A letter from St. Peter

I decided to allow Peter, the fisherman who became one of Jesus' 12 disciples to guest here today. Here's Peter.

"All honor to God, the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; for it is his boundless mercy that has given us the privilege of being born again so that we are now members of God's own family.

Now we live in the hope of eternal lfie because Christ rose again from the dead. And God has reserved for his children the pricesless gift of eternal life, it is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.
And God, in his mighty power, will make sure that you get there safely to receive it, because you are trusting him. It will be yours in that coming last day for all to see. So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though the going is rough for a while down here.

These trials are only to test your faith, to see whether or not it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests gold and purifies it--and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold; so if your faith remains strong after being tried in the test tube of fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day of his return."

There is much more to encourage you in Peter's letter. I used 1 Peter 1:3-7 from the Living Bible Paraphrase. But the message is there in other translations as well.

Be encouraged!  God has set us free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8).

GRIEF: NO MORE TEARS OR DEATH

 “Jesus wept.”

The words are found in John 11:35, and in my day any child who memorized scriptures knew that verse. The passage was popular during Bible memory competitions and often would be the first to be recited.

Why would Jesus, the Son of God, cry?

His friend, Lazarus, was dead. As soon as  Martha saw Jesus, she told him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. But even now, whatever you ask of God, God will give it to you.”

The woman wasn’t telling Jesus anything He didn’t already know. Jesus knew who He was—the eternal Son of God. But Jesus also knew Lazarus. He was a special friend.

Jesus assured Martha that her brother would rise again, and the woman full of faith answered, I know that she will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.

“I am the Resurrection and the Life,” Jesus answered. He that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25-26).

Mary came out of the house weeping and fell at Jesus’ feet.  She told Jesus the same thing her sister did: “If you had been here our brother wouldn’t have died.”

Relatives and friends stood by grieving.

Jesus groaned in his spirit and was troubled. “Where did you lay him?”

They said, “Lord, come and see.”

But Jesus, groaning in His spirit, cried. Tears tumbled down the cheeks into the beard of the Son of God while grief tore at His insides—just as it does us when we lose a loved one.

Scripture tells us Jesus was tempted in all points as we are, and apparently he experienced many of the same emotions we do when he walked the earth in flesh and blood. We mortals sometimes experience anger, or confusion, our faith becomes tattered, and some turn their backs on God when they lose a loved one.

Not long ago I heard of a good Christian man whose baby, profusely handicapped at birth, quit serving the Lord when the child died and the father hasn’t entered a church since.

Yet, the same Savior who cried at a funeral and sees every sparrow that falls came to earth to bring eternal life to every person. That father’s little child is whole in heaven and Jesus cared when it died. Sickness and death came about because of sin and Jesus came to destroy the curse Satan brought on mankind—death.

 At Lazarus’ tomb Martha knew what Jesus was going to do. “But Jesus, my brother has been in the grave four days. By now the body will be decaying” (my paraphrase).

Then they took away the stone in front of the cave-tomb and Jesus, still groaning, suddenly shouted, “Lazarus! Come forth.”

Lazarus stood up, wrapped up in burial clothes like a mummy and was able to move his feet enough to get outside where they could unwrap him.

Jesus had power over death there, and He had power over death Himself when He walked out of the tomb after three days.

Jesus had said, “He that believes in me will never die.”

When we read or recite John 3:16, we should remember Jesus’ tears over a friend who died. The love mentioned in the verse means something: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

Jesus wept because He longs for the day when death is no more. “God will wipe away every tear for their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pan, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

Swallowed by LIFE--A glimpse into the book

From the Preface:

Several million U.S. citizens suffer from terminal and chronic illnesses at any given time. Fear and grief are natural responses for the patients and their families and friends. Yet, we’re all terminal. No one will get off this earth alive in his mortal state.   But evidence shows we’re more than a body. Just ask the person who lost a hundred pounds, someone with a transplanted heart pumping his blood, a patient who has had part of his brain removed, or the soldier with no legs. Study regenerative medicine and you’ll understand the experts estimate our skin completely rebuilds itself every seven days or so, and with the exception of our neurological system, almost every single cell in our body is replaced every seven to ten years.

