Archive for May, 2007

Well everything is starting to take shape and really is exciting. Our pastor has begun his blog and I have been putting up things that I have learned or heard and felt that were important, as well as there will soon be a homeschool blog with a lot of wonderful information, support and advice. So this is a crucial time to begin advertising to the masses. Anytime that you get a chance to talk about the site or pass it along please do so. Keep in mind that it is our job as Christians to spread the gospel and the more tools that we can use the more effective we will become. I want this site to be just that, a place that people can go to find encouragement and information that will help in that pursuit. We should strive as Christ followers to be like the sunrise mentioned below (Luke 1:78-79) and help those who sit in darkness find the light.

78because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
79to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Another way to help and be part of the effort is to register and submit posts, comments, and links that will help us grow our information and our abililty to reach those that are lost. Thanks for stopping by and please pray for us and continue to come back. Ty

As a pastor in the 21st century, spreading the gospel has never been easier. Take for example this “blog”, I can write my thoughts, my feelings and even my opinions down and send them into the World Wide Web for anyone and everyone to read. I sometimes wonder if this is what Jesus meant when he said “”Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation”. Mark-16:15. Probably not, but the internet has afforded us an easy and quick way to spread the gospel. With the click of a button hundreds of people maybe thousands could read this or any other “blog”. I could write about the love and grace of God, about his Son who died on the cross for our sins (Romans 10:9) or about the life after this life. I will do it in the future, but I am not going to do that in this entry.

The internet has become a source of quick and easy information all at your finger tips. Studies show that the amount of knowledge or information doubles every 5 years. But even if you find it on Google it still doesn’t mean it’s true. False teachings and doctrine are popping up all over the internet and millions of people are being lead astray from the true teachings of the Bible. People are taking what they read from the internet and trying to turn it into truth even if it’s not. We have become a microwave society, 1 minute and we are done. Any longer and it’s a waste of time. We have done that with our search for the truth as well. We don’t read the bible for the truth, we search the internet. We should handle the search for truth as it says in II Timothy 2:15 “¹⁵Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth”. Correctly is how we handle the truth.

So what’s my point? My point is this, don’t take what I write or what anyone else write as truth until you have searched it yourself through the pages of the one and only truth, the Bible. II Timothy 3:16-17 says “¹⁶All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work”. Even when I preach to my congregation I remind them to always test what I say because the word of God is infallible, I am not.

So I hope you enjoy the things I write and that it sparks something in you to go to your Bible and read it for yourself. The bible is a living and breathing entity that will give you great joy if you read it. Don’t just use it as coffee table decoration; use it to find out what Gods purpose is for your life.

God Bless and read you’re Bible,

Pastor- Jody Burkeen

To discuss the historical facts and points of the resurrection only solidifies the fact Christ is our risen savior and to believe other is simply a denial of the truth.

Let’s discuss four topics then we can give further details about each of them.

1. Jesus was buried in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb

2. The tomb was found empty by women followers

3. Jesus appeared too many people in different places

4. The disciples fully believed in the resurrection even though they had no predisposition to do so

1. Jesus was buried in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb

He is mentioned in all four gospels ( Matthew 27:57-60; Mark 15:43-46; Luke 23:50-55; John 19:38-42). He was a high counselor, a voting member of the Sanhedrin which officially wanted Jesus condemned to death. There is no competing stories to this one, if it were a legend then there would have been competing accounts as to where and who the body of Jesus went with. And according to various historical sources, Joseph’s actions provoked both the Roman and Jewish elders and he eventually did spend time in prison for his support of Jesus.

2. The tomb was found empty by women followers

When you understand the role of women in first-century Jewish society, what’s really extraordinary is that this empty tomb story should feature women as the discoverers of the empty tomb in the first place. Women were on a very low rung of the social ladder in first-century Palestine. There are old sayings that said, ‘Let the words of Law be burned rather than delivered to women’ and ‘blessed is he whose children are male, but woe to him whose children are female.’ Women’s testimony was regarded as so worthless that they weren’t even allowed to serve as legal witnesses in a Jewish court of Law. In light of this, it’s absolutely remarkable that the chief witnesses to the empty tomb are these women… Any later legendary account would have certainly portrayed male disciples as discovering the tomb — Peter or John, for example. The fact that women are the first witnesses to the empty tomb is most plausibly explained by the reality that — like it or not — they were the discoverers of the empty tomb! This shows that the Gospel writers faithfully recorded what happened, even if it was embarrassing. This bespeaks the historicity of this tradition rather than its legendary status

3. Jesus appeared too many people in different places

To start the list there was Simon Peter, the twelve disciples, five hundred brothers, James, all the apostles, and to Paul. He also appeared to Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary,” as they were running from the empty tomb. As well as to the eleven on a mountain in Galilee where Jesus had told the apostles to go. To two of Jesus’ followers as they were walking in the countryside. And again to the eleven while they were dining. To Cleopas and one other disciple as they walked to Emmaus. To Mary Magdalene, at first she did not recognize him and thought that he was a gardener. When he spoke she recognized him. To the disciples (not including Thomas) on that same day. They were indoors “for fear of the Jews.” To the disciples including Thomas. This was eight days later, again indoors. To Peter, Nathanael from Cana of Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples, by Lake Tiberias. To the Church in Jerusalem— forty days after the resurrection when he ascended into heaven.

1 Corinthians 15; Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20; John 21; Acts 1

4. The disciples fully believed in the resurrection even though they had no predisposition to do so

Think of the situation the disciples faced following Jesus’ crucifixion:

1. Their leader was dead. And Jewish Messianic expectations had no idea of a Messiah who, instead of triumphing over Israel’s enemies, would be shamefully executed by them as a criminal.

2. Jewish beliefs about the afterlife precluded anyone’s rising from the dead to glory and immortality before the general resurrection of the dead at the end of the world.

Nevertheless, the original disciples suddenly came to believe so strongly that God had raised Jesus from the dead that they were willing to die for the truth of that belief. But then the obvious question arises: What in the world caused them to believe such an un-Jewish and outlandish thing? Luke Johnson, a New Testament scholar at Emory University, muses, “Some sort of powerful, transformative experience is required to generate the sort of movement earliest Christianity was.” And N. T. Wright, an eminent British scholar, concludes, “That is why, as an historian, I cannot explain the rise of early Christianity unless Jesus rose again, leaving an empty tomb behind him.”

Alright, this has taken a little bit longer than I expected.  I hope to have this finished tonight with galleries and all but I am not promising anything.  I am putting up all of the links and info from the other site.  I am also going to include a blog with my thoughts and all keep coming back