Posts Tagged ‘ Cross ’
Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!
Psalm 126:5, ESV
God is a Comforter. He sees our tears, our pain and trouble. He has redeemed these through the cross.
Believe in Him, and find the joy that surpasses understanding!
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
Psalm 51:1-2, ESV
We are woefully wicked in our sin. Thanks be to God for showing us grace and mercy through the cross to blot out that sin!
For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1 CORINTHIANS 1:18, NASB
The message we share sounds foolish to the world.
Be ready for that. Do not be ashamed of sounding foolish. That is being ashamed of His saving work.
Be strong in the power of Christ.
People ask if the the Bible is reliable, that it can be trusted as authentic and historical. (See the video on YouTube by clicking this sentence.)
There are a few items that prove the historicity and reliability of the Bible.
To begin with, in the last 20 years alone, several archaeological discoveries have been made confirming the existence of Kings David and Solomon, as well as much of ancient Israel from Biblical times, including NT times.
One of the greatest discoveries was the Dead Sea Scrolls, collections of biblical manuscripts dating from before the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 and even before the time of Christ. These scrolls contained much of the Hebrew Bible, confirming that existed it before Jesus’ time. This is important, because it means the prophecies of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection existed prior.
What about the New Testament?
First, if we want to discuss numbers of manuscripts, as a whole there are about 24,000 of the New Testament, and the four Gospels alone have nearly 6,000 copies from early on, possibly as early as late first century or early second century. This is within 100 years of Jesus’ and the Apostles’ lives. Even further, we know the majority of the gospels were written before 70 due to Paul – who was killed by 64 – quoted Luke 10:7 in 1 Timothy 5:18. By contrast, the next closest ancient document is Homer’s “The Iliad” with 643 manuscripts from over 500 years after Homer lived.
This should be enough to convince anyone, but just in case, the ultimate proof is that Jesus corroborated much of the OT and said His testimony is true. His proof was that He predicted His own death and resurrection (See Luke 20-22), adding validity to His claims by being crucified and rising again.
Therefore, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, “For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (vv. 16-20)
In other words, the resurrection proves the Bible is true (by backing up Jesus’ claims). (See also the series beginning with this post.)
Wanna debate, challenge, or question what was said here? Leave a comment below or send us an e-mail at Together@asimplemanofgod.com.
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
1 John 4:9, ESV
The ultimate proof of God’s love for us?
He sent His only Son to die on a cross that we may be brought into eternal life with Him (by simply believing in Him.)
My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
Isaiah 26:9 ESV
Do you yearn for and earnestly seek the Lord?
One of the reasons we see unpleasant things happen in this world is that He allows or even orchestrates them for our righteousness.
Case in point: Jesus was born to die on a cross.
And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.
Mark 8:34-35, ESV
God’s primary concern is not our happiness and comfort in this life.
God’s primary concern is His glory through the salvation of His people. That frequently takes sacrifice and suffering, as our greatest example (Jesus) gave us through the cross.
