An Easter Message for Our Town

The apostle Peter was one of the first witnesses to see Christ's empty tomb. it changed his life forever. Fifty days after Christ was resurrected, Peter preached a short sermon to the people in Jerusalem which caused thousands to repent of the crucifixion and accept Jesus as the Messiah. If Peter was alive in our town, what would he say to us today?

"People of our town, pay attention to this: Jesus of the past was the Savior, given by God to us, who performed many miracles, who revealed mysterious and eternal things, and who taught us amazing truths about God, which we have learned through the Holy Scriptures since we were children.

This Jesus was handed over to humanity by God’s will, for the purpose of rescuing humankind from sin, but we humans, through our own wickedness, envy, and fear, tortured and executed Him, by nailing Him to a shameful and horrifying cross.

But God would not forsake Jesus, nor would He allow His body to decompose in death; instead God freed Him from the finality, loneliness, and darkness of death, and raised Him bodily, so that it was impossible for Jesus to remain dead.

A thousand years before Christ lived, the Holy Scriptures told this about Him: The Lord will always exist and because He sits at the right hand of God, He will never be overcome, cast aside, nor forgotten.

Therefore, all human hearts may be glad and sing forever; our bodies and souls will experience an everlasting hope, because God will not abandon us to our graves, to dust, or ashes; nor will God ever let Christ be diminished throughout history, and across all of Time.

For God makes known to us, through Jesus Christ alone, the paths that lie ahead of us, which will fill us with happiness and confidence; for throughout our lives, we will always be in God’s presence.

Brothers and sisters, let me tell you confidently that the old kings and writers of the past, all died, were buried, and returned to dust. But they were prophets and they knew that God’s words and promises were true. They believed, and waited for the Promised One to come and be the Ruler of the Earth

And all of these prophecies and promises were fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who was resurrected from death; He was not trapped beneath the earth, nor did His body lie a-moldering in His grave. God raised this Jesus to real, abundant, and eternal life, and there were many witnesses to that amazing fact.

Jesus was totally honored by God for what he accomplished with His life, His death, and His resurrection. He is now enthroned with God, for all of eternity. His Spirit remains and influences the entire world. Billions of people on earth are changed by His power, presence, and personal connection to them.

Even although the people who lived before Jesus did not go to heaven before He came, they still believed that He would come and change the world. He would become the Lord of all God’s people. His reign would never end and those who opposed Him would never be able to overcome Him.

Therefore, people of this town, be assured and certain of this: God made Jesus, whom we crucified and killed, the Lord of all Creation and the King of the Universe.

As we hear these challenging words, our hearts should be pierced because of our faithless ways and unholy lives. We should be ashamed of our sins and fearful of God’s wrath. We should be perplexed about how we have often offended God by taking Him for granted and neglecting to honor His Son. And if Peter were actually here, we would be asking him, “What can we do?”

To which Peter would reply: be sincerely sorry for being disrespectful to God, get baptized, and truly seek to immerse your life in the knowledge, worship, and service of Jesus Christ. Without these, your sins can never be forgiven; with these, you will be sent the Holy Spirit to guide, comfort, and counsel you throughout your entire life.

And this promise of God’s goodwill, mercy, and grace will be for you, your children, and grandchildren, and for many generations to come. This is the calling of the Lord. Hear it and obey Him.

Peter would have us listen to his words, both encouraging and cautioning us at the same time. And above all, he would make this plea: “Save yourselves from this corrupt world.”

If we accept the message of the Gospel, by truly believing in Christ who was raised from the dead, then we will be eternally added to Christ’s Eternal Church and everlasting Kingdom on this Easter Day, and forevermore. Amen.

Rhoda - Ordinary people with Extraordinary messages

Podcast version here

Don’t you just love the honest reactions in this story from Acts 12? Christians are praying for Peter to be released from prison, and then when he turns up at the front door, no one believes it. Instead of thanking God for a miracle, everyone is quick to presume that it must be Peter’s ghost. I just love these first Christians – I can really identify with them.

