As Jesus poured Himself out to people during His earthly ministry, He saw some who were diligently obeying the call to death, the way of self-denial (at least on the outside), but not hearing the call to life. The Pharisees, the literal "elder brother" in His parable of the Prodigal Son, worked away in the Father's fields, secretly frustrated that they received no reward from Him.

If you look closely, you can see a great parallel: the prodigal son hugged by the Father just as the sinners were being healed and forgiven by Jesus; the prodigal given the robe of righteousness and the sandals of authority as the uneducated apostles were sent out by Jesus to preach the kingdom and heal the sick. And the climax, the fatted calf slaughtered for the prodigal just as Jesus Himself would be offered up for the sins of unrighteous people. In this parable, Jesus was simply relaying what He was already doing with the Prodigal world. And He was sad because He saw the Pharisees stubbornly staying out in the field, working away, trying to earn the Father's love. Surely His heart must have been breaking as He looked them in the eyes and finished the story: "Son, all that I have is yours! Come into the house!" Come into life, He was imploring.

Used with permission by:

FreshBread

Hayden Andrews

 

Read Acts 1:1-14

The Ascension was part of the work of Christ as our Saviour. It was not the end of it. The Gospel narrative is described by Luke as “all that Jesus began both to do and to teach.” It is interesting to think of words and deeds of Jesus as beginnings. He did not cease to live and work when He went away from earth. He only returned to heaven, where He continued His active interest in behalf of this world. The atonement was made on the cross, but the real work of saving men goes on all these common days. Men are not saved merely by Christ’s death on Calvary; each one is saved by a personal relation with Christ, and by the work of Christ, which goes on in his life from the day he settles the great question until he enters heaven. Thus the work of Christ is going on; He only began it in His years on the earth. The coming of the Spirit was really the return of Christ to this world to continue His ministry. His work is carried on, too, by His people in this world. We are the body of Christ and we are to be Christ to others; Christ would live in us and work through us.

The most wonderful miracle the world ever saw was the raising of Jesus Christ from the dead. The truth of the resurrection is the very corner stone of our Christian faith. Everything depends upon it. If it could be disproved, the whole system of Christianity would be swept away. A Christ who died and did not rise again could never be the Helper and Saviour we need. If the body of Jesus still lies amid the dust of Jerusalem, how can He help us in our struggles, our toils and our duties? If death was too strong for Him, how can we hope that He can conquer death for us? In those forty days during which Christ remained on the earth He appeared again and again to His disciples in different manifestations of His love, and gave them proofs, which left not a shadow of doubt in any heart.

Used with permission by: The JR Miller Archive
Article Source: devotional-hours.jr-miller.com/vol-8/1-christs-ascension.html

Hayden Andrews

"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." (MT 16:25)

Why do we have to die in order to live? Since man ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, we have been under the curse of self worship. Self has been put up on the throne and exalted, and it leads to emptiness every time. Putting ourselves first will never bring blessings, because God’s kingdom doesn’t work that way. He has set up creation so that we receive His blessings when we seek first His kingdom.

Meanwhile, Satan came along and deceived Adam, causing him and all of his offspring to have a me-first nature, the opposite of God. This me-first nature makes it impossible to receive blessing from heaven. It’s terminal. Our me-first nature cannot be cleaned up, dressed up, or enhanced. There is only one answer: we need a me-first-ectomy. As our only hope, Jesus is calling us to remove self from the throne of our life and to place it on the cross. Only then will we have eyes to see Jesus exalted. Only then will we be open to receive the abundant life.

Used with permission by:

FreshBread

Hayden Andrews

Are you drinking enough water? Our bodily composition is over 70% water. Water is needed and used for every cell, tissue and organ of our bodies. It is essential that we provide sufficient amounts of water for our bodily needs. Plus, the regular consumption of fruits and vegetables provide an abundance of nutrients for every cell of our bodies. If we are not consuming sufficient amounts of water, fruits and vegetables, we are lacking in a good dietary foundation.

In the wilderness, God gave the children of Israel exactly what they needed to survive. The children of Israel wanted more than what God had already given them for the moment. Although God had given them exactly what they needed to survive. (See "Psalms 78:23-31")

God has given us everything that we need but we don’t want water, fruits and vegetables, we want fast foods, donuts, soda pop, etc. We complain that fruits and veggies aren’t exciting enough. We want something different than what he’s given us. Are we like the children of Israel? We want what we want and not what we need or what’s best for us. Let us wake up and find and follow Jesus - the Way, the Truth, & the Life. (See "John 14:6")

Karen Minnis
The Way, Truth & Life Club
http://www.thewtlclub.com

As an aerobics instructor, wife and mother of four (2 boys, 2 girls), Karen practices what she advocates regarding Health, Nutrition and Fitness. Teaching primarily in christian/church environments, she helps people understand how to meet and achieve their Health/Fitness objectives.

Karen's Aerobics Music CD
http://www.thewtlclub.com/page5.htm

Karen Minnis

 

“If only we strive to be pure and true,
To each of us all there will come an hour
When the tree of life shall burst into flower,
And rain at our feet the glorious dower
Of something grander than ever we knew.”

We have only successfully acquired the art of living a Christian life when we have learned to apply the principles of religion and enjoy its help and comfort in our daily life. It is easy to join in devotional exercises, to quote promises, to extol the beauty of the Scriptures; but there are many who do these things whose religion utterly fails them in the very places and at the very times when it ought to prove their staff and stay.

All of us must go out from the sweet services of the Sabbath into a week of very real and very prosaic life. We must mingle with people that are not angels. We must pass through experiences that will naturally worry and vex us. Those about us, either wittingly or unwittingly, annoy and try us. Many a young Christian must mingle with those who do not love Christ. Every one meets many anxieties and worries in ordinary week day life. There are continual irritations and annoyances.

The problem is to live a beautiful Christian life in the face of all these hindrances. How can we get through the tangles briers which grow along our path without having our hands and feet torn by them? How can we live sweetly amid the vexing and irritating things and the multitude of little worries and frets which infest our way, and which we cannot evade?

It is not enough merely to get along in any sort of way, to drag to the close of each long, wearisome day, happy when night comes to end the strife. Life should be a joy, and not a burden. We should live victoriously, ever master of our experiences, and not tossed by them like a leaf on the dashing waves. Every earnest Christian wants to live a truly beautiful life, whatever the circumstances may be.

A little child, when asked what it was to be a Christian, replied, “For me to be a Christian is to live as Jesus would live and behave as Jesus would behave if he were a little girl and lived at our house.” No better definition of practical religion could be given. Each one of us is to bear himself just as Jesus would if he were living out our little life in the midst of its actual environment, standing all day just where we stand, mingling with the same people with whom we must mingle, and exposed to the very annoyances, trials, and provocations to which we are exposed. We want to live a life that will please God, and that will bear witness on its face to the genuineness of our piety.

Used with permission by: The JR Miller Archive
Article Source: week-day-religion.jr-miller.com/4-helps-for-worried-week-days.html

Hayden Andrews