Tuesday, June 08, 2004

Two Little Words: "...including Peter..." Another Great Thought On Forgiveness From The Upper Room When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?" When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, "Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you."  Mark 16:1-7 (NRSV) The young man in a white robe said, "Go and give this message to his disciples, including Peter: 'He is going to Galilee ahead of you; there you will see him, just as he told you.'"  Mark 16:7 (TEV) THREE followers of Jesus go to anoint his body on the morning after the Sabbath. These women find an empty tomb and an angel who tells them that Jesus has risen. I had read this passage in Mark's Gospel many times before, but recently two words caught my attention. The angel concludes, "Now go and give this message to his disciples, including Peter, . . ." (emphasis added). "Including Peter" -- who cut off a guard's ear when Jesus was arrested and then cowered among the servants in the high priest's courtyard while Jesus was on trial inside. "Including Peter" -- who boldly proclaimed Jesus to be the Messiah, the son of the living God, but then denied even knowing him. What a profound message of love and forgiveness those two words hold! Peter was full of remorse and must have felt he could never undo what he had done that night in denying his master. But through this angel at Jesus' tomb, God made it clear that every human weakness, failure, and betrayal can be forgiven. God's love can redeem the mistakes and failures of even the most imperfect person. Including Peter. Including you and me. 11:47:08 AM    comment []

Communications Via RSS - A New Tool For Spreading The Good News Of Jesus Christ As a Christian working to spread the good news of Jesus Christ and daily communicating with others - its important that we understand new communication tools that can aide us in these communication tasks.   Below is an overview - and link - to an article by Bob Stepno in July 2004 issue of PC World magazine describing one of these new technologies - that being RSS.  Extract:  Tired of browsing around the Web for timely information? RSS readers deliver exactly the news you need--fast. Most of us keep a mental list of our favorite Web sites--perhaps 10 to 15 destinations that we swing by every day. But usually only a few of them contain new stories that are worth reading immediately, so a habit of loading and scanning each of these sites daily can waste a lot of time. Fortunately, you can make such time sinks a thing of the past, thanks to a Web standard called RSS. This standard lets sites publish a simple listing of headlines and story summaries (for more background, see "RSS: Hot Fix for Info-Junkies"). Using a simple program called an RSS reader, you can subscribe to different news feeds and rapidly sift through condensed news. When you find an item you like, you click the headline to open the Web page containing the full story.   For complete article - click here. 10:59:50 AM    comment []

Forgiving Ourselves - Great Thoughts From Marketplace Meditations  Great devotional on "Forgiving Ourselves" If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 The apostle Peter was one of three disciples who walked with Jesus closer than the other nine. He was the most enthusiastic and the one man who was willing to step into territories where others would not dare. He was the first to step out of the boat and walk on water. He wanted to protect Jesus at times when Jesus rebuked him for having a demon influence him. He cut off the ear of the guard who wanted to arrest Jesus in the garden. As Peter matured, the Holy Spirit harnessed his many extreme emotions. The greatest trial for Peter was when he denied the Lord just before Jesus was crucified. Three times he denied knowing Jesus. Jesus predicted that the cock would crow after the third time just to reinforce the prophecy to Peter. Peter was crushed when he realized he had failed His Lord so badly. The Lord forgave Peter for his denial. However, gaining forgiveness from Jesus was not the most difficult part for Peter. The hard part was forgiving himself. As we mature in the faith, we begin moving in victory after victory with our Lord. Then out of nowhere, an event happens that reveals our true sin nature, and we are confronted face to face with this reality. We cannot believe that we are capable of such sin. There is no good thing in us save the grace of Jesus Christ and His blood that cleanses us. When God looks at us, He looks at the blood of Christ that has covered our sin. He does not look at our sin once we confess it. When we have difficulty forgiving ourselves, this is pride at its deepest level. We are making an assumption that we should never have sinned and that we are too mature to sin. This is a trap from the enemy of our souls. People who cannot forgive do not recognize from what they have been forgiven. That includes us. 10:42:07 AM    comment []