oasisCHURCH

Church on Christmas Day?

This article is likely to offend someone. How’s that for a hook?

Before anyone asks the question I will answer it. “Yes, there will be an Oasis worship gathering on Sunday, December 25—Christmas Day” (additionally, there will also be a worship gathering on New Year’s Day the following Sunday). The sign in the photo is a fake. It's merely a way to display and introduce the irony in this topic.

However, there has been an abundance of discussion, debate, criticism, etc. all over the country about churches who are canceling services on Christmas Day and whether or not it is right or wrong, etc. I am not sure I would go as far as to say it is “right” or “wrong”. I don’t think it’s a “right” and “wrong” issue. But I do think it is important for us to consider a few questions in context of Christmas Day falling on Sunday. Ponder questions such as: 

1. What do I truly cherish most about Christmas?
2. Why do I truly celebrate Christmas?
3. Who do I believe the Christmas holiday is most for? Family? Jesus? Both?
4. Which family is Christmas mostly about? My birth family? Or my re-birth family?

Much is communicated every year about Christmas in regards to what the “reason for the season” is. Some shout aloud about “putting Christ back in Christmas,” while others bemoan the fact that retail stores are “pushing Christmas out” by replacing the term "Merry Christmas" with "Happy Holidays" in their ads. Still others grumble about the increasing "secularization" of Christmas as they seek to remind us that, "Jesus is the reason for the season!" Everywhere you look, there seems to be some complaint about Christmas and how it's to be celebrated. And (don’t miss this) religious people are the ones who scream the loudest.

Yet, it is these same people who are concerned about this year’s Christmas Day because it happens to fall on a Sunday. How inconvenient.

Do you see the rub?

Ed Stetzer from Lifeway research says, “According to a December 2010 LifeWay Research report, 74 percent of Americans agree (strongly or somewhat) that ‘Christmas is primarily a day for religious celebration and observance,’ yet 67 percent of all Americans also agree that, ‘Many of the things I enjoy during the Christmas season have nothing to do with the birth of Jesus Christ.’”

Aha! There’s the rub.

If the most enjoying, precious, treasured aspect of Christmas were truly the celebrating of the fact that Jesus Christ has broken into this world by leaving heaven and being born into humanity in order to save us from our depravity and sin, then rather than bemoan the fact that Christmas Day is on Sunday we would long for Christmas Day to be on Sunday; or at least we might expect that the family Jesus came for—his family—would gather on that much anticipated day and celebrate His coming and His presence in our lives.

Perhaps what the “religious people” are saying during the holiday Christmas season is somewhat true. Competing forces are encroaching on the meaning of Christmas. The holiday is taking on other meanings, other significances. Certainly the retail marketers hope so. The multiple meanings of Christmas are compatible and uncontested as long as they don’t meet head to head. BUT when they coincide on a Sunday, it spells disaster for the Christian significance of the day.

In which case we should probably admit the truth about Christmas and why and how we celebrate it. The celebration of Jesus’ birth in a church gathering on the day of the holiday is less important than the commercial importance of giving and receiving gifts. Celebrating communion with our “blood of Christ” family is less vital than rekindling our nuclear family connections around a table loaded with food. Worshipping the one for whom the holiday is named is less essential than filling the day watching parades and football games on TV and tearing open needless gifts and gadgets.

Maybe there is some truth in familiar holiday songs that there is no place like home for the holiday and the idea that Christmas is primarily for the family.

How does a celebration of Jesus’ birth compete with these ideas? Apparently, from my quick research this week, it doesn’t fare well at all for a significant percentage of Christians—at least in the Protestant church. Interestingly, among our Catholic brothers and sisters, attending a worship service on Christmas Day is nothing new. In fact, they do this every year regardless of what day of the week the holiday falls on. For as much grief as Protestant Christians have given to Catholicism over the years, when it comes to Christmas Day I can’t help but think they’ve had it right all along.

I began this article by suggesting that it would likely offend someone. It certainly was not my intention to offend. But hopefully you have been challenged to take some time in the next few weeks to contemplate the four questions that were asked in one of the earlier paragraphs. If Christmas Day is not really about the worship of Jesus, then we Christians probably shouldn’t be so adamant about insisting that the world recognize Jesus in Christmas. Or, when it comes to Christmas, are we merely proclaiming with words something that we do not actually intend to practice with deeds? Are we proclaiming one thing while actually practicing another?

