General
Time to Fulfill Jesus’ Unanswered Prayer
I had the privilege of speaking this Easter at my home church on “Why the Resurrection is the Greatest Event of All Time.” (Message begins at 41:20 into the service.)
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed that the Father would “take this cup of suffering from me.” He went to the cross hours later. Was this an unanswered request?
In His intimate Upper Room discourse, Jesus ended the Passover meal with His longest recorded prayer in Scripture–asking that His followers be united (one), just like He and the Father (John 17:23).
That prayer is unanswered 2000 years later.
I believe there is only one unanswered prayer of Jesus Christ. In the 21st century, it’s time to change that.
The Mask of the Beast
I am not going senile in the title. Yes, I know that in the Last Days, the Bible talks about the mark of the beast. Here’s the famous reference:
“Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon… Also, it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666″ (Revelation 13:11-18).
A. Fauci (Dr. Anthony Fauci) contains 6 letters, and he was born on June 6. That adds up to “666.”
Just kidding.
But I have been thinking of a parallel–the mask of the Beast.
What the Justice Generation Needs to Learn About Race and Slavery
I’m on a break between quarters after grading numerous papers.
One of the final ones was written by an African American pastor who is a great guy. But he made a fatal mistake often found among preachers obtaining degrees. He preached a passionate sermon in his paper (what he already knew) instead of telling me what he learned from a classic book on world missions.
He spent half the paper speaking about racism.
I thanked him for his burden, but had to knock his grade for not following directions. His paper provoked a question:
What does the “justice generation” need to learn about race and slavery?