Ministries:
Adult | Teens | Children

Pastor's Pen's:
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Sermon Series:
Following Jesus
Earthly Cross
His Name Is
Apostles Creed
Dealing with Feelings
Jonah
Get Real
Promised Land Living

Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

(262) 763-3021

Email:
Pastor Scott Carson

Secretary Patti Hall

PASTOR'S PENS 2005

Grace Church of Burlington March 27, 2005 “All heaven is interested in the cross of Christ, all hell is terribly afraid of it, while men are the only beings who more or less ignore its meaning.”                              Oswald Chambers                                                                                           The late Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet dictator during the 1950's on one occasion visited the Rlouen Cathedral. After visiting this cathedral, Khrushchev said: "There is much in Christ that is in common with us Communists, but I cannot agree with Him when He says when you are hit on the right cheek turn the left cheek. I believe in another principle. If I am hit on the left cheek, I hit back so hard on the right cheek that the head might fall off. This is my sole difference with Christ." When he was just eight years old, a young Jewish boy named Lazare had his father taken by the Nazis. He never saw his father again. His father was first interned at a camp in Pithiviers, but eventually he was sent to Auschwitz. Somehow Lazare survived and as still a child, but aged far beyond his years by both brutality and cruelty beyond our imagination. It was his words that were chosen for the epitaph on the memorial for those who died in Auschwitz. On the memorial he had written, in his childlike style: WE MISS YOU, DARLING DADDY. ON 14 MAY 1941, THE BOCHE SNATCHED YOU FROM US AND DEPORTED YOU TO PITHIVIERS, ON 24 JUNE 1942 HITLER'S BRUTES DEPORTED YOU TO AUSCHWITZ. AND KILLED YOU, AT THE AGE OF THIRTY-FIVE. WE SHALL NEVER FORGET YOU, DARLING DADDY. YOU LEFT TWO CHILDREN, WHEN THEY ARE GROWN UP THEY WILL AVENGE YOU AND HATE THOSE DIRTY HITLERITE VILLAINS. 19 MAY 1946.             Nero, one of Rome's most wicked and vicious emperor's, plotted to murder his own mother. Her last words to the assassins that her own son had sent were: "Smite my womb."             Revenge, bitterness, hatred... aren't those the responses that we naturally give when we are abused and mistreated. Don't we all have a little bit of a Khrushchev in the dark corners of our soul? And on the day that they crucified Jesus, don't you think that's what they expected? Crucifixion was one of the most violent and cruel forms of execution, possibly of all time. It was the invention of depraved minds, determined to make death as painful and yet as prolonged as possible. First, an upright beam was planted in the ground. Then the transverse piece was placed on the ground and the arms of the condemned tied to it. A nail, no, really a spike, ripped through the flesh of the right wrist, then of the left. Next, by means of either a rope or ladder, the victim nailed to his cross bar was lifted and made fast to the upright. Then, another long spike would be used to pin crossed feet to the wood only a foot or two above the ground. There the crucified was left to hang for hours. Often, just to breathe they would half to pull against the nails to lift their chest up just to get a breath. Many died of suffocation. It was a horrible form of execution, reserved for the worst of criminals. Cicero and Seneca, Roman leaders from that period, relate that at times when people were crucified their tongues were cut out in order to put an end to their violent, blasphemous language with which they cursed their tormentors. I'm sure that as they mocked our Savior and ridiculed Him, they thought, "Now, we'll see what He's really like? Now, we'll see what He's really made of?" They expected sharp angry words, cursing them. David Smith tells us that "It was usual for victims of that dread doom, frenzied with pain, to shriek, entreat, curse, and spit at the spectators." Possibly, they expected to hear Jesus begging them for mercy. The very last words they expected from the lips of our Dying Savior...was a prayer for them, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”             Just as Jesus’ earthly ministry had begun with prayer, forty days in the wilderness, now He concludes His earthly ministry with prayer. But He does not pray for Himself, but for them, the very ones who nailed Him there. It was around the bloody shoulders of these murderers, while the blood was still dripping from their hands that He flung the folds of this prayer. And in His dying breaths, Jesus demonstrates that no one is too wicked, too depraved to be beyond the hope of prayer, no one is beyond the reach of His love and forgiveness.             2000 years later, Jesus is still saying, "Father, forgive them; they know not what they do." My friend, please don't turn your back on the cross. If you have never committed your life to Christ, why not come to Him today and trust Him as your own Lord and Savior? He wants to forgive you. He wants to give you eternal life. But He will not force you. You must come to Him. You must accept Him. You must commit your life to Him.