The PASSION Blog

As I am preparing for Easter I am re-reading over some of the main sections of the Easter message. I like to do this and reflect on them. This year I am looking at the Easter story from the New Testament book of John.

If you haven’t got access to a Bible you can click on the links below. Each one will open to the section in an online Bible on BibleGateway.com

• The Crucifixion
• The Death of Jesus
• The Burial of Jesus
• The Resurrection
• Jesus appears to His Disciples

I hope you all have a happy and safe Easter. Whatever you do this weekend, I hope and pray you come to know and experience Jesus in a new and deeper way this year.

God Bless,
Dave

As Easter approaches I am starting to reflect on the season when we celebrate and remember what Jesus did for us all some 2000 years ago.

This year the thing that is really hitting me is the 100% full and complete acceptance I have with God because of Jesus death on the cross. When we come to Christ and accept that He died on the cross for our sin and to bring us back into relationship with God, we are seen as righteous in God’s eyes. It is like when God sees us, He sees us through the lens of Jesus.

For me this means I don’t have to work for my salvation. I don’t have to do anything to win God’s approval or favour. He loves me and accepts just as I am. There is nothing I can do to make Him love me more. He is 100% on my side and 100% in my corner. He loves me and accepts me as His own child that has been adopted into His eternal family. That is great news…in fact I think it is the best news!

If you don’t know the complete love and acceptance of God. Why not come to Jesus today. Let the Easter message wash over you and sink deep inside your heart. Let 2008 be the year where you come to the foot of the cross and lay all of your burdens there. Receive and accept God’s unconditional love through Jesus. If you would like to do that now you can visit this page.

One of the reasons I really love Easter is that it is one of those times when you can step back from the business of life and really, really stop for a while!

While I celebrate the Easter message of Jesus’ death and resurrection for me every day of the year, there is something special about the Easter season. It is a time when you can really take the time out to reflect on your own personal faith and what it means to you.

Each year I tend to reflect on one of the apects of the Easter message. Sometimes it is the death of Christ on the cross, sometimes it is the resurrection, sometimes it the difference Jesus has made in my life.

This year it is the fact that if I was the only person in the world, Jesus would have still gone to the cross for me, to save me from my sin. That is how much He loved and cared for me. He gave up everything for me….even His life.

Over the next few days perhaps you could take some time to reflect on that fact too. Jesus died for the whole world, but He also died just for you personally. If you were the only person on earth, He would have gone to the cross for you.

God Bless,

Dave

Several years ago I was in my study preparing a message for communion. As I was praying God gave me a vision of the cross of Christ. Being Good Friday I thought I would share it today…

I was suddenly transported away to another place and another time. When I opened my eyes I was looking at the ground in front of me with my hands were clenched tightly in prayer. Then all of a sudden I realised where I was. I was standing at the foot of the cross and Jesus was there hanging on it - being crucified.

I looked up and saw His body was bruised and beaten. His hands and feet were nailed to the cross. He had blood pouring out of his side where he had been speared and blood dribbling down his cheeks from the crown of thorns. He was very close to death.

Then as I looked at him with tears in my eyes, he opened his eyes and looked straight at me. He was trying to say something but as he was close to death and couldn’t get enough air in his lungs to speak. He tensed all his muscles and pushed himself up by his nailed feet and took a breath and then spoke, “I did this for you…….(then he breathed again)……….because I love you…..I did this because I love you”

I wept, like I had never wept before.

God Bless,

Dave