The Message of Easter is
"COME SEE, GO and TELL!"
"Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you."
by Jose Barajas
I have seven brothers and two sisters, as I have stated in the past. My parents are Mexican who were both born in Mexico. All of us, with the exception of my little brother, were born in Mexico. The fact that my little brother was born in America, makes him an American citizen, but he is still Mexican. After years of us living in the United States, some of my brothers, a sister, and both my parents received their citizenship and became American citizens, but they are still and will always be Mexican. Regardless of what our citizenship may be, we are what race, or nationality we were born into, and nothing we do can change that.
by Chuck Ness
One day two women who lost contact 15 years earlier met on social media. This reunion would forever change the life of a teenage girl. One woman was a missionary, the other a single mother raising a teen daughter. The mother of the teen invited her long lost friend to come and visit. Knowing she had a few weeks before she would embark upon another missionary journey, the woman accepted her friend's offer.
Indianapolis is a long way from San Diego, but the trip would be good for both women to visit and go over old times. When the missionary arrived, she met her friend's teen daughter, whom she had not seen since the girl was but a toddler. The girl grew into a very beautiful young lady who was a popular cheerleader at her school. She was the type of girl who had always been part of the popular crowd, with more friends than she could count. However, while her mother was raising her to be a Christian, her heart was never truly in it as much as it was in the World.
by Chuck Ness
I got angry, and I stepped out in the flesh in my response to something that I perceived as a wrong. However, it is not my place to correct the World, for the World is lost, and so who am I to fix that which I cannot. All I can do is share the truth, while remembering to do so in love, or else I will be a poor ambassador for Christ Jesus.
I understand it's OK to get angry at those who act as the Pharisees did, because Jesus got angry with them. For they walked around in a way to be seen for their good deeds, while in truth their hearts only cared for the worldly profit they could gain. Those men who claim to teach the Word of GOD, but are just wolves deceiving others with their words of silk and songs of love, truly deserve our wrath but those lost in the World do not.
Lord my God, my Savior, my King, forgive me for stepping in the flesh by chastising the lost. Yes, I allowed myself to walk in the flesh by ridiculing one lost in the Lord, by doing so, I put a stumbling bock that could keep them from coming to You my LORD. We are called to give an invitation to those lost in the World. An invitation to come to You my LORD so they can be healed, not to chase them away as the Pharisees did.
This Psalm I Sing To Jesus Christ, Our King
Forgive me O'LORD, and wash away my guilt so I can again enter into YOUR presence with a pure and forgiven heart.
We are but the dirt YOU formed from Adam's seed, yet when YOU came down to us through Eve's seed, we found forgiveness through Your Blood on the Cross for our evil deeds.
We have been reborn as new creatures, and now we walk down the path towards Your Celestial City, and when we arrive O'Lord we shall receive a crown of righteousness, which we will gladly toss at YOUR feet, and live eternally in YOUR presence.
My Lord, my God, upon Your Name I stake my claim, for upon the Cross You took my blame, now all I have is Yours O'Lord, because all You had you gave to save my wretched soul.
O'LORD, my GOD, my Savior, my King, to YOU this Psalm I sing.
Amen
by Chuck Ness
The painting above is a powerful image when you consider who the boy is. The famous painter Jacques Tissot made this masterpiece. It invokes the purpose of the boy's existence in this World. It reminds me of the cross on the back of the donkey his mother rode to Bethlehem, and the one He rode into Jerusalem. His destination was the same from the beginning, and I am sure there are many moments He was reminded that He was to be about His Fathers business.
by Chuck Ness
I have mentioned before how the Holy Spirit comes upon me early in the morning as I am in my quiet time reading the Scriptures. Well, today was one of those moments. It's obvious that I was influenced by the Scripture I was reading. However, I give credit to the Holy Spirit, because I read every morning and I'm not always moved to write in the same way as I was this morning. So what follows the Scripture from Isaiah, is what I felt moved by the Spirit to write.
Fear and the pit and the snare
Are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth.
And it shall be
That he who flees from the noise of the fear
Shall fall into the pit,
And he who comes up from the midst of the pit
Shall be caught in the snare;
For the windows from on high are open,
And the foundations of the earth are shaken.
Isaiah 24:17-8
Every human has been hotwired with a special faith component to our souls, even agnostics and atheists have faith in what they believe. Another way to explain this would be to say we have all been created with an addiction gene. It's that ever yearning desire to find something that will make us feel like we belong, or comfortable in our own skin if you will.
And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the Inn.
Luke 2:7
Another statement was directed towards those who complained when He went into the house of Zaccheus, a chief tax collector in Jericho."It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Mark 2:17)
Finally, the last statement I offer for your consideration isAnd Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19:9-10)
These twenty five words convey the Lord's heart, His plan, and His will for our lives. No Scripture defines Christianity better then John 3:16, and it is this passage that makes the first two statements so profound."For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16)
Give me a moment of your time and allow me to introduce you to something very few Christians ever considered when hearing the phrase, Lift Christ up with Praise. Quite often you will hear a Pastor use this phrase as he instructs you to give glory to God, through His Son. Have you ever really considered the significance of the phrase?
Many people know the verse, (John 3:16).I would bet that the vast majority of Christians have it locked into their memory bank. For me, that was the first verse I ever memorized in Sunday school as a child. God's gift to mankind was His only Son, Jesus. With the death of His Son on the Cross, all we need to do is confess Him as our Lord and Savior and our sins have been paid for in full. It’s Salvation in a nut shell. Praise God for simplicity! If there is any verse that says it all about God's love for us, it's this one.
I created a new chart that lists 23 women from the Scriptures. There are more than 23 women I could cover, but I took the 23 I felt were more recognizable to most Christians. Now, we all know who these women are, and their stories. From Eve to Mary, these women have had as great an impact on mankind as the men. Three, or maybe 4, are not known for their love of the One true GOD, while the others are remembered for their strength and courage in the face of adversity.
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