We are focusing this week on the theme Ever Constant God. Need to catch up? Here are this week's earlier posts.
-Aaron reads his go-to Scripture during this uncertain time. He reads verses from both the Old and New Testaments and discusses how God was there at the beginning and will be there until the end of the ages.
-Jenn shared a short devotional about how God is present in yesterday, today, and tomorrow. God is with us!
Jesus has many names. Messiah...Son of Man...the Lamb of God...Bread of Life...Christ... King of Kings...Lord of Lords...Prince of Peace...King of the Jews...Immanuel...God with us.
On this Good Friday morning, our good friend Kendall Davis, a Lutheran seminarian student, takes us to the Friday in which Christ was crucified. Kendall reads the crucifixion account from the Gospel of Mark. Kendall shows us that even in the midst of suffering, God is with us.
Mark 15: 25-38 (NIV)
The Crucifixion of Jesus
25 It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. 26 The written notice of the charge against him read: the king of the jews.
27 They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. [28] 29 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30 come down from the cross and save yourself!” 31 In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! 32 Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
The Death of Jesus
33 At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 34 And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).
35 When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”
36 Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said.
37 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.
38 The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”
Romans 5: 1-5 (NIV)
Peace and Hope
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.