¹⁰ “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. ^[11]

   ¹² “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? ¹³ And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. ¹⁴ In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.

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Pastor Scott Purkey
Bay Summit Church

1 Corinthians 15:54b-58 – “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting? For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. ⁵⁷ But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.

What a statement!  This was perhaps the first declaration of independence ever recorded.  But it wasn’t independence from people or another nation but from the greatest bondage of all time, sin.  Up until Christ, sin had no antidote.  Nothing could reverse its effects on the human race.  But the Apostle Paul is making it very clear in the above passage this was no longer true.  Death, sin’s greatest travesty, has already been defeated.

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Pastor Art Barrett
New Life Christian Church

John 19:34-35 One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out. 35 This report is from an eyewitness giving an accurate account; it is presented so that you also can believe.

This gnarly eyewitness account leads to another, “so that” in the story of Jesus. “So thats” are always worth a pause.

“So that you also can believe” is an invitation just too good to miss. It’s an invitation saying ‘come closer.’ You may come closer to this Jesus without distrust. The original language has the invitation bowing before us saying, “others have come this way, you too are most welcome.”

The soldier, the piercing, the flow of blood and water, all say, ‘Jesus is real, He was here, He was really dead.’ The eyewitness is emphasis, You can trust this, He really laid His life down for you. Believe it.

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