WEEK 3
READ WEEK 2 NOTES HERE ... Days 6-12
DAY 13. THE SOLDIER'S WANTED JESUS' BLOOD
From Max:
- The sinless One took the face of a sinner so that we sinners could take on the face of a saint.
REFLECT - An eye for an eye is not the foundation of the Cross.
Discuss - Surely we too have spat in the face of Jesus? When? But, how did He react?
DAY 14. THE CROWN OF THORNS
From Max:
- Brambles on the earth are the product of sin in the heart.
REFLECT - Thorns on His head, nails in His hands but you on His mind.
Discuss - Sin is wearing the thorns of pain that the Father never intended you to wear. Resurrection removes the thorns.
What parts in your life may still require crucifixion that you may too rise, scarred but without pain?
DAY 15. SIMON FROM CYRENE CARRIES JESUS' CROSS
From Max:
- Simon growls, steps out of the crowd... out of anonymity into history, and becomes the first in a line of millions who will take up the cross and follow Christ.
REFLECT - Jesus' presence touches the anonymous and raises them up, for these are not the ones who seek glory.
Discuss - Simon has been long remembered and glorified, not for his name but by his action. He will be upon mankind's lips until Jesus returns. Surely the only path to Glory is cross-bearing?
DAY 16. CALVARY
From Max:
- Jesus couldn't bear the thought of eternity without you, He chose the nails.
REFLECT - Christ would ever have abode alone if He had not died upon the Cross. ~ J.B.Stoney
Discuss - Life is a battle not a playground. See Ephesians 6:11-12 & James 4:11 help? Yet why do still live with little of our mind on Glory - still viewing the next pay check, the next possession or the next playtime?
The 2nd step to resurrection we must all take is self-crucifixion.
DAY 17. THE SIGN ON THE CROSS
From Max:
- God had a message for each: Christ is King.
REFLECT - Jesus nailed His kingship over me and for all the world to see. There are no boundaries to the language of the cross, either across the world or across time.
Discuss - Both devotions and suffering are God's language to us, how He speaks and gains our attention. Are there other ways God speaks to us, what are they? How can you know?
DAY 18. HE WORE OUR SIN
From Max:
- Scripture often describes our behavior as the clothes we wear.
REFLECT - Clothes maketh the man, they also explaineth the man.
Discuss - What clothing awaits each firm-standing disciple in heaven's wardrobe? 1 Corinthians 15:53-54, Revelation 7:9 & 14
DAY 19. CLOSE TO THE CROSS BUT FAR FROM CHRIST
From Max:
- We too play games at the foot of the cross.
REFLECT - We major in the trivial, the transitory, the minor things of earth - neglecting to our peril the permament and the valuable.
Discuss - How do we sit at the foot of the cross and fail to look up? Could there too be dice we roll why Jesus' blood drips? How may Luke 16:15 help?
WEEK 4 STUDY NOTES