Tag: crucifixion

Come back! Come back to Me!

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn #ransom, attitude, Bible, death, Death of Jesus Christ, eternity, forgiveness, Heaven, Life of Christ, love, power, sacrifice, Satan, Saved from hell, sin, victoryLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 13 (1/13), is Habakkuk 1:13 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-Medium“Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong.”

This pretty much explains why no one deserves heaven. Going to heaven has little to do with doing so many good works God will feel obligated to admit you. 

It’s all about sin.  Only sinless people can be in heaven, for God cannot coexist with sin and still be God. Of course, you cannot be sinless. If nothing else, you have sins of attitude and neglect.

For thousands of years, God let mankind try any way they could to be perfect. Some people he gave the Law of Moses to, and some people he continued to let try on their own. Neither worked. No matter how hard we tried, no one could get it right.

The wages you earn for sinning is death (Romans 6:23). Remember in the Garden of Eden God warned, “The moment you sin, you die.” He was talking about souls dying, and eventually, bodies dying. Satan was now holding mankind hostage. Satan causes death, so sinners collect the wages Satan pays for following him.

But mankind was still being held hostage and Satan wasn’t about to let us go.  So God set up a trap.  The death of God. Satan wanted to be God and this was the only way he could carry out his plan. He did not realize it would end up being the destruction of his power of death.

Galatians 4:4 says, “When the time was come, God sent his son.” Finally, when mankind understood everyone needed outside help, God sent Jesus. Hebrews 4:15 says Jesus lived the perfect life that was impossible for anyone to live; he was completely free of sin.

Then God was ready to crush Satan’s head.  God offered his son ~ God in the form of mankind. So, Satan freed mankind from his prison of soul death. But Satan was in for a shock.  He is not as smart as God. His gloating came to an abrupt stop.  God tricked Satan. You cannot kill Life.  God returned to that human body and came back to life.

It was too late. Satan had already freed mankind. 

That done, God ~ who is too pure to dwell with sin ~ is now able to allow obedient, faithful believers in Jesus into his home, heaven. For, through Jesus, we become sinless and pure. Glory of glories!

But something terrible happened after that. People began selling themselves back into slavery to Satan (Romans 6:15-23).  No!  No! This cannot be! Not after all God went through to save mankind from Satan.

So God, through Christians, continually calls out to those who no longer want to worship Him or encourage his Family, “Come back!  Come back to your Father!! Come back.  Your brothers and sisters miss you. I miss you….”

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0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-ThumbnailSHADOW OF DEATH takes the reader through the last hours of Jesus before the Great Sacrifice.  Two chapters are completely on his six agonizing hours on the cross ~ the first three in the scorching sun; the second three in cold, cold darkness.  Satan, the Romans, the priests, the Sadducees ~ all thought they had won.  They had only dug their own spiritual graves.  Jesus re-entered his body and walked the earth again.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://bit.ly/2UcggRE

https://inspirationsbykatheryn.wordpress.com/historical-novel-about-jesus/book-7-shadow-of-death-adults-childs-versions/

 

Shhh. Listen. God is calling you.

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn attitude, death, eternity, faith, Fear, Heaven, Inspirational, joy, persecution, Thanksgiving, victoryLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 11 (1/11), is 2nd Peter 1:11 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“And you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

0-BK 8-ComeFlyWithMe-Cover-Thumbnail-NewHow often do you forget that earth is not your home? As an old gospel song says, “We’re just passing through.” Do you really believe that?

If someone told you tomorrow you were going to die, would you go into a panic? Would you beg God to let you live another ten or twenty years? Would you feel this was the beginning of the end?

To a true Christian, your dying is the end of the beginning. You have a whole “life” ahead of you in heaven. A never-ending life. Do you live like you believe it? Will you die looking forward to it?

Are you even a Christian yet? What is your life like? Do you even know what is in the Bible, God’s messages to you? Does the thought of heaven sound boring to you?  Do you even like God?

