When we speak of the God that we serve, there is a plan, an order of things and all of it is structured to bring glory to our God, the Father Almighty. Pentecost is a major Christian festival and it’s normally celebrated 50 days after Easter. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and followers of Jesus in Jerusalem. When we speak of plans and structure, I guess we need to make the note that being a movable feast this year in 2026 western Christians will celebrate  on May 24, while eastern orthodox Christians celebrate on May 31. Don’t know if that means a whole lot but it’s just a little something I threw in. There are some details about Pentecost that we will be looking at for these next two blogs. It commemorates the fulfillment of Jesus’s promise to send the Holy Spirit as a helper and guide and that’s described to us in Acts 2:1–31. One of the things that is associated with that period of time involves a sound like rushing wind, and there were tongues of fire resting on the believers which enabled them to speak in different languages. Now the name comes from a Greek word meaning 50th and it was originally rooted in the Jewish festival of Shavuot, familiar to us as the feast of weeks, which occurred 50 days after the Passover. It has other names sometimes it’s referred to as Whitsunday or White Sunday in the UK and Ireland, to avoid any undo excitement I will explain that white garments worn by those baptized on this day and is the reason that it is referred to by the above names. Red is the liturgical color which symbolizes the Holy Spirit.

There are three aspects that I would like to share with you concerning this very special day. Pentecost brings to us three values that are very important to our Christian health. 

-It brings to us the ability to have a spirit empowered life, which simply means the spirit provides us with the supernatural ability to accomplish spiritual tasks that exceed our human limitations. But it does require a surrender. It requires active daily yielding to the spirits leading, not just occasional recognition. It enables us to move past our human frustration to divine victory. Therefore empowering us with the courage to face spiritual battles, and to be effective witnesses to Jesus. To do so we must pursue actively seeking the Holy Spirit in studying the word so that we as believers come to understand the identity we have in Christ and it changes our mindset to align with God’s word rather than worldly thinking. It is essential part of our transformation.

-Pentecost Marks the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, Mary, and other followers in Jerusalem, fulfilling Jesus’s promise. Pentecost also was a biblical fulfillment. It fulfills the prophecy in Joel 2:28–31 and it also fills Jesus’s promise of an advocate which we read about in John 14:16–17. The strength of this empowerment was total, he transformed the disciples from fear to boldness, enabling them to preach the gospel.

-it has come to be designated “the birth of the church.” The Holy Spirit descended on them, empowering them to spread Jesus’s message. It is indeed the transition from Jesus’s earthly ministry to the public ministry mission of the church and was marked by unity, preaching, and the fellowship of believers. The believers had gathered filled with the Holy Spirit and that resulted in speaking in different languages and the start of a widespread evangelism. We must remember that Pentecost was not just the beginning, but was the moment the church was empowered to take the message of reconciliation to the world. And this early church devoted itself to the apostles, teaching, fellowship, breaking the bread and prayer. There’s a visual structure, founded by Jesus who established the 12 apostles with Peter as a leader, preparing the foundation for this moment it was this moment in that room on that day that an event took place that profoundly impacted the history of the world.

Hope to see you here in “The Pew” next week…for a special Pentecost post.

Life is Good

jk

Proverbs 14…consider that Proverbs 14:15–16 gives us a biblical mandate precaution. It is simply saying that while the naïve believe everything, the sensible person considers their steps and turns away from evil.

15 

The simple believe anything,
but the prudent give thought to their steps.

16 

The wise fear the Lord and shun evil,
but a fool is hotheaded and yet feels secure.

When we read Matthew 10:16, it is encouraging us to stay alert to physical danger to protect oneself and others, while also discerning, spiritual, cultural, relational circumstances, to act in accordance with God’s will and purpose. Situational Awareness is much larger than just an individual piece of advice and it should also apply to churches and their congregations and into our faith overall. Now more than ever the church, the faith, and the people of the way, the good way need to have that awareness. Some of the research that I’ve done suggest it maybe we should look at it from the standpoint of spiritual vigilance. 1 Peter 5:8-9 

