By Pastor Bob Rasmussen
We welcome those watching online, whether on Christian World media, Facebook, YouTube, Roku, or our website, JanesvilleApostolicMinistries.org.
I would like to personally thank everyone who donated to update the flooring in the basement. We met our goal, and that is fantastic! Thank you so much for your generosity!
This is also my quarterly reminder that you can cheerfully give to support this church right from our website. It is located on the right side of the website on your computer, or scroll down a bit on your phone, it is the Orange Givelify button. All of the messages, teaching, music, events – all those things cost money. So, whatever you can give, we thank you in advance.
I would also like to challenge all of the men that are able to go to the golf event – don’t worry, I suck at golf too. But invite someone, bring yourself – it is a good time for fellowship. There is something so powerful when we, as men, gather in public, bow our heads, and pray together. We lift the name of Jesus, together.
This world gets us all so busy. I worked on several small projects this week. One was for Gerber Collision. Typically, in these jobs, I am the network technician responsible for the network migration to all new switches and routers and then updating end-user computers and laptops. It is usually a little stressful, but nothing too bad. There is also typically another technician there who is responsible for running new cable and installing wireless access points. Sometimes I help them and sometimes they help me.
However, the other technician was a no-show on day one for this site. And on day 2 as well. Technology doesn’t care who is there. All the other stuff must be replaced once you migrate to the new switches and routers, so I had to do double duty. Physically, it was exhausting because I also had a job at O’Reilly’s to install what I thought were four long patch cables – well, it ended up being four full cable runs using the little giant ladder – it turns into a beast after a couple of hours.
Because of that job, I missed bible study, and that caused another issue with the audio on the live stream.
We had a wedding yesterday, so we did not have our weekly prayer and worship service, which we call soak. I would have missed that as well because Friday I finished both of those projects, and I didn’t even leave Madison until 6:15.
And I found myself longing a little bit for just being here, with other believers, praising, praying, learning, and loving Jesus. There is something so powerful in doing these things together.
Hebrews 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21 And having an high priest over the house of God; 22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) 24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
Our prayer time is at 10:00, and this morning’s praise and worship service starts at 10:30. Bible study on Thursdays at 6:30 PM and Soak on Fridays at 6:00 PM are all opportunities to come together, as the Bible says. We have opportunities to hold each other up in prayer, learn, love each other, and, if necessary, intercede for each other. And I get that there are times we cannot gather – like I said, life gets busy, and things happen.
Usually, we stop SOAK in the summer, but this summer might be different. I feel the Lord pushing that we would continue – and change the direction a little more towards interceding in prayer for ourselves, our community, our nation, and the world.
1 Timothy 2:12 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
Be made for all men—everyone needs prayer! I find that it is easy for me to pray for my family, my wife, and my friends. But when it says all, it means all. I need to pray for enemies and people in my life with whom I have a conflict. That one can be a little harder.
I used to think that if I prayed, “Dear Lord, please don’t let so and so not get hit by a bus today,” that it was enough. No, I must ask God to bless them and keep them safe. Even if they are against me. I even prayed for Joe Biden, so I am making progress!
I want to pray for those who do not have a relationship with Jesus.
Prayers of supplication refer to asking our God to provide, knowing He will. Prayers cover anything and everything – there is nothing too small or too big for our Lord and Savior.
Again, intercessions are requests that we make on behalf of others. They are when we place the needs of others above our own needs. Sometimes, I think these can be made for spiritual battles as well.
Prayers of thankfulness are for all He has done and how He has accomplished what we may have asked and fulfilled, amen? Gratitude is critical for all of us.
All of these opportunities and instructions were made possible because of one thing: Jesus. And I think the church in general takes for granted the opportunities to be His church, which was paid for at such a great cost.
The world pushes us not to gather. The world wants us to be busy so we don’t get together and pray. The world does not want us praising His name. And the enemy, he doesn’t want us interceding against him and his plans, because he is a loser when God gets involved, amen?
