Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Charles R. Swindoll, from his book,  Jesus: 09 (Great Lives Series)   (p. 122). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) So, why did He? Charles says, "His miracles provided relief from pain and fear, and taught of a God who cares deeply about the suffering of people and who heals for free. Jesus performed many more miracles than are described in the Gospels (John 20:30), and His motivation for them was nothing more than compassion." He goes on, "Viewing His miracles as a whole, the astonishing power of Jesus should be a source of comfort. The matters we or the world might consider trivial, He cares about and wants to remedy. He longs to relieve our worries and has promised to supply our most fundamental needs. He has taken dominion over illness, tragedy, chaos, and death. And His power is not limited by time, distance, superstition, prejudice, or even the forces of evil. He taught by way of His miracles of r...

A thought by Charles R. Swindoll, from his book,  Jesus: 09 (Great Lives Series)   (p. 108). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Ok, so what does he mean? Charles says, "This is the notion that ancient people were habitually superstitious and automatically looked for a supernatural explanation for anything that baffled them. They viewed the world differently, but they were neither stupid nor easily deceived." He continues, "Today, reasonable people exist in an uncomfortable tension between the dogma of science, which denies the existence of the supernatural, and the fanaticism of some television evangelists who peddle it for donations. And for those unwilling to suspend belief, the supernatural exhibitions of faith healers aren’t very convincing. They perform their illusions in very controlled environments, and the 'healings' are either limited to mild improvements or they claim results that are difficult to ...

Swindoll, Charles R.. Jesus: 09 (Great Lives Series) (p. 105). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.   A thought by Charles R. Swindoll, from his book,  Jesus: 09 (Great Lives Series)   (p. 105). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) It is so easy for us to panic isn't it? Charles says, "Very often we leap into action and apply a familiar fix without considering unseen issues or lasting consequences." He then says, "The next time a financial emergency pops up and you’re short on cash, think about this tendency before you reach for the credit card or ask for a loan. Could it be that you’re denying God the opportunity to provide for you in His way and at a time He deems appropriate? What if you were to pray and present your need to Him in humble submission . . . and then wait ?" Now that is a very good thought, isn't it? Yes, yes! #continuethought

A thought by Charles R. Swindoll, from his book,  Jesus: 09 (Great Lives Series)   (p. 100). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) And that is so true? Charles says, "Or, as the Mark Twain character Pudd’nhead Wilson put it, 'Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.' Many in the scientific community see faith as holding a belief that either contradicts or ignores reason. But that’s not what I call faith. That’s stupidity!" Charles goes on, "Faith does not run contrary to evidence; faith goes beyond evidence. Faith doesn’t ignore reason, but faith doesn’t wait upon it either. Faith is merely a choice to trust, something we do every day. Go to the airport and at any given moment you’ll see a group of people board an aircraft—eighty tons of metal and wire assembled by the lowest bidder, maintained by people they’ve never seen, and flown by people they don’t know. Yet they buckle up and settle in by the thousands...

A thought by Charles R. Swindoll, from his book,  Jesus: 09 (Great Lives Series)   (p. 90). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) It really is. Charles says, "It embodies almost every attractive quality we hope to find in others. Grace is a gift of the humble to the humiliated. Grace acknowledges the ugliness of sin by choosing to see beyond it. Grace accepts a person as someone worthy of kindness despite whatever grime or hard-shell casing keeps him or her separated from the rest of the world. Grace is a gift of tender mercy when it makes the least sense." He goes on, "The Old Testament Hebrews knew grace as chesed , which described God’s unrelenting, overabundant love for people, despite their unfaithfulness. The ancient Greeks understood grace, or charis , as 'that which brings delight, joy, happiness, or good fortune.' (1) Grace begets grace, and Jesus radiated this quality. His invitation, 'Come to Me...

A thought by Charles R. Swindoll, from his book,  Jesus: 09 (Great Lives Series)   (p. 87). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Yes, He has. Charles says, "Religion says, Work more. Try harder. Do this. Don’t do that. Give until you have no more. God isn’t yet pleased with you. Push, push, harder, longer! Jesus looked into the hearts of exhausted, overburdened, anxious, stressed-out people and offered a better way." Jesus said, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Matthew 11:28–30 Later Charles says,  "Jesus said, in today’s terms, 'Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—...

A thought by Charles R. Swindoll, from his book,  Jesus: 09 (Great Lives Series)   (p. 80). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) That is an interesting thought. Charles says, "All you need is a visible institution to embody the beliefs of the people you want to control and the credibility to determine who can be in and who should remain out. If someone believes you hold his or her eternal destiny in your hands, you can make him or her believe almost anything, want almost anything, do almost anything. Some of the world’s greatest evils have been accomplished by people who believed that what they were doing—however horrific or inhuman—was good and right, based on their religion. A classic example is 9/11." He continues, "In first-century Israel, two primary groups vied for religious control over Israel, which kept them locked in a symbiotic, love-hate relationship with each other. The aristocratic Sadducees occupied the...

