Let’s Turn This Thing Around - Luke 24v28-35

They drew near to the village where they were heading. Jesus gave the impression that he was going further, but they urged him not to.

‘Stay with us’ they said ‘it’s nearly evening; the day is almost gone.’ And he went in to stay with them. As he was sitting at table with them he took the bread and gave thanks. He broke it and gave it to them. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.

Then they said to each other, ‘Do you remember how our hearts were burning inside us as he talked to us on the road, as he opened up the Bible for us?

And they got up then and there and went back to Jerusalem. There they found the eleven, and the people with them, gathered together.

They were saying, ‘The Lord really was raised! He has shown himself to Simon!’ Then they told what had happened on the road. And he was known to them in the breaking of bread.

Often times when things don’t go as we think they should we, in our disappointment, confusion and feeling of defeat we start to change direction, break away and go back to doing our own thing. We have a tendency to withdraw from whatever it was the Lord had us engaged in and enter into some sort of pity party or other unhealthy, destructive way of dealing with the situation…could be depression, substance abuse, or any other form of dealing with the core issue. It's going to come out somehow.

Jesus is still walking with you. He may give the impression that he’s ready to move on and leave you like that in order to get you to call out to him ‘Stay with us’. And it is in that moment, the moment when you open the door and he comes in and you sup together, breaking bread and giving thanks, when you share in that meal with Jesus that your eyes will be opened and you will receive the gift of repentance. You will remember the words that he has spoken to you only they will be ‘opened’ to you. And what else is there to do but get back to Jerusalem, and give your personal testimony and remind the people of what the Lord has given us to do as a single body.

I have been studying quite a bit on spiritual warfare recently and the Lord has given us some mighty tools to combat darkness. He continues to work and to reveal and 'open' to us new ways of advancing the Kingdom through new ‘spiritual technology'. He said greater things we would do. And in a world where the ‘golden calf’ has been allowed to grow up into a ‘bull’ placed right in the middle of the city, where mammon and belial, and any number of other wicked spirits seem to be entrenched in daily life, we need faith, courage, weapons and the discipleship to know what we’re doing. It seems to me though that in order to do more than bind these disgusting things, but to get them out of our lives and churches and then to start taking ground from them in the world, we need some repentance. No more rusty swords!

We need to ask ourselves why we have allowed the enemy to divide us on the battering ram of the Eucharist (Holy Communion), the good gift, that mighty weapon that declares to the world Jesus is King! Proclaiming his death until he comes!

‘The warfare we’re engaged in, you see, isn’t against flesh and blood. It’s against the leaders, against the authorities, against the powers that rule the world in this dark age, against the wicked spiritual elements in the heavenly places.’ – Ephesians 6v12

Lets look at it again, together, with fresh eyes and see just how powerful and essential it is for everyone who declares with their lips ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believes in their heart that God raised him from the dead, come together worthily for this meal. Secondly, baptism, another essential drained of its power because of divisions based on logistics and semantics…a powerful weapon that sits on the shelf. Why?

Now, let’s get on with it, back into the city, not asking ourselves, ‘Do I really ‘have’ to do that to be saved?’ It’s not just about that, it’s not just about you! That comes from the evil one!

But so that all covenant faithfulness (righteousness) would be fulfilled. That’s what Jesus did and why, and if you have him, you will do the things he did, you will walk as he walked to the degree of faithfulness you’ve been given. That’s what love looks like. That’s your personal relationship with Jesus that leads unto the Father.

‘Fight the noble fight of the faith; get a firm grasp on the life of the coming age, the life you were called to when you made the noble public profession before many witnesses.’ – 1 Timothy 6v12

Who Was That Masked Man? Luke 24v13-27

That very day, two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, which lay about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were discussing with each other all the various things that had taken place. As they were discussing, and arguing with each other, Jesus himself approached and walked with them. Their eyes, though, were prevented from recognizing him.

'You're obviously having a very important discussion on your walk,' he said; 'What's it all about?'

They stood still, a picture of gloom. Then one of them, Cleopas by name, answered him.

'You must be the only person around Jerusalem,' he said,'who doesn't know what's been going on there the last few days.'

'What things?' he asked.

'To do with Jesus of Nazareth,' he said to him. 'He was a prophet. He acted with power and he spoke with power, before God and all the people. Our chief priests and rulers handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. But we were hoping that he was going to redeem Israel!