I can imagine that just before Peter arrives, the people are very serious and highly focused with their prayers. “Lord, keep Peter safe and bring him back to us.” “O Lord, free Peter from the satanic authorities that have bound him.” “Lord, bring justice to us by letting Peter return among us.” I’ve been to those kind of prayer meetings myself. All the right words being spoken, but no real heart behind the petitions.

Acts 12:15 "You're out of your mind," they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, "It must be his angel."

When Rhoda persists that Peter is back, they call her crazy and then tell her that she’s seen a ghost. They just don’t believe what she is saying, but why? Is it because she is just a servant? Is Rhoda a young person? Does her opinion count so little amongst the others?

It seems to me that God is doing His usual thing: He selects the weakest and the least to present the good news. Rhoda’s lowly position as house servant is exalted by God; she becomes His messenger, His herald of good tidings.

The world continues to think that Christians like Rhoda are crazy, unimportant, and insignificant. And yet God continues to use the lowliest amongst us to effectively get His message across. We may live in a society of mega-churches and famous church-speakers, but the real work of the Gospel still takes place in the everyday homes and workplaces of ordinary people. The Rhodas of this world may seem to be of little importance, but in the eternal scheme of things, it’s the ordinary Rhodas in the church that bring in more people to Christ’s Kingdom.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, use us in ordinary ways to present Your extraordinary message to other people. In the insignificant tasks and daily routines of our lives, grant us opportunities to serve You and to share the Gospel. In your Holy Name we pray. Amen.

The Invisible Man

Claude Rains was one of Hollywood's best actors. His spine chilling role as the original Invisible Man has remained unequalled.
As Christians, we believe in an invisible Christ, so how can we convince the world that Jesus exists?

Podcast version here

1 Peter 1:8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.

I love old movies, especially the black and white ones. The storylines have a lot of depth to them and the actors are incredible. What passes for movie entertainment these days is just an excuse for extroverts to do something outrageous. There’s no real acting, just gross stupidity.

Anyway, one of the best Hollywood actors in my opinion was Claude Rains. You’ll maybe remember him as Captain Renault in “Casablanca,” or King Herod in “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” or even Prince John in “The Adventures of Robin Hood.” He usually played the baddie in movies, but the three roles that I liked most are when Claude played Caesar in “Caesar and Cleopatra”, Job Skeffington in Mr. Skeffington, and, my all time favorite, as the Invisible Man.

If you’ve ever seen the original “Invisible Man,” you’ll know that most of the time you hear Claude Rain’s voice. It’s absolutely creepy and can still send shivers down my spine. He plays a scientist who discovers a formula for making himself invisible, but the side effect is that it drives him insane. He wants to rule the world and becomes a monster in the process. It’s like “Phantom of the Opera” and “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” all rolled into one. The ending is marvelous, but I won’t spoil it for you!

When the apostle Peter writes about Christ being invisible, he is writing to a new generation of Christians who have never seen Jesus. He knows that his own time is running out and that he is amongst some of the last survivors who knew Jesus personally. His mission is to help this new wave of Christians understand that although they cannot see Jesus, they can feel His presence joyfully in their hearts. He refers to this as a glorious and inexpressible joy.

Peter’s words are also meant for us today. None of us have ever seen the Lord, but we feel His Presence within our souls. The world may not understand what this is like and refuse to believe us, but we know what we feel, and we place our faith on the certainty of that feeling being real.

We may not be able to convince everyone that Christ exists because some are always going to say that “seeing is believing.” But perhaps more people would accept His invisible presence if they could see His Holy influence over our lives. That is our mission; that is our ministry to a faithless world – to show it that Christ exists because our lives exhibit Christian faith, hope, and love.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for entering into our lives and for touching our hearts with Your Spirit. Help us to be vessels of Your love to our community and grant us the ability to let people truly see You through who we are and what we do in Your Name. Amen.