A thought by Charles R. Swindoll, from his book,  Jesus: 09 (Great Lives Series)   (p. 76). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Now this is what Christ offers to us. Charles says, "And while abundant life has profound implications beyond the grave, Jesus gave every indication that it also has practical relevance here and now. As I reflect on the kind of life He offers, I find four tangible qualities." He goes on, " Soaring . Life . . . as God intended it enables us to live above the drag of fear, superstition, shame, pessimism, guilt, anxiety, worry, and all the negativity that keeps people from seizing each day as a gift from Him. The abundant life allows a person to start the day by saying, 'Lord, I’m Yours. Today is Yours. I give You all of my problems as I begin this new day. I know I’ll struggle and grope, and I may even stumble, but I know You are with me and You will use every experience of my life to incr...

A thought by Charles R. Swindoll, from his book,  Jesus: 09 (Great Lives Series)   (p. 71). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Ok, let's hear what he says. Charles says, "Certainly the mother plays a necessary role and the doctor helps, but let’s face facts: we call birth a miracle because God alone makes it happen. And what about the role of the baby? What does the baby contribute to his or her own birth? Nothing. "Birth from above, as with physical birth, is not something that can be earned, deserved, or worked for. You can’t pray long and hard to receive it. You can’t clean up your life enough to make it possible. And you don’t join a church to be born from above. All of that is just as nonsensical as a baby saying that he decided to form himself within his mother’s womb." Earlier he said, "Nicodemus, one of Israel’s great theological and philosophical minds, struggled to comprehend the kind of life Jesu...

A thought by Charles R. Swindoll, from his book,  Jesus: 09 (Great Lives Series)   (p. 64). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) That is a great way to put it, isn't it? Charles says, "It’s clear enough, but you can see only a reflection of what’s behind you if your focus isn’t right. The people of Judah made the mistake of thinking the Messiah would merely recapture the glory days of King David and merely turn the world into a Jewish empire. In other words, they hoped the Messiah would bring them the same power and prosperity they once enjoyed, only magnified and multiplied. Given their exclusive worship of God, that’s not a bad wish, but compared to the reality that lay before them, it was a wispy, unsubstantial likeness of former glory. That was the old covenant; God had a new covenant in mind. The new would build upon the old in order to provide God’s people much more than mere temporal power and material wealth. I...

A thought by Charles R. Swindoll, from his book,  Jesus: 09 (Great Lives Series)   (p. 56). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Charles goes on, ". . . existentialists and self-help gurus are wrong about that. I learned years ago that following a call—fulfilling one’s purpose—isn’t that complicated and it isn’t as mysterious as it sounds. It begins with a realization that God has created each person with a unique design and a special purpose." He says, "Unfortunately, sin and selfishness make fulfilling that purpose impossible. Sin creates a barrier between our divine design and our ordained path, creating a tension that can be excruciating. Life becomes meaningless; a drab, colorless, pointless existence in which even pleasure and success bring no satisfaction. But that gnawing hunger for meaning can also create the opportunity and means for God to heal our sin-sick souls and put us on the right path." He conti...

A thought by Charles R. Swindoll, from his book,  Jesus: 09 (Great Lives Series)   (p. 48). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Here is another interesting thought. Charles says, "Disciples, through the teaching of their mentor, were to become reproductions of their master. If they failed to learn or did something publicly embarrassing, critics would look past the pupil to condemn the teacher. So, naturally, teachers took great care to choose disciples who not only had promise, but would completely submit to their instruction. A person could ask a rabbi to become his mentor, but the relationship didn’t begin until the teacher extended an invitation." He goes on, "Another potential disciple named Philip lived in Judea, perhaps with extended family in the little town of Emmaus, seven miles or so from Jerusalem. Jesus knew him to be from Bethsaida, 'house of fish,' a fishing village on the northern banks of the ...

A thought by Charles R. Swindoll, from his book,  Jesus: 09 (Great Lives Series)   (p. 48). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) I find this interesting. Charles says, "The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—the only accounts of Jesus’ life that were unanimously accepted by the people who knew Him—offer no information about what happened to Him during those eleven years. History is silent. Luke alone offers this tidbit: 'The Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him' (Luke 2:40).  Between the ages of one and twelve, we know nothing about Jesus’ life." He goes on, "Leave a blank space in history and, before long, someone will try to fill it. Many decades after the last eyewitnesses had died, several new documents emerged containing fanciful stories of Jesus’ childhood. They first appeared in the second century, but none of them was considered remote...

