Category: Today’s Truth

Peter tells the people the best part of the gospel story: the resurrection! In Acts 2:24 He said, “But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip.” Since the beginning of time death has had its grip on people. Read through the Old Testament and you will find where it says they were born and they died. Everyone has a beginning and an end.

This was not the case for Jesus. He had a beginning because he was human, and he experienced death as a human with all of the pain and suffering that we experience. But then, God did something he had not done with anyone else. He released him horrific death and raised him from the dead because death could not keep a hold on him any longer. He was God! The grace could not keep Him!

The resurrection is the good news of the gospel. It is what makes the Christian God, the only true God, different from other gods. He is alive!

This Easter season, in the middle of a pandemic, spend some time really pondering the things of God. Thank Him for sending His Son to die on a cross. Thank Him for His plan of salvation from the beginning of time. Thank Him for rescuing you from the darkness and your sins. Thank Him for sending the Holy Spirit to live and move inside of you.

Easter is a time for reflection. As a church, we come together and celebrate His death and resurrection. We begin on Palm Sunday by praising His name and saying, Hosanna to the king of kings!” Then, as we enter Easter week we soberly think about the Last Supper and the prayer Jesus prayed over His disciples. We think about how He went to the garden to pray alone for the heaviness of what He would endure. We think about how Judas betrayed Him and yet He went willingly to the cross.

And finally, we praise Him for suffering and dying on the cross. For going to the grace and then raising to new life to break the curse sin had on us.

“During this time, when about 120 believers were together in one place, Peter stood up and addressed them. “Brothers,” he said, “the Scriptures had to be fulfilled concerning Judas, who guided those who arrested Jesus. This was predicted long ago by the Holy Spirit, speaking through King David. Judas was one of us and shared in the ministry with us.” Acts 2:15-17 tells us. Here is Peter, the disciple who had just denied Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit and immediately begins to preach the gospel. This was the first message about the death of Christ from one of the disciples. Everything the people had waited for was coming to fruition!

It began with 120 believers together in one place, filled with the Holy Spirit. They would see God do so many things through their faithfulness. They would see many added to their numbers. They would feel the presence of God go with them wherever they went. Their lives were changing.

What about you? Are you hungry for this type of fellowship with other believers and for the Word of God? It starts with you. Put yourself in close proximity to other believers; get involved in a Bible believing church!

Everything Jesus foretold while on earth came to be. He suffered on a cross for the sins of the world. He rose again to bring about new life. He walked again with the people so they might see his scars and know that He was the resurrected King. Then, as He was preparing to be raised again back to heaven, He tells the people in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere-in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Jesus’ final words gave a promise that He would soon fulfill. As soon as was raised to heaven, He sent His Holy Spirit to come upon them. Up until this point, the Spirit would come and go, but now He would live inside the hearts of the people, with them forever.

He lives with us today, guiding on us how we should live, giving us the wisdom and words to speak to others about Him, interceding through prayers for us, and speaking truths into our hearts as we go throughout our days.

Each of us has the love of the Father within us if we know Christ. Jesus Christ was love. He loved as only God the Father could love, He taught His followers how to love, and He showed the ultimate sacrifice of love through His death on the cross. Before going to the cross, He knew the task ahead of Him and prayed in John 17:26, “I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.”

What a powerful thought to think that the immense love the Father has for His Son is within us! How can God love us so deeply? He has the intense love He has for His Son living and breathing inside of us through the work of the Holy Spirit. This should change how we see others and how we see ourselves. We can love those hard to love people because God’s love is within us. His love can give us kind words. We can love people who have wronged or hurt us because His love makes it possible. His love heals all wounds. We can love ourselves because His deep love covers our insecurities.

Are you loving yourself and others with the intense love that God the Father has for His Son Jesus Christ? True love forgives, perseveres, offers grace and mercy, and is patient. Afterall, aren’t those all of the things God has done for us?

As a Christian, our life goal should be to know Christ and make Him known. We should live in light of the salvation we have been given and share that message with the world around us. Jesus prays for this in John 17:35: “O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me.” Through knowing Jesus, we have access to God the Father.

When we know Christ and His salvation, we will experience everything He has to offer us as His followers. Just as His disciples walked with Him, soaked up everything He taught them, and gave up everything to follow Him, we should live in the same way. We may not be able to walk with Christ physically, but we can “walk” with Him daily by reading and meditating on His Word and praying. This is the purpose of the Holy Spirit! Since He lives within us, He walks with us, teaching us His Word, and interceding on our behalf just as Jesus did for His disciples.

To know the love of Jesus is to know true, abundant life. Through the Holy Spirit, you have a constant advocate for you, a teacher and guide, and a helpmate. You, dear one, are never alone! Spend some time in prayer and meditation today, truly thanking God for walking with you and helping you through this life.

Jesus pleads for His followers to be with Him in heaven in John 17:24: “Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then, they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!” He wanted them to experience glorification as He would experience through His resurrection. He wanted them to see His glory and the love you have poured out on His from the beginning of time!

Merriam Webster defines glorification as, ” to make glorious by bestowing honor, praise, or admiration,” or “to elevate to celestial glory.” After Jesus’ death and resurrection, He walked on earth again and then was raised to heaven to sit at the right-hand of God. He was given all glory and honor. He made us sons and daughters of the true King through His suffering on the cross as Hebrews 2:10 states, “For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.”

This is glorification! It is the product of sanctification, the end result of our faith. We are promised heaven, an eternity with God the Father and Jesus the Savior! While it is not time for us to experience glorification, we can still live in His glory here on earth through our worship, our service, and our lifestyle.

Jesus’ prayer in John 17:23 shows His true purpose for leaving His followers in the world: “I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.” He would leave them there to spread His gospel message, but He would be in them. His Holy Spirit would come and live and breathe inside of them. They would not be alone.

Imagine how His followers felt as He was led to the cross. And then how they felt as they watched their beloved Savior suffer a death on the cross that He was not guilty of. We see their anguish as there was nothing they could do, but they must have also suffered from fear. Fear of a word without Christ. Sure, He had told them the Spirit was coming, but they did not really understand His words until after everything happened. He had to suffer and die for all of the rest of us. His suffering meant life for generations to come. The world would know of His salvation.

We live on that side of the cross! We know His suffering led to the beautiful resurrection and the life and salvation we now know! Isn’t that wonderful! “The world will know!” May they continue to know of His salvation message because we as the body of Christ are in perfect unity. Strive to be unified!

According to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary, the word unity has several definitions. It can mean, “the quality or state of not being multiple : ONENESS” or “a condition of harmony : ACCORD.” This is what Jesus meant in John 17:21-22 when he prayed and said, “I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one-as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one.” His desire was for the body of Christ to be one, unified body and in one accord! What a beautiful picture of how His church should be.

The trinity includes God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are three in one, unified and in one accord. Everything Jesus did was to serve and please God the Father. He prayed to God. He worshipped God. Everything the Holy Spirit does for us is to serve God the Father. As a body of Christ, we should be the same way. We should live to please God the Father and worship Him. Our decisions should be based on our prayers and seeking after the Lord.

If we are tearing each other apart, slandering someone in the body, or working for ourselves rather than the Lord, then we are not serving God or bringing glory to His name. We should work together in service and in one accord in worship, living and praising in harmony.

What is one thing you hope for your children or the next generation? Do you hope that they will have success and live happy lives? Do you hope that they will have lasting relationships that will bring them joy? Or maybe you hope that your children will grow in the Lord and share the love they have with their children. The message of Christ is for every generation. It has stood the test of time.

Throughout the Bible, God tells us to bind His words on our hearts and minds, or tie reminders on our fingers. His message of truth, the gospel story, who He is must always be in our hearts as we ponder things like Mary did in Luke 2, or in our minds, constantly thinking of the things of God as it says in Philippians 4:8. Deutoronomy 6, Moses tells the people that they must obey God’s commands and teach their children and grandchildren to fear the Lord. He says to repeat them everywhere they go! Write them on their hearts! He tells them that if they do this, they will live a long life.

In Jesus’ final prayer, He prays not only for His disciples and followers, but He prays for the future generations to come in John 17:20. He prays for us! “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message.” So why must we teach our children His message of truth? So that they will believe in Him, write His truths on their hearts, and teach their children!