“Jesus is the reason for the season! Keep Christ in Christmas!”

Are we sure?

If the primary “reason” for the season that the world SEES us celebrating (not HEARS us celebrating, but sees us celebrating) is our nuclear family, parties, gift-exchanging, decorating, eating, etc… then the proclamations in the above statements are quite frankly not true. In fact they are hypocrisy—meaning, we shouldn’t make such statements if we know it would be an inconvenience for us to have to practice what we preach.

To make a more true statement we would have to say, “Jesus is part of the reason for the season,” and “Add Christ to all the other things we love about Christmas.”

Pause for a moment this year and reflect on all of your various Christmastime rituals. Then ask yourself, what is MOST meaningful to me about all of it? The answer to that question is your own personal true “reason for the season.”

Oasis will have two Christmas weekend celebrations. One will be on Christmas Eve from 5:00pm-6:00pm. The second will be on Christmas Day from 10:00am-11:30am.

Merry Christmas!

 

The Living Room 2???

Last night's house church meeting reminded me of this:

Back in November of 2005 we were having such a great time worshiping God together in song, and we were having many new songs written by Oasis people, so we decided to record a worship gathering live at one of our house church meetings. It started out as a simple acoustic plan, but we ended up adding drums and bass, and it came out pretty nice for an off-the-cuff effort. Here's a sample: Trading My Sorrows.

Back to last night. About 45 minutes of our time was spent invested in worship in songs of praise to Christ the King. Such an experience is evidence, in my opinion, that the church body is truly "getting it" in our study of Revelation. Revelation is not an intellectual book to be debated, but an artistic book to be experienced. Likewise, Christianity is not a philosophy to be argued and fully comprehended intellectually. It is a love song to be sung. Of course, this love song is rooted in truth and understanding. But it also must be felt and passionately responded to. The book of Revelation is filled with songs. People often wonder why the church sings songs all the time. Why is music such a large part of church gatherings? We can easily find our answer in the pages of Revelation. If God created humans as worshipers, then that is what we do. That means Christianity is about worship. How is worship most often done? In our Bibles we see that a great majority of the time when worship occurs it is accompanied with singing, playing instruments, bowing down, kneeling, lying prostrate on the ground, raising hands, dancing, shouting, clapping, and loud choruses of song after song after song! God LOVES music. And we are created in the image of Him. We love music because we are image-bearers of God.

God could have chosen anything He wanted to be the primary tool used as means to worship Him, and He chose songs, music, instruments, singing. Yes, there are many ways we worship Him as living sacrifices. But there is no arguing that the primary means surrounding the throne of God as we glimpse into heaven is song and music and loud choruses of praise made by all the created beings.

What does this mean to me? What should this mean to our church? It means that we have been given the privilege of participating in something here and now that occurs constantly in heaven. Concerts, light shows, sound systems, amazing guitar riffs, soothing vocal harmonies, all of those aesthetics combine to draw us closer to the throne of God. Why? My guess is because that is where those things originate. That is what currently, and eternally, surrounds the throne of God.

I could hear and see last night that we are all starting to learn this fact. And we are learning it with more than our minds. God is doing something in our hearts. And He is moving our bodies to respond.

Is it time for a Living Room 2?

Good Friday Letter to Church

The following is a letter I emailed to the Oasis community last Friday.

Dear friends,

Today is a day of paradoxes. It is a gloomy, yet glorious day. It is a sad, yet joyous day. It is a frightening, yet comforting day. It is a day of great loss, yet a day of eternal gain. It is a day of death, yet it is a day of life. How can this all be? How can a cross of execution—used in the 1st century as a symbol of control, fear, and ultimate punishment—be something that today we wear around our necks with great joy, hang them in our homes and in church buildings to show dedication and love, and include them in our song lyrics to give adoration to God? How can such a symbol mean so much?

