John 5:39 

“Searching the Scriptures “

Verse 39, "Search the scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me!" By the way, these are the words of Jesus written in red in my Bible!

So I chose a different theme today, because in March on Sundays we will be talking about when the “Kingdom of God Comes.” Of course, no one but our Heavenly Father knows when. Matt 2:36. “Of that day and that hour no man knows, not even the angels In heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

So, if we know not the day or hour, how can we prepare? Well, our text from John 5 gives some very good advice. It tells us scripture bears witness about Jesus! So the theme of my blog today is searching the scriptures! Searching the scriptures brings us to John 3:16 “The Gospel in a nutshell,” It brings us to John 14:6 “Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life! No man comes to the Father but by Me!” This is a scripture that taken to heart, will indeed prepare us for the coming of the Kingdom!

Luke chapter 2, the beautiful and familiar Christmas story about the birth of Jesus in a lowly stable, to humble parents, prepares us for His Second Coming by telling us about the “First”.
The accounts in the Gospels tell about the Passion of Christ, His death, and triumphant Resurrection which are integral to our faith! 

1Peter 2:9 Tells us we are a chosen race,a royal priesthood, a people of God’s own possession, that we PROCLAIM the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. We are called for His MISSION to tell others about JESUS!

In Paul’s writings to the Galatians 4:6 "because you are sons(and daughters) God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying, “Abba Father”". 4:7 "So we are no longer a slave, but a Son, and if a Son, than an heir through God."

Wow! I know I mentioned this on Ash Wednesday, but it bears repeating! We are ADOPTED SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE HEAVENLY FATHER!!!! And, because that’s what we are by faith and the in dwelling of the Holy Spirit, then, we will rejoice even in death, and for sure we will rejoice when God’s Kingdom Comes Again! 

You see, my fellow brothers and sisters In Christ, searching the scriptures, allows the Holy Spirit to work saving faith into the hearts of all of us, His Children! And Ephesians 2:8,9 tells us we are “saved by grace through faith.” 

To sum it up, our pastor’s encouragement to read the Bible daily is exactly what “Searching the Scriptures means."  Search the scriptures for in them you have “Eternal Life”!

My confirmation verse is Rev 2:10b, Be thou faithful unto death and I will give you a “Crown of Life”. That is, Eternal Life”!

My prayer is that by searching the scriptures, all of us, will be prepared, for the Coming of the Kingdom of God!
In Jesus Name, Amen

Gary Riedel

Isaiah 53:7-9

Verse 7 "He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, like a like a sheep that before it’s shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth"! 

The exclamation mark behind that last statement is mine and not part of the text, it only has a simple period, but how many in our world today, including me would subject ourselves
to such unfair punishment in the meek and quiet manner of our Jesus? And yet this is only a prophecy, this is before the fact, again the prophet Isaiah, inspired by God writes an exact account of how things actually took place. The Scripture is indeed inspired by God and every word in it is the truth and bears study by God’s people.

Back to the silent enduring by our Savior, He knew this was His job to do. He knew that to save mankind from the inevitable consequences of their sin was His task and His alone. He

went forth in humble obedience to the will of the Father that so loved us He would sacrifice His only Son for us on the cross of Calvary. At only one point in the Garden of Gethsemane did Jesus pray to His Father “If thou be willing, remove this cup from Me, nevertheless not My will but thine be done.” Even here nearing the awful moment of His betrayal, He was submissive to the will of the Father, a great lesson for us when we suffer, even if we think our suffering is unjust.

But, Jesus did speak, In John 19:30, the very last words spoken by our Lord from the cross; He said, “IT IS FINISHED”!!!!!

Now Jesus had completed His Sacrifice for the sins of Adam and Eve, and every man, women, and child that would follow, including us, until Jesus comes again!!!! What a powerful three words!!! It’s because of that our relationship with the Father has been restored. 

