Start Fresh Again in 2010
John R. Petrilli
Thomas A. Edison logged thousands of hours in unsuccessful experiments until he finally discovered the wire filament technology that powers the incandescent light bulb. Speed skater Dan Jansen narrowly lost two bids for Olympic gold, but kept right on competing until he realized his dream with a gold-medal victory at Lillehammer, Norway. The list is endless of people who continued driving for their goal even in the face of bitter disappointment and repeated failure.
Failure is something we’re all familiar with. Whether it was an “F” on a report card, a broken promise, or a failed relationship, everyone experiences the heartbreak and embarrassment of missing the mark. While we sometimes get stuck in the miscues of the past, there’s actually a way to turn failure into success. For the believer, failure never has to be a dead end. The life of John Mark unfolds five principles that show us how failure, when properly handled, can become the back door to success.
LET’S START FRESH AGAIN IN 2010 BY REFUSING TO SEE FAILURE AS FINAL. Acts 13:13a
He was young and inexperienced, but he had so much going for him. The right upbringing (Acts 12:12), a heart to serve (Acts 12:25), and a golden opportunity to work with the very best in the business. I can almost hear the hometown crowd cheering on young John Mark as he marched off to the mission field with cousin Barnabas and the apostle Paul. They were headed for some rough spiritual terrain. Early on in the venture John Mark decided to bail. It must have been hard to face the folks back home as a missionary reject. Yet, somewhere deep down inside Mark wanted to make this right. That openness paid huge dividends as Barnabas later splintered off from Paul’s team and took Mark under his wing. We unnecessarily rob ourselves of a second chance if we put ourselves on the shelf prematurely. Our failures and false starts never catch God by surprise, and in time He can and will turn things completely around.
LET’S START FRESH AGAIN IN 2010 BY THOROUGHLY DEALING WITH THE ROOT CAUSE OF FAILURE. Acts 15:36-37
Once back in his hometown of Jerusalem, Mark had a lot of time to reflect on his sudden departure from the missionary team. Barnabas concluded that Mark still had potential for cross-cultural evangelism, and was willing to give the lad a second crack at ministry. Mark was more than ready for a second at-bat. It would appear that he’d evaluated the cause of his earlier withdrawal, and really wanted to give missionary work another shot. Fresh starts will be just that, a START, if we fail to deal with that which led to the failure. To skip this step only insures that we’ll repeat the same mistakes. If we have difficulty identifying what is tripping us up, perhaps a godly Christian counselor can render some valuable assistance with evaluating our situation. Having identified and resolved the root cause, we’re then free to move forward and begin making some real progress.
LET’S START FRESH AGAIN IN 2010 BY SURROUNDING OURSELVES WITH PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE IN AND SUPPORT US. Acts 15:39 ; Acts 12:12
While we ourselves may feel we can make a comeback, this will not be true of everyone around us. In Mark’s case, the senior missionary on the team rejected his application to return to the field. Paul seemed to be a pretty black and white kind of guy. In his mind Mark blew it once already, and they couldn’t afford more of the same; he was out, period, end of story. But different people have different ways of looking at individuals and circumstances. Apparently Barnabas saw something in Mark that Paul completely missed. He believed in Mark enough to commit to helping him work through the issues that hampered his service to the Lord. Barnabas chose to get behind the young man and encourage him in his desire to serve God in ministry. Mark also enjoyed a close discipling relationship with the apostle Peter (1 Pet. 5:13). In addition to Barnabas and Peter, he was surrounded by family members and fellow believers who affirmed his gifts and calling. None of us lives on an island. We all need the support and encouragement that good friends can offer us. This is often the most crucial component in turning past failures into future successes. Pairing up with a mentor can be a great asset in charting a course of recovery and personal growth, as well as providing much needed encouragement and accountability. The objectivity and clarity a mentor provides is essential in seeing your way through the challenging road of recovery.