Because there is no gospel without the cross. We love Christmas, but the birth of Christ is no gospel. The life of Christ is no gospel. We also love Easter, but even the resurrection—important as it is in the total scheme of things—is no gospel by itself. The Good News is not just that God became man, nor that God has revealed a proper way of life for us, or even that death, the great enemy, is conquered. Rather, the Good News is that sin has been dealt with (of which the resurrection is a proof—so the two events do go hand-in-hand); that Jesus has suffered sin’s penalty for us as our representative, so that we might never have to suffer it; and that therefore all who believe in him can look forward to heaven.

This morning I sat at the breakfast table with my 7-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son, and I asked them if they understood what this day, Good Friday, symbolizes for us. They knew that Good Friday was the day that we remember Jesus’ death on the cross, and they were quick to point out that he rose again on the third day, which is why we go to church on Sunday. You might say that’s a good, basic understanding of things. And I am sure my kids have that understanding because they are growing up in a Christian home, with a Christian family and even Christian extended family. But, as my children continue to grow older and gain more understanding in this life, the most important thing I can teach them is that, even though they are being raised in a Christian family and are learning to lead a moral life, they are sinners who desperately need the substitutionary death of Christ to be forgiven by God.

So not only do I need to teach them the basics of “what happened.” I need to teach them the gospel, every day. I need to tell them that they are sinners, just like their mom and dad, and that sin is a serious problem. Sure, I will need to put it into words that their young minds can understand, but I should not ignore or minimize the seriousness of sin. Through their actions and attitudes they have rebelled against their Maker. And this great God is perfectly holy and must respond with fierce opposition to sin. He must punish it.

Some of you reading this right now might find it surprising that I would teach a 7-year-old and 9-year-old about God’s wrath toward sin. But I would contend that I find it surprising that any loving person would withhold this truth from another person they love. Because only when we understand God’s wrath toward sin can we realize that we need to be saved from it. What makes Good News “good news”? Usually good news comes when we are smack-dab in the middle of some serious bad news. You don’t know good news until you know bad news. That is why so many people in our world, who have lived moral lives and are thus considered “good people” by culture’s standards, do not recognize their need for Good News. If we don’t know of any bad news, then why do we need good news?

So, this is the message I want to teach my son and daughter as the hope of their life: Jesus, God’s perfect, righteous Son, died in their place for their sins. Jesus took all the punishment; Jesus received all the wrath as he hung on the cross, so people like Brock and Kaylee and their sinful mommy and daddy could be completely forgiven.

Do you know the gospel? Do you know that the cross is the center of your life in Christ? Can you explain that to someone else? Is your life cross-centered? I want to give you something to contemplate on this Good Friday. The symptoms that arise from not being a cross-centered person are actually quite easy to spot. Do any of these describe you?

• You often lack joy.
• You’re not consistently growing in spiritual maturity.
• Your love for God lacks passion.
• You’re always looking for some new technique, some “new truth” or new experience that will deepen your faith or pull all the pieces of your faith together.

If you can relate to any of these symptoms, then take some time today to re-focus your life on what really matters. It’s never too late for you to reestablish the obvious truth of the cross as the most important truth in your life. The message that Paul had for Timothy is the same message he has for you. You need to rediscover the truth that first saved you. The key to joy, to growth, to passion, isn’t hiding from you. It’s right in front of you. In fact, He actively seeks and passionately pursues after you with this message. The gospel.

If you have been reading these emails and posts this week and you sense that Jesus is speaking to your heart through the Holy Spirit, we encourage you to respond to the revealed Christ and give your worship to him. Some of you who have read these emails this week have become very committed to the fellowship of Oasis, and you know that God is calling you to partner in ministry with Oasis Meigs. But undoubtedly there is a number of you who are reading this right now and you know you have distanced yourself from the church in general, and thus you recognize a greater distance growing between you and Jesus.

Friends, we cannot exist alone. Your relationship with Jesus Christ is more than just a personal, private, autonomous relationship. You have been created by the Creator to, first and foremost, glorify and give worship to Him. Yes, you can and should do that on your own and in private times. But the worship we so often see demonstrated in the Scriptures is a corporate, community act. The encouragement that the early believers received in the Bible was through public gatherings of preaching and teaching. And one of the most common ways God’s people have been strengthened, comforted, and encouraged has been through the fellowship of the gathered church.