And now, what with all this, it's the third day since it happened. But some women from our group have astonished us. They went to his tomb very early this morning, and didn't find his body. They came back saying they'd seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Some of the folk with us went off to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they didn't see him.'

'You are so senseless!' he said to them. 'So slow in your hearts to believe all the things the prophets said to you! Don't you see? This is what had to happen: the Messiah had to suffer, and come into his glory!'

So he began with Moses, and with all the prophets, and explained to them the things about himself throughout the whole Bible.

Life can have it's disappointments.

We don't get into the college we had been trying so hard to get into. We can't seem to land that job will provide that sense of meaningfulness we long for. Our favorite football team can't get out of this losing streak. Our country is ruled by people obsessed with money, power and this global economic empire...people gas our children and publicly humiliate and kill our freedom fighters, all the while our religious leaders are pressing for this elusive thing called holiness and revival, with the more powerful lobbying to implement it by legislating it, enforcing it through violence rather than doing the hard work of making disciples of Messiah, developing character and raising children up in the way they should go. Which equates to not lifting a finger to help the situation, but rather makes it worse.

And yet in the midst of that, we go on walking...having the conversation, arguing and mourning the way things have turned out...it's not supposed to be like this! Why don't they just do what it says in the Bible! The answer, Jesus says, is that they are doing what it says in the Bible...the question is what role are you walking in today? What role is your church playing as a body? The city your planted in? Your nation your planted in? One of faith or one of doubt? One of truth or one of lies? One of destruction or one of healing? One of violence or one of peace? One of darkness or one of light? One of death or one of Life?

Today that's what is set before us, death or Life? I urge you to confront the darkness in you and around you by choosing Life. Chose Life now...and chose it again tomorrow and the next day and for ever more.

Are you in Messiah? The one who prayerfully suffers for the sake of the world and thereby overcomes it? Who refuses to try to overcome evil with evil, but rather to overcome evil with good? Are you one with the only hope of the nations? Or are you walking in the role of the world?

Perhaps you're the young radical who's decided that physical violence or destructive rebellion is the only way to bring healing? Perhaps you're the Sadducee who is just trying to keep the peace, as long as your bank account is filled up and checkbook balanced? Perhaps you've been the Pharisee who knows the bible like the back of your hand, but can't stand the thought of having a beer with the landscape guys, the painter and the unemployed plumber down at the pub? Or maybe you've become like Pilate who just wants to keep all these backward thinking desert people in line and stop them from bringing their violence to your doorstep or worse to upset your boss and then you can forget about re-election?

Or maybe, just maybe...you've come to the foot of the cross...or perhaps you've experienced the cross, that place of death...and on the other side of it you're finding new life springing forth in ways you never could have imagined...perhaps you have found yourself to be a fulfillment of our Lord's prayer...you've been caught up in the love of the one true God and are becoming like the man from Galilee...now you are in the world, but, strangely, you know you are not from the world, your being kept from the evil one, here to boldly announce the King and bring forth the Kingdom, the sovereign reign of God, his glad, wise order. You are a part of a royal priesthood in Messiah, the one they called a prophet, mighty in word and deed...who turned out to be the Son of God.

Maybe...hopefully...you have turned your whole self to our Father, in Jesus' name, and that is exactly where you are at. Want to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling?

This is how it works out. Everything exists for the sake of God and because of him; and it was appropriate that, in bringing many children to glory, he should make perfect, through suffering, the one who leads the way to salvation. For the one who makes others holy, and the ones who are made holy, all belong to a single family.

This is why he isn't ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters, when he says,

I will announce your name to my brothers and sisters;
I will sing your praise in the middle of the assembly,

and again,

I will place my trust in him,

and again,

Look, here I am, with the children God has given me.- Hebrews 2v10-13

Resurrection Now: Luke 24v1-12

The women went to the tomb in the very early morning of the first day of the week, carrying the spices they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, and when they went in they didn't find the body of the Lord Jesus.

As they were at a loss what to make of it all, suddenly two men in shining clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified, and bowed their faces towards the ground.

But the men said to them, 'Why look for the living with the dead? He isn't here - he's been raised! Don't you remember? While you were still in Galilee he told you that the son of man must be crucified, and rise again on the third day.'

And they remembered his words.

They went back, away from the tomb, and told all this to the eleven and all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the wife of James, and the others with them. They said this to the apostles; and this message seemed to them just stupid, useless talk, and they didn't believe them.