LET’S START FRESH AGAIN IN 2010 BY REGAINING OUR CREDIBILITY WITH THOSE WE PREVIOUSLY LET DOWN. Col. 4:10 ; Phile. 24; 2 Tim. 4:11
Failure never takes place in a vacuum. There’s always an impact on others. It seems that the closer we are to someone, the greater that impact is. The hometown gang was understandably disappointed by Mark’s initial withdrawal, and Paul was clearly perturbed by Mark’s desertion in the face of duty. But time, adjustments and growth on Mark’s part changed all that. In his letter to the Colossians Paul makes reference to Mark in very positive terms, and further describes him as a bona fide ministry partner in his letter to Philemon. Little by little Mark proved over time that he was a reliable and valuable co-laborer in the gospel, even earning the respect and appreciation from those who had written him off as a lost cause. By the end of his ministry Paul had become a firm believer in Mark’s capabilities and effectiveness in the cause of Christ, placing his complete trust in a man who he’d previously distrusted (2 Tim. 4:11). Once we’ve failed, we have to be prepared for the skepticism and distrust of some who had placed their confidence in us. Our job is to focus on being and doing those things that will gradually convince others that we’re for real. Like Paul, even our harshest critics will eventually have a change of heart as we consistently prove we have the mettle to get the job done.
LET’S START FRESH AGAIN IN 2010 BY REPLACING FAILED INITIATIVES WITH NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR SUCCESS. Gospel of Mark
There are few things more tragic than seeing a great person fall, but there are fewer things more exciting than to see that same person rise up and make a complete comeback. Mark experienced both. He made the most of his second chance, and it earned him a spot in the starting lineup as a ministry assistant to his cousin Barnabas. Mark did so well in his rehab program that he became a “regular” on Barnabas’ missionary team. His progress was evident to everyone who knew and loved him. His development into a choice vessel wasn’t lost on God either. His diligence in making key midcourse corrections positioned him to be used by God in increasingly greater ways, with ever expanding ministry responsibilities. Indeed, the Lord selected him to be one of only four men who would enjoy the sacred privilege of writing a gospel, probably dictated to him by Peter. According to church tradition, Mark became a bishop and eventually gave his life for his Lord via martyrdom. Commentator Herbert Lockyer writes, “The main lessons to be learned from the life of Mark are apparent: 1) the blessings of a godly home, 2) much depends upon the choice of friends [Barnabas, Peter, Paul], 3) the possibilities of life [a widow’s son became an apostle and great historian], and 4) the reward for faithful service.”
When it comes to future possibilities, the sky is truly the limit. In some mysterious way the Lord takes our fumblings and bumblings and uses them to form us into trophies that magnify His saving and transforming grace. It’s always too early to give up. Make this the year that you give God a chance to work things out; and give yourself a chance to get it right the second time around! Happy New Year from all of us at the Good News Paper to all of you dear friends in our reading audience.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
The Greatest Lover of All Time
The Greatest Lover of All Time
John R. Petrilli
GOD’S LOVE IS GLOBAL John 3:16
“God loved the people of this world so much that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who has faith in Him will have eternal life and never really die.” (CEV)
We live in a very well-connected world. What goes on in Africa is known instantly in America. What transpires in India gets out to Asia in a jiffy. News coming out of Europe makes international headlines overnight. Events in the Middle East find their way into the morning papers around the world. This is a big world we live in, and it has a lot going on. Sometimes we feel overwhelmed by it all. It can become a bit too much to take in all at once. While we may get overwhelmed sometimes, the good news is that God never does.
He can handle all the problems and situations no matter how big or widespread they are. This is because we serve a global God. In the third chapter of John’s gospel we discover that God not only has a global
concern, but that He also has a global love.
John gives us a picture that shows God embracing the world, warts and all, into His everlasting arms. And this love He has for our world is not casual at all. It’s intense. For God “SO” loved the world. It’s also an active love, not a passive love. God’s love caused Him to take action. That action was to send His only Son into our world so that we can be saved through faith in Him.
