I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
I was sharing a story with a new councilor I have. I have felt stuck with growth and praying. So I became part of I am Second.
Last night was the first time I spoke to the councilor. I shared many things that brought me to this place. But it was one story in particular that I shared. I asked above, What Opened the Gospels to you? I can tell you what it was for me.
I had started to come to Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia back in the fall of 1998. It was about half a year in, that I spoke to one of the assistant pastors. I shared a story of losing a child to a miscarriage back in my 20’s. Even though I knew that Jesus forgave me of my past, present and future sins, I couldn’t forgive myself. (I know, how arrogant of me. But I was coming out of the Catholic faith with that understanding - it was skewed I know but there I was.) But that thought of me being arrogant was not taken by this wonderful brother and pastor in Christ. He started to ask me if I believed that Jesus forgave me. I answered yes. Do you believe that he loves you? Yes. Do you love him? Yes. Then if you cannot forgive yourself, you are calling Jesus a liar. If he can forgive you but you cannot forgive yourself, are you better than Jesus that you will hold onto that sin? No. All of this was done in love. I as shocked by what he said and asked how I can come to a place of peace with forgiving myself. His answer was: Pray and talk to the Lord. But not only that, listen to what he has to say and to where you should read from the Bible.
Now this was a little foreign to me after all I was brought up in the Catholic Church. I knew the gospels for the most part. But I don’t think I would get anything out of the 4 books. So I when home and prayed and for the first time, I listened. I opened my Bible and asked where I should read about forgiveness. I was directed to Isaiah 53. As I read, I started to pray and cry. For the first time, I started to understand the gospels. It was there that the gospels were open to me. As I told the counselor, it is the gospel of the Old Testament.
I would not say that I memorized Isaiah 53 but when some is teaching or reciting the chapter, I can stay the words along with them. I have done this many times with my Pastor in communions where he shared from the chapter. And yes, there are times when it will bring tears to my eyes.
Do you have a verse or book that opened the Gospels for you?
His Pain, Our Gain
Isaiah 53 is a stunning chapter in the Bible—in what is now commonly referred to as the “Old Testament.”
Approximately 700 years before Jesus walked the earth, Isaiah prophesied about a suffering servant who would also, somehow and in some way, be exalted. A coming Savior, a future Redeemer, the long-awaited Messiah—whose death would ultimately bring life.
A portion of Isaiah 53 says this:
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:5 NIV
So, who was this man who would be pierced, crushed, and wounded because of someone else’s sins? Whose undeserved punishment would be the catalyst for healing? Whose life would be given as an offering—so that others might live?
Jesus Christ not only fits the description of the suffering servant who paid the ultimate price to buy His people back, redeem them, and set them free—He ...
“Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge...
