S05E068, Where will you finish? Andy B 2 Minute Video

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Today is Good Friday and marks the most important date in the Christian Calendar. After Christmas Day, Good Friday, is probably the most celebrated day of the year here in the UK, and around the world and, annually, for some 2,000 years, and for good reason!

There are two great certainties in life. No matter your status, your wealth or your success, they apply to you just as much as they apply to me - they have nothing to do with culture, geography, goodness or ‘niceness’.

The first certainty, of course, is that we will all be born. We don’t get to choose who our mother and father will be. We don’t get any say over brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, or the time and place of our birth.

The second certainty is that we are all going to die one day: we can keep ourselves fit and healthy, avoiding any – and all - potential dangers, and still die at a time and place that was not of our choosing through no fault of our own.

In the Nicolas Cage film National Treasure, we hear the following clue for the treasure they sought:

“the debt that all men pay”.

Now, in the film, it formed a clue to finding the treasure but that phrase actually comes straight out of the Holy Bible, and can be found in the book of Romans, chapter 6 and verse 23:

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Unlike our birth, where we have no control, we do have absolute control about what happens when we die. And, that choice, affects everything while we’re alive too.

“The debt that all men pay” is super encouraging because we know that Jesus of Nazareth was a real man. Various Court Judges over the centuries have assessed the case He answered and found him not guilty. Various historians over the centuries have proven that He was the same Jesus of Nazareth who was put to death on a cross by the Romans at the time.

For you and me that is important because Jesus, literally, paid “the debt that all men pay”. And that means we get the choice whether we wish to go to heaven or not.

You can ignore this Christian stuff as just a bunch of magical rubbish designed to make people feel better and act as their crutch to get through life. However, if we’re right about this ‘Jesus stuff’ then you might wish to reconsider what you ‘know’ to be true, or not.

If you want to know more about Jesus Christ – the reason it says Good Friday in your digital and paper calendars, why not ask Him to show Himself to you. If you’re right, what have you got to lose?

Just a thought...

Andy B

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[00:00:00] So I was thinking about how often we talk about unplugging from the world. We talk about the need to relax and unwind and, you know, let things go and, and exercise and all this stuff. And some of that's really good actually. But also we can be quite distracted by it. 

[00:00:28] As I think about Easter, I think about Good Friday, I think about Maundy Thursday, I think about Easter Sunday, it's really easy to unplug from all the stuff that we think we know. But, actually, at this time of year, this is the one time we need to plug in to The Source, to God, to Jesus, to plug into our faith, to plug in the reality that we all come from somewhere, we're all gonna end up some. 

[00:00:56] But at this time of year in a Christian calendar, at least [00:01:00] it's a reminder of where, where are you gonna finish up?

[00:01:02] Jesus came to earth to die on a cross as an innocent man. There have been Judges through hundreds of years have tested his case. He's innocent. We know historically that the man, Jesus of Nazareth, was a real man. There is such an overwhelming weight of truth and evidence for the fact that Jesus of Nazareth was a real man.

[00:01:28] When you look at the scriptures, the Bible, you look at all the manuscripts, there are so many that people would question because you know, it's, it's a fairytale, it's magic. And, yet, we believe things with far less evidence. 

[00:01:41] So, on this Good Friday, I would urge you, think about the fact that we all come from somewhere. We're all gonna go somewhere. But do you know where you are going to when you die. Jesus did. I do? Do you? 

[00:01:59] This is a really good [00:02:00] time for you to plug in to life, to plug in and think, where am I going when I die? It's not a a, a, a defeatist, negative thing. It's an exciting thing 'cos I know I'm going to heaven.

[00:02:12] If you don't know that, maybe you should think about it. 

[00:02:17] Just a thought.