Read Luke 12:13–31 Are you a member of the 4 am club? Perhaps you haven’t heard of it. The club is for those members who regularly wake up around 4 am and begin to, well they say, think of things they need to sort out. In other words, they wake up not by choice but are woken by the worries of this world.
What do people do when they wake up during the night worrying? They either try to get back to sleep – which, if you have ever woken during the night, you will know the more you try to get back to sleep, the more you can’t – or they worry, trying to sort everything out in their life in the space of a few hours.
What if people wake because God has called them to wake? Not to worry, but to pray?
When God woke Samuel by calling his name, Samuel didn’t realise God wanted to talk with him (1 Samuel 3). What if when you wake up in the middle of the night, God wants to speak to you? What if God is calling you to give him all of your worries?
You see, God cares so much that he sent his only Son Jesus to die on the cross for sin, your sin and mine, so as we believe in him, we are forgiven, have eternal life and are saved from sin, eternal death and the power of the devil. God cares so much that he wants to hear about your concerns and worries and to wrap you in his love.
Jesus asks us this: ‘Who of you can add a single day to your life by worrying? Since you cannot do this why do you worry about the rest?’ If we can’t do that simple thing, to add an hour to our life, which God can – of course – then why do we worry about all things we have no control over?
When you begin to worry, stop, pray, and know that as you seek the kingdom or as you call on Jesus first, all other things will be sorted out. You have the word of the Lord on that.
Lord, I worry so much about the things I cannot change, and then I worry about how I should have changed them if I could. Help me to stop and be in you by your word of promise that you are always with me. Fill me with your love and peace as I look to you first, knowing that everything I need for this life and the next is mine already in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Pastor Mark lives with his two daughters aged 11 and 8 in Redcliffe, just north of Brisbane. He is currently a pastor in the LCANZ and is passionate about sharing Jesus’ love with those around him. Pastor Mark loves to travel with his family to see the wonders of God’s creation and meet people who share their stories of what God has done for them.
Mark 16:1-20 Jesus said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation” Mark 16:15 (NIV) Jesus is risen! He is risen indeed! Easter Sunday is such a celebration day after the sombre time leading up to this day with Jesus’ suffering and death. Today is a day to break open the chocolate Easter eggs because Jesus also broke out of the tomb. God performed the most miraculous miracle today. He brought His one and only Son back to life after so many witnessed His most gruesome death. He had even laid dead in a grave for three days with a battered, pierced body.
That is truly the most wondrous miracle of all. With this also, God not only raised Jesus, but through Jesus, He assured our relationship with Him. What a blessing for us! We read in the Gospels that Jesus was not only raised but he appeared to over 500 people (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). This gave Him many witnesses to God’s amazing miracle that they could testify first-hand. People can be so sceptical. Last year, while travelling through Europe, my husband and myself, went to the city of Trier (the oldest German town) which had Roman ruins from the 170 A.D. There was a Porto Nigra (city gate), amphitheatre and Roman baths from that time period. Even seeing it, it was so hard to believe that these things were built just 150 years after Christ. How is this possible?
We see things, and then we tell others that they too might believe and want to know more. That is what Jesus has commissioned us to do. We have the testimony of all these witnesses to God’s love and His saving actions through Jesus in the Bible. Now we need to go out to the whole world and do the same. As we share the Good News of Easter Sunday to one person, they would hopefully do the same with another, and so on! This is how Christianity spread back in the first century. How about we try it again this year and beyond. Jesus rose for the people back then, also for you and me today. Go out into the world, your neighbourhood, and share this Good News!
Prayer: My risen Lord and Saviour, you rose from the dead and showed yourself to so many witnesses. Help me also to be a witness for you. Amen.
Read: Matthew 27:45-56 “At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.” Matthew 27:51-52 (NIV) I do not enjoy horror movies. Scary things give me nightmares. I still have nightmares from when I was a child and went into the TV room when my brothers were watching “The Blob”.
These days with CGI and everything that movie is pretty lame, but to a child, very impacting and I looked under my bed for many nights after. Jesus performed many miracles and healings through His life on earth and to the people of the day (even for us). The people of the day were unsure about who this Jesus was, but if He could help their family, they would believe in Him. Throughout the Old Testament, God performed miracles through the prophets. But at Jesus’ death, God performs a miracle that many times is glossed over. When Jesus took His last breath on the cross, we hear that the temple curtain was torn in two, signifying we now have access to God through Jesus and not through all the Jewish leaders and priests – our access is direct. But in the Gospel of Matthew, we read of another miracle.
Read again the above verse: “The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.” What power and an incredible witness to the people of that time and to us today. Yes, it was scary, but God raised those who believed in Him that they might also be witnesses to the power of Jesus and His Father God. These raised people were not zombies but restored people of God. After Jesus’ resurrection (not before), they went out into Jerusalem and appeared to many. What an amazing gift of life God gave to the people of that time and also to us today. This is proof that Jesus has now conquered death. We can be confident through the death and rising of our Saviour Jesus, that we too will be raised on the last day to live for eternity in heaven. Through Jesus our eternity is assured!
Prayer: Thank you for assuring me of my eternal life in Heaven in your conquering death itself. I welcome seeing you and experiencing this joy one day with you. Amen.
Read: Isaiah 50:5-8; Isaiah 52:14 “Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. Then they said, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ And they struck Him with their hands.” John 19:1-3 (NKJV) If Jesus was innocent, He should have been set free. If Jesus was guilty, He should have just been crucified; but to scourge Jesus was unlawful, and Pilate ordered this to please the Jews. It seems that the soldiers took this opportunity to then have fun with Jesus before He was crucified as He had caused them so much trouble during His ministry. ‘A scourge is a whip or lash, especially a multi-thong type made of leather, used to inflict severe corporal punishment.’ [Wikipedia] A scourging of the prisoner’s back usually means that much of the flesh is removed by the thrashing of the whip and sometimes metal ends with barbs are added to the lashings.
This just makes my stomach turn to think of anyone being treated in this sub-human way. In the two verses from Isaiah above, it was prophesied that the coming Messiah would be subject to absolute horror and not a word would he speak. His face and appearance would also be so disfigured that He would no longer look human. Jesus knew of this prophecy and yet He obeyed His Heavenly Father so that the prophesies would come to pass. If I were Jesus, I would have had a good case to argue with God that this wasn’t fair, nor was I prepared to have this done to me.
Fortunately for our salvation I am not Jesus. In Isaiah 53:7 it was prophesised: “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” This was foretold 700 years before Jesus’ birth. God had a plan for our salvation from the very beginning and it was through sending His willing Son to the cross to bear all the pain that our sins hold on us, that we can now come into God’s presence and spend eternity with Him. God’s love for humankind is greater than we could ever imagine!
Prayer: Our loving Saviour, thank you for being prepared to suffer and die for me and all the wrong I do every day. I am sorry for my sins and thank you for your forgiveness. Amen