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John 20:4 So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first.
How do you react when you get life changing news? Do you try and tell people quicker than anyone else or do you simply hide it?
I think we all try to tell everyone when we receive good news, but when we receive bad news we try to hide it. How did the disciples react?
They rand back to their own little group to try and figure out what had happened. Mary was convinced He was alive, but some disciples were not so convinced!
If you hear of something Christ has done, tell it to the world, don’t hide it and try figure out how it is possible; just tell people!
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Luke 23:52 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
Why on earth would you go to the governing people and ask for a dead person’s body?
Well Joseph was a man who was probably well known in the Jewish circles because he was fairly rich, was a member of the council and already had his own tomb bought and paid for.
His plan was to give what he had to Jesus to show his support and love for God. He was doing this in spite of the fact he was probably going to be mocked for doing that.
How far are you willing to go to show your love and support for Christ nowadays?
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Luke 23:42 Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”
What would you ask Jesus if you were face to face with Him? Would you ask for healing, wisdom, grace, mercy? What?
You may not be physically face to face with Him but you are face to face with Him right now!
Jesus wants us to know Him as a friend and as being right here right now with us in every situation.
We may find that hard to accept at times, but He knows our hearts. Be honest and open with Him.
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Matthew 16:4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed.
When we stop trusting in Christ, give up on our faith and allow the doubts to build up in our heads we leave Christ out of our lives.
Just as these Pharisees and Sadducees were being told the only signs they would see would be what was told them in the past, so too Christ is warning us.
Not trusting in our faith means we are only left with what we have seen in the past; there will be a time when nothing new will encourage us.
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Matthew 16:2 He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’;
We seem to rely on many things in our lives, many of which are nothing more than old wives’ tales; yet we choose to ignore many truths from the bible!
When Jesus was confronted with this He referred back to the scriptures written many hundreds of years before.
God’s Word continues to stand firm and true throughout history; take it in and apply it to your own life.
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Isaiah 7:11 “Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above.”
How deep would you say your faith is? Do you think it will stand up to questioning? Do you think it will stand up to physical tests?
Our faith should not be measured against physical limits or tested against what man can do; instead we must simply trust in our faith!
It is not up to us to test other people’s faith or test God’s faithfulness. Instead we must demonstrate our faith so others can be empowered and encouraged by it.
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Romans 9:15 For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”
God is not under any rules or regulations as to whom He should love or show His mercy to.
He has the choice to do what He wants. He is God!
If we were to show love and respect towards only the people we wanted to our circle of friends would probably shrink quite quickly!
God wants us to get out there and love the people He has given to us in our lives; to respect them and show them mercy and support. Just do it!
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Ephesians 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us
The one thing I find hard to explain to people is just how merciful God really is. People get caught up in self-pity or self-guilt and they cannot see how God can every forgive them because they think they are the only ones who know what they have done!
God knows exactly what we have done and still He carried on forward to the cross!
It takes a person who has gone through a whole lot of evil and been forgiven to explain just how awesome God is.
Love God. Love mercy.
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Titus 3:5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit
No matter how much you think you can do you cannot do enough to get yourself to heaven!
God knew that from the beginning and so He prepared a way in which we can get o heaven; through and with Him.
Though we cannot hope to get near to God because of our wicked and sinful ways, He supplied an advocate who gave His life so we would be made absolutely not guilty.
I love my God and I know He loves me!
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Ephesians 4:23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind
What do you think you have in your mind? Some of us will say we have a whole lot of knowledge or wisdom whilst others will say “not a lot!”
When we have a right relationship with God we are told from God’s Word we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us. In other words we have the Holy Spirit in our minds.
Are we going to allow the Holy Spirit to guide us or will we fight Him all the way?
Stop fighting God and allow the Holy Spirit to renew your mind for His work and His glory!
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1 Corinthians 3:3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?
For as long as we keep focusing on the world and worldly things we will find it hard to focus on God and on His word.
As Christians we are so much more than mere men and women, we are children of God and have a bright and eternal future with our Saviour!
Why should we want to behave like everyone else when we can be different and give glory to our awesome God every moment of every day if we choose?
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James 3:16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.
Spending too much time comparing yourself to others will lead to jealousy and to ill feeling about yourself.
In modern society we are often told to look after ourselves rather than the people around us so we can get the best from life; but what does that lead to?
