Watch this and then do this!!!!

Last week as our elder team was gathered we had a brief talk around the notion of envy. One shared that where there is true spiritual maturity there will not be any envy. He then shared I Corinthians 13:4 – love does not envy. Just yesterday I was reading Proverbs 14:30 – envy is rottenness to the bones. Now that is a word picture!

Webster’s defines envy as, “a feeling of discontent or ill will because of another’s advantages, possessions, etc.; resentful dislike of another who has something that one desires”. I also looked up the antonyms of envy and found comfortable, content and pleased. Based on that discovery, I thought of Pauls words in I Timothy 6:6, “…godliness with contentment is great gain”.

If there is any envy in your heart about anything at all, my prayer is that today you will discover contentment.

I am tired and it is the result of  more than just having a busy day, a busy weekend, not sleeping enough or not exercising enough – I am really tired! I am tired of:

• my ridiculous thoughts – not controlling the one thing I can control.
• my self-centeredness
• my pride
• my want for more
• my desire to be liked
• my workaholic tendencies
• my inconsistencies
• my list that could just go on and on

I am tired of me but I never tire of the work Christ wants to do in my life. Thankfully, I never tire of the amazing love, grace, mercy, power and strength of my tireless Savior. JESUS, I am so tired, but just not of you!!!

By Lee Strobel
author

I saw plenty of dead bodies as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, but I’ve never seen anyone come back to life. That was the stuff of mythology and legend. After all, we live in a scientific age. Belief in a resurrection was simply untenable.

At least, that’s what I thought until I checked the facts for myself. Using my legal training, I investigated the most audacious claim of history: that Jesus of Nazareth returned from the dead and thus authenticated his claim to being the Son of God.

After nearly two years of research, I found my atheism cracking. Here’s some of what I discovered:

First, there’s overwhelming evidence Jesus was executed. In addition to multiple, early, independent confirmation in the New Testament documents (which, incidentally, I gave no special treatment), there are also five sources outside the Bible. Even atheist historian Gerd Lüdemann called Jesus’ death by crucifixion “indisputable.”

Second, we have resurrection accounts that date back so early they can’t be legendary – because legends take time to develop. A.N. Sherwin-White, the great classical historian from Oxford, said the passage of two generations was not even enough time for legend to grow up in the ancient world and wipe out a solid core of historical truth.

Yet we have a creed of the early church, recorded in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, that confirms Jesus died, was buried, rose and appeared to named eyewitnesses, including skeptics. Scholars from a wide range of theological belief have dated this creed to within a few years of Jesus’ death – and therefore its underlying beliefs go back even further. It’s like a historical news flash!

Concluded eminent scholar James D. G. Dunne: “This tradition, we can be entirely confident, was formulated as tradition within months of Jesus’ death.” It would be unprecedented for a legend to develop that fast and wipe out a solid core of historical truth.

Third, there’s the empty tomb, which is implicit in the early creed and reported in the earliest Gospel.

Scholar William Lane Craig points out that the site of Jesus’ tomb was known to Christians and non-Christians alike. If it weren’t empty, it would have been impossible for a movement founded on the resurrection to have exploded into existence in the same city where Jesus had been publicly executed and buried just a few weeks earlier.

Moreover, the empty tomb was implicitly admitted in the early claim that the disciples had stolen the body. Why would Jesus’ opponents manufacture such a cover story unless they were trying to explain away the inconvenient truth that the tomb was empty?

Nobody had a motive for stealing the body, especially the disciples. They wouldn’t have knowingly and willingly allowed themselves to be tortured to death for a lie.

Finally, scholars Gary Habermas and Michael Licona have enumerated nine sources reporting the resurrected Jesus appeared to the disciples:

• Paul confirms Jesus appeared to him, and then Paul met with the apostles and they agreed their teaching about the resurrection was the same as his.

• The early creed confirms the disciples (plus 500 others!) encountered the risen Jesus; indeed, many scholars believe two eyewitnesses cited in the creed, Peter and James, were the ones who gave the creed to Paul.

• Peter declared to a crowd in Jerusalem just weeks after Jesus’ execution that “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.” Three thousand people agreed and the church was born.

• Matthew, Mark, Luke and John independently confirm his post-resurrection appearances. These first-century, eyewitness-rooted Gospels have regained respect in recent years. Scholar Craig Evans, who has lectured at Oxford and Cambridge, said that “there’s every reason to conclude the Gospels have fairly and accurately reported the essential elements” of Jesus’ resurrection.

