Christ, the Lord, is risen today, Alleluia!
Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth, reply, Alleluia!
Love’s redeeming work is done, Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Lo! the Sun’s eclipse is over, Alleluia!
Lo! He sets in blood no more, Alleluia!
Vain the stone, the watch, the seal, Alleluia!
Christ hath burst the gates of hell, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids His rise, Alleluia!
Christ hath opened Paradise, Alleluia!
Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once He died our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where thy victory, O grave? Alleluia!
Soar we now where Christ hath led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like Him, like Him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!
Hail, the Lord of earth and heaven, Alleluia!
Praise to Thee by both be given, Alleluia!
Thee we greet triumphant now, Alleluia!
Hail, the resurrection day, Alleluia!
King of glory, Soul of bliss, Alleluia!
Everlasting life is this, Alleluia!
Thee to know, Thy power to prove, Alleluia!
Thus to sing and thus to love, Alleluia!
Hymns of praise then let us sing, Alleluia!
Unto Christ, our heavenly King, Alleluia!
Who endured the cross and grave, Alleluia!
Sinners to redeem and save. Alleluia!
But the pains that He endured, Alleluia!
Our salvation have procured, Alleluia!
Now above the sky He’s King, Alleluia!
Where the angels ever sing. Alleluia!
Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia!
Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia!
Who did once upon the cross, Alleluia!
Suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia!
Working in Web, I have the privilege to watch so many ideas form and get put into play through developmental meetings and such. Plans to improve the way we do things now to better suit what we are trying to get across to people. In my mind I find myself thinking, “Wow! This will be awesome! Maybe this has to happen first before Jesus comes back….” but then I realized…that’s a very common thought that I have. It takes many forms, like maybe I’ll get married before He comes back, or maybe I have to live on my own before He comes back, or maybe I’ll grow old before He comes back, etc.
But no…He could come back ANY SECOND! No one knows the time or season. Which makes me wonder…
Am I okay with leaving behind those plans, those ideas? Am I holding these ideas above my joy of Jesus’ return? Feels kinda like parable of the servant that’s waiting for the masters return and the servant that’s too busy to care. I keep thinking, I’ll get this done before He returns, but I never know WHEN He will return, so why do I fuss about making plans and then looking forward to those plans when I should be looking forward to Christ’s return?
I think that’s just one of the many lies of the enemy that I was fooled into thinking and believing. But I am learning to rebuke the enemy when I think thoughts like that to get my focus more on Christ and His return than my “plans for the future and make things better ideas”
Jesus is coming back. Soon! I need to get my focus off of myself, and look more towards what God is doing. Look at the growth of the church in Asia, in Africa… God is moving so miraculously, and I’m more focused on what the future holds for me than what God wants me to do right now for His glory. Time is short. We don’t have much longer. We need to get our act together and share the Gospel at any opportunity.
Praying for you all! I hope this encouraged you to step out like it has for me.
Christ died He left a will in which He gave His soul to His Father, His body to Joseph of Arimathea, His clothes to the soldiers, and His mother to John. But to His disciples, who had left all to follow Him, He left not silver or gold, but something far better – His PEACE!
Matthew Henry
Mark 14:36 He said,”Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.” Gethsemane is where He died; the cross is only the evidence.
Leonard Ravenhill
As out of Jesus’ affliction came a new sense of God’s love and a new basis for love between men, so out of our affliction we may grasp the splendor of God’s love and how to love one another. Thus the consummation of the two commandments was on Golgotha; and the Cross is, at once, their image and their fulfillment.
Malcolm Muggeridge
The Christian community is a community of the cross, for it has been brought into being by the cross, and the focus of its worship is the Lamb once slain, now glorified. So the community of the cross is a community of celebration, a eucharistic community, ceaselessly offering to God through Christ the sacrifice of our praise and thanksgiving. The Christian life is an unending festival. And the festival we keep, now that our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed for us, is a joyful celebration of his sacrifice, together with a spiritual feasting upon it.
