The good news of Jesus is both the foundation and summary of who God is and who we are in Christ and the purpose for our existence and redemption. Therefore, the gospel must be truly clear, believed and be the fully functioning priority in every aspect of our individual lives and church. Our first priority and the foundation for all things is us being truly gospel centered.

Today is Easter… the celebration of the Savior rising victorious over all things… our sin and even over death. And not only that.. but Glorious, transformed resurrection with God is what he offers you today, not simply a guaranteed post death trip to an eternal perfect vacation.

As Jesus’ earthly ministry is beginning to wrap up, he demonstrates that he is, in fact, in complete control of all things that are happening. He is not caught up in the whirlwind of events surrounding him, rather, he is directing them. And as he heads towards the passover feast with his disciples, he is clarifying that he is the once and for all sacrifice, the lamb who was slain for the sins of God’s people.

Like this admirable woman… who brought pleasure to the heart of Jesus….  Truly Follow Jesus……xSeek the pleasure… seek the honor of your Savior using the resources you have… despite the reactions of others

Christ tells us the road ahead is hard and it will be filled with apocalyptic events, imposter Christs and false prophets who are powerful, inescapably persuasive and able to perform the supernatural.  But God is faithful, He is with us and we are with him as he gathers his elect across time and peoples and is coming back.  Though we are to know the signs, no man knows the moment and we are called in every stage to not live in panic or fear but rather living very awake and mindful of God’s placement of us in our particular moment and longing for Him.

So the future gets hard … really hard before he makes all things right.  Christ has told how to expect false messiahs, teachers, prophets and others who will capitalize on this to gather followers out of fear.  But our call is to expect such times and to be dedicated to being Christ’s witnesses through the power of the indwelling Spirt with relentless pride in Christ, even at the cost of our loved ones rejecting or killing us.

As Jesus wraps up his public teaching, he gives warnings about the scribes and their desire to be the center of attention, and contrasts them with the poor widow who humbly gave all that she had.

Our savior is seated in majesty right now until the Father is finished subjecting all spiritual authorities, rulers and powers to him…. And part of our worship is praising and adoring Him in that majesty and authority and patience.

Praise God that He raises us up after death and that we are forever with him. And may each of us deeply know and love the power of our Great God and his authoritative Scriptures.

Jesus once again shows that his approach to those who come to him with humility and sincerity is much different than those who come to him in accusation and condescension. As he does so he lays out some incredibly helpful guidelines for how we should look at God’s law as new covenant believers.