#8-5: Good Friday Special Edition 2005
Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>
THE HOPE CHEST HOME SCHOOL NEWS
with Virginia Knowles
#8-5: Good Friday Special Edition 2005
March 25, 2005
Dear Hope Chest friends,
In honor of Good Friday, I wanted to send out a special inspirational issue. You will find:
- Seeds and Dreams
- Invitation to Good Friday and Easter Services in Orlando Area
- A Psalm to Sweet Jesus
- Is the Cross a Way of Life for You? (from Good Friday 2004)
Seeds and Dreams
by Virginia Knowles
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Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains only a single seed.
But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
The man who loves his life will lose it,
while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
John 12:23-25
When Jesus ministered to the people around him, they were so excited about the possibility that he was the promised Messiah. For generations, the Israelites had been dreaming of a powerful leader to throw off foreign oppression in their lifetimes. But that wasnt Gods plan. He didnt want to throw off outward Roman oppression for a time but the oppressive reign of sin which dwells in every human heart -- for eternity. Jesus was the seed who would die and be buried, then rise again to bring spectacular life to whole nations and generations. But he did have to die, and that wasnt what they had expected.
A seed is such a strange little thing. From all outward appearances, the tiny hard brown bit of next-to-nothing seems to have so little potential! And yet it is this very seed which grows into such a beautiful, fruitful, life-giving plant. The other odd thing about a seed is that you have to bury it for it to do any good! Like many things in nature, the seed is a picture of something spiritual in this case, faith for the future. A seed is a lot like a dream or a vision. We all have those! What do you do when you sense a dream or a vision for the future stirring in your heart? Stories from the Bible give us some clues, even for home schooling our children.
We must discern if our dream or vision is truly from God. Not all of them are! Some of them are very self-serving! We need to evaluate whether our dream honors his Word, and reflects Scriptural values and roles. In Genesis 11, the people had a dream of building a tower to the heavens, but God saw their folly, thwarted their plans, and sent them away babbling in different languages! Or think of Lot (starting in Genesis 13), who dreamed of the easy life on the fertile plain and ended up losing his family in and after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. No, not all dreams will bear the right kind of fruit. Some of them are weed seeds! Have you ever seen someone aspire to some grand vision of glory for himself and pursue it with such intensity that he puts his spiritual life on the back burner, starts making moral compromises, and in the end, has his dreams, his reputation, and even his life shattered? Despite the pop psychology of following your dreams no matter what anyone else says it is quite possible to chase a destructive and deceptive fantasy! As home school parents, we should think of that when our children, approaching their adult years, are planning for their future college education and careers. Many are so afraid to squelch youthful enthusiasm that they keep their mouths shut and pay for it later when they have to pick up the pieces. Pray through it, seek wise counsel, and keep the lines of communication open with your teens. If you think that something doesnt quite set right dont be afraid to offer your well-reasoned words of guidance, and so no when you need to do so. After all, Proverbs 12:11 warns us that he who chases fantasies lacks judgment.
We must be patient as we wait for our dreams to come true. God promised a son to old Abraham, but he had to wait a LONG time for it to come to pass. In the meantime, Sarah tried to force the issue and ended up bitter about Hagar and Ishmael. But in due time, Isaac was born. When God promises us something, it may not happen right away! Likewise, when we as home school parents invest in raising our children for God, confident of his promises to bless us, we still dont always see the fruit right away. It seems like the seed lies dormant underneath the ground. We cant see the progress underneath the soil. Yet, we must plant, then faithfully water and tend the gardens of their hearts, pulling the weeds, protecting the young plants, and all the other things good gardeners do. Then we must wait. And wait. And wait. A bean seed might sprout in a day, but it takes a lifetime to grow a mighty oak from an acorn! Galatians 6:9 encourages us, Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
We must be willing to lay our visions down. What? This is MY vision! God promised it to me! No way am I going to let go! In this way, a dream often becomes an idol or a distraction. The gift eclipses the giver. And so God tests our hearts and says, Let it go. Lay it down. Abraham had to do this with Isaac, his beloved son, the fulfillment of the promise to bring forth nations from his seed! He was called to sacrifice, and he willingly prepared to obey. When God saw that Abraham passed the heart test, he interceded and provided a ram as a substitute. Perhaps you have felt called by God to minister to others in a certain area such as leading a home school group. You are excited, you make the plans, you get things going, God blesses your efforts, and many lives are changed for the better. But suddenly its pruning time! God says, Lay it down. Maybe this is so you can refocus on your own family and other vital priorities for a season of renewal. Maybe it is so someone else can step up and take your place, and develop their own leadership abilities. Maybe this demotion is permanent, maybe its not. We must leave that in Gods hands. He will be faithful to reveal his will to us if we are willing to do whatever he asks, even if it is laying down a dream. Romans 12:1-2 reminds us, Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.
