It’s Saturday . . . but Sunday’s Coming!

It’s Saturday, the day before Easter.

On the Christian calendar, we often forget this day. Yesterday was Good Friday. Tomorrow is Easter Sunday.

On Friday, Jesus is crucified; dies for our sins. His followers mourn.

On Sunday, Jesus is resurrected; He’s risen! He’s risen, indeed! His followers rejoice.

But on Saturday, Jesus lay in the tomb; earth groaned. His followers waited, confused.

It’s Saturday, but Sunday’s coming . . .

Holy Saturday: The Day of Waiting

On the church calendar, Saturday is known as “Holy Saturday.” While there are services on Friday and on Sunday, this day is traditionally a day of waiting.

Holy Saturday is a lot like life this side of heaven. We wait. Our final resurrection is sure. Our victory is certain. But this side of heaven, we face death daily. Saturday—the day-in-between, the day between earth and heaven, hurt and healing, waiting and receiving, faith and sight.

It’s Saturday, but Sunday’s coming . . .

The Message of Holy Saturday

The message of Holy Saturday is, “Wait. Something is about to happen. But it hasn’t happened yet.”

Holy Saturday lasts so long. It feels like Sunday will never come. The twenty-four hours feel like an eternity.

It’s Saturday, but Sunday’s coming . . .

Death still surrounds us. Sin still tempts us. Sickness still wounds us. Suffering still pervades us. Evil still invades us. Satan still taunts us.

It’s Saturday, but Sunday’s coming . . .

Easter Is Coming Our Direction

In Narnia, under the curse of the White Witch, it was always Winter but never Christmas.

For Christians, we live in the sure hope that Spring is always just around the corner; just around the river bend.

Easter has already arrived, and it’s coming in our direction.

It’s Saturday, but Sunday’s coming . . .

While we forever remember the crucifixion, thank God we’re moving toward Easter. It’s coming in our direction, closer all the time.

It’s Saturday, but Sunday’s coming . . . and it’s not far away.

All we have to do is hold on for a little while and Sunday will soon be here.

Saturday may seem like a long time, but that’s only as we count time.

Hold on. Keep believing. Never give up. Wait.

It’s Saturday, but Sunday’s coming . . . soon.

Hold on for a little while longer.

The Final Victory

Death will not have the last word.

The tomb will empty.

We will celebrate the resurrection.

It’s Saturday, but Sunday’s coming!

Join the Conversation

What is the wait like for you?

Good Friday: The Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross

One of the most powerful practices you can participate in during Good Friday is reflecting on the Seven Last Words of Christ on the cross.

I’ve arranged them below for you chronologically, as Jesus spoke them.

Allow each word, each sentence, spoken by our Savior to pierce your heart with awareness of your sin and of God’s great forgiving grace.

The First Words

“Then said Jesus, ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.’ And they parted his raiment, and cast lots” (Luke 23:34).

The Second Words

“And Jesus said unto him, ‘I say unto thee, Today thou shalt be with me in paradise’” (Luke 23:43).

The Third Words

“When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, ‘Woman, behold thy son!’” (John 19:26).

The Fourth Words

“And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ which is, being interpreted, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’” (Mark 15:34).

The Fifth Words

‘After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, ‘I thirst’” (John 19:28).

The Sixth Words

“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, ‘It is finished’”: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost” (John 19:30).

The Seventh Words

“And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, ‘Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit’” (Luke 23:46).

Join the Conversation

How are the Seven Last Words of Christ, spoken nearly 2,000 years ago, impacting you today?

The Story

At RPM Ministries our story is all about changing lives with Christ’s changeless truth.

We’re always asking people, “Want to change lives?”

But, what if your life is unchanged? What then? How do you participate in life’s greatest adventure of empowering others to live a changed life if you remain powerless to change?

Then our question for you is entirely different. The new question, really the first question, is “Want a changed life?”

How do people change? Why do people need to change? Change to what?

The story that answers those questions is the story God is telling in the Bible. His story is summarized below. To read about it in narrative form, click below on the image of The Story.

When you’re done, tell us what you think. Ask us any questions that you have. Contact us at rpm.ministries@gmail.com

The Prayer of Jesus: How to Talk to God (Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:1-4)

Your Daily Prayer Guide: “CHRIST”

Note: For a free Word document copy of this blog post visit the RPM Ministries Free Resources page here.

How to Talk to God: CHRIST

There’s no more important question in life than, “How do I talk to God?”

