Category: Jesus

real questions: kill Jesus?

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Ned Anzers: Did Jesus have to die? And why did Jesus have to die?

We often forget that these questions were posed the day Jesus died (Matthew 27:37-43). That horrid Friday afternoon Jesus was taunted and mocked before his death to come down and save Himself. Yet Jesus did not come down. He died that day.

There are 2 possibilities of why Jesus didn’t save Himself, either He could not or He chose not to do it. Which you believe depends on who you think Jesus is. This is what I believe:

1.  Jesus could have saved Himself.

Jesus could have stopped His arrest (Mt.26:52-54). During His earthly ministry Jesus did chose to save Himself multiple times from death. He escape from kill-hungry mobs: throw Him off a cliff (Lk.4:28-30), stone Him (John 10:39), and strangle Him (Jn.7:30), but no one could touch Him for it was not time…He would disappear into the crowd.

2.  Jesus chose not to save Himself.

Jesus went to Jerusalem knowing that His enemies were there ready to kill Him (Mt.16:21; 17:22-23; 20:17-19). In fact, Jesus knew the kind of death He was going to face (Ps.22:7-18) This prophecy was given hundreds of years before there was such a thing as the Roman crucifixion.

3. Jesus chose to die as the ransom (Mt.20:28).

When we hear the word ransom we think of hostages being held captive by bank robbers or terrorists. They have a note demanding payment or the hostages will die. In the days of Jesus it was similar. Ransom was often paid to release people from slavery. All because of sin I am guilt as charged.

The verdict: sin (Rom.3:23)
The sentence: death (Rom.6:23).
The prison: hell
The Judge: God (Rom.5:8a)
The Ransom: Jesus (Rom.5:8b)

How is Jesus death a ransom? Jesus came to release us from spiritual slavery. Sin has a serious price tag. No amount of money or stockpile of good deeds can meet the demand of the ransom. Jesus death paid my ransom. A sinful man cannot die for another sinful man. But Jesus was sinless. Jesus took my place. He chose to die for those who hate Him. Sometimes we wish God would just keep out of our business, but God made our sin His business. It was something He was born to do. He lived to die. Jesus was the perfect plan to pay my ransom: God’s justice demanded a ransom (punishment for sin), and God Himself is the ransom (payment for sin).

real questions: prove it?

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Ned Anzers: God if you are real…why don’t you prove it?

If you were to draw a picture of God what would He look like? No one really knows what God looks like. Billions of people down through history have tried to paint God in the shape of an animal, as fire or water, in the stars or sun, as distant gods, inner gods, peaceful gods or fearful gods. Some even say there is no God. Almost everybody has a different view of God from each other. Wouldn’t it be nice if God decided to reveal Himself once and for all? Imagine what it would be like to see God, talk to Him, touch Him, sit down and eat with Him.

Jesus says something very amazing.

“Any one that has seen Me has seen the Father.” (John 14:1-14) Many thousands of people saw, touched, talked and ate with Jesus. They kept record of it so that people would know that God does exist. As we read the Bible people tell us over and over again, “God does exist. We know because we met Him.”

Couldn’t these people make this stuff up? Jesus never claimed to be God, did He? In fact…

Jesus claims to be God more than once.

Jesus claimed to be equal with God got people mad (John 10:30-33). He also puts Himself on equal terms with God:

  • John 8:56-58 (Ex.3:13-14) “I AM.”—Jesus claims God’s name as His own.
  • John 8:12; 9:5 “I am the Light of the world.”
  • John 6:35, 48 “I am the Bread of Life.”
  • John 15:1 “I am the True Vine.”
  • John 10:10-11 (Ezek.34:11,14) “I am the Good Shepherd.”
  • John 11:25 “I am the Resurrection and the Life.”
  • John 14:6 “I am the Way, the True, and the Life.”

These are stunning words from Jesus, but they are also dangerous words. It would be like going into Ross Aid Stadium and saying I am a Badger fan.

