Easter - Notoriety

The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning of notoriety as ‘Famous for some bad quality or deed’. In April 2015 Andreas Lubitz committed an act of notoriety! Downing the Germanwings plane in the French Alps put him among a tragic group of men. Perhaps he does not equal Hitler’s henchmen in notoriety by murdering millions of Jews and other nationalities in their deliberate plan to conquer the world. But that is no consolation to the 150 families who mourn their loved one’s death caused by this futile criminal act.

Blood

All photos are courtesy of Unsplash 

Using an average of 80 beats per minute, the heart beats around 115,000 times a day. Although a typical adult human body contains near to 5 litres of blood, the heart pumps the equivalent of 7,500 litres of blood a day through around 60,000 miles of blood vessels. That is equivalent to more than twice the circumference of the earth’s surface, and some of the blood vessels are as thin as 5 microns — that is 5 thousandths of a millimetre, thinner than a human hair.

Who was Jesus?

Photo courtesy of Storyblocks

Mar 15:39 And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.

Photo courtesy of Storyblocks

 All that the centurion witnessed on that historic day brought him to this conclusion ‘truly this man was the Son of God’ As we consider all that the Saviour said and did, we conclude the same. How fundamental is this truth in days when so many try to deny it!

 Our passage today brings us to Calvary and reminds us of all that happened there. This day was pivotal in the history of the world. It was planned before the world began, spoken of in the Garden of Eden and illustrated by pictures and type throughout the Bible.

The Lord Jesus Christ is at the centre of these events as the Lamb of God that bears away the sin of the world. Have you been to the foot of the cross and realised what the Saviour did for you? Have you bowed the knee in repentance and believed in your heart that it was for you personally that He died? Do you believe that the man who died on that cross that day was none other than the Son of God? If not, then this remains the single most important thing that you can do in your life. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved!

Jesus Christ was a unique man. He was unique in His birth; born of a virgin Mat 1:23. He was unique in His life; in Him is no sin 1 Jn 3:5. He was unique in His death; death had no claim on Him. He was unique in His resurrection. There have been those who set out to disprove this truth of the resurrection and ended up writing about the evidence that supports it after they themselves came to trust the one that they wanted to disprove. Truly this man was the Son of God!  

4 Tests of a real Christian - 1 John 5:1-12

These verses are quite amazing. Read them and think about them. There are proof texts in this chapter so that a person can know if they truly are a Christian.

Test 1 - If you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the one sent by God and the one chosen by God then you are in God's family. You will only understand this when God opens your eyes to see and understand the truth about Jesus (verse 1). You cannot accept this truth while holding on to your sin. You need forgiveness which can only come when you repent (turn) and trust Christ for salvation.

Test 2 - Love for our fellow believer is evidenced in the fact that we love God and do his commandments (verse 2)

Test 3 - People who are born of God (i.e. in God's family) overcome the world. This means that they don't love the pleasures of world or fall under it's spell. Believers live to please God and not the world around them (verse 5,6)

Test 4 - The person who believes in the Son of God has an internal witness in themselves. This is as a result of the Holy Spirit of God indwelling them.

The internal witness teaches you that God has given eternal life and that life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he does not have the Son of God does not have life.

How does this match up to your life!

1 John 5King James Version (KJV)

5 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.

2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.

3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.

7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.

9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.

10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.

11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

To access podcasts and videos explaining the good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ visit www.seekthetruth.org.uk

this site will give you access to Bible Teaching Audio's and Video's as well.

Are Christians hypocrites? - 1 John 3:11-24

The truth is that Christians can be hypocrites but thankfully most are not! Having said that we are all flawed and make mistakes; the word of God says 'For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God'.  It is the teaching of scripture that Christians should love one another and love their neighbour as themselves - today's passage from the bible states this clearly. It's a hard standard to live up to but God gives help to those who are prepared to trust him.

When people claim that Christians are hypocrites I always ask them to have a good look at the life of Christ. He was no hypocrite! He was, and is, holy, pure and undefiled by sin. That is what qualifies him to be my Saviour!

Christ died for our sins and if you repent (turn from your sin) and trust him he will clear your guilt and give you the strength to live for God's glory and pleasure.

1 John 3:11-24

11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

12 Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.

13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.

14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.

20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.

21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.

22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

To access podcasts and videos explaining the good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ visit www.seekthetruth.org.uk

this site will give you access to Bible Teaching Audio's and Video's as well.

Jesus who?

The Lord Jesus Christ is no ordinary person. I make this statement in the present tense because the Lord Jesus is not just a figure of history but he is, today, still alive in heaven. I don't mean alive in the way we might think about a relative who has died and hope is now in heaven (as a Christian I believe people who have turned from their sin and accepted Jesus as their Saviour will be in heaven when they die but this is not my point at the moment). I mean that Jesus is alive, physically in heaven. Your response might be - impossible and unbelievable! 

The record of the life of Christ is all highly improbable if you ignore the key ingredient, God. I agree that believing that Jesus was more than a man, lived an absolutely faultless life, could do miracles, somehow became accountable for sin and evil and died to pay the price to deal with it on a cross outside Jerusalem and finally three days after his death came back to life. Add to that he lived on earth for forty days after his suffering, death and resurrection and physically rose from the earth and passed through the sky and space into the presence of His Father, God in heaven itself. On a purely rationale level this sounds like I am stretching facts and calling it truth! 

BUT WHAT IF......

A careful analysis of the facts points to Jesus being the Son of God!

The evidence points to it being statistically impossible for the historical predictions (the bible calls them prophecies) being fulfilled accurately being mere coincidence!

It was impossible to deceive so many historians and eye witnesses on a such a grand scale!

The probability of it being the truth is higher than the probability of it being a lie?

I believe that this is the truth of the matter. I believe that the evidence to the authenticity of the bible is there if you care to look for it. I believe there is no other honest conclusion that you can come to about who Jesus is if you are prepared to genuinely look at the facts.

In support of this the bible clearly states: 'these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you might have life in his name', John 20:31. 

Why not have a look at some bible teaching videos or podcasts about the Bible at www.seekthetruth.org.uk

Jesus - Liar, Lunatic or Lord?

Can I say first that the Lord Jesus was most humble and unassuming!

You will search in vain to find any proud, arrogant, assertive statements about himself. 

BUT you will never find a denial about who He is. 

All of this is a fulfilment of another bible prophecy - Isaiah 42:2 "He shall not cry, nor lift up, not cause His voice to be heard in the street". 

Note when He had carried out a miracle he often instructed the person not to go and broadcast what had been done, see Mark 7:36 "And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more He charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it".

THE LORD JESUS LEFT ANY RECOGNITION AND ACCLAIM TO BE GIVEN BY HIS FATHER, GOD, MEN AND WOMEN WHO RECOGNISED HIM FOR WHO HE IS - HAVE YOU?

God spoke from heaven - "this is my beloved Son/Thou art my beloved Son as recorded in Matt 3:17, Matt 17:5, Mark 1:1, Luke 3:22, 2 Peter 1:17

Men said - Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God - Matthew 16:16

Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel - John 1:49

I perceive that thou art a prophet - John 4:19

Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ - John 4:29

This is indeed the Christ the Saviour of the world - John 4:42

You have to decide who you think Jesus is? This is not an option! Either you decide in life and come to know Him as your Lord and Saviour or you leave it or ignore it and find out that He is the Son of God when it is too late to accept him as your Saviour. 

For more information and further explanations of the message of the bible via videos, blogs and podcasts please visit www.seekthetruth.org.uk