ONE HEARTBEAT AWAY
PART 82
(copied from Mark Cahill's Book)
For I am the least of the apostles, that are
not meet to be called an apostle, because I
persecuted the church of God.
But by the grace of God, I am what I am; and His grace which was bestowed upon me was
not in vain; but I labored more abundantly
than they all; yet not I but the grace of God
which was with me.
Therefore, whether it were I or they, so we
preach and so ye believed.
Now if Christ be preached that He rose from
the dead, how say some among you that there
is no resurrection of the dead?
But if there be no resurrection of the dead,
then is Christ not risen.
And if Christ be not risen, then is our
preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God;
because we have testified of God that He rose
up Christ ; Whom He raised not up - if so be
that the dead rise not.
For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ
raised.
And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain;
ye are yet in your sins.
Then they also, which are fallen asleep in
Christ are perished.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
(1st Corinthians 15: 1-19)
Remember what we said about eyewitnesses
earlier? We showed that one eyewitness was
not considered enough to prove anything in a
Jewish Court of Law. At least two eyewitnesses
were required to establish the truth of anything.
When Jesus rose from
the dead, He was seen
by at least 552 people
in 13 different places
in a period of 40 days.
The resurrection of
Jesus and His active
presence in the world
after His resurrection, were not behind closed
doors; rather they were out in the wide open
spaces so that everyone could see the marvelous
work of God in the resurrection of His Son.
This proved to those who saw Him, beyond the
shadow of a doubt, that He was God incarnate.
The Messiah. Think about that, He had to make sure that people throughout time, including us
today, had enough evidence to make the correct
decision.
next post 11th February
ARE THE GOSPELS RELIABLE ?
PART 1
(copied from
Y-Jesus.com)
Are the New Testament gospels the true eyewitness history of Jesus Christ, or could
the story have been changed through the
years? Must we simply take the New
Testament accounts of Jesus by faith, or is
there evidence for their reliability?
The late ABC News anchor, Peter Jennings
was in Israel, broadcasting a television special
on Jesus Christ. His program "The Search for
Jesus" explored the question of whether the
Jesus of the New Testament was historically
accurate.
Jennings featured opinions on the Gospel
accounts from DePaul professor John Dominic
Crossan, three of Crossan's colleagues from the Jesus seminar, and two other Bible scholars.
(The Jesus Seminar is a group of scholars, who
debate Jesus' recorded words and actions and
then use red, pink. grey or black beads to cast
votes indicating how trustworthy they believe
statements in the Gospels are.
Some of the comments were stunning. There on National TV Dr Crossan not only cast doubt on
more than 80% of Jesus' sayings but also denied
Jesus' claims to Divinity, His miracles and His
resurrection. Jennings clearly was intrigued by
the image of Jesus, presented by Crossan.
Searching for true Bible history is always news.,
which is why every year Time and Newsweek go
on a quest for Mary, Jesus, Moses or Abraham.
Or - who knows? - maybe this year it will be
"Bob - the untold story of the missing 13th
disciple."
This is entertainment,
and so the investigation
will never end or yield
answers, as that would
eliminate future programming. Instead,
those with radically
different views are thrown
together, like an episode of
Survivor, hopelessly convaluting, the issue rather
than bringing clarity.
But Jennings report did focus on one issue that
ought to be given some serious thought. Crossan
implied that the original accounts of Jesus were
embellished by oral tradition and were not written
down until after the apostles were dead. Thus
they are largely unreliable and fail to give us an
accurate picture of the real Jesus.
How are we to know if this is really true?
to be continued on 14th February
ONE HEARTBEAT AWAY
PART 81
(copied from Mark Cahill's Book)
Not only did Jesus die on the cross for our
sins, He did something amazing so that we
could know for sure who He was.
He rose from the dead:
"Now upon the first day of the week, very
early in the morning, they came upon the
sepulcer, bringing the spices they had
prepared., and certain others with them.
And they found the stone rolled away from
the sepulcher.
And it came to pass, as they were much
perplexed thereabout, behold two men,
stood by them in shining garments:
And as they were afraid and bowed down
their faces to the earth, they said unto them
"why seek ye the living among the dead?
He is not here, but is risen, remember how
He spake unto you while He was yet in
Galilee, saying, The Son of man must be
delivered into the hands of sinful men, and
be crucified and the third day rise again. "
And they remembered His words.
And returned from the sepulcher, and told
all these things unto the eleven, and to all
the rest.
It was Mary Magdalene,
and Joanna and
Mary the mother of
James, and other women who were with them, which told these things unto the apostles.
