BBD 04.11.09 Finding Life

#1 · April 11, 2009, 3:28 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on April 11, 2009, 3:28 pm
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

Visit the Burning Bush websites:

www.theburningbush.net

www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites have received visits from more than 170 countries.
Celebrating 11 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more
than 11,000 subscribers across the world.

Please join the Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998 and is
made up of over 300 prayer warriors. Send prayer requests and receive prayer
requests. To join send an email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

The Burning Bush Devotional

Welcome to the 386 new subscribers since January 1, 2009!!

04.11.09

Finding Life

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. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother
of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the
apostles. And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not
believe them. But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw
the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself
at what had happened. - Luke 24:1-12.

If you had been one of the women who went to the tomb of Jesus on that
Sunday morning of the resurrection what would you have thought? How would
you have responded? You have to remember that a huge stone had been placed
in front of the entrance to the tomb and a seal had been placed on it. In
addition, guards had been placed at the entrance to make sure that nothing
happened to the body of Jesus. When the women arrived at the tomb the stone
has been rolled away and the guards are gone (Matthew 27:66). The body of
Jesus is not there! They expected to find the body of a dead rabbi, and they
fully expected that he would remain dead.

When the women told the disciples about what they had seen, their words
"seemed to them like idle tales." In other words, the disciples thought the
women were crazy to be saying something like that.

Peter ran to the tomb to see for himself. He found that the tomb was empty
except for the burial clothes or cloths. How did Peter react to this scene?
The NIV translates it in this way ".wondering to himself what had happened."
Even though Jesus had plainly told his disciples that He would be put to
death. In Luke 18:31-33 we are told: "Then He took the twelve aside and said
to them, 'Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are
written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. For
He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and
spit upon. They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will
rise again.'"

Too often we have problems similar to those of the women and of the
disciples when we are trying to find help spiritually. We try to find
solutions to life's problems, but we look for those solutions in the
cemetery. The spiritual solutions that we need will not be found in the dead
ways of the world. Taking another drink, popping another pill, having
another affair, buying a new car, and on and on; will not give us happiness,
peace, and fulfillment. Jesus, the Prince of Life, is the One, who can give
you life, and life more abundantly. Jesus is the only One who has the power
to lay down His life and to take it up again.

Too often we read about God's power, and we think it is crazy to believe
that God can change anything in our own lives. The disciples thought the
women were just crazy for saying that Jesus was not in the tomb. The truth
is that the resurrection power is available today through Jesus Christ and
that power can change your life. That's what Easter is all about!!

May you have a glorious Resurrection Sunday!! May the Lord touch your life
in a fresh and new way!!

Copyright © 2009. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
on a non-profit basis with source credited. The Burning Bush website has
been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email version of the
Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.

Prayer Requests: Please pray for Malachi, Cody, and Mica who are young boys
with cancer. Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the
Prayer Request page. You can also post your prayer requests there and they
will be forwarded to the Burning Bush Prayer Group (Of course, I am always
in need of prayer - please pray for me.).

If you are not my friend on facebook or myspace you can be, just add me. The
devotionals are posted in my blogs on those two social networks and you can
leave comments, feedback about them there. There are other social networks
designed just for Christians, however, this is an outreach project to reach
those who may not know the Lord or may have wandered away. You can help me
reach out to them.

If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may
subscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-subscribe@welovegod.org

Two videos of my sermons are posted on GodTube at:
www.godtube.com/Wrather

You can listen to services at my son, Clark Wrather's church (First Baptist
Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma) live on Sunday mornings at 10:55am CST
www.kkbifm.com/

There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here
is the URL: www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

You can unsubscribe to the pure text version of the devotional by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-subscribe@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

Visit the Burning Bush websites:

http://www.theburningbush.net

http://www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites have received visits from more than 170 countries.
Celebrating 11 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more
than 11,000 subscribers across the world.

Please join the Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998 and is
made up of over 300 prayer warriors. Send prayer requests and receive prayer
requests. To join send an email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

The Burning Bush Devotional

Welcome to the 386 new subscribers since January 1, 2009!!

04.11.09

Finding Life

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. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother
of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the
apostles. And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not
believe them. But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw
the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself
at what had happened. - Luke 24:1-12.

If you had been one of the women who went to the tomb of Jesus on that
Sunday morning of the resurrection what would you have thought? How would
you have responded? You have to remember that a huge stone had been placed
in front of the entrance to the tomb and a seal had been placed on it. In
addition, guards had been placed at the entrance to make sure that nothing
happened to the body of Jesus. When the women arrived at the tomb the stone
has been rolled away and the guards are gone (Matthew 27:66). The body of
Jesus is not there! They expected to find the body of a dead rabbi, and they
fully expected that he would remain dead.

When the women told the disciples about what they had seen, their words
"seemed to them like idle tales." In other words, the disciples thought the
women were crazy to be saying something like that.

Peter ran to the tomb to see for himself. He found that the tomb was empty
except for the burial clothes or cloths. How did Peter react to this scene?
The NIV translates it in this way ".wondering to himself what had happened."
Even though Jesus had plainly told his disciples that He would be put to
death. In Luke 18:31-33 we are told: "Then He took the twelve aside and said
to them, 'Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are
written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. For
He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and
spit upon. They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will
rise again.'"

Too often we have problems similar to those of the women and of the
disciples when we are trying to find help spiritually. We try to find
solutions to life's problems, but we look for those solutions in the
cemetery. The spiritual solutions that we need will not be found in the dead
ways of the world. Taking another drink, popping another pill, having
another affair, buying a new car, and on and on; will not give us happiness,
peace, and fulfillment. Jesus, the Prince of Life, is the One, who can give
you life, and life more abundantly. Jesus is the only One who has the power
to lay down His life and to take it up again.

Too often we read about God's power, and we think it is crazy to believe
that God can change anything in our own lives. The disciples thought the
women were just crazy for saying that Jesus was not in the tomb. The truth
is that the resurrection power is available today through Jesus Christ and
that power can change your life. That's what Easter is all about!!

May you have a glorious Resurrection Sunday!! May the Lord touch your life
in a fresh and new way!!

Copyright © 2009. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
on a non-profit basis with source credited. The Burning Bush website has
been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email version of the
Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.

Prayer Requests: Please pray for Malachi, Cody, and Mica who are young boys
with cancer. Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the
Prayer Request page. You can also post your prayer requests there and they
will be forwarded to the Burning Bush Prayer Group (Of course, I am always
in need of prayer - please pray for me.).

If you are not my friend on facebook or myspace you can be, just add me. The
devotionals are posted in my blogs on those two social networks and you can
leave comments, feedback about them there. There are other social networks
designed just for Christians, however, this is an outreach project to reach
those who may not know the Lord or may have wandered away. You can help me
reach out to them.

If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may
subscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-subscribe@welovegod.org

Two videos of my sermons are posted on GodTube at:
http://www.godtube.com/Wrather

You can listen to services at my son, Clark Wrather's church (First Baptist
Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma) live on Sunday mornings at 10:55am CST
http://www.kkbifm.com/

There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here
is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

You can unsubscribe to the pure text version of the devotional by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-subscribe@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.