8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. It requires believers to be vigilant against spiritual attacks. Reading Ephesians 5:15–16 the instructions that we walk carefully and it’s not just about our physical safety but making the most of time and opportunities in a broken world. Think about how long ago Paul wrote that and we’re still living in a broken world. There are other things to be considered and one of the most difficult is for us to be able to recognize God’s hand in a situation. True awareness includes discerning what God is doing in a given situation and then cooperating with his timing. There are a lot of adjectives that we can use to to describe a very common reaction for many of us have our heads in the sand. One of the hardest things to get by is denial. The biggest obstacle to awareness is denying that there are potential threats and to believe a dangerous situation isn’t actually dangerous, but to be fair, we must admit that sometimes the media helps us along with engaging  in fearful scenarios, and all it really accomplishes is making people scared of something they don’t completely understand. So it is very good practical advice to actively observe those things that are around us, being aware of what’s going on not being oblivious to a problem or panicked by it. Sometimes when I get into the subjects and I start researching a little bit there are some biblical things that come to mind that helped me deal with situations around me. I prefer to think about the good things and not dwell on those things which tear down the human spirit or leave us fearful and uncertain about our future. Being attentive, can also apply to communities and churches of being able to identify hazards and things that we might share with each other to make our days, all our days a little bit better. So the conclusion to all of this…situational awareness in a Christian context should not be driven by fear, but by a desire to live and enjoy our lives as God desires us to do and be effective in God’s service, using discernment or nice other way of putting it, good judgment to navigate physical risk and spiritual realities alike.

 Some of the key aspects of awareness encourages us to examine our own heart and faith. We read about that in 2 Corinthians 13:5, we are encouraged to avoid pride and recognize the need for repentance. Now this involves knowing our true standing in relationship to God and our dependence on him rather than focusing on self-centered consciousness, he calls for a spiritual awareness. They kinda asked us to wake up from our slumber and recognize the reality of the spiritual kingdom. We must understand the all struggles aren’t merely physical. The two scriptures that apply would be Ephesians 6:12 and Romans 13:11 and by reading scripture believers are made aware of and encouraged to be alert to traps that the enemy sets for us, the temptations of the world and the uncertainty of the time that we live in today, just as then.1Corinthians 16:13, 1 Peter 5:8. It is important that we encourage fellowship and spending time with others particularly with those of the faith, but we have to have the awareness that develops a conscious, loving awareness of others which will result in compassion and the ability to serve just as Jesus demonstrated in John 4:35.

Thank you for joining us in the Pew here today pray it will result with the understanding of the biblical awareness that is designed to move us to repentance, deeper love for God and encourage better relationships with other people.

Life is Good

jk

It has been said, and it has been written, those that ignore history will fail. Shortly before Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon invaded Judea and Jerusalem, God told Jeremiah that judgment was coming, and that it was certain, it was as a matter of fact, unavoidable. The Pew has been involved in the past few blogs, examining, looking at and trying to understand the good way. God never abandons his people although we must understand that while the God we serve is one of mercy and grace he is also one of judgment. The people refused to listen to Jeremiah, they had abandoned the good way, so God told Jeremiah to tell the people this.    

Jeremiah 6

16 This is what the Lord says:

“Stand at the crossroads and look;
    ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
    and you will find rest for your souls.
    But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

Biblical history tells us they did not heed the word of God and that eventually brought God’s judgment against them. To keep it simple and to provide some continuity to this blog, they simply left the good way. It can be said with some reasonable accuracy that the Bible is consistent in its continuity and its purpose but it seems that there’s always somebody that’s trying to find inconsistencies in the scripture as it’s written. One of the pillars you might say of consistency would be the fact that God has always provided a way. We just seem to every now and then get off the path or as we like to say today, leave the good way. Scriptures about the good way emphasize walking in God’s righteousness, knowing of his justice and kindness a lot of times it’s described as a path of truth and peace. There are key verses which encourages choosing a moral path like Jeremiah 6:16 or practicing kindness and faithfulness proverbs 3:3 and walking in the good way of good people proverbs 2:20.

For the Hebrew people there is a prayer which was known as the Shema, this Hebrew word means to hear and it’s probably the most important prayer in Judaism. And you can find it and Deuteronomy 6:4-9.  It is worth including here for you to be able to receive the full impact of what it said to them.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

This was indeed the map for the Hebrew Good Way. When we did our research on this particular Hebrew prayer we found that one of our favorite go to sites gotquestions.org. Had a very brief but ideal and concise description of that prayer. So I’m going to share some of those points that they made with you today. This prayer was so influential that Jesus used it as the beginning of his answer to the greatest commandment question which you can read in mark 12:28–30. Jesus acknowledges that the Lord God is the most important fact and that complete devotion to him is the most important of the Commandments. I would like to note at this point that in Deuteronomy 11:13 through 29 and in numbers 15:37 through 41, that these three other two parts were added later to cover all aspects of the 10 Commandments and are part of the full Shema prayer. The prayer simply instructs us to acknowledge his Lordship. Now fast forward to today and where we stand in the world situations that we face and sometimes it’s very easy to get very, very discouraged. Just as our Hebrew brothers did in their day. We, the Christians of this day also have a good way. It’s important that you remember as I wrote earlier there is continuity in the Bible. It’s not a new story every chapter or every book or anything like that. It’s a record of God in our lives and of the plan he has for all of us and just as the Hebrews had their good way so do we in our day and time. But our good way is to study, to read, to love, to care to take upon ourselves and within ourselves as much of the spirit as we possibly can through prayer and study. We have been called out to serve him, to become Christ like in the way we live. So I’m going to give you a short list of some scriptures that I found that you can lean on and turn to. There’s been so many we are so fortunate that the God we serve and His Son, whom He sent to be among us as God incarnate and lived among us that he might sacrifice himself for our sins has left us these words from the prophets and the apostles to study to read and to learn from. Here’s just a few.

