1 John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And every man that hath this hope in Him purifiers himself, even as He is pure.

From February 14th through the Easter Holiday, 18 new believers have been born again in the rural and metro areas of Central Luzon. Today, 6 of those new believers were baptized today. God always keeps His promises: His Word will not return void, and our labors are not in vain.

Keep praying, working and giving. Keep waiting and watching. One day He will come again, and we will be changed!

There are other fruits to enjoy with our brothers and sisters overseas. One of those is a new “rooftop” for the mission church in the picture above.

Please keep praying for my friend and brother, Pastor Eric Hennessey, of River of Life Baptist Church in Cabanatuan City as he slowly recovers from a bout with very serious illness.

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Final thought: Why do people nowadays refuse or deny simple invitations to church? This was a question asked in a facebook group I’m a member of recently. There are a lot of obvious answers, and we as “the church” can point the blame outward in every direction. But we need to understand something very basic and simple about this lost and dying world. It watches us and measures and records everything we do and say. It sees and remembers how we act as opposed to what we teach. And yes, it knows what we teach.

So instead of blaming the world for doing exactly what scriptures say the world is going to do, maybe we should ask ourselves these questions:

Do we, as a church, love the way we’ve been commanded? (John 13:34) If someone took a real, serious, close look inside my church, would he see what I have there and want that for himself?

Is my individual life really set apart? Does it look different from this broken world somehow?

If someone really wanted to change his life, why would he choose Jesus knowing that the only apparent difference between my life and his life is church attendance?

Oh, me.

THE RESURRECTION

April 4, 2021Leave a comment

Holy Week – Resurrection Day

Mark 16:6 And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.

Luke 24:5-8 King James Version (KJV)

5 And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?

6 He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, 7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. 8 And they remembered his words,

Matthew 28:6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

Jesus told His disciples and others about his death and resurrection several times:

Matthew 16:21, Matthew 17:22-23, Matthew 20:17-19, (Matthew 12:39-40, John 10:17-8)

We serve a RISEN Savior. Not just spiritually resurrected, BODILY resurrected by the same power of the same Holy spirit that allow Jesus to heal, forgive, save, and raise other people from the dead.

Our forgiveness is sealed by His death. Our justification is sealed by His resurrection.

HOLY WEEK – BLACK SATURDAY

April 3, 2021Leave a comment

Holy Week – Black Saturday

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?” -Romans 8:32

Jesus’ body rested in the tomb on Holy Saturday; it was a rich man’s tomb, fulfilling the prophecy (Isaiah 53:9)

Preparations were made for Jesus’ body and placement in the tomb until 6pm, when preparations for the Sabbath began. “The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.” –Luke 23:55-56

There are lots of opinions about where Jesus’s soul was between His death on the cross and His glorious resurrection. There are passages in the epistles that speak about it, but that’s a study for another time.

The gospels don’t really say much about it, but they do say this:

Luke 23:43 and Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise.

This paradise is referred to in (Revelation 2:7) as “the paradise of God”.

“Holy Week is relatively silent on Black Saturday. The tomb has been sealed, the guards stand watch, the disciples are hiding in confusion and fear. The Savior has surrendered all to save his people from their sin. And that even includes the ones who cried “let His blood be on us and our children.” (Matthew 27:25)

What more condemning words could there possibly be? Still that is, in effect, what is said every time a person rejects and refuses to believe in The Christ. It happens every day.

But it’s interesting how the meaning of words and phrases can change when the context changes. As true believers, we can rejoice and shout, “let His blood be on us!” We say it with a different meaning.

Not defiantly as the crowds that crucified him, but desperately because we depend only on his sacrifice.

“Jesus, let your blood be on us. Let it cover us. Let the blood that flows – from your head, your hands, your feet, from your side, from your stripes – wash over us and cleanse us from all of our iniquity”.

We proclaim Jesus’s death. We rejoice in his death, not because we believe he was a fraud or a lunatic, but because it is by his death, by his wounds, by his blood that we are healed.

What a wonderous thing this is!

Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Amen, and Amen.

But the best news is still to come

April 2, 2021Leave a comment

Holy Week – Good Friday

Mark 15:1-47

Good Friday was the last day of Jesus’ life on earth before His resurrection. He was betrayed by Judas, just as He said, and denied by Peter, just as He said. His disciples scattered, Just as He said.

