Happy Easter—Christ is Risen!

And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.  But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.  

(Mark 16:6-7 KJV)

And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.  He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.  (Matthew 28:5-7 KJV)

To my readers:  Even though I have not posted much this year, I remain committed to sharing here about Jesus and helping you learn and grow in your faith.  I encourage you to check out (and like) Faith Journey with Kim: Growing in Christ Jesus on Facebook; join in the occasional discussion on the posts there.  I plan to post soon on a topic that the Lord placed on my heart several weeks ago.

Today is a day of celebration!  On Easter we celebrate the wondrous news that Jesus Christ arose from the grave.  In Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection He gave us victory over sin, death, and the grave!  We should rejoice everyday of all we have in Jesus. 

As we remember all that Jesus did for us, may we understand it in a fresh, new way this year. 

On this special day, I want to encourage you to spend some time worship of our Savior through reading the Scriptures that tell the story of Jesus’ resurrection and in songs that share the story as well; I will share a couple songs below for your enjoyment. 

Easter Song by Keith Green:  

Christ the Lord is Risen Today:  

He’s Alive by Don Franciso:  

Please join with me in prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father,  thank You for sending Your only Son to die in our place—to redeem us from our sins—even though we did not deserve it.  With great joy, we exclaim, on Easter and every day, “HE IS RISEN”!!  He is risen indeed!  May this knowledge change how we live our lives each and every day.  In Jesus’ Name we pray.  Amen.

From My Heart to Yours,

Kim

Happy Easter!  May God Bless you richly today and everyday!

Sermon: Victory in Jesus

Jesus Cross on my wall

I am pleased to share with the readers of my blog the audio of a church service I led on July 26, 2015.  It was an amazing blessing to share what God had placed on my heart. 

It is my prayer that my message will feed your faith in what God provided for us through Jesus.  Our God is so very big and powerful!  He loves us so very much.  He is still alive, living, and active today!  Jesus can change us in a variety of ways.  When we invite Jesus into our hearts, He does not leave us where He found us.  He changes us for the better.

God is amazing, wonderful, holy, powerful, mighty…He really is beyond description—beyond what our finite minds can begin to grasp.  Our words fall short of conveying all God is and how amazing, powerful, and holy He is.  God’s Word is clear, He never changes (we see that in both the Old and New Testaments).  We are the ones who change; the ones who get too smart for our own good.  Left to our own devices, we can wander into behaviors that will cause us and others harm.  Living a life with Jesus front and center and in control will take us places we never dreamed were possible.  And we will do things we never dreamed of doing.  Yes, we can experience victory Jesus each day.

Jesus Cross on my wall with light

Below is the description I provided for the video on YouTube, including Scriptures.

This is an audio (with still photos) that I was blessed to lead on July 26, 2015, at Trinity United Methodist Church--Albia, Iowa. (I'm one of several lay members who are called by the Lord to lead in worship and preach the Word of God when our pastor is away.)

Currently, I'm a lay speaker in United Methodist Church; my status is such that I can preach in my church and others when called.

Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 15:55-57

                    Colossians 1:12-14; 3:1-17

Trinity UMC cross in sanctuary 

May each one of us experience Victory in Jesus!

Here’s the link to the video: Sermon: Victory in Jesus

From My Heart to Yours,

Kim

Victory in Jesus: Part 2

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

(1 Corinthians 15:57 KJV)

This week’s post continues where I left off last week.  Now we will consider some of the verses and the chorus of Victory in Jesus.  For the first post in this series, please see Victory in Jesus.

I’ve heard an old, old story, how a Saviour came from glory,

From the opening pages of the Bible in Genesis to the closing pages in Revelation, we read of God’s redeeming love and His plan to redeem us from our sins through sending His Son, Jesus. God’s love is a costly love, yet He gave so freely—by accepting Jesus as our Savior we can win the victory!  Jesus willingly left so much in heaven to become one of us—He understands us and cares about us.

How He gave His life on Calvary to save a wretch like me.