Anyone can claim to be God, can’t they? Yes. Muhammad Ali said, “I have wrestled with an alligator! I tussled with a whale! I handcuffed lightning, threw thunder in jail! Only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick. I’m so mean, I make medicine sick! I am the greatest!” Ali knew that if you are going to talk this way that you better back it up or else you will be the laughing stock of the world.

Jesus did what He said.

He controlled the weather (Luke 8:24 “stopped a storm”, handcuffed lighting and threw thunder in jail)

Impressive, but that couldn’t it have been a coincidence? Sure. Yet everyone around Jesus agreed that He did amazing things. He feed 5000 people with a boys school lunch box, He walked on water, He cured sickness, paralysis, blindness, deafness, and brought the dead to life. When Jesus walked the earth, it was as if He owned the place. Well, He did create it (John 1:1-4).

Couldn’t He have tricked people into thinking He was who He was? What Jesus did were not tricks. There was no David Copperfield or CGI. Jesus enemies could not expose Him as a fraud. Jesus did not use His power for wealth, status, or fame. In fact, Jesus was prophesied about hundreds and thousands of years before He was born (where He was born, how He would die, etc.). He fulfilled every prophecy.

Jesus did what He did to prove that God exists.

When Jesus walked the earth that He proved God is real.

T4G

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I just got back from the Together 4 the Gospel 2008 Conference in Louisville, KY. Wow, it was a lot different than I had expected. It was great to see all the guys from my seminary classes and ol’ college buddies. I also took home enough reading material to last me a few years or until T4G 2010. They gave away more free books than all the other conferences I have been to combined.

Lesson Learned: Preach on the cross of Christ. Do not be ashamed. Do not water it down to be relevant, do not fear the responses to it grossness and primitiveness. Preach the cross. That is where the power of the gospel rests.

Check out www.t4g.org, all the sessions are available to listen FREE. I recommend R.C. Sproul’s “The Curse Motif in the Atonement,” and John Piper’s “How the Supremacy of Christ Creates Radical Christian Sacrifice.” 

the smoke of a thousand villages

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“I have seen, at different times, the smoke of a thousand villages – villages whose people are without Christ, without God, and without hope in this world.” (Robert Moffat who inspired David Livingstone).

In 1816, Robert Moffat was sent out to South Africa and his fiance Mary Smith followed him 3 years later. After spending a year in Namaqualand, with the chief Afrikaner, whom he converted, Moffat returned to Cape Town in 1819 to marry Mary Smith. She proved to be a remarkable woman and most helpful wife.

In 1820 Moffat and his wife, left the Cape. They had a daughter, Mary Moffat (who was later to marry David Livingstone).

The saying above has inspired many missionaries to take the gospel to unreached people over the years. Today it has become increasingly easy communications and transportation, but  Coca-cola seems to have done a better job at making itself known worldwide than the gospel. I HAVE SEEN, MANY TIMES, THE HOUSE LIGHTS OF MANY HOMES AND CITIES–WITHOUT A MISSIONARY OR VOICE TO SHOW THEM THE WAY TO CHRIST. 

“We have all eternity to celebrate our victories, but only one short hour before sunset in which to win them.” – Robert Moffat

too busy

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“We are too busy to pray, and so we are too busy to have power. We have a great deal of activity, but we accomplish little; many services, but few conversions; much machinery, but few results.” -R.A. Torrey, How to Obtain Fullness of Power  
 
Busyness or fruitfulness-that is the question… Is your life full of meaningful activities or just busy activities? 
 
It’s easy to be involved in many different efforts and good causes, but the truth is, busyness does not guarantee fruitfulness. It also does not authenticate the fact that I am in God’s will. It is the quality of what our lives produce that determines whether or not we are truly fruitful. 
 