There’s no better Person to turn to to answer that question than Jesus. In the Lord’s Prayer, or “The Prayer of Jesus,” we learn how to pray in Christ’s school of prayer. The acrostic CHRIST provides a helpful, relevant, practical, biblical outline for learning how to talk to God.

Prepare to Pray: Meditation—“Our Father Which Art in Heaven”

C: Commune with God: Adoration—“Hallowed Be Thy Name”

H: Honor the King: Intercession—“Thy Kingdom Come”

R: Radically Commit: Submission/Direction—“Thy Will Be Done”

I: Invite God-Rescue: Supplication—“Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread”

S: Savor the Savior’s Grace: Confession—“Forgive Us Our Sins”

T: Triumph Over Temptation: Petition—“Lead Us Not Into Temptation”

Confidently Trust God: Glorification—“For Thine Is the Kingdom”

Learning How to Pray in Christ’s School of Prayer

 Prepare to Pray: Meditation—“Our Father Which Art in Heaven”

1. Meditate on the perfect fatherly character of God: Our Father in heaven.

2. Contemplate the nature of God’s fatherhood: Our Father of holy love.

3. Reflect on the Body of Christ: Our Father, not only my Father.

4. Enjoy God the Father’s full attention and acceptance: Bask in His fatherly grace.

 Commune with God: Adoration—“Hallowed Be Thy Name”

1. Praise God for Who He is: Worship, magnify, exalt, and glorify your heavenly Father.

2. Thank God for what He does: Express your gratitude for all His grace-gifts, for His works.

3. Pray that the whole world would be in awe of God: All the earth grasping, enjoying, and exalting the character (name) of God.

4. Set apart God as the supreme desire of your heart: Let your daily mission statement be to exalt God by enjoying God.

 Honor the King: Intercession—“Thy Kingdom Come”

1. Pray for a deepening of God’s rule in your heart: Surrender to God’s governance.

2. Pray for a widening of God’s rule in all people’s hearts: Salvation.

3. Pray for a deepening of God’s rule on planet Earth: Christian living (make a difference).

4. Pray for the soon return of Christ: Second Coming.

5. Pray that you will live for God’s kingdom and not for your own: Total allegiance.

 Radically Commit: Submission/Direction—“Thy Will Be Done”

1. Pray for the right pleasure: That everything you do is motivated by the desire to bring God pleasure.

2. Pray for calm assurance: The understanding that God’s glory and your good are inseparable, that the Father’s will is always good and best.

3. Pray for clear discernment: That you will know God’s will for your personal life, family, church, work, community, country, and world.

4. Pray for radical obedience: That God would grant you the courage to do His will.

5. Pray for supernatural power: That God would empower you to obey His will.

6. Pray with brutal honesty: Share the desires of your heart, any confusion, doubts, and perplexity with your heavenly Father.

7. Pray with other-centered focus: That family, church, community, national, and world leaders would know and do God’s will.

 Invite God-Rescue: Supplication—“Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread”

1. Confess humbly (Give): Acknowledge your spiritual poverty, admitting that without God you are and have nothing. Pray for the faith to believe that all you need is God and what He chooses to provide.

2. Asks unselfishly (Us, Our): Pray for others and for yourself.

3. Request wisely (This Day, Daily): Pray for today’s needs. Trust God for today’s supply. Ask God to give you nothing more and nothing less than exactly what you need and can handle.

4. Entreat practically (Bread): Pray for physical, material, emotional, mental, relational, and spiritual needs. Pray for freedom from worry as you trust God to supply your every need.

 Savor the Savior’s Grace: Confession—“Forgive Us Our Sins As We Forgive Those Who Have Sinned Against Us”

1. Seek enlightenment: Specifically confess known sins and ask God to reveal hidden sins.

2. Repent humbly: Your debt is immeasurable; His grace is infinite.

3. Enjoy forgiveness: Claim Christ’s forgiveness and acceptance. Your slate is wiped clean!

4. Grant forgiveness: Forgive all those who have hurt you/sinned against you physically, emotionally, mentally, relationally, and spiritually.

5. Seek reconciliation: Go to anyone who you have sinned against to restore the relationship.

 Triumph Over Temptation: Petition—“Lead Us Not Into Temptation, But Deliver Us From Evil”

1. Seek protection: Ask God not to allow Satan even to tempt you to sin.

2. Seek boundaries: Ask God to keep you from situations where you are most prone to sin— your besetting sins, areas of vulnerability, temptations, etc.