Usually, around Easter, we have had a message on the 7 sayings on the cross, and that is what I would like to talk about a little. Jesus paid a heavy price for our sin. There could be no remission of sin without the blood. And when He was on the cross, He said 7 things that are recorded in the text of the bible.
Jesus, betrayed and beaten beyond recognition. Whipped so brutally that His bones could be seen through His flesh. I can’t imagine how tired He was, how much pain He was in. How He felt emotionally.
I found an image from the Passion, before I ask Jeff to show it I want to warn you that it is graphic.
This is just a glimpse of what we all deserve. Our sin is ugly and against God. The Lord hates it, so besides the beating, besides the mocking, besides the whipping, beside the embarrassment – He took on our sin. Yours, mine, our children’s, our parents, our grandchildren’s, and so on.
The thing that He hates the most, He willfully took it on to save each and every one of us. I agree with Pastor Jeff, we should be focused on the empty tomb, but we must never forget what filled it. Our beaten Lord and Savior, Jesus, died for the payment of our sins.
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
Prayer
Luke 23:34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.
The beating that Jesus took was brutal. The thorns had to be so painful and insulting, mocking Him as a king of the Jews
Yet through all this, I believe everything He said was direct, purposeful, and meaningful.
Now, if it were me up on that cross, I do not know if that is the language I would have used. I was in the military, and I know some pretty salty language. But Jesus was speaking from His heart.
Matthew 12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
Jesus said that, and we see it here, as he was crucified.
“Forgive them”
Those words have no anger, even though His Roman tormentors deserved it. Even though those who put him through a mock trial deserved His bitterness, He showed love. His first statement is not about self-preservation or feeling sorry for himself. No, He has compassion for those who, for me, don’t deserve it.
There is only Divine love. And I have to ask: Is that what we, His children, His followers, choose to be like? Do we look at those who have hurt us, our enemies, with forgiveness and love, like Jesus?
Does it make me sad, do I have empathy for the hardness of their hearts, that they do not know God? Do I want them to have a restored relationship with Jesus for which He paid such a high price?
Or do we embrace every insult and hurtful thing that is given to us and let it feed our anger and resentment? Do I plot what hurtful thing I can say or do so I can repay the pain that they caused?
Do I rejoice when they fail or when we hurt them back?
Let us remember what Jesus said, especially this time of year, and embrace His grace and give it to others, amen?
And then Jesus said:
Luke 22:43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
This is one of those sayings that we need to know what they said before hand.
Luke 23:39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. 40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. 42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
This is one of those times in the Bible where hope shines brightly in a very dark moment, amen? Probably one of the darkest moments in the bible, with Jesus about to die so horribly. The other two men were being crucified as well, but there are two different men for sure.
Two different responses to Jesus in that dark moment. The first was mocking, questioning the authority and authenticity of Jesus.
The other asked the mocker a good question, one we should ask ourselves – “Don’t you fear God?” He rebukes that other man.
And in so doing, He is humbled by a fear of God, saying quite literally what was the sentence for all of us, that he and we should receive the due reward for our deeds, for our sin.
When we came to Jesus, we were a little like that thief. We finally understood that our sin was a problem. And we knew the punishment that we deserved, and we finally came to see that we were fully dependent on the grace of God for our salvation.
That is the hope of the gospel. The thief repented the only way he could, and Jesus, in the grace of His love, said:
“Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.”
The next saying was:
John 19:26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved,
Knowing that Jesus had the same feelings that we do, I have this vision of Christ on the cross. People screaming at Him, spitting, laughing, and mocking Him. And since it was midday, He had a mix of blood, sweat, maybe tears from the pain. And he looks down and sees His Mother and His Disciple John.
I have tried, in my mind’s eye, to place one of my kids on a cross, and I can’t do it. I cannot imagine what she and John were feeling.
Yet in all that He was going through, he says this:
he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.