Key Scriptures on the Good Way

• Jeremiah 6:16 (ESV): “Thus says the Lord: ‘Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.'”
• Psalm 143:10 (NIV): “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”
• Proverbs 2:20 (NKJV): “So you may walk in the way of goodness, and keep to the paths of righteousness.”
• Psalm 23:3 (ESV): “He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”
• 1 Thessalonians 5:15 (ESV): “See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.”
• Galatians 6:9 (ESV): “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
• Matthew 5:16 (NIV): “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

God bless you and keep you on the Good Way.

Life is Good

jk

Deuteronomy 6:4-9…

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (NLT)

We have written in the past that there will always be some rough spots in the road to the Good Way. With that in mind this week we’re going to look at a few things that will help us in our journey when we encounter some difficult times. We will take a look at some of the components that will make our journey a little easier. Gospel Knowledge, Gospel Logic, and that refers to a part of our study regimen that is very difficult for many of us… that is the theological framework of Christian salvation. Our opening scripture above begins with the word  “hear” the Jewish word would be Shema and it begins the most important prayer in Judaism buy most accounts. Like all the roads, we will travel in this life there will always be certain landmarks or signs that keep us on the right path going in the right direction. So one of the first signs that you will find necessary traveling on this road is Gospel Knowledge which is the understanding of Jesus Christ death and resurrection. We’ll find much of that anchored in the biblical narrative of creation, human rebellion, and redemption. This type of understanding can only be achieved by having a deeper, intimate relationship with God and we do that through spiritual study and prayer. We will increase our gospel knowledge by reading the Bible regularly, which is an essential for increasing our knowledge, attending Bible studies, Sunday school, listening to sermons, all of this helps to deepen our understanding, and we must have a reachable, teachable and submissive spirit. It is not our goal to simply gain knowledge, it is our goal to become more Christlike in our behavior and thoughts. We must have a spiritual growth that enhances our spiritual maturity. While it may be a bit hard for us to understand, the truth is, repeated instruction of the core truth of the gospel is frequently repeated in scripture. Our knowledge needs to be balanced with all scripture passages interpreted in the context of the whole, we must remember that the Lord’s teachings are consistent and consistency is crucial for building a solid foundation of knowledge. Again, while it may be a bit hard for us to understand, growing in knowledge is a process that involves a lifelong pattern of learning and applying those things which we have studied and learned, and sometimes they will take us beyond our comfort zones.

Gospel Logic… I struggled with this one simply because the Pew likes to keep things simple  and one of the more common explanations that you run across is that it refers to the theological framework of Christian salvation. To me the short form is best expressed by simply putting together scripture themes like faith repentance and baptism in an effort to try and understand God’s plan. God has a plan. It is a rational, biblically grounded, worldview that were seeking in order to understand the logic of God’s plan. The simplest way that I can probably sum it up would be to say that it’s simply a way of reasoning that assumes the Bible is the foundation for understanding reality. Thank you for being with us this week in the Pew and please come back next week and join us as we continue our journey on the Good Way. 

Life is Good

jk

We continue our trip to the Good Way by going back to that time centuries ago to Pentecost.. after the crucifixion, the apostles and many of the followers as possible in a upper room hiding from local authorities. We’re not going to go into a lot of detail, but on that day of Pentecost, the spirit came upon them and a whole new ministry was opened before them. After Pentecost, the apostles dispersed throughout the ancient world, traveling from Jerusalem to Asia Minor, Greece, Rome, and as far as India, Ethiopia, and Spain. They traveled mainly in pairs, preaching, in Jewish synagogues and to the Gentiles, to spread the gospel, the of The New Way. We’ll just look at a few of them for a quick idea of the area that they actually covered. Andrew travel to Scythia and Greece. John spent time in Ephesus and was exiled to the island of Patmos. Thomas went on to preach in Persia and India, and Matthew spread the gospel in Ethiopia. Bartholomew, he reached Armenia and India. James the greater preached in Spain and was murdered in Jerusalem. Many of these apostles traveled from Judea and Samaria towards the “ends of the Earth,” establishing churches along the Mediterranean coast, and in areas, like Babylon and Asia Minor.

