"The Case for Easter" - #403

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Hello!

I hope you had a fantastic Easter.

My church had about 8,000 people attend our service and over 100 came forward to get saved.  It was an amazing and powerful event.  Our choir did very well, too.  Thanks for your prayers.

This devotional message was inspired by a book by Lee Strobel.  It's called, "The Case for Easter."  I got this book a couple of weeks ago for only $3 on Half.com.  In the first part of the book, as a skeptic (atheist), Lee visited a doctor who explained to him Jesus' medical trauma and such as He was tortured and killed.  He confirmed the biblical record, too!  For brevity's sake, I recommend this book (and this devotional message!).

I pray that you are blessed as you commit yourself to the Living God.

Thanks to everyone who has played for my shoulder's tendonitis.  My physical therapist deemed me well enough to quit my sessions early!  I finished them in half the expected time and it feels great, now.  I've even started my regular weightlifting routine!  Praise God for the power of prayer.

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Welcome to the new readers of this message!  Here is your Devotion, A Moment of Introspection, JCSM's Challenge, the Word of the Week, a faith-builder from "The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained," and the Quotes of the Week.  Have a fantastic week and God bless you!

Love in Christ,

Jason Gastrich

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JCSM's Weekly Devotions (click here to listen!)

"The Case for Easter"

John 2:18-22  "So the Jews answered and said to Him, 'What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?'  Jesus answered and said to them, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.'  Then the Jews said, 'It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?'  But He was speaking of the temple of His body.  Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said."

Luke 24:1-9  "Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.  But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.  Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.  And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.  Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, 'Why do you seek the living among the dead?  He is not here, but is risen!  Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’  And they remembered His words.  Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest."

John 11:25, 26  "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.  And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.  Do you believe this?"

Insight: Jesus Christ is the only person who has ever claimed to be God and who has accurately predicted His death and resurrection.  His tomb remains empty, today!  If you've seriously considered the evidence for the resurrection, then you must believe as well.  The case for Easter is simply too strong and compelling to deny.

Prayer: "Dear Lord, thank you for Jesus Christ.  Thank you for His sacrifice on and before the cross.  Let us be humbled by what He did for us.  Praise You for having the power to raise Him from the dead!  There is no other like You.  Let us understand the power of God.  Let us see ourselves as we really are and understand our desperate need for You in all areas of our life.  We love You, Lord.  We praise You because You have conquered the grave!  Thank you for offering your life as a perfect and holy sacrifice for our sins.  In Jesus' name, Amen."

America's Foundation

Herbert Clark Hoover (1874-1964), the 31st President of the United States, was the first president elected out of a business career.  He had made a fortune as a mining engineer, and then, at the outbreak of World War I, became the food administrator of the United States.  From there he accepted a post on President Harding's cabinet, followed by the presidential nomination by the Republican party.  In his Inaugural Address, March 4, 1929, President Herbert Clark Hoover entreated:

"I ask the help of Almighty God in this service."  - March 4, 1929, in his Inaugural Address.  Benjamin Weiss, God in American History: A Documentation of America's Religious Heritage (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1966), p. 132.  Willard Cantelon, Money Master of the World (Plainfield, NJ: Logos International, 1976), p. 121.

In The Challenge of Liberty, 1934, Herbert Clark Hoover declared:

"While I can make no claim for having introduced the term, 'rugged individualism,' I should be proud to have invented it.  It has been used by American leaders for over a half-century in eulogy of those God-fearing men and women of honesty whose stamina and character and fearless assertion of rights led them to make their own way of life."  - 1934, in The Challenge of Liberty, ch. 5.  John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 750.

Herbert Hoover, in 1943, issued a joint statement along with Mrs. Calvin Coolidge, Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, Mrs. William H. Taft, Mrs. Benjamin Harrison, Mrs. Grover Cleveland, Alfred Smith, Alfred Landon, James M. Cox, and John W. Davis:

"Menaced by collectivist trends, we must seek revival of our strength in the spiritual foundations which are the bedrock of our republic.  Democracy is the outgrowth of the religious conviction of the sacredness of every human life.  On the religious side, its highest embodiment is The Bible; on the political side, the Constitution."  - "Our Christian Heritage," Letter from Plymouth Rock (Marlborough, NH: The Plymouth Rock Foundation), p. 7.

President Herbert Hoover stated:

"The whole inspiration of our civilization springs from the teachings of Christ and the lessons of the prophets.  To read the Bible for those fundamentals is a necessity of American life."  - Charles E. Jones, The Books You Read (Harrisburg, PA: Executive Books, 1985), p. 116.

A Moment of Introspection

If Jesus didn't rise, why did the fearful and decimated disciples have renewed vigor and passion only a few days after the crucifixion and throughout their lives (which for almost all of them, ended in martyrdom)?

Consider the resurrection.  Meditate on the scriptures above and listen to God's voice.  If you doubt or have a question, then email me!  I'd be happy to answer and give you a response from the Bible.

God bless you as you meet this week's challenge!

anastasis (Greek, see John 11:25): a standing up again, that is (literally) a resurrection from death, raised to life again

The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained

"The Skeptic's Annotated Bible" claims:

Genesis 22:2-13 - God orders Abraham to kill Isaac as a burnt offering. Abraham shows his love for God by his willingness to murder his son. But finally, just before Isaac's throat is slit, God provides a goat to kill instead.

In Mt.18:14, Jesus said that God doesn't want any child to die. Could this be the same God who orders Abraham to kill his own son?

"The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained" responds:

This command was given to Abraham as a test of his faith.  God never wanted Isaac to die and this is why Isaac did not die.

(This explanation came from "The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained", by Jason Gastrich.  This book is on CD and explains over 3,000 difficulties regarding the entire Bible at http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.org.  There is also a 300 question workbook that accompanies the CD-ROM.)

The God of the Bible promises something that no other God promises.

The best "perk" of trusting Jesus is eternal life.

Consider the perks that other gods offer.

Jesus predicted His resurrection.

The location of Jesus' tomb was known and empty.

Many saw the risen Savior.

Sunday (instead of the traditional Saturday) became the day of worship for Christian Jews because of Christ's resurrection.

Why would Jews in Israel change the traditional day of worship if Christ didn't rise?

Jesus' body was never found.

These quotes came from God, me, and Miles McPhearson.

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