RAISED FROM THE DEAD

The Lord Be Praised
He is Raised

Time with Jesus - Monday, 06 May 2013

Hi all,

This world and all who are in it are on a one way trip to everlasting destruction! I’m not surprised by this statement. Those who live in this world are not basically good. Humanism and the New Ager teach this error. They tell us that we are all good with the exception of a number of miscreants. Some go as far as to say that we are all evolving into god. We should begin to walk in our godhood now. Rationalism supports this view. We are creatures of “super-intellect”. It promotes the idea that everything should be judged by the concept, “Is it reasonable”? If the human mind cannot conceive it, it cannot be true. Thus they reject anything that they “reason out” as supernatural. Miracles are discounted because they are unreasonable. God cannot possibly exist because their intellect says so. Everything is called before the bar of human reason. If they cannot believe it, it must be wrong. Anyone who believes in God is, at best, deluded or misguided; at worst, mad. It follows that those who believe in God should be silenced or locked up in an asylum.

Not worried
Speak out Boldly

Christians are not worried by this view. We believe in God. We trust in the power of the Holy Spirit. We also believe in His Son Jesus Christ and say that He is our Lord. We say this openly and unequivocally with words that come out of our mouths. We acknowledge that Jesus Christ is alive. We believe that He died for our sins; that He was buried and on the third days, God raised Him from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit.

According to Paul, these are the two requirement by which we are “saved” from everlasting destruction. ⁹ Say with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord." Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. Then you will be saved. Rom 10:9 NIrV

It doesn’t sound very much does it? The fact remains; many “Christians” don’t believe or treat Him as “Lord”. They say, “That’s too demanding. I don’t mind believing in Him but don’t expect me to do anything about it. That will disturb my comfortable non-believing lifestyle”. But that’s what “saying with your mouth” means. We can teach a parrot to say, “Jesus is Lord”. But the parrot is not saved. The words must be meaningful. It’s a statement that comes from deep within you.

Believe in Your Heart

It also means that the person believes in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. This is not optional. It’s not a bumper sticker. It’s a qualification for being a Christian. If you don’t believe Jesus Christ was raised from the dead you are not a Christian. You are someone who likes the Christian lifestyle but refuses to take the step of faith needed to qualify him as a Christian.

Paul’s statement to the Romans is not an optional extra you may choose to believe if you want. Not at all. If He has not been raised from the dead He cannot be Lord. Likewise, if He is Lord, He must have been raised from the dead.

Saved by Jesus

Years ago there was a song that went, “Love and marriage, go together like a horse and carriage. Let me tell you brother, you can’t have one without the other.” The same is true of believing in your heart and speaking with your mouth. If you say you are a Christian, both must be true for you. You can’t have one without the other.

Our meditation today looks at the resurrection from the dead.

