Mark 16
The Resurrection
1When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body. 2Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?"
4But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. 5As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
6"Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.' "
8Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
((The most reliable early manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not have Mark 16:9-20.))
9When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. 10She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. 11When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it.
12Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. 13These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either.
14Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.
15He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."
19After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion:
Matthew 27:22-26
22"What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked.
They all answered, "Crucify him!"
23"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"
24When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility!"
25All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!"
26Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
March 24, 2008
Just Jewelry?
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READ: Matthew 27:22-26
God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. —Galatians 6:14
Some Christians make it a habit to wear a cross. It may be on a necklace or a lapel pin. It may be worn thoughtlessly as a decoration or prayerfully to let people know of the wearer’s personal faith.
In April 2006, a Methodist church in the city of Dudley, England, found out that it would have to pay a fee to put a cross on its new building. Yes, a fee was required because under British law the cross is an advertisement. It proclaims to the world, whether on a person or a building, that the blood-stained cross of Calvary is our only hope of forgiveness and salvation.
Our Bible reading today tells us of the cross—the instrument of execution used on our Savior (Matt. 27:22-26). The crowd in anger shouted, “Let Him be crucified!” The cross is a sign of His death, and must not be taken lightly. This should cause us to examine what the cross means to us. Is it a witness to our eternal hope in the saving death of Jesus on Calvary?
While wearing the cross may be a challenging mark of discipleship, far more challenging is our Lord’s command that we “take up [our] cross daily” and learn what it means to follow in His footsteps (Luke 9:23). And that includes a willingness to practice costly discipleship. — Vernon C. Grounds
“Take up thy cross and follow Me,”
I hear the blessed Savior call;
How can I make a lesser sacrifice
When Jesus gave His all? —Ackley
Because Jesus bore the cross for us, we should be willing to take it up for Him.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers:
March 24, 2008
Decreasing for His Purpose
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READ:
He must increase, but I must decrease —John 3:30
If you become a necessity to someone else’s life, you are out of God’s will. As a servant, your primary responsibility is to be a "friend of the bridegroom" (John 3:29 ). When you see a person who is close to grasping the claims of Jesus Christ, you know that your influence has been used in the right direction. And when you begin to see that person in the middle of a difficult and painful struggle, don’t try to prevent it, but pray that his difficulty will grow even ten times stronger, until no power on earth or in hell could hold him away from Jesus Christ. Over and over again, we try to be amateur providences in someone’s life. We are indeed amateurs, coming in and actually preventing God’s will and saying, "This person should not have to experience this difficulty." Instead of being friends of the Bridegroom, our sympathy gets in the way. One day that person will say to us, "You are a thief; you stole my desire to follow Jesus, and because of you I lost sight of Him."
Beware of rejoicing with someone over the wrong thing, but always look to rejoice over the right thing. ". . . the friend of the bridegroom . . . rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease" ( John 3:29-30 ). This was spoken with joy, not with sadness-at last they were to see the Bridegroom! And John said this was his joy. It represents a stepping aside, an absolute removal of the servant, never to be thought of again.
Listen intently with your entire being until you hear the Bridegroom’s voice in the life of another person. And never give any thought to what devastation, difficulties, or sickness it will bring. Just rejoice with godly excitement that His voice has been heard. You may often have to watch Jesus Christ wreck a life before He saves it (see Matthew 10:34 ).
"A Word With You" by Ron Hutchcraft
The Missing Pieces
Monday, March 24, 2008
Our three-year-old grandson was turning out to be quite an engineer. He loved to figure out how things work and loved to build things that do. When he was at Grandma and Granddad's house, he would play with our Lincoln Logs. One day he had built a couple of cabins in the middle of our living room and we noticed he'd stopped and he was just lying on his tummy with his head cradled in his hands, studying the pictures on the Lincoln Logs container. When his mom asked him what he was doing just staring at that container, he said, "There are some pieces missing here." And he began to point out exactly what pieces were pictured on the can but missing in front of him.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Missing Pieces."
Every once in a while we hit one of those seasons in our life when we stop building long enough to realize that "there are some pieces missing here." A lot of our emotional and spiritual searching in life is for whatever missing pieces are keeping us from feeling complete. We seem to be missing the meaning in it all; the purpose of why we're here. We wonder why there's never been enough love to fill the hole in our heart…never any real, lasting peace inside. It's in those moments when we back off from just messing with the pieces for a moment and we stand back to look at the big picture. That's when we're most likely to discover what really matters and what really doesn't.
It happened not long ago to novelist Stephen King when he almost died on a lonely rural highway. Here's what he wrote: "I found that you can't take it with you. I found out what that means. I found that while I was lying in a ditch on a country road, covered with mud and blood. I had a Master Card in my pocket. When you're lying in a ditch with broken glass in your hair, no one takes Master Card. You come in naked and broke. We may be dressed when we go out, but we go out just as broke." And then Stephen King continued, "Warren Buffett, going out broke. Bill Gates, going out broke. Tom Hanks, going out broke. Steve King, broke, not a crying dime. All the money you earn, all the stocks you buy, all the mutual funds you trade, all of that is mostly smoke and mirrors."
At the moment he wrote those words, Steven King was seeing very clearly, and seeing that a lot of what our life is about doesn't really matter. Jesus told us what does matter in one of His ultimate values-clarifying statements. It's in Mark 8:36, and it's in our word for today from the Word of God. He said: "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?" Jesus says that what matters is what happens to your soul. Those feelings that "something's missing" inside are actually echoes of the emptiness in your soul. And if we don't stop, as the Bible says, to "prepare to meet your God" (Amos 4:12), we'll lose our soul forever. The pursuit of this world - its relationships, its accomplishments, its stuff - can cost you your eternal soul. You can be so busy with earth that you miss heaven forever.
The most important stop you'll ever make in your life is at the cross of Jesus Christ. That's where He died to literally save your soul from the punishment for your sins. Ultimately, your God is the missing piece in your life. And the only way to Him is through His Son, the One He sent to die for you. Maybe you've been too busy for Jesus. Then you're fatally busy. God has tapped you on the shoulder today to say, "Stop and take care of your soul, man, while there's time." You can finally make things right with God. You can have every wrong thing you've ever done forgiven, if you'll reach for Jesus and tell Him today that you're putting all your trust in Him, because today is all you're sure you've got.
If that's what you want, I encourage you to drop by our website yoursforlife.net. You'll find there some things that have really helped other people be sure they've begun their relationship with Jesus Christ. It's yoursforlife.net.
Right now, nothing else is as important as getting this settled. You need to be ready for eternity, whenever it comes.