He was arrested and was placed on trial falsely. (Isaiah 53:7) He was condemned, scourged, and mocked (Isaiah 53:8).  He was forced to hear the cries of the crowd to crucify Him. (Isaiah 53:3) The soldiers made a crown of thorns and put it on His head and continued to beat Him and mock Him. He was led away to a mountain and made to carry His own cross (John 19:17, Genesis 22:6-7) to the place where He was crucified. He was mocked, ridiculed, and taunted along the way, but there were some who mourned after Him. (Luke 23:27).

He was offered something to dull the physical pain, but Jesus refused, choosing to face the pain of death head on (Matthew 27:34). He was nailed by the hands and feet to His cross. But knowing that his death was to atone for even these who drove the nails, Jesus begged the Father to forgive them. (Luke 23:34)

They stripped Him of His clothes letting him hang there naked on the cross, and cast lots for them, Fulfilling another prophesy. (Psalm 22:18)

All of these things happened just as He said.

Matthew 16:21-23, 17:22-23, 20:17-19

Mark 8:31-33, 9:30-32, 10:32-34

Luke 9:21-22, 9:43-45, 18:31-34

Two prisoners were crucified alongside Jesus, again fulfilling prophesy (Isaiah 53:12).  One mocked Him, but the other said, “‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise’” (Luke 23:39-43). While suffering the most cruel, unfair, unjust, and painful death a human body could endure, Jesus chose to respond in grace to the criminal beside Him teaching us there is always hope in His forgiveness – right up to the point of death.

Even in His disgrace He cared for His mother and best friend. (John 19:25-27).

Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Isaiah 53:6). He accepted the drink he refused before, fulfilling another prophesy (Psalm 69:21)  And then He died.

Jesus was taken down from the cross, wrapped in linens, and placed in a tomb, fulfilling prophesy again even in death. (Isaiah 53:9)

This is what He did for us. To satisfy the wrath of God against sin. To close the separation between us and our God. To make peace between us and God by His blood.

HOLY WEEK -THURSDAY

April 1st, 2020 Leave a comment

Holy week – Thursday – The Commandment

Mark 14:12-72 (read this for yourself and compare with the other gospel accounts)

On Holy, or Maundy Thursday, in an upper room, Jesus and His disciples shared the Last Supper. We notice how, like the donkey, everything was supernaturally prepared ahead of time and the disciples always found things the way Jesus said they would be.

On this day, Jesus washed the feet of His disciples. And, He broke bread with them for the last time. It’s still observed and partaken today as an ordinance for believers. The bread broken and the wine shared represented, then and now, the body and blood of Christ, broken and shed for them, and for all of us.

During the meal, Jesus predicted His betrayal by Judas, and Peter’s denial.

After the meal, the disciples accompanied Jesus to the Garden at Gethsemane. He warned that they would flee from Him soon, fulfilling prophesy (Zechariah 13:7).

In the garden, Jesus prayed in agony for Himself, for His disciples, and for us             (John 17:1-26).

He prayed in such agony that an angel came to strengthen Jesus in the garden as the sweat fell from His face as drops of blood (Luke 22:42-44).

There, in that moment, He taught His disciples, and us, what to do when we come to the end of our own strength and need The Father to help us press on.

Jesus is betrayed by Judas, just as He said – with a kiss (foretold in Proverbs 27:6). Jesus is arrested and led away to a secret, joke of a trial by the Sanhedrin in the middle of the night, and He is condemned. Peter weeps as he denies his all knowing knowing Master, just as He said. (“before the cock crows twice…”)

“Just as He said” has been a common thread throughout Holy week so far. But starting now, it becomes a theme.

The word “maundy” comes from the Latin root madam, and means “commandment” or “mandate.”

On that Thursday Jesus gave His disciples a new commandment (maundy) The word in this context is used by Jesus after He washes the feet of His friends. “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another: just as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”

Can you imagine that God-in-the flesh, would humble Himself to wash a man’s feet – one who would deny and betray Him – before intentionally giving His life to save him? That’s exactly what is happening. And He did it for you.

“What manner of love is this that He has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God?”- 1John3.1

Are you starting to see why LOVE is the greatest commandment? Can you see How important LOVE is to God? Can we see why the world, and OUR flesh-our EARTHLY MINDS, our wisdom can not understand this kind of love?

Can that kind of love be seen in our lives as believers?

Can the world see that we, as believers, are at least trying to use this standard of love?