I believe He was not saying they were to love like they were family, but they were family. And just as He saw them from the cross, He sees all of us. He sees the widows and the orphans. The fatherless, the disabled, the elderly, and even the unborn. He sees the prisoners and the parents who have lost a child. He sees all those who are in pain. He sees the lost. He sees the lonely. And all of them, and all of us, we can be part of the family, the family of Christ.
John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
The 4th Thing that Jesus said on the cross was:
Matthew 27:45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Is he crying for help? Or is he conveying something else?
The night before, when they came to arrest Jesus the scripture says as follows:
Matthew 26:51 And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest’s, and smote off his ear.52 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?
How many is 12 legions? 72,000. 72,000 angels, not men. But Jesus’ own life is not what is on his mind; it is to fulfill the scriptures, which is why he says, “how then shall all the scriptures be fulfilled?”
How many of us love Psalm 23? We can’t have what Psalm 23 promises without Psalm 22. Written by David. The first line of Psalm 22 is this:
22 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
They did not have copies of the Bibles. They did not have a phone where you could Google things. They had an inherent knowledge of the scriptures. Jesus wanted them to hear this. The bible says he said in a Loud voice. It was not a whimper; it was a statement
He wanted them to remember Psalm 22, which prophesied about the messiah – or a Messianic Psalm.
Psalm 22:6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Psalm 22:16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
A clear depiction of the Crucifixion was not used until 6 BC. King David ruled from 1000 to 960 BC, and this was something prophesied, something that did not exist until Jesus was alive
Psalm 22 contains great sorrow and desperation, just like what Jesus is going through. Because of time, I can’t read it all. But again, they would have known this Psalm. He is pointing them to it.
It isn’t all morbid, though. It ends like this:
Psalm 22:27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. 28 For the kingdom is the Lord’s: and he is the governor among the nations. 29 All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul. 30 A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. 31 They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.
Jesus is getting close to the end, and the He says this:
John 19:28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. 29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.
I am sure He was thirsty, but again, He was on a mission:
Psalm 69:21 They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Psalm 69, another Messianic Psalm, is full of imagery. I’ll paraphrase here. It starts out drowning in trouble. There are floods, but their throat is dry. Enemies all around, accused wrongfully. There is shame and people against Him. There is a plea for help, for salvation. A plea for compassion and a mention of vinegar to drink. And there is a triumphant conclusion.
Jesus is fulfilling Old Testament prophecy again in saying I thirst and by what they give him to drink. The thing Jesus said before committing His Spirit was:
John 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
All of it was finished – Interestingly, Psalm 22 ends with:
Psalm 22:31 They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.
The Aramaic interpretation is “It is finished”
It is pretty big just to say “It is finished” because what He accomplished was so much!
- The whole will of God
- Living a sinless life
- Preaching of the gospel
- He Worked so many miracles – couldn’t write them all
- Being the salvation of men
- Perfect obedience
- Atonement for sin, enemies conquered, and prophecies fulfilled
- The power of sin and satan was destroyed, hallelujah
Luke 23:46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.
I am reminded of what Jesus said before His death in this scripture,
John 10:17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
Jesus gave His life because He willed it. He picked the time to give His life, and how it would be done. He gave His life because of His great love for us. No one could take His life except Him.
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
But He was not done yet! He still had one more thing to do, it wasn’t much – just to conquer death and defeat Hell! On that 3rd day, He rose again. That makes Friday – or Wednesday Good, because of His victory over the grave. Satan has been defeated! Jesus is alive! Jesus has conquered death! Through Jesus Christ, we can have everlasting life! Jesus is the perfect lamb who is the atonement for our sins, yours and mine. Thank you, Jesus, for life! He has become our Savior through His resurrection.
I guess the main point I am making is that this thing we do, getting together—whether this morning, Thursday, or Friday—Jesus paid a horrific price to accomplish all that He did. We should not take lightly these opportunities to praise, worship, learn, and intercede in His Name, amen? The time is coming for His return, so we should focus on Him more and more in our lives!
Janesville Apostolic Ministries 
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