kosarajuraj

Holy Week is not the beginning of the celebration of God's gift of his son, the resurrection from death and the forgiveness of sins. It is the culmination of several weeks of fasting and preparation. And I have found many people, and amazingly many Christians, do not understand many of the observances involved in the Easter event.     The observance is based around the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert, denying Satan and fasting in preparation for his ministry and, ultimately, his own sacrifice on the cross. After the Last Supper, Jesus and his disciples went out to the Garden of Gethsemane, and Jesus asked his disciples to wait, watch and pray with him. To commemorate that, and to observe the act of waiting and praying with Christ, churches had their members sign up for prayer times around the clock, beginning with the end of the M on day-Thursday service, and ending with the Easter Sunday Sunrise Service. The prayer chain was not in effect during the Good...

Christ is the founder and initiator of the new era God is bringing about through Jesus’ victory over sin and death. Jesus’ resurrection from death opens the way for all who trust in him to follow him in a resurrection like his when he returns. This is important because it shows that our ultimate hope is not just for our souls to go to heaven, but for our physical bodies to be raised to new life like Jesus’ was. He is the firstborn of the resurrection. By faith we believe it. Always. Say "No" to doubts Many of us grow up hearing the refrain from James, “the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind” (1:6). Many of us are told over and over again that there is no room for doubt or skepticism in the Kingdom of God. But is that truly the message portrayed in Scripture? Should we really feel the sting of shame over asking questions and expressing hesitation? Jesus’ response to doubt was often, why? He proposed ...