We’re gonna open this road trip so to speak with the apostle Paul. Paul was already a rising star and likely active in Jerusalem shortly after Jesus’s crucifixion, which would’ve occurred in a AD 30 to 33 somewhere in that area. He was an active persecutor of the early church with a few years of the crucifixion witnessing the Martin of Stephen, which is in act 7:58 before his conversion which is typically dated between AD 33–36. Paul trained under Gamaliel in Jerusalem and he was already a zealous Pharisee aligned with the Shammaite school before and during the early Christian movement. (The School of Shammai was founded by Rabbi Shammai, who lived around the time of Herod’s reign and was known for his strict adherence to Jewish laws.)

Paul’s active role in persecuting Christians likely begin immediately following the crucifixion and continued his conversion on the road to Damascus. The best timelines that are available that agree with each other about the conversion probably happened roughly 2–7 years after the crucifixion. Even though there may be a little bit of repetition here, we should make note of the fact that Paul was likely around 30 years old during this time with some estimates putting his conversion at again AD 33–36. The new church young and struggling had many enemies in this time. We are picking up with Paul in the book of Acts simply because he wrote at least 13 of the books of the New Testament. The very first mention of Paul in the New Testament occurs in acts 7:58. He’s introduced as a young man named Saul. This was the Saul present at the execution of Steven. He approved of it, Stephen being the first Christian martyr and Paul held the garments of those doing the stoning. Paul is described as a zealous Pharisee and a prosecutor of the early church going as far as traveling to Damascus to arrest the Christians there. That could is found in Acts 8:3, 9:1–2. It is in the book of Acts 9 that we read of a dramatic encounter with Jesus on the Damascus Road, turning him from the persecutor to an apostle. We can also read in Acts 13:9 that the switch to the Roman named Paul occurs during his ministry to Gentiles on Cyprus. So Saul was his Hebrew name that he used exclusively until act 13:9. He was referred to by Ananias in Acts 9:17 as brother Saul. Paul actually was known at times by both names. He was a Roman citizen who was known as Saul which was Hebrew and Paul, which was Latin Roman, and he used them based on his audience.

The development of the early church was an extremely uncertain time for these new Christians. They would encounter many many difficulties along the road to the Good Way.

Thank you for joining us the week in “The Pew”….Our goal is to bring to you the gospel in a manner that teaches not preaches. God Bless…

Life is Good 

jk

He has Risen…  indeed, now we settle down into the routine of obeying the Great Commission and going forth and telling everyone that He is alive and salvation could be theirs through acceptance of Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, let’s take just a short time to go back to that courtyard a few centuries ago. Pilate had done everything he could to rid himself of this problem. We all know how the situation ended. Jesus was turned over to the soldiers to be beaten and then crucified and a thief, Barabbas was turned loose because the crowd demanded it to be that way. It is here in this moment that one of those little gems that I’m always talking about in the scriptures raises its head. The crowd became a mob incited by the the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin. That gem…that mob mentality is still with us today. When we break this situation down, we find that the Sanhedrin, which is a Greek word that means assembly or council with the aid of the Pharisees actively transformed the crowd into a mob, that would accept nothing less that the death of Jesus on the cross.

We’ll not spend a lot of time going into a great deal of details about the Sanhedrin other than expressing, they were the ones to whom all questions of law were finally put. In the New Testament readings, the Sanhedrin began with an informal examination of Jesus before Annas, the acting high priest. The account of that situation can be found in John chapters 18 and 19. There was a formal session before the entire Sanhedrin, Matthew chapter 26. There the decision was made to turn Jesus over to the Roman authorities to be tried and crucified. Now we do not wish to confuse you, but the other group was an influential religious one  within Judaism in the time of Christ and the early church. That group was known as the Pharisees, the word coming from a Hebrew word meaning separated. They boast of their acceptance of oral tradition in addition to the written law and they had a teaching that all Jews should observe the 600+ laws in the Torah, including the rituals concerning ceremonial purification. What’s interesting about the Pharisees is that they were mostly middle-class businessman and leaders of the synagogues. They were a minority in the Sanhedrin but held a majority number of positions and they were able to control the decision-making of the Sanhedrin because they had popular support of the people. We make note of this, the Pharisees, because Paul was a member and it was Paul who wrote 13 of the books that we know of in the New Testament. I am going to take time here to list a few of the things, the doctrines that the Pharisees taught and lived by.

