Paid in Full

The title of the sermon preached today by Pastor R. Gray was "Paid in Full". What beautiful words to someone who has a huge debt and has no way of paying anything on it, whether partial or in full. Pastor Gray used the analogy of a man who owed a large sum of money to another man. The man to whom the money was owed threatened to kill the man if he did not get his money. A passerby over heard the threat and offered to pay the man the money that was owed to him. Can you imagine the feeling of relief the man that owed the money must have felt.

Picture this other scenario: Imagine yourself crossing the street on a green light - you know you have the right of way. Suddenly this vehicle came speeding and ran the red light. A gentleman standing on the curb saw your life was about to disappear right before his eyes. He was overwhelmed with love and sympathy that he ran across the street and threw you out of the way of the speeding vehicle, putting his life in danger. His love and kindness for you supercede his concern for his own life. He was thrown on the hood of the car. His battered body was further thrown to the ground and was dragged for many feet. Someone on a cell phone called for the peramedics. Within a few minutes they arrived. They rushed the gentleman to the hospital where he spent several months in a coma. Tell me, if the person that was about to get hit by the car was you, what would you have done when you got up from the ground? Would you have dusted yourself off and continued on your way without even looking back, as if nothing happened, or would you have gone over to the gentleman and held his hand while weeping? Would you have gone to visit him every day in the hospital, or would you have pretended it never happened? It took months before the gentleman came out of the coma and was ready to go home to his family. Would you have made that gentleman and his family your very best friends for the rest of your life, or would you prefer not to even hear his name mentioned. It turned out that the gentleman is from a very rich christian family. Perhaps you would have done anything to repay that gentleman for his kind deed, but he wanted nothing more than your friendship and to keep in touch with him and his family to study the word of God. Would you have found the time to do that, or would you have been too busy with other things in your life? - the life that he saved. Isn't that what Jesus did for us - gave his life to save us from sin. All he ask is for us to obey his commandments and to have a relationship with him by spending time to pray and study his word. After what he has done for us, shouldn't we choose him over the devil? What has the devil done for any of us that we would want to follow him.

Many, many years ago on this day, Saturday, (notice I didn't say date) Jesus rested in a tomb after his body succumbed to the abuse of Herod and his soldiers. They gave him vinegar when he was thirsty. They spat in his face, beat him, stuck him with their sword and mocked him. Yet he never got angry. He was very humble. Humility is often mistaken for stupidity. To think he did it all for us. Thank you Jesus!

Proverbs 11:2 (Whole Chapter) Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.

Proverbs 22:4 (Whole Chapter) True humility and fear of the Lord lead to riches, honor, and long life.

Colossians 3:12 (Whole Chapter) Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tender hearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

Mark 6:29 (Whole Chapter) And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb.

Here's a video on the crucifixion of Jesus:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpFhS0dAduc

A walk to the lake

It was a beautiful day today. I took a brisk walk down to the lake, which took me approximately 30 to 40 minutes going and coming. On my way there I passed joggers, cyclists and those who were in no hurry, like couples and families, some walking their dogs. I came to a bench and decided to sit for a while as I gazed at the water that looked like a sheet of glass. The story of Jesus walking on the water entered my thoughts. I wondered what feelings went through Peter when he took his first step in response to Jesus' request to come to him. He had to have had an enormous amount of faith to do so. It was not until he took his eyes off from Jesus that he began to sink. I guess we can all identify with that story in terms of our faith.

My thoughts drifted from that story to His Crucifixion - today being Good Friday is a perfect day to reflect on His Crucifixion. I thank God for sending His Son to die for me and for all of us. How can anyone think of Jesus as being a prophet is beyond me. If Jesus did not come to this earth and died for us, how else would we be saved? Matthew 27: 54 states ...."This man truly was the son of God"

Matthew 27:54 (Whole Chapter) - The Roman officer and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, “This man truly was the Son of God!”

John 19:16 (Whole Chapter) - Then Pilate turned Jesus over to them to be crucified. [ The Crucifixion ] So they took Jesus away.