GOD’S LOVE IS COLOR BLIND Matthew 28:19-20; Rev. 5:9
“Go to the people of all nations and make them My disciples, and teach them to do everything I have told you.” (CEV)
“With Your own blood You bought for God people from every tribe, language, nation, and race.” (CEV)
People and cultures the world over are rediscovering the positive contribution that disabled people can make to their societies. More and more we’re realizing the value that each and every person has, regardless of any physical, mental, emotional or social challenges they are born with or suffer from. If I were to ask you if God had a disability, what would your answer be? Believe it or not, God does have a “disability”. You see, God is color blind. When we look at each other, we take note of the racial differences as indicated by the color and tone of our skin. But when God looks at each if us, He focuses on what’s inside in our hearts, not on our outward appearance. He doesn’t look down from heaven and say, “Oh look over there, there’s John the
American”, or “Oh, I remember you, you’re Suresh the man from India”. No, God sees us from the inside out.
He cares about who we are, not what we look like.
This isn’t to say that God’s not into diversity. Just look around and see all the different colors and personality types He’s made. Someone has said, “If you want to know if God has a sense of humor, go and visit your local zoo, and look at all the comical shapes, sizes and features of the animals there”. Jesus has given His followers the job of communicating the gospel to every nation on earth. Someday heaven will be occupied by a multi-national population.
GOD’S LOVE IS PERSONAL Galatians 2:20 ; Romans 10:19
“The Son of God loved ME, and gave Himself for ME.”
“What is man that You are mindful of him, or the Son of man, that You should visit him?”
I am a lover of astronomy. There are few things I enjoy more than to go out to the countryside at night and
look up at all the stars blanketing the heavens. I’ve been doing this for over 40 years now, yet I never get over the awesome beauty and splendor of the star-studded evening sky. Yet, sometimes, when I look up and see all this vast universe, I’m prone to ponder my own importance. To be honest with you, seeing such a great creation has a way of making me feel pretty small and insignificant by comparison. But that’s not really the case at all.
Even though we’re just one tiny individual in this huge universe, God still has a very personal and individual concern for each and every one of us.
That may sound too amazing to believe, but its true! One great ancient first-century scholar expressed this awe over God’s love and concern for him with these words. Centuries earlier a prolific poet named David felt this same way as he looked up at the night sky and said, To keep track of and care of every one of us on planet earth seems like a super Herculean task, but that’s only because we’re seeing it from a merely human perspective. For God, Who is ALL-present, ALL-powerful, and ALL-knowing, such a feat is actually piece of cake!
As Irish actress Roma Downey sings,
“May you understand the strength and power of God in a thunder storm in winter,
And the quiet beauty of creation in the calm of a summer sunset;
And may you come to realize that,
Insignificant as you may seem in this great universe,
You ARE an important part of God’s plan!
GOD’S LOVE IS UNCONDITIONAL Romans 5:6-8, 10-11
“Christ died for us at a time when we were helpless and sinful. No one is willing to die for an honest person, though someone might be willing to die for a truly good person. But God showed how much He loved us by having Christ die for us, even though we were sinful. Even when we were God’s enemies, He made peace with us, because His Son died for us. We are happy because God sent our Lord Jesus Christ to make peace with us!” (CEV)
More and more we’re living in a performance-based world. Companies and organizations are constantly evaluating the output and efficiency of their people and programs. While there’s nothing wrong with that, it IS a mistake to allow our relationships to be controlled by a performance-based mentality. Like it or not, some people will only accept us if we successfully achieve what they set down as a prerequisite to being an associate of theirs. But God has no such system upon which He bases His relationship to us on. No, God has no such strings attached in the way He relates to us. This verse shows that God’s greatest act of love for us came at a time when we were not at our personal best, but instead were at our personal worst! It says that He showed His deepest depth of His love for us when we hated Him the most! Now THAT’S unconditional love!
