I Know I Will See Christ Face to Face

by Jose Barajas

“We all gathered as a family the day we celebrated the life of our father with friends and people who had known my dad. That day was beautiful as the sun shone and I had spent the morning crying and admittedly even had a few shots with my brother in law. I was chosen to be one who would speak to the crowd that gathered and really didn’t know what I was going to say.

I remember talking about each of my siblings and making people laugh because that’s what my dad would have wanted but I know I was in a daze! When we took his body to the spot where it would lay, all of my family stood there, and God only knows what they were thinking. However, because of what Jesus did on the cross, I know in my heart that I will see my dad again.

Saturday of Passover week began with Joseph of Arimathea asking for the body of Jesus as he had donated a never used tomb to lay His body. Nicodemus who had visited Jesus brought perfumed ointment made of myrrh and aloes as Jewish tradition for burial. These Two men, who were part of the religious leaders who had conspired to put Jesus to die, now believed that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah. I now did not care what others thought anymore, only what God thought.

He Is Risen

by Adam Lustig

From the day Mary Magdalene met Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane after Jesus arose from the dead to her pounding on the door of the upper room where Jesus’s disciples were hiding from the Jewish leaders and Roman authorities these three words “He is Risen” have been the heartbeat of every Christian.

Jesus’s promise of His resurrection to His followers while He was alive came crashing down when he died on the cross.

For 3 1/2 years of Jesus’s ministry, He engrained into His disciples “destroy this temple,” speaking of himself, “and in 3 days I will raise it up” the religious leaders of Israel did not understand Him even Jesus’s inner circle Peter, James, and John were doubtful.

So here we are again, as it has been for over 2000 years, and most of the world still in doubt of Jesus’s resurrection, why? because the secular world did not then and does not now understand that Jesus is God.

Two Timbers and A Love Beyond Measure

by Adam Lustig

So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. John 19:30 NKJV For as long as I can remember, things have been written to malign the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and especially during this time of the year. There have been books written and comments like the following:

..Jesus did not really die on the cross.
..He (Jesus) was only in a swoon sleep when He was taken down from the cross.
..Someone else that looked like Jesus died on the cross.

Sometimes Church Is Hard

by Arianna Freelen

Church is hard.

Church is hard for the person walking through the doors, afraid of judgement.

Church is hard for the pastor’s family, under the microscope of an entire body.

Church is hard for the prodigal soul returning home, broken and battered by the world.

Church is hard for the girl who looks like she has it all together, but doesn’t.

Church is hard for the couple who fought the entire way to the worship service.

Life Lessons From Chariots of Fire

Adam Lustig

He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40: 29-31

I just finished watching the 1981 Oscar-winning film from England, "Chariots of Fire", on Turner Classic Chanel. Chariots is on my top 5 list of the best movies of all time. Not so much for the acting, cinematography, or directing, those are excellent but for the message it conveys.

Are You Salty?

by Adam Lustig

You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost it's
flavor, with what will it be salted? It is then good For
nothing, but to be cast out and trampled under people's feet.
Matthew 5:13 NHEB

Back in the day when I was on staff for two summers at Philmont National Boy Scout Ranch in New Mexico, I noticed one of the local dairy farmers in the town of Cimmaron where Philmont was located had salt blocks in his pasture for his cows. Being a curious lad, I asked him why he has these huge blocks of salt in his pasture.

He told me the salt helps his cows replenish minerals they need for proper digestion that they don't get from grazing in his pasture. The more I study the life of Jesus Christ the more I appreciate his parables and analogies and man the analogy at the top of this posting from Matthew 5 is a great one.

If You Go To Hell

by Chima Anaele Sylvanus

"And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments"... Luke 16:23

There are many people today who do not believe in what I am about to share or even if they believe they have a watered down understanding..

So let me say this real quick, the doctrine of Hell remain the same just as Jesus preached it. See.

"And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out,
and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for
thee that one of thy members should perish, and
not that thy whole body should be cast into hell". Matthew 5:29