Romans 5:17 says that sin came into the world by one man, how much more did righteousness come into the world by God’s Grace through the one man, Jesus Christ! My prayer for all of us is that we embrace that Grace of God and live for Him and through Him with every day he gives us or until He comes again!!! 

In His Name, Amen
Gary Riedel

Isaiah 53:1-6

Isaiah 53:1-6  "¹Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? ² For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground, he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. ³ He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised ,and we esteemed him not. ⁴ Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. ⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. ⁶ All, we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all! 

Wow, what a text! Written approximately 700 years before the birth of Jesus and yet so accurate is the description of the Passion of Christ! We need look no further to determine that the Bible is inspired by God! Who else could have predicted these events so accurately! 

Verse three speaks of a man of sorrows despised, rejected and acquainted with grief. There is a song by Hillsong that says:  "by His own betrayed, The sin of man and wrath of God Has been on Jesus laid. Silent as he stood accused, beaten mocked and scorned, bowing to the Father’s will, He took a crown of thorns!"

When I was a young lad I always questioned my dad about these verses and the events they foretold. I always thought it was so unfair what our Jesus had to endure. I was like the

defiant Peter who cut off the high priests ear. I wanted to stand up for Jesus. My father patiently explained that Jesus HAD to endure this to pay the price for our sins and the sins of the whole world, and even the sins of those past like Adam and Eve in yesterday’s blog.

Alas, all we like sheep have gone astray and it still happens to each of us every day, a thought, alteration of the truth, an eye gone astray. But Jesus paid it all! His blood on that cursed tree was sufficient for every misdeed of every person who ever lived!!

A later verse of the before referenced song says: "Now the curse of sin has no hold on me, whom the Son sets free, Oh is free indeed!" Did you catch that? We are free indeed; free from the penalty of sin; now we can enjoy the peace that passes all understanding; we can worship and praise our Lord with all we are and have, because Jesus paid it all!

My prayer is that all at Alive In Christ know this Jesus and trust Him for their salvation!

Man of Sorrows, Song by Hillsong

Elder, Gary Riedel

Ash Wednesday 

Genesis 3:6-19 "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.  She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it." 

The woman(eve) saw the fruit and it was good and pleasing to the eye, she ate of it and gave some to her husband! Thus, sin entered into the world! 

The beautiful Bathsheba also was pleasing to the eye of David in 2nd Samuel 11; and again the appeal to the eye caused much trouble for David and his family. His sin became much more complicated as he murdered to cover it up. But like Adam and Eve sin separated him from God until the prophet Nathan caused him to repent. 

As for Eve, and all mothers, there is pain in child birth, for the man Adam, he would earn his living by the sweat of his brow and thorns and thistles would plague him all his life. For David it brought death, incest, and rebellion to his family. And yet God’s Grace is such that he calls David a man “after His own heart”!

And finally to all mankind sin brought death, (from dust you were formed, to dust you shall return, Gen 3:19). And such is the story of man from generation to generation, and
it hasn’t changed in the least in the present age. Sin still runs rampant in the world and death and destruction are its consequences.

For you see, 1 Peter 5:8 says the devil walketh about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, he loves to sneak up on Christians especially and catch them off guard, for he knows our weaknesses.

However, God had a plan to save man from his behavior, and to conquer sin, eternal death, and the power of the devil! Gal 4: 4-7; At just the right time God sent forth His Son born of a
woman, born under the law, to REDEEM those that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons! Ah!!! When we put our faith and trust in Him, Jesus, we become children of the Heavenly Father!!!!

John 1:12 but to all who did receive Him, who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God!!! That my friends is the best news ever! Jesus came, suffered and died, and rose again!!!

Hallelujah!!!! 
So my prayer is that when any of us, myself included, take satan’s bait, we will repent and remember Jesus and our status because of His Grace, and will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that we are God’s forgiven children because of His plan and because of the sacrifice of Jesus which we begin observing this Ash Wednesday.

God’s Blessings to His children (you and I).
Gary R.

Lent Devotional by the AIC Elders begins February 26th.  Check back then for the Ash Wednesday devotional.