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by Sandy Shaw
After a most exhausting and draining thirty hours or so, Jesus Christ is led away to be crucified. We are in Luke Chapter 23 and at verse 26. The authorities force a dark skinned man from Tripoli to carry this heavy wooden beam. No Roman would carry the cross, and the Romans would not ask a Jew, not in this situation, in the middle of a Religious Festival. It was the Passover.
Simon of Cyrene carries the cross of Jesus, and this man received a mighty reward. It appears from Mark 15 and verse 21 that he and his wife and two sons became disciples of Jesus.
No man carries the cross of Jesus faithfully without receiving a work of God in his own life, and on occasions, through his life into the lives of his family.
Remember what your Cross is. You can lift it up or put it down. It is not sickness or anything of that nature.
Luke 23:27. The news had travelled fast of what was happening in Jerusalem and a sympathetic crowd had gathered, and they are not afraid to express their emotions.
They are not afraid to allow their deep feelings for Jesus to flow out towards Jesus. And yet, Jesus says, Do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves and for your children.
Jesus knew what was going to happen to him, but they did not know what was going to happen to them, just as many today have no idea what Jesus is doing, and what is about to happen to those who live as if there were no God.
Jesus, as he climbs Calvary, begins to refer to the coming day of judgement, because as the Judgement of God is revealed, unconverted unrepentant sinners will cry out to the mountains and rocks to fall upon them.
These, understandably, are serious and solemn words. There are not many new songs and choruses based on these words from Jesus Christ! I wonder why?
It has been found that people believe what they sing and find it easier to believe what is sung rather than what is preached and taught.
We have to be very careful as to what words we give people to sing when they come together for praise and worship. Some of the songs today are no more than vain repetition. And, there is a difference between singing and praise and worship and we need to inform and teach our people that too. This is an area out with these current studies but it is a crucial matter which demands our serious consideration.
When I hear people say, “O, the worship was wonderful today”, I usually make the comment, “I wonder what God thought about it”. That is what counts. Not the feelings in the hearts of men, important though these are, but was the singing and praise pleasing to God the Father?
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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