-They believe that God controls all things

-There will be a resurrection of the dead

-There is an afterlife which will have an appropriate reward and punishment on an individual basis

-They also believed in the spiritual realm, including the existence of angels and demons

We know that Paul spent quite a bit of time persecuting Jews, and even bringing them back to Rome for trial. But of course, not every Pharisee was opposed to Jesus. Nicodemus was a Pharisees, who rightly considered Jesus a “teacher who has come from God.” There was a time when Nicodemus later defended Jesus before the Sanhedrin, one of the things that is noted about Nicodemus is that he was at the cross and helped bury the Lord’s body. Some of the early Christians were Pharisees as well. As we travel down the good way, we will encounter Paul on many different occasions for many different reasons. The apostle Paul was trained as a Pharisee and his credentials in that group were Stirling. Paul regarded himself as a Hebrew of Hebrews in regard to the law, he had a zeal for persecuting those in the church who strayed so to speak as for righteousness based on the law. Paul will come to a point when   in time when he is confronted by Christ for his actions against the Jews and people of faith and his encounter with Jesus Christ  shows us, that no person not even the strictest Pharisees is justified by just keeping the law we can find that in Galatians 3:11.

Let’s go back to that crowd that became a mob centuries ago in that courtyard. We do not know because we weren’t there exactly what went on in Pilates mind but it is written that he had moments of doubt about doing this thing. He really wanted nothing to do with crucifixion or Jesus, he probably really just intended to give him a good lashing and turn him  loose, but the crowd wouldn’t have it. The picture that comes into my mind is that scattered among the crowd in different places where groups of Sadducees and Pharisees, whose main objective for being there was to make certain that Jesus died on the cross. At their urgings a crowd of curious, boisterous folks from all walks of life in the city at that time became a mob. A mob is a large, disorderly, righteous crowd who possess intense emotions, are susceptible to suggestions, and do have a potential for violence, so if it becomes more than just a mere gathering. It is the”Pews”opinion that is what drives a lot of of our problems in today’s society. There seems to be no tolerance anymore for civil discourse, or trying to understand another person’s opinion. We have become a mob driven by those with certain agendas, political ambitions, and what can only be described really as a general disrespect for others around us. I do not believe that it would be inaccurate, perhaps a bit dramatic, but not inaccurate that Jesus was a victim of a political agenda, and overly zealous, religious customs, and agendas. I believe today that those very things are very much present with us in the current state of our society.

Life is Good

jk

Like many of us that write a blog every year at this time it’s a struggle maybe to find something new to write about, but that’s really the story. You just can’t find something greater than Easter Sunday. This is the first year and I will not bore you with the number of years involved, but this is the first year that the wife and I have not been able to attend the Maundy Thursday or if you prefer Holy Thursday. It is the Christian way of commemorating the last supper in the washing of the disciples feet and the institution of the Eucharist. When I sat down and started to work on this this afternoon on Good Friday, I didn’t really know what I was going to write. I know it appears that this particular time that the wife and I won’t be able to physically attend Good Friday services. Going back to last night it was approximately 1993 years ago at least that’s what the scholars are dating it to Thursday evening that Jesus celebrated the final meal with his apostles before his crucifixion. Now they’re a lot of different thoughts about the exact date. We don’t really know most people think, by people I mean scholars, biblical scholars, believe it was 1993 to 1996 years. That would’ve placed it in about a AD 30 or AD 33. Luke 22:7–38 is widely considered the most detailed account of the Last Supper. It focuses heavily on the institution of what most of us today referred to as communion and something that is overlooked when we speak about this time of the year, the inauguration of a new covenant. Now I’ve written several blogs about covenants, but this strangely enough is the first time that I’ve ever thought about the covenant within this Easter story. I have a lot more details, but that’s exactly what they are details. The sign to remember here is that the last supper is a foundational presenting the final Passover meal which Jesus connected to his impending sacrificed of the Passover lamb, bringing old traditions to fulfill it.

Jesus Christ was known by a number of names and titles in the Bible and Christian tradition highlights different aspects of his role in divinity and humanity. What we have come to think of Jesus reflects his mission as Savior,Teacher, and Divine figure. Some of those were interesting biblical titles that we are all familiar with. Christ, Messiah, meaning the anointed one, Christ is the Greek translation while Messiah is a Hebrew translation. He was referred to at times as Lord originally a title of respect it became an assertion of divine status overtime. Son of God says all that needs to be said and emphasizes a unique relationship with the Father and his Divinity. The Son of Man is sometimes referred to as Jesus’s favorite designation, it highlights both his humanity and his role as a divine figure. Then there’s a word we don’t really use too much logos. When we turned to the descriptive roles and metaphors that were used for Jesus, we read about the savior redeemer, the one who rescues humanity from sin. The good Shepherd, focuses on his care, protection and guidance of his followers. Lamb of God, symbolizes his role as a sacrificial offering to remove sin. And of course, thread of life he is the source of spiritual substance. And it goes on. We’ve also referred to Jesus as the light of the world. He provides spiritual illumination in the darkness. He is known as the way the truth and the life, Jesus defines himself as the only path to God, and of course, the true vine, he is a source of spiritual life and growth. There are many more additional titles, Rabbi,Teacher, Lion of the tribe of Judah, root of David. The first born, last Adam second Adam, theological titles, focusing on his role in the new creation. He had authority over death, the resurrection and the life. And he was the Mediator or the one who reconciles God and humanity.

