Jesus suffered greatly . He was falsely accused, persecuted, rejected, beaten and hung on a cross where He was mocked and spit at and told that his bleeding and suffering was proof that He wasn't the Messiah and that His ministry was a sham.
If something like this has happened to you then you are in good company. If you have stepped out in faith and given it your all only to be told you are a buck short and a day late then - Rejoice and be glad! Your reward in Heaven is great!
That my friends is what is known as the fellowship of His suffering. Jesus cried real tears, shed real blood and felt real pain in body and in soul. His persecutors felt nothing but contempt for His suffering and showed no mercy or compassion, remorse or repentence. They threw out of their fellowship the Son of God whom they claimed to be eagerly expecting any day. This they did because they didn't know the Father who sent Him.
Its an explanation, a reason - but iniquity still remains a mystery and always will to God's children.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
First Fruits - Week One
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. (Isaiah 43 : 2)
Holy Week & Passover have passed and we have all been blessed by walking again through this time with Jesus. In this ministry we have the priviledge of re-enacting and inter-acting with the Scriptures. Passover and Holy Week are intense times for us as Christians and as ministers because we get so very close the experience. When we work with a cast it does seem like we are indeed "there" - all of us together - hearing the words of the Lord and walking with Him to the cross.
This year we added the Resurrection to our repetoir. On Good Friday at East-Gate Foursquare church in Albuquerque we had the Last Supper together and then God brought us to the First Day in our newest presentation, "First Fruits - Day One" It took only 15 minutes to discover an empty tomb, argue together about where His body might be found, see Him come to us and watch him go back to His Father. It could have been hours, days or moments - that is how eternity works. But you have to enter into His Word to find it and to know Him and to continue to know Him. It just isn't a one time thing. We encourage you to read Him daily and to let His Word be written on your hearts.
This next bit of wisdom came in from a dear friend. May the Lord bless you as you head out toward Pentecost....
We All Need This.....
To: YOU
Date: TODAY
From: GOD
Subject: YOURSELF
Reference: LIFE
This is God. Today I will be handling All of your problems for you. I do Not need your help. So, have a nice day. I love you.
P.S. And, remember...If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do Not attempt to resolve it yourself !! Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box. I will get to it in MY TIME. All situations will be resolved, but in My time, not yours.
Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold onto it by worrying about it. Instead, focus on all the wonderful things that are present in your life now.
If you find yourself stuck in traffic, don't despair. There are people in this world for whom driving is an unheard of privilege.
Should you have a bad day at work; Think of the man who has been out of work for years.
Should you despair over a relationship gone bad; Think of the person who has never known what it's like to love and be loved in return.
Should you grieve the passing of another weekend; Think of the woman in dire straits, working twelve hours a day, seven days a week to feed her children.
Should your car break down, leaving you miles away from assistance; Think of the paraplegic who would love the opportunity to take that walk.
Should you notice a new gray hair in the mirror; Think of the cancer patient in chemo who wishes she had hair to examine.
Should you find yourself at a loss and pondering what is life all about, asking what is my purpose? Be thankful. There are those who didn't live long enough to get the opportunity.
Should you find yourself the victim of other people's bitterness, ignorance, smallness or insecurities; Remember, things could be worse. You could be one of them! (if you are, please confess it, make amends if you need to, and leave it at the foot of the cross)
Should you decide to send this to a friend; Thank you, you may have touched their life in ways you will never know!
Now, you have a nice day, God
"You may be only one person in the whole world, but you may also be the whole world to one person."
Holy Week & Passover have passed and we have all been blessed by walking again through this time with Jesus. In this ministry we have the priviledge of re-enacting and inter-acting with the Scriptures. Passover and Holy Week are intense times for us as Christians and as ministers because we get so very close the experience. When we work with a cast it does seem like we are indeed "there" - all of us together - hearing the words of the Lord and walking with Him to the cross.
This year we added the Resurrection to our repetoir. On Good Friday at East-Gate Foursquare church in Albuquerque we had the Last Supper together and then God brought us to the First Day in our newest presentation, "First Fruits - Day One" It took only 15 minutes to discover an empty tomb, argue together about where His body might be found, see Him come to us and watch him go back to His Father. It could have been hours, days or moments - that is how eternity works. But you have to enter into His Word to find it and to know Him and to continue to know Him. It just isn't a one time thing. We encourage you to read Him daily and to let His Word be written on your hearts.
This next bit of wisdom came in from a dear friend. May the Lord bless you as you head out toward Pentecost....
We All Need This.....