Shalom,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Time with Jesus – Monday, 06 May 2013
©	These devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes			©
INTRODUCTION		DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	RAISED FROM THE DEAD
The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead separates the men from the boys, or the women from the girls. What are we going to do with it? Is it fact or fiction? This has been argued about for the past 2000 odd years. Believers like you and I have no problem with it. We believe! We cannot establish this as a scientific fact. God is the creator of everything. Thus science is the product of His design. In a way it’s a bit like asking a computer to prove the existence of its designer. It cannot. God could prove His existence very easily. A big TV in the sky saying, “This is God Speaking!” would put the fear of God into the hearts of countless thousands of people. One occasion where God spoke generally to the people is recorded for us in John’s gospel: 27 "Now My soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But this is the very reason I came! 28 Father, bring glory to Your name." Then a voice spoke from heaven, saying, "I have brought glory to My name, and I will do so again." 29 When the crowd heard the voice, some thought it was thunder, while others declared an angel had spoken to Him. John 12:27-29 NLT On this occasion there are three reactions listed. 1) Some believed. 2) Some said it thundered. 3) Some said an angel spoke to Him. What would happen today? In all probability there would be the same or a similar reaction. The real question is, “What would be your and my reaction?” We cannot “prove” Christ was raised from the grave. Not directly. What we can say is that lawyers who have studied the resurrection have declared that there is more evidence that Jesus was raised from the grave than there is evidence that Julius Caesar landed in the UK! Please note that His resurrection is a fact. You have a choice. The Lord leaves you free to accept it or deny it. He will not interfere. It’s entirely your choice. God refuses to stand before the bar of human reason. The facts are there. Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. If you believe it, you will find that the Scripture will become a source of inspiration and guidance. If you don’t believe it, you are free to wander on down your path of deception and unbelief. Man says, “If I see it I will believe it”. God says, “If you believe it, you will see it”. It all boils down to faith or unbelief. The writer to the Hebrews states, 6 It's impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him. 6 Hebrews 11:6 MSG Do you have faith to believe Him? It’s up to you! Jim & Phyllida Strickland		35 Some sceptic is sure to ask, "Show me how resurrection works. Give me a diagram; draw me a picture. What does this 'resurrection body' look like?" 1 Corinthians 15:35 MSG 2 But friends, that's exactly who we are: children of God. And that's only the beginning. Who knows how we'll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we'll see him--and in seeing him, become like him. 1 John 3:2 MSG 49 As we have worn the likeness of the man who was made from the dust of the earth, we will also wear the likeness of the man who came from heaven. 1 Corinthians 15:49 GW 20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for Him to return as our Savior. 21 He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like His own, using the same power with which He will bring everything under His control. Philippians 3:20-21 NLT 36 And just as they were telling about it, Jesus Himself was suddenly standing there among them. "Peace be with you," He said. 37 But the whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost! Luke 24:36-37 NLT 5 He appeared to Peter. Then he appeared to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than 500 believers at the same time. Most of them are still living. But some have died. 1 Corinthians 15:5-6 NIrV 11 It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's! Romans 8:11 MSG	There’s something totally unique in Christianity; Something which the world at large thinks cannot ever be. We speak of resurrection life; to them it makes no sense And all those who believe it, are somewhat rather dense. I can’t say that I blame them; it’s hard to understand, But I can no more acquiesce to their absurd demand Than fly into the heaven, on my own eagle wings! It’s just about impossible to prove these very things. Think for just a moment of that which you have seen. Do you think without the Lord they ever could have been? Wasn’t it impossible, in terms of what you know, For it to ever come to pass if Jesus didn’t show? Each one of us have been there at somewhere in our walk. They’ve said, “You are an idiot! Don’t kid me with that talk! Prove it scientifically in the Laboratory It you cannot do so, it’s pure psychology. You’ve wanted it so badly your mind is telling lies. Frankly it’s just nonsense wrapped up in a disguise, Of personal delusion. Your Jesus is a crutch, You use for self deception! It’s frankly Double Dutch.” It’s words like this that hurt us. We can’t believe our ears. Why can’t they believe it? God’s written Word is clear. There isn’t an experiment to prove that He is fact. There is no demonstration. By faith we have to act. Seeing is believing, can never demonstrate, The truth of God Almighty. Such folk will have to wait, Until the Lord reveals to them the fact that He is true; Believe it and you’ll see it! That’s what they need to do. It’s like the resurrection. Put bulbs into the ground; A bit of warmth and water. What happens will astound, An honest unbeliever. A plant will soon appear As different from the planted bulb, as lemonade to beer! And as for resurrection, which he says is a lie. The only way to prove it, is first we have to die. We know that Jesus Christ our Lord has risen from the grave. We know that He was different and that He could behave In ways which are impossible for folk like me and you. But if the Lord could do it, I’m sure we’ll do it too! We’ll find it all together the moment he returns. We’ll all be raised together. For this, my spirit yearns. We know we will be like Him! He said that it is true. That’s what He said He’ll do for me. Will He do it for you? Jim Strickland Written 6th May 2012

WILDERNESS WANDERINGS

The Wilderness of Zin

Time with Jesus - Sunday, 05 May 2013

Hi all,

Going round and round in circles for 40 years must be a terribly sad thing to do. Think for a moment about what happened. About 2 million men, women and children were at Kadesh-barnea. God had told the people to go in and take the Promised Land. Instead they decided to send spies to examine the land.

Spies and the Produce

In a way, ±600 000 men were under a death sentence for disobedience. For them, the wilderness was “death row”. God took good care of them. He provided food and water. Their shoes didn’t wear out. The scene is a little like the film we saw several years ago. It was called, “Dead Man Walking”! That’s exactly what they were. They were under a death sentence from God for disobedience. There was no Court of Appeal. God was and is the Supreme Court. His commands get obeyed to the letter! They were in the “Death Row” wilderness and those men would all die!

Christians today fail to realise that we serve the same God. Yes, He is a loving God and He did send His Son for us to die in our place. But He does not overlook disobedience indefinitely. He is not and will not be used like a “Divine Prostitute” or slot machine. He has told us very clearly how we should live. If we rebel and repeatedly disobey, we may end up in a completely different wilderness. One that burns with unquenchable fire and never ends.