We can have faith that God can call someone to something special even before that person starts living for him! When Jacob was in Rebekahs womb, God spoke words of destiny over his life (Genesis 25:21-23). As a young adult, fleeing from his angry brother, Jacob had a vision of God, but still the seed of his relationship with God stayed underground a LONG time! Jacob went his way and started raising his huge family with only token acknowledgement of Gods blessings and calling. He had to work through a lot of consequences for his sins. It wasnt until he returned to Canaan twenty years later and wrestled with the angel that he got a new name (Israel) and started living for the Lord. Thats when he could truly fulfill the calling to be a patriarch of the nation Israel, the people of God. Likewise, at his birth, Hudson Taylors parents had a strong sense of his calling to be a missionary to China. They trained him diligently in the Scriptures, but Hudson turned away from the Lord as a teen. God faithfully brought him to repentance and faith, and despite many obstacles, Hudson opened China to the Gospel. As parents, we must not give up, even if our children or young adults seem to be apathetic or even hostile to Gods ways. Keep praying, keep watering and weeding, keep believing God for a fruitful harvest. 1 Peter 2:9 reminds us of our origin and our destination: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
We must believe that God will fulfill his visions for us even if others oppose us, and it may not be in the way or timeframe we expect! Do you think, Oh, I could do great things for God, if only so-and-so werent making it so hard for me. Or, God gave me this vision, but circumstances came up, and its been so long, and I wonder if I heard him right. Life has changed so much that theres no way that this could ever come to pass now. Think about Joseph. In his youth, he had divine dreams of being honored by his family. But then his jealous brothers sold him into slavery in a far away land, and he bounced back and forth between responsibility and servitude for 20 years! How could his dreams EVER come true? But they did! And it wasnt just so Joseph could be honored. The way God worked it out, the whole situation set the stage so that whole nations could be rescued from famine! Or think of David, anointed as a youth to be the future king of Israel. Before this calling could be fulfilled, he would need to serve cranky old Saul, who, in his jealousy, would try again and again to kill David. Im sure David was tempted to get rid of Saul and get on with his goals but he didnt! Even when he had the opportunity and the excuse to kill Saul, he chose to honor Gods chosen authority and await Gods proper timing for his own kingship. Romans 8:28 assures us: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
We must realize that it may be up to the next generations to see the completion of our dreams. In 2 Samuel 7, David has the noble goal of building a temple for the Lord. God said no. There had been too many wars during Davids reign. The job would go to Davids son Solomon. That doesnt mean that David took it easy and passed the buck. He diligently prepared and gathered the supplies ahead of time so that Solomon would be equipped for the task. As home school parents, we should see our children as arrows to be launched into the future. We must be faithful to equip and train them in Gods ways so they will be prepared to make their mark in ways that we cannot. Your children are uniquely gifted. They will do things you could never do. They will meet people you never meet. They will go places you will never go. They will see decades that you will never live to see. Envision your children! Dont be afraid to send them forth on a mission for the Lord. They are in Gods hands! Psalm 112:1-2 exhorts us: Praise the LORD. Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands. His children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.
We must be wholehearted in following Gods call on our lives. Just because God has promised to be faithful in fulfilling his promises in our lives does not mean that we are entitled to sit back and be lazy. We have a part to play, too. In Acts 9, Saul, knocked off his high horse by a vision of the Lord Jesus, is called to suffer for the Lord in proclaiming the Gospel. Did he shrink back? No way! He poured himself out zealously and joyously, counting it an honor and a privilege! Dear home school friends, there is a world out there waiting to hear the Gospel. Are you fired up with a passion to live for the Lord Jesus and boldly GO? Or are you resting on your laurels and contenting yourself with reading about how others do it? This doesnt mean you have to fly to Africa and live in a grass hut. You can begin by sharing the sweet news of Jesus with your children and your neighbors! Just start with a heart full of love for the Lord, and see where it takes you! Paul shares in Philippians 3:7-14, But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Dear friends, what dreams, visions, and callings had God placed in your heart? Do you have faith for the planting, the watering, the weeding, the pruning, and the harvest? May God speak directly to your heart today.
