Capital Life Church
By Bill Shuler
1. He split our calendar in two: B.C. and A.D.
2. He showed us God is love.
3. He refused a crown to bear a cross.
4. He occupies no grave.
5. His sermon on the Mount set forth the highest standard for how we should live.
6. He modeled forgiveness in a world of stone throwers.
7. He transformed fishermen and tax collectors into world changers.
8. He healed the sick and raised the dead…enough said.
9. He challenged religion devoid of compassion.
10. He willingly accepted a cruel death so that we might have life.
As we enter Holy Week we contemplate Jesus’ death and that first Easter morning. The week started with betrayal, confusion and sorrow only to end in celebration. The scriptures tell us that God “showed his love among us — He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.”
thedailylily.com 
For quick reference if needed; Sermon on the Mount is in the 5th, 6th, and 7th chapters of Matthew. The sermon is in parts: Beatitudes -New laws -Lord’s prayer -Money -Warnings
Jesus is an agent of change, yesterday, today and for tomorrow.
“…He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.”
One of the passages in reading on the Sermon on the Mount that spoke to me about how we might more fully live through Him was Matt 6:33. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” It seems if we have our priorities wrong and our attention in the wrong direction, we have the cart before the horse and may not see the change in spiritual growth for ourselves and others. Jesus said not to worry and be so concerned about what we would eat, drink, wear, etc. I take this to mean that our prime energy and attention should be on seeking after the things written in the Sermon on the Mount…then He adds the others because He knows our needs. Then we won’t have emptiness. This was also in the Beautitudes in Matt.5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. “
In another blog of Paster Bill Shuler he gives Top 10 Reasons to Go to Church and number one caught my attention:
1. It’s a way to get a healthy glow without makeup.
I sure liked that one because I am crazy about makeup. But some days I find I have less time and thought for it when I am focused on his 10 ways above. Praying for the sick and showing compassion. Reading the famous Sermon on the Mount and other steps as above. I am about to agree with him even if he is a man and I am a woman and a woman that loves make-up from bottles and tubes!!!!!
Sara, that is absolutely Bible and Scripture. The Bible says be AGLOW and burning with the Spirit of the Living God….words to that effect. I notice that many beauty commercials talk about “glowing” and users of the product give testimony about how such & such make-up leaves their countenance glowing.
And if we have the Spirit of the Living God bottled up within us, as we release Him through obedience & the Fruit of His Spirit then…… our complexions will begin to glow and our testimony on a commercial could sound somrthing like this:
“after only a few days of applying the Work of the Spirit in my life, I’ve noticed that my worry frowns have diminished and my smile lines have improved. My friends and family ask me what I have been doing to look so refreshed and 10 years younger. I tell them, It’s the FRUIT of the Spirit.” Then it follows that I must tell them how they can find this wonderful PRODUCT, the Holy Spirit @ http://www.JESUS.CALM.
6. He modeled forgiveness in a world of stone throwers.
When we are quick to accuse others of sin, Jesus has a way of helping us examine our own hearts and motives. In John 8:3-11 there was a woman caught in sin that the Pharisees were ready to stone but Jesus turned the searchlight back on them.
…”Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
He doesn’t excuse sin, but he lovingly provides the Way to lead us out and into a life of forgiveness and victory.
The whole world stood condemned, like the woman caught in adultery, standing before the Lord God. That is, until Jesus came. What kind of love and compassion is this? A world of lost sinners, lost for eternity, until Jesus came. The nails, the thorns, the scourging, the piercings….those were mine, but He took them for me.
Debi wrote a song a while back that says to the effect that, ‘ I was in His eyes, when He was hanging on that cross.’
YOU AND ME…thousands of years later, He saw you, personally; He saw me personally at that very moment in time. Her song says, ‘WE WERE IN HIS EYES.’
How can I thank YOU Jesus for what You did on Calvary and to our Heavenly Father for the resurrection and ascension of my Lord and Savior. Thank you Father, Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Holy Spirit.
“The week started with betrayal, confusion, and sorrow only to end in CELEBRATION.” That’s right…….CELEBRATION! Read with me 1 John 2: 1-2 “My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins– and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.” Now that calls for a CELEBRATION, Jesus, our advocate, seated at the right hand of the Father………pleading our case! Let me add the footnotes for the above verses: “To people who are feeling guilty and condemned, John offers reassurance. They know they have sinned and Satan (called ‘the accuser’ in Revelation 12: 10) is demanding the death penalty. When you feel this way, don’t give up hope–the best defense attorney in the universe is pleading your case. Jesus Christ, your advocate, your defender, is the Judge’s Son. He has already suffered your penalty in your place. You can’t be tried for a case that is no longer on the docket. United with Christ, you are as safe as he is. Don’t be afraid to ask Christ to plead your case–He has already won it. Jesus Christ is the atoning sacrifice for our sins. He is our defense attorney. He can stand before God as our mediator because His death satisfied the wrath of God against sin and paid the death penalty for our sin. Thus, Christ both satisfies God’s requirement and removes our sin. In Him we are forgiven and purified.”
Great comments Needles that give us assurance to be able to stand against the wiles and accusations of the enemy of our souls. It also confirms “#2. He showed us God is love.”
When one studies the list of 10 many more could be added. But, the 10 gives us an Easter message to tell a passion story to the nations.