Spies tell of Problems

The Book of Hebrews puts it as follows: ¹¹ So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall. ¹² For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. ¹³ Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before His eyes, and He is the One to whom we are accountable. Hebrews 4:11-13 NLT

The God of Love is also
The God of Justice

Our meditation today focuses on the Wilderness Wanderings

Shalom,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Sunday, 05 May 2013			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
©	These devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes					©
INTRODUCTION			DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	WILDERNESS WANDERINGS
The Children of Israel refused to go into the promised land. They had sent out 12 men to spy out the land. They came back with a wonderful report along with a negative one. It was a wonderful land, “flowing with milk and honey”. But the inhabitants were like giants. Only two of these spies believed they should go in and take the land. Their names were Joshua and Caleb. A careful examination of Scripture reveals that the idea of sending men to “spy out the land” was not from God. It was their own idea. Moses went along with the idea, so the venture was undertaken. Moses describes the tragic details in Deuteronomy. He stated, 2 Normally it takes only eleven days to travel from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-Barnea, going by way of Mount Seir. Deuteronomy 1:2 NLT It’s astonishing how often a good idea is not a God idea. We like to take matters into our own hands and “do it my way”. It doesn’t work. God had told them to go in and take the land. They sent in spies instead. Then, when they listened to the spies’ report, they were terrified and wouldn’t go in. Moses’ tale in Deuteronomy would read like a comic opera, if it wasn’t both real and tragic. In the end God told them that because they hadn’t believed and obeyed Him, not one of that generation would go in and take the land. Only Joshua and Caleb went in some forty years later. The ones who did were the children of that lost generation. Unbelief kept them out. They spent forty years wandering round in the wilderness.  Now one of the greatest miracles of the old Testament took place. God preserved the nation for those forty years. That amazes me! They had been “written off” by God. But although He punished them and did not let them enter the Promised Land, He took care of them for all those years of wandering. Would you do that? Not me! Today’s meditation looks at the fact that God did this for His people. It then goes on to speculate about the cost of these wanderings. I’ve estimated that the cost in today’s money would be in the region of one trillion Rand over those forty years. Fortunately, God does not have money problems. We do. Where could we raise a trillion Rand to support a group of about two million people wandering round the desert? Try asking your bank for that amount of money. The bank would ask us for collateral. What would we provide? I’m reminded of the story of the man who went to see his bank manager and told him that Jesus Christ had paid all his debts on Mt Calvary. So he didn’t have to repay the loan. The bank manager told him that Jesus may have paid his debt to humanity. But there was still the matter of his outstanding debt with the bank! Jim & Phyllida Strickland			39 The LORD spread a cloud above them as a covering and gave them a great fire to light the darkness. Psalms 105:39 NLT 13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. 14 For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. Psalms 103:13-14 ESV 4 Indeed, He who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps. 5 The LORD Himself watches over you! The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade. 6 The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night. 7 The LORD keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. 8 The LORD keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever. Psalms 121:4-8 NLT 4 The Lord will wash the filth from beautiful Zion and cleanse Jerusalem of its bloodstains with the hot breath of fiery judgment. 5 Then the LORD will provide shade for Mount Zion and all who assemble there. He will provide a canopy of cloud during the day and smoke and flaming fire at night, covering the glorious land. 6 It will be a shelter from daytime heat and a hiding place from storms and rain. Isaiah 4:4-6 NLT 21 GOD went ahead of them in a Pillar of Cloud during the day to guide them on the way, and at night in a Pillar of Fire to give them light; thus they could travel both day and night. 22 The Pillar of Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire by night never left the people. Exodus 13:21-22 MSG 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8 NIrV	The day-times in the desert are very, very hot. Then, shortly after sunset, the heat they’ve quite forgot! They started to feel icy. They shivered from the cold. And just a little tiny flame was worth its weight in gold. The Lord knew all about it. To Him it wasn’t strange, So He provided something that kept the warmth in range. He covered all His people with cloud during the day And used a fiery pillar to keep the cold away. We see that air-conditioning was Jesus Christ’s design If everyone stayed close to it, they’d all be feeling fine. Of course it was a miracle which lasted forty years, Without an interruption for Moses and his peers. Now stop and think about it. About two million folk, Enjoyed this air conditioning and didn’t once go broke! I’m glad it was the Lord Most High Who had to pay the bill. But who could now afford it? The answer’s plainly, “nil!” I’m living in a pleasant house which I must heat and cool. Three Thousand Rand paid monthly we pay out as a rule. That’s only for ten people. Two hundred thousand more! Six hundred million rand per month! Can you afford this score? The Lord God charged them nothing. He did it all for free. They didn’t have the money. The same as you and me. But God can well afford it; For Him, it’s just small change. To us it’s astronomical. But well within His range. About three hundred Billion Rand or thereabout it seems. It’s bigger than the National debt and far beyond our dreams. For God it’s still just chicken feed. He doesn’t bat an eye. If you add on the water bill, I will not even try, To give some sort of estimate. And then there’s cattle food. The sheep and goats they sacrificed. The finest of the brood. The rams and bulls they offered up; the tabernacle’s price! Where did the Jewish people get their financial advice? About a Thousand Billion Rand. Does that sound out of place? No wonder Jewish people control the human race! I wonder what on Wall Street the bankers all would say? The cost of wandering around. “We don’t invest that way!” But God thought it was worth it. He thought it a good deal, A step toward bringing His Son to make salvation real. Jim Strickland Written 5th May 2012