           As a former medical reporter for a daily newspaper, in this book I reveal how science shows us that death is swallowed by life every day. I also examine the words of Jesus Christ concerning eternal life, as well as testimony from witnesses about His death and Resurrection. In addition, I tell the story of a man who was clinically dead, but revived; I interviewed medical professionals and did other research about life and death.
        This book grew out of my search for everything that testifies of eternal life after we lost our thirty-one-year-old daughter to a deadly form of lymphoma. When she died, I needed to find out if I believed what I previously thought I did. Was I still certain that those who accept the Redeemer God sent and His sacrifice for sin will never die? Was I still sure heaven exists?
       Swallowed by LIFE hinges on this scripture: “While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life” (2 Corinthians 5:4 NLT).
        We’re talking about victory over death here. The Apostle Paul also put it another way in his first book to the Corinthians:

I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory’ (1 Corinthians 15:50 NIV).

 Only our Creator knows how many days we have here. I often think of the patient who was in hospice twelve years before his death, able to enjoy life and family long after diagnosis of the fatal disease.

         We don’t abandon our faith by looking at our eternal future--we build it. If the Lord allows me to live a century, I’ll still need to be prepared for the time He calls me home.
         I’ve discovered life is a powerful force, and all life is supernatural because our Heavenly Father created it. In this book I share the wonder of it all.
         Use the question and answer sections after each chapter for review, or discussion, or to test what you have learned. If your class is a 13-week session, I suggest dividing two longer chapters and using the last day for discussion and sharing.

A tombstone and a cross

Ever noticed the contrast between a tombstone and the crosses that line up in a perfect grid in a cemetery?

These symbols speak to us no matter how cloudy the day, how long the grave has been there, or how elaborate or inexpensive the headstones are.

Both of these emblems tell us something. A tombstone says, "This person lived on this earth, laughed, loved, worked, sang, and other people loved him.

The cross, not a crucifix, but an empty cross, signifies that this person who walked the earth but now has departed from his earthly home may sometime come to life as the dry bones Ezekiel testified would come together one bone and joint at a time, as Jesus walked out of the tomb alive. If the person whose body is in the grave believed in God, repented of his sins and accepted the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross and followed Jesus, according to Scripture, there will be a "coming out" day.

The narrative is found in 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18: "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as those who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
(Apparently they have been with the Lord as spirit creatures, and he brings them back to earth to unite with their resurrected bodies.)

"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of god: and the dead in Christ shall rise first;

"Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

"Wherefore, comfort one another with these words."

Will you and your family be ready for the Second Coming?

             I expect the Lord Jesus Christ to come back to earth for the church during my lifetime and it is important that we and are families are ready not only for His coming, but to also have a strong relationship with God should we die. Here are some good scriptures to hide in our hearts and to share with others not only to motivate them, but to encourage them as well.
         
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            Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mold. “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think.  Then you will learn from your own experience how his ways will really satisfy you” (Romans 12:2LB).
            “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.  If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.  And the world passes away and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17).
            “You are the salt of the earth.  But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?” (Matthew 5:13).
            “Not one sparrow falls to the ground without your (Heavenly) Father seeing it….  And the very hairs of your head were all numbered. So don’t worry.  You are more valuable to him than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:30LB).
            Another thing, Jesus IS coming back even if he delays His coming.  “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout … and the dead in Christ shall rise first; Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
                                                           

SAFETY IN THE EARTHQUAKES OF LIFE

     Our daughter lay dying down the hospital corridor and my heart screamed, “Where are you God?”

      It was the first time in my life an earthquake struck my faith in the message of John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall  not perish but have everlasting life.”

      The Bible says, however, if you build your life on the sure foundation of Jesus Christ you can stand through the storms, even a large spiritual and emotional quakes and the aftershocks, as I discovered.

      The interesting thing about faith is it’s an act of the will. “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see,” we’re told in Hebrews 11:1 (NIV). The scripture further explains: “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command. So that what is seen was not made out of what was visible…. Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him (verses 3, 6).

      When we back up into Hebrews 10 we’re admonished to keep believing, even when our faith has been shaken: “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him” (Hebrews 10:35-39).

            Abraham after living a long life of believing and communing with God had his crises when Sarah got tired of waiting and tried to bring about their desires for a child herself. But apparently Abraham kept believing he would father a son and many nations: ^“And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God” (Romans 4:19-20)

            Sarah did become with child and Isaac was born.

            Through prayer, study of the Word and surrounding myself with brothers and sisters in Christ, I found I truly believing those who have faith in Jesus will never die, but have eternal life.