both toGod in one body through the cross, therefore putting to death the enmity. AndHe came and preached peace to you who were far off, those who are nownear”. Myfriend, Paul was saying that the Jews were near, (they had the law of Moses),but the Gentiles, we were far off, but we are all separated from Christ. But inChrist, we are brought together, and we have peace. Oh, today this is peacewith God. But then there is also the peace of God that passes allunderstanding. Read Philippians 4:4-9. Those first verses there that talk aboutbeing at peace with God because we yield everything in our lives to Him. Wesurrender our will. We surrender our possessions. We surrender everything toHim. And we can then enjoy the peace of God that passes allunderstanding. And then think on these things that are pure and holy and lovelyand kind and good and gracious.  Youcan live a life of peace. That's why John 14:27 means so much to me when Jesussaid, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you, (The verypeace He had with His Father), not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Letnot your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Troubledhearts, fearful hearts can come to reconciliation with God through Christ inHis blood on the cross and find that peace that passes all understanding andthat peace that takes away the enmity with God.  Godbless you today as you experience and enjoy grace and peace throughfaith in Christ Jesus.

Paul writes, "Grace to you and peace from God ourFather and the Lord Jesus Christ." We could spend several weeks juston this one small verse, that starts with the word grace. The word graceis used 12 times in the book of Ephesians. It refers to the kindness of Godtoward undeserving people. Some people abbreviate that by saying that grace is God'sunmerited favor. That's what grace is.  Overthe years I have also expanded the description of Biblical grace to say thatgrace is God giving us everything we need to be able to fulfill and do the willof God and to find fulfillment in Christ Jesus. Peter said it this way: “Graceand peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, asHis divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which havebeen given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through theseyou may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption thatis in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:2-4). Whenyou read through Paul's epistles you will notice that he begins every letterwith the greeting, “grace to you and peace from God our Father and the LordJesus Christ”. Paul is really big on God's grace. Paul finishes everyletter speaking of God's grace; “Grace be unto you from our Lord JesusChrist”. Next time you read through Paul's epistles be sure to notice this.Grace is a big thing with the Apostle Paul because it's a big thing with God.  TheBible tells us in John chapter 1 that the law was given by Moses, but grace andtruth came by Jesus Christ. You want to know what God's grace is? Look full inthe face of Jesus Christ and there you'll see God's grace because what you needis found in Christ. That's why Paul mentions grace and peace together so often.Now tomorrow we're going to talk about peace with God and the peace of God. Buttoday we are looking at God's grace. As I said, we desperately need God's graceto be all that we should be for the glory of God.  Graceis God giving us the desire to be saved. One of the most famous verses in theNew Testament is Ephesians 2:8- 9. “For by grace are you saved through faithand that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any manshould boast.” A person does not get saved without God giving you thegrace, giving you the desire to be saved. And when does God give you the desireto be saved? We find the answer to that in James 4:6, and also 1 Peter 5:5-6. Andthey both quote the same thing out of the Old Testament book of Proverbs 3:34. Thisis where Solomon wrote that God gives grace to the humble.  Jamesand Peter in their verses make it clear that “God resists the proud, but Hegives grace to the humble”. When we humble ourselves, when we have contritehearts. When we are broken. When we become desperate for God and the peace ofGod recognizing our great need of God's forgiveness for our sin, it is thenthat God looks down upon our humble heart and He gives us grace. First, Hegives us the desire to get saved and then He gives us the willingness to getsaved and then He actually saves us by His grace.  Oneof my favorite verses about grace is found in 1 Corinthians 15:10, where theApostle Paul proclaims, "But by the grace of God, I am what I am. AndHis grace toward me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than theyall. Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me."  Paul acknowledges that, "EverythingI am and everything I hope to be and everything I have accomplished for thepurposes of God is only by His grace”. Yes,my friend it is God's grace that gives us the desire, the power, the ability todo what God wants us to do. That's why Paul would write in all his letters and say,"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord JesusChrist." Everything we really need today comes from Him.

Iremember when I was a child growing up in a family that was very poor. I tell you what, my friend. The moment I found Jesus Christ as a 19-year-oldteenager, I became the richest person in the universe in Christ. And that'swhat Ephesians is about: knowing and understanding the riches of the glory theHis inheritance that I have in Jesus Christ. And that's why these three versesare so powerful to help us begin to understand what we need to learn and knowfrom this book.  Verse1 tells us that Paul is an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and thathe is writing this epistle “to the saints who are in Ephesus andfaithful in Christ Jesus.” The word saints there is a very importantword. It's a word that's used at least nine times in the book of Ephesians. Theword saint actually means “one who has been set apart”. Somebody that's beensanctified. Somebody that's been made holy. The moment you received JesusChrist, you were set apart for by the Holy Spirit for Christ and for His glory(Romans 6:3).  Imean all the riches in Christ were set apart for you in Christ at that moment.And so when we trust Christ in a sense we're taken out of this world and we'replaced in Christ in a heavenly world, we can enjoy heaven on earth. We do nothave to wait for the sweet by and by. And you were set apart to go to heavenone day. It's so sad that many of us do not understand or recognize the richeswe have in Christ.  Itkind of reminds me of the story I read recently of Hetty Green who lived from1834 to 1916. When she died she was worth over $100 million. In our moneytoday, that would be $2.5 billion. She was called the witch of Wall Street. Inthe Guinness Book of World Records, she's called America's greatest miser. It'sreported that she ate cold oatmeal because it cost to heat it. She ate mostlypies that cost 15 cents. She was said never to turn on the heat or use hotwater. She wore one old black dress and undergarments that she changed onlyafter they had been worn out. She did not wash her hands and she rode in an oldcarriage. One tale claims that Green spent half a night searching her carriagefor a lost stamp worth two cents. Another asserts that she instructed herlaundress to wash only the dirtiest part of her dresses, the hems, to savemoney on soap. The sad thing is she had a son that had to suffer a legamputation because she delayed in taking so long looking for a free clinic thathis case became incurable.  Howsad. But a sadder fact is the fact that there are so many Christians that areliving miserable lives because they do not know about and understand the richesthey have in Christ. I've often said the most miserable people in the world arenot lost people. They're enjoying the pleasures of sin for the few moments theymight have with it. It's the Christian who can't enjoy those pleasures of sinany longer because of the convicting power of the Holy Spirit in their lives,but they have never begun to comprehend the great riches they have in Christ.  That'swhat we're going to be talking about these next few days in Christ. In Christ.Matter of fact, the phrase “in Christ” is used, some 15 times in the book ofEphesians. We are “in Christ”. Oh, if we could only begin to understand that. Peterput it this way in 1 Peter 1:3-5: “Blessed be the God and Father of our LordJesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to aliving hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to aninheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reservedin heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvationready to be revealed in the last time.” Itrust today you will begin to recognize and know the riches of His glory of theinheritance that you have in Christ.  Godbless you, and may you have a wonderful, wonderful day!

Paul pray forthe church at Ephesus during their time of tremendous persecution they wouldknow how blessed they were in Christ. Today we want to give a little backgroundhistorically of this church and the reason Paul wrote this letter.  Nowas you read these first verses of this chapter, you find verse number one, Paulis the writer of this epistle. And we need to remember that the Apostle Paulwrote at least 13 of the 27 books of the New Testament. And he wrote them asletters, as epistles to churches or to individuals that he knew. Nine of theseletters were written to churches. Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians,Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and 1 and 2 Thessalonians. Four of theseletters were written to individuals. First and Second Timothy and Titus andPhilemon.  Weknow that Paul wrote most of his writings over a period of about 15 years. Fourof Paul's letters are what are called the Prison Epistles. They were writtenbetween AD 60 and AD 62 when he was in prison in Rome under house arrest (Acts28:30-31). He sent these letters from prison by four different men to thesechurches and one individual. Tychicus took the letter to Ephesus (Ephesians6:21). Epaphroditus from Philippi took the letter to the Philippians (Philippians4:18). Epaphras was from Colossae and he took the epistle to the Colossians.And then Onesimus who was a slave that Paul led to the Lord while he was in prison,was the one who took the letter back to Colossae where Philemon lived and deliveredhis letter to him. Nowas you read these letters and you read what Paul was going through during thistime, Paul was in prison. He was suffering. He was maybe facing immediatedeath. But we know that basically Paul was released for a period of time and laterwas sent went back to Rome under Nero's rule and there he was executed around AD67.  Thebook of Acts records at least three missionary journeys that Paul tookthroughout the Roman Empire. It was on the second missionary journey that hewas on that he went through Ephesus (Acts 18:19). He stayed only a short timebut two years later while he was on his third missionary journey he stayed inEphesus for at least two years and during that period of time it tells us thatall of Asia heard the gospel (Acts19:1-20) Later when Paul was on his way toJerusalem in Acts 20, he met with the elders of the church there at Ephesus andencouraged them to stand strong in the midst of persecution.  Later,when Paul was arrested in Jerusalem and then sent to Rome a prisoner is when hewrote this letter to the church at Ephesus. They were going through a difficulttime of persecution that was happening throughout the Roman empire and Paul waswriting a letter to help them. There's three words that stand out in this firstchapter I think are so important. Faith, Hope and Love.  Inverse one Paul talked about they were faithful in Christ Jesus. In verse15, Paul said, “he heard of their faith”, and “their love for allthe saints”. Obviously despite the hard time they were still exercising theirfaith and their love but then Paul said that he was praying “that they wouldknow the hope of their calling (v. 18). Faith, hope and love, three greatwords. Paul later to the Corinthians would say, "Now abide these three,faith, hope, love" (1 Corinthians 13:13). You can gage the strength ofyour Christian life on the amount that you have of these three spiritual connectionsto the Lord. When everything falls apart around you these three things will keepyou going! Myfriend, that's what you need when you're going through difficult, terribletimes. You need to know your position in Christ, the riches of His glory thatyou have in Him despite the circumstances around you. Keep your eyes on Jesus.He is the only hope that you can have that will bring you real security.  Today,how strong are your faith, hope and love? Godbless!

Wefinished the book of Luke several days ago and today we're going to start ourstudy in the book of Ephesians and will be looking at it for the next severalmonths. I love the book of Ephesians. I love it because I believe it gives usthe essence of what it really is to live out our Christian faith. The reasonmany people give for not becoming a Christian is because they meet a so-calledChristian who is not living out their Christian faith. I believe that Ephesiansis a powerful book that gives us a strong foundation for our Christian walk so thatwe might truly live a life that pleases God and also will give us the greatestfulfillment as we participate in His body life.  Hoseathe prophet proclaims a message to Israel revealing to them what is at the rootof their failure to live for Jehovah was their lack of knowledge of God's truth.Hosea repeats this message several times here in chapters 4 and 6. "Hearthe word of the Lord, you children of Israel, for the Lord brings a chargeagainst the inhabitants of the land. There is no truth or mercy or knowledgeof God in the land” (4:1). And then in chapter 4:6 he says, "Mypeople are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge,I'll also reject you from being priest for me. Because you have forgottenthe law of your God, I will also forget your children." In Hosea6:3, he writes: “Let us know. Let us pursue the knowledge of theLord. His going forth is established as the morning. He will come to uslike rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth”. And finally inHosea 6:6; “For I desire mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of Godmore than burnt offerings”.  Todaywe are looking at the spiritual reason and the purpose we have for this studyof the book of Ephesians. I believe that the Lord has led me to make this ournext biblical study. In Ephesians 1:18, Paul said, he is praying several thingsfor them, but especially that “the eyes of your understanding beingenlightened." He says, "Here's my prayer. Here's what I'm writingthis book about:" First, "That you may know what isthe hope of His calling." Secondly, "That you may knowwhat are the riches of the glory of the inheritance in the saints? And third,"That you may know what is the exceeding greatness of His powertoward us who believe according to the working of His mighty power”.  Aswe look at this book over the next few months, I've outlined the whole book bylooking at each chapter to keep our focus and emphasis on Jesus. Jesus is thecenter. He is what our belief, our Christian life is all about. Matter of fact,a repeated phrase in this book and especially the first couple chapters aboutour position that we have in Christ. In Christ, in Christ, in Him, in Christ. Amajor issue for believers today is that we do not know our position inChrist. And the first three chapters have to do with our position in Christ.The last three chapters is how to live out practically what we knowabout our position in Christ.  Mysimple outline of the book is: Ephesians 1 is knowing Jesus. Ephesians 2is living Jesus. Ephesians 3 is loving Jesus. And then the lastthree chapters, the practical chapters are: Ephesians 4 is talking Jesus.Ephesians 5 is walking Jesus. And then finally, Ephesians 6 is standingwith Jesus. We stand in Him and we overcome the wiles of the evil one. Rememberwe are being destroyed and overcome by the world and the evil one because ofour lack of knowledge of God and His Son Jesus Christ Today,just to get us started, think on these things. Are you being destroyed for lackof knowledge of who you are in Christ? I trust today God will speak to yourheart to love Him, to know Him, to live for Him, and to make a difference inthis crazy world in which we live for eternity.  Godbless!

Forthe last few days, I have been asking for prayers for some 600 pastors in eastIndia that we partner with to take the gospel to every creature. InJanuary of this year, I met with 400 of these pastors and promised them I wouldfind at least one person in America to pray for them. I promised them that Iwould connect them with a believer, who loves the Lord, who believes that thegospel is what changes and transforms lives, to pray for them. I've been askingyou to join me in our India pastor's prayer team and be a part of a great workthat God is doing. If the Lord is speaking to your heart right now, pleasesimply email right now at: pastormike@pmiministries.org Ilike what E.M. Bounds said. He said, "One cannot rightly call himself aChristian if he does not pray." Prayer and being a follower of JesusChrist go hand in hand. You cannot absolutely be the believer, and theChristian God wants you to be without prayer. It seems that many of our prayersare prayers that we just throw up thanking God for food, grandma, grandpa, momand dad and some of the people we work with. Then we pray desperately when weget in trouble or have a need. But the truth is Paul said, "Praywithout ceasing."  Now,Paul believed in prayer. Paul, as we pointed out yesterday, asked for prayersfor himself. He asked, "Please, please pray for me as I share the gospelthat I might be bold, that I might be courageous, that I might use the rightwords. That there will open doors and opportunities for me." These pastorsin India, are people like myself. I'm convinced, as a pastor, the only reasonI've made it is because people have prayed for me. My mother was a prayingwoman who prayed daily for me. I will never forget Henry Gold making thecommitment to pray for me as a pastor every day. From the day he was tragicallykilled in an accident, I felt like I lost one of my best friends, but I also losta prayer warrior who pleaded before the throne of God for us as we serve theLord in ministry.  Weneed your prayers. Pastors need your prayers. Everyone that the Holy Spirit ofGod puts in your heart and in your mind needs your prayers. Again I'm askingyou to take one of these pastors in your heart for prayer. I wanted to pointout a few more verses that the apostle Paul actually wrote in talking aboutpeople praying for him and the difference that it would make. And I would callthis devotion through your prayers and through the prayers of many.  Read2 Corinthians 1:8-11 again and notice how Paul faced death on several occasionsbut was delivered because, “You also joining in helping us through yourprayers so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for thefavor bestowed on us through the prayers of many”. And Paul wrote inPhilippians 1:19, “For I know that this will turn out for my deliverancethrough your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,  again thanking people my deliverance throughyour prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” InPhilemon 1:22, Paul wrote: “At the same time prepare for me lodging for Ihope that through your prayers I will be given to you through your prayers.” Yes,my friend through your prayers these pastors in India will be able to survivethe hardship that they face. It is beyond our imagination the persecution theydeal with every day and the difficult field they work in sharing the gospel. Theyhave very little support in taking care of feeding their family and helpingprovide food for the  flock that God'sgiven to them. They often have very little education and only by God's graceand God's wisdom are they able to preach a gospel message and teach the Bibleevery Sunday.  Theydesperately need your prayers. Would you join me? Write me an email at my emailaddress below and just say, "Pastor Mike, I'll be one of those that willpray with you for a pastor". Godbless!pastormike@pmiministries.org

Iread through the New Testament at least twice a year, sometimes even three andfour times a year. I love reading the New Testament, especially the epistles ofthe Apostle Paul as he writes to the churches. And I noticed these last fewtimes as I've been reading how many times the Apostle Paul asked for prayer.And I'm thinking about how if he, this anointed man of God, who writes 13 booksof the New Testament, asks for prayer on many occasions, how much more do I asa pastor, and pastors, need the prayers of God's people?  Today,again I am inviting you to join us in doing the great important task ofintercessory prayer for pastors in India who really have no connections withanybody but a small group of other pastors. The pastors we're working with andpraying for are over 600 men of God that are overseeing over 1300 churchesthey're working with. We have a great leader that oversees and loves them,prays for them, visits them, and encourages them. When I was there with them thispast January, I met with them, preached to them, took pictures of over 400 ofthem and, and told them I would have somebody individually praying for each oneof them.  Istill need at least 300 people to join me on this Pastors in India Prayer Team.So, please consider this wonderful opportunity to join us in the prayer effortand email at: pastormike@pmiministries.org Noticehow the apostle Paul urgently asks for prayers from other people. Romans 15:30-32.“Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of theSpirit to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me that I may berescued from those who are disobedient in Judea and that my service forJerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints so that I may come to you in joyby the will of God and find refreshing rest in your company.” Here we seePaul praying for support for his ministry travels and service and asking forprotection against opposition that hinders the work.  InEphesians 6:19-20, Paul asked the church at Ephesus, "And pray on mybehalf that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth to makeknown with boldness the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador inchains, that in proclaiming it, I may speak boldly as I ought to speak."Paul here is praying and asking specifically for prayers to receive the rightwords and the courage to proclaim the gospel fearlessly even while imprisoned.And I can tell you the pastors in India are facing tremendous persecution. Iget emails and text messages regularly from our associates there that tell meabout this and I'll share some of that in the emails that I will be writing toyou.  In1 Thessalonians 5:25, Paul simply request, "Brethren, pray forus." And this is a concise direct appeal for prayer on behalf of Pauland his co-workers in the context of their ongoing ministry and teaching. InColossians 4:3-4, Paul writes, “Praying at the same time for us as well thatGod will open up to us a door for the word that we may speak forth the mysteryof Christ for which I have been imprisoned that I may make it clear in the wayI ought to speak”. Paul is asking for prayer for open doors to preach thegospel and opportunities. We can pray that for these dear pastors. In2 Thessalonians 3:1-2, Paul writes: “Finally Brethren, pray for us that theword of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified just as it did also withyou and that we will be rescued from perverse and evil men for all men do nothave faith.” My friend, this is the request for prayers that we have forthose pastors in India. That God's word would spread quickly to the 3.4 billionpeople who have little or no access or to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thesepastors are working with many of those unreached people groups.  Willyou please email me and let me know that you'll join our Pastors Prayer Team.  Godbless!pastormike@pmiministries.org