John R. W. Stott
Some of us think at times that we could cry, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” There are seasons when the brightness of our Father’s smile is eclipsed by clouds and darkness; but let us remember that God never does really forsake us. It is only a seeming forsaking with us, but in Christ’s case it was a real forsaking. We grieve at a little withdrawal of our Father’s love; but the real turning away of God’s face from His Son, who shall calculate how deep the agony which it caused Him? In our case, our cry is often dictated by unbelief: in His case, it was the utterance of a dreadful fact, for God had really turned away from Him for a season. O thou poor, distressed soul, who once lived in the sunshine of God’s face, but art now in darkness, remember that He has not really forsaken thee. God in the clouds is as much our God as when He shines forth in all the lustre of His grace; but since even the thought that He has forsaken us gives us agony, what must the woe of the Saviour have been when He exclaimed, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
The God on whom we rely knows what suffering is all about, not merely in the way that God knows everything, but by experience. In the darkest night of the soul Christians have something to hold onto that Job never knew. We know Christ crucified. Christians have learned that when there seems to be no other evidence of God’s love, they cannot escape the cross. “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”(Rom. 8:32) … When we suffer, there will sometimes be mystery. Will there also be faith? Yes, if our attention is focused more on the cross, and on the God of the cross, than on the suffering itself.
As they were going out, they found a man from Cyrene named Simon, whom they forced to carry his cross. They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “Place of the Skull”) and offered Jesus wine mixed with gall to drink. But after tasting it, he would not drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided his clothes by throwing dice. Then they sat down and kept guard over him there. Above his head they put the charge against him, which read: “This is Jesus, the king of the Jews.” Then two outlaws were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by defamed him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are God’s Son, come down from the cross!” In the same way even the chief priests – together with the experts in the law and elders – were mocking him: “He saved others, but he cannot save himself! He is the king of Israel! If he comes down now from the cross, we will believe in him! He trusts in God – let God, if he wants to, deliver him now because he said, ‘I am God’s Son’!” The robbers who were crucified with him also spoke abusively to him.
Jesus’ Death
Now from noon until three, darkness came over all the land. At about three o’clock Jesus shouted with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “This man is calling for Elijah.” Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink. But the rest said, “Leave him alone! Let’s see if Elijah will come to save him.” Then Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and gave up his spirit. Just then the temple curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks were split apart. And tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had died were raised. (They came out of the tombs after his resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.) Now when the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and what took place, they were extremely terrified and said, “Truly this one was God’s Son!” Many women who had followed Jesus from Galilee and given him support were also there, watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.
At a Bridge of Hope center we visited while we (School of Discipleship Students) were in Asia for our Asia tour, we had a special surprise waiting for us. After watching the kids perform some Bible songs for us (and doing a dance for them :P), the area leader introduced a brother and sister to us. As he spoke about how Bridge of Hope impacted their lives and shared about their mom’s hardships, I knew who these children were: They were Geeta’s children.
Geeta is a single mother. Her husband, an alcoholic, beat her—sometimes with a cricket bat (like a flat baseball bat). One day he left, and Geeta and their two children haven’t seen him since. Although Geeta found work, her earnings were meager. What’s more, she felt very anxious about their living condition. They lived in a shanty near the jungle, and she was afraid that tigers would attack them. A neighbor gave Geeta a Gospel tract, and she experienced the love of Jesus in her life. She got involved with a local Gospel For Asia-supported church, and she enrolled her children in the Bridge of Hope center. Having her children at the Bridge of Hope center was a great blessing to Geeta because they received both tutoring and meals there, and she didn’t have to worry about them being at home alone while she was working. But her troubles didn’t totally leave. Her landlord had been pressuring her for sexual favors and threatened to kick her out because she refused. Thankfully, her pastor was able to arrange some help for her.
When Geeta appeared at the Bridge of Hope center, with her hair braided tightly and her sari neatly folded, I kind of felt like we were meeting a long-lost friend and a celebrity at the same time. It’s amazing how the Lord gives Geeta such dignity and grace in the midst of some awful circumstances. The pastors took us to the church, where we talked with Geeta and took pictures with her. Best of all, we had the chance to pray for her. Geeta is just an ordinary woman—one of many, many single women in similar circumstances—yet she had a group of 12 people from across the ocean who were excited to meet her. It’s so wonderful that in the Body of Christ, we can have compassion for and feel a bond with each other even before meeting face-to-face. I’m so glad that God has adopted us all into His family!
Gospel For Asia staff and the School of Discipleship Student were blessed to have Francis Chan share about the Love of the Father. One of our staff said “I was moved by the thought that God is the giver and sustainer and that our service to the Lord can and should always be a joy and never a burden.”
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