Stop and listen to the empty place in your heart (Ec. 3:11).  Do you hear it?  Shhh.  Listen…  God is calling you.

 

0-BK 8-ComeFlyWithMe-Cover-Thumbnail-NewCOME FLY WITH ME is the last novel in the series THEY MET JESUS.  Jesus has been buried. His apostles have mourned in confusion. Suddenly he is back!  Alive again!  He appears to them out of nowhere every Sunday until it is time to go. Training is over.  Now left alone, the apostles figure out their strategy.  Be bold.  They are, and they are beaten and imprisoned.  They cannot let their savior down.  They go back and preach again, and again the beatings and imprisonment.  Thousands become Christians anyway!  Eventually, they part ways to go into all the world.  Five decades pass. John is the only one left.  Then his old Friend from days of his youth returns.  What a reunion.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this:    https://bit.ly/2OzEnXc

https://inspirationsbykatheryn.wordpress.com/historical-novel-about-jesus/book-8-come-fly-with-me-adults-childs-versions/

 

Keep Climbing

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn #ransom, church, Daily, Death of Jesus Christ, eternity, forgiveness, patience, prayer, problems, Satan, Thanksgiving, victory, weaknessLeave a comment

Supper-Front Cover-MediumPraises belong to you, Jehovah. You are my father ~ my Father!  And so strong. Please win the war for us ~ the war with Satan. I am weak. We all are. You are stronger.  He thinks he is winning, but he is not. There may be more people following him on earth but they are like ants compared with the lion-like strength of Christians. Every time he thinks he has convinced one of your children to believe his lies, we rise up and say, “No”.  You give us that strength. All power and glory and majesty are yours.  Of course, you will win! You said so yourself.

Ah, thank you, my Lord, for the way you taught mankind to trust you. Over and over through the centuries and millenniums you made promises but almost always said, “Later”.  You understood we need trust and patience. We needed to know victory would eventually come. You could use your power to know the future to help us and give us a reason to keep trying, keep plugging along, keep struggling, keep climbing.  I bow before you, my gratitude spills upon your wounded feet, and I worship you.

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Supper-Front Cover-ThumbnailTHE LORD’S SUPPER:  52 READINGS WITH PRAYERS.  Perfect for table talks or private meditation while taking the communion.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://bit.ly/2ZvCTDS

https://inspirationsbykatheryn.wordpress.com/the-lords-supper-52-readings-with-prayers/

Thursday 5/31 ~ Shall we rebuild the temple?

On By In Death of Jesus Christ, forgiveness, Heaven, Scripture, truth, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, May 31 (5/31), is Deuteronomy 5:31 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 5-FloodGates-Cover-Thumbnail-New“But you [Moses] may stay here [on the mountain] with me [God] so that I may give you all the commands, decrees, and laws you are to teach them to follow in the land I am giving them to possess.”

Many people believe that the “Law of Moses” consisted only of the Ten Commandments. But there was much more. It took Moses 40 days to write them all down. How many? Over 600 “commands, decrees and laws.”

Some people today want to dip back into the Law of Moses to get showy types of worship ~ candles, incense, stoning for adultery, instruments of music, choirs, animal sacrifices, separate priesthood, special clothing for priests, and tithing to pay for it all. Jesus nailed the old law to the cross (Colossians 2:14) and created a much simpler New Testament/Covenant!

Other people want to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.  Why? So they can revert to animal sacrifices and thus nullify the sacrifice Jesus made of himself?  James said that, if we keep part of the Law, we are obligated to keep it all (James 2:10).

By calling this covenant [testament] ‘new’ he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear’ “ (Hebrews 8:13). Not part of it. All of it. Hebrews goes on to say that the Holy of Holies is now in heaven, the curtain in the temple is now Jesus, etc.  Rebuilding the temple would mean going backward from grace to legalism.

