The Gospel message of Jesus Christ is the theme of the entire Bible.  The Reader’s Digest Condensed version of the Gospel appears in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and the He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”

There you have it.  Like the three legs of a stool, Paul presents the three legs of the Gospel:

1.      Christ crucified
2.      Christ buried
3.      Christ risen

Notice, it all happened, “according to the Scriptures.”  The Gospel which originated in the heart and mind of God was not a divine after-thought.  God didn’t call a time-out to come up with a last-minute game plan change after Adam and Eve fumbled in the Garden.

In His foreknowledge God knew in advance what would happen.  Isn’t He amazing?!  So God made provision prior to the creation of the world (Rev. 13:8).  Then He started talking about it, “through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 1:2-3).  The events of the Gospel were all predicted and promised beforehand by Old Testament prophets, and they all happened precisely according to plan. 

Thomas Jefferson, a somewhat religious man, could never accept the miraculous elements in Scripture.  So he edited his own special version of the Bible in which most references to the supernatural were deleted.  The closing words of Jefferson’s Bible are these, “Now, in the place where He was crucified, there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.  There laid they Jesus and rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.”

Thank God that isn’t the way the story really ends!  The Gospel doesn't end with the words, “Christ died and was buried.”  It ends with this great declaration, “He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”  Christ is risen.  He is risen indeed.  And that is the Gospel truth! 

Pastor Todd Weston

“Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen, nobody knows my sorrow…”  So says the old spiritual.  But that’s not quite right.  In Exodus 3:7 the Lord said, “I have surely SEEN the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have HEARD their cry because of their taskmasters, for I KNOW their sorrows.”

For 430 years the Children of Israel had lived in terrible bondage in the land of Egypt.  Their suffering was so great and had lasted so long they must have thought God had forgotten them.  Worse still, maybe He had abandoned them. 

Not true.  In Exodus 3:7 God referred to the Children of Israel as, “My people.”  He didn’t tell Moses, “They are your people.”  He said, “They are My people!”  He sent Moses to tell Pharaoh, “Let My people go.”  God still claimed them.  He still loved them.  And He was very much aware of their pain and predicament.

God said in v8, “So I have come down to deliver them.”  In Isaiah 64:1 the prophet cried, “Oh, that You would rend the heavens!  That You would come down!”  That’s exactly what God did, and He sent Moses to deliver Israel from the slavery of Egypt.  That’s exactly what He did again in the Person of Jesus Christ whom He sent to deliver us from the slavery of sin. 

Here’s a news flash:  God still sees, hears, and knows.  His heart is still moved with compassion.  He still comes down to deliver.  As the famous Anglican preacher, J. Stuart Holden, once noted, “Heaven with all its holiness is always touching earth with its heartbreak.”

Are you hurting today?  Feeling like no one knows or cares?  There is One!  He sees your pain, hears your cry, and knows your sorrow.  But best of all, He is the God Who comes down.

Pastor Todd Weston

There has been a lot of conversation surrounding the new TV mini-series, The Bible.  Wikipedia reports that the first episode which aired on March 3rd was seen by 13.1 million people, the largest cable television audience of 2013 to date.  The husband/wife team of Mark Burnett and Roma Downey were inspired to do the series after watching watching Cecil B. DeMille's version of The Ten Commandments.

The mini-series has sparked controversy in the Christian community because of its occasional departure from the biblical record (i.e. angels fighting their way out of Sodom and Gomorrah, a few hundred Israelites crossing the Red Sea, etc.)  Someone ought to call the History Channel and tell them to pull the series off the air.  “Not so fast,” the apostle Paul would caution.

The Book of Philippians was written by Paul from a Roman prison.  While Paul was cooped up in jail, others were taking to the streets and preaching the Gospel.  But not all of them were doing it right, or for the right reasons.  Some of Paul’s friends appealed to him to do something to stop this travesty.  But Paul’s response was, “Why? In every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice” (Phil. 1:18).

As for the mini-series, the occasional inaccuracies will not undermine the faith of true believers, and the program certainly has the potential to start the conversation with unbelievers.  So don’t fret.  Rather, rejoice!  Christ is being preached, and a lot of people are listening.

Pastor Todd Weston 

Read Romans 13:11 and you will find that the word “time” appears twice in that verse, “And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.”  

The one English word “time” translates two Greek Words. 

     1)   The first Greek word is kairos which means time as an era, a season, an age, or a window of opportunity.
     2)    The second Greek word is hora from which we get the word “hour” and speaks of chronological time (i.e.
            seconds, minutes, hours, days, etc.).

Paul is telling us that in light of the kairos – the age in which we live, the season of prophetic events, the window of opportunity God has provided; it is now the hora – the moment, the hour, the day – to awake out of our spiritual sleep because the coming of the Lord is nearer now than when we first believed.

There was a farmer who before going to bed every night always set his alarm clock to go off at 4:00 a.m.  Every night the clock would give a little chime for each hour:  twelve chimes for midnight, one chime for 1:00 a.m., and so on.  But on one particular night when the clock struck midnight it malfunctioned, and instead of giving twelve chimes it gave thirteen.  Hearing this, the farmer jumped out of bed and, while pulling on his overalls, said to his sleepy wife, “Honey, get up.  It’s later than it has ever been before!” 

I agree.  It’s later than it has ever been before!  So wake up (v11).  Cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light (v12).  Jesus is coming again.  Are you ready?

Pastor Todd Weston