If you are thinking to yourself, Man, it sounds like he is trying to get me to come and join the church, you are exactly right. I care enough about you to exhort you in this vitally important aspect of your relationship with Jesus. Don’t try to do it on your own. One of the things worship requires is humility. It takes a humble person to admit need. We need one another. We need to be together, living out our salvation in a community of grace, love, and truth.

I hope you had a great Resurrection Weekend.

Death & Heaven

"Into Your hands I commit my spirit!"

It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. (Luke 23:44-46, ESV)

After Jesus had willingly endured horrific pain, humiliation, and suffering to overcome sin, to conquer death and darkness, he once again willing committed one more act.  He committed his spirit into the Father’s hands and then he died.  This is the part of the story that usually makes everyone cry in sadness, but in reality this is where true peace begins for human kind. During the entire process of conquering death and sin, Jesus was acting on our behalf.  Jesus didn’t need saved—we did.  Jesus was our replacement, our sacrificial lamb. He took the punishment we deserved and he was victorious over sin when we could not have been.  He became our representative in order to save us.  When Jesus offered his spirit into God’s hands he was also offering our spirit—the very thing that he had just defeated death to rescue.

During Jesus’ life on earth he was an example to all of us.  He showed us and taught us about how to love each other, how to worship, how to teach others and how to lead others. In these last words he once again was and example and teacher, only this time he taught us about death and eternal life. It is often very scary to think of death and hell, but as a believer we have the eternal confidence that we will eternally, now and forever, be “in the Father’s hands.” After fighting a hard battle and winning Jesus found rest and peace in the Father’s hands, once again teaching us by his example.

[Devotional thought written by April Stewart]

The Will & Plan of God

"It is finished."

A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (John 19:29-30, ESV)

The final cry of Jesus on the cross, “Tetelestai (it is finished),” is not a cry of defeat.  It is a resounding proclamation of victory.  The scene of the cross, while violent and grisly, stands out as a deeply impacting portrait of God’s sovereignty.  We often make the mistake of looking at the cross and considering only how it impacts us.  In doing so some people tend to think that the crucifixion is entirely about us above all things.  Such is not the case.  Consider the opening words Jesus’ final prayer in John 17, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you…”  The cross is not about us.  Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying.  The necessity of the cross cannot possibly be overstated, for the reconciliation of our sinfulness through the imputed righteousness of those whom God has chosen for adoption in Christ is inexorably tied to the actions of the cross.  (Romans 8:15-17)  So yes it is true that our salvation is tied to the manifested grace of Christ which flows from the cross, but there is a higher definition beyond “us” and how the cross benefits “us”.  The cross, above all things, is about the glorification of God.  It is about the righteousness of God.  It is about the holiness of God.  It is all about God’s plan.  It is all about God’s will.  If not, Jesus would not have said, “…glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.” 

God’s will is firm, fixed, immutable, changeless, inalterable, inevitable, irreversible, permanent, resolute, steadfast, strong, and unmodifiable.  God’s plan is certain, definite, ironclad, settled, clear, distinct, indisputable, undeniable, unequivocal and unquestionable.  The cross was decided before time.  God was always going to prevail.  God has always prevailed and God will always continue to prevail.  There is nothing anywhere in the universe that stands as equal and opposite to our great God.  The cross echoes out this message across the centuries and all over God’s creation. 

Let your mind be fixed, today and everyday, on the absolute and unchangeable nature of God’s enduring plan.  There is nothing above God’s plan or God’s will.  He ruled before time, He rules now in all time, and He will continue to rule when time is but a distant and insignificant memory.  TETELESTAI!!!  This is one of the most glorious words of our age.  “It is finished”… “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit”… “Glorify the Son that the Son may glorify You”…

The moral of the story:  God triumphs and is glorified forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever………………………….

[Devotional thought written by Chad Dodson]

Evangelism & Fulfillment

"I am thirsty."