Peter, though, got up and ran to the tomb. He stooped down and saw only the grave-clothes. He went back home perplexed at what happened.

Have you ever been taken by complete surprise, only to reflect back on it later and realize, oh yeah, of course it had to be that way! Or perhaps you were in eager expectation over something you had well planned and thought out, only to realize, oops, I haven't gotten it all figured out and so your immediate astonishment turns into a hunger to seek more diligently what has actually just happened? It can be an emotional roller coaster learning to trust beyond all our preconceived notions. We often think that we trust more than we really do, it's not until control is removed that we really find out what our faith is made of. That is where the disciples are right now...

Jesus, however, had given up all control and simply said to Father,'not my will, but yours be done.' And in that absolute obedience he became the Lamb worthy to open the scroll of God's perfect will. God honored him by raising him from the dead with Power on, as Luke puts it, 'the first day of the week'. Drawing us ever so subtly back the the future, back to the Genesis creation poem, letting us know that New Creation, the New Heavens and New Earth where true covenant faithfulness dwells has been completed, fully and finally in Jesus the Messiah, our King. And what is true of the King will be true of his Kingdom(Matthew 28v18-20)so it is being worked out with fear and trembling. Right now, they are just wrestling and struggling with the fact that they expected the Messiah to come at the end of history to set all things to rights, rather than in the midst of it. What is going on? This isn't what it was supposed to look like...or was this exactly how it was supposed to be?

One thing I know, and this is a non-negotiable. Jesus must be received into heaven until the ultimate renewal of all things. Our King is seated at the right hand of the Father. The result of which is that the promised Holy Spirit is being poured out upon creation. Jesus is the Savior of all mankind, especially those who believe. As it's written...

'The Lord said to my Lord,
Sit at my right hand,
Until I place your enemies
underneath your feet.'

So let everyone 'know' this fact: Death has no mastery over Messiah Jesus, God raised him from the dead and made him to be Lord and Messiah, Jesus...the crucified one, who loves you and died a gruesome death in obedience to our Father. God is Agape and He will never give up on His beloved. He has promised and he will do it, 'the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.''For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.'

Father, may we profess the gospel boldly even as our own faith grows, keeping our minds set on heavenly things and not the circumstances of the day. Be glorified in our bodies, a prepared sanctuary for you to dwell by the Spirit. May we love as you love, with a vibrant humility and a strong compassion, that you may be honored and your will be done on earth as in heaven, even as we are sent out to bring about the obedience of faith by the power of your Spirit,in Jesus' name. AMEN

Pills and Bullets: Luke 23v44-56

By the time of the sixth hour, darkness came over all the land. The sunlight vanished until the ninth hour. The veil of the temple was ripped down the middle. Then Jesus shouted out at the top of his voice, 'Here's my Spirit, Father! You can take care of it now!' And with that he died.

The centurion saw what happened, and praised God.

'This fellow', he said,'really was in the right.'

All the crowds who had come together for the spectacle saw what happened, and they went away beating their breasts. Those who knew Jesus, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, remained at a distance and watched the scene.

Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the council. He was a good and righteous man, and had not given his consent to the court's verdict or actions. He was from Arimathaea, a town in Judaea, and he was longing for God's kingdom. He approached Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. He took it down and wrapped it in a shroud, and put it in a tomb hollowed out of the rock, where no one had ever been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the sabbath was beginning.

The women who had followed Jesus, the ones who had come with him from Galilee, saw the tomb and how the body was laid. Then they went back to prepare spices and ointments. On the sabbath they rested, as the commandment specified.

This weekend I gave a book to my father-in-law called Agape Road. One of the things the book helped me to identify and begin to ask God to deal with was the need to be 'right'. The book identifies this as a type of giant in the land of your person that stands in opposition to God's people entering the land and thus in opposition to God. Now, to be 'right' generally means holding to a fact that one believes to be concrete. That doesn't seem like a bad thing at first and for a lot of people they believe that is in some way the same as faith.

Biblical truth is not so much like one of David's smooth small stones, nor is it so much like a hewn stone that one builds a temple with, as important as those are to the Revelation of God. Rather, biblical truth is like a pearl of great value. It shimmers as the light reflects upon it and all the different colors dance and rejoice. Or perhaps its like a diamond whose light reflects differently but always beautifully depending on how it's held in the Light.

Goliath thought he and his Philistine's were 'right'. They after all had the might, the size...every perceivable worldly advantage...so the battle must be theirs. They were, however, 'wrong'. They were ignorant of the will of the one true God, to reveal Himself and to redeem His good creation. Somewhere along the way, like everyone, they had become disconnected from God, as we all have due to sin. And so, the giant needs to be dealt with either through repentance, coming into line with the Gospel, or it must be cast out.



Here we see that Jesus had stood up against that same giant only to be crucified like so many other failed messiah's. Only Jesus, unlike anyone before him was 'in the right' making this ironically, not only a triumph, but the triumph that eternity would center on, Beginning and End. Luke want's this to be firmly established. He has given us a multitude of witnesses, from what would have been considered highly unreliable witnesses at the time (women), to a Roman centurion, to a wealthy Arimathaean, and then some. But there are principalities and powers at work that would have you disregard these witnesses...to enslave you again to unbelief, distract you with all sorts of evil to keep you from growing up into the Child of God that you are.

Luke wants us to be clear not only that there was a real Jesus who was really crucified, but that he was 'in the right' that is to say that He was in perfect communion with the Father, in relationship to His will and walking it out, Heaven and Earth were one. So there's the difference between being 'right' and being 'in the right'. To be 'in the right' is declared by God the moment you profess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. Then begins the journey of being 'in the right'...walking in the Spirit, in all the good works God has prepared before hand that you should walk in them. So to be 'right' as in 'holding to a fact that one believes to be concrete' and unwilling to understand something from a greater depth, breadth, height or width for fear of deviation or failure is not God's way. God's Truth is relational and dynamic, always effective regardless of our personal failures to either understand or to walk out. This is grace at work, rather than law.

Try, for instance, to 'know' your spouse that by holding to them as a fact that you believe to be concrete. It just doesn't make sense. My wife and I have lived our lives in routine for a while, but peace is lacking and you eventually wake up feeling devoid of love and fruitfulness...sunken into a lifeless routine, going through the motions, no longer abiding.

That is not the kind of relationship God made us for, Christ and the Church are not made to function that way, faith doesn't work that way, and the Spirit that, like the wind, goes were it pleases, dances and rejoices, laments and wails as it flows within and according to the counsel of God's purposes certainly doesn't work that way. This is why the law never had the ability to save anyone, rather it works more like a babysitter until the Messiah comes, making the outward observance of law obsolete, because the purpose of the law is fulfilled in and through the believer by the power of the Spirit, Messiah Jesus in you.

What you do with this revelation once you wake up, is a matter of free will. Will you get lulled back into the way you were doing things before or will you refuse to be bewitched and put again under slavery to the law? That would not be faith. Faith is the end of the Law, it's fulfillment, it's purpose...enter true freedom, God's rest.

The veil has been ripped right down the middle and Heaven is being poured upon all the Earth, that's Good News...what will you do with Him? Now, I would urge you to be reconciled to God, give Jesus that hollowed out place in your heart...the seed is in. Now, hold on tight, believe God's promise...he has confirmed it by an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, you may have confidence...something miraculous is about to happen so you will 'know' that Jesus is God's Messiah and that God stands by His Word...

May we ever trust Jesus for our tomorrow, because He is already there.

Springtime Green in the Fall: Luke 23v27-43

A great crowd of the people followed Jesus, including women who were mourning and wailing for him. Jesus turned and spoke to them.

'Daughters of Jerusalem,' he said, 'don't cry for me. Cry for yourselves instead! Cry for your children! Listen: the time is coming when you will say,"A blessing on the barren! A blessing on the wombs that never bore children, and the breasts that never nursed them!" At that time people will start to say to the mountains,"Fall on us," and to the hills, "Cover us"! Yes: if this is what they do with the green tree, what will happen to the dry one?'

Two other criminals were taken away with him to be executed. When they came to the place called The Skull, they crucified him there, with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.

'Father,' said Jesus,'forgive them! They don't know what they are doing!'

They divided his clothes, casting lots for them.

The people stood around watching. The rulers hurled abuse at him.

'He rescued others,' they said, 'let him try and rescue himself, if he really is the Messiah, God's chosen one!'

The soldiers added their taunts, coming up and offering him cheap wine.

'If you're the king of the Jews,' they said, 'rescue your self - and us too!'

But the other one told him off. 'Don't you fear God?' he said. 'Your sharing the same fate as he is! In our case it's fair enough; we're getting exactly what we asked for. But this fellow hasn't done anything out of order.'

'Jesus,' he went on,'remember me when you finally become king.'