• Early church leaders Clement and Polycarp were taught by the apostles. Clement said the apostles had “complete certainty” about the resurrection; Polycarp repeatedly confirmed the resurrection.

So convinced were the disciples that they were willing to die for their conviction that Jesus had risen — not because they had faith in it, but because they were in the unique position to know for sure that it was true.

Even atheist Lüdemann conceded: “It may be taken as historically certain that Peter and the disciples had experiences after Jesus’ death in which Jesus appeared to them as the risen Christ.”

He would claim these were hallucinations or visions, yet I don’t find that credible. Hallucinations occur in our brains, like dreams. People can’t share hallucinations, yet Jesus appeared to groups three different times.

Were these visions by grieving disciples? This wouldn’t explain the conversion of Saul, an opponent of Christians, or James, a skeptic. Neither was primed for a vision, yet each died proclaiming Jesus had appeared to him. Besides, if these were visions, the body would still have been entombed.

My books analyze objections that many skeptics, including myself, have raised. None, in my view, overcome the affirmative evidence. So I reached the verdict that the resurrection really happened – and that’s why I’m celebrating my 29th Easter as a follower of Jesus.

Lee Strobel, author of the bestselling “Case” series has created the new resources “The Case for the Resurrection” and “The Case for Christ Study Bible.”

The post below was sent to me by Jessica Farmer. She gave me permission to pass it along. She was connecting her devotion to this past weekends message of “we must toil in the soil” Matt 13. Enjoy -

It is soo cool how God uses personal devotions to remind us of and confirm what we learn in church. I found this in my Beth Moore bible study ( Jesus -90 days with the one and only ) She is discussing how we tend to have social prejudices when it comes to sharing the love of Christ with others…..unfortunate but true. Pride causes us to feel we are better deserving than say , a woman of ill repute. Luke 7: 39-48 tells the story of Jesus in the house of the Pharisee. The pharisee says to himself ” ….that obviously Jesus doesn’t know WHAT KIND of woman she is ” . In the original Greek the word are * poios -meaning-what * and *dapedon – meaning – soil . So he was literally saying “He has no idea the dirt/soil she comes from” . Beth goes on to say that Dirt is dirt !
I felt like this was for me tonight and was just so excited to share it. We must TOIL IN THE SOIL ! no matter what kind it is !! Thank goodness the Lord loves all kinds of DIRT !—–Jessica Farmer It is soo cool how God uses personal devotions to remind us of and confirm what we learn in church. I found this in my Beth Moore bible study ( Jesus -90 days with the one and only ) She is discussing how we tend to have social prejudices when it comes to sharing the love of Christ with others…..unfortunate but true. Pride causes us to feel we are better deserving than say , a woman of ill repute. Luke 7: 39-48 tells the story of Jesus in the house of the Pharisee. The pharisee says to himself ” ….that obviously Jesus doesn’t know WHAT KIND of woman she is ” . In the original Greek the word are * poios -meaning-what * and *dapedon – meaning – soil . So he was literally saying “He has no idea the dirt/soil she comes from” . Beth goes on to say that Dirt is dirt !
I felt like this was for me tonight and was just so excited to share it. We must TOIL IN THE SOIL ! no matter what kind it is !! Thank goodness the Lord loves all kinds of DIRT !—–Jessica Farmer

As we continue thinking about toiling in the the soil, I thought I would share a post by James MacDonald. James is probably my favorite preacher. He has a way of putting it out there and not holding anything back – love his boldness!

Click here to read his post.

I am currently reading and journaling my way through the book of Daniel and really enjoying my study!  In Chapter 2 Daniel not only interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s dream but he first of all tells him the dream because Neb couldn’t remember it. After God reveals the dream and its intepretation to Daniel, Daniel immediately prays – Daniel 2:20-23. In verse 22 Daniel says, “He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding”. This jumped off the page at me!  God does not waste wisdom on the fool and He does not waste knowledge one those who lack understanding. I am praying for wisdom and understanding – I am seeking wisdom and understanding – I desire wisdom and understanding – I want to position myself for wisdom and understanding. In doing this, I believe that the Lord is then free to give me more wisdom and more knowledge. I can’t see God just continuing to waste wisdom and knowledge on anyone who doesn’t act on it or implement it!

May God help us to increase in wisdom and understanding so that we can “interpret” the hard things in life!