GOD’S LOVE IS INSEPARABLE Romans 8:38-39
“I am sure that nothing can separate us from God’s love – not life, or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or future, and not powers above or powers below. Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord!” (CEV)
When two people are in love they want to spend every waking moment together. In America we have an old saying that such a couple is “inseparable”. The nature of love is that it longs to be with the object of its affection. When a person becomes a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ, God forms an inseparable bond between them and His Son. Nothing can ever break that bond. No earthly trouble, no supernatural power, and no future unseen circumstance can possibly sever this bond of love between God and His people. One of the great modern inventions along with the paper clip and duct tape is known as “super glue”. Super glue is really cool because it can permanently bond just about anything (including your finger tips!). There’s something in its chemical makeup that causes a super strong molecular bond. It may help if you think of God’s love as a kind of spiritual super glue. Once you get bonded to Christ, there’s nothing that can possibly separate you from Him. Are you connected to Jesus Christ? If not, you can become so right where you are right this moment. Simply admit that you have sinned against Him, that you’re ready to leave those sins behind and follow Him as your Lord and Savior. Once you’ve said that prayer truly meaning it from your heart, you’ll have initiated the most incredible enduring love relationship you’ll ever have with anyone, ever. And best of all, it’s a love that will stand the test of time and eternity!
John R. Petrilli
GOD’S LOVE IS GLOBAL John 3:16
“God loved the people of this world so much that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who has faith in Him will have eternal life and never really die.” (CEV)
We live in a very well-connected world. What goes on in Africa is known instantly in America. What transpires in India gets out to Asia in a jiffy. News coming out of Europe makes international headlines overnight. Events in the Middle East find their way into the morning papers around the world. This is a big world we live in, and it has a lot going on. Sometimes we feel overwhelmed by it all. It can become a bit too much to take in all at once. While we may get overwhelmed sometimes, the good news is that God never does.
He can handle all the problems and situations no matter how big or widespread they are. This is because we serve a global God. In the third chapter of John’s gospel we discover that God not only has a global
concern, but that He also has a global love.
John gives us a picture that shows God embracing the world, warts and all, into His everlasting arms. And this love He has for our world is not casual at all. It’s intense. For God “SO” loved the world. It’s also an active love, not a passive love. God’s love caused Him to take action. That action was to send His only Son into our world so that we can be saved through faith in Him.
GOD’S LOVE IS COLOR BLIND Matthew 28:19-20; Rev. 5:9
“Go to the people of all nations and make them My disciples, and teach them to do everything I have told you.” (CEV)
“With Your own blood You bought for God people from every tribe, language, nation, and race.” (CEV)
People and cultures the world over are rediscovering the positive contribution that disabled people can make to their societies. More and more we’re realizing the value that each and every person has, regardless of any physical, mental, emotional or social challenges they are born with or suffer from. If I were to ask you if God had a disability, what would your answer be? Believe it or not, God does have a “disability”. You see, God is color blind. When we look at each other, we take note of the racial differences as indicated by the color and tone of our skin. But when God looks at each if us, He focuses on what’s inside in our hearts, not on our outward appearance. He doesn’t look down from heaven and say, “Oh look over there, there’s John the
American”, or “Oh, I remember you, you’re Suresh the man from India”. No, God sees us from the inside out.
He cares about who we are, not what we look like.
This isn’t to say that God’s not into diversity. Just look around and see all the different colors and personality types He’s made. Someone has said, “If you want to know if God has a sense of humor, go and visit your local zoo, and look at all the comical shapes, sizes and features of the animals there”. Jesus has given His followers the job of communicating the gospel to every nation on earth. Someday heaven will be occupied by a multi-national population.
GOD’S LOVE IS PERSONAL Galatians 2:20 ; Romans 10:19
“The Son of God loved ME, and gave Himself for ME.”
“What is man that You are mindful of him, or the Son of man, that You should visit him?”
I am a lover of astronomy. There are few things I enjoy more than to go out to the countryside at night and
look up at all the stars blanketing the heavens. I’ve been doing this for over 40 years now, yet I never get over the awesome beauty and splendor of the star-studded evening sky. Yet, sometimes, when I look up and see all this vast universe, I’m prone to ponder my own importance. To be honest with you, seeing such a great creation has a way of making me feel pretty small and insignificant by comparison. But that’s not really the case at all.