I hope and pray we tell it often and tell it well!
It is Easter and may we sing the Words & Music: Jack W. Hayford,
Majesty, worship his majesty;
Unto Jesus be all glory, honor, and praise.
Majesty, kingdom authority,
Flow from his throne unto his own, his anthem raise.
So exalt, lift up on high the name of Jesus.
Magnify, come glorify Christ Jesus, the King.
Majesty, worship his majesty,
Jesus who died, now glorified, King of all kings.
Then May we GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN AND EVERYWHERE YOU GO THAT JESUS LIVES, HE IS YOUR EMANCIPATOR AND HAS GIVEN YOU GLORIOUS FREEDOM.
THEN SING BLESSED ASSURANCE BY FANNY CROSBY.
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
Refrain
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior, all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior, all the day long.
Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
Refrain
Perfect submission, all is at rest
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.
Refrain
May your story be written in heaven as you live it out on earth. May your compassion and love come up higher as you walk with the Lord Jesus into LIFE that he died to give you on the Cross. He paid it all. We thank JESUS that he changed the world. He took it from death to LIFE and Satan takes it from life to death. Choice seems easy! May you come to know Jesus if you don’t during this season. Say yes I want Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I want to live for him.
Seek out a church and walk in your new walk with Jesus.
A blessed Easter/Resurrection Sunday to God’s people. They could NOT keep Him in the grave. And because He lives we can face tomorrow. Yes, He’s alive, alive, alive forevermore. He is the first fruits of the resurrection life and we will follow if we trust and obey.
And some bright mrning when this life is over, we’ll fly away to be with the Resurrected Christ forever.
Halleluja!
That Jesus is alive and changes the world and the people who trust and follow Him is evidenced by such authors as the one Rena refers to above Fanny Crosby. Though she was blind from infancy God inspired her to write poetry and over 8,000 were put to music and have touched and helped so many people over the years. Such a transforming Savior we have.
Earlier today I heard a radio report that said some citizens of Great Britain are no longer arranging for the old church hymns to be played at their funerals but rather, contemporary songs. The most requested song so far is Frank Sinatra’s, I DID IT MY WAY.
Well, you know, unless “their way” is Jesus’ way they are in for an unhappy surprise, to put it mildly. Jesus said in His book, the Bible, “I Am the WAY the truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except by Me.” The bible also states, “My ways are higher than your ways. For even as the Heavens are higher than the earth so are MY ways higher than your ways. You will hear a voice behind you speaking, ‘THIS is the WAY, walk ye in it.’ And the Bible also warns, “Let the wicked forsake his own way and the unrighteous his own thoughts. And Jeremiah says, ” it is not in the best interest of man to direct his own steps, his own way.
But Jude warns us that it is ungodly to boast in ourselves, .., being carnal and worldly-minded and gratifying our own fleshly ambitions and passions….that is doing things OUR WAY and not relying on the Spirit of the living God to help direct our paths. Jude exhorts us to build up ourselves in our most holy faith, relying on God’s mercy even unto death.
It is vainglorious pitiful, paltry, wretched, and yes, damnable, to boast that we have done it our own way and No one, not even God, can tell us how to do it.
I’d rather call upon the mercy of God at my last, than to boast upon a cold stone memorial, marking a mound of diminishing “dust” .that I did it “my way”. My way, indeed!
MG, I always thought Frank Sinatra’s,” I DID IT MY WAY” sounded an awful lot like Solomon in Ecclesiastes, a book of the Bible traditionally attributed to Solomon, consisting largely of reflections on the vanity of human life. Frank S. sang:
“And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final curtain.
My friend, Ill say it clear,
Ill state my case, of which Im certain.
Ive lived a life thats full.
Ive traveled each and evry highway;
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way
Regrets, Ive had a few;
But then again, too few to mention.
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption.
I planned each charted course;
Each careful step along the byway,
But more, much more than this,
I did it my way.
Yes, there were times, Im sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew.
But through it all, when there was doubt,
I ate it up and spit it out.
I faced it all and I stood tall;
And did it my way.
Ive loved, Ive laughed and cried.
Ive had my fill; my share of losing.
And now, as tears subside,
I find it all so amusing.
To think I did all that;
And may I say – not in a shy way,
No, oh no not me,
I did it my way.
For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things he truly feels;
And not the words of one who kneels.
The record shows I took the blows –
And did it my way!”
The futility of some of those words…”for what is a man, what has he got, if NOT HIMSELF then he is naught.”
If, in this world, all we have is our SELF then we are most to be pitied among men. How can we even take a breath without the Lord?
And again the boast in the sentiments of the song….” to say the things he truly feels and NOT THE WORDS OF ONE WHO KNEELS”… what a shame that this man was too haughty to pray. But the Bible says, ” every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
“Regrets. I’ve had a few”……the biggest regret of all will be when he has to stand before the Lord of Justice and HE declares, ‘since you chose to do it your way, you won’t be going MY WAY.”
Another thought….Imagine if the man of the lyrics had used all that materialistic devotion, energy, focus, determination, dedication, courage and perseverence to expand the Kingdom of God! Wow! Then he would have a crown in Heaven and those souls whose lives were changed and sanctified would stand with him before the Lord God Almighty. And he would say….Lord, who are all these?” And the Lord would say,” these are those whose lives you touched and help change for the good, when you did it MY WAY!”