Whenyou read all the Great Commission passages in the Gospels and Acts, Jesus sentthe disciples to preach and share the message of the His suffering, death,burial, and resurrection to all the nations and every people and language group.But we need to remember salvation doesn't happen in groups but in individuals,one at a time. Each individual person is loved by God, and they experience His graceand salvation one at a time. That's why today in our chat we are focusing onthe numbers of individuals that are alive and living on planet Earth that need theopportunity to hear and respond to the Gospel. Todaythe world has the largest population of people in history. As of August 4, 2025,the world population is estimated to be approximately 8.24 billion people andgrowing at rate of 0.84% per year. We are being told that approximately 3.4billion people (roughly 42% of the world's population of 8.24 billion as ofAugust 2025) are considered part of unreached people groups (UPGs), meaningthey have little to no access to the Gospel. This includes individuals withminimal or no exposure to the message of Jesus Christ or salvation. Alsotoday, there are approximately 17,400 distinct people groups worldwide whendefined by ethnolinguistic and cultural boundaries. Of these, about 7,280 to7,400 are considered unreached, meaning they have less than 2% evangelicalChristians and less than 5% overall Christian adherents, with no indigenouschurch capable of evangelizing the group without external help. Within UPGs,189 unengaged unreached people groups (UUPGs), totaling over 5.7 millionpeople, have no missionaries, no outreach, and no Christian resources likeBibles in their language. Estimates suggest 66,000 people die daily withouthearing the Gospel, emphasizing the urgency of missionary efforts. Jesuscared for individuals. In Luke chapter 8, He told His disciples, "Get inthe boat. Let's go to the other side." Despite ministering to crowds innorthern Galilee, He crossed over for two demon-possessed men, one ready to befreed and come to Him. Jesus went to where he was to share the good news. Myfriend, today will you join me to go to the other side.  Youcan be part of this mission through prayer. Right now I'm asking for people tojoin me in praying for 400 pastors I've met in India, many of them working withunreached people groups. I need 300 more people to pray for these pastors. Mydad began working with this fellowship of pastors over 30 years ago, and it hasgrown significantly. They need your prayers, support, and encouragement. Yourprayers alone can make a difference. Every believer praying, giving, and goingis essential to the fulfillment of the Great Commission! Pleaseemail at pastormike@pmiministries.organd I will send you a pastor's name, location, and information about his familyand church so you can pray specifically for him. Yes, they need financialsupport—our budget for these pastors is $6,000 a month, and we currently are onlyreceiving $3,000 a month for this ministry. However, prayer is the main thing.Will you join me as an India pastor prayer partner for these dear men of God?Your prayers can make an eternal difference, as many of these pastors work withunreached people groups. Jesusis coming again, but we don't know when. The gospel must be preached to allnations, and every person deserves the chance to hear it before they perish.You can make a difference. Join me in this prayer team, and I believe that inheaven, people from India will thank you for praying for the pastor who ledthem to Jesus. These pastors face tremendous persecution and suffering—a churchwas attacked and scattered this week. They need your prayers. Send me an emailtoday at the email address below, and I'll provide the name of a pastor for youto pray for.  Godbless!pastormike@pmiministries.org

Last evening I was in Roanoke, Virginia, at the GoCenter. You can learn more about the Go Center at: https://www.gpartners.org/gocenter Iwas called to ministry in April 1971, on in a Sunday night service at LandmarkBaptist Temple in Cincinnati Ohio under a missionary named Bob Hughes.  Withina few weeks of that night I heard that Thomas Road Baptist Church was startinga brand-new Bible college called Lynchburg Baptist College, I registeredimmediately and went there with my heart set on going to Africa to share thegospel. Yet during school, I was able to be part of a church plant inWinchester, Virginia, Shenandoah Valley Baptist Church. After graduating Godthen called me to be the pastor of that church. I never really got to be thatmissionary who went full-time to the mission field.  Ibegan to realize that the Lord left me in America as a pastor to mobilize,influence, and send as many people as we can. And raise as money as I could formissions.  Now with that background justrecently as we studied through the Gospel of Luke, we found that God gives theGreat Commission to His disciples to preach the gospel to all the nations, topreach the good news, the message of the kingdom that Jesus saves. The Gospelof Luke seems to be all about what Jesus said in Luke 19:10, "For theSon of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."  Asyou read through the gospels, every one of them ends with a reference to theGreat Commission. In John's gospel, Jesus said, "As the Father has sentMe, even so send I you." That was the commission to those disciples: Justas Jesus was sent as the Son of God to seek and save the lost we are to also tobe bringing this good news to a lost world around us. Over these past 50-plusyears of ministry, by God's grace we have been able to influence hundreds,maybe thousands of believers to love Jesus, to pray for missions, to go to theforeign field, and to give to missions. We've watched God do awesome things.  I'minvolved in a ministry right now in India where we have 600 pastors I'mdirectly connected to. I went there in January of this year and took an individualpicture of 400 of them. I also got a bio of them at that time that I have onhand. It gives their name, their place of ministry, and how many churches theyare pastoring. I'm asking people like you to partner with me to pray for theseprecious pastors. Would you take one of these pastors into your heart? Inthe video I made of today, I'm standing in front of pictures of unreachedpeople groups in the world. I understand right now there are 3.4 billion peoplewho have little or no access to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Many of the pastorsI'm working with are ministering among the Koya people, the Banjari people, theChenchu people on the east side of India, and they are reaching these unreachedpeople groups with the gospel of Christ. But besides them are many otherpastors reaching many other people groups with the gospel of Christ. They desperatelyneed our prayers. Of course, they need money, and I'll talk about that in mychat tomorrow. But right now, I'm asking for prayer partners. Would you bewilling to join me as a prayer partner for one of these pastors? I will sendyou his name, his location, how many churches he's pastoring, the names of hisfamily members, and you can pray specifically for him and his ministry, and youcan join with me in impacting many lives for Christ. Ifyou feel that the Lord is leading you to join me in this prayer effort pleasesend me your name and email address to pastormike@pmiministries.org andI'll get back in touch with you. I beg you, I plead with you, join me as aprayer partner. I already have 100 people who have already joined with me topray for these 400 pastors. I just need another 300 prayer partners right now.I trust you'll be one of those 300 that will join me. We should all be a partof fulfilling the Great Commission.  

Thursday August07JoyfulHearts Sharing His GospelLuke 24:48-5348And you are witnesses of these things. 49 Behold, I send the Promise of MyFather upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued withpower from on high." 50 And He led them out as far as Bethany, andHe lifted up His hands and blessed them. 51 Now it came to pass, while Heblessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. 52 Andthey worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 andwere continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.Aswe look at the last verses of Luke 24, we remember that after the crucifixionof Christ, the disciples faced disappointment, discouragement, and all thatcomes with it. The women went to the tomb with perplexed hearts,expecting a sealed tomb. Today, many in our Christian community love the Lordand live for Him, like these women, but get perplexed trying to figure it allout. What is happening? Where is His body? He shows them the open tomb and evengives His first appearance to Mary Magdalene.  Then,we have the two disciples on the road to Emmaus with discouraged hearts,thinking Jesus was going to set up His kingdom. Many believers today arediscouraged because things aren't turning out as expected. Jesus opens theireyes to see Him. In the upper room, the disciples have troubled hearts,afraid and wondering what is going on. Jesus opens their understanding to theScriptures, explaining all things concerning His death, burial, andresurrection, beginning with Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms. Andwhat happens next? We find out in verse 52.  They have joyful hearts and Jesus nowopens their lips to share the Good News of His resurrection. My friend, whenyou know there's an empty tomb, keep your eyes on Jesus Christ, and realize Heis there with you, and He opens your understanding to all the Scriptures, youwill experience a joyful heart and be willing to open your lips too! Luke24:50-52 should be compared with Mark 16:19-20 and Acts 1:9-12. Think of whatit meant to Him to return to heaven and sit on the throne of glory! (John 17:5,11) His ascension is proof that He has conquered every enemy and that He reignssupremely "far above all" (Eph. 1:18-23). Inheaven today, our Lord ministers as our High Priest (Heb. 7:25) and ourAdvocate (1 John 2:1). As High Priest, He gives us the grace we need to facetesting and temptation (Heb. 4:14-16); and if we fail, as Advocate He forgivesand restores us when we confess our sins (1 John 1:6-10). As the glorified Headof the church, Jesus Christ is equipping His people to live for Him and serveHim in this present world (Eph. 4:7-16; Heb. 13:20-21). Through the Word of Godand prayer, He is ministering to us by His Spirit and making us more likeHimself. Ilove this book. It started with Zacharias in the temple and the angelsappearing to shepherds, proclaiming, a message “of great joy whichshall be to all people." Now the book ends with these disciples fullof great joy. Jesus opens their lips, and they go everywhere worshiping,praising, and telling the nations that Jesus Christ is alive. He is risen, andyou can trust Him today to be your Lord and Savior. It will change everything,and your perplexed, troubled, discouraged hearts will become joyful heartsliving for eternity.  That'swhat the Great Commission is all about. Over the next couple of days we will betalking about how you can also participate in fulfilling the Great Commission. Godbless!

We'recontinuing to look at the last verses of Luke 24. In these verses, Jesus givesHis last words to His disciples before He ascends into heaven. It is what wecall the Great Commission, the commission to go into all the world and sharethe gospel with every creature. We have this recorded in Matthew 28:19-20. ThereJesus said, "Go into all the world and make disciples of all thenations." In Mark 16:15, “And He said to them, "Go into allthe world and preach the gospel to every creature”.  Andhere in Luke's Gospel, verse 46, “Then He said to them, "Thus it iswritten and thus it was necessary for Christ to suffer and to rise from thedead the third day." This is essence of the gospel. Then Jesus says inverse 47, not that this is just a historical event that a few people might besaved, but, my friend, “that repentance and remission of sins should bepreached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem”. For a personto come to Christ, they must turn. That's what repentance means. Turn fromtheir sin, turn from the world, turn from their self, and turn to God. Turnfrom religion, turn from good works, and turn to God, God alone, and the nameof Jesus Christ.  Thenit says they'll receive “remission of sins”. Their sins will be removedfrom them as far as the east is from the west. My friend, how simple can God'ssalvation be? Simply turn to Him and you will receive forgiveness of sins asyou repent, as you turn, as you believe, as you trust, as you receive Him. Youbecome a son of God. John 1:12. And then He goes on to say here, "Andyou are witnesses of these things." In Acts chapter 4, when Peter andJohn were brought before the Sanhedrin and told they could not preach anymorein the name of Jesus, they proclaimed, "For there is salvation in noother name. For there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby wemust be saved." It's only the name of Jesus. His name means Savior.His name means Deliverer. He is the only one who can deliver us, save us fromour sins.  That'swhy Jesus came. Jesus said. “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to savethat which was lost” (Luke 19:10).  InJohn's gospel, the Great Commission is also given in John 20:21, He said,"Peace be to you. As the Father has sent Me, even so send I you."My friend, you and I as followers of Christ, believers in His great salvation,have been sent and commissioned by Jesus Himself. Now we have the opportunityto be witnesses unto Him. In other words, He is the one who does thewitnessing.  Jesustells us, "Behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you. But tarryin Jerusalem till you be endued with power from on high”. This is the authorityof the Holy Spirit, God Himself in us. We are on mission with God. God is alwaysat work in this world to reveal Himself. God is speaking to people's hearts andlives today. There people with empty hearts living aimless lives seeking intheir hearts to know the truth. And God is ready to connects you with thembecause where the Master is, there will His servant be also.  Oh, what a privilege it has been for me these50 years to be on mission with God and experience His Holy Spirit bring dear peopleto Jesus and save their souls. I love these verses in the book of Daniel 12:2-3that give us a great promise. “And many of those who sleep in the dust ofthe earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlastingcontempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of thefirmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever”. Proverbs11:30 says, "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he thatwins souls is wise." My friend, you can't take anything to heaven withyou. Your money, your fame, everything gets left behind. The only can take toheaven are the souls, those precious lives that you share Jesus and Hiswonderful Gospel message with. Who are you taking to heaven with you? Godbless!

Ihope you've enjoyed going through the Gospel of Luke as much as I have. I'velearned so much, and it's been a great joy sharing this book with you overthese past months. As we finish the book of Luke over the next few days, I getso excited looking at these final verses because God didn't just save us to sitand soak. He saved us and redeemed us that we might go and speak and share thatwhich we've heard, that which we've seen, and that which we have handled withour own hands of the Word of life.  Aswe read these final verses, Jesus is revealing Himself to His disciples andassuring them that He indeed is risen from the dead, because everything hingeson that. These eleven men, who were uneducated and came from places nobody knewabout except as fishermen, were called to change the world. God has given usthat commission also. Jesus said in verse 44, "These are the wordswhich I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must befulfilled, which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and thePsalms concerning Me.”  Bythe way, just before He spoke these words, it says that He ate with them. Ibelieve we're going to eat in heaven. I'm not sure we're going to eat animals,but we possibly will eat fish from the river of life and eat fruit that isgrowing from the fruit trees growing on the sides of the river coming out fromunderneath the throne of God (Revelation 22:1-2). Jesusthen “opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures”.It's important, if we're going to be the witnesses He wants us to be, that wehave an understanding of the Scriptures by the Holy Spirit. In verse 46, Hesays, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for Christ tosuffer and to rise from the dead the third day." That's the essence ofthe gospel: Christ suffered for our sins and He rose the third day.  Verse47 continues, "and that repentance and remission of sins should bepreached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." Thegospel being shared starts at home, in our own family, our neighborhood, theneighborhood around our church, our community, and then goes throughout thewhole world. Jesus said in verse 48, "And you are witnesses of thesethings." The word "witness" comes from the Greek wordfrom which we get our word "martyr." You're going to be someone whois willing to die, someone who has died to self, as a living testimony of thesethings.  Jesuscontinues, "Behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you, but tarryin the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high."We cannot do this task of taking the gospel to the ends of the earth withoutthe enduing of the power of the Holy Spirit upon our lives, as the Gospelsteach. I love what we read in 1 John 1:1-3, because John, this wonderfuldisciple, would later write, "That which was from the beginning, whichwe have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon andour hands have handled concerning the Word of life." My friend, wehave the Word of life in our hands, called the 66 books of the Bible. As wehandle them, we handle Jesus. We love Him, we see Him, we hear Him, He speaksto us.  Johngoes on to write, "The life was manifested, and we have seen and bearwitness and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and wasmanifested to us. That which we have seen and heard, we declare to you."My friend, that's what you and I have been called to do as followers of JesusChrist. These powerful verses remind us that it is God who works in us andthrough us to do His perfect will and to manifest the wonderful works of God.  Augustinesaid, "Preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words”. Because itwill show up in our lives as those who are crucified followers of Jesus Christourselves (Galatians 2:20).  And by theway, it will be necessary to use words. Godbless!

This is Jesus' first appearance tothe eleven disciples in the upper room when they're all together. Jesus had told themmany times He would be crucified, and that He would rise again, but theirhearts still doubted even now.  Whatwe want to talk about today is in these next words of Jesus to the disciples, “HandleMe and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see Ihave. And when He said this, He showed them His hands and His feet”. NowJohn's gospel tells us in John 20:25-27 that when Jesus showed them His handsand His feet, it doesn't say that He showed them the scars on His body, but at leasttwice it says that He showed them the prints. He showed them “the prints ofthe nails”. The prints of the nails in His hands and in His feet.  Jesussaid, "Handle Me and see”, And again, it says, “He showedthem His hands and in His feet”, not the scars. The only thing in heaventhat will be made by man are the prints of the nails in His hands and His feet.We will be able to still see them. And then we find also that Jesus went on tosay, "And while they did not believe for joy and marveled, He said tothem, 'Do you have any food here?'" And they gave Him a piece of boiledfish and some honeycomb, and He took it and ate in their presence”.  Now,one of the most asked questions I get is, "Will we eat in heaven?" Whatwill we be like in heaven? Will we have bodies in heaven? And for a fact, I'mconvinced at the rapture of the church, the Bible speaks about the dead inChrist rising in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4:13-18 and in 1 Corinthians 15:50-58.Paul reveals to us a mystery and there He says, "We shall all bechanged in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye." In Thessalonians 4:16,he wrote, "And the dead in Christ shall rise first”. The bodies ofall the deceased believers will resurrect out of the graves and at that momentthey'll reunite with their soul and spirit in heaven and at the same time ourbodies with be changed to a body like Jesus'.  1John 3: 2-3, tells us, "And when we see Him, we will be like Him, forwe shall see Him as He is." We'll have a body like Jesus. He could eatsolid foods. He could move in and out of rooms through closed doors. Now how aphysical body could go through a closed solid wall, I cannot explain. But myfriend, we'll have a body like that. I believe we'll travel at the speed ofthought even during the millennium, just like Jesus did from Galilee and backand forth to Jerusalem during the 40 days after His resurrection.  Oh,heaven's going to be a wonderful place. We have new bodies. “Thiscorruptible must put on incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality, thenshall be brought to pass the saying that's written, Death is swallowed up invictory." We will have new bodies. A body that will not experience anymore pain, any more suffering, and has no more problems with health at all. Oh,we'll see perfectly because we'll still have all our faculties. People willrecognize each other in those bodies that we originally had on planet Earth,but they'll be glorified bodies just like Jesus. Jesusstill says troubled hearts, "Handle Me and see." Interestingto me, the Gospel of John starts out with, "Come and see," toAndrew and John (John 1:39). But now Luke's Gospel ends with, "HandleMe and see." Later John went on to write in 1John 1:1, “That whichwas from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes,which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word oflife”.  Ohmy friend, today Jesus invites us to come and handle Him. First you, “Come andsee”, but now You can handle Him and see. Come to Jesus today and handle Him inHis Word. You can reach out and touch Him today! Open your heart to Him.Believe in the reality of a physical, literal resurrection of Jesus Christ. Thereality of this truth will change and transform your life like it did thedisciples as the Holy Spirit fills you.