And their words seemed to them as idle tales
and they believed them not.
Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulcher;
and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes
laid by themselves, and departed wondering in
himself at that which had come to pass.
(Luke 24: 1-12)
..... and left His tomb empty.
Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the
pains of death: because it was not possible
that He should be holden of it.
(Act 2:24)
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the
gospel which I preached unto you, which also
ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By
which ye also are saved, if ye keep in memory
what I preached unto you, unless ye have
believed in vain.
For I have delivered unto you, first of all,
that which I also received, how that Christ
died for our sins according to the Scriptures.
And that He was buried and that He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures; and
that He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve;
After that He was seen of above 500 brethren
at once, of whom the greater part remain until
this present, but the greater part hath fallen
asleep.
After that He was seen of James, then of all
the apostles. And last of all He was seen of
me also, as of one born out of due time.
next post 8th February
ONE HEARTBEAT AWAY
PART 80
(copied from Mark Cahill's Book)
God will not force you to love Him. That's
the real purpose of life in this world. We are
here for an attitude adjustment. God has
created us with freewill and we are here to
exercise it. The big question we must answer
is : Will I run my own life, or will I ask God
to run it?
If I set myself up as my own god, He will
sorrowfully allow me to do it. But He will
continue to draw me to Himself.
However, if I tell Him I am sorry for the wrong
I have done, especially against Him, and ask to
live in fellowship with Him here, and go to Him
when I die, the answer is sure to be "Yes!"
That is because Jesus paid it all and I am free
to come to God and look Him in the face without
fear.
That is what the Gospel, the good news is all about .:
God desires to show
mercy toward me and
offers me the most loving gift of all time, - total an complete
forgiveness through Jesus Christ. If I accept
God's gift of forgiveness, I will be with Him
after I die, and not in hell.
This offer is yours too, if you turn from your
sinful ways, with His help, and determine to
live a godly life in Christ Jesus.
Yes, you are free from the debt of your transgression, if you accept what He has done
for you and live in appreciation of it.
next post tomorrow 6th
ONE HEARTBEAT AWAY
PART 79
(copied from Mark Cahill's Book)
Now, if everything depends on faith, Just what
is faith anyway? One thing faith is NOT is a
feeling. You can be exercising great faith without any emotion or physical sensation.
You believe that what you are sitting on now will
hold you up. You believe it with perfect faith, yet
you feel nothing about it.
On the other hand, doubt is a feeling. You can
certainly feel emotionally and physically
disturbed if you think that what you are sitting
on may collapse at any moment. So, doubt is a
feeling, not a spiritual element at all. But faith
is not a feeling. It is a settled choice arrived at
by a decision of your will. "That chair looks
Okay to me." And you sit without thinking
further. You are just trusting in your choice of
views.
It is the same with faith in Jesus' love for you,
and His arrangements for you to be saved.
Once you decide there is not necessarily any feeling or emotion involved. You just know
that Jesus is your Savior and you rest in His promises without entertaining doubts.
Each thief had a choice of how to treat Jesus. As
a result one went to heaven and one went to hell.
You too have a choice.
Whatever you decide to
do with Jesus will
determine where you
will spend eternity. Think about why He came and what it means to you
personally:
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all
acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
(1st Timothy 1:15)
Howbeit, for this cause I obtained mercy, that
in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all
longsuffering for a pattern to them which
should hereafter believe on Him to life
everlasting.
(1st Timothy 1:16)
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances
that was against us, which was contrary to
us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to
His cross.
( Colosians 2:14)
"Blotting out " means cancelling, writing
'paid in full,' on the list of our debts to God."
When Jesus said, "It is finished," He meant
all prophecy had been fulfilled regarding
Messiah's work on earth of paying humanity's
sin debt "in full."
And think about this: Your debt was paid 2,000
years ago! Justice has been served, and God no longer looks at you as a sinner headed for hell,
but as a beloved child getting ready to return
Home to Him.
The only "if" in the situation is this: All this is
yours IF and only if you decide to accept it.
next post 5th February
ONE HEARTBEAT AWAY
PART 78
(copied from Mark Cahill's Book)
Charles Spurgeon said:
"My heart was fallow and covered with weeds,
but on a certain day the great Farmer came
and began to plow my soul. Ten black horses
were His team. and it was a sharp plowshare
that He used, and the plowers made deep
furrows.
The Ten Commandments were those black
horses and the justice of God, like a plowshare,
tore my spirit. I was condemned, undone, destroyed, lost, helpless, hopeless. I thought
hell was before me.