After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” (John 19:28, ESV)

If one or both of your parents asked you to endure awful and excruciating pain, maybe not ones that would end in death, but almost, would you do it? Pain such as walking over burning coals, walking in extreme heat carrying a huge amount of weight, lying on a bed of nails, stabbing a huge knife into your leg, etc., would you? Would you do it if there was some incentive at the end of these painful trials, such as, a brand new car, a lot of money, etc? Or would you do it simply because your parents asked you to, sincerely out of respect for them? Or what if it involved making a difference in other people's lives? I would honestly have to say, I probably wouldn't. The above painful scenarios to us seem to be the most excruciating pain one could endure, but it's nothing compared to what Jesus endured.

Jesus knew all along that God asked Him to fulfill His will, which involved severe pain, suffering, and DEATH. God had this planned long before Jesus had even set foot on this earth. Take a look in the book of Isaiah:

Isaiah 53:5 says, " But he was wounded for our trangressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed."

Isaiah 53:10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." (ESV)

You may be thinking, well, Jesus knew He'd be saving everyone from their sins, that was the ultimate end result. And Jesus is Jesus, come on. We can’t compare ourselves to Jesus, He is God's Son. But the truth is, in a small way, we can. Yes, Jesus fulfilled God's will, and yes He knew the end result was saving us and showing us what unconditional love really is, but He was also real. At the end of accomplishing God's will, He asked for a drink, because He was thirsty. John 19:28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, "I am thirsty." (NASB)

It wasnt until this moment that he said anything that alluded to Him asking for any help or complaining about this journey He had taken. He endured it all, fulfilled it all, did everything God asked of Him, and now He was thirsty, He was done.

Jesus was a testament to us that out of love to His Father and His love for us, He was willing to do anything, pain, torture, humiliation, even death.

Are we willing to live our life the way God wants so that others will know the love Christ has for us? We even know the final result, Heaven! Can we live each day fulfilling God's will even if it costs us pain and trials? The next question is, are we? If not, others will never be able to experience the true unconditional love of Christ.

[Devotional thought written by Jacynda Lynch]

Substitutionary Atonement

"My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?"

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  (Matthew 27:46, ESV)

Sin was a major problem. It is still a problem, but now in time and space it is a problem with a solution. God decided that in our inability to make things right between humankind and Himself, He would take away the penalty and potency of Sin. Humankind's self-rule/self-worship had a penalty which was death (Gen 3:19, Rom 6:23). Blood was needed to satisfy the penalty of our Sin to bring reconciliation, to bridge the gap. Jesus was a sacrifice for sin, not unlike of the blood sacrifices of that which are reported in the Old Testament (See Leviticus). God has always been bailing us out of our self-love, our self-obsession to self-rule and self-worship ourselves.

The active ingredient of the phrase "substitution atonement" is grace. It is a bit simplistic, but God has never accepted anything that we have made with our bloody, sin-stained hands to offer to God that wasn't already His.

God had allowed His people, His imperfect people to sacrifice the blood of animals for their sin. Yeah, his people would slit the throat of the best of his herd and offer it to God an offering for atonement for his or her sin, but it was God's lamb. It was God's cattle--His creation. Innocent blood not tainted by man's curse that was needed to make things right for a while. Yet, no animal's blood could completely cure God's desire for justice for sin's heartache. God's Justice is the judgment of sin for man like the sentencing of a man convicted for murder of an innocent. Crime deserves punishment.

God did in human form the deed that settled the score for all time. Looking back to the past, the here-and-now present and the future going forward: God supernaturally claimed the Sin of ALL-TIME when he died so that we could have life.

The Scriptures confirm it. 2 Cor 5:21 says, "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

Isaiah 53:6 says, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way;and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all."

God chose to do this voluntarily and purposefully destroyed the power of sin over humankind to bring them in fellowship with Himself; All this to, in effect, win us over.

Literally, God's action and good news is explained in full in Colossians 1:13 by Paul: He (God) has delivered us (by His own power and will because we aren't ABLE) from the domain of darkness (He has taken us from self-rule and self-governance which leads to death) and transferred us (and God has mortgaged Himself as the blood sacrifice) to the kingdom of his beloved Son (from the realm of death to the realm of life. Jesus is the vehicle through which God gives us real life.)