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Thad and I are so privileged to be able to live out our dreams in the context of a local church, Metro Life, and a loving home group within it. These are people who encourage, counsel, and even correct us as we seek Gods plan for our lives. It is such a help to be able to bounce ideas of each other, to offer words of exhortation or caution, and more. I wish I had the space to share all that we have gone through in our home group, which has undergone some huge transitions lately. Suffice to say that many of us have seen challenging times when dreams have been postponed or laid down due to health, job changes, family needs, ministry plans, and more. Thanks be to God for his gift of the church!}
Invitation to Good Friday and Easter Services Near Orlando
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Metro Life Church in Casselberry, Florida, is hosting a special Good Friday service tonight at 7 pm. Our pastoral team will share on the 7 words of Christ from the cross. Then, on Sunday morning at 10 am, Pastor Danny Jones will lead us in our celebration of the Risen Lord. Be prepared for a lot of great music!
Metro Life is located at 910 South Winter Park Drive, just off the intersection of SR 436 and Red Bug Road. For more information, visit http://www.metrolife.org or call 407-740-0561.
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Psalm to Sweet Jesus
by Virginia Knowles
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Sweet Jesus, you bring to me all that is good:
Comfort and hope when I am discouraged,
Peace and reconciliation when I am in conflict,
Strength and enthusiasm when I am weary,
Wisdom and guidance when I am confused,
Courage and confidence when I am afraid,
Forgiveness and mercy when I have done wrong.
You bore the fatal punishment that I deserved,
Yet rose up again in power,
Promising that if I would turn from my awful sin,
And believe in your awesome grace,
I could become your own precious child,
And enter into your everlasting Gloryland.
Such a rich salvation that I could never earn!
As a simple gift of gratitude,
With help from your Word and your Spirit,
I will trust and obey your loving commands,
I will worship you with my prayers and songs,
I will serve others joyfully,
I will share your Good News,
So that each one who hears and believes
May receive the matchless treasure found only in you.
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Is the Cross a Way of Life for You?
by Virginia Knowles
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When I recall the death and resurrection of Jesus, I dont think of just a historical fact or an inspiring story of love and devotion. If Jesus died to pay for my sins, then he has every right to all of me. The cross of Christ is a call to a new way of life: the way to reconciliation and fellowship with the Father, the way to a liberated life, the way to follow Jesus, and the way to reach the world. Is the cross a way of life for you?
The Cross is Our Way to Reconciliation and Fellowship with the Father
We humans have all sinned and fallen short of Gods standards (Romans 3:23). The penalty for this sin is death not only physical, but spiritual (Romans 6:23). Sin alienates us from God and creates a barrier between us and him. No person can break through it using his or her own efforts to be good. Jesus, the perfect son of God, took our punishment on the cross so that we could enter into a relationship with the Father. Without this sacrifice, we would have no hope at all.
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. Ephesians 2:13-16
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrews 10:19-22
See also Colossians 1:19-22, Colossians 2:13-15, Hebrews 9-10
The Cross is Our Way to the Liberated Life
The cross that brought us into the presence of God also enables us to walk step by step toward in victory. It didnt just set us free from the penalty of sin, but from the power of sin too. We cant just say, Oh, Jesus forgives my sin, so I can do what I want now. Instead we say, Wow! Jesus forgives my sin, and since he bought me with his blood, I want to live in a way which pleases him. When we live by the cross, we want to take off the filthy rags of sin, and be clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. Romans 6:6-12
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:19b-20
See also 1 Peter 1:13-19
The Cross is Our Way to Follow Jesus
The cross is our invitation to follow Jesus Christ. Not only do we want to stop sinning, but we want to start doing something purposeful, something radical. We stop living to please ourselves and get our own way, and we start seeking out what God wants us to do. This is not an option, not an extra that is to be pursued only by the serious or pious among us. He did not come to be part of our life, he came to be our life. Is he at the center of all you do and say?
And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23 ESV
Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:27 ESV
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:7-14
See also Galatians 6:14, Philippians 2:4-11 and Colossians 3:2-4.
The Cross is Our Way to Reach the World
When the cross of Christ becomes the most important thing in the world to us, we realize that we must share it with others. Why keep the good news to ourselves? As we realize that people are hopeless without Jesus, that they will spend eternity without him, then we are filled with a burning desire to bring them into the salvation that we have. Can you imagine spending eternity in a glorious Heaven with your gracious Creator, who loved you so much that he died for you? Then bring a friend along! Its the only thing you can take with you!
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:1-2 ESV
And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, "I believed, and so I spoke," we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. 2 Corinthians 4:8-15 (ESV)
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My challenge to you is this: Is the cross a way of life for you? Have you been reconciled to God through the blood of Christ? Are you seeking to live a life that pleases him by putting off sin and putting on righteousness? Have you devoted your life to sharing the Gospel with others? The paradox is that when we take up the cross of Christ, we are taking up the abundant life!
Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matthew 10:39
For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 2 Corinthians 1:15
I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:10b
(All Scriptures are listed in the English Standard Version)
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