'I'm telling you the truth,' replied Jesus,'you will be with me in paradise, this very day.'

Have you ever felt as though you had no idea what was going on? It is not a comfortable place to be. Especially for people like me. People who grew up as latch key kids. Back and forth between parents your whole life, who were trying to do the best they knew how. From the pain and joy that comes with having very little, to the pain and joy that comes from having too much. Without Christ there to teach you contentment and peace, holiness and virtue...love, faith and hope...you get wounded, you become hardened, corrupted, bitter and manipulative...sinful. This is not how things are supposed to be. You know that down to the deepest recesses of your soul, we all do. But that's just how it is. That train keeps on rolling, you're weeping and mourning on the inside, but you've become hardened. That's what we are programmed to do. Suck it up, move on, push through, get to the other side of it as best we can, up? down? left? right?...who knows?. Just don't let anyone get too close to you, they might hurt you.

Have we lost the power of mourning in our generation? Do we just bottle it up? Then we lose the true power, the power to forgive and accept forgiveness. We become dehumanized, desensitized and worst of all moved further from God, moving further from the image of the Father, who looks over the creation He once called 'very good' and sees the violence within it. The scriptures tell us this grieves Him to his very heart and it should grieve us too. We see this in Jesus, who, from the Mount of Olives, looked upon Jerusalem, weeping.

But look and see, He is the Living one, Christ Jesus, the great physician, there to not only save your soul, but to heal your land and redeem the time.

Jesus tells those following after him, not that everything will be ok, but that if this is what the world does to the one in whom the Fullness was pleased to dwell(a green tree)...what will happen to the rest of this generation who rejected God's Son, their last and only chance? There is the urgency of the Gospel. What will happen to the children of the parents who rejected the Gospel of peace? Violent rebellion, revolts, wars and rumors of wars...young rebellious kids with religious/political/nationalistic ideals and with the older generation egging them on, pouring gasoline on the dry wood. When the world comes down on them, it will be horrific.

Right then, right there...on that cross, Jesus, was becoming king. The sign above his head was meant to mock him, but it declared the truth for everyone to see...The Gospel, Jesus is Lord.

That very day the transgressor who put his faith in Christ would enter into paradise, that glorious place of rest and renewal, with the King.

We see that when it comes down to the wire, it's about faith...trust...the fear of God... Love made perfect in us.

Paul, however, would remind us that it is neither the man on the left nor the man on the right in whose image we are being conformed to, but that of the Son of God, the Messiah, the image bearer who hung on the cross between the two criminals. Him whose blood cried out and still does, 'Father, forgive them! They don't know what they are doing!'

Father, thank you, that you loved us so much that you sent your Son, Jesus, to die for our sins according to your promises, that he was buried and that he was declared the Son of God with Power by the resurrection from the dead. Thank you for all the trials and tribulations that lead us to a place of death, the cross, so that we can know you the only God and Jesus Christ, the one you sent, that we are no longer bound by seasons, but can have abundant life simply by turning to you in faith. Thank you for your faithfulness and the faithfulness of all those whom you work powerfully through. In, Jesus' name, AMEN.

Barabbas and Simon the Cyrene: Luke 23v13-26

So Pilate called the chief priests, the rulers and the people.

'You brought this man before me,' he said to them,'on the grounds that he was leading them astray. Look here, then: I examined him in your presence and I found no evidence in him of the charges you're bringing against him. Nor did Herod; he sent him back to me. Look: there is no sign that he's done anything to deserve death. So I'm going to flog him and let him go.'

'Take him away!' they shouted out all together. 'Release Barabbas for us!' (Barabbas had been thrown into prison because of an uprising that had taken place in the city, and for murder.) Pilate spoke to them again, with the intention of letting Jesus go, but they shouted back,'Crucify him! Crucify him!'

'Why?' he said for a third time. 'What's he done wrong? I can't find anything he's done that deserves death, so I'm going to beat him and let him go.'

But they went on shouting out at the tops of their voices, demanding that he be crucified; and eventually their shouts won the day. Pilate gave his verdict that their requests should be granted. He released the man who'd been thrown into prison because of rebellion and murder, and gave Jesus over to their demands.

As they led him away, they grabbed a man from Cyrene called Simon, who was coming in to the city from the outside, and they forced him to carry the cross beam behind Jesus.

