Today, the Christian church will be celebrating Good Friday. The Friday preceeding Easter Sunday is the day that Christianity takes time to remember the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. What was so “good” about Good Friday?

The Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans, “But God demonstrated His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” Romans 5:8. Paul’s words in verse eight sound so simple, “Christ died for us”. This verse is pregnant with truth, love, and forgiveness. It is not until we understand the manner in which Christ died that we can even begin to appreciate what He did for us. For six hours that Friday, Christ’s body hung on the cross, nails in His feet and hands, bleeding. His blood spilled that we might be saved.

I don’t believe anyone would consider Roman crucifixion to be “good”.  At the time of Christ’s death, crucifixion was considered to be the most brutal and painful manners in which a person could die. The Roman soldiers were good at death; they ate it, they breathed it, they slept it; they even seemed to enjoy it. They seemed to think nothing of it. The Jewish religious leaders, on one hand claimed to be the spokesmen for God and knew what it took to please Him. They were “good”people. On the other hand they hated and reviled Jesus, missing the very presence of God before them. A presence they were supposed to recognize. The actions of both groups seem unimaginable.

What happened to Jesus was not “good”, however, good came out of it. Left alone and to ourselves, we are lost. Left alone and to ourselves there is a relationship that is broken. Left alone and to ourselves, there is a purpose in life we will never recognize. On the Friday Jesus died, the way for the sinner to know forgiveness and redemption was made straight; straight from the veins of Christ to the very throne of God. In our lost state, God still loved us. Paul said it so right back in verse eight, “God demonstrated His love toward us”. The good that happened on Friday was salvation, a rescue.

Jesus left us a command to remember Him. The purpose of the Lord’s Supper is for such a remembrance. We take to time remember His broken body and His shed blood. Isn’t it sad that we need to be reminded to remember the One who gave His life for us? The actions of that Friday were certainly not “good”. However, the results of that day are priceless. As a wise preacher once said, “It’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming.”

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 6,700 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 11 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

I am going to be “out of the office” here at The Road Less Traveled until January 31st, 2013. My desire is to spend this first month of the year collecting my thoughts and focusing on the ministry that is before us at Port Royal Baptist Church in 2013. I also have some convention-related travel coming up this month as well. With the exception of an occasional book review that I am required to write, I’ll begin posting again regularly in February.

Recently my friend Randy Coy opened a new book store in the Habersham Marketplace called The Bible Student. This shop is not your average Bible book store. Most, if not all, other shops of this nature exist to sell Bibles, commentaries, study helps, etc. with the express purpose of making a profit. Nothing wrong with that. As I talked with Randy in the months prior to the launch of The Bible Student, he shared with me that his vision was far more than selling Bibles. He wanted a place where the average person could learn how to approach Bible reading and draw the most from the very deep well that is the Bible.  From their website:

Of course, buying a Bible can be easier than actually reading it.   And so The Bible Student offers a variety of classes to help beginning and advanced readers learn the geography, historical context and structure of the Bible.  We’re always learning about the Bible and how to read it.  And we’re happy to share what we’re learning in group classes or personal tutoring sessions (it’s like personal fitness training for Bible reading!)  The Bible Student was created as a way to approach  Bible reading without any pressure to join a group or church, or to have doctrinal issues pressed upon you.   We guess you could say it’s a “safe” or non-committal way to diving into a really good read of a really great book — and get just the amount of help you want.

The Bible Student is a unique shop. People are encouraged to just stop in, read, and browse. The environment is very relaxed and given to study. You can ask the questions you need to ask or be left alone to read. Classes are regularly offered that cover a wide variety of topics such as: Is the Bible relevant for 2013? How was the Bible compiled? Who wrote the Bible? Bible Apps for Mobile Devices, How to mark (make notes) in your Bible. The importance of Jerusalem in the Bible. I’ve had a chance to visit The Bible Student. It is a great place. In addition to Bibles, you can find commentaries, journals, maps, and other resources that help you understand the Bible and bring it to life. Two things I truly appreciate about The Bible Student as a pastor. First, the  emphasis on the importance of Bible literacy is so important. Second, I appreciate that The Bible Student, in Randy’s words, was not created to compete with or replace the local church. Instead, to work alongside in the area of Bible reading and study. Check them out on the web at www.thebiblestudent.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheBibleStudent.

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well as the iron and coal as of our precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the imposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purpose, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union.

Washington, DC—October 3, 1863

It is time for me to give away another book.  I am giving away a copy of Mark Batterson’s book, Soul Print; Discovering Your Divine Destiny.  Batterson is the author best-sellers such as Wild Good Chase and In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day.  In Soul Print, Batterson encourages each reader to explore five defining moments in life that shape our future. You can read my review of Soul Print here.

