I received this today and thought I'll share this with you.....

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I MISSED GOOD FRIDAY THIS EASTER. We left for the airport in Samoa late
on Thursday evening to catch our flight to New Zealand, and a few hours
later arrived in Auckland - early on Saturday morning, En route we had
crossed the International Dateline and lost a whole day: Good Friday!

But celebrating Resurrection Sunday without experiencing Good Friday
felt incomplete and unsatisfying. For resurrection can only follow
death. ChristÂ’s glory could only follow his suffering. No pain, no
gain!

The central Christian message - the gospel Paul preached to the
Corinthians - was that “Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day
according to the Scriptures…” (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). By this gospel,
says Paul, we are saved.

This Biblical account of the death and resurrection of Christ was
commemorated by a faithful minority all over Europe this weekend – and
next weekend will be celebrated by the Orthodox faithful.

The vast majority today, however, live as though Good Friday simply
doesnÂ’t matter. For post-Christian and post-modern Europeans, stories
about JesusÂ’ death are simply myths irrelevant to life in the
twenty-first century. For both Muslim Europeans and fans of Dan BrownÂ’s
The Da Vinci Code best-seller, Jesus never died on the cross. According
to Brown, he married Mary Magdalene and sired an ancestor of European
royalty. Muslims claim Jesus simply swooned on the cross, later to
recover in the coolness of the grave.

Even one of my favourite writers, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, whose books
often apply penetrating biblical insights to vexing contemporary
issues, rejects Christian claims about the Easter events. In his
(standard Jewish) view, the death and resurrection of Jesus was not the
fulfilment of Old Testament themes of atonement, and thus not the
central ‘salvation’ event in human history.

So on what grounds do Christians claim that Good Friday really does
matter?

In the first place, historical. ‘Sunday’ only makes sense if ‘Friday’
really happened. No crucifixion? No resurrection. And vice versa.
Without the resurrection, the cross was simply a tragic dead end. The
reports of these space-time events can still be investigated from the
distance of two thousand years. No contemporary Jew would have made up
this story. No one would have chosen for a messiah who suffered so
shamefully. No one would have made women the first witnesses of the
resurrection. The original eye-witnesses–listed by Paul in 1
Corinthians 15:5-8–had to piece the evidence together and arrive at the
logical and inescapable conclusion. What they had witnessed in both the
death and resurrection of Jesus, they came to realise, was nothing less
than the hinge event of human destiny.

And in the second place, theological. Theologians have explained the
cross in at least three ways:
• as a demonstration of God’s great love;
• as a ransom paid to free us from the hold of evil captive forces;
• and, as a necessary perfect sacrifice to atone for human sin.
Recently in English evangelical circles, this last point has flared up
into controversy, as some have claimed that ‘substitutionary atonement’
falsely justified violence and individualism.

Sometimes these emphases and their variants have been unnecessarily
pitted against each other. But they each reflect facets of biblical
truth. They each can affect how we live our contemporary lives.
Europeans need to rediscover the love of God as still the most
transforming power on earth - for individuals, families, communities
and nations. We all must recognise our need for deliverance from the
very real forces of darkness at work in Europe in corporate structures,
social institutions and centres of power as much as anywhere else on
our planet.

And each of us needs to be forgiven, to know that we are forgiven, and
to be released to forgive others and break the cycle of vengeance,
bitterness and envy all too prevalent in Europe today.

ThatÂ’s why Good Friday really does matter. So next year IÂ’ll plan my
travel more carefully!

Till next week,

Jeff Fountain
The Netherlands

What country was the first to establish a retirement-age social security program?

Good morning...

I trust you are all enjoying the Easter weekend!

Again, I am not really sure where to post this...as it affects finances to a degree and parenting to a degree.

Although it is not a nice thought to think about, hubby and I have been talking about it.

Last year Josh was Christened here and we appointed friends of ours as his Godparents. We didnt appoint anyone in SA as he would hardly ever get to see them as we dont go back to SA often, and we only have hubby's parents here, and needless to say, they cannot be godparents!

Now, our dilema is as such... what happens if something happens to hubby and I...who will look after Josh? ad: His godparents are just friends, so we dont want him to go to them. We would like him to go to hubby's parents, but what happens if they pass on before we do? The only other people we would like him to be cared for are in SA. I certainly do not want him to go into the system at all!!!!