Even though we’re just one tiny individual in this huge universe, God still has a very personal and individual concern for each and every one of us.
That may sound too amazing to believe, but its true! One great ancient first-century scholar expressed this awe over God’s love and concern for him with these words. Centuries earlier a prolific poet named David felt this same way as he looked up at the night sky and said, To keep track of and care of every one of us on planet earth seems like a super Herculean task, but that’s only because we’re seeing it from a merely human perspective. For God, Who is ALL-present, ALL-powerful, and ALL-knowing, such a feat is actually piece of cake!
As Irish actress Roma Downey sings,
“May you understand the strength and power of God in a thunder storm in winter,
And the quiet beauty of creation in the calm of a summer sunset;
And may you come to realize that,
Insignificant as you may seem in this great universe,
You ARE an important part of God’s plan!
GOD’S LOVE IS UNCONDITIONAL Romans 5:6-8, 10-11
“Christ died for us at a time when we were helpless and sinful. No one is willing to die for an honest person, though someone might be willing to die for a truly good person. But God showed how much He loved us by having Christ die for us, even though we were sinful. Even when we were God’s enemies, He made peace with us, because His Son died for us. We are happy because God sent our Lord Jesus Christ to make peace with us!” (CEV)
More and more we’re living in a performance-based world. Companies and organizations are constantly evaluating the output and efficiency of their people and programs. While there’s nothing wrong with that, it IS a mistake to allow our relationships to be controlled by a performance-based mentality. Like it or not, some people will only accept us if we successfully achieve what they set down as a prerequisite to being an associate of theirs. But God has no such system upon which He bases His relationship to us on. No, God has no such strings attached in the way He relates to us. This verse shows that God’s greatest act of love for us came at a time when we were not at our personal best, but instead were at our personal worst! It says that He showed His deepest depth of His love for us when we hated Him the most! Now THAT’S unconditional love!
GOD’S LOVE IS INSEPARABLE Romans 8:38-39
“I am sure that nothing can separate us from God’s love – not life, or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or future, and not powers above or powers below. Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord!” (CEV)
When two people are in love they want to spend every waking moment together. In America we have an old saying that such a couple is “inseparable”. The nature of love is that it longs to be with the object of its affection. When a person becomes a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ, God forms an inseparable bond between them and His Son. Nothing can ever break that bond. No earthly trouble, no supernatural power, and no future unseen circumstance can possibly sever this bond of love between God and His people. One of the great modern inventions along with the paper clip and duct tape is known as “super glue”. Super glue is really cool because it can permanently bond just about anything (including your finger tips!). There’s something in its chemical makeup that causes a super strong molecular bond. It may help if you think of God’s love as a kind of spiritual super glue. Once you get bonded to Christ, there’s nothing that can possibly separate you from Him. Are you connected to Jesus Christ? If not, you can become so right where you are right this moment. Simply admit that you have sinned against Him, that you’re ready to leave those sins behind and follow Him as your Lord and Savior. Once you’ve said that prayer truly meaning it from your heart, you’ll have initiated the most incredible enduring love relationship you’ll ever have with anyone, ever. And best of all, it’s a love that will stand the test of time and eternity!
The Greatest Love Story Ever Told
The Greatest Love Story Ever Told
Staff Writer
The Greatest Love Story Ever Told Begins In An Idyllic Setting.
Valentine’s Day celebrates human love, but the greatest love story ever told has both a human as well as a divine aspect to it. This wonderful love story between God and man begins in a garden. Garden are traditionally associated with romance. Everything about the Garden of Eden speaks of God’s loving care for man. The garden environment was lush with beautiful and edible vegetation, including a built-in irrigation system. This garden was incomplete until God met man’s need for a companion by creating a perfect partner for him. The couple happily walked through the garden hand in hand with each other and with God. Even when their disobedience broke God’s heart, He kept right on loving them by clothing them and promising to someday send them a Redeemer Who would right their wrongs. God’s endless and unconditional love for man even protected him from self-annihilation by graciously removing the possibility of accessing a tree that would irrevocably confirm man forever in a sinful state. (See Genesis 2:8-25; 3:22-24 ; Jer. 31:3 ; Psa. 139:17). 3:22-24 ; Jer. 31:3 ; Psa. 139:17)
The Greatest Love Story Ever Told Unfolds In An Unlikely Place.