Luke 24 is the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the difference it makes. Remember the ladies as they came to thetomb, they had perplexed hearts. The disciples walking to Emmaus, they haddiscouraged hearts. And now we're looking at some disciples in an upper roomthat have troubled hearts.  Andthat takes me back to John 14:1 where Jesus, just before His crucifixion in theupper room, no doubt the same room they are in now, had told them, "Letnot your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me." Andthen also in verse 27, Jesus had told them in John 14, "Peace I leave withyou. My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let notyour heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Look now at  verse 36 of Luke 24, where Jesus shows up inthe midst of these disciples in the upper room, but they were terrified andfrightened.  Jesusstood in the midst of them and said, "Peace to you." Now,what's interesting about this is this “Peace to you” statement thatJesus makes. You will find in John's gospel that Jesus makes it at least threetimes in the first eight days of His resurrection. Notice in John chapter 20:19,“On the first day of the week, Jesus comes to the upper room and for fear ofthe Jews they had the doors locked. They were afraid. Jesus came, stood in themidst of them, and said, "Peace be with you." Then again in verse21, after He talked to them, showing them His hands and His feet, as we justread in Luke's gospel, Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you, as theFather sent Me, so send I you." Eight days later in verse 26, they'reback in the upper room meeting together, now with Thomas, and Jesus came, thedoors being shut, stood in the midst, and for the third time said, "Peaceto you."  Youknow the Bible teaches that if we don't have Jesus Christ, we don't have peace.We are born into this world without this contentment, satisfaction, fulfillmentthat peace gives us. There's something missing. In Isaiah  Bible says that “The wicked are like thetroubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt, there isno peace says my God to the wicked” (Isaiah 57:20-21). And my friend, we'reborn with wicked hearts and they lack peace. But we find Good News in Romans 5:1that tells us, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace withGod through our Lord Jesus Christ."  Myfriend, there's peace with God that's made through Jesus Christ and His deathon the cross. Then  Jesus can say to youtoday, if you trust Him to be your Savior, "Peace be to you." Andthen, my friend, even as a believer, we can lose that peace. Here are thedisciples of Jesus who followed Him now for three and a half years. And theyhave the word of many people that He is risen, and yet they still are troubled.So what does Jesus do? He shows up, shows them His hands, His feet. He appearsto them and then He opens their understanding to the scriptures and in verse 45it says that they might comprehend the scriptures.  Theanswer to this lack of peace, this disturbance, these troubled hearts that wehave today are the scriptures and belief and faith in the words that Jesusgives us in those scriptures. And so, my friend, today, turn to Jesus. Turn tothe Word of God. The book of Hebrews tells us, "Looking unto Jesus, theauthor and the finisher of our salvation." That's where you findpeace. You won't find it in a book. You won't find it in a conference. Youwon't find it in relationships. You won't find it in education. You won't findit in money. You won't find it with friends. My friend, you find peace with JesusChrist through His Word, through believing and making sure your eyes are fixedon Him. Handle Him and touch Him in the Word. And my friend, your heart won'tbe troubled. You'll have a peace that only Jesus can give you.  Ipray today that Jesus will speak peace to your heart today as you seek Him inthe Scriptures!  Godbless!

Thank you so much for your prayers the last couple days during ourtravels to Colorado. God gave us traveling mercies. We did experience somedifficulty catching our flight from Dulles to Roanoke, yet the Lord provided abus for us, which was a long ride with the rain and terrible conditions onInterstate 81. But we made it back to Salem safely last night, and our dearfriends Johnny and Linda King picked us up and took care of us. On top of it,God gave us a wonderful divine appointment in His providence, and that'sanother story for another time. God is so good, and we thank you for yourprayers.  Today, I feel led,because it is the second day of August, to look at Psalm 32, which is the firstof the five Psalms readings for today. I encourage you to read the Psalms withus or read them yourself. Five Psalms a day will get you through the Book ofPsalms every month. Oh, how we need to be reminded of God's mercy, because inthe Old Testament especially, we read so much about the wrath of God, thepunishment of God, and the chastisement of God upon His people and the nations.Therefore, it's great to have a book right in the middle of the Old Testament,so to speak, that reminds us of God's wonderful mercy. Yesterday, we discussedPsalm 1, and found blessed is the man who walks with God and meditates in HisWord. We find not only are we blessed that way, but we're blessed when our sinsare forgiven. That's how Psalm 32 starts. David is calling out to God toforgive him for his sin. His sin was significant, as he committed adultery andthen murder. He's crying out to God for forgiveness, confessing not only hissin but the iniquity of his sin—the motive behind it, being selfish,self-centered, and letting pride creep into his life, thinking he could make iton his own without God. That's what always leads us to drift away from God. Remember, we said blessed is the man who walks with the Lord, who is in God'sWord and becomes like a tree planted by the rivers of water in Psalm 1. But nowin Psalm 32, blessed is the person whose sin is forgiven. To have our sinsforgiven, there must be confession. Verses 2-4 go on to say, “Blessed is theman in whom the Lord counts no iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit.For when I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my groaning all the daylong. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was dried upas by the heat of summer.” David tried to hide his sin, covering it up, andhe felt the oppression of God upon him, the hand of God pushing him down. Hefelt the heaviness, guilt, and burden of that sin. Then, in verse 5, Davidsays, “I acknowledged my sin to You, and I did not cover my iniquity. Isaid, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,' and You forgave theiniquity of my sin.” Not only the sin David committed, because that wasn'tthe real problem. The real problem was the motive, the iniquity, thereason—what took place in his heart that led to that sin. He confessed that.  David says in verse 6, “Therefore,let everyone who is godly offer prayer to You at a time when You may be found.Surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him.” In otherwords, when times of trouble come, they won't overwhelm you if you haveconfessed your sins.  Yes, blessed is the manwho meditates in God's Word, who doesn't walk or run around with the wrongpeople, as in Psalm 1. But now, blessed is the man whose sin is covered. Godhas taken care of it through the blood of Jesus Christ. There's no greaterfeeling, no greater emotion, no greater thing that can happen to you and methan to know our sins are covered. That they are forgiven. God has removed themfrom us. Why? Because He placed them on Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago, and Hepaid the price for those sins so that when we confess our sins, we can be setfree.  Today, are you experiencingand enjoying the blessing of your sins being forgiven?

BeforeI begin my chat in Luke 24, I'd like to ask for special prayer. This morning,I'll be driving to Roanoke, Virginia. From there, this afternoon my sonJonathan and I will catch a flight to Colorado to attend a graduation for two ofhis sons, Elijah and Jeriah, from a two-week Biblical World View Camp at the Summit.We'll also see my older sister Lynda, who is in a nursing home there in Denver.She retired from United Airlines several years ago and was able to giftJonathan and myself with the opportunity to fly free on United Airlines on standbyanywhere in the world for the last twenty plus years.ThenSaturday morning I will drive to Lynchburg Virginia to the Thomas TerraceBaptist Church, where my brother Mark is pastor, and attend a “Going Home CelebrationService” for Carl Townsend's wonderful wife Leah, who was a wonderful wife andChristian lady who served the Lord in so many ways. We'll be honoring hermemory and celebrating her life. I won't be back home in Sneads Ferry NC, untillate Saturday night. I'll do my best to keep up with the chats, so bear with meas there might be some challenges in getting them recorded and posted oninternet. God bless you and thank you for your prayers. Aswe continue to look at Luke 24 and the resurrection appearances of Christ, weneed to remember, according to Dr. Wilmington and other good Bible commentators,that Christ probably appeared at least eleven different times and occasions toHis disciples after His resurrection. There could have been more, but these arethe recorded appearances of Jesus Christ in the Gospels, giving proof thatJesus died, He was buried, and He rose again. The first verses of 1 Corinthians15 give a lists of several of those appearances. We need to remind ourselves ofthat often. It's the very foundation of our faith that Jesus indeed is risen! Herein this chapter we read about some of those appearances, and Luke gives somedetails we don't even read in the other gospels, which is very interesting. Tothe “perplexed” women at the empty tomb, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene. Onthe road to Emmaus, Jesus appear to the two “sad” disciples, and opens theireyes and their understanding, and they literally get so excited they run backto Jerusalem. As I read the timetable here, it had to be late in the eveningbefore they got back because it was still on that resurrection day. They getback and tell exactly what happened, so excited in that upper room.  Thenin verse 36, as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst ofthem and said to them, "Peace to you." They were terrified andfrightened and supposed they'd seen a spirit. Just imagine, Jesus appeared tothe two fellows on the road to Emmaus, and it was only after He broke breadwith them that their eyes were opened, and they beheld Him, and almostimmediately He vanishes out of their sight. Now, with the doors being shut,according to other scriptures, Jesus appears in the same room with them. Ofcourse, they're terrified. So He says to them, "Why are you troubled?And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it isI Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as yousee I have."  Jesusrose from the dead physically, not just spiritually. He's not a ghost. He is ina physical body and even today sits in a physical body in heaven. “When Hehad said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. But while they did notbelieve for joy and marveled, He said to them…”. Can you imagine theirmixed emotions? Jesus assures them that it is He, Himself with many comfortingwords and eats with them. Today we can go to the word of God and commune withJesus. We can feel His touch as we commune with Him in His Word and prayer. Yes,today we can believe, and our troubled hearts will also find peace. Godbless!

Todaywe're looking at Luke 24:25-35. Luke is the only gospel that tells us the storyabout these two men on the road to Emmaus. While they're walking, they'reconfused, troubled, sad, discouraged, and disappointed. Jesus did not fulfillthe expectations they had about setting up the kingdom and running out theRomans authorities. They had heard that Jesus had resurrected, but they did notbelieve. My friends, when we don't believe in the resurrection like we should,even as believers, we're going to be disappointed, discouraged, and sad. Sowhat is the answer to that?  Wefind it here in this passage. Jesus talked to them about the Scriptures, Moses,the prophets, and all the things in them concerning Himself. Then He acted asif He would go further when they got to the village of Emmaus. But theyconstrained Him and said, "No, it's getting evening. Stay with us."So He did, and what happened next, Luke say it best: “As He sat at the tablewith them, He took bread, blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. Thentheir eyes were opened, and they knew Him, and He vanished from their sight.They said to one another, "Did not our hearts burn within us while He talkedwith us on the road and while He opened the scriptures to us?" So theyrose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven and thosewho were with them gathered together, saying, "The Lord is risen indeedand has appeared to Simon." They told about the things that had happenedon the road and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.” Whata powerful message for you and me today. It was as they heard the scriptures,as Jesus talked and conversed with them and fellowshipped with them, theirhearts began to burn. Even though they didn't see Him exactly as He really is,the Son of God, the risen Savior, their hearts still burned from the Scriptures.Then as they sat at bread with Him and He broke it, their eyes were opened.  Myfriend, the answer to sad, discouraged, disappointed hearts is when you spendtime with Jesus. Spend time with Jesus in His Word, meditate upon Him, thinkabout Him, and listen to Him. Your heart will begin to burn, and that's when Heopens your eyes, makes Himself known to you in the scripture, and you have thatreal fellowship with the Lord. This is what we need, “Just a closer walkwith Jesus”, as the old hymn says. Spend that time with Him.  That'swhat you and I should desire more than anything else as we open up the Scripturein the morning, not just to read our devotional Scriptures, but to spend timewith Jesus in His Word. As they ran back the eight miles to Jerusalem to theUpper Room so excited that they couldn't wait to tell the other disciples whatthey had experienced. I'll guarantee you if every church member spent time withJesus during the week in the word of God, when they came together on Sundaymorning, they would not have a dead service.  Whenthey got back to the service, the other eleven and many of the other followersof Jesus were all excited about what had happened. They exclaimed that Simonhad also seen Jesus. They were all saying, "Jesus indeed is risen. He hasappeared." What a great service they had back then, rejoicing in the risenSavior. Would to God that would happen in all our churches each Sunday. I havea feeling that he crowds would come like they did on the day of Pentecost.  Haveyour experienced a “burning heart” recently? When was the last time that theHoly Spirit opened your eyes to see Jesus in the Word?  Godbless!

When the womencame to the tomb, they were perplexed because the stone was rolled away, butthere was no body. And the answer was that they needed to remember God's Word.Today, are you perplexed about the problems of life, the problems in yourfamily, and all the different difficulties or challenges that you're goingthrough? You're perplexed as to what is going to happen? What is going on? Oh,my friend, remember the promises of Jesus. He had promised His followers thatHe will rise again. “He indeed is risen as He said”.  NextLuke tells us of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and as they'rewalking, they're talking and questioning. In verse 15 says; “So it was whilethey conversed and reasoned that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.But their eyes were restrained so that they did not know who He was”. Hewas like a stranger. He begins walking with them and asked, "What are youtalking about”? “What things happened in Jerusalem?" Of course Heknew, but He wanted to hear them say it, and listen to them. They began to tellHim how disappointed they were because they thought that Jesus, the Messiah,would bring about His kingdom. How He had healed people and had done greatmiracles. And they were so disappointed and now they're discouraged because itdidn't turn out as they expected. And it says, their hearts were sad.  FinallyJesus speaks in verses 25-26. Canyou imagine this Bible conference? Oh, don't you wish you could have beenthere? Imagine the greatest Teacher explaining the greatest themes from thegreatest Book and bringing the greatest blessings to men's lives that openedtheir eyes to see Him and hearts opened up to receive the Word and lips openedto go back and tell others what Jesus had said to them. Wouldn't you have lovedthat?  Yearsago, as I was reading Morning and Evening devotional by Charles Haddon Spurgeonevery day, I came across the following devotional on January 18 in the eveningsection. And I thought I would share it today as we close our chat. Spurgeon wrote: "Thetwo disciples on the road to Emmaus had a most profitable journey. Theircompanion and teacher was the best of tutors; the interpreter one of athousand, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The LordJesus condescended to become a preacher of the gospel, and He was not ashamedto exercise His calling before an audience of two persons, neither does He nowrefuse to become the teacher of even one. Let us court the company of soexcellent an Instructor, for till He is made unto us wisdom we shall never bewise unto salvation. Thisunrivalled tutor used as His class-book the best of books. Although able toreveal fresh truth, He preferred to expound the old. He knew by His omnisciencewhat was the most instructive way of teaching, and by turning at once to Mosesand the prophets, He showed us that the surest road to wisdom is notspeculation, reasoning, or reading human books, but meditation upon the Word ofGod. The readiest way to be spiritually rich in heavenly knowledge is to dig inthis mine of diamonds, to gather pearls from this heavenly sea. When JesusHimself sought to enrich others, He wrought in the quarry of Holy Scripture. Thefavoured pair were led to consider the best of subjects, for Jesus spake ofJesus, and expounded the things concerning Himself. Here the diamond cut thediamond, and what could be more admirable? The Master of the House unlocked Hisown doors, conducted the guests to His table, and placed His own dainties uponit. He who hid the treasure in the field Himself guided the searchers to it.Our Lord would naturally discourse upon the sweetest of topics, and He couldfind none sweeter than His own person and work: with an eye to these we shouldalways search the Word. O for grace to study the Bible with Jesus as both ourteacher and our lesson!” God bless!

"...21 But we were hoping that it was He whowas going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third daysince these things happened. ..." Luke24 is one of the most exciting chapters in the Bible as it describes theresurrection of Jesus Christ. When you have a perplexed heart like the womendid at the cross because they found no body, the tomb was opened and Jesusrevealed Himself to Mary Magdalene, I am reminded that Jesus knows our name andreveals Himself to perplexed hearts. And oh, what a difference it makes. Todaywe're looking at verses 13 through 35, where we find two disciples on the roadto Emmaus. They had disappointed, discouraged hearts, and were sad until Jesusopened their eyes. Emmauswas a small village eight miles northwest of Jerusalem. The two men walkingfrom Jerusalem to Emmaus were disappointed and discouraged disciples who had noreason to be discouraged. They had heard the reports of the women that the tombwas empty and that Jesus was alive, but they did not believe them. They hadhoped that Jesus would redeem Israel (Luke 24:21), but their hopes had beenshattered. We get the impression that these men were discouraged anddisappointed because God did not do what they wanted Him to do. They saw theglory of the kingdom, but they failed to understand the suffering. Jesusgraciously walked with them and listened to their "animated heatedconversation" (Luke 24:17, Wuest). No doubt they were quoting various OldTestament prophecies and trying to remember what Jesus had taught, but theywere unable to put it all together and come up with an explanation that madesense. Was He a failure or a success? Why did He have to die? Was there afuture for the nation? Thereis a touch of humor in Luke 24:19 when Jesus asked, "What things?"He had been at the heart of all that had happened in Jerusalem, and now Hewas asking them to tell Him what occurred! How patient our Lord is with us asHe listens to us tell Him what He already knows (Romans 8:34). But we may come"boldly" ("with freedom of speech") to His throne and pourout our hearts to Him, and He will help us (Ps. 62:8; Heb. 4:16). Thelonger Cleopas talked, the more he indicted himself and his friend for theirunbelief. What more evidence could they want? Witnesses (including Apostles)had seen the tomb empty. Angels had announced that Jesus was alive. Witnesseshad seen Him alive and heard Him speak. The proof was there! "Faithcomes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). Thisexplains why Jesus opened the Word to these two men as the three of them walkedto Emmaus. Their real problem was not in their heads but in their hearts (seeLuke 24:25 and 32, and note v. 38). They could have discussed the subject fordays and never arrived at a satisfactory answer. What they needed was a freshunderstanding of the Word of God, and Jesus gave that understanding to them. Heopened the Scriptures and then opened their eyes, and they realized that Jesuswas not only alive but right there with them! Whatwas their basic problem? They did not believe all that the prophets had writtenabout the Messiah. That was the problem with most of the Jews in that day: theysaw Messiah as a conquering Redeemer, but they did not see Him as a SufferingServant. As they read the Old Testament, they saw the glory but not thesuffering, the crown but not the cross. The teachers in that day were notunlike some of the "success preachers" today, blind to the totalmessage of the Bible. Maythe Lord help us to get into the Word and give Jesus and the Holy Spirit timeto open our eyes to the Truth! Remember Jesus parting words to His disciples: “…andlo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). Godbless!

Rememberwhat Jesus said in John 14:1, "Let not your hearts be troubled. Youbelieve in God, believe also in Me”. I love that because you see in thispassage that we have in Luke 24, there were many different kinds of responsesin the hearts of people concerning Jesus and as to what had happened. Verse 4tells us the first women at the tomb “were greatly perplexed”.They had perplexed hearts. But my friend, I'm telling you, the empty tomb andthe risen Savior is the answer for perplexed hearts. Inverses 1-7, that we read yesterday, the angel had said to the ladies that Jesuswould be delivered into sinful men, be crucified, and on the third day riseagain. “And they remembered His words” (v. 8). Then they returned fromthe tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. It wasMary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with themwho told these things to the apostles.  Itmust have been a good group of ladies that had gone to the tomb early thatmorning (v. 10). Their words to the disciples seemed to them like idle tales,and they did not believe them (v. 11). Only Peter arose and ran to the tomb, andafter stooping down, he saw the linen clothes lying by themselves (v. 12). Andhe departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.  Thispassage tells us that Jesus arose from the dead on the first day of the week.And it must have been very early. According to Matthew 28:2-4, a great earthquaketook place and an angel came and rolled the stone away. This was not done tolet Jesus out, but to let the witnesses in to see that the tomb was empty. Andof course, the message was and still is, “come and see” (Matthew 28:6).  Now,Mary Magdalene is the woman who had been specially helped by Jesus and was verydevoted to Him (Luke 8: 2). She had lingered at the cross and became the firstperson that Jesus appeared to (Mark 15:48). Luke mentions that she was thefirst at the tomb.  Then, we also read thatMary the mother of James, Joanna, and the other devout women also were at thattomb with her. They came to prepare the body of Jesus for burial. But theirlabor of love was transformed into gladness when they discovered that Jesus wasalive.  Theirmain concern on the way there, was who will roll this stone away, because theyknew that the Roman soldier would not allow someone to break the Roman seal,especially a group of mourning Jewish women. But God solved the problem forthem because the tomb was open when they got there, and there were two angels thatappeared to these ladies. Matthew and Mark also talk about the one angel thatgave them the message. The angel's message was a kind rebuke: “Rememberhow He spoke to you when you were still in Galilee, that He must die, He mustbe crucified, and He would rise again”.  God'sanswer for our perplexed hearts today is also to remember! We need to rememberthe word of God. To do that we need to read it and have it in our hearts. Itwas then they were told to go back and tell the other disciples, which ofcourse, they did. But it was Mary Magalene that came back to the tomb, andshe's still perplexed, but Jesus shows up and meets with her according to thegospel of John. She supposes Him first to be a gardener. But then when He saysher name and she recognizes His voice because: “My sheep hear My voice, andthey know My voice, and I know their name” (John 10:3-4). Everythingchanged for her at that point.  Myfriend, Jesus will change everything for you too when you hear His voice sayyour name. Today, He will speak to us through His Word if we will only listen.  GodBless!

