Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.Luke 18:10 KJV
Two men went into the temple to pray One a Conservative The other no way! The conservative began with his voice filled with pride And thanked God that he Was an upstanding guy! Then he started to talk All about his good deeds The money he gave and the time on his knees And how he’d avoided the casino and bar And being holier than All those liberals by far!
But the guy in the back Heard his words and just wept He knew he’s messed up and was way out of step With the way that the Savior would want him to live So he just bowed his head and cried “Jesus forgive!”
Now Jesus asks us to consider these guys When we go to church and are wondering why God seems far away and we can’t wait to go And after it all we leave feeling low
Because God made His church Not just for the good Who have dotted their i’s and done all that they should Instead it’s a clinic for the hurting and lost Who are looking for help whatever the cost
So don’t you give up God’s is faithful and true If we just tell Him the truth He'll make everything new!
He'll Make Everything New By Peter Caligiuri Copyright 2023 all rights reserved
I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. Psalm 130:5 KJV
Whether looking out the window at a nursing home or looking out the window at work or school, we all sometimes wonder how we will make it. We ask ourselves where we will get the strength to just keep putting one foot in front of the other. When we face outward conflicts, at least we can see the enemy we are fighting. But when things seem dark and confusing on the inside sometimes, we feel totally hopeless.
If that is your situation today, then listen to the way King David found hope when He was in a dark place. He discovered in a moment of failure that his greatest enemies were actually far bigger than Goliath. David’s fall into sin, left Him so ashamed that he wondered how he could face his family, his friends and responsibilities as a leader. Then, at his darkest moment, David remembered that the same God who had given him hope when he fought the giant had also promised him forgiveness and restoration after he had sinned. God’s word was not weakened by his failure and there was no limit to how much God could restore when he turned his heart towards Him. Just as with King David, God offers us hope and His promise does not have an expiration date. We have not missed our chance to ask God for His help. Right now, even if we feel we are at the end of our rope, it is the right time to put our hope in His word. Ask God for His help because today is the perfect day in all eternity to put our hope in His word!
Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there. John 19:41-41
What better day to end this series on the Sabbath than Holy Saturday? This morning I began revising this post from last month, and I recalled that my wife and I used to sing a song titled, “The Little Boy From the Carpenter Shop” that went in depth on the subject. (I posted a link below if you want to listen) I loved that singing that song, but now I wonder how accurate its interpretation was of what Jesus was doing between his death on the Cross and Resurrection Sunday. In fact, I wonder how anyone knows exactly what occurred after Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus rolled the stone over the door to the tomb? What if on the day that serves as the hinge between the Old Testament and New – what if Jesus simply rested? What if when Jesus said, “It is finished!” and gave His spirit into his father’s hands He had one day without sorrow, suffering or demands of any kind? What if after three and a half years of ministry, in which it was said that he had nowhere to lay his head and scarcely time to eat, that Jesus just rested in His Father’s ability to do all that needed to be done for the day?
What if Jesus rested because it was the Sabbath? What if on the same day on which the creation of heaven and earth was completed, Jesus just paused to see everything that was good in the new creation now begun? What if there are times in our own lives when there is nothing more holy that we can do than nothing? What if on this Holy Saturday we quietly reflected and rested in the completed work of Jesus Christ? The Apostle James told us that we could see His faith by his works; however, it is equally true that there are times our faith is by shown by what we choose not to do. Just as by faith we die with Christ and are raised by Christ, there are also times when by faith He calls us to rest in Him and with all our hearts trust God to do the rest!
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