Pastor's Notes April 2011
HE IS HERE - BECAUSE HE IS RISEN!
By Austin Phililips
Philippians 3:10 My aim is to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, 3:11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Practically every year we read from the Gospels about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! Churches are usually filled, many with people who have not attended since Christmas, but they come because they give mental assent to the historical reality of the death and resurrection of Israel's Messiah and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Of course there are those who don't believe and even deny the truths we hold near and dear, but even some of them show up once in awhile. So, it gives us the wonderful opportunity of "preaching the gospel", which will in far too many cases not be carefully explained and many will leave as ignorant and empty as they came.
I am convinced that in the verses above from Paul's letter to the Philippians, he thrusts the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ into us as a sword and if we can communicate this to our listeners, I believe the Holy Spirit will not only save the lost but CHANGE believers permanently.
The verse from the NET Bible is wonderful because of the phrase "MY AIM IS TO KNOW...EXPERIENCE...SHARE...BE LIKE...AND ATTAIN"!!!! That is about as powerful as it gets! It moves us out of history into the PRESENT and from the past into the future. It transcends the limitations of time and space and transport into the dimension of infinity. It is both objective and subjective! Consider:
We can know (experientially) something that only a select few can or will ever know (experientially). And, we can have this knowledge Personally. When you and I are taken back in time to the historical account of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, we have no frame of reference for relating to that. It is simply a historical fact Christian believe, but when it become PERSONAL experiential knowledge through my identification with Him in that death, I can KNOW it experientially (spiritually, not physically). I can DIE!
Paul did not say, "that I may know his death", because he already did positionally. So he move on from the death with which he could identify with Jesus to the Power of His resurrection. That also now become Personal! It is the Power of the Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead physically who has now raised me from death spiritually, so that I may now walk in newness of life.
Here is the clincher! He knew the suffering before the death, but I can't know the suffering until after my identification with Him in that death and the outflowing power of His resurrection. Only then, can I begin to know personally the joint participation in His sufferings as I share in the "afflictions of Christ" as Paul wrote. NOW, ever pain, every heartache, every rejection, every criticism, every fault found, and every sin laid to my charge by the devil and those who represent him, are all a part of my sharing in the fellowship of His sufferings through the power outflowing from His resurrection. It is all Personal now because He is in me and I am in Him.
Therefore - HE IS HERE! HE IS ALIVE AND LIVING IN ME!
HAPPY EASTER!
PREACH IT!
Bless and Be Blessed
By Clarence Johnson
This Month's Digital Pastor is still the find that I found last month. The Skit Guys They have some awesome stuff for Easter and if you have not seen the Grace video yet please do. I still cant say enough about the ministry of these guys. This is still in my awesome find file!!
Have you ever heard of Skype? Skype is an online system that lets you talk to other Skype users, anywhere in the world, for free. You can even video chat for free too. There are some paid features but the free services alone lets you do so much that you may never need to upgrade to anything else. We at bible.org use Skype as our main "Talk-to-each-other" system. We have group chats and sometimes we will even video chat. A lot of kids are using Skype is even being introduced into the business world. There are new free chat services popping up all over the place but at the moment this is the system that they are all aiming for.
NET Bible Webinars
We are still offering FREE one on one Webinars on how to get the most out of the NET Bible Study Environment. I was surprised by the amount of people who asked for a webinar. We are still offering if you are still interested. If you are interested please contact me to schedule a one on one webinar.
Closing Notes
We are still looking for people to help with our Pastor's Notes. Some of you have responded and as a result you will start seeing some more content added to our Pastor's Notes. If you are interested please contact me.
Do you know any college kids who have hands-on cyber security skills or
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