Do we put this in our will? Josh is not an asset and I feel really odd about this..who will let the people in SA know and how will he get to SA..

Any opinions / advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanx!

Good morning, everyone! :easter: It's my Danny's birthday today. He's 4 & has been counting down the days since Christmas. :haha: We'll be having a party this afternoon. As he's a huge fan of this site & visits every day, please go & wish him in the birthday thread. :thx:

I hope you all enjoy your day! :lovebuzz:

Wishing you a very Happy Birthday.

:bday:

Heavenly tears darken the earth

Midday Friday on Calvary, and the sun was supposed to shine, but something strange happened. Darkness fell − it was eerie. It was as if a dark blanket was pulled over the earth. The sun disappeared. Something was very wrong. How could the sun simply switch off, and that in the middle of the day?

It could only have been the tears of God that had caused darkness to fall that Friday afternoon. It was his grief about the terrible price his Son had to pay! The heavens mourned. It was as if the sun had no cause to shine when the Su(o)n of Righteousness was dying on the cursed cross.

Alone!

Shortly before three o'clock that afternoon, the darkness intensified in the temple of Jerusalem. The curtain dividing the most sacred part and the sacred part of the temple tore in two. At that moment, the temple in Jerusalem was replaced by a Living Temple. That was the end of Jerusalem's role as God's headquarters on earth. All of a sudden the temple belonged to history.

Shortly afterwards Jesus called out in Aramaic: "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" Wasn't it terrible that God, Who was grieving over his Child, could turn his back on Him then? Jesus was completely alone, and death took Him. Why? Well, Paul answers that in Galatians 3:13 when he writes that God curses all who hang on a cross.

Yes, God did mourn the death of his Son together with the rest of his creation, but at the same time He was ashamed of Jesus being in the most contemptuous place on earth. He turned away horrified when the shoulders of Jesus sagged under the weight of all our sins. We did that to Him. It was because of us that Jesus had to walk the road of a scorned criminal to the end. It was all our fault.

The cross simply had to happen

Jesus spoke for the last time on the cross. He cried out aloud that He was dying. Luke 23 tells us that in his dying moments Jesus used the words of prayer a Jewish child would use every night before bedtime: "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit". And then Jesus died. In the arms of God! Yes, the Father was there to catch his lifeless Child when He entered the valley of death.

The Roman officer doing duty at the cross, cried out: "Surely this was a righteous man". Indeed! Jesus was the Messiah of God and still is. He is the One Who lives eternally, because He defeated death and was resurrected.

The cross had to happen. There was no other way. Someone always has to pay for sin. Actually, God should hold you and me accountable every time we do not obey his commands. We should take the beating we deserve. But Jesus intervened. He came to act as the buffer between God and ourselves, the lightning conductor Who absorbed the full force of God's punishment. There could have been no other way ... except ... except if you and I absorbed the lightning ourselves. We would have had to stand before God with the one or two good deeds we had performed and with a heavy suitcase filled with sin. However, that would not have been an option to consider because no one on earth can ever live the kind of life that is good enough to get God's attention and to soften his judgement. That is why Jesus' death on the cross was so necessary.

Enough is enough!

The blood flowed on Golgotha! But it was also the place where God said that enough was enough! The death of Jesus has paid off the overdrawn accounts of everyone who finds shelter with Him. His offer of payment on our behalf was fully accepted by God. It is unnecessary for us to add anything. We have been redeemed by the death of Jesus. Yes, and He was resurrected. The bells of Easter toll because the tomb is empty and the cross is bare!

Prayer
I hear the bells of Easter toll the message

that the cross is deserted.

I sing about the tomb that is empty.

I shout joyfully that the full price has been paid.



Lord Jesus, You have won,

You are the Lord.

You sit at the right hand of the Father, invested with power and glory!

Please accept the praises of your church.

We glorify You as the Lord of the cross and the empty tomb.

We honour You as the One with all the power in heaven and on earth.

Amen

God bless



Stephan Joubert

Good Morning on this wonderful unny: day! Hope your Easter Sunday is a day full of lovely things

Wishing you a very Happy Birthday and hope you have a wonderful day.

:bday2:

Braai vleis time !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Who is coming to chippenham on the 3rd June, please check the details as the venue has changed....................

oooohhhhh cant wait !!!!!

:cloud9: