Is the resurrection real?

Big question!

Obviously there are some big and very compelling evidence that Jesus did in fact rise from the dead but first lets go back to the trial of Jesus and have a closer look at what He went through, just to satisfy ourselves that Jesus was in fact dead and didn't just swoon (whatever that is) as some would have us believe.

After his so-called trial and sentencing, Pilate ordered Jesus to be scourged. The Romans scourge was probably one of the most barbaric instruments of torture other than the cross to emerge from the very depths of hell and wielded at the hands of men.

The scourge itself was made of the sinews of oxen and sharp bits of bone which were plaited through it at intervals; so that every time the lash came down on the bare body of Jesus, great lumps of flesh came away from His bones and not just from his back.

A scourging, more often than not resulted in the death of the victim, negating the necessity of an execution. But Jesus was on His mission - the mission of Salvation.

After the scourging they mocked Him plaiting a crown of fierce thorns and shoving it down on his head calling Him "the King of Jews", they pulled out His beard and punched Him in the face.

Jesus survived all of that - It was more than likely a normal healthy male would probably have died through such an ordeal. But then he had to carry that tree/cross through the gates of the city to Golgotha.

Jesus could NOT have survived the crucifixion. The blood loss alone, the trauma, the shock, the nails, the pain would have been more than enough for most.

Roman procedures were very careful to eliminate any possibility that the victim was alive after such an ordeal. The death penalty was waved over the head of any soldier who let a capital prisoner escape.

When taken down from cross - Jesus' body was tightly bandaged and put in a cave with a huge boulder across the entrance. If he did awake where did he go?

How could a 'swooning' (whatever that is) half dead man have moved that boulder? Could these rough, strong guards be overcome by a 'swooning' corpse, considering everything he had gone through?

The disciples were blamed for moving the body of Jesus, but with soldiers guarding the tomb even if they were asleep, the very effort of Jesus' rescuers attempting to move such a huge rock would have awakened them. Anyway the disciples would never be able to overcome the force of Roman soldiers.

No! Jesus was dead when they laid Him in that cave -  So we are left with the Question "Did he really rise from the dead?"

There are just many witnesses that actually saw Jesus after His death - from the very earliest records a whole swag of Jews not only believed but taught that Jesus had been raised from the dead. There is absolutely no dissent at all that Jesus appeared after his death to his followers.

Mary was the first eye witness, followed by His disciples.

The resurrection was so startling at first that many doubted and found it hard to believe.

Therefore, for more than a month afterwards, Jesus supplied his disciples with many convincing proofs that He was in fact alive. Thomas was even shown the results of His horrific death and torture because of his doubts.

A lot of these witnesses were stunned into worship as they laid eyes on the very living form of Jesus.

You, like me may need to be shown the very logic of scripture or others may need to be confronted about mistaken spiritual beliefs or like Thomas some get hung up on the very physical side of Christianity and can't believe, by faith, of the very grace of God.

One thing is certain - Jesus did die! Jesus did rise from dead! without those two amazing facts our faith means nothing - we are like a rudderless ship tossed about on the ocean with no hope of rescue just abandoned to the elements.

Jesus was willing to do whatever it took to in order to help us believe. The chapters in the Gospels regarding Jesus' Crucifixion and resurrection are a bracing slap in the face to all of us believers who are lulled into taking our salvation for granted. We should never underestimate what it cost Jesus.

The false accusations, the rigged trial, the flesh-gouging scourging, the mocking, the beatings, the crown of thorns, the anger of the crowd, the excruciating journey to Calvary, the nails, the weight of hanging on that cross and the sheer horror of being abandoned by God his Father.

The price He paid - The gift he offered - All for us.

Jesus paid it all for us - follow the one man that can conquer death. It doesn't matter how messed up we are we all need to get right with Jesus.

The resurrection is true, lives are transformed and re-birth a real possibility.

Christ is alive - guiding our lives, healing, touching and giving new life - HALLELUJAH!

Why do I keep on Sinning???!!!

At the time of our accepting Jesus as our Lord and Saviour - we were given the gift of the Holy Spirit.

God replaced our old hearts and our old longings which were always rebelling against Him and put inside of us a new heart and a new longing with new desires which enabled us to follow and obey Him.

Although through all of this amazing new birth there is a BIG question that I would pose and try to answer and that is:-

How can we as believers keep from sinning?

This question has been posed to me a few times by Christians - some who have are brand new in their faith and some surprisingly that have been on the road with Jesus a long time and yet struggle with sin, struggle with the uncertainty of being saved at all and struggle with the fact that no matter how hard they strive they just can't seem to get away from the sin which so easily invades their lives and in so doing separates them from God.

I  have also heard of others wanting to become Christians but questioning their own ability to "hold on" to that faith and not being sure if they can live the Christian life at all.

Well, I certainly don't pretend to know all the answers but can only go on what I have learnt from this perplexing question from experiences in  my own life and of course my personal life walk with Jesus.

The last thing I want to project to anyone is the "Well, we are all going to sin, what of it? Sin, sin sin - go ahead - just confess it and that's all there is to it".

In Galatians 5:17 Paul tells us "For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want"

So here we have Paul telling us straight out that we as human beings, saved by grace through the sacrifice of Jesus, have this war thing going on inside of us.

All of us have "in-built" sin inside of us - even though we have been washed and God sees us as pure and clean (when he looks at us He sees what Jesus did for us) we still have the residue, if you like, of sin still lurking around inside just waiting for an opportunity to trip us up.

We shouldn't try to deny the fact that we have this 'in-dwelling' sin inside - we shouldn't try to explain it away or act like it isn't there - or tell ourselves that we shouldn't have it. BUT the thing is that we do have the Holy Spirit as well WOOHOO!! and THAT is what makes a huge difference from us to the world at large.

That is the very thing that makes us different to people who are unsaved and are enemies to God

There is this inner-war thing going on inside all believers. The very moment we accepted Jesus and the Holy Spirit moved in, our old sin-life became so angry that the warfare began!

Unbelievers don't have these feelings of warfare because sin holds no guilt for them - just like we were before the Holy Spirit took up residence and decided to 'clean-house' in our souls and gave us a longing and a desire to do Gods will.

BUT, we also have our humanity inside of us as well - and humanity on it's own is naturally hostile to God and so our human spirit and the Holy Spirit is as it were rivals for 1st place in our lives.

Unfortunately, sometimes, if we don't keep our eyes on Jesus and we are not walking with him in the Spirit then we can easily fall for Satan's old tricks and stumble.

That's why it is so important to 'walk by the Spirit" with our Lord which literally means we do what we do each day by the Spirit of God - we live each day as it comes with all of it's details, trials, joys, triumphs and disappointments, always being lead by the Holy Spirit.

Well, that's fine but how do we "walk by the Spirit?"

What human nature tries to do in our lives is the exact opposite of what the Spirit is doing in our lives. Our human or flesh lives gets it's satisfaction from our independence, other peoples praise, wealth, power and a host of other things while the Spirit is never ever controlled by any of these things.

That is what Galatians 5:17 means  - Our human nature produces desires and the Spirit produces the opposite desires.

So, when we walk by the Spirit we are walking each day with desires that are stronger than those produced by our humanity. And so we are enabled as it were by the Holy Spirit to knock those desires over the head each and every time they try to bubble up the surface.

God's amazing Holy Spirit is the only one who can produce in us desires for God and His way which are going to be stronger than our human desires

To keep walking by the Spirit - we need to pray - Psalm 51:10 says "Create in me a clean heart O God and put a right spirit within me" and that 'right' spirit is the on-going work of the Holy Spirit gifted to us on our conversion.

To keep walking by the Spirit - we need to Trust God  - Faith in Him should not depend upon 'feelings' or emotion - rather than that, God desires us to simply place our faith in His trustworthiness and above all the Promises of His word.
Faith in God is believing His word over anything we may see, feel, hear or experience!!

To keep walking by the Spirit - We need to honour God by our lives - simply doing!! Doing things out of a grateful and thankful heart - things which probably you never thought you would ever do before you became a Christian.
Jesus Himself not only acted but lived by "Walking by the Spirit" - everything He did was done through the Holy Spirit.

Yes, because we live in this world and we still have our basic humanity - we will still sin! - That is a given. But we no longer have to be ruled by that sin.

Jesus came to earth, died and rose again to smash the chains of sin in our lives - we are free from the shackles we no longer have to dwell in the past.

We desperately need to walk by the Spirit - the very Spirit of God! We need to surrender our will to the Holy Spirit and trust that still small voice that directs our wills and our motives.

Simply put, we are to to walk in total submission to the Holy Spirit just like Jesus did while He was here.

So, we will sin while we are here - but to keep on sinning and feeling no shame, no guilt is impossible!

Come to Jesus when we do make mistakes and we will! - He is so ready to forgive - then rest on His amazing and awesome promises that our sins are far removed and that they have no real hold on us anymore.


Friends, like Jesus we can walk by the Spirit - we can act by the Spirit, we can LIVE by the Spirit. We need, like it says in Col. 3 & 2 Cor. 12 - "I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me; for He is both my life and my strength."

Motives

We all have motives!

Some good - some bad - What is your motive for following Jesus?

I would like to think that my motive was all about love, obedience and gratefulness!

We were reading in Phillipians yesterday about how Paul was concerned that some of the "followers" motives were all about self  - they wanted what Paul had - and even though they were preaching and talking about Christ in the correct and right way - their motives were wrong!

It certainly made me think!  - Motives can make us do some strange things - sometimes to the betterment of others sometimes not.

God knows our motives - He understands why we do the things we do - He also knows the very depths of our hearts and the place that He holds there!

God has said through His Word that He wants, actually demands, to be No 1 in our lives and if He is not then we had better re-think where we stand with Him.

Our motives can dictate to us how we react, what we say and where we go.

In Matthew 5:20 Jesus says that we must have "righteousness" exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees and if we don't we will in no way enter heaven. WOOO pretty strong words there but Jesus was not one to mince words - He never did pussyfoot around with what He said.

Jesus was saying quite plainly that if we are going to be His disciples we must be 'spot-on' with not only our actions but also our motives which drive those actions!

Our very motives must be so pure that when under the microscope of the eternal light of God He will find nothing about which to rebuke us.

Now, I hear you say, "Who can stand having the eternal light of God shining on them and finding all their motives, actions and thoughts pure"?

My answer?

No-one, only the very Son of God - Jesus Christ.

Jesus' amazing claims that because of His beautiful/terrible sacrifice on Calvary He and He alone can place inside of us His very own nature.

The very "purity" which God demands would be impossible without accepting what Jesus did for us on that day - Only by accepting His perfect gift can we be 're-made' as it were so that when God looks at us in our sinful state - He actually sees Jesus!

That way even though our humanity per se does not change - He changes our heritage - our parentage - and our very nature and in so doing changes our motives as well.

How are your motives? - Good deeds/actions are not enough on their own.

Wonderful things good deeds! - without them this sad old world would be in an even worse state than it is now - And good deeds are a product of a changed life in Christ and indeed marks that person as being one with Him.

That is of course if that person's motives are right and pure - that their hearts have actually been changed and their lives controlled by the Holy Spirit.


One question we should ask ourselves in all of this:- Will what I am about to do or where I am about to go, glorify God and bless others?

If the Holy Spirit is guiding you then you will know straight away what you should do.

If not, then the answer must be unfortunately that what you are doing is only self-satisfying and will not bring lasting happiness to you or glory to God.

Think about our motives in everything we do this week - where we go - what we watch - who we spend time with and our conversations.

A Spirit filled life is a fulfilled life - a self-satisfying life is temporary happiness at best.

Hold On - Press on - Hang on tight!

"Sometimes life just seems to get the better of me." Probably we have all heard that statement many times and in many situations.