The Love Story fast forwards 2,000 years, landing us under the quiet night sky in the Judean countryside. During those two millennia God had chosen, liberated, and formed a special group of people known as the Hebrews into the nation of Israel. But the people of Israel, like all of Adam’s offspring, had a sin nature that always led them into sin and away from God. Under the firm heel of Roman rule, God’s people once again longed for deliverance. Unknown to most of them, their prayers were being answered on that starlit night as Jesus Christ took on human flesh and blood, entering our world as a baby. Nothing tugs at our heart strings quite like a helpless newborn baby. In the quietness of that holy night God whispered, “I Love You” to the whole human race in the form of one helpless little baby. The darkness of that night was pierced by blinding celestial light, and the silence of that cool spring evening was broken by a resounding angelic love song that reverberated throughout the countryside. Messiah had finally arrived! (See 1 John 4:9) man, and is at the end of a three year mission designed to huge illustration of God’s burning love for sinners.
The Greatest Love Story Ever Told Climaxes On A Lonely Hilltop.
Like all great love stories, there comes a point where the plot thickens, reaches a stage of critical mass, until something just has to give. In this next scene Jesus has become a grown man, and is at the end of a three year mission to validate His deity and Messianic claims. His whole life was one huge illustration of God’s burning love for sinners. With awesome power Jesus altered the forces of nature, and healed every type of mental, emotional, and spiritual disease! Completely blinded by sin and unbelief, most of His contemporaries rejected His claims, and the religious leadership set out to destroy Him and His movement. Under trumped-up charges, they succeeded in intimidating the Roman governor of Judea into defaulting on Jesus’ proven innocence, and secured official sanction to execute Him. As Jesus’ arms were stretched out on that cross, and as He declared with His dying breath, “It is finished!”, God was shouting, “I Love You!” But neither the unholy wrath of man nor the spikes of Imperial Rome could silence God’s love. Three days after dying on the Cross, Jesus rose from the dead! (See Romans 5:8 ; John 19:1-18,30 ; 20:1-9)
The Greatest Love Story Ever Told Culminates With A Celestial Wedding Celebration.
We all enjoy a happy ending and the greatest love story of all time doesn’t disappoint us. In this unique story line, the couple gets engaged, but the Groom goes far away for an unbearably long time. During this interlude the Interloper who ruined His initial relationship with His Beloved is dealt with decisively. As promised, Christ delivered the death blow to Satan at the cross, then later returns to clean up the mess he’d made of the planet. Like a knight in shining armor, Christ sweeps His Bride off her feet and takes Her to Heaven, where He marries Her. There follows a wedding banquet to end all wedding banquets! The Groom then carries His newlywed Bride over the threshold to entrance to their new dwelling place. It’s an absolute jaw-dropper! Imagine a honeymoon suite that makes Donald Trump’s best hotels look like a trash heap by comparison. The story ends with a scene of a happily married couple forever enjoying each other in Paradise Restored. Their new home is located in a spiritually pristine city that’s permeated with the light of God! The city is completely crime free, having no trace of sin or death. It’s irrigated by the Water of Life, and its vegetation abundantly yields healthy produce for all earth’s inhabitants! (See Revelation 19:6-9 ; 21:1-4 ; 21:10-21 ; 21:22-27)
Staff Writer
The Greatest Love Story Ever Told Begins In An Idyllic Setting.