Have you considered how willingly Jesus gave up His life for people, for sinners like you and me? He didn’t have to do this; however, His love for us was so great and strong that He gave His life as a ransom for you and me.  It is in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone that we are saved! It is in Jesus that we have the victory!

I heard about His groaning, of His precious blood’s atoning. Then I repented of my sins and won the victory.

While on the cross, Jesus groaned, He cried out—feeling the full weight of each one of our sins and our diseases.  It was through His precious blood and its atoning power that each person can receive forgiveness of sins—it’s a personal decision—a decision no one can make for us. What is your decision?  Have you repented of your sins? It seems to be a process of sorts—a process of fully surrendering to God the whole of our life.

Until about ten or eleven years ago, I had religion, (even though I had asked Jesus into my heart at age six or seven) but I did not have a living, vital relationship with the Lord, and I certainly did not understand a thing about the Holy Spirit.  (And I grew up in a Bible believing church!) Just because my church believed the Bible that did not mean we knew the Bible.  Once I understood the need for relationship and learned the truth and accepted the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, living a Christian life became so much easier. It became less an effort of the flesh, instead it was relying on the Lord’s empowerment through the Holy Spirit.

There is still a struggle; there is still the need to take off the old man.  I am not the same and I do not want to go back to the way things were.  What I watch on TV has changed and what I read has changed—that is what a true, vital relationship with Jesus has done for me.  I do not miss my old life!  My desire is to be more like Jesus each day.  What about you; have you experienced the life saving and life changing impact of a relationship with Jesus?  It is not too late, why not invite Jesus into your heart and receive forgiveness of your sins? 

Let me ask you to search your heart—have you gone to the cross and poured out everything that needs to come out—the sin, the burdens that we cannot bear and are not meant to bear?  Leaving all the old sin, the “yuck” of our lives at the cross when we surrender all to Jesus and ask Him to be our Savior and Lord; it changes everything.  Victory is won! Jesus won the victory for us!

What victory is won?  In Jesus we are set free from being enslaved to sin—we can have victory over sin.  We also have victory over death and the grave, because Jesus gained victory over death and the grave.  Death for those of us in Christ is not something to fear.  We have a glorious future awaiting us!

I’ve heard about a mansion He has built for me in glory, And I heard about the streets of gold beyond the crystal sea;

In John 14 Jesus comforted His disciples and all believers with the assurance that He was going to prepare a place for us in heaven and then would return for us.  There are many mansions in heaven being prepared for those who are saved.  In Revelation we read of the beauty of heaven. Heaven is beyond anything we can begin to think about or describe.  Streets of gold, a crystal sea, a tree with leaves that heal.  Best of all, we’ll see Jesus, our Savior and Lord!

And some sweet day I’ll sing up there, the song of victory.

Just imagine the glorious reunions we will have in heaven with those who have gone ahead us, as well as meeting Brothers and Sisters from every tribe, every tongue, and every nation.  What an amazing song of victory that will be—singing the song of the victorious in Christ! Beyond meeting family (some I know and some I do not), there are many people that I have “met” through books that I anticipate meeting in heaven.  What a glorious time that will be—to be with our Lord forever—worshiping and serving Him.  O, what a glorious day that will be!

Chorus

Can you sing the words of the chorus with the assurance they are true for you? What are you waiting for—it is not too late to turn to Jesus and ask Him to forgive your sins.  Today is the day to decide.

Oh, victory in Jesus, my Saviour, forever! He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood.  He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is due Him. He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood.

Victory in Jesus is possible!  In what ways have you experienced victory?

How can you live out your victory in Jesus each day?

How can you share that message with others?

Please join with me in prayer:

Dear Lord, Thank You for giving us the victory in Jesus.  Encourage us to look to Him as we go through our daily lives.  May we always keep our eyes and heart focused on things above rather than on things on earth—that is where our hope lies.  Deepen our spiritual hunger and thirst for things of You Lord; it is clear that earthly things clearly do not satisfy.  

  

From My Heart to Yours,

Kim

Victory in Jesus

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

(1 Corinthians 15:57 KJV)

A few weeks ago, I had the honor and privilege of sharing God’s Word in a small church while the pastor was gone; this post is based on part of that sermon.

Victory in Jesus is a beloved hymn of many and is one that has stood the test of time.  Hymns can become more meaningful when we learn the story behind them; in fact, hymns can be useful in our daily worship.  It is with this in mind, that I would like to take some time to explore Eugene Bartlett’s hymn Victory in Jesus.

The composer of Victory in Jesus, Eugene Monroe Bartlett was born in Missouri on December 24, 1885, and grew up in Arkansas. He was musically gifted and used that gift to help others, primarily in the area of worship.  Bartlett was college educated and worked in the business field.  He used the gifts God had given him to benefit those around him.

Eugene Bartlett was a devout Christian—for nearly his entire life.  He wrote several hundred hymns and gave much to the field of music, making it accessible even to those who could not read music (though shape notes).  In at least one of my old hymnals there are some hymns with shape notes instead of the traditionally shaped notes. 

Many times, his hymns took him mere minutes or hours to compose!  Victory in Jesus was his most famous hymn and also his last.

After suffering a stroke Eugene spent the last few years of his life fairly incapacitated and spending most of his time in one room.  Despite not being able to work in his calling, or even speak, he continued to immerse himself in God’s Word and in worship.  From that time, as well as a lifetime of study and relationship, he composed this hymn.  This last hymn, Victory in Jesus, a hymn that took him longer to write than any other, has not been lost to the past.  He saw a lasting victory, a victory that is not a fleshly one—such as winning a game or a war—but a spiritual victory that is ultimately won when we get to heaven. 

Have you experienced this type of victory?    

Victory in Jesus is one of my favorite hymns; it holds some precious memories for me.  This hymn was a favorite of a beloved pastor from my childhood. Although I was young when Blaine was pastor at my church (Free Methodist), I knew he loved Jesus and he loved me.  That in and of itself is a testimony!  This hymn was a favorite of Blaine’s; therefore, we sang it frequently! Even though I missed this as a child, I was told that his face glowed when he sang this song. May the same be said for us!  

Each one of us should search our heart and determine if the words of this beloved hymn are true for us. In 1 Corinthians 15:57 we are reminded that:  “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

For many of us, we have heard the Scripture read and expounded on a nearly weekly basis for years—for some of us that would encompass the whole of our life.  It is so easy to relax and not really hear the truths contained in the Scriptures, because of how well we know them or think we know them. Familiarity can be dangerous.  Think about all the things we do and places we go that become so familiar, so routine that we miss some important sites—sometimes including a turn we need to make.

It is tempting to think we can relax, thinking we are okay because of what we do (or do not do!), because of our church membership/attendance, because of our baptism, or because of our parents/grandparents.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  We cannot get to heaven in any other way than through accepting Jesus—nothing else saves. Jesus and Jesus alone saves!  We are saved, cleansed by the atoning blood of Jesus!

Spending time on our own prayerfully reading through the whole of God’s Word, allowing the Holy Spirit to teach us will show us new insights, as well as point us to our need for Jesus as our Savior—the only way to heaven.  The more we read and study God’s Word and allow it to “read” us, we will see just how well many of the beloved hymns written decades ago really do capture scriptural “nuggets” for our edification.  The same is true of many of the contemporary Christian songs.

Have you experienced victory in Jesus?

What is your favorite hymn?

Please join with me in prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for the victory that is possible in Jesus and His shed blood.  Remind us that we already have the victory.  Cause us to call to mind all that Jesus did for us and continues to do for us as we live on this earth.  Grant us the words we need to share our story of how Jesus came into our lives.  Empower us to live each day, keeping our eyes, heart, and mind focused on You alone.  It is not by our power or might but by Yours that we overcome the one who seeks but to kill, steal, and destroy.  Thank You Jesus for all You did for each one of us to be victorious!  In Jesus’ precious name.  Amen.

From My Heart to Yours,

Kim