You may have even said it or felt it yourself a number of times as well.

Life IS hard - Life can be VERY hard - We can have things thrown at us that can send us completely off the rails if we let it and even cause us to go into deep depression.

Australian statistics are pretty alarming as to the number of people suffering from a myriad of differing depressive illnesses - from very mild to very severe, depressive illness can rob people of their self esteem, their jobs and often sadly their very lives.

www.beyondblue.org.au  describes it like this "Depression is one the most common of all mental problems. One in five people (here in Australia) experience depression at some stage of their lives"

One in five!! WOW that's pretty startling - statistically one in every five people we meet, in theory, have some sort of depressive problem - worry, stress, anxiety, phobias and fear.

Christians certainly aren't exempt from suffering trials, tribulations and worries - there are hundreds of different reasons why we are thrown a curved ball in life and they all have serious potential.

Worry is so debilitating - it steals the joy from living and we can become so preoccupied with whatever the problem is that there is little else left over.

We can feel that we are overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the problem we are facing - we feel alone, helpless, weak and vulnerable.

Worry can rob us of peace, sleep and communication. It can affect our marriage, our jobs and worst of all it can cause separation from God.

Worry can rob us of our prayer life and study of God's Word - we can feel God is not there or that he doesn't care about our problems.

Worry and stress can lead us away from God - lead us to a dark place in our lives and lead us to a point where we take our minds and hearts off Jesus.

Some days we feel we can't possibly make it through - there is nothing absolutely nothing going right - everything has gone pear-shaped - our lives have been shattered.

It is in those dark places of our lives that, as strange as it sounds, is the very time we have to place our utmost faith in God - where we have to praise Him for what we DO have in our lives and look at the blessings that He has given to us.

When the days ahead look their blackest - when there is seemingly no answer to an on-going problem that is the very time we, in faith, have to reach out to God and hold tight and hold on to His promises.

Annie Hawks and Robert Lowr wrote a song which I feel spells out pretty plainly what I'm talking about, it goes like this:-

"When I think I'm going under, part the waters Lord.
When I feel the waves around me, calm the sea.
When I cry for help, O hear me, Lord and hold out your hand.
Touch my life, still the raging storm in me."

Knowing that God loves us is pretty amazing - we are never alone - we never have to face our trials, no matter how huge they are, alone.

He is the one who wants to take our burdens and even in the darkest place imaginable - He is there to shed amazing light and the promise of a better future - all we have to do is hold on tight to Him - he will show us the way.

Jesus has promised us a prize - an amazing prize - an awesome prize, but we need to press on, hold on and with God's help we will have the strength. 

Even though we are battered and scarred in the process, even though we may stumble and bumble along, God's perfect plan is for us all to reach His goal.

When we are sad and worried we can a huge tendency to look on our worries and trials in the most depressive way - everything takes a mammoth amount of trouble - everything looks like it is working against us.

To every dark side - every sadness - every worrying time, there is often a brighter side - we as Christians need to hang on tight to those 'bright' sides of our problems.

As Charles Spurgeon once said "Even the darkest underground mine often yields a vein on pure gold" and again "Samson's lion yielded honey, and so will our adversities, if rightly considered."

Faith's way of walking is to cast all of our cares on the Lord and then anticipate good results from even the worst of calamities.

Even in the face of death itself - we Christians can look beyond the grave to the amazing light of the resurrection - sure and steadfast in the knowledge that Jesus' sacrifice knocked death on the head - killed and forgotten - death will have no hold on those whose hope and faith is in the Lord.

Christians need to hold on tight to Jesus no matter where we are in our lives - whether on the mountain peak or down in the deep dark valley.

Living close to Jesus we are covered with the very wings of God himself - His wings of protection - his wings of peace and underneath us are His everlasting arms.

We have all had difficult roads travelled in the past and we are sure to have more in the future - whatever the case - whatever condition we are in, we will need Jesus.

Hang on tight to His hand - Hold on to His promises and press on to the Goal.