Verse of the Day 3/17

Verse of the Day 3/17

1 Corinthians 15:3-4   For I passed down to you the crux of it all which I had also received from others, that the Anointed One, the Liberating King, died for our sins and was buried and raised from the dead on the third day. All this happened to fulfill the Scriptures; it was the perfect climax to God's covenant story.    The Voice (VOICE)

I closed yesterday's post with the song "He Lives".   The last line of the refrain states, "you ask me how I know He lives, He lives within my heart".  That is a true statement, but it is not because we say it that it is true.  Today's verses and the passage below,  tell us of the eye witnessed to the event, and not just a handful of people, He appeared to more than 500.

J.R. Miller writes, "If your faith stops at the cross--it misses the blessing of the fullest revealing of Christ!

  You need a Savior who not merely two thousand years ago went to death to redeem you--but one who also is alive to walk by your side in loving companionship!     You need a Savior . . .    who can hear your prayers,    to whose feet you can creep in penitence when you have sinned,    to whom you can call for help when the battle is going against you.    You need a Savior who is interested in all the affairs of your common life, and who can assist you in every time of need.    You need a Christ who can be a real friend--loving you, keeping close beside you, able to sympathize with your weaknesses.    You need a Savior who will come into your life, and will save you, not by one great act of centuries past--but by a life warm and throbbing with love today, and living again in you."    Knowing that Jesus died, was buried and rose again is why we celebrate Easter, it is why we celebrate life with Him every day of our lives, it is why we look forward in faith to an eternity of tomorrow's with Him.  

--   In Christ,  Mike    Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com  Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,  in accordance with the riches of God's grace.  NIV    

1 Corinthians 15:1-11 New King James Version (NKJV)

The Risen Christ, Faith's Reality

15 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, ² by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

³ For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵ and that He was seen by ^[a]Cephas, then by the twelve. ⁶ After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have ^[b]fallen asleep. ⁷ After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. ⁸ Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.

⁹ For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. ¹¹ Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.