Weekly Encouragement
Good Wednesday Everyone,
Weekly blessings to all. Happy Easter week as well. As you all know we Christians, have experienced Easter Week, and we have arrived at Good Friday. This is where the wonderful weekend of Easter for us, and the weeklong Passover feast with the disciples took a terrible turn. For us, today took an awful historical turn, for the disciples it took a disastrous personal, physical, psychological, and spiritual turn. Today we know what happened. The disciples and followers of Jesus were living through absolute and total confusion, terror, and uncertainty. Good Firiday was a horrible day!!
Friday at midnight, Jesus experienced a series of false allegations resulting in a framed conviction before the most powerful religious and judicial leaders of His day. Jesus allowed these things to happen in His deity and suffered these things in His humanity. Focus on this truth for a moment: Jesus allowed His death and the physical suffering of Roman crucifixion. Would you willingly let the worst happen to you for the sake of others? I know you would for the person and for the people you love. But for those you don’t know, for those who wouldn’t appreciate your sacrifice, for those who rejected your suffering on their behalf, for those who would ridicule and spit on you, or for those who would never understand nor return your love for them? Would you? None of us have this kind of love in us. The love Jesus Christ has for all people is an unconditional, an uncorrupted, and an unselfish love expressed through His humanity and proven through His deity. This is where we know the rest of the story.
Jesus did this for all mankind, and He died for all mankind. Jesus Christ never lost His deity, but He left His humanity in the tomb forever. Jesus Christ rose from the dead and He walked out of the tomb. Jesus Christ did this because He is God. The confirming verse to this truth we have shared before and we must allow it to galvanize our faith. This verse must guide you to the truth of who Jesus is, “Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” (Colossians 1:15)
Today, our world foolishly believes self-sacrifice and self-enlightenment will right the wrongs of the past. This is impossible. Rather, we need to allow the past and perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ to right the wrongs of our past, our present, and our future forever. Jesus Christ can do this because He is God. You cannot because you are not God. The power of Jesus Christ was proven forever this week. Sadly, so many people believe this week is only the celebration and recognition of Spring. If you tell someone the truth of Easter Week, they might listen, they might ask questions, and they might come to Bethel Baptist Church and encounter Jesus Christ for themselves. We have the best news people will ever hear, “They just don’t know it yet!” Give someone the opportunity to meet the man Jesus Christ and the living God, Jesus Christ this Easter Sunday.
In Christ Jesus,
Pastor Michael