We are often numb to images of Jesus physical death on the cross in this image-driven generation. This week, look briefly at the physical torment and horror and solemnity of humankind's mistake in wrongfully murdering the God of the universe and then focus straight on to the supernatural act of God to intentionally adopt us as family no matter the cost of sin for all mankind. How much of a price was His death? Physically, it was horrible and excruciating. The truth is, we'll never know how much it hurt to take on the entirety of blackness taint and sickness of sin that Christ, God of the universe in human form had yet to ever experience until death was upon his earthly body

Remember Jesus' words in John 19:30, "It is finished" and may it bless you this week.

[Devotional thought written by Josh Lynch]

The Blessed Mother & Son

(To his mother Jesus said) "Dear woman, here is your son," (and to John the disciple he said) "Here is your mother."

...standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.  (John 19:25-27, ESV)

One can only imagine the deep grief Mary the mother of Jesus, and John, the beloved were experiencing at the cross.  After all, it isn’t ordinary for a mother to witness the death of a child.  Neither is it ordinary to witness the execution of your best friend.  But then Mary was no ordinary mother. Luke 1:26-38 gives the account of the Virgin Mary being chosen to carry and give birth to God’s only Son, Jesus.  The NIV calls her “highly favored” (vs.28).  Young, engaged, scared, and confused, Mary answered the Lord’s call saying, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Verse 38 ESV)  Later in the chapter Elizabeth says to Mary in a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” (Verse 42)

Likewise, John was no ordinary friend.  In the Bible we are given numerous accounts of John being present with Jesus including His transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-3); the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-46); and reclining at His breast during the last supper, where John was referred to as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. (John 13:23-25 NIV).   It is no wonder that John was present that day, and it is no wonder Jesus entrusted him to care for His mother. But most remarkably of all, it is no wonder that Jesus would consider the care of His blessed mother in His final hours.

Our prayer today is that the loving bond Jesus had with His mother and friend will be a model for us as well.

[Devotional thought written by Mike & Sharon Stewart]

Pardon & Paradise

“Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:39-43, ESV)

As we read in our Bible, there were two criminals who hung there beside Jesus, one on each side. One of them mocked him and hurled insults at him (refusing to believe). The other, knowing that he deserved the punishment that he was getting, felt the overwhelming power of saving grace (He believed).

In Luke 23:42 he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom." And then in Luke 23:43 Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."

This should encourage all who hear about Jesus and his sacrifice not to put off their decision to believe and accept Jesus as savior, until the last hour. In Luke 12:40, Jesus says: You also must be ready, (for his second coming), because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. (Hanging there on the cross was most likely the first time the thief had the opportunity of knowing anything about Christ.)

At the time you believe, accept, and repent, you are filled with the Holy Spirit to guide you here and now, and the promise of being with Him in paradise forever.

[Devotional thought written by Bill Lawless]

Forgiveness

"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” (Luke 23:33-38, ESV)

Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Forgiveness does not mean ignoring what has been done or putting a false label on an evil act. It means, rather, that the evil act no longer remains as a barrier to the relationship."

Jesus' first recorded words from the cross were words that he had been speaking since the first days of his earthly ministry. He taught forgiveness in the Lord's prayer: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us" (Matthew 6:12). When asked by Peter, how many times should we forgive someone, Jesus answered seventy times seven (Matthew 18:21-22). At the Last Supper, Jesus explained his crucifixion to his Apostles when he told them to drink of the cup: "Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:27-28).

In this word from the cross we come face-to-face with man's greatest and primary need. The first and most important lesson any person must learn is that we are all sinners, and as such, not fit for the presence of a Holy God. Everyone has their own ideas for how to do what is right. We all make resolutions, and adopt rules to live by. In our own way we humans try our best to deal with the "sin problem". But our attempts to develop good character and our efforts to please God while there is still sin between Him and us are nothing but vain efforts. What good is a treadmill to us if our legs are paralyzed? What use are glasses if we are blind?

The question of the forgiveness of my sins is the basic, fundamental, vital question of all of life. It does not matter one bit that I am highly respected, famous, prominent, or loved by a wide circle of friends if I am still dead in my sins. It does not matter one bit that I have developed success in business or career if I remain an unforgiven trespasser in the sight of God. What will matter most in the hour of death is, Have my sins been forgiven by the blood of Christ?

[Devotional thought written by Chris Stewart]