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Gospel Friday – Death? Sting? Victory!

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Today, remember how the sting of death and the grave’s victory is swallowed up in Jesus Christ, the Lord. He conquered death, the grave, and is ALIVE today.  Trust Him?  Lean into Him and find Him faithful.

 

Here’s the beautifully poetic way the Valley of Vision prayer Resurrection, shows this reality:

“Jesus strides forth as victor,

conqueror of death, hell, and all opposing might;

He bursts the bands of death,

tramples the powers of darkness down,

and lives forever.”

 

“Give me the assurance that in Christ I died,

in him I rose,

in his life I live, in his victory I triumph,

in his ascension I shall be glorified.”

Gospel Friday – But God…

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This coming Sunday, we’ll be thinking about someone who was dead…but God.

Today, if you’re trusting in Jesus, you were dead…

But God, rich in mercy, with great love, even when we were dead, made us alive together with Christ.

Pray Him today for His awakening work of grace in your life.

Weekend Recap – Easter 2016

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We enjoyed an amazing day at Crestview on Easter.  The entire weekend from Good Friday to Easter Sunday, really drew attention to Jesus and hopefully encouraged people to praise Him for who He is and what He’s done.  My Easter sermon, Don’t Disbelieve; Believe! from John 20:24-29, examined the doubting Thomas narrative and my outline had to do with the progression to celebrating Easter from disbelief, to Jesus’ nearness, to confession, and blessing.  I hope it encourages you.

The Resurrection of Jesus

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Here’s my Edifier article from the March/April 2012 Church Newsletter of Crestview:

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)


I know it may be difficult to wrap your mind around this, but Easter is just around the corner. And, if you’re like me, I often find myself needing help to be able to praise God for what He’s accomplished in raising Christ from the dead. It was with great joy, then, that I read these words from Octavius Winslow:


“The resurrection of Christ is a vital doctrine of Christianity. It sustains an essential relation to the spiritual life of the believer. Viewing it in connection with the union of Christ and His people, the two facts become identical— standing in the relation of cause and effect. Our Lord, in His great atoning work, acted in a public or representative character. He represented in His person the whole elect of God, who virtually were in Him, each step that he took in working out their redemption. In His resurrection from the grave this was preeminently so. The Head could not be resuscitated apart from the body. Christ could not rise without the Church. Thus, then, the new or the resurrection life of Christ, and the inner or spiritual life of the believer, are one and indivisible. Now, when the resurrection of the Head is spiritually realized, when it is fully received into the heart by faith, it becomes a quickening, energizing, sanctifying truth to each member of His body. It transmits a power to the inmost soul, felt in all the actings and manifestations of the spiritual life. Blessed are they who feel, and who feel daily, that they are indeed “risen with Christ,” and who find every new perception of this great truth to act like a mighty lever to their souls—lifting them above this “present evil world”—a world passing away.

“Perhaps no circumstance connected with the resurrection of Christ conveys to the mind a clearer idea of its bearings upon the happiness of the Church than the part which the Divine Father is represented as having taken in the illustrious event. His having committed Himself to the fact at once stamps it with all its saving interest. “Whom God has raised.” “Like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father.” “If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead.” By this act of raising up His Son from the grave, the Father manifested His delight in, and His full acceptance of, the sacrifice of Christ, as a finished and satisfactory expiation for the sins of His people. So long as Jesus remained in the grave, there was wanting the evidence of the acceptance of His death; the great seal of heaven, the signature of God, was needed to authenticate the fact. But when the Father released the Surety from the dominion of death, he annihilated, by that act, all legal claim against His Church, declaring the ransom accepted, and the debt cancelled. “He was taken from prison,”—as the prisoner of justice—the prisoner of death—and the prisoner of the grave; the Father, in the exercise of His glorious power, opens the prison door, and delivers the illustrious Captive—and by the door through which He emerges again to life, enters the full justification of His whole Church; for it is written—“He was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.”

“A more important truth— where all are of infinite moment to the happiness of man—is not found in the Word of God. As it forms the keystone to the mighty arch of Christianity, so it constitutes the groundwork of spiritual life, upon the basis of which the Holy Spirit of God quickens the souls of all, who are “the called according to His purpose.” It was a knowledge of this truth which awoke the ardent desire of the apostle’s soul, “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection.” (Evening Thoughts, Feb 8)


I hope you find the truths found in this brief excerpt helpful. The resurrection is not some insignificant, meaningless event. No. In the resurrection, believers are united with Christ and now truly live, not for ourselves but for Him who died and rose again for us. Blessed to celebrate this with you once again…

Weekend Recap – Alive

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Today’s sermon, Alive, from Colossians 2:13-15 is now online. It was amazing, in this message to unfold what God has done to make us alive in Christ. My two applications from Charles Simeon were:
What a wonderful sight is the cross of Christ!
What folly it is to suffer ourselves to be diverted from it!

To put it simply, God has snatched us from death, cancelled our debts and vanquished our enemies in Christ. Is there really anything else?

More Resurrection (Easter) Prep…

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I’ve seen tidbits of information coming out on the resurrection for this Easter already. After my post yesterday, I thought this would be a good follow up.

On a Twitter feed, Jonathan Dobson says, “If u invite people “to church” this Easter, make sure u invite them “into the church” the next week. Share your life not just your pastor.”

Tony Reinke provides some notes and an outline for wading through this Scriptures this season.

If you haven’t read Adrian Warnock’s book Raised with Christ, you are missing some great doctrinal teaching on the resurrection.

If you are more musically inclined, Andrew Peterson has an entire album devoted the the truth of the resurrection.

Take advantage of the gift God has given us in the internet and use these resources to deepen your joy in God as we celebrate the Gospel!

Resurrection Realities

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Today’s sermon is up and thought I would post on it. Seemed like a different kind of sermon for me. So often, we talk about the resurrection as if it is some huge event and have a hard time drawing application. I’m not bemoaning the importance of it, but simply confessing how difficult it is to apply it to our lives.

Doctrine matters. The resurrection isn’t just about an important part of the Gospel. The resurrection affects the way we live. Mark 16:1-8 seems to point to that. How does this show itself in your life.