To: YOU
Date: TODAY
From: GOD
Subject: YOURSELF
Reference: LIFE
This is God. Today I will be handling All of your problems for you. I do Not need your help. So, have a nice day. I love you.
P.S. And, remember...If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do Not attempt to resolve it yourself !! Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box. I will get to it in MY TIME. All situations will be resolved, but in My time, not yours.
Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold onto it by worrying about it. Instead, focus on all the wonderful things that are present in your life now.
If you find yourself stuck in traffic, don't despair. There are people in this world for whom driving is an unheard of privilege.
Should you have a bad day at work; Think of the man who has been out of work for years.
Should you despair over a relationship gone bad; Think of the person who has never known what it's like to love and be loved in return.
Should you grieve the passing of another weekend; Think of the woman in dire straits, working twelve hours a day, seven days a week to feed her children.
Should your car break down, leaving you miles away from assistance; Think of the paraplegic who would love the opportunity to take that walk.
Should you notice a new gray hair in the mirror; Think of the cancer patient in chemo who wishes she had hair to examine.
Should you find yourself at a loss and pondering what is life all about, asking what is my purpose? Be thankful. There are those who didn't live long enough to get the opportunity.
Should you find yourself the victim of other people's bitterness, ignorance, smallness or insecurities; Remember, things could be worse. You could be one of them! (if you are, please confess it, make amends if you need to, and leave it at the foot of the cross)
Should you decide to send this to a friend; Thank you, you may have touched their life in ways you will never know!
Now, you have a nice day, God
"You may be only one person in the whole world, but you may also be the whole world to one person."
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
ARE YOU JESUS?
This is really powerful and makes one think!!!!
A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding. ALL BUT ONE !!! He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings, andexperienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned. He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor.
He was glad he did. The 16 year old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one stopping and no one to care for her plight. The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket. When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, "Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay!?" She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, "I hope we didn't spoil your day too badly."
As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, "Mister...." He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She continued, "Are you Jesus?" He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: "Are you Jesus?"
Do people mistake you for Jesus? That's our destiny, is it not? To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace. If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church. It's actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day.
You are the apple of His eye even though we, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked you and me up on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit. Let us live like we are worth the price He paid!!!!!
(notice that Jesus PAID for our damaged fruit - He didn't inspect it!)
A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding. ALL BUT ONE !!! He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings, andexperienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned. He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor.
He was glad he did. The 16 year old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one stopping and no one to care for her plight. The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket. When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, "Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay!?" She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, "I hope we didn't spoil your day too badly."
As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, "Mister...." He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She continued, "Are you Jesus?" He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: "Are you Jesus?"
Do people mistake you for Jesus? That's our destiny, is it not? To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace. If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church. It's actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day.
You are the apple of His eye even though we, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked you and me up on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit. Let us live like we are worth the price He paid!!!!!
(notice that Jesus PAID for our damaged fruit - He didn't inspect it!)
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Deadman Walking - Is Jesus Enough?
The following comes as is with all gramatical errors and misspellings intact. Read and let your spirit be refreshed and your hope renewed from the writings of a suffering saint just like you.
-------------------------
There ain't no easy way
If all else is lost, and you are left with nothing but Jesus, is Jesus enough?
We ask how can we see this plague of shallow Christianity healed. Christian Character is the product of a thousand deaths to self. It is the result of moment by moment choices to go to the Cross instead of dong what is only natural. It is the result of being close enough to other Christians so they have the power to hurt you, it is the result of choosing to love them know beforehand that they will hurt you, it is the result of forgiving them even if they don't understand what they did to hurt you, it is the result of not going away when it hurts. It is Christ In You, the Hope of Glory, through the power of the Holy Spirit, working out the life of Christ in a thousand small ways. It is the result if wanting more of Jesus, more that you want anything else. It is the result of being a sacrifice and to abandon all to Him day by day, minute by minute.
God is still looking for men and women who are after His own Heart. Jesus is the root and offspring of David. He is the secret source of the Christian, and he is the Fruit produce in their life.
What is your hope rooted in?
Jer 17:5 Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. 6 For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
Jer 17:7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.A deadman is beyond the reach of the law, a deadman has no rights, a deadman has only Christ. And Christ is enough.