The fact and the truth of theresurrection of Jesus cannot be underestimated! John Stott said,"Christianity is in its very essence a resurrection religion. The conceptof resurrection lies at its very heart, and if you remove it, Christianity isdestroyed." Paul put it this way in 1 Corinthians 15:17: “If Christ benot risen, then our faith is vain.  It isempty. It has nothing to it. And we are yet in our sins”. Yes, the Bibleteaches, and the gospels affirm, and the witnesses affirm, and history affirmsthat Jesus Christ indeed rose from the grave early that Sunday morning 2,000years ago after His crucifixion on the cross.  Theresurrection of Jesus Christ affirms to us that He is indeed the Son of God,just as He claimed to be Romans 1:4: “And declared to be the Son of God withpower, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead”. It also proves that His sacrifice forsin has been accepted and that the work of salvation is completed (Romans4:24-25). Those who trust Him can "walk in newness of life" becauseHe is alive and imparts His power to them (Romans 6:4; Gal. 2:20). Our Lord'sresurrection also declares to us that He is the Judge who will come one day andjudge the world (Acts 17:30-31). Itis no surprise, then, that Satan has attacked the truth of the Resurrection.The first lie that he spawned was that the disciples came and stole Christ'sbody (Matthew 28:11-15), but it is difficult to imagine how they could havedone this. To begin with, the tomb was carefully guarded (Matthew 27:61-66);and it would have been next to impossible for the frightened Apostles tooverpower the soldiers, open the tomb, and secure the body. But the biggestobstacle is the fact that the Apostles themselves did not believe that He wouldbe resurrected! Why, then, would they steal His body and try to perpetrate ahoax? Asecond lie is that Jesus did not really die on the cross but only swooned, andwhen He was put into the cool tomb, He revived. But Pilate carefully checkedwith the centurion to see whether Jesus was dead (Mark 15:44), and the Romansoldiers who broke the legs of the two thieves knew that Jesus had died (John19:31-34). Furthermore, how could a "cool tomb" transform Christ'sbody so that He could appear and disappear and walk through closed doors? Themessage of the Gospel rests on the death of Jesus Christ and His resurrection(1 Corinthians 15:1-8). The Apostles were sent out as witnesses of Hisresurrection (Acts 1:22), and the emphasis in the Book of Acts is on theresurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul put it plainly in 1 Corinthians 15:17-19: “Andif Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then theyalso which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only wehave hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.”Thisexplains why Luke climaxed his book with a report of some of the appearances ofJesus after He had been raised from the dead. He first appeared to MaryMagdalene (John 20:11-18), then to the "other women" (Matt. 28:9-10),and then to the two men on the way to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-22). At some time, Healso appeared to Peter (Luke 24:34) and to His half-brother James (1 Corinthians15:7).Thatevening, He appeared to the Apostles (Luke 24:36-43), but Thomas was not withthem (John 20:19-25). A week later, He appeared to the Apostles again,especially for the sake of Thomas (John 20:26-31). He appeared to seven of theApostles when they were fishing at the Sea of Galilee (John 21). He appearedseveral times to the Apostles before His ascension, teaching them and preparingthem for their ministry (Acts 1:1-12). Whenthe believers discovered that Jesus was alive, it made a tremendous differencein their lives. And it has transformed millions of lives since then like mineand yours! “Heis Risen! He is Risen Indeed!”

Psalm 22 which has been called by many as “The Psalmof the Cross”. There are two passages I really want to encourage you to taketime over the next few days to look at, and that's Psalm 22 and also Isaiah 53.Both of these are Messianic passages that prophecy and tell us about thesufferings of Christ. Psalm 22 was written by David 1,000 years before thecrucifixion of Christ. The Bible calls him both a king and a prophet (Acts2:30). And here he looked ahead one-thousand years and clearly saw the LordJesus Christ dying on the cross. Davidbegins the psalm with these words, "My God, My God, why have Youforsaken Me?" Jesus quoted these very words on the cross (Matthew27:46; Mark 15:34). As you read through this psalm, you find that many versesare directly related to the cross of Jesus Christ. In verses 6 through 8, Jesuson the cross experienced this: "But I am a worm and no man, a reproachof men and despised by the people. All those who see Me ridicule Me. They shootout the lip. They shake the head, saying He trusted in the Lord. Let Him rescueHim. Let Him deliver Him since He delights in Him." This is fulfilled inMatthew 27:39-44 and what we just studied in Luke 23. Psalm22:16, "They pierced My hands and My feet." This was fulfilledin Matthew 27:35 when they nailed Him to the cross and pierced both His handsand His feet. Remember later in John 20:20-27, Jesus would say to Thomas, "Touchand see the scars in My hand and My side”. John 19:23 records the fulfilmentof Psalm 22:17, "They divided My garments among them and for Myclothing they cast lots." Ibelieve Psalm 22:12-18, describes the mental and spiritual sufferings of Christduring the three hours of darkness as the devil and the demons of hellattempted to destroy Him and God turned His back on His Son. David wrote, "Manybulls have surrounded Me. The strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me. Theygape upon Me with their mouths like a raging and a roaring lion. I'm poured outlike water. All My bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is meltedwithin Me." When you understand what took place in the crucifixion,literally the bones of Christ, when they put that cross into the ground with athud and He's hanging there, it's like it put all His bones out of joint. Hisheart is poured out like wax as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. AndHe says in verse 16, "For dogs have surrounded Me. The congregation ofthe wicked has enclosed Me. They pierce My hands and My feet. I can count allMy bones. They look and stare at Me." Jesus was flogged before thecross. And literally His bones actually could be seen as He was hanging on thecross. In verse 18 we read: "They divided My garments among them andfor My clothing they cast lots."  Jesus hung naked on the cross in shame andsuffering. Oh,my friend, some believe that Jesus possibly quoted this entire psalm on thecross at some time when He cried out, "My God, My God, why have Youforsaken Me?" Yes, we see both the darkness of the cross and the glory ofthe cross, the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. I alsoencourage you to read Hebrews 2:9-18. It begins with: "But we see Jesuswho is made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death."Psalm 22 is quoted in Hebrews 2:12.  Hebrews2:14-15 describes the purpose of Christ death and suffering: “Inasmuch thenas the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared inthe same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death,that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all theirlifetime subject to bondage.” Todaywe should be so thankful for a Savior who suffered so much for you and I thatwe could be set free from the guilt and the penalty of our sins. Please meditateon these things. Godbless!

Todaywe'll be looking at the last verses of Luke 23:50-56. As we look at thispassage of scripture, we learn that Joseph of Arimathea was also one of theseven meetings that Jesus had in this chapter with other people. Remember Hemet with Pilate and He met with Herod. On the way to the crucifixion, He metwith Simon of Cyrene who helped carry His cross. It was then that He spoke tothe women of Jerusalem. He spoke to the thief on the cross saying, “Todayyou'll be with Me in Paradise.” And then of course there was His Fatherthat He conversed with while He was on the cross. Now,this chapter ends with Christ being taken down off the cross by a man namedJoseph of Arimathea. Only the Gospel of John tells us that there was anotherperson involved with the burial of Jesus, and that was Nicodemus. Johnintroduces him in John chapter 3. In John 7:50, Nicodemus speaks up for Jesusin one of the council meetings when they're trying to condemn Him. And ofcourse, we believe that neither Joseph of Arimathea nor Nicodemus was presentaccording to Mark 14:64 when “all the council” voted to condemned Jesusto death; they must not have been there because they were a part of thatSanhedrin, and they would not have voted to condemn Jesus. Accordingto the Gospel of John 19:38-42, we also notice that this tomb where they buriedJesus was in a garden nearby the place where He was crucified. We believe thatit's very possible that this is a tomb that Joseph had previously prepared forJesus. He and Nicodemus had read the Scriptures. They had studied the fact thatthe Christ would die He would rise again. And they knew it was only a temporaryplace to bury the body of Jesus. It was a borrowed tomb in a sense, but it wasspecially prepared by Joseph for Jesus nearby. Joseph would have prepared hisown tomb in his home city close to where he lived. So we believe Joseph ownedthis tomb and he prepared it for Jesus.  Andwe also know that this burial fulfilled the Scripture. We believe that it ispossible Nicodemus and Joseph had studied the Scriptures in Isaiah 53:9, andalso knew that it says that the Messiah “made His grave with the rich in Hisdeath”. And so they fulfilled that Scripture. When Jesus died, Joseph isready to go immediately to Pilate. Nicodemus is part of helping have everythingready. Because they would not have been able to go shopping for these items onPassover, Joseph and Nicodemus must have already purchased the things that wereneeded for the burial of Christ, the fine linen that they wrapped Him and the hundredpounds of myrrh and aloes to anoint His body (John 19:38-44).  Itwas very important that Jesus be buried by people that would know He was deadbecause His death and resurrection are the very essence of the Gospel. Theproof was evidenced by the fact that men like these, men of character andintegrity were the ones who took His body off the cross and buried Him. Ifthere were any doubt about His death or burial, that could affect the messageand the ministry of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-8). Italso might be interesting to remember that in Genesis 2:1-3, after six days, Godfinished the work of the “old Creation” and He rested. Now after six hours onthe cross, Jesus finished the work of the “new Creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17),and He rested on the Sabbath in Joseph's tomb.  And because Christ's resurrection, three dayslater, we know that we can experience this new life in Jesus Christ and alsofind our “rest and peace” in Him! ThankGod for people that stand up for Jesus like Joseph and Nicodemus and were partof this very powerful story of the death, burial, and resurrection of JesusChrist. God bless you as you meditate on these things today. Are you willing tobe identified with the resurrected Savior today? Godbless!

Jesus justbreathed His last and had cried out, "Father, into Thy hands I commitMy spirit."  Now,there are three responses that Luke records here in these verses that happenwhen Jesus died. In verse 47, the centurion who was in charge of the executiontestified, "So when the centurion saw what had happened, he glorifiedGod, saying, certainly this was a righteous Man." Mark's Gospel describethis scene also: “So when the centurion, who stood opposite Him, saw that Hecried out like this and breathed His last, he said, "Truly this Man wasthe Son of God!"  (Mark 15:39). Heexclaimed that Jesus was an innocent, righteous Man, who is the Son of God.  Thiscenturion had observe Jesus for six hours as He was being crucified and as hewatch what took place and also heard the words of Jesus from the cross somethinghappens in his heart.  He had heard thewords of Jesus to the mockers, "Father, forgive them. They know notwhat they do”. He heard Jesus say to the murder being crucified with him, “Todayyou'll be with Me in paradise." He heard Jesus speak to John and Hismother Mary, "Behold your mother. Mother, behold your son." Thenthe three hours of darkness happen and he had heard Jesus cried out, "MyGod, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" And then shortly after that heheard Jesus cry out a shout of victory, "It is finished."  Andlast the centurion heard Jesus said, "Father, Into Your hands I commitMy spirit." Then he watched as Jesus' head dropped and breathed Hislast. Usually, people that were being crucified might have lingered for daysbefore they actually died. This centurion actually, personally observed Jesuslaid down His life. He felt the earthquake and watch the rock split and he wasso amazed and it says that “he glorified God”. As he had watched allthis, it came over him. There is no doubt that this Man indeed is the Son ofGod. He is the Savior. He is an innocent Man. He's a righteous Man. I believe itis very possible that we will see this centurion in heaven. Who knows? Maybe itwill be Cornelius who later called for Peter in Acts 10 to clearly hear the planof salvation. I guess we will find out when we get to heaven. Thenin verse 48, we see the other response as, “the whole crowd who cametogether to that sight, seeing what had been done, they beat their breast andreturned”. Remember not only did the darkness take place, but when Jesusgave up His life and laid it down, my friend, there was a great earthquake. Godshook the ground, and they all felt that, and they beat their breast. I'm notsure if they were repenting, if they were saying, "We wish we hadn't seena righteous Man die like this." We don't know. Maybe some of them gotsaved later and some of them maybe didn't. They were spectators, and they left.Like so many today and unchanged! Butthen there were His acquaintances in verse 49. And the women who followed Himfrom Galilee stood at a distance watching these things. They didn't leave. Now,isn't that interesting because women were mentioned last at the cross, and theywere mentioned first at His resurrection. Isn't that interesting? Oh, myfriend, God loves everyone. He loves the poor, the rich, as we're going to seewhen we talk about Joseph of Arimathea. Jesus loves the sinner. He loves thewicked. He loves you today so much.  Thecenturion proclaimed, “This Man is the Son of God”! My friend, that'sthe real question. Who is Jesus? Is He indeed the Son of God? Oh, if youbelieve that, you can believe that He is the Savior of the world, and He's theonly one who can save you from your sins. That's crucial. And so, I trust todaythat you'll trust Jesus to be your Lord and your Savior. And like thecenturion, you will proclaim Him as innocent, the Son of God, and you willreceive Him as your Lord and Savior. Godbless!

These verses cover the last three hours that Jesushung on the cross at Calvary. During the first three hours during the morning fromnine to twelve, Jesus made three statements: "Father, forgive them.They know not what they do." (Luke 23:34). To the thief, Hesaid, "Today you will be with Me in paradise." (Luke 23:43). Andin John 19:25-27, He turned to John the disciple and Mary His mother, who wereclose by, and said, "Woman, behold your son," and to John,"Behold your mother." He ensured His mother, whose husband Joseph hadpassed away, was taken care of as He was dying on the cross. TheBible tells us in Mark chapter 15 that at the sixth hour, darkness covered thewhole land until the ninth hour. For those last three hours, from noon tothree, what took place was between God and His Son. Remember Jesus had alwayscalled God His Father previously in all the Gospel accounts of His ministry.The last four statements of Christ on the cross, we believe, took place at theend of those three hours according to the Gospel of Mark 15:33-41. “When thesixth hour came, darkness covered the whole land until the ninth hour. At theninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lamasabachthani," which is translated, "My God, My God, why have Youforsaken Me?"  Webelieve this was the fourth statement Jesus made to His Father but notice He addressedHim as “God”. Then He said, "I thirst," in John 19:28, and inJohn 19:30, just before He gave up His spirit, He said, "It isfinished." I believe the work of salvation was complete on the crossof Calvary.  Thelast statement Jesus said was, "Father, into Thy hands I commit Myspirit." In His final statements, Jesus first said, "My God, MyGod, why have You forsaken Me?" Did you notice that in His first statementand His last saying on the cross He addressed God as His Father. Now, why didHe call Him “My God” instead of “My Father”? Because during those threehours of darkness God had turned His back on His Son and did not recognize Himas His Son any longer as He paid the full punishment for our sins. Jesus wasestranged and separated from God. That's what real death is. It means separationfrom God!  SomehowJesus became separated from God in their Father-Son relationship. How Jesus didthat while being God is a mystery. You might have noticed in the Gospels that Jesus'favorite phrase for God was "My Father." In the Gospels, Herefers to God as "My Father" some 61 times, and 34 times inthe Gospel of John alone. But now on the cross, He says, "My God, MyGod," the only time He does so. In the Old Testament, no one had arelationship with God as Father. No Old Testament saints addressed God as “MyFather”. The only times your find the title “Father” capitalized in the Old Testamentis in these verses, 1 Chronicles 28:6; 29:10; Psalms 89:26; Isaiah 9:6;Jeremiah 3:19; and Malachi 1:6; 2:10.  WhenJesus taught His disciples to pray in Luke 11:1-4, He said, "Pray likethis, Our Father which art in heaven." Interestingly, the term "OurFather" is only mentioned twice in the Gospels, here in Luke and in Matthew:6:9-15,where Jesus taught us what is called the Lord's Prayer.  Myfriend, this is so important. Something the Old Testament saints could not experienceor enjoy Jesus came to show us how we can now have a personal, intimaterelationship with God because of His payment for our sins on the cross and Hissending of the Holy Spirit to abide in us. In Romans 8:14-16, we learn that Godis our “Abba Father”, a special Father, a Daddy Father, that we canboldly come to because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, being separatedfrom God.  Ilove how the Word of God makes so much sense when we understand that Jesusintroduces us to God, not as a God of wrath, but as a God who loves us as aFather loves, cares for, and protects His children. This ought to speak to ourhearts today.