Valentine’s Day celebrates human love, but the greatest love story ever told has both a human as well as a divine aspect to it. This wonderful love story between God and man begins in a garden. Garden are traditionally associated with romance. Everything about the Garden of Eden speaks of God’s loving care for man. The garden environment was lush with beautiful and edible vegetation, including a built-in irrigation system. This garden was incomplete until God met man’s need for a companion by creating a perfect partner for him. The couple happily walked through the garden hand in hand with each other and with God. Even when their disobedience broke God’s heart, He kept right on loving them by clothing them and promising to someday send them a Redeemer Who would right their wrongs. God’s endless and unconditional love for man even protected him from self-annihilation by graciously removing the possibility of accessing a tree that would irrevocably confirm man forever in a sinful state. (See Genesis 2:8-25; 3:22-24 ; Jer. 31:3 ; Psa. 139:17). 3:22-24 ; Jer. 31:3 ; Psa. 139:17)
The Greatest Love Story Ever Told Unfolds In An Unlikely Place.
The Love Story fast forwards 2,000 years, landing us under the quiet night sky in the Judean countryside. During those two millennia God had chosen, liberated, and formed a special group of people known as the Hebrews into the nation of Israel. But the people of Israel, like all of Adam’s offspring, had a sin nature that always led them into sin and away from God. Under the firm heel of Roman rule, God’s people once again longed for deliverance. Unknown to most of them, their prayers were being answered on that starlit night as Jesus Christ took on human flesh and blood, entering our world as a baby. Nothing tugs at our heart strings quite like a helpless newborn baby. In the quietness of that holy night God whispered, “I Love You” to the whole human race in the form of one helpless little baby. The darkness of that night was pierced by blinding celestial light, and the silence of that cool spring evening was broken by a resounding angelic love song that reverberated throughout the countryside. Messiah had finally arrived! (See 1 John 4:9) man, and is at the end of a three year mission designed to huge illustration of God’s burning love for sinners.
The Greatest Love Story Ever Told Climaxes On A Lonely Hilltop.
Like all great love stories, there comes a point where the plot thickens, reaches a stage of critical mass, until something just has to give. In this next scene Jesus has become a grown man, and is at the end of a three year mission to validate His deity and Messianic claims. His whole life was one huge illustration of God’s burning love for sinners. With awesome power Jesus altered the forces of nature, and healed every type of mental, emotional, and spiritual disease! Completely blinded by sin and unbelief, most of His contemporaries rejected His claims, and the religious leadership set out to destroy Him and His movement. Under trumped-up charges, they succeeded in intimidating the Roman governor of Judea into defaulting on Jesus’ proven innocence, and secured official sanction to execute Him. As Jesus’ arms were stretched out on that cross, and as He declared with His dying breath, “It is finished!”, God was shouting, “I Love You!” But neither the unholy wrath of man nor the spikes of Imperial Rome could silence God’s love. Three days after dying on the Cross, Jesus rose from the dead! (See Romans 5:8 ; John 19:1-18,30 ; 20:1-9)
The Greatest Love Story Ever Told Culminates With A Celestial Wedding Celebration.
We all enjoy a happy ending and the greatest love story of all time doesn’t disappoint us. In this unique story line, the couple gets engaged, but the Groom goes far away for an unbearably long time. During this interlude the Interloper who ruined His initial relationship with His Beloved is dealt with decisively. As promised, Christ delivered the death blow to Satan at the cross, then later returns to clean up the mess he’d made of the planet. Like a knight in shining armor, Christ sweeps His Bride off her feet and takes Her to Heaven, where He marries Her. There follows a wedding banquet to end all wedding banquets! The Groom then carries His newlywed Bride over the threshold to entrance to their new dwelling place. It’s an absolute jaw-dropper! Imagine a honeymoon suite that makes Donald Trump’s best hotels look like a trash heap by comparison. The story ends with a scene of a happily married couple forever enjoying each other in Paradise Restored. Their new home is located in a spiritually pristine city that’s permeated with the light of God! The city is completely crime free, having no trace of sin or death. It’s irrigated by the Water of Life, and its vegetation abundantly yields healthy produce for all earth’s inhabitants! (See Revelation 19:6-9 ; 21:1-4 ; 21:10-21 ; 21:22-27)
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