Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Mark Batterson (2014-09-02) from his book, The Grave Robber: How Jesus Can Make Your Impossible Possible (p. 259). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) That is not its foundation.   It is built on the Resurrection. As Mark puts it, “The footer of our faith is one fundamental fact— the empty tomb. After cheating death by calling Lazarus out of his tomb, Jesus walked out of His own tomb under His own power! That’s the ultimate apologetic— there is no argument against it. If the resurrection didn’t happen, Christianity ranks as history’s cruelest hoax. We’re not just wasting our lives worshiping Him. We’re living a lie. But if Jesus walked out of the tomb two thousand years ago, all bets are off. Or maybe I should say, all bets are on Jesus.” But so many want to believe in Jesus as a very good teacher, a very good man who made a difference.   As Mark says, “Most people have no hesitation ackn...

A thought by Mark Batterson (2014-09-02) from his book, The Grave Robber: How Jesus Can Make Your Impossible Possible (p. 251). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Mark continues, “Whether they are tears of joy, tears of sorrow, or tears of pain— not one teardrop is lost on God.”   Maybe you need that thought today.   Maybe you are going through a very rough spell and it is about to get you down and you would like to break down and cry and it would be great to do it with a friend.   Or you maybe are going through an exciting time and you just feel like crying with joy and it would be great to do it with a friend.   Maybe your pain is so great and you just can’t handle it because it is so unbearable and you just feel like crying and it would be great to have a friend close to you.   Jesus is right next to you and He really cares about you and your tears are precious to Him. We are lookin...

A thought by Mark Batterson (2014-09-02) from his book, The Grave Robber: How Jesus Can Make Your Impossible Possible (p. 249). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) How do you feel after you’ve failed?   You feel miserable but what you do after failure is the key to having a dream realized.   As Mark says, “Few things kill pride faster than failure! And that’s the point. God doesn’t want to kill the dream He’s given you, but He does want to crucify anything that would keep Him from getting all of the glory when you ultimately succeed.”   He also says, “When God takes something away from us, it doesn’t always mean that He takes it away forever. In fact, God often takes things away with the express purpose of giving them back. And when He does, we’re able to see the miracle for what it is. If you’ve lost love and found it again, you know whereof I speak. The same is true of health and wealth. It’s m...

A thought by Mark Batterson (2014-09-02) from his book, The Grave Robber: How Jesus Can Make Your Impossible Possible (p. 247). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Now we may think we’re ready before God thinks we’re ready and that is where our trust in Him and His timing comes in.   Mark says, “Sometimes it’s because God in His grace is allowing us to mature so we’ll be able to steward it. Sometimes He waits so we don’t miss the point. And sometimes God waits to punctuate His power.”   He has a plan, and He has a purpose and that is where our trust comes in.   He also says, “Most miracles take longer than we want, but the longer we wait, the more we appreciate them.” God had a plan for Jesus’ life when He sent His Son to earth and it didn’t just happen.   What if Jesus in His confining human body had stopped somewhere in the 30 plus years in that body and said “OK I’m done and I’m ready t...

A thought by Mark Batterson (2014-09-02) from his book, The Grave Robber: How Jesus Can Make Your Impossible Possible (p. 244). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) We are looking here at the story in the New Testament where Jesus heard that a good friend of his was about to die but Jesus waited for four days to go see him but he dies before he gets there.   When he finally gets there the man’s two sisters ask Jesus why He hadn’t come earlier?   One of them, Martha said in John 11:22-23, “Lord . . . if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”   The word, but showed that she held out some hope even a little bit in this situation. What about you?   Maybe you are at the end of something in your life, a sickness, a relationship, a job.   Remember, “Faith inserts a comma, even at the end of a death sentence.” Mark says...

A thought by Mark Batterson (2014-09-02) from his book,   The Grave Robber: How Jesus Can Make Your Impossible Possible . (p234). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) We look at life and something happens and we think that life as we know it is over.   It could be a lost job, a divorce, a sickness, a decision, a sin, a death and we think it’s over.   I n this story that Mark is looking at in this section, the story of Jesus friend, Lazarus’ death “that’s precisely how Mary and Martha felt. Their brother was gone for good. And their lives as they knew them were over.” But Jesus finally comes and He brings Lazarus out of that tomb alive.   He gave Him back his life. Jesus was truly The Grave Robber.   Now Mark says, “This miracle doesn’t just foreshadow Jesus’ own resurrection. It foreshadows yours! It’s not just something Jesus did for Lazarus. It’s a snapshot of what Jesus wants to do in y...

A thought by Mark Batterson (2014-09-02) from his book, The Grave Robber: How Jesus Can Make Your Impossible Possible (p. 228). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) The miracle that Mark is dealing with here in this section is the healing of the man who was born blind.   The method that Jesus used was a gross one.   He spit on the ground and made mud, He put the mud on the man’s eyes and then sent him off to the Pool of Saloam to wash it off.   After the man found the Pool He washed the mud off and then he could see.   Our tendency would be to start having the method for healing to have mud involved but the key was obedience.   The man obeyed and was healed. I like how Mark puts it.   He says, “I’m not entirely sure why Jesus had this blind man go and wash, but I’m guessing that he had lived a relatively helpless life. He depended upon everybody for everything! So Jesus didn’t just heal...