Forthe first three hours, Jesus hung on the cross, the people mocked Him, theymade fun of Him, they laughed at Him, and they yelled at Him. Thenat the sixth hour, which would have been noon, verse 44 says there was darknessover all the earth until the ninth hour. The three hours of darkness was amiracle. It was not an eclipse because that would have been impossible duringPassover because it was the season of a full moon. It was a God-sent darkness, recognizingand also amplifying the fact that the whole world was in darkness, in sin andshame, and men were loving that darkness. Even when Jesus began His ministry, Matthew4:16 tells us: “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to themwhich sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up”. Andnow when this darkness takes place, remember it is the time of the feast of thePassover. This reminds us of Exodus 10:21-22 which tells us of the last plague whichwas a darkness that was sent over all the land of Egypt for three days. Thiswas just before the Passover lamb was slain and the blood was applied to thedoorpost in Exodus 12. When Jesus was on the cross, three hours of darknesspreceded the death of God's Passover Lamb for the sins of the world (John1:29).  Nowfor three hours, the earth is shrouded in darkness as God made His Son tobecome sin for us who knew no sin, as stated in 2 Corinthians 5:21. It was asthough all nature was sympathizing with the Creator as He suffered and died.  And so we see that Jesus was on the cross,dying on the cross as the Lamb of God in these three hours of darkness. Nowalso we believe that on the cross, Jesus, at this time, somewhere during thesethree hours of darkness, according to Matthew 27:45-46 and Mark 15:33-34, criedout, quoting from Psalm 22:1, "My God, My God, why have You forsakenMe?"  Tomorrow,I'm going to take more time to talk about how many times Jesus called HisFather. In fact, this last three hours on the cross ended when Jesus' lastprayer on the cross was, "Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit."But during these three hours of darkness, I can't explain it totally. I cannever understand it completely, but as far as I'm concerned, as I've looked atand studied it over the years, it was during these the three hours of darkness thatJesus suffered an eternity of outer darkness, an eternity of hell.  TheBible says that hell is a place of outer darkness. Jesus went into outerdarkness. There in these three hours, the wrath of God was poured out on Him.He was bruised by God (Isaiah 53), as we talked about yesterday, for our sins.He suffered. He was separated from His Father. His favorite reference, the mostused word in the Gospel of John, is the word Father. Jesus loved His Father.His Father loved Him. But now His Father turned His back on His Son and pouredout His wrath upon Him to be crucified, to die, to shed His blood for my sinsand your sins.  Myfriend, what great love that God had. And that's why Jesus cried out, "MyGod, My God," somehow God turned His back on His Son. Again, I don'tunderstand it, but He did according to the Scripture. And then it says in verse45 that “the veil of the temple was torn in two”. The Gospel accounts ofMark and Matthew add, “from top to bottom”. My friend, this is becauseGod from heaven miraculously tore that veil that separated “The Most Holy Place”from everyone except the High Priest once a year.  Thismiracle announced to the priests and people that the way into God's presencewas open for all who would come to Him by faith through Jesus Christ (Hebrews9:1-10:25). No more do sinners need earthly temples, altars, sacrifices, orpriests, for all had now been fulfilled in the finished work of the Son of God. Areyou experiencing and enjoying this open access to our Father in heaven today? Godbless!

Welcometo Pastor's Chat. Today we continue to look at Luke 23. In the passage we'reexamining, Jesus has been on the cross for three hours. In verses 44 through46, we read about the last three hours of the cross. Aswe look at this passage, Jesus had just spoken to the thief on the cross,telling him, "Today, you will be with Me in paradise." Even asJesus is dying on the cross, paying the price for our sins, He is thinking ofothers and has compassion on the sinners all around Him. Going back to verse27, we need to remember that as Christ was being led to His crucifixion, "agreat multitude of the people followed Him as He was carrying His cross toCalvary." Many of us believe, that Jesus was crucified somewhereright outside the Damascus Gate, across the road, next to a hill with the underlyingrocks that seem to form the face of a skull.  Justoutside the Damascus Gate in ancient Jerusalem, there were three roads that cometogether: one that comes from Damascus, one from Jericho, and the other fromJoppa. This was one of the busiest places in the city, a great marketplacewhere people came together, a place of transportation. Even today, it remains amajor transportation hub for different parts of Israel and still one of thebusiest places next to Old City Jerusalem. It makes sense that the Romansoldiers would execute criminals where the biggest multitude of people wouldgather and pass by, to put fear into those who committed crimes. Wemust also keep in mind that what our Lord accomplished on the cross was aneternal transaction between Him and the Father. We could call this chat, "TheOther Side of the Cross" because the cross was as much for God asit was for us. We see it from the street level, from our need and perspective,as He died for us. But God sees it from the other side as Jesus died to satisfythe wrath of God for sin. We need to remember that God is holy, righteous, andjust and He cannot forgive us just because He loves us.  Godis a God of love, but the only answer for Him to grant us forgiveness for oursins was that a payment had to be made for our sin. You will see this clearlyin the prophecy of Isaiah 53, which I encourage you to read in its entirety. Noticeparticularly these verses: “Surely He has borne our griefs And carried oursorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But Hewas wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; Thechastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah53:4-5). It says, the Jesus was “smitten by God…”.  Thelast verses of the Isaiah 53 are very clear that God was involved in the deathof His Son: “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief.When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shallprolong His days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. Heshall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge Myrighteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. ThereforeI will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil withthe strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered withthe transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for thetransgressors” (Isaiah 53:10-12). Asyou read these verses and you realize that God was looking down upon the crossthat day two-thousand years ago. The only place our sins and the sins ofhumanity could be paid for was right there, as Jesus, the perfect, sinless,stainless Lamb of God, died and bore the bruising of God upon Him. This is whatthe Apostle John was writing about in 1 John 2:2: “And He Himself is thepropitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”This means God's just wrath was satisfied with Christ sacrifice! Praise theLORD! Haveyou thanked the Lord for your great salvation today?

Welcometo Pastor's Chat as we continue to look at Luke 23. Jesus is on the cross inthe passages we've been reading and discussing. Today, in verse 43, Jesus spoketo the thief on the cross next to Him who had repented, who had recognized thatJesus Christ is the Son of God, sinless, stainless, blameless and who believedthat Jesus was dying not for any guilt of His own, but for the sins of theworld. It is apparent that the thief believed Jesus was the Messiah because hesaid, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom."  Hereis a man who didn't have a chance to go to church, get baptized, or do anythingfor Jesus. Yet, he received God's full pardon for the guilt of his sins and receivedsalvation. Jesus responded to his request in verse 43, saying, "AssuredlyI say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise." Then, in verse44, Luke points out that it was about the sixth hour (noon), and there wasdarkness over all the earth until the ninth hour (3pm). Midway through the sixhours of Christ on the cross, right before that sixth hour, this thief receivesChrist and the assurance that he will be with Him in paradise.  Letme explain something about Paradise. I believe the Old Testament and NewTestament together teach that when people died in the Old Testament and up tothe resurrection of Christ, they went to a place called Sheol, which had twocompartments and was located somewhere in the heart of the earth. Jesusexplained this in Luke 16:19-31. When the rich man died, he went to hell, “andin hell, he lifted up his eyes in flames of fire, being in torment, saying,"I'm tormented in this flame." The poor man, Lazarus, went toa place called Abraham's bosom (Paradise), where he was comforted. The man inhell could see across to Paradise and saw Lazarus being comforted. He cried outfor relief for himself and asked for Lazarus to be sent to dip his finger in waterand cool his tongue. He also wanted someone to warn his brothers not to come tothis terrible place.  Jesusresponded that there is a great gulf fixed between them. So, it appears that inthe heart of the earth, there is a place called Sheol with a hell side, a flameside, a great gulf, and a paradise side. I believe Scripture shows the same dayafter Jesus death on the cross and He was buried in the grave, Jesus went tothe Paradise side and took everyone from there to what is called the “thirdheaven”. Why do we believe this? Because we believe paradise was emptiedout. That day, Jesus went to paradise because He said to the repenting criminal,"Today you'll be with Me in paradise."  Whilethe body of Jesus was in the grave, Jesus met this thief in Paradise, who hadgone there when he died. From there, Jesus then took everyone to the thirdheaven, where the throne of God is. Paul, in 2 Corinthians 12:3, said,"I knew a man who was caught up to the third heaven." Rememberthat Jesus also said in John 14:2-3, “ I go to prepare a place foryou.  Jesuspromised the disciples a new place which He called “My Father's house”,which we believe is the “third heaven”, where today He is seated at theright hand of God. Interestingly, also we might note that when Stephen wasbeing stoned to death in Acts 7:54-56, that it says that, "he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standingat the right hand of God"  2Corinthians 5:8 says, "To be absent from the body is to be present withthe Lord." Why? Because the Lord is in the third heaven, where He tookthose from Paradise. But today, people who die without Christ still go to aterrible place called hell located in “Sheol”. And one day in the future,according to Revelation 20:13-14, those in hell will stand before the greatwhite throne judgment and be cast into the lake of fire, a place of outerdarkness where the beast, the false prophet, and Satan will be for eternity.

 My friend, when you look at the details of whathappened on the cross and one of these thieves coming to faith in Jesus Christand the promise He received from the mouth of the crucified Savior, you oughtto have hope. There is no reason anyone, anytime, anywhere, in any conditionshould not receive Jesus Christ and have the hope of eternal life. It doesn'tmatter who you are, how far you've gone into sin, or what types of crimes you'vecommitted.  Pleasecarefully read the above verses. "For there were also two others,criminals, led with Him to be put to death. And when they had come to the placecalled Calvary, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the righthand and the other on the left." The next several verses through verse38 describe how everyone mocked Him, saying, "You saved others, saveYourself." Even one of the thieves in verse 39, one of the criminals who wasbeing executed with Jesus, blasphemed Him, saying, "If You are the Christ,save Yourself and us." So, he joined with the crowd.  Ifyou study the other Gospels, you'll find that initially both thieves railedupon Him. As they're being crucified, hanging in tremendous suffering and pain,they both are crying out, saying, "If you are the Christ. Saveus." But then something happened, and we can't explain it, but Ibelieve it was a miracle of God. It was the grace of God, a message of God forthe world.  Let'sgo back to Genesis 3:19, when God created the Garden of Eden. It says that thetree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledgeof good and evil. In the old King James Version of this passage ofScripture, it says in the Gospel of John, that “Jesus was in the midstbetween these two thieves”. Jesus in the midst. The tree of life wasin the midst of the garden. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was inthe midst of the garden.  WhenJesus is crucified on the tree—that's often what the cross is called by theapostles in their epistles, the tree—the tree of life, the tree of theknowledge of good and evil. The Goodness of God and the evil of man and also eternallife are all displayed in the cross of Jesus Christ. Christ is in the midst.He's in the middle. My friend, He stands between you and heaven and hell. Hestands between you and an eternity away from God.  Thereis no reason today, when you look to the cross and hear the words of the Saviorthat He gave to the thief, to lose hope. The one thief said, rebuking the othersaid, "Do you not even fear God, seeing that you're under the samecondemnation, and we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds?But this Man has done nothing wrong." Then he said to Jesus, "Lord,remember me when You come into Your kingdom." And Jesus said to him,"Assuredly I say to you today, you will be with Me in paradise." Wewill talk about what paradise in another chat later. But my friend, this meansJesus went to paradise that day, and there this thief met Him when he died.Jesus was there and said, "Welcome home, son." The man foundforgiveness of sins. He didn't have time to go to church, get baptized, or doany good deeds. He went to paradise, to heaven, simply because he put his faithand trust in Jesus Christ, recognizing Him as sinless and innocent. Jesusdidn't deserve to die, but He died in the man's place. The man believed thatJesus was going to come into His kingdom. He believed in the hope of the futurethat Jesus had promised.  Maybehe had heard that message from someone, or maybe he was standing on the side ofthe crowd when Jesus preached somewhere. I don't know. But now he believed andput his faith in Christ, even as he was dying, and God promised him eternallife.  Youcan too. Whoever you are, wherever you're at, would you trust Jesus today? Jesusis in the midst. He stands between you and eternity. Would you trust Himtoday to be your Savior? Godbless!

 Some interesting things in thispassage of Scripture also show up in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel ofMark. Today, I want to take time to look at all three of these passages becauseit's in these passages that we read this statement repeatedly: "Hesaved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen ofGod."  (The Luke passage is above.) Matthew27:35-44 reads: “Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, castinglots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet: "Theydivided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots." Sittingdown, they kept watch over Him there. And they put up over His head theaccusation written against Him: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Then tworobbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another on the left. Andthose who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, "Youwho destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You arethe Son of God, come down from the cross." Likewise the chief priestsalso, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, "He saved others;Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come downfrom the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Himnow if He will have Him; for He said, 'I am the Son of God.' " Even therobbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing.” Mark15:25-32 reads: “Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him. And theinscription of His accusation was written above: THE KING OF THE JEWS. With Himthey also crucified two robbers, one on His right and the other on His left. Sothe Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And He was numbered with thetransgressors." And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging theirheads and saying, "Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in threedays, save Yourself, and come down from the cross!" Likewise thechief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, "Hesaved others; Himself He cannot save. Let the Christ, the King of Israel,descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe." Even those whowere crucified with Him reviled Him.” Atleast three times in the Gospels, the Holy Spirit seems to impress upon us thisstatement: "He saved others; Himself He cannot save." This iswhat they mocked Jesus with. My friend, my main point today is that if Hehad saved Himself, He could not have saved others. He came to seek and tosave that which was lost.  Jesusset an example for us as He humbled Himself and was obedient even to the deathof the cross. God foreordained in eternity past that He is the Lamb slain fromthe foundation of the world. The only way of salvation for mankind was forthere to be a perfect lamb substitute, and that Lamb was Jesus. Peterwould write later in 1 Peter 1:18-20: “Knowing that you were not redeemedwith corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conductreceived by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ,as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordainedbefore the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times foryou.”  Yes,my friend, if Jesus had saved Himself that day, and He could have come downfrom the cross. He could have called legions of angels, but He didn't becauseHe came to save you and me. What a Savior! We should be so thankful that He didnot save Himself so that He could save you and me with His death, His bloodatonement, His redemption on the cross of Calvary.  Thisshould also teach us that if we seek to save our lives for ourselves then wecannot save others. But when we lose our lives for Christ and the sake of the Gospelwe actually find it! (Mark 8:35).  Todayare you willing to lose your life, like Christ, and save others? Godbless!

Todaywe're continuing in Luke 23:32-34. These three verses introduce us to Jesusbeing on the cross at Golgotha. This is one of the most special passages ofScripture in the Bible. All the Bible in the Old Testament points to this time,and all the time after this, points back to this time. This is the center andfocal point of eternity. This is where God Himself, who has taken on humanflesh, dies on a cross for all humanity. Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, camefor this very purpose and hour. Even while Jesus is suffering one of the mostcruel and painful deaths a human can experience, He is expressing compassionfor other Ithad been prophesied in Isaiah 53:12 that the Suffering Servant would be "numberedwith the transgressors". Jesus Himself mentioned this passage on Hisway to the cross in Luke 22:37. This is fulfilled by the fact that twocriminals were crucified with Jesus, men who were robbers according to Matthew27:38. The Greek word means "one who uses violence to rob openly," incontrast to the thief who secretly enters a house and steals. These two men mayhave been guilty of armed robbery involving murder. Lukepoints out in verse 33 that Jesus “was crucified in a place called Calvary”.The name Calvary comes from the Latin calvaria which means "askull." (The Greek is kranion, which gives us the English word cranium,and the Aramaic word is Golgotha.) The name is not explained in the NewTestament. The site may have resembled a skull, as does "Gordon'sCalvary" near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem. Or perhaps the namesimply grew out of the ugly facts of execution. There are many who believe thatJesus was crucified and buried in a place in Old City Jerusalem that today is knownas the “Church of the Holy Sepulchre”, which is one of the most visited touristsites in all the world. At Gordon's Tomb, the guides always remind us that thewhether the place is there or at the church site, the main thing is that Jesuswas crucified. OurLord was crucified about 9 a.m. and remained on the cross until 3 p.m.; andfrom noon to 3 p.m., there was darkness over all the land (Mark 15:25, 33).Jesus spoke seven times during those six terrible hours: "Father,forgive them" (Luke 23:34). "Todayyou will be with Me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). "Woman,behold your son" (John 19:25-27).(Thenthe three hours of darkness when Jesus is silent) "MyGod, My God, why have you forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46) "Ithirst" (John 19:28). "Itis finished!" (John 19:30) "Father,into Your hands I commit My spirit" (Luke 23:46).  Lukerecorded only three of these seven statements, the first, the second, and thelast. Our Lord's prayer for His enemies, and His ministry to a repentant thief,fit in well with Luke's purpose to show Jesus Christ as the sympathetic,compassionate Son of man who cared for the needy. Whilethey were nailing Him to the cross, He repeatedly prayed, "Father, forgivethem; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). Not only was Hepracticing what He taught (Luke 6:27-28), but He was fulfilling prophecy andmaking "intercession for the transgressors" (Isaiah 53:12). Wemust not infer from His prayer that ignorance is a basis for forgiveness, orthat those who sinned against Jesus were automatically forgiven because Heprayed. Certainly, both the Jews and the Romans were ignorant of the enormityof their sin, but that could not absolve them. The Law provided a sacrifice forsins committed ignorantly, but there was no sacrifice for deliberatepresumptuous sin (Ex. 21:14; Num. 15:27-31; Ps. 51:16-17). It is possible thatit was our Lord's intercession that postponed God's judgment on the nation foralmost forty years, giving them additional opportunities to be saved (Acts3:17-19).  Christ'slove and compassion is still being expressed today giving us ample time torepent and be saved. Godbless!

Aswe study Luke 23, a good way to recall the events of this chapter is to rememberthat Jesus had seven encounters or conversations with at least seven people orgroups. There was Pilate (vv. 1-25); King Herod (vv. 7-12); Simon the Cyrenian(v. 26); the Jerusalem women (vv. 27-31); the two criminals (vv. 32-43); HisFather (vv.44-49); and Joseph of Arimathea. Whenwe arrive at Luke 23:27-31 Jesus has already gone through terrible beatings andsuffering. At this point, on the way to Golgotha, He is not able to carry Hiscross and Simon of Cyrene is carrying it for Him.  It is now that He has a word for the women ofJerusalem.  Lukeinforms us that “a great multitude of the people followed Him” (v. 27). Publicexecutions drew crowds of spectators, and one involving Jesus would especiallyattract attention. Add to this the fact that Jerusalem was crowded withpilgrims, possibly over a million people could have been in the city at thetime of Passover, so it is not difficult to believe that a "greatmultitude" was following the condemned Man to Calvary. Inthat crowd was a group of women who openly wept and lamented as theysympathized with Jesus and contemplated the terrible spiritual condition oftheir nation. It has been pointed out by Bible commentators, that as far as theGospel records are concerned, no woman was ever an enemy of Jesus. Nor wasJesus ever the enemy of womankind. His example, His teachings, and most of all,His redemption have done much to dignify and elevate women.  Ifyou remember, the news of His birth was shared with a Jewish maiden, His deathwas witnessed by grieving women, and the good news of His resurrection wasannounced first to a woman who had been demon-possessed. Jesusappreciated their sympathy and used it to teach them and us an important lesson(vv. 28-31). While they were weeping over the injustice of one man's death, Jesuswas looking ahead and grieving over the terrible destruction of the entirenation, a judgment that was wholly justified. Jesus had told His disciplesabout this judgment in Luke 19:41-44: “Now as He drew near, He saw the cityand wept over it, saying, "If you had known, even you, especially in thisyour day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden fromyour eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build anembankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and levelyou, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave inyou one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of yourvisitation."  Jesuslooking ahead, even on His way to the cross, knew it would be the women andchildren who would suffer the most, a fact supported by history. Just fortyyears later in 70AD, when Titus and the Romans army surrounded Jerusalem, they attemptedto starve the Jews into submission. It has been noted by historians that hungrymen, defending their city, took food from their suffering wives and childrenand even killed and ate their own flesh and blood to keep enough strength tofight. It was a terrible terrible time of judgment that Jesus was speaking of. Thenation of Israel was like a "green tree" during the years when Jesuswas on earth. It was a time of blessing and opportunity, and it should havebeen a time of fruitfulness. But the nation rejected Him and became like a"dry tree," fit only for the fire. Jesus often would have gatheredHis people together, but they would not (Matthew 23:37-39). In condemning Him,they only condemned themselves. Wemight paraphrase His words: "If the Roman authorities do this to One whois innocent, what will they do to you who are guilty? When the day of judgmentarrives, can there be any escape for you?" Myfriend, Jesus has also warned us of another day of judgment coming. Will you beprepared? Godbless!