3. Seek victory: Ask God to defeat sin, the world, the flesh, and the devil in your life.

4. Seek faith: Ask God to help you to trust His awesome power as your only hope for triumph.

 Confidently Trust God: Glorification—“For Thine Is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory Forever, Amen”

1. Trust God (For): Believe that since God is the Almighty, Eternal King that He can answer.

2. Glorify God (Thine): Pray that God will be glorified by your prayers.

Join the Conversation

Share your testimony of how “The Prayer of Jesus” is helping you to talk to God. 

Why Jesus Is Infinitely Better Than Santa Claus

Author Unknown

Technocratic Claim Code: 6T6HCXV4SV3

Source: My good friend and sister in Christ, Krista McKenzie McElwain, sent me this. Many thanks for such a wonderful Christmas gift and Christ-reminder.

Santa lives at the North Pole … JESUS is everywhere.

Santa rides in a sleigh … JESUS rides on the wind and walks on the water.

Santa comes but once a year… JESUS is an ever present help.

Santa fills your stockings with goodies … JESUS supplies all your needs by the riches of His grace.

Santa comes down your chimney uninvited … JESUS stands at your door and knocks, and enters your heart.

You have to wait in line to see Santa … JESUS is as close as the mention of His name.

Santa lets you sit on his lap … JESUS lets you rest in His arms.

Santa doesn’t know your name, all he can say is, “Hi little boy or girl, what’s your name?” … JESUS knew our name before we did. Not only does He know our name, He knows our history and future, and He even knows our hearts and how many hairs are on our heads.

Santa has a belly like a bowl full of jelly … JESUS has a heart full of love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

All Santa can offer is “HO HO HO” … JESUS says, “Cast your cares on me, for I care for you.”

Santa’s little helpers make toys … JESUS makes a new life, mends wounded hearts, repairs broken homes, and builds mansions.

Santa may make you chuckle but … JESUS gives you joy that is your strength.

While Santa puts gifts under your tree … JESUS became our gift and died on the tree, for you & for me.

It’s obvious there is really no comparison.

We need to remember WHO Christmas is all about.

We need to put CHRIST back in Christmas.

Jesus is still the reason for the season.

Yes, JESUS is better, He is even better than Santa Claus—infinitely better!

Join the Conversation: What additional amazing ways is Jesus infinitely greater than Santa? 

Jesus and Santa

Going Rogue: An American Life by Sarah Palin

Book Review by Bob Kellemen

Going Rogue: An American Life

Book Details

*Author: Sarah Palin (with Lynn Vincent)

*Publisher: HarperCollins(2009)

*Category: Autobiography, Politics

*ISBN and Length: 978-0061997877, 413 Pages

Reviewed By: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., LCPC, Author of Soul Physicians, Spiritual Friends, Beyond the Suffering, Sacred Friendships, and God’s Healing for Life’s Losses. Find all of Bob’s book reviews, blogs, books, and free resources at www.rpmministries.org.

Recommended: Going Rogue offers Sarah Palin’s fast-paced, well-written, personal account of her American life from her relative obscurity in Alaska to her meteoric rise as John McCain’s vice-presidential candidate.

Review: Living the American Dream

Reviewing Sarah Palin’s Going Rogue: An American Life must be an American pastime. Within three weeks of publication, Amazon.Com already lists 536 reviews. No surprise, given that as of December 6, 2009, it remains Amazon’s number one best seller, and perhaps the most talked about autobiography since Bill Clinton’s mammoth My Life.

What Others Are Saying

I find many of the reviews, along with the comments and criticisms of the “liberal pundits,” to be almost laughable. Many complain that Going Rogue is “self-serving.” Such a statement is not a book review; it’s a judgment of the motives of the heart. Ironic, isn’t it, that those who claim Sarah Palin is a “judgmental Evangelical” turn around and judge her motives?

Others grumble that Going Rogue is “self-focused” or overly “self-referential.” Pardon me for being a tad slangish, but “Duh!” “Hello!” It is, after all, an autobiography. Read Bill Clinton’s My Life (all 957 pages) and guess what, it’s self-referential. The same is true of Hillary Clinton’s Living History and of Barack Obama’s Dreams from My Father. Yes, by definition, an autobiography offers an individual’s personal slant on their life, perspective, beliefs, and impact.

The Foreshadowing: Living the American Dream

Being a political biography and autobiography “junkie,” I didn’t know what to expect when my copy of Going Rogue arrived. I’ve read autobiographies that creep along at a terminally slow pace. Not