The charges have been framed yet Herod didn't kill him, now he's back to Pilate and Pilate finds no fault in Jesus, yet the chief priests and rulers are determined to have Jesus crucified. Then the Gospel brings us to focus on another conflict, Jesus - God's Messiah delivering the message of peace by self-giving Love, the Kingdom of the true and living God... and Barabbas - the leader of another messianic movement with it's message of kingdom by way of violence.

Here we see, as we so often do, the crowds and religio-political leaders prefer to go the way of violence over against the way of Jesus. This, they believe, is the best way to go about things. The irony is that it is this very choice, played out over the next forty years until 70a.d. when Jesus is vindicated as his prophecies of the Temple's destruction come to fruition and those who have kept faith in Jesus the Messiah are vindicated with him. The confirmation of the New Covenant's superiority to the old become firmly fixed, Jesus is in fact God's anointed one, having had all authority in heaven and on earth given him, ascended to and seated at the right hand of the Father, ruling and reigning until all enemies are put under his feet.

And it is those at his feet...those who go to the foot of the cross to receive cleansing and healing...to be saved, who then go on to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Then we have this Simon, who is grabbed and forced to bear the cross beam for Jesus as he went on the way to fulfill his vocation.

How can we work in and through the Spirit to lead the Barabbas's of the world to Jesus? How has this part of the narrative played out in your life? Knowing Jesus, how does this effect your response to being called to bear someone else's burdens?

The Sword - Luke 23v1-12

The whole crowd of them got up and took Jesus to Pilate.

They began to accuse him. 'We found this fellow,' they said, 'deceiving our nation!

He was forbidding people to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he is the Messiah - a king!'

So Pilate asked Jesus, 'You are the king of the Jews?'

'You said it,' replied Jesus.

'I find no fault in this man,' said Pilate to the chief priests and the crowds. But they became insistent.

'He's stirring up people,' they said, 'teaching them throughout the whole of Judea. He began in Galilee, and now he's coming here.'

When Pilate heard that, he asked if the man was indeed a Galilean. When he learned that he was from Herod's jurisdiction he sent him to Herod, who happened also to be in Jerusalem at that time.

When Herod saw Jesus he was delighted. He had been wanting to see him for quite some time now, since he'd heard about him, and hoped to see him perform some sign or other.

He questioned him this way and that but Jesus gave no answer at all. The chief priests and the scribes stood by accusing him vehemently. Herod and his soldiers treated us with contempt; they ridiculed him by dressing him up in a splendid robe, and sent him back to Pilate. And so it happened, that very day, that Herod and Pilate became friends with each other. Up until then, they had been enemies.

We have all seen the reconciliation that can happen when Jesus enters into the lives of believers. Here though we see Jesus, God's Messiah, and Pilate (the representative of Rome and Caesar). Also the climax of a long story that has been under the surface the whole time. The conflict between Jesus and Herod. The rightful King and pseudo-king of the Jews.

Jesus was not what Herod had expected though, he would not put on a show or perform a miracle. He did not call in a legion of angels. He gave no answer at all while he was mistreated. So failing to meet the expectations of Herod, he was sent again to Pilate. So it was that day that Herod and Caesar were united.

Everywhere Jesus goes people seem to become reconciled. Some for good, some for evil. But we know that once Jesus is received, we come to see that on the other side of His death it is all for life in the Resurrection. He works all things together, He is faithful. When Jesus take upon himself the sin of the world, he takes it all upon himself and carries it to the cross where it is nailed so that whosoever believes upon the name of Jesus shall be saved and they shall have eternal life. You see, it is the will of God that none should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

As for me, I have experienced discipline in Christ because I'm a sinner who is loved by God, and beyond that as Christian I count it a privilege to suffer that others might find reconciliation. Wish I could say that my motives were always pure, but they're not. The idea is to seek holiness and thereby be prepared to experience the cross. Wish I had done a better job of that. The place of death for the sake of new life. Of course the enemy will bring your fears back on you, of course long forgiven sins will be poured out on you...this is a spiritual battle for God's glory though. As I've experienced it some has been for my conviction, some for the up building of others. To look at the broad scope of things you see all the different pieces a parts coming together. Even if it means becoming the one everyone hates...it's worth it. As it's written, we are like lambs to the slaughter, all day long we are killed...why? Love. how? To experience Christ's suffering and the Power of the Resurrection. The know God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, this is eternal life.

I'm thankful to God for the people, who have shown this to me. They are Christ-like. Pray God, may I become a better Christian husband, dad, son, brother, minister and friend through it.