But after the plowing came the sowing. God
Who plowed the heart in mercy, made it
conscious that it needed the Gospel, and then
the Gospel seed was joyfully received."
The purpose of the Law
is to show men that they
need a Savior. No one
can keep the Law, so if
that is what we are
trying to do, we are
without hope. When we realize our hopeless condition, we should be
very happy to hear what Jesus has done fore us.
Are you ready to joyfully receive what Jesus has done for you, as was the man in the account
below:
"And when they had come to the place which
is called Calvary, there they crucified Him,
and the malefactors, one on the right hand
and the other on the left.
Then said Jesus, Father forgive them for they
know not what they do. And they parted His raiment and cast lots.
And the people stood beholding. And the rulers
with them also stood deriding Him, saying, He
saved others, let Him save Himself, if He be
Christ, the chosen of God.
And the soldiers also mocked Him, coming to
Him and offering Him vinegar.
And saying, if Thou be the King of the Jews,
save Thyself.
And a subscription also was written over Him
in letters of Greek, and Latin and Hebrew,
THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
And one of the malefactors who were hanged,
railed on Him saying, If Thou be Christ, save
Thyself and us.
But the other, rebuked him, saying , Dost thou
not fear God, seeing we are in the same
condemnation?
And we indeed justly, for we receive the due
reward of our deeds, but this man hath done
nothing amiss.
And he said unto Jesus, Lord remember me
when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.
And Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee, today, thou shalt be with me in paradise.
And it was about the sixth hour, and there was
a darkness over all the earth until the ninth
hour.
And the sun was darkened and the veil of the
temple was rent in the midst.
And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice,
He said, Father, into Thy hands I commend My
spirit: and having said thus, He gave up the ghost.
Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying Certainly this was a righteous man.
And all the people that came together to that
sight, beholding the things which were done,
smote their breasts, and returned.
And all His aquaintance and the women who
followed Him from Galilee, stood afar off,
beholding these things.
(Luke 23: 33-49)
The truth is that all of us are like one or the other of the two thieves who were crucified next to
Jesus. One mocked Him, and the other recognized that He is God and looked to Him for forgiveness
of his sins.
The passage above also makes the point that we
get to heaven, not by being good, but by repenting of our sins and by placing our faith and trust in
what Jesus has done for us.
next post 4th February
ONE HEARTBEAT AWAY
PART 77
(copied from Mark Cahill's Book)
Charles Spurgeon said;
"The heart of Christ became like a reservoir
in the midst of the mountains. All the tributary
streams of iniquity and every drop of the sins
of His people, ran down and gathered into one
vast lake, deep as hell and shoreless as eternity.
All these met, as it were in Christ's heart, and
He endured them all."
He was the only One who could wipe out the
sin of all mankind, and He did just that for us.
Spurgeon said this about this selfless act of
God's Son: "the marvel of heaven and earth,
of time and eternity, is the atoning death of
Jesus Christ. This is the mystery that brings
more glory to God than all creation."
There is nothing we could do to save ourselves.
Any current good deed would be the right thing
only for that moment, and it wouldn't pay for
anything past. We were spiritually bankrupt;
only a sinless person could pay our debt:
"For when we were yet without strength, in
due time Christ died for the ungodly."
For scarcely for a righteous man will one
die: yet peradventure for a good man some
would even dare to die.
But God commendeth His love toward us,
in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us.
Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
For if, when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled we shall be saved by His life."
(Romans 5: 6-10)
I was talking to a guy
in the mall one day,
trying to make him
understand what the
blood of Jesus had
done for him. As we
were talking the alarm
buzzer went off because
the salesperson had
forgotten to remove the security tag from an
item.
I asked the guy "if someone left the security
tag on your jeans and you walked out of a department store, what would happen?" He
replied that the alarm would go off. I said,
"Here is a word picture for you, imagine
that the gates of heaven have sensors and you walk through, only one thing will set the alarm
off, what would that be?"
His answer was "My sin."
I said "exactly, but if all of your sins have
been forgiven and washed away, can you
walk through those gates once you walk off
planet earth forever?"
His eyes suddenly lit up and he said, "Yes!"
Just like none of us wants that alarm to go off
when we walk out of a store , we most definitely don't want that alarm to go off when we try to enter heaven.
The blood of Jesus, when you trust in it, will
wipe away all of your sins. Period. No alarm
will be going off as you approach the throne
of God.
next post tomorrow 3rd February
ONE HEARTBEAT AWAY
When Jesus rose from