A thought by Charles R. Swindoll, from his book,  Jesus: 09 (Great Lives Series)   (p. 43). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) He came to do more. Charles says, "No, the birth of Jesus was an invasion, a benevolent takeover whereby everyone and everything in the world must be transformed. So we will have to remind ourselves often that, while Jesus was a flesh-and-bone man, He was no ordinary man. And His teaching will be, quite literally, out of this world. He will sometimes sound cryptic, even evasive with His answers, but rather than write off His words as nonsense or try to squeeze them into old categories, I challenge you to see with different eyes. Open yourself up to the possibility that what He said, did, and taught was intended to create a very different world than the one you presently occupy. In fact, you might even find that the truth He brought is intended to create a very different you ! Charles continue...

A thought by Charles R. Swindoll, from his book,  Jesus: 09 (Great Lives Series)   (p. 36). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) And that has made all the difference for us all. Charles says, "However, when God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ, He did not cease to be God, nor did He lose His divine attributes, such as omnipresence and omnipotence. He merely laid them aside for a time. Theologians call this choice kenosis , which derives from a Greek term meaning 'to empty.' Perhaps the best way to illustrate the concept is to tell the story of Thomas Mott Osborne."  Charles tells his story, "In October 1914, Osborne entered Auburn Prison in upstate New York, and like all the other prisoners, he was photographed, fingerprinted, stripped of his possessions, issued a set of prison grays, and led to a cell, four feet wide by seven and a half feet long and seven and a half feet tall. The only difference b...

A thought by Charles R. Swindoll, from his book,  Jesus: 09 (Great Lives Series)   (p. 35). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) So true, so true. Charles says, "I have often wondered why Mary made the trip with Joseph knowing that she would likely deliver her child before returning home again. Perhaps he thought they could make the trip, conclude their business, and return in time. Maybe she delivered early or they miscounted the weeks. I happen to think they intended to stay with relatives, found Bethlehem overrun with travelers, and were surprised to find that the registration process took much longer than anyone anticipated. It really doesn’t matter, though. The decisions of men only served to accomplish the sovereign plan of God." He then says, "Caesar Augustus [he was the one who called for a census to be taken] thought this exercise of power would give him greater control over the world, but in the end, all he ...

A thought by Charles R. Swindoll, from his book,  Jesus: 09 (Great Lives Series)   (p. 28). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Okay! Charles says, "Stretch your imagination and put yourself in His position. You are the supreme power over everything. You are beyond the need for food or safety, you do not feel pain, you cannot suffer death, you exist in a realm beyond the confines of time and three-dimensional space, and you are entirely content. As the almighty Creator of everything, you spoke the universe into existence, established a perfect habitat for living creatures, fashioned people to reflect your image, and then breathed life into them, only to have them rebel and make a mess of your world." He goes on, "For reasons we may never completely understand, the almighty Creator loves the people He made so much that He devised a plan to save us from this mess. And that plan called for the Creator to become a human ...

A thought by Charles R. Swindoll, from his book,  Jesus: 09 (Great Lives Series)   (p. 12). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) We strive to be so smart, don't we? Charles says, "They readily accept that Jesus existed, that He was a Galilean Jew who lived and taught during the first century, that He was martyred for His teachings, and that those teachings were both radical and influential. But they deny Jesus’ miracles and reject even the suggestion that He is deity." He goes on, "Unfortunately, this view of Jesus fails to explain why so many were willing to follow Him, even to a martyr’s death, and why He continues to impact the world so profoundly. Think of men like Alexander the Great, Caesar Augustus, and Constantine, men who conquered vast stretches of the known world. Think of Plato, Newton, and Einstein, men who revolutionized the thinking of humankind. Think of all the musicians, composers, philosophers, ...

A thought by Charles R. Swindoll, from his book,  Jesus: 09 (Great Lives Series)   (p. 11). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) And He was and is. Charles said, "Everyone agreed that Jesus was someone special, and everyone had his own theory as to how or why. John the Baptizer back from the dead? An ancient prophet returning to announce the revival of Israel? As theories abounded, only a very few thought of Jesus as the Hebrew Messiah. Eventually, when Jesus thought the time was right and that His disciples had enough evidence, He put them on the spot. His companions would have to make a decision. He asked them, 'But who do you say that I am?' (Matthew 16:15)." Charles goes on, "The 'you' in that question is plural. Who do all of you say that I am? The group probably stammered and squirmed before one brave disciple blurted out, 'You are the Christ' (Matthew 16:16).  "The word 'Christ...

A thought by Charles R. Swindoll, from his book, Jesus: 09 (Great Lives Series)   (p. 8). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) I'm sure that is so true. Charles says, "As I read the accounts of Jesus in the Bible, I find that time has done little to change how people respond to an encounter with Jesus. Like today, many wrote off reports of His miracles as myth. Like today, others who accepted His miracles as genuine attributed them to the work of evil or something else. Like today, some saw His works and accepted them as blessings from God but rejected the One who brought them." He goes on, "I also find that a relative few—perhaps numbering in the hundreds—saw the miraculous deeds of Jesus as proof that they had met someone very, very special. And their response was to stop what they were doing and consider the possibility that something remarkable was happening, something that deserved closer examination." C...