Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭13‬-‭16‬ ‭(NLT‬‬)

FROM TODAY'S READING...

“The church is called to be the light of the world and to be the salt of the earth—not the sugar of the world. That’s the problem today with our world: There’s too much sugar in it and not enough salt...Salt preserves. It slows down decay.”

John Amanchukwu

Assistant Pastor

Upper Room Church of God in Christ, Raleigh NC

Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭13‬-‭16‬ ‭(NLT‬‬) You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. 

You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

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Ephesians‬ ‭5‬:‭8‬-‭11‬ ‭(NLT‬‬) For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them.

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John‬ ‭11‬:‭25‬-‭26‬ ‭(NLT‬‬)

FROM TODAY'S READING...

EASTER WEEK 2024...

"Without the belief in the Resurrection the Christian faith could not have come into being. The disciples would have remained crushed and defeated men. Even had they continued to remember Jesus as their beloved teacher, His crucifixion would have forever silenced any hopes of His being the Messiah. The cross would have remained the sad and shameful end of His career. The origin of Christianity therefore hinges on the belief of the early disciples that God had raised Jesus from the dead."

William Lane Craig

Knowing the Truth About the Resurrection, Moody, 1981. p. 116-117.

John‬ ‭11‬:‭25‬-‭26‬ ‭(NLT‬‬) Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”

Luke‬ ‭24‬:‭1‬-‭7‬ ‭(NLT‬‬) But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. So they went in, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes. 

The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.”

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1 Corinthians‬ ‭15:3-4‬ ‭(NLT‬‬) I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.

Apostle Paul

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Luke‬ ‭23‬:‭32‬-‭33‬, ‭39‬-‭43‬ ‭(NLT‬‬)

FROM TODAY'S READING...

EASTER WEEK 2024...

“Jesus himself did not try to convert the two thieves on the cross; he waited until one of them turned to him.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)

German Lutheran pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident

Luke‬ ‭23‬:‭32‬-‭33‬, ‭39‬-‭43‬ ‭(NLT‬‬) Two others, both criminals, were led out to be executed with him. When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left...

One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!” 

But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” 

And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

John‬ ‭1‬:‭10‬-‭12‬ ‭(NLT‬‬) He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.

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Luke‬ ‭22:38-46‬ ‭(NLT‬‬)

FROM TODAY'S READING...

EASTER WEEK 2024...

“[The disciples] had been so eager to fight God’s war with man’s weapons, but they now fumbled with a more essential weapon—prayer.”

E. Earle Ellis, The Gospel of Luke (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1981), p. 257.

Luke‬ ‭22:38-46‬ ‭(NLT‬‬) “Look, Lord,” they replied, “we have two swords among us.” 

“That’s enough,” he said. 

Then, accompanied by the disciples, Jesus left the upstairs room and went as usual to the Mount of Olives. There he told them, “Pray that you will not give in to temptation.” 

He walked away, about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him. He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.

At last he stood up again and returned to the disciples, only to find them asleep, exhausted from grief. “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation.”

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Luke 23:26 (NLT)

FROM TODAY'S READING...

EASTER WEEK 2024...

“…the bent silhouette of Simon from Cyrene trudging after Jesus made a striking profile for every disciple of the Savior. Jesus sovereignly created the symbol, even when he appeared most helpless. The image is sobering, because if we do not feel the weight of the cross, if there is no sacrifice, if there are no occasions of humiliation, we are not following Christ.”

R. Kent Hughes

Luke, vol. 2

Luke‬ ‭23‬:‭26‬ ‭(NLT‬‬) As they led Jesus away, a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, happened to be coming in from the countryside. The soldiers seized him and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.

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Matthew‬ ‭16‬:‭24‬-‭26‬ ‭(NLT‬‬) Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?

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2 Corinthians 5:21 (NLT)

EASTER WEEK 2024...

“What a blasphemous affront to God to think that sin does not matter! What an outrage to imagine that we are good enough for God to accept us! What a cosmic affront to hold that there is any way apart from Jesus! What a slur to say that God does not care about us!

R. Kent Hughes

1 John‬ ‭3:1‬ ‭(NLT‬‬) See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him.

2 Corinthians‬ ‭5:21‬ ‭(NLT‬‬) For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

John‬ ‭3:16-17‬ ‭(NLT‬‬) For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

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1 Timothy 1:12-17 (NLT)

FROM TODAY'S READING...

"Longfellow could take a worthless sheet of paper, write a poem on it, and make it worth $6,000-that’s genius.

Rockefeller could sign his name to a piece of paper and make it worth a million-that is wealth.

A painter can take a 50-cent piece of canvas, paint a picture on it and make it worth $10,000-that’s art.

But . . . God can take a worthless sinful life, wash it in the blood of Christ, put His Spirit in it, and make it a blessing to humanity—that’s salvation.

The Compass

1 Timothy‬ ‭1‬:‭12‬-‭17‬ ‭(NLT‬‬) I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do his work. He considered me trustworthy and appointed me to serve him, even though I used to blaspheme the name of Christ. In my insolence, I persecuted his people. But God had mercy on me because I did it in ignorance and unbelief. Oh, how generous and gracious our Lord was! He filled me with the faith and love that come from Christ Jesus. 

This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. All honor and glory to God forever and ever! He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God. Amen.

Apostle Paul 

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