Mark 15:21 (Whole Chapter) - A passerby named Simon, who was from Cyrene, [ Cyrene was a city in northern Africa.] was coming in from the countryside just then, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross.

Luke 23:48 (Whole Chapter) - And when all the crowd that came to see the crucifixion saw what had happened, they went home in deep sorrow.

The link below is a youtube video of Jesus' crucifixion:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wuat5MfE5F8

2 create a website

I've been searching for more information on ways in which I can improve my blog's revenue. I came across Lisa's website at www.2createawebsite.com/. She has a vast amount of knowledge and information on the subject. Lisa has been in this business since 2003. She seems very sincere and willing to help those who are just learning the ins and outs on the topic. It's like taking a child's hand and leading it through a maze. You can even Download a free website creation tutorial on her website. She has the skills of a teacher. I wonder if she ever was. Thanks Lisa.

The race continues

Further to my previous post on my computer woes, which never seem to end, I had very little choice but to call a repair man to fix the problem. It ended up costing me more than I anticipated. As if that's not enough to give me a headache, my printer refused to work. I didn't get much done today. As they say, when it rains it pours. I guess everybody has a day when everything seem to go wrong.

I took some time out and reflected on the suffering of Jesus while he was here on earth. I long to be like him. He, a sinless man, endured the suffering for our sins and never complained. We, who are sinners, complains about everything.

I reminded myself that we are running a race, a spiritual race, which feels more like an obstacle course. During our lifetime we encounter hurdles from time to time that we must overcome. An athlete practices long hours, day after day, to become a better runner and to improve his or her strength and performance. To be a winner takes discipline and dedication. One thing that everyone participating in the race has in common is that each person is running, but there could only be one winner. He or she has to have more speed and agility in order to reach the finish line before the others. You do not get the prize because you ran the race, instead you get the prize because you won the race. In order to win you have to get to the finish line before the others. That's when you see the benefit of the long hours of practice. The worse thing is to get close to the finish line and be disqualified for violation of a rule.

Paul compares the Christian life to running a race. As Christians we are running a spiritual race. We would experience difficulties in life but we should not get discouraged. We need to practice and practice by doing good, living by the Word of God and praying continually. The Bible says to pray without ceasing. We should not get distracted by the pleasures of this world but keep our eyes on the finish line - our heavenly home.

1 Corinthians 9:24 – “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.”

25 - “And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.”

“It will be worth it all, when we see Jesus. Life’s trials will seem so small, when we see Christ. One glimpse of His dear face, all sorrows will erase. So bravely run the race, till we see Christ.”

Ecclesiastes 9:11 (NKJV)- “The race is not to the swift, Nor the battle to the strong, Nor bread to the wise, Nor riches to men of understanding, Nor favor to men of skill . .”

I found this lovely poem at www.skywriting.net/inspirational/poems/the_spiritual_race.html that says it all. Thanks Eva.

Computer woes

For the past two days I’ve been having problems with my computer. I was not able to sign in to my blog nor even send emails. I did a scan which showed 9 files were infected. Unfortunately it did not show a list of the files. I could not bring myself to click on the Delete All button as I was afraid that I might have deleted some files that were important. After hours of frustration I decided to phone the manufacturer and the store where I had bought the computer, but they were unable to give me any information or instructions that helped. A gentleman at the store told me to bring it in and they would be able to correct the problem. After thinking about how much it would cost (at a time like now when I don’t have a job) and all the trouble of disconnecting all those wires and reconnecting them, I decided to see what I can do to correct the problem myself. I thought for a moment then decided to restore it back to a few days prior to when my computer started acting funny. It worked!

I couldn’t help but wonder if my frustration made the responsible person any happier. It could be that they are very unhappy with their life and would do anything to make others feel the way they do, or it could be that their heart is full of evil. If they’re trying to prove how smart they are, why not use that knowledge in a positive way – to help others, not to hurt them.

[Psalm 14:2, 3 ] - The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Romans 12: 21 - “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good”