One good way to help determine if you are being fruitful or just busy is by asking yourself some questions like: 
 
Am I spending my time doing what helps fulfill God’s purposes for life?
Am I doing what I really desire to do?
Am I using my God-given gifts and talents?
Am I being controlled and pressured by circumstances and expectations of others?
Do I see concrete results-good fruit-from my busyness? 
 
Being fruitful begins with putting God first. John 15:5 says, I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much fruit. However, apart from Me you can do nothing. 
 
In Luke 10:38-42, we read the story of Martha and Mary. Martha was very busy serving, even serving Jesus. She got angry because her sister sat at Jesus’ feet listening to Him talk instead of being busy helping her serve. Jesus’ response to Martha was that Mary had chosen the best thing to do at that time-sit and listen to Him.  
 
I can be a lot like Martha. I have to constantly be busy doing something, even busy serving God. It does take long to figure out that this busyness can have bad effect on your relationship with God and others. While being busy I didn’t want to sit and listen to God, and it made me very angry when others did. Why? They aren’t busy accomplishing “things” like you.  
 
You can never do everything you want. And certainly you cannot do anything on your own strength very long before needing to rely upon the everlasting reserves of Jesus Christ. 
 
Busyness often has its roots in pride. It says, “Look at me, look at all that I can do, and see how busy I am.” If you pride yourself on your busy schedule or ability to juggle a packed day timer, you have a problem with busyness. Make time for God. Be still and wait upon Him. This may be the hardest thing for you to do, but in the midst of busyness it is the most fruitful thing. 
 

The Gift of Worship

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Worship
Worship s a huge thing.
We look forward to worship every week.
When the music includes one of our favorites, we say, “The worship was great!”
When the music stinks, we yawn and wonder why the worship wasn’t very good.
We leave churches because of the “worship style”.
Worship s a huge thing. 
 
Have you ever wondered if we’re more concerned with what worship does FOR us
And less concerned with the Object of our worship?
It seems like it’s more about what we GET not what we GIVE.
It would be like taking a gift to a friend’s birthday party, but keeping it for ourselves.
 
Worship is all about GIVING our lives (again) to God. 
Worship is not about the feeling we receive when we sing.
Worship is not about convincing God to bless us.
Worship is not about whether or not the guitar is too loud.
Worship is not about what’s happening on the stage.
Worship is not about entertainment, lighting or sound.
 
Worship is not about us at all.
IT’S NOT ABOUT US.
It’s about Him.
And we enter through the gateway of the cross.
At the cross, we surrender, love, cry, dream, give up, shut up, kneel, confess.
We look to God, and place Him about all else
Because He is worth it! 
 
Live gets crazy and painful.
No one can deny that.
Job stress, divorce, death, addictions, parenting, loneliness.
No one is asking you to pretend that those things aren’t affecting you.
DON’T PRETEND.
You’re just being invited to bring that stuff to the cross, and to simply gaze at Jesus.
And as you look at Him, allow your response to be
Worship 
 
-unknown
 
 

bearing the scars

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I went to the doctor today. It has been over a week since I had fractured my nose. My visit with the doc lasted only 5 minutes. No, he didn’t fix much in that time. He only told me what my options were. As the doctor put it my nose has had a lot of “trama” over my life time [fracturing it now for the 5th time]. He said that I have broke it too many times just to crack it back in place. The only option I would have to fix it would be to do a complete top to bottom overhaul. In other words, plastic surgery. There is no way. I am not into this. I am sure the cost and pain would be outrageous. I suppose I will settle for the other option…to live with a crooked and bumpy nose. Not that it wasn’t crooked before!?
 
I remember what my nose doctor, Rocky [fitting name for a nose doc], in high school said, “Your nose makes you, you!? He is right. My already deformed nose has character… at least I need to keep telling myself that. Over the pst couple of weeks I have been working on a beard. Its my first time, and no pun intended it’s really growing on me. The beard is a good distraction from the nose.
 
It’s just one more thing to look forward to when I get to heaven someday. A new nose. As Jesus bears the scars of sin on His hands and feet, I bear them on my shnoze.
 
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