Acts 25 : a dead man named Jesus

So here we go: Paul is being held on trumped up charges. The Jews can't stand him. They can't tolerate his insistence that the law was fulfilled in Jesus. Not in the sense that the law is no longer important but that He came to be their sanctification. That His one act, the blood of Jesus spread became sanctification for them. Further more - those filthy Gentiles - well Paul was all about them. He insists that Jesus' blood cleansed them as well, but how could that be? Here's the truth in this message. We can't ever be good enough (clean enough) for God. No matter what you do, in and of yourself, you can't become "right" in Gods eyes. The beauty is that you don't have to, Jesus did it for you. What the Jews didn't get, is the same thing that the church today struggles with. The bible in light of the blood of Jesus becomes more than a guideline to rights and wrongs in life. It becomes a lifeline into the heart of who God is, and a catalyst to allow us to respond to our King with our life.
The phrase I found interesting in this passage was found in verse 19 "Instead, it was something about their religion and a dead man named Jesus, who Paul insists is alive." ( NLT) Understand this: as you pursue Christ with your life, you will confound those who don't have a revelation of who Jesus is. When your life centers around worshiping him, EVERYTHING changes. You lay things down. Your heart changes. You pray, I mean really pray. You love. You care. We are called image bearers of God. The heart of who God is, is so dramatically different from the world around us you can't help but notice. Your life makes no sense to the world around you. To them Jesus is just some dead man --- but yet there you are proclaiming with your life that He is alive. You are proclaiming right? Your life is different right? You understand the cost of the cross don't you? Or at the end of the day do you just look like everyone else. Is Jesus really alive and king in your life, or is He just a dead man?

Grace & Peace
Dennis