Jesusis finally condemned by Pilate and sent to be crucified on Golgotha. Accordingto John's Gospel, Jesus is forced to bear His cross. “And He, bearingHis cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called inHebrew, Golgotha" (John 19:16-18). (By the way, Johnis the only Gospel that does not mention Simon of Cyrene by name.) Matthew'sGospel tells it this way: “Now asthey came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. " (Matthew 27:31-33). Mark'sGospel gives us some additional information about Simon of Cyrene. “And whenthey had mocked Him, they took the purple off Him, put His own clothes on Him,and led Him out to crucify Him. Then they compelled a certain man, Simon aCyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of thecountry and passing by, to bear His cross. And they brought Him to the placeGolgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull” (Mark 15:20-22) Historyalso gives us some information about the country of Cyrene where Simon wasfrom: Jews began migrating to Cyrene as early as the 3rd century BCE, primarilyunder Ptolemy I's policy to strengthen Cyrenaica, with further migrationsoccurring during the Roman period. The reasons for migration included politicalstrategies (Ptolemaic resettlement), economic opportunities (Cyrene'sprosperity and trade), religious connections (ties to Jerusalem), and, in laterperiods, escape from persecution or instability in other regions. By the timeof Simon of Cyrene in the 1st century CE, the Jewish community in Cyrene waswell-established, influential, and closely linked to Jerusalem, as evidenced bytheir synagogue and presence at major Jewish festivals. Cyrene was located inpresent day Libya next to Egypt. Itwas a part of the prisoner's humiliation that he carry his own cross to theplace of execution, so when Jesus left Pilate's hall, He was carrying eitherthe cross or the crossbeam (John 19:17). Apparently, He was unable to go on,for the soldiers had to "draft" Simon of Cyrene to carry the crossfor Him. (This was a legal Roman procedure. See Matt. 5:41.) When you considerall that Jesus had endured since His arrest in the Garden, it is not difficultto imagine Him falling under the load. But there is something more involved:carrying the cross was a sign of guilt, and our Lord was not guilty! Thousandsof Jews came to Jerusalem from other nations to celebrate the feasts (Acts2:5-11), and Simon was among them. He had traveled over 800 miles from Africato celebrate Passover, and now he was being humiliated on a most holy day! Whatwould he say to his family when he got home? But might have looked to Simon like a catastrophe turned out to be awonderful opportunity, for it brought him in contact with Jesus Christ. Simonprobably had come into the city of Jerusalem to attend the 9 a.m. prayermeeting in the temple, but got caught up in the crowd following Jesus to Hiscrucifixion. But God's providence place him in the right place at exactly theright time. It was then that the soldiers “compelled” him to carry the cross ofJesus.  Wehave good reason to believe that Simon was converted because of this encounterwith Jesus. Mark identified him as "the father of Alexander andRufus" (Mark 15:21), two men that Mark assumed his Roman readers wouldknow. A Christian named Rufus was greeted by Paul in Romans 16:13, and it ispossible that he was the son of Simon of Cyrene. Apparently Simon and his twosons became well-known Christians who were held in honor in the church. BeforeSimon met Jesus, he had religion and devotion; but after he met Jesus, he hadreality and salvation. He did both a physical and spiritual "aboutface" that morning, and it transformed his life. God can still useunexpected and difficult situations, even humiliating situations, to bringpeople to the Savior. What is your story?

Up tothis point Jesus had three unfair trials before the Jews; before Annas, thefather-in-law of the high priest Caiaphas, and also Caiaphas at his house, andthen before the Sanhedrin. Now, in the early morning hours between six and nineo'clock on Friday morning, Jesus is taken before Pilate. Pilate has his firsttrial with Jesus and finds no fault in Him after questioning Him personally inthe Praetorium. Pilate sent Jesus to King Herod Antipas where Jesus is againquestioned, mock and ridiculed. Jesus is silent and does not respond to Herod whothen sends Him back to Pilate (v. 11). Inthese verses, 13-25, Pilate proves to be a coward. It is interesting to note thatmany Christian sources describe Pilate as “the model of a coward” who knew thecrucifixion was wrong but acted out of fear of political repercussions, such aslosing favor with Emperor Tiberius or inciting a riot. C.S. Lewis is referencedin these sources, suggesting Pilate represents “men without chests”—peopleunwilling to pursue truth, leading to cowardice and injustice. The fact thatHerod backed Pilate's decision would not have impressed the Jews very much,because they despised Herod almost as much as they despised the Romans. WhenJesus is returned to Pilate he again meets with the Jewish leaders andannounced for the second time that he did not find Jesus guilty of the chargesthey had made against Him (vv. 13-15). Since it was customary at Passover forthe governor to release a prisoner, Pilate offered the Jews a compromise: hewould chastise Jesus and let Him go. He had another prisoner on hand, Barabbas,but Pilate was sure the Jews would not want him to be released. After all,Barabbas was a robber (John 18:40), a murderer, and an insurrectionist (Luke23:19). He may have been a leader of the Jewish Zealots who at that time wasworking for the overthrow of Rome. Severaltimes Luke notes that it is the chief priest and rulers of the people that aredemanding that Christ is guilty and should be crucified. We must not think thatthe general populace of the city was gathered before Pilate and crying out forthe blood of Jesus, though a curious crowd no doubt gathered. It was primarilythe official religious leaders of the nation, the chief priests in particular(Luke 23:23), who shouted Pilate down and told him to crucify Jesus. To saythat the same people who cried "Hosanna!" on Palm Sunday ended upcrying "Crucify Him!" on Good Friday is not completely accurate. Finally,after vacillating back and forth and at least three times proclaiming Jesus tobe innocence, Pilate realized that his mishandling of the situation had almostcaused a riot, and a Jewish uprising was the last thing he wanted duringPassover. So, he called for water and washed his hands before the crowd,affirming his innocence (Matt. 27:24-25). Pilate proves to be a compromiser anda coward, who was "willing to content the people" (Mark 15:15).Barabbas was released and Jesus was condemned to die on a Roman cross. Pilatewas a complex character. He openly said that Jesus was innocent, yet hepermitted Him to be beaten and condemned Him to die. He carefully questionedJesus and even trembled at His answers, but the truth of the Word did not makea difference in his decisions. He wanted to be popular and not right; he wasmore concerned about reputation than he was character. What a sad state to bein! We must be careful that we don't follow in his footsteps.  Itwould also be good for us to remember what Jesus said in Mark 8:35-38, “Forwhoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life forMy sake and the gospel's will save it. For what will it profit a man if hegains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give inexchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in thisadulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamedwhen He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." 

Welcometo Pastor's Chat today. We're continuing to look at Luke 23, and today we'refocusing on verses 6-12. Jesus had three unfair trials before the Jews; beforeAnnas, the father-in-law of the high priest Caiaphas, and also Caiaphas at hishouse, and then before the Sanhedrin. Now, in the early morning hours betweensix and nine o'clock on Friday morning, Jesus is taken before Pilate. Pilatehas his first trial with Jesus and finds no fault in Him after questioning Himpersonally in the praetorium.  WhenPilate hears that Jesus is from the region of Galilee, he knows that's Herod,King Herod's jurisdiction. King Herod Antipas, who murdered John the Baptist,had longed to see Jesus because he had heard of the miracles Jesus had done andwanted to see Him perform a miracle, like a trick. When Pilate heard ofGalilee, he asked if the Man were a Galilean. I love the scripture here becauseit capitalizes the "M" in the Man Christ Jesus. Yes, there was no manlike this Man, the Man Christ Jesus.  Assoon as Pilate knew that He belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent Him toHerod, who was also in Jerusalem at the time. When Herod saw Jesus, he wasexceedingly glad, for he had desired for a long time to see Him, because he hadheard many things about Him, and he hoped to see some miracle done by Him. Thenhe questioned Him with many words, but He answered him nothing.  Thechief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused Him. You can imaginethis crowd of chief priests, scribes, and Sanhedrin following Jesus to whereHerod was in Jerusalem. I can imagine Herod waking up this morning, having hisbreakfast, and suddenly all this is going on. Here comes this crowd ofPharisees, chief priests, and Sanhedrin, bringing Jesus with them. Herod,with his men of war, treated Him with contempt, mocked Him, arrayed Him in agorgeous robe, and sent Him back to Pilate. That very day, Pilate and Herodbecame friends with each other, for previously they had been at enmity witheach other. Both Pilate and Herod had the opportunity to try Jesus. What'sinteresting is that Jesus was not truly on trial before Pilate and Herod;rather, Pilate and Herod were on trial before Jesus. Obviously, they failed thetest. They did not receive Jesus as the Christ. Neither did they find Himguilty, as Pilate later said that even Herod found no fault in Him (v. 15).  Eventhough Herod mistreated Jesus and had his men mock Him as a the King of the Jews,Jesus the Man did not respond to them. I believe they did this because Herodand his crowd hated the religious hypocrites, the Pharisees. Even the lostworld doesn't like religious hypocrites. They mocked Jesus because He wassupposedly the King of the Jews, putting a beautiful robe on Him to make Himlook like a king.That day two men became friends because they had a commonenemy, the Jews, and a common purpose: Jesus needed to be condemned, and theJews wanted Him condemned and it was an opportunity to show distain for thereligious hypocrites.  Today,what stands out to me the most is that Jesus is the Man, the Christ Man, theGod Man. Oh, my friend, He's the Man who took on flesh so that through death Hecould become our sin on an old rugged cross. Romans 8:3 tells us: “For whatthe law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sendingHis own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemnedsin in the flesh.” I love how Hebrews 2:14 puts it: “Inasmuch then asthe children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared inthe same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death,that is, the devil”.  Iinvite you today to trust Jesus, to put your hope in this Man. There's no manlike this Man, the Man Christ Jesus. “For there is one God and one Mediatorbetween God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all,to be testified in due time” (1 Timothy 2:5-6). Godbless!

Todaywe are continuing to look at Luke 23. In this chapter, we read about the trial,the crucifixion, and the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus loves us so muchthat He gave His life on the cross of Calvary. In this chapter, we see mendoing their worst and at the same time, we see God giving His best. I rememberthat verse in Romans 5:20, “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound”.In the darkness of that hour, in the darkness of sin all around on planetearth, and especially there in Jerusalem as men are crucifying the Lord JesusChrist, the grace of God is abounding because God is pouring out His lovethrough the death of His Son on the cross of Calvary.  Jesusdidn't just happen to die. In John 10:17-18, Jesus said, “Therefore MyFather loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No onetakes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, andI have power to take it again. This command I have received from MyFather."  Acts 2:23 affirms thatthe crucifixion of Christ was by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge ofGod. Jesus was the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world (1Peter 1:20, Revelation 13:8).  Aswe look at the first five verses of this chapter, we see Jesus coming on trialbefore Pilate. He has already faced three trials with the Jews during thenight. Now, somewhere between 6:00am in the morning and 9:00am, when Jesus wascrucified, this trial before Pilate takes place on Friday morning. PontiusPilate is an interesting person. This is the first encounter Jesus has withsomeone in this chapter as far as the trial and His death on the cross areconcerned. Pilate was the governor of Judea from AD 26 to AD 36, after which hewas recalled to Rome and passed out of Roman history. Pilate was hated by theJews, and it appears he hated them as well. When Jesus is hung on the cross,Pilate has a sign put over His head: “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”He did this to provoke the Jews, who denied that Jesus was their King.  Jesusis taken inside the Praetorium to be tried before Pilate. The Jews are outsidein the courtyard because they cannot enter without defiling themselves for thePassover (John 18:28). Jesus is in this room, and Pilate interrogates Himindividually, personally. In Matthew 27:18-19, it says Pilate knew that theyhad handed Him over because of envy. In his handling of the trial of Jesus, thegovernor proved to be indecisive. The Gospel of John records seven differentmoves that Pilate made as he went out to meet the people and then went in toquestion Jesus (John 18:29, 33, 38; 19:1, 4, 9, 13). He kept looking for aloophole, but he found none. Pilate has gone down in history as the man whotried Jesus Christ, three times declared Him not guilty, and yet crucified Himjust the same. Itwas obvious Pilate understood some of the situation with Jesus and the Jews,knowing it was because of their hatred for Him, not because He had broken anyRoman laws that would demand execution. While Pilate was sitting on thejudgment seat, his wife also sent a message to him, saying, “Have nothing todo with that just Man, for I've suffered many things today in a dream becauseof Him” (Matthew 27:19).  Pilateis convinced He's not guilty and proclaims this at least three times in thegospel accounts. But the Jews are determined to have Him crucified. In the end,Pilate makes no decision, saying, “I wipe my hands of the guilt of this justMan.” My friend, indecision is the worst decision; it is the fatal choice.Jesus says, “You're either with Me or you're against Me.”  Wemust decide for Jesus even today—whether we'll accept Him as our Savior or denyHim as the Son of God and reject Him as our Savior. What is your choice? Godbless!

Todaywe are moving on to a new chapter, Luke 23. This chapter tells us about thetrial of Jesus and His crucifixion and death on the cross. We believe this isone of the great chapters of the Bible, along with the other Gospel accounts ofJesus giving His life on the cross for you and me. This is the climax of humanhistory where God Himself literally goes to a cross and pays the payment forour sins. Several things stand out as we look at this chapter.  Tounderstand the setting, let's remember Jesus has been up all night long. OnThursday, Jesus prepared for the Passover meal with the disciples. Thatevening, they observed and ate the Passover meal in the Upper Room. In John 13through John 17, Jesus is talking to His disciples, preparing them with somelast words, giving them the comfort of the Holy Spirit who will come after Hehas ascended to heaven. So many things are taking place. Judas goes out intothe night to get the temple guard to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Thenafter Jesus institutes the Lord's Supper, they sing a hymn.  Jesusgoes deeper into the Garden, and there He prays those three prayers: "NotMy will but Thine be done." He says, "Take this cup from Me."That cup, we believe, represented the sins of all humanity, and Jesus wouldbecome sin for us. In the middle of the night, Judas shows up at the gardenwith a guard from the temple and arrests Jesus. They take Him to Annas's house,then to Caiaphas's house, and finally, as the sun rises and Peter has deniedthe Lord three times, they take Jesus to the Sanhedrin, where He is triedunfairly for the third time by the Jews.  Nowhere in Luke 23, we read that in the early morning hours, after the Sanhedrincondemns Him, they take Him to Pilate. We know that Jesus was crucified at thethird hour, which would have been 9:00 in the morning. At the sixth hour of Hiscrucifixion, three hours into the cross, the sun refused to shine. It wentdark. For the next three hours, until 3:00 in the afternoon, the sun did notshine. We're convinced that during those hours, Jesus paid the full payment forour sins. Over all six hours, Jesus is paying the price on the cross. We'lltalk about the seven sayings of Christ later, but here we see Jesus paying thefull price for our sin, being the propitiation for them, satisfying the wrathof God against the sins of humanity.  Jesusfulfilled the law as the innocent Lamb of God and fully paid for our sins,declaring in His last words on the cross, "It is finished." All thisbegins at 9:00 in the morning when Jesus is crucified. What we read now in Lukechapter 23, as He goes before Pilate for three different trials, happenssomewhere between the early morning hours of the Sanhedrin trying Him and Hiscrucifixion at 9am.  Canyou imagine how physically, emotionally, and mentally worn-out Jesus must havebeen during this time?  Oh,what a Savior! When we study this chapter, we will see both the evilness of menand the goodness of God. I can't help but think about that tree in the Gardenof Eden, called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which God forbadeAdam and Eve to eat from. When they ate of it, they brought sin into the world.Now we are reminded of that tree again because Jesus will die and be hung on atree—a tree that represents the knowledge of good and evil.  Therewe see the great love of God, the goodness of God, the mercy of God, thewonderful sacrifice of God at that cross. At the same time, we see evil mencrucifying the most innocent, precious, sinless, blameless, stainless Son ofGod on that cross. Oh, what a scene. As we look at Luke chapter 23, I trustyou'll read it through several times and take into your heart all that Jesusdid for you and me. God bless!

Today I want to focus on how Jesus suffered and how He faced that suffering andwhat we can learn from His example. Peter 2:19-24 tells us: For to this you were called, because Christalso suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:  "Who committed no sin, Nor was deceitfound in His mouth"; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return;when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judgesrighteously; Thisshould teach us that Jesus has given us an example and that we should follow inHis steps concerning His suffering. When He was reviled, He reviled not again.He did not open His mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. How can wedeal with suffering? I think first we must understand that suffering is a factof life. There is no way to avoid suffering in this world. It's all a part ofthe original sin curse. The curse that came upon Adam and all the fallencreatures, you and I. And we are going to face in this world tribulation andsuffering. It doesn't matter whether we're a believer or not a believer.Suffering is a fact of life. It's going to be there.  Buthow can we face it? How can we deal with it? It comes in so many differentforms: physically, mentally, emotionally, with all the abuse today that goes onin our families, in our world, it's there. So, how do we deal with it? What canwe learn from Jesus. How did Jesus endure His suffering? Here you see them accusingHim. They're mocking Him. They're striking Him, blindfolded Him, and justtotally knocking Him around and speaking blasphemous things against Him, itsays. And then they say, "If You're the Christ, tell us." But He saidto them, "If I tell you, you won't believe." And He said, "Also,if I ask you, you'll by no means answer Me or let Me go."  Andthen Jesus makes this statement here: “Hereafter the Son of Man will sit onthe right hand of the power of God.". This statement reveals how Jesusfaced His suffering. Hebrews 12:1-3 tells us that “we are to look untoJesus, the author, the finisher of our faith. Who for the joy that was setbefore Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at theright hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such hostility fromsinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.”  Inthe midst of our suffering we look to Jesus, as He's going through thissuffering, going through this rejection, going through this physical pain atthis point, what does He do? He looks to the time He'll receive the glory ofthe Father's throne. He'll be seated next to Him. And for the joy of sittingnext to the Father and seeing the fruit of His suffering in the salvation ofmillions and millions and millions of redeemed souls, He endures the suffering.He faces it. He goes through it. He accepts it.  Nowmy friend, that's how we do it. We look forward. The Bible says in Romans 8:18,“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to becompared to the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Peter later wouldwrite about it in 1 Peter 5:9-11: “Resist him (the devil), steadfast in thefaith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood inthe world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory byChrist Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen,and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Yes,it is after our suffering, that we are prepared for the glory of God. We lookpast the suffering to the time there will be no more suffering. Oh, what a hopewe have because of Jesus Christ. And we'll be seated with Him in heavenlyplaces. I trust these thoughts will encourage you as you think about our Saviorand the example He set for us. Godbless!

Welcometo Pastor's Chat today. It's hard to smile as we begin this chat, thinkingabout what took place this past Friday in Texas with the death of so manychildren and others as those devastating floods hit that state. First, let mejust say I was raised in Texas. I was born in Dallas and lived my first tenyears of life in Texas. All my cousins, aunts, and uncles on both my mother'sand father's sides of the family, which were large families, dozens and dozensof cousins, aunts, and uncles, still live in Texas. It's a dear state. It's awonderful place, and our hearts go out to those who have lost these precious,precious children and other loved ones that have died in this flood. Now,I know we all ask that question: Why would a loving God allow anything likethis to take place? The devil gets on our shoulder and gives us the wronganswers to that question and tells us God doesn't love us. God doesn't care.But that's the furthest thing from the truth. There are so many things wecannot understand. I can't understand when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, andafter He and His parents fled to Egypt, Herod the Great went to the same areaand killed all the male children up to the age of two years old, trying hisbest to make sure he killed the next potential king of Israel. It says thatRachel wailed; all the parents there, great wailing took place as this despotkilled all these children (Matthew 2:16-18). I don't understand that this isallowed to take place and be associated with the birth of Jesus Christ comingto earth to save us from our sins, to give us eternal life.  AsI sat in church on Sunday and thought about what has happened this weekend, Ijust wanted to cry. It affects us. I have four granddaughters who have beenwith us the last several days, and they're precious girls. I can't imaginelosing one of them. And yet, with this tragedy in Texas, so many have beenlost, and we wonder why this would happen. Well, let me just answer thequestion by saying we might not understand why. We might not understand why Godwould allow it, but I can tell you this: God has proven His love to us. For Godso loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Romans 5:8 reminds us ofthis: “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for uswhile we were still sinners.” Thepassage before us today shows us what love God has given us through His Son,Jesus Christ. "Now the men who heldJesus mocked Him and beat Him. And having blindfolded Him, they struck Him onthe face and asked Him, saying, "Prophesy, who is the one who struckyou?" You can imagine this. Here's the Son of God. Here's the perfect Lambof God. Here is a man who never sinned, neither was there any guile in Hismouth. One who loved the people, cared for the children, healed the sick, raisedthe dead, gave sight to the blind, fed the hungry. Someone who laid down Hislife, came from the glories of heaven, became a human being, lived as aservant, washed His disciples' feet, and they're doing this to Him. They'remocking Him and saying, if you're the Son of God, you should know what my nameis. They mocked Him asking “who struck you”, and many other things that wedon't even know about.  Thenthey all said, "Are you then the Son of God?" So He said to them,"You rightly say that I am." Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. So whenyou hear these cults and others tell you Jesus never claimed to be the Son ofGod, they must be overlooking these verses.Jesusis the Son of God. God loves us. Christ died for us. He went through tremendoussuffering because of His love for us. Don't ever question that. Yes, we canquestion why things happen we might not understand, but we can believe and beassured that God loves us today (John 3:16).  Let'sbelieve this and let's be praying for these families that are going throughthis terrible tragedy in Texas. Godbless!

Thequestion I have today is, what will it take for the Lord to bring you torepentance, to call you back to Himself, for you to recognize your failure justas Peter did? Well, God used a rooster to get Peter's attention after he haddenied the Lord three times. You might remember in the Old Testament, God useda donkey to talk to Balaam to get his attention and remind him he was going inthe wrong direction. What will the Lord use to get your attention to say,"Hey, you're headed in the wrong direction. You need to listen to Me andremember My word." Well, that's what we find here in these last verses 54-62. AtPeter's third denial he used an oath and said, "I don't know the Man! Idon't know what you are talking about!" It was then that the roostercrowed for the second time and the Lord's prediction was fulfilled (Mark14:30). At that moment, Jesus, being led away to the next trial, turned andlooked at Peter; and His look broke Peter's heart. While the bystanders werewatching Jesus, Peter slipped out and went off and wept bitterly. It is toPeter's credit that all the Lord had to do was look at him to bring him to theplace of repentance. Forone rooster to crow at the right time while the other birds in the cityremained silent was certainly a miracle. But the crowing of the rooster wasmuch more than a miracle that fulfilled our Lord's words; it was also a specialmessage to Peter, a message that helped to restore him to fellowship again.What encouragements did the crowing of the rooster give to the Apostle Peter? First,it was an assurance to him that Jesus Christ was still in control of thingseven though He was a prisoner, bound and seemingly helpless before His captors.Peter could recall witnessing his Lord's authority over the fish, the winds,and the waves, and even over disease and death. No matter how dark the hour wasfor Peter, Jesus was still in control! This is good for us to remember too, especiallywhen we have fallen so far away from the Lord back into the world, Jesus isstill on His throne and has total control of everything that concerns our lifeand future. Second,the crowing of the rooster assured Peter that he could be forgiven. Peter hadnot been paying close attention to the Word of God. He had argued with it,disobeyed it, and even run ahead of it, but now he "remembered the wordof the Lord" (Luke 22:61), and this brought him hope. Why? Becausewith the word of warning was also a promise of restoration! Peter would beconverted and strengthen his brethren.  (Luke 22:31-32). We should remember that “theLord ever lives to make intercession for us” (Hebrews 7:25). We also shouldbe encouraged with 1 John 2:1. Finally,the miracle of the rooster told Peter that a new day was dawning, for afterall, that is what the rooster's call means each day. It was not a new day forJudas or for the enemies of the Lord, but it was a new day for Peter as herepented and wept bitterly. "A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thouwilt not despise" (Ps. 51:17). On Resurrection morning, the angel senta special message to encourage Peter (Mark 16:7), and the Lord Himself appearedto Peter that day and restored him to fellowship (Luke 24:34). Eachone of us, at one time or another, will fail the Lord and then hear (in one wayor another) "the crowing of the rooster." Satan will tell usthat we are finished, that our future has been destroyed, but that is not God'smessage to us. It was certainly not the end for Peter! His restoration was socomplete that on the Day of Pentecost he was able to say to the Jews, "Butyou denied the Holy One and the Just!" (Acts 3:14) Peter did not have1 John 1:9 to read, but he did experience it in his own heart. So the question,what will it take to get your attention? The rooster crowed and Peterremembered the word of the Lord. Will you? Godbless!

Todaywe're looking at Luke chapter 22:54-62. Here we see Peter's steps to failure. Wecan look at what he did and how he got to where he would deny the Lord and evencurse and swear. And then we can apply these things to our lives and learn howwe can stand strong in the face of temptation by looking at his steps tofailure. Remember, a couple days ago we said Peter's first step was pride.Peter had just said, "Though all these others fail you and though theystumble and though they deny you and run from you, not me. I'll die withyou." What pride to say that in front of the other disciples? Can youimagine how they must have felt when Peter said that as he compared himself tothem?  Secondly,we see that Peter in the garden failing to heed the warning of Jesus to “watchand pray”. Instead of watching and praying, Peter was sleeping. When we getpride in our heart, we don't think we need to pray like we should. We can skipprayer. We can skip Bible reading. We can skip church. We can choose otherthings over those things that keep us close to the heart of God in our worship.And so the second thing is he did not watch and pray. He was sleeping. That'sthe problem with America today. Too many Christians are asleep at the wheel.They're asleep. They're not committed to doing those things that keep themclose to the heart of God.  Thethird thing we see is Peter has now developed a wrong attitude. He decided toattack the mob with a sword when they grabbed Jesus. He tried to fight thespiritual battle in the flesh. And he had the wrong weapon. My friend, ourweapons are not carnal, but they're mighty through God to the pulling down ofstrongholds. Yes, if you fail to pray, it won't be long till you have a wrongattitude. Remember Jesus had just said in the Upper Room a few hours earlier, “Thatwithout Me you can do nothing. Abide in Me and let My words abide in you. Youcan ask what you will and it'll be done unto you.” But of course Peterforgot about that.  Pleaseread the above verses again (vv. 54-62). The fourth thing we see is that Peterfollowed at a distance. That's the fourth thing we see is that “Peterfollowed at a distance” (v.54). When you have pride in your heart, whenyou fail to watch and pray, and when you have a wrong attitude, it won't belong till you follow Jesus at a distance. from afar.  Thefifth thing we see is Peter sitting by the fire of the enemy (vv. 55-56). He'swarming himself at the enemy's fire. It's interesting how as we go down thesesteps away from the Lord, and begin to follow Him at a distance, that we then expectthe world to give us the comfort we need and the protection we need. And he'swarming himself at the enemy's fire. We try to use the things of the world tofind comfort and warmth in our heart and satisfaction, but that's the wrongplace to look.  Nexta little servant girl confronts and accuses Peter and he responds “Woman Ido not know Him.” Then a man accuses Peter of being with Jesus with Him, butPeter said, "Man, I am not." Then after an hour had passed,another confidently affirmed, saying, "Surely this fellow also was withHim, for he is a Galilean." But Peter said, "Man, I do not knowwhat you're saying."  Let'slook at this closely in our own lives and make sure that we're not following ata distance, warming ourselves at the enemy's fire, have pride in our hearts,depending on the wrong weapons. Matthew's Gospel tells us that Peter then beganto curse and swear (Matthew 26:74). Peter goes back to his old ways. And that'sexactly what happens when we get away from God. We begin to sound like and looklike the world.  Maythe Lord help us and save us from these steps of failure.  Godbless.

Happy Fourth of July. I pray today that you'll have theopportunity to celebrate America with millions of other people. We have been soblessed to be able to live in the greatest nation in the course of humanhistory besides the nation of Israel. An America that was founded on Bibleprinciples. An America that believed, as it was being founded by ourforefathers, that we were created by God.  InGod we trust is still on our coins and on our dollar bills and other bills. Myfriend, we are blessed and yet we live in a time when America is sick. We mighteven say, “America is terminally ill.”  TodayI just wanted to take the opportunity to say a few things about America and ourresponse as believers and what it should be as we pray for our country. Today, it'shard to pray, “God bless America”. You can't pray blessings on a country or anation that has wandered away from God and has taken God out of our schools andout of our media and out of our social life and out of our politics.  Itappears that we decided that we would exchange God for the things of thisworld, for material gain, for money, for prosperity, for success, for business,for bigness and all those things. My friend, God will not be set on a shelf. Iwant to remind us what the Scripture says in several verses: Psalm 33:11, "Blessedis the nation whose God is Jehovah, Yahweh." And Jehovah is none otherthan the Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing Him, having a relationship with Him. Morethan anything else America needs God.  ThroughJesus Christ, we can know God, experience God, worship God, and put God firstin our lives. We need God. Blessed is that nation. The Bible says in Psalm9:17, "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations thatforget God."  Thereligion of America today seems to be humanism. The worship of man, the worshipof man being a better person, doing good things and even having prosperity andbeing taken. It's all focused on man and finding the answers to our problems inscience and psychology. But when we begin to focus back on God, wonderfulthings can happen in our land and in our country. In Proverbs 14:34 we are toldthat: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people”. Whenwe are doing right things according to the word of God, living by the truth ofGod's principles and His precepts, the Ten Commandments, God, it says He exaltsthe nation. But when we allow sin, that's the transgression of God's word,transgression of God's law. It is a reproach to any people.  Acouple things I want to close with as we think about what can we do. In Psalm11:3, it says, "If the foundations are destroyed, what can therighteous do?" You know, I used to think and read that verse and say,"Wow, we've destroyed the foundations of our country. What can we do? Shouldwe just throw up our hands and quit?" No, my friend, in the last coupleyears the Lord put in my mind and heart we can do something! What can therighteous do? Well, there's another answer.  Wecan pray. We can seek the face of God. We can call on His name. We can turnback to Him. We can pray for America to have a revival, for America to repent, forAmerica to come back to God. That's what we can pray. That's what the righteouscan do when the foundations are destroyed. We can turn back to God. Ephesians5:16 tells us to be "Redeeming the time." “Be wise. Don'tbe unwise, but redeeming the time because the days are evil”. And thatmeans we buy up the opportunities more than ever before.  Wehave great opportunities to help people, to love people, to care for people, toshare the gospel of Jesus Christ. And this is that day to buy up thoseopportunities. People are broken because of sin. And only Jesus can fix them. Today,let's pray for America.We can pray and we can live righteous, holy livesourselves. And may God answer our prayer and bring this country back toHimself.  

Today we're continuing in Luke 22:54-62. In verse 54 it says,"Having arrested Him, they led Him, Jesus, and brought Him into thehigh priest's house, but Peter followed at a distance." So, we'regoing to look at this passage of Scripture over the next several days and talkabout how Peter fell into the temptation of denying the Lord at a time whenJesus crucially needed him to stand up for Him. And we're going to find out whywe, you and I, so often with all the determination of our heart to stand up forJesus, to love Him, to live for Him, yet we still fail. And we're going to seethese steps that led to Peter's failure as we look at this passage ofScripture.  Firstan overview of the next events. Jesus has been arrested in the garden. AfterHis arrest over the next several hours, Jesus actually endured six differenttrials before He was condemned to be crucified: three before the Jews and threebefore the Roman authorities. First, He was taken to Annas, the former highpriest who was an influential man in the nation and who still retained hisformer title (John 18:12-13). Then Annas sent Him to Caiaphas, who was hisson-in-law and the official high priest (Matthew 26:57). Finally, at daybreakon Friday morning, He was tried before the Sanhedrin and found guilty (Luke22:66-71).  TheJews didn't have the right for capital punishment (John 18:31-32). So they thentook Jesus to the Roman authorities to get Him crucified. First, they took Himto Pilate (Luke 23:1-4), who tried to avoid a decision by sending Him to Herod(Luke 23:6-12). Herod sent Him back to Pilate (Luke 23:13-25). When Pilate sawthat he could not escape making a decision, he gave the Sanhedrin what theyasked for and condemned Jesus to die on a Roman cross. Now,it was during the second Jewish trial, the one before Caiaphas, that Peter inthe courtyard denied the Lord three times. So how did it happen? Where did itbegin? How did Peter come to a place where after he had boastfully said,"I will die with You. Though everyone else fails, I won't fail. I'llfollow You even to death. I will not stumble"? (Matthew 26:33). First, letme just tell you, the first step for you and me to go in the wrong directionwith the Lord is to get a heart of pride. Can you imagine Peter amongst the elevenother disciples at this time, making the statement that though all these otherguys around here forsake You and leave You and stumble, I will not stumble?  Myfriend, the first step to falling into temptation and to following the worldand leaving the Lord is pride. The Bible says, "Let a man take heed whenhe thinks he stands, lest he fall" (1 Corinthians 10:12). Pride enters ourheart. We think we're stronger than we are. We think we can do it ourselves,and we then we start comparing ourselves to others and think we're better thanthem. That is a terrible condition to get in. It all started with pride. So, wesee Peter's first step of pride.  Secondly,Peter didn't take the word of Jesus seriously when He said, "Watch andpray." Peter failed to pray. He failed to watch. The hour oftemptation would come and Jesus had warned him that, "The spirit iswilling, but the flesh is weak." The spirit will say, "Oh, I'llnever leave church. I'll never quit reading my Bible. I'll always be the bestChristian ever. I know all these other people, they're not disciplined like Iam. They don't have the commitment and surrender I have to Jesus."  Whenwe have this attitude, we are headed for big failure. Jesus says, "Watchand pray." But instead of watching and praying, we find in theScripture here that Peter was sleeping. Three times the Lord came and woke himup. Yet He continued to sleep. We tend to sometimes forget we can't make itwithout the Lord helping us.  Tomorrowwe will continue to look at the other steps that led to Peter's stumbling anddenying Jesus. May the Lord help us to keep our eyes focused on Jesus all thetime.

Jesushas been praying with His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane when Judasshows up with a “multitude” of the temple guards to arrest Jesus. To get thefull picture of this event, I highly recommend that you read all four Gospelaccounts. John tells us that Jesus “went forth” to meet Judas and those withhim and asked, “Whom are you seeking?” They answered, “Jesus of Nazareth” andJesus said, “I am He”. At those words, God released the radiance of His glory,and it literally knocked Judas and all the mob to the ground (John 18:1-12).  Matthewtells us that this is when Judas gets up and greets Jesus saying, “Hail Master”and then kisses Jesus. Jesus calls him “Friend” and the officers came and “laidhands on Jesus and took Him” (Matthew 26:47-56).Itwas then that the disciples remembered (and misunderstood) His words about thesword (Luke 22:35-38), so they asked Him if now was the time to make use oftheir two swords. Without waiting for the answer, Peter rushed ahead andattacked a man who turned out to be Malchus, a servant to the high priest (John18:10, 26-27). Whydid Peter do this? For one thing, he had to back up the boastful words he hadspoken in the Upper Room (Luke 22:33) and again on the way to the Garden (Matt.26:30-35). Someone rightly said, “Peter had been sleeping when he should havebeen praying, talking when he should have been listening, and boasting when heshould have been fearing. Now he was fighting when he should have beensurrendering!” Petermade a number of serious mistakes when he attacked Malchus with his sword. Tobegin with, Peter was fighting the wrong enemy with the wrong weapon. We mustalways remember that our enemies are not flesh and blood, and they cannot bedefeated with ordinary weapons (2 Cor. 10:3-6; Eph. 6:10-18). In His wildernesstemptations, Jesus defeated Satan with the Word of God (Matt. 4:1-11), and thatis the weapon we must use (Eph. 6:17; Heb. 4:12). Peteralso revealed the wrong attitude and trusted the wrong energy. While Jesus wassurrendering, Peter was busy declaring war! This reveals that he was dependingon "the arm of flesh." His whole approach to the situation was not atall Christlike (John 18:36) and stands as a good warning to us today. The lostworld may act this way, but it is not the way God's servants should act (Matthew12:19; 2 Timothy 2:24). Jesus had taught His disciples and us that: “love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you,and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may besons of your Father in heaven…” (Matthew 5:38-45). Itis just like Jesus to act in grace when others are acting in malice (Psalms103:10). He showed grace to Peter by rebuking his presumptuous sin andrepairing the damage he had done. He showed grace to Malchus, a lowly slave, byhealing his ear, and He showed grace to the whole world by willingly yieldingHimself to the mob and going to Calvary. He did not come to judge but to save(Luke 19:10).  John 3:16-17 reminds us: “For God did notsend His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world throughHim might be saved.” OurLord's last miracle before the cross was not a big flashy thing that attractedattention. It is likely that very few of the men who were there that night evenknew what Peter and Jesus had done. Jesus could have summoned twelve legions ofangels (Matthew 26:53), one legion (6,000 soldiers) for each of the elevendisciples and one for Himself, but He did not. Instead of performing somespectacular feat, He lovingly healed the ear of an obscure slave and thenpresented His hands to be bound. Eachof us must decide whether we will go through life pretending, like Judas; orfighting, like Peter; or yielding to God's perfect will, like Jesus. Today, willit be the kiss of betrayal, the sword of the flesh, or the cup of surrender tothe will of God?Godbless!

Welcometo Pastor's Chat. Today we continue to look at Luke chapter 22. At this point,we're with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He's been praying with three ofHis disciples—Peter, James, and John. They've been sleeping while He's beenpraying. Interestingly,one version says that Jesus said, “Then cometh he to his disciples, andsaith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand,and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us begoing: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.” (Matthew 26:45-46, KJV). I always wondered why Jesus would say,"Sleep on now, rise, let us be going." One of my devotionals pointedout that Jesus is saying, "Okay, wake up. Let it rest. You've beensleeping when you should have been praying. You can't reverse that. You shouldhave been seeking the face of God, watching for the temptation that was goingto come. Now it's too late to do that, so leave it behind you. Rise up, let'sbe going."  Wehave many failures in our lives. We need to let them sleep on, forgetting thethings which are behind and reaching for those things which are before. WhileHe was still speaking to the disciples and encouraging them to get up, Luketells us, "Behold, a multitude, and he who was called Judas, one of thetwelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him." But Jesussaid to him, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?"  I'veentitled this devotional "Betrayed with a Kiss." It makes me thinkabout the fact that here is Judas, one of the twelve disciples. Psalms 41:9,tells us that the Psalmist is referring to Jesus when He says, "My ownfamiliar friend who ate bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me."So here is Jesus, a friend of Judas. In fact, one of the Gospels tells us thatHe actually called him friend when he came to betray Him (Matthew 26:57). Jesushas given Judas every opportunity to repent. Yet Judas, with a deceitful heart,with a hypocritical kiss—a sign of affection, love, and respect, which was howa student would greet their rabbi to show honor—comes and betrays Him.  TheGospel of Matthew tells us that Judas had told the group of soldiers and thechief priest, that he would give them a sign saying, “Whomsoever I shall kiss,the same is he, hold him fast" (Matthew 26:48).  He planned on betraying Jesus with a kiss. Howhypocritical is that? He would look like the friend and disciple of Jesus. "Faithfulare the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful"(Proverbs 27:6). Jesussays, "Are you going to betray Me with a kiss?" Don't youthink the Lord says that to you and me today in many ways? We go to church,sing the songs, lift up our hands, praise the Lord, worship with otherbelievers, and maybe even go to the altar and pray. But then we leave thechurch and live for self, the world, or the devil. We are betraying the Lordwith a kiss.  WhenJudas went and asked the chief priest, "How can I betray Jesus?" theyoffered thirty pieces of silver. It was as if he sold his soul to the devil. Weknow that at the supper with Jesus, Satan entered into him. He sold his soul tothe devil. When we make a choice to exchange Jesus for the world, you becomeservants to whom you yield yourselves to obey (Romans 6:16). Jesus on anearlier occasion had said, “This people draw nigh to me with their mouths,and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Matthew15:8).  So,my friend, we don't want to be in the position of a Judas. Make sure that ourkiss for Jesus is truly genuine from our hearts, honoring Him. Let's cling toJesus, just as Ruth did to Naomi. Orpah kissed her and went the other way, backto her gods in Moab, but Ruth clung to Naomi (Ruth 1:14-18). May we cling toJesus today and show Him our love with our life every moment of every day.  Isyour heart close to Jesus today or is it far away?Godbless!

The Garden of Gethsemane is a beautiful, awe-inspiringplace, a place of holy ground, we believe. There, our tour group will gatheraround an old olive tree that I'm sure does not date back to the time of Christ2,000 years ago. The Romans probably destroyed the Garden when they destroyedJerusalem in AD 70 when Titus invaded the city and no doubt destroyed all thetrees around it. But this tree could have grown from the roots of the treesthat were in the garden when Jesus was there.  Todaythe Garden of Gethsemane is next to the Church of the Nations. It is still avery special and holy place. We might not be able to go to Jerusalem today and physicallyenter the Garden of Gethsemane, but by going into the Word of God and lookingat these scriptures that we're studying now we can still experience the realityof a loving and courageous Savior and enjoy His presence wherever we are. Aswe've gone through this passage, and also read the other Gospel accounts ofthis scene, so many things stand out that grab my attention, but one that's standsout is from Dr. Luke. Remember, Luke was a physician writing the Gospel ofLuke. His is the only gospel that mentions an angel strengthening the Lord, buthe's also the only gospel that mentions what we read in verse 44, "Andbeing in agony, Jesus prayed more earnestly."  I'mbelieving this is probably the third time that Jesus, after being strengthenedby the angel, goes back to that place, that rock where He's praying, kneelingbefore the Father, and He's praying more earnestly in great agony. Then Lukepoints out, "Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling tothe ground." When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, God put a curseon the ground and told him, By the sweat of your brow, you will have to work theground to bear any fruit, to eat (Genesis 3:17-19). Now Jesus, the second Adam,is in the garden, and He is submitting to the will of God, where the first Adamwas disobedient and brought sin and death into the world. Jesus is obedient,and He's bringing life and the Holy Spirit into the world. So, what we see herein verse 44 is this mention of sweat and blood falling to the ground fromJesus.  Sometell us that there's a rare physical phenomenon known as hematidrosis, undergreat emotional distress, tiny blood vessels can rupture in the sweat glandsand produce a mixture of blood and sweat. We're not sure exactly if this issymbolically written here or if it's literal. I tend to believe it was literalbecause the blood of Jesus testifies to who He is, and the blood of Jesus hadto be shed. There's a verse in Hebrews 9:14, that says, "How much moreshall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himselfwithout spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve theliving God."  Theblood of bulls and goats could only cover sin temporarily in the Old Testamentas a sacrifice, showing that we're looking forward to the sacrifice of JesusChrist. Hebrews says that through the eternal Spirit, and by His Spirit, oh myfriend, you and I need to grasp the meaning of the Holy Spirit being a part ofJesus giving Himself, yielding Himself and shedding His blood. If we are tolive a life that honors God, we need the anointing, the moving, the fullness,and the filling of the Holy Spirit upon us to do what we need to do every day.  Weeither live after the flesh or we live after the Spirit (Romans 8:1-11;Galatians 6:8). The flesh is weak, the Spirit is willing. God's Holy Spiritempowers our spirit to do the will of God. Jesus, through the eternal Spirit,gave and shed His blood that you and I might be cleansed by His blood.  We need to have cleansing of sin every day (1John 1:7-9). I trust you'll trust Him for that today.  Theseare wonderful lessons from the mysteries of Gethsemane. I trust you'll applythem to your life today.

Today,we're continuing to look at the mysteries of Gethsemane in Luke 22:40-46. Jesus is preparing for that hour, the hour that He willlay down His life on the cross for the sins of the world. Literally, when Satandoes everything he can to keep Him from the cross. But what the devil means for badand evil, the Bible tells us, God often means for good.   The first Adam, who should never have sinned, sinned andbrought sin into the world. But the second Adam, Jesus Christ, as 1 Corinthianschapter 15 tells us, is the only One who is able to take away the sins of theworld, as John chapter 1 states. HereJesus is in the garden, and this passage, unique to Luke's gospel, says that anangel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. Jesus is praying,He's facing a tremendous trial—mentally, emotionally, physically,spiritually—it's overwhelming. Yet Jesus, the Son of God, has an angel helpHim, strengthen Him. I can't help but meditate and think about this but admit Idon't understand it totally. Jesus was all God; yet at the same time, He wasall human, and His humanity needed strengthening as He faced the cross, thecruelties, and the slander. He came to His own, but His own received Him not.He was rejected, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He said alreadythat He was overwhelmed with sorrow.  Tomorrowwe are going to talk about the prayer where He prays and then the sweat and theblood seem to flow from Him. But today, Jesus is there at the cross, goingthrough this ordeal of great sorrow. He's pouring out His soul to the Father, "NotMy will, but Thy will be done. Take this cup from Me." He's facingthat trial, that temptation that we face as human beings to do our will, to dowhat we want to do. But Jesus was committed to the will of God. He always wascommitted. "I came to do Thy will, O My Father." I love how even thisprayer begins with "Father." Jesus often referred to God asFather, and you find that one of the most popular words in the gospel of Johnis "Father." Interestingly,as a side note, John doesn't mention this prayer in the garden of Gethsemane.He mentions the high priestly prayer on the way to the garden somewhere. MaybeJohn chapter 17 is a prayer that Jesus prayed in the garden, but John doesn'ttell us that because after that prayer, it says they left the upper room andwent to the garden nearby, in John 18, and then he goes directly into Judascoming to betray Jesus.  Luketells us that Jesus has an angel come and strengthen Him in the gardenof Gethsemane. Jesus needed that strengthening, and you and I need to bestrengthened. God has many different ways to do this. We need the strength ofother Christians praying for us. We need the strength, comfort, andencouragement of fellowship with other Christians in the church. We definitelydo. But there are times that no one can help us but God Himself, and God cansend ministering spirits, angels, that will take us through that trial, thathard suffering, whatever it is.  I'llnever forget a time when I was in the depths of despair in my life, and I knowthat night I was strengthened by an angel. I don't want to go into the detailsof that, but it was definitely an angel who spoke to me, encouraged me, and Iknew that I heard him say that there were more with me than there were againstme. That's what he told me, and I'm telling you, my friend, God will strengthenyou, and if He needs to do it miraculously with an angel, He will.  That'show He did it with Jesus, and I'm thinking if Jesus needed it, I need it too attimes. I've learned by experience that whenever I am obedient to the will ofthe Father and yield my life to Him and the Holy Spirit, in some wonderful andmiraculous way at the moment I receive His energy and grace for the challengeI'm facing!    Itrust you will continue to meditate on these things and be in awe of your greatGod and Savior Jesus Christ and Father in heaven.

Today,we're continuing to meditate and look atthe scene of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane with His disciples. Remember, Heleft eight of them somewhere—we're not sure where—but took three of them,Peter, James, and John, a little further. Then immediately He told them inverse 40, “Pray that you enter not into temptation.” Now Matthew'sGospel tells us that He also said to them at that time, “Stay here and watchwith Me.” And then He went a little further and fell on His face andprayed.  Weknow that Jesus, when He prayed the first time, said, “Not My will, but Thywill be done,” to the Father, He came back and found the disciples sleeping.Jesus is praying and He asked them to pray. He needs the comfort and assurancethat the disciples are there with Him during His time of trial—His time oflaying down His life, of accepting the cup of sins of the entire humanity. Heneeds that support in prayer. If Jesus needed support in prayer, how much moredo we need support in prayer? Now,these three disciples, instead of praying, all fall asleep. Luke also tells us inverse 45, that He came after He prayed the last time and found them sleepingfrom sorrow. They're overwhelmed with sorrow. Jesus, as He shared the cup ofthe Lord's Supper with them had been telling them, “I'm going to die. This isMy flesh, this is My blood,” and reminded them that the Lamb had to die, and thatHe was the Lamb who was going to die. They're overwhelmed with sorrow. Theyexpected Him to set up His Kingdom, and He's talking about dying. That's why Jesustold them in John 14:1, “Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God,believe also in Me.” Jesus saw the trouble in their hearts, the sorrowthat's overwhelming them. But now, instead of praying, they're sleeping becauseof sorrow.  Twoof the Gospels tells us that their eyes were heavy with sleep (Matthew 26:43;Mark 14:40). They were also overwhelmed with just physical tiredness. Andthat's a bad place for us to get into—where we're emotionally, physically,mentally, and spiritually worn out to the point that we cannot pray. The secondtime when He came and found them sleeping, He said to them, “Watch andpray.” In Matthew 26:41, we read that Jesus also said, “that you enternot into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” RememberPeter's declaration just minutes earlier? “If I have to die with You, I willnot deny You.” (Matthew 26:35). Okay—the spirit is willing. Especially whenwe go to church on Sunday morning and hear the message or the Sunday schoollesson, and we get around God's people, we feel strengthened. We feel strong.And we leave saying, “Man, I'm going to serve Jesus this week. I'm going tolive for Him. I'm not going to go back to those old habits and sins that takeme away from Him, keep me from praying, and keep me from getting up andspending time in the Word with the Lord in the morning.” Andyet, as willing as the spirit is on Sunday, Monday morning comes, and the fleshis weak. Or when the trial and the time of temptation comes—my friend, theflesh is weak. It's weaker than we ever imagined. Peter didn't know himself aswell as he thought he did. And neither do we.  Fromthis experience, Peter later writes in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant;your adversary the devil goes about like a roaring lion.” I'm convinced thedevil was out to kill Jesus there in the Garden of Gethsemane—to keep Him fromthe cross. I mean, the bastions of hell surrounded Jesus as He goes to thecross (Psalm 22:12-13). But Jesus is prepared, He prays three times. He praysand yields in obedience to the will of the Father. The disciples? What are theydoing? Sleeping.So,when the moment of temptation comes, what happens with Peter and the disciples?They all forsake Him and flee. Jesus stands strong, yields Himself as a Lambgoing to the slaughter, and goes with the soldiers to be crucified.

Jesus kneels to pray, saying, "Father, if it is Yourwill, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, bedone."  Thenan angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, Heprayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood fallingdown to the ground. When He rose up from prayer and had come to His disciples,He found them sleeping from sorrow. Then He said to them, "Why do yousleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation." Twice He tells themto pray that they avoid falling into temptation and listening to the lies ofSatan and doing what he wants rather than what God would want. Matthewtells us that He took these three men with Him into the garden. He said tothem, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here andwatch with Me." Matthew's gospel provides more detail about whathappened as Jesus was with these disciples in this time of prayer in the gardenbefore He was arrested by the crowd that came with Judas.  “Hewent a little further and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "O MyFather, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, notas I will, but as You will." Then He came to the disciples and found themsleeping and said to Peter, "What, could you not watch with Me one hour?Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing,but the flesh is weak." Again, a second time, He went away and prayed,saying, "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless Idrink it, Your will be done." He came and found them asleep again, fortheir eyes were heavy. So He left them and went away again and prayed the thirdtime, saying the same words. Then He came to His disciples and said to them,"Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and theSon of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going.See, My betrayer is at hand." (Matthew 26:36-46) Thisis a powerful passage of Scripture, reminding us of Jesus as He would drink “thiscup” in Gethsemane. The question for many has been: what does this cuprepresent? In my mind, this cup represents the cup of the sins of the world. “Thiscup” represented Jesus receiving and taking sin upon Himself. The Biblesays in 2 Corinthians 5:21, "For God made Jesus to be sin for us, whoknew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."  Inother words, Jesus was at this hour where He would literally take upon Himself thesin of all the world. He became that sin. The sinless Son of God, the pure Sonof God, the holy Son of God, was now going to take the sin of the world. Wecan't even fathom what and all of this means, but Jesus took that sin. Hebecame that sin, and of course, His holy divine nature would say, "Please,I can't even begin to comprehend taking this sin."  Yet,Jesus never said, "Take away the cross and it's suffering." No, Heknew He came for this hour. This was the hour that He would pay the price forthe sins of the world. We see this is the cup of suffering spiritually,emotionally, and physically. “This cup” of sin that Jesus says,"Take from Me, but not My will." In other words, He learned obediencethrough suffering as the Scripture says in Hebrews. Philippians 2:8 says, “Andbeing found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient tothe point of death, even the death of the cross.  Jesuswas obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Why? Because Hehumbled Himself. He laid aside His divine powers. The angel came andstrengthened Him. These are powerful passages reminding us what Jesus did foryou and me.  Itrust you'll take them into your heart and live a life of thankfulness,gratefulness, and service to Him as you meditate and think about “thiscup” and what Jesus did for you. Godbless!

When Jesus gets to the garden, He takes three of the inner circledisciples—Peter, James, and John—and goes a little further. Jesusleft eight of the other disciples somewhere else in the garden, and He takesthese three a little further. What's interesting is that this is the third timethat Jesus has shared a special occasion with these three men. The first waswhen Jesus raised Jairus's daughter from the dead in Luke 8:41-56. The secondis when Jesus was on the Mount of Transfiguration and was transfigured beforethem in Luke 9:28-36. Youunderstand that even on this third occasion in the garden, there's somethingconnected spiritually with all three of these occasions, and that is death.Jesus raised Jairus's daughter from the dead when James, John, and Peter werein the room with Him on that occasion. Dr. G. Campbell Morgan, a great Biblepreacher, a British expositor, pointed out that each of these occasions hadsomething to do with death. In Jairus's house, Jesus proved Himself to bevictorious over death. On the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus was glorifiedthrough death. There, He, Moses, and Elijah were talking about His decease, Hisdeath in Jerusalem, and, of course, His resurrection. Now here in the garden,Jesus is surrendering His life to death. Youremember also that James was the first apostle to die in Acts 12:1-2. John wasthe last to die, probably on the Isle of Patmos or maybe after He got out ofexile and came back to Ephesus. Peter experienced great persecution andeventually was crucified, they tell us, upside down in Rome. These threelessons were no doubt practical for them as they themselves prepared for deathand faced death as they did later. Sowe see Jesus is with these three disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane. I wouldreally encourage you to read Matthew 26:36-46. Matthew's gospel, on thisoccasion in verse 37, tells us that He took with Him Peter and the two sons ofZebedee and began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. He said to them,"My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch withMe." Then it says He went a little further. Here in chapter 22 of Luke'sgospel, in verse 41, He withdrew from them about a stone's throw. Ifyou think about that, a stone's throw was basically saying as far as it wouldtake to throw a stone. When the Jewish people were about to kill someone,Jewish execution always took place with a stoning. Luke giving us the distance,“a stone's throw”, was his way of telling us that Jesus was preparing for thatstone's throw, but it wouldn't be a stone's throw; it would be a crucifixionbecause Old Testament scripture prophesied that Jesus would be crucified. Hewould be hung on a cross; He would die in a cruel way; His blood would be shedthat way. SoJesus went about a stone's throw and He knelt down and prayed. Very interesting,Jesus had said to the disciples, "Watch and pray. I need your help; I needyour support during this hour. Watch and pray; be alert; be on the watch. Satanis out to destroy you; Satan is out to hinder us and keep us even from going tothe cross."  Jesusbegan to be very sorrowful. So Jesus asked them to watch and pray. In Matthew'sgospel, He actually did this two times, came back the third time, and said, "ThenHe came to His disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping andresting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed intothe hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand."(Matthew 26:45-46) Soyou see this whole picture unfolds, Jesus is in Gethsemane, pouring out His heartin prayer. Tomorrow we'll talk about what He prayed concerning that cup, thatcup that He prayed, "Take this cup away from Me, nevertheless not My will,but Yours, be done." Today,I trust that instead of being asleep spiritually we are alert, watching andpraying during our trial of temptation! God bless!