Well, I’m back at the keyboard again after taking time away in order to watch the Good Friday services from our church. Here again I along with my wife find ourselves in a new situation. This is one of the first years in a long, long time that we haven’t been at the Good Friday services. The service traditionally includes scriptures and hymns that tell the story of those final hours leading up to the crucifixion itself. Like I wrote earlier there’s not really a whole lot more you can write about this event in our Christian history. I wrote a blog some years ago about the people closest to the cross when Jesus died so I thought I might share that with you this year. There was his mother Mary, her sister Mary of Clopas, Mary Magdalene, and the disciple who Jesus loved which scripture identifies as John. Jesus had a lot of followers and sometimes we don’t really realize that, but I have often used the term that when he was traveling in his ministry, there was a time it would probably have looked like a a caravan. So we know that those I have listed were there, but there were also so many other women who followed him from Galilee and watched from a distance along with Roman soldiers and there was always as usual, a crowd of taunting bystanders. So wrap it up one more time Mary the mother of Jesus, remained close to the cross until the very end. The apostle John was the only male disciple recorded to be present at the scene. It was Mary Magdalene, a devoted follower present in all gospel accounts. And John 19:25 is where Marry the wife of Clopas is identified. There are also records of Mary, the mother of James and Joses, Salome, and Joanna. There were the Roman soldiers who were in charge of the crucifixion, including a centurion who later recognized Jesus’s divine status and the two thieves, each crucified on either side of Christ. There was a crowd of Chief Priests, Scribes, Elders, and onlookers, passing by the crucifixion site.

I’ve tried my best to be as accurate as possible, going out and getting as much information as I possibly good from as many reliable sources as I possibly could. That being said there is one thing about the crucifixion that I find not unsettling, but rather what we don’t always talk about. You know how people are always saying they want to have closure…well with the crucifixion, there is no finality. Because three days later, Jesus Christ rose from the dead and and so began our journey to salvation. They, the disciples had shared their Last Supper with Christ, and yet they had not been able to grasp fully what he was trying to tell them. That covenant of the bread and the wine, for 1999 years the people and followers of Christ have kept that promise and that covenant. You may read all the commentaries and blogs that you wish but if you want the story straight, then do this…go to scripture…read God’s word, read the Bible.

Life is Good

jk

For the Christian Holy Week is a very busy time of reflection. It was a time of great stress and sacrifice for Jesus Christ. During the final two weeks of his life, Jesus traveled from the Jordan region through Jericho to Bethany. It was here in Bethany that he raised Lazarus from the dead before beginning his final week with entry into Jerusalem. He spent those final days traveling between Bethany and Jerusalem. He had already caused quite a stir when the story of the resurrection of Lazarus got to Jerusalem and while he was in Jerusalem, there was  the cleansing of theTemple  and a short time later the Last Supper. Jesus had made himself a target through his actions in the Temple as well as the raising of Lazarus from the dead and the Jewish leadership or hierarchy and the Romans also wanted to be rid of him. The Roman government did not like disturbances and wherever Jesus went, there was some kind of a disturbance. It is written that there are estimates that suggest Jesus walked approximately 3,125 miles during his three year public ministry. He  journeyed throughout Galilee, Judea and the surrounding regions and surprisingly enough made quite a few multiple trips to Jerusalem. I don’t know how many steps that 3,125 miles would have required, but as it is written the next two weeks of his life would be a lot fewer steps and a lot shorter distances as Jesus completed his father’s mission. In our minds, let us follow in those last few steps as closely as we possibly can.

When we read of Jesus traveling through the Jordan region and then through Jericho, which was a strategically important heavily fortified city in the Jordan Valley about 6 to 8 miles north of the dead Sea and 17 miles east of Jerusalem, let’s spend the next few paragraphs together, looking at the locations in the final days that Jesus traveled to and from. In Bethany Jesus stayed with Lazarus Mary and Martha particularly resting and preparing for Passover. The town is located 2 miles from Jerusalem. In the bible Bethany in Hebrew means house of figs or house of misery and affliction, it was a village as we’ve stated before near Jerusalem, it’s important to us because it’s the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus and a place of refuge for Jesus and the site where he raised Lazarus from the dead and later, it was the sight of the Ascension. Because of what Jesus did here in the case of resurrecting Lazarus from the dead the news traveled fast to Jerusalem, which wasn’t that far away and only increased the agitation of the Jewish leaders and some in the Roman government. When we speak of Jerusalem, we want to focus on the temple area. The temple area is where Jesus taught preached and overturn tables in the temple leading to plots against him. The court of the Gentiles was an outer public area accessible to everyone which doubles as a busy marketplace and of teaching. It is here that Jesus painted that target just a little bit bigger on his back when he overturned the tables of the money changers and ran the people out of there for desiccating the house of his father.

We then follow Jesus to the upper room, which was the location of the Passover the last supper with his disciples. The room is traditionally located in the second floor of a two-story building on Mount Zion in Jerusalem just outside the gate of the old city and near Pontius Pilate’s palace where Jesus had his trials and interrogation. We take note next of Golgotha, also known as Calvary, the site of his crucifixion just outside of the city walls. Then we find ourselves walking the way of sorrows, the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem, which is the traditional path from the Antonia Fortress  to Golgotha, the place of the crucifixion. From the Antonia Fortress where Jesus was beaten, he began his journey carrying the cross. It’s just under a half a mile. Jesus started carrying that cross alone, but his exhaustion and the beating he had taken, required that Simon of Serene assist him for a significant distance. So again the distance is quite short, probably about half a mile the path leads from the former Antonio Fortress to the place of the crucifixion. Jesus carried a tremendous burden. It was a cross beam, which was roughly 80 to 110 pounds. He carried that rather than the entire structure because that was already in place. It was a difficult route, it was uphill through narrow streets and likely covered over an hour given his weak state. Now the last place that we’re going to stop on this walk would be the tomb. There’s always two locations that are mentioned, both outside the city walls of Jerusalem because at that time of Jesus’s death it was required by Roman and Jewish law. I’m just going to speak of the traditional site of Jesus’s tomb, which is located in the northwest corner of Jerusalem’s old city which means it was traditionally just steps, roughly 150 feet from the site of the crucifixion itself. And I guess I should in all fairness mention that the garden tomb is another site that people are looking at and it was near the skull shaped Hill outside the Damascus gate and was discovered in 1867. It’s in John 19:41–42 says that the tomb was in close proximity of both sides within the church of the holy Sepulcher.

These are just a few of rather small details, it’s my hope they will help you to understand that this is about real people, real places and things that actually happened. 

Life is Good

jk

 

The original title of this post which I wrote in November 2013 was  Christians Can’t Meet in the Middle …As I was going through the archives this past week I came across it and I read it two or three times and I’ve decided to repost it. The original title Christians Can’t Meet in the Middle, is as  true today as it was when I wrote it. This road that the Pew is on this year looking for the good way is one in which we can’t stop in the middle. We have to go all the way to the very end to find The Good Way. Soooo…Looking Back…

We often hear these days the importance of finding the “middle ground”, a place where our differences can be resolved in a manner that includes people of all thoughts and beliefs. Actually the words thoughts and beliefs mean the same thing. Today in the words of some, these words don’t fully convey the scope of the church’s mission; here then is the new way of expressing the church’s mission. “Inclusive”, which demands a whole new direction for the church; wide-ranging, broad, general and all-encompassing that in many of the issues it faces today leaves the church in a position of compromise and weakens its mission.

You will find none of the above (wide-ranging, broad, general and all-encompassing) in the Book of Leviticus. I like to say “there is no wiggle room in scripture.” Most often if you mention Leviticus the immediate response is…. oh no, not Leviticus! The content of Leviticus is almost entirely laws from God concerning sacrifices, worship, and holy living. Chapters 17-26 contain laws for holy living. Central to the regulations in this section is the command from God, “Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy” (19:2). Israel is to live according to the revealed character of God (Mt 5:48). I have always heard critics of Christianity say that we as Christians are quick to pull from the Bible those scriptures that work to our advantage in making a point concerning our beliefs. Well…where would you have me go? I do agree that there is some truth to that statement. Most are quick to pull Leviticus Chapter 18 when the discussion or debate is centered on same-sex practices. There are many Laws in this section and Verse 22 has caused more squandering and waste of time and resources on something which God decided long ago. You find this law in section 3.

The regulations in this section forbid the practice of incest. When Leviticus was written, large extended families formed the core of Israelite society. The laws presented here forbid sexual intercourse with any family member except one’s spouse. The chapter is divided into four basic units: (1) admonition to keep Yahweh’s commandments (vv. 1-5), (2) laws forbidding incest (vv. 6-18), (3) laws forbidding defiling sexual practices (vv. 19-23), and (4) exhortation (vv. 24-30).

Today I see this debate in my denomination moving from God’s word to the arena of public opinion. Those who favor such relationships have moved from the religious theater to the civil rights theater. To Christians who follow God’s Law and will, this is not an area they can prevail in. Gods’ law was never intended to be debated or modified to fit the morality of the day. Christians miss the point when they allow this to become a social issue. What do we do? We do as Jesus said long ago.

Luke 20:25
“And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s.”

We have been called out, set apart not to condemn others but to live a Holy Life that will reflect the mercy and grace of the God we serve. There are many laws in these chapters of Leviticus and they all serve one purpose; they are God’s commandments and are necessary to live a Holy Life. God’s laws do not belong to the Caesars of today and the Church should not allow its desire to be all-inclusive to make them anything other than that which God has commanded of his people.
“Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy”

 

Life is Good

jk

This week as we continue to travel down this road of the Good Way. thank you for joining us. When I started writing this week or was beginning to look at things to write about and to share with you, the word covenant continues to come up in my mind. So I decided let’s take a look at covenant in the Bible and their importance in our scriptural journey. When you walk the good way, there will always be something that’ll come along to challenge your efforts to live as God would have us live so there’s something very important that we need to remember at all times. When the road gets rocky when there’s some potholes that are really causing us some hard times and loss of direction, we need to remember that God always keeps his promises and he is a God of promise and hope and will never ever let us down. With that having been said let’s pause a minute and give thought to what it means to serve a God of promise.

First of all, we need to understand exactly what a covenant is. And to keep it simple, which in truth, it really is is nothing more than a promise between two parties to perform certain actions. A covenant is very similar to a promise. When we get into our scriptures and study those we find that they are a very significant   part of the Scriptures. Consider this…the word testament is just another word for covenant. We can learn a lot about God, his plans, purposes for mankind, and part of that learning comes from understanding and knowing the history of Israel. There are several major covenants in the Old Testament in which God promises to do something. Again, I repeat a covenant is really nothing more than promising to do something. They were old Testament covenants, and there are New Testament covenants. In an ancient times, covenants were a well-known and accepted concept and they could be made between two equal parties or between a king and a subject. A covenant could be conditional or it could be unconditional.

Bible scholars recognized several major covenants in the Old Testament in which God promises to do something. One of the first unconditional covenants that was made can be found in Genesis it occurred right after the great flood, and God promised that he would never again destroy the world by a flood, and he also passed on basic principles for humanity to live by. We all know what happens through Bible scripture that the people descended into rampant disobedience. God kept that covenant made in Genesis, even though the people had rebelled there was not another flood. God made a covenant with Abraham promising him if you follow me and do as I’ve asked of you I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you and I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. The covenant is in Genesis 12:1–3. The covenant is reiterated again in Genesis 15 and 17. This also was an unconditional covenant. In Exodus 19 chapters 19 through 24 speak of the covenant made with Israel about the use of the promised land. This was the land that had been given to Abraham’s descendants unconditionally but the use of the land by any specific generation of Israelites was dependent upon their obedience to God. There were times that the people fell away from their obedience to God and because of that they were unable to fully enjoy the benefits of that land. You can read some of the trials of that time for the Israelites in the book of Judges. There came a time that the Israelites were exiled from the land due to their disobedience and idolatry, but God still made the promise to bring back a later generation to the land. We find that in Isaiah 11:11–12. We also read that he kept his word. 2 Samuel 7 recounts David’s desire to build a temple for God and God’s promise to establish David’s dynasty forever. This covenant is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the Son of David.

God promised a new covenant with Israel. You find that in Jeremiah 31. The fact was that Israel had repeatedly violated the terms of all the previous covenants of God but this one would be a little bit different because the hearts of the people would be changed and they would want to be faithful. This fulfillment, that of the hearts and minds of people being more receptive and faithful will take place in the New Testament through the coming of Jesus Christ and the dwelling and empowering of the Holy Spirit. It would be through the Spirit that people learn how to obey God, but there’s a little surprise in all of this, and it is that the Gentiles were also included in this covenant.

And wrapping up our blog for this week, we know that the concept of covenant has been lost in modern society. People don’t keep their word like they used to, when circumstances change so do their promises. Contracts are broken, and the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman for life does not hold the strength today that its had in the past. The one thing we can take from all of this is regardless of how unfaithful people may be, God will never be unfaithful to His covenant promises.

Life is Good

jk

Source: gotquestions.org/what-is-a-covenant