I was a bush in a salt flat, no friends, couldn't receive a blessing even if God sent me one. I lived by the motto (if things are going good, don't get excited, it won't last long).. I felt the full brunt of all that was wrong, and believed that was (real life). It never occurred to me that both trials and blessing don't last, we have to take like as it comes. But you see, I would not receive good things, thought it would get my hopes up, only to be dashed by the REAL LIFE of trials and trouble. When I read this passage, I prayed that I would become like the tree, that when blessing flow, I soak them up, and when there is a drought I would remain fruitful.Notice the man who is like a tree, his hope IS the LORD... The LORD himself is what he wants. If you would be a tree that puts forth fruit even in a season of drought. When all the surface conditions of your life provide nothing, there is a secret source of strength. Your tap root, your real hope IS THE LORD, not what the Lord will do or not do, but your Hope is the LORD
So if you would be a man or a woman who is like that tree, then you need to ask the LORD to lead you down the path that leads to more of Jesus. Jesus has taken me down many roads, I would never have chosen. But I once told the LORD that I don't want what you will do for ME, I don’t care what is on my table as long as You at the table with me.
I have found that it is in times of heartbreak, that I find more of Jesus, it is in time of ease, and blessing, that I can enjoy His company, but it is in time of hardship, betrayal, pain, misunderstanding, that I joined Him in the Fellowship of His Suffering. There are many fair weather Christians today. They say Lord if you will just heal me, Lord if you will Just deliver me from this trial, if you will just heal my marriage, if you will just bring my son back into fellowship, if you will just spare my wife's life, then I will???
I have seen people turn aside because their prayer wasn't answered. But you see if you pray for more of Jesus, then the death of a son, the loss of a wife, the continued illness, all become to instruments in His hands to develop true Christian Character.
Hab 3:17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
19 The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hind's feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.
To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.
-------------------------
There ain't no easy way
If all else is lost, and you are left with nothing but Jesus, is Jesus enough?
We ask how can we see this plague of shallow Christianity healed. Christian Character is the product of a thousand deaths to self. It is the result of moment by moment choices to go to the Cross instead of dong what is only natural. It is the result of being close enough to other Christians so they have the power to hurt you, it is the result of choosing to love them know beforehand that they will hurt you, it is the result of forgiving them even if they don't understand what they did to hurt you, it is the result of not going away when it hurts. It is Christ In You, the Hope of Glory, through the power of the Holy Spirit, working out the life of Christ in a thousand small ways. It is the result if wanting more of Jesus, more that you want anything else. It is the result of being a sacrifice and to abandon all to Him day by day, minute by minute.
God is still looking for men and women who are after His own Heart. Jesus is the root and offspring of David. He is the secret source of the Christian, and he is the Fruit produce in their life.
What is your hope rooted in?
Jer 17:5 Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. 6 For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
Jer 17:7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.A deadman is beyond the reach of the law, a deadman has no rights, a deadman has only Christ. And Christ is enough.
I was a bush in a salt flat, no friends, couldn't receive a blessing even if God sent me one. I lived by the motto (if things are going good, don't get excited, it won't last long).. I felt the full brunt of all that was wrong, and believed that was (real life). It never occurred to me that both trials and blessing don't last, we have to take like as it comes. But you see, I would not receive good things, thought it would get my hopes up, only to be dashed by the REAL LIFE of trials and trouble. When I read this passage, I prayed that I would become like the tree, that when blessing flow, I soak them up, and when there is a drought I would remain fruitful.Notice the man who is like a tree, his hope IS the LORD... The LORD himself is what he wants. If you would be a tree that puts forth fruit even in a season of drought. When all the surface conditions of your life provide nothing, there is a secret source of strength. Your tap root, your real hope IS THE LORD, not what the Lord will do or not do, but your Hope is the LORD
So if you would be a man or a woman who is like that tree, then you need to ask the LORD to lead you down the path that leads to more of Jesus. Jesus has taken me down many roads, I would never have chosen. But I once told the LORD that I don't want what you will do for ME, I don’t care what is on my table as long as You at the table with me.
I have found that it is in times of heartbreak, that I find more of Jesus, it is in time of ease, and blessing, that I can enjoy His company, but it is in time of hardship, betrayal, pain, misunderstanding, that I joined Him in the Fellowship of His Suffering. There are many fair weather Christians today. They say Lord if you will just heal me, Lord if you will Just deliver me from this trial, if you will just heal my marriage, if you will just bring my son back into fellowship, if you will just spare my wife's life, then I will???
I have seen people turn aside because their prayer wasn't answered. But you see if you pray for more of Jesus, then the death of a son, the loss of a wife, the continued illness, all become to instruments in His hands to develop true Christian Character.
Hab 3:17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
19 The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hind's feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.
To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.
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