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  Religion
A Sanitary Cross By Pastor Phillip Howle web posted March 31, 2010 RELIGION – After a few hours spent in Haiti I was dirty, really dirty. I was covered in sweat, spf 70 sunscreen, and bug spray. That was not all. Then there were the out houses (old school toilets) we used and the absence of sinks to wash hands in. We used hand sanitizer or “germy squirt” as I call it. My American notion of cleanliness had to be abandoned. Things were just different; priorities were not on germs, but on food and survival. Hand sanitizer in the states is everywhere you go. Every few feet in hospitals, grocery stores, restaurants and in my wife’s purse, always ready to do battle with the gross and the germy. Now I am all for cleanliness, but it is not next to godliness, no matter what people may say. There are times when you have to get dirty. You have to fight, you have to bleed, you have to leave the safe and clean and plunge yourself into the grime. In looking at the greatest human achievements of history, most have come from blood, sweat and tears. As I thought about the cross of Jesus this week it made me think about how thankful I am that we serve a Savior who got dirty. Jesus was a savior who was not afraid; to touch the leper, to hammer a nail, stand up for the weak, the sick, the hurting, the poor, and the outcast. He was not afraid to stand up to the religious establishment of His day. Jesus rejected the push for polite political correctness and Jesus’ free speech cost Him greatly. I will let Jesus speaks for Himself. King David wrote this prophetically hundreds of years before the cross, but Jesus in Matthew 27:35-46 clearly shows that these were the thoughts on Jesus’ mind as He was nailed there for our sin. Psa 22:1 My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me? Why do you remain so distant? Why do you ignore my cries for help? Psa 22:2 Everyday I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night you hear my voice, but I find no relief. Psa 22:3 Yet you are holy. The praises of Israel surround your throne. Psa 22:4 Our ancestors trusted in you, and you rescued them. Psa 22:5 You heard their cries for help and saved them. They put their trust in you and were never disappointed. Psa 22:6 But I am a worm and not a man. I am scorned and despised by all! Psa 22:7 Everyone who sees me mocks me. They sneer and shake their heads, saying, Psa 22:8 “Is this the one who relies on the LORD? Then let the LORD save him! If the LORD loves him so much, let the LORD rescue him!” Psa 22:9 Yet you brought me safely from my mother’s womb and led me to trust you when I was a nursing infant. Psa 22:10 I was thrust upon you at my birth. You have been my God from the moment I was born. Psa 22:11 Do not stay so far from me, for trouble is near, and no one else can help me. Psa 22:12 My enemies surround me like a herd of bulls; fierce bulls of Bashan have hemmed me in! Psa 22:13 Like roaring lions attacking their prey, they come at me with open mouths. Psa 22:14 My life is poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, melting within me. Psa 22:15 My strength has dried up like sunbaked clay. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have laid me in the dust and left me for dead. Psa 22:16 My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs; an evil gang closes in on me. They have pierced my hands and feet. Psa 22:17 I can count every bone in my body. My enemies stare at me and gloat. Psa 22:18 They divide my clothes among themselves and throw dice for my garments. Psa 22:19 O LORD, do not stay away! You are my strength; come quickly to my aid! Psa 22:20 Rescue me from a violent death; spare my precious life from these dogs. Psa 22:21 Snatch me from the lions’ jaws, and from the horns of these wild oxen. Jesus endured all of this out of obedience to the amazing and loving plan of His Father. Jesus endured the death on the cross and the rejection of His father, so we would never have to. At the foot of the cross we can rejoice in the truth of 2 Corinthians 5:21 “He (God the Father) made the One (Jesus) who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” We are made clean by the gruesome death of Christ. So go get cleaned, as 1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Confess your sins, be forgiven, and follow Christ as Lord of your life. Pastor Phillip Also please help spread the word about our Easter Sunday Service. We begin with our sunrise service at 7:45am. Then at the conclusion of Sunrise service we will have breakfast, and then our worship service begins at 9:00am. Don't be late and help pass this info along. © Copyright 2010
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