To be entered to win, you must do (2) things.

1. Follow my blog by clicking on the button at the bottom of the page.

2. Answer the following question by leaving your answer in the comment stream.

It’s that simple. Contest will stay open until midnight Thursday, September 6th.  I will choose a winner based on the most unique answers given. The winner will be announced winner here on Friday, September 7th. Good luck, here is your question.

If you could sit down and interview any non-biblical historical figure, who would it be and what would be your question?

I am giving away a copy of Andy Stanley’s book entitled “Enemies of the Heart; Breaking Free from the Four Emotions That Control You.” To be entered to win, you must do (2) things.

1. Follow my blog.

2. Answer the following question by leaving your answer in the comment stream.

It’s that simple. Contest will stay open until midnight Friday, August 24th.  I will choose a winner based on the answers given and announce a winner here on Saturday, August 25th . Good luck, here is your question.

In your opinion, what do you believe to be the greatest enemy the Christian faces today? Why?

1. The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel, 2. that Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3 And they said to me, “The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.” 4. So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

The book of Nehemiah opens with the presence of distress and heartbreak. The Jews who had returned from captivity to Jerusalem were distressed by the lack of security in Jerusalem and the ridicule from the surrounding people. Nehemiah was heartbroken by the conditions his countrymen were living under. For the walls of a city to be destroyed meant several things. First, the city was no longer secure. City walls served as the first line of defense from outside attack. Second, the self-worth of the people was at stake. With a city’s walls destroyed, the city was open to ridicule from those on the outside. Third, as was in the case of Jerusalem, the broken down walls spoke to the spiritual condition of God’s people. They were broken. They had returned from captivity, but not the entire nation. They were in desperate need of renewal and revival. Kings constructed elaborate and magnificent walls around their cities to reflect the power and status of their nation. Jerusalem was God’s city. God’s people lived there. The worship of God happened there and was the light of a nation set-apart by God Himself. The news broke the heart of Nehemiah. The news of the people’s distress and the reproach upon God drove Nehemiah to prayer.

Are our hearts broken as easily? Does the suffering and distress of God’s people drive us to a place of prayer? Are we offended by what offends God? Does it bother us as God’s to see the walls of morality and decency broken down around us? Do we pray more earnestly because of this? Is it possible that we have been so desensitized by the god of this world to the things that offend God that we just excuse them away as simply “the way the world is today”? I would hope not.

Nehemiah’s love for God and God’s people moved him to action for both. On into chapter two we see Nehemiah beginning the rebuild of Jerusalem. I believe today, more than ever, God is seeking wall builders. He is seeking those who will seek His face and fame and take an active part in removing the reproach heaped upon God by a world that does know or care about Him. It is not enough for God’s people to simply look around and be grieved by what we see. That is simply the beginning point. This grief should serve as a catalyst for action.

23. Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him.  24. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.

Familiarity breeds  contempt, some say. I have said before there is a danger in assuming that because you have heard a scripture passage expounded many times you find anything new in it. These verses are part of a very familiar passage. It is a powerful story of fear and concern on the part of the disciples and the care of Christ for his disciples. I have taught through this passage and  used in for the basis of a sermon, more than once.

A Christian’s life is not free of fear or difficulty. Fear is public enemy number one for the believer. Max Lucado writes,

“Fear corrodes our confidence in God’s goodness. We begin to wonder if love lives in heaven. If God can sleep in our storms, if his eyes stay shut when our eyes grow wide, if he permits storms after we get on his boat, does he care? Fear unleashes a swarm of doubts, anger-stirring doubts.”

We are never promised a life of ease just because Jesus saves us. If we could write it, our lives would be pain-free, stress-free, worry-free, and care-free. If this were true, then how would our faith in God be stretched? How then would we benefit from the promises that our God has made? What would grow us to a deeper level of trust? The reality is that Christians struggle. The reality is that Christians face persecution and distress. The reality is that Christians suffer sickness, experience financial difficulty, lose loved ones, and deal with heart-wrenching family problems.

The disciples were experiencing the same thoughts and emotions that flood our minds. The disciples got into the boat with Christ and then a great storm came upon them. Again, Lucado writes, “getting on board with Christ can mean getting soaked with Christ.” The difference for the Christian in this world is a rock, a promise, a person.  The difference for the one who has given their life to Christ is that while the storm may blow, batter, and bruise, we won’t be moved. We possess a stabilizing force in our lives that not everyone enjoys. Getting soaked with Christ means that He may not take away our storm, instead He will cover us with peace, provision, and power in order to grow us through the storm.