Thank God we do not have to keep all those 600+ commandments in the Law of Moses. They were controlling and tedious, and some were impossible to keep. Why would God give a law impossible to keep? To help us understand that it is impossible for us to be perfect. Finally, understanding that, he was ready to send his Son to earth to be perfect for us.

 

~~BUYLINK to eBOOK and discount PAPER:  http://bit.ly/2E7kFdm

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#Temple, #Jerusalem, #LawOfMoses, #adultery, #stoning, #AnimalSacrifices, #commandments, #laws, #legalism, #mercy, #crucifixion, #Christianity, #Bible, #Scriptures

Monday 5/14 ~ Perfect love

On By In Death of Jesus Christ, forgiveness, good works, Inspirational, loveLeave a comment

The scripture for today, May 14 (5/14), is 2nd Corinthians 5:14a as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-Thumbnail“For Christ’s love compels us….”

On a distant hill a very long time ago, something unbelievable happened.

Jesus died both physically and spiritually in our place! (Remember when he said God had forsaken him?) He knew we couldn’t come back from either kind of death on our own, so he did it for us. Such terrible things he went through for us!

Love is powerful! It causes us to do things for someone we love that we never wanted to do and never dreamed we could do.

How powerful is your love for Christ? Do you share the love of Christ with others? 1st John 4:18 says, “Perfect love casts out fear.”

You must reach out to people who think Jesus will ruin their fun, or has too many rules, or could never forgive them, or wouldn’t stop a tragedy from happening to them. If not in person, tell them in a note, a phone call, email, even a song. There are ways. Reach out. You can and you will if you let Christ’s love compel you.

~~~BUYLINK for ebook and discount paper:  http://bit.ly/ShadowDeath

 

Monday 1/22 ~ Me radiant, Lord? Me?

On By In church, Death of Jesus Christ, forgiveness, Inspirational, weaknessLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 22 (1/22), is Ephesians 1:22 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-Thumbnail“And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”

What makes this so interesting is that…

  • the church is the body of Christ. What else is the church? Colossians 1:18 says…
  • the church has only one head on earth and in heaven ~ Jesus.   Matthew 16:17-18 says…
  • the church is the kingdom of heaven. Ephesians 5:25 & 32 says…
  • the church is his bride. Revelation 21:2, 9-10 says…
  • the church bride is the new Holy City Jerusalem.

And what does Jesus think of the church? Oh, you already know this one.  Ephesians 5:25-27 says he loved the church so much that he gave himself up for her, to make her radiant ~ no stains, no wrinkles, no blemishes.

Oh, that last part: I must have missed it before.  Me, radiant? Human, sinful me, radiant? And no stains, Lord?  No stains, too?

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link to ebook & discount paperback:  http://bit.ly/TheyMetJesus

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#sinner, #forgiveness, #namesOFchurch, #sinner

Scripture for Thursday, November 23 ~ Gratitude for the Greatest Act in the History of Mankind

On By In Inspirational, Saved from hell, Thanksgiving2 Comments

The scripture for today, November 23 (11/23), is 1st Corinthians 11:23ff as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-Medium“For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ “

How the hearts of Jesus and his closest friends must have been breaking that night. How the apostles must have struggled to hold back the tears. They all knew the religious leaders in Jerusalem were plotting to execute Jesus. They knew he was taking his life in his hands to be in the city ~ their lives too. How could they part with the one they now knew was the Son of God but also the Son of Mankind ~ their dearest friend?

When we take the communion every Sunday, where are our thoughts? What we’re going to do after church? What someone sitting near us is wearing? How the person in front of us is blocking our view?

How many of us during the communion weep as Jesus’ apostles must have wept ~ and perhaps even as Jesus himself wept?

Oh, Jesus, it was my sins that caused you to go through that horrible death!  My punishment! I fall at your feet. I worship you with undying gratitude.

 

Scripture for Saturday, September 30 (9/30)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Death of Jesus Christ, forgiveness, Inspirational, Life of Christ, Saved from hell, Thanksgiving, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, September 30, is Luke 9:30f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-Medium“Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.”

Hebrews 5:7 says something very startling to most people. “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death.”

Jesus did not look forward to going to the cross, even though many thousands of others had died that way. Why was it different for him? Because he had to take on all our sins as though he had committed them himself ~ every lie we’ve told, every time we cheated, every insult, every slander campaign against another, every adultery, every murder ~ everything ~ all our sins! The sins of the whole world! How could he bear it?

Not only that, but he had to experience both physical and spiritual death. Spiritual death means being separated from, being forsaken by God. What a terror to experience!

And so, a few weeks before his crucifixion, as he prayed on the mountain, Moses and Elijah appeared to him and they spoke about his death. They surely gave him the courage to do what had to be done to save you and me who deserve hell.

The crowning glory of this conversation with Moses and Elijah is that God reassured him by announcing, “THIS IS MY SON! WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN! LISTEN TO HIM!”

Jesus was to fulfill the Law and Prophets all the way to the cross. He had promised people, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets: I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17). He was determined to keep that promise.

Indeed, on the cross, he said, “It is fulfilled.”  By the time Jesus returned to heaven, he had fulfilled the Old Law introduced by Moses by living it perfectly ~ something no man had ever been able to do. And by the time he returned to heaven, he had fulfilled every prophecy about his birth, life, and death, the first such prophet being represented by Elijah.

Oh, the things Jesus went through to try to save us from hell. Do we do yard work or go shopping or a picnic or a club gathering on his day ~ Sunday?  Let us instead fall at his wounded feet and worship him.

 

Scripture for Sunday, September 24 (9/24)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn death, faith, forgiveness, Heaven, Inspirational, Saved from hell, truthLeave a comment

The scripture for today, September 24 9?24), is Luke 9:24 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

worship-the-first-century-way-cover-kindle“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.”

Romans 6 explains this phenomenon best. We are to put our old self to death ~ to crucify that part of us that sins and doesn’t care, that part of us that puts ourselves first (verse 7) ~ in imitation of Jesus dying. Once we decide to put that part of ourselves to death, we are buried, just like Jesus was buried (verse 3 & 4a).

And then, “just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (verse 4b). Why? “If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection” (verse 5). Having been “brought from death to life” (verse 13) through baptism, we have been born again!

Jesus’ physical death on a physical cross had a spiritual meaning of a spiritual death. We understand that. Our watery death has a spiritual meaning of a spiritual death also. There is another spiritual death called the second death in Revelation 21:8. If we go through the first spiritual death at baptism, we will not have to go through the second spiritual death in hell. We will have lost our life of sin and in the process saved our souls.

Only a spiritual mind understands this. And how amazing it is.

 

 

Scripture for Friday, September 22 (9/22)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn death, Death of Jesus Christ, forgiveness, Inspirational, Saved from hell, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, September 22 (9:22) is Luke 9:22 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

Songs-First 140-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-Medium“And he [Jesus] said, ‘The Son of Man[kind] must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

Jesus did not look forward to his death. Hebrews 5:7 says, “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death….” Loud cries!

Yet, in today’s scripture, shortly after he announced to his apostles that he would be killed in Jerusalem, over in verse 51 it says, “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.”

Jesus had to use every bit of self-determination he could muster to face that terrible death he had to suffer for us. What kept him pushing forward instead of doing something else? He knew he would be saving us from hell by taking our punishment for us. Then his work would be done ~ all would be fulfilled ~ and he could return to heaven and his Father.

Is it difficult for you to get up on Sunday morning to go to church or would you rather be doing something else? Is it difficult for you to read the Bible every day or would you rather be doing something else? Is it difficult for you to invite a friend to church with you or would you rather be doing something else? Do you love Jesus as resolutely as he did and does you?