If Christ tells us to look out for those around us and to love them as we love ourselves, and the world is telling us to love ourselves first and foremost, where do we go?
Listening to God will help you to focus on the people around you and allow you to avoid many ill feelings.
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Ecclesiastes 1:18 For in much wisdom is much grief, And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
I know we do strive to learn in our lives and we are taught to try hard at gaining knowledge and wisdom to make our lives better; but is it right to do so?
The answer to this is not that wisdom or knowledge is wrong, but the thirst or greed for it can be very wrong; just like the love for money is wrong, but money in itself is not.
If we spend all our energy on focusing on getting the best knowledge and wisdom into our lives we are going to fall short of the need for both and focus on the requirement of getting the best.
God wants us to learn, but not at the cost of remembering and growing with the truth.
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Ecclesiastes 2:15 So I said in my heart, “As it happens to the fool, It also happens to me, And why was I then more wise?” Then I said in my heart, “This also is vanity.”
How often do you ask God “why me?” or look at something else which has happened and ask God “why them?”
Have you stopped to think about who things happen to, stopped to try and analyse why and when?
I trust you came to the same conclusion this verse has… Things happen in this world to everyone whether you are an ardent Christian or a complete fool.
God does not target people for who they are but for what is best in our lives; we may not agree with those things or the timing of them; many of them are simply caused by people out of control and not by God!
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Matthew 12:34 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
I wonder if you have been called a snake before? I know I have been whilst at boarding school. We used it as a term for calling someone a liar.
If we do not have goodness and mercy in our hearts, then we should not expect to be able to talk and do good and merciful things because whatever is in our hearts will come out in what we do one way or another.
I’m pretty sure the people Jesus was addressing would have taken this to heart themselves and not liked it one bit. It is not nice to have someone point out your bad side when you want to promote a good side.
Don’t focus on the bad but rather try to focus on the good we can do in our lives; good for Christ!
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Psalm 141:4 Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, To practice wicked works With men who work iniquity; And do not let me eat of their delicacies.
It is very easy to get carried away and give in to temptation doing bad things; but actually making a conscious effort to go out of your way and do something bad is very different.
Our laws define a difference between premeditated murder and killing someone because it is the act of planning something like that which is the true evil part.
God does try to give us advice and guide us as we walk in this world; if we are not making an effort to listen in to Him we risk losing it all!
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Psalm 119:176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; Seek Your servant, For I do not forget Your commandments.
This last stanza in this chapter of the Book of Psalms shows how the psalmist wanted God to hear every prayer they lifted up, to consider each one and to answer them.
Why? Because they believed in their hearts God was and is the Good Shepherd who will look out for His sheep just as He had said He would.
Believing God’s Word can be very comforting and uplifting. Knowing God’s Word and carrying it with you is comforting and uplifting.
Believe and trust in our awesome God who can be and is our Good Shepherd.
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Luke 15:4 What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?
When Jesus was speaking to the tax collectors, scribes and Pharisees, they would have understood this parable because they were talking about jobs and positions which were current in that day.
When you want to tell people about Christ, how do you talk to them? Do you rattle off a whole string of Old English words you have read in the bible, or do you use life lessons like Christ?
Don’t leave Christ out of the gospel is what we hear a lot of; but why leave the world out of your discussions when you talk about Jesus?
Relate to people as best you can; you are talking to real people!
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John 3:29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.
How many weddings have you been to where the bridegroom has a trembling or elated voice when trying to say his vows to the bride?
The bridegroom may be the one who is marrying the bride, but the people around him will be able to share in the joy and excitement of the moment because they are there with him.
On some days the bridegroom may sound like he is getting cold feet and may need a bit of encouragement to go forward.
We can share in the joy and excitement of people coming to know Christ by being there with them and encouraging them forward too.
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Jeremiah 33:11 the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who will say: “Praise the Lord of hosts, or the Lord is good, For His mercy endures forever”— and of those who will bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause the captives of the land to return as at the first,’ says the Lord.
How happy does a bride or bridegroom sound on the run up to their wedding, or better still on the day itself? They beam with joy and gladness.
That is how we should be with our relationship with Christ! We should be beaming with joy and gladness at the fact we have this amazing relationship with and absolutely awesome God.
Jeremiah did have good news to bring as well as the bad news; reminders of what God had done and what He still could and does do for us.
That continues on today. God is working for us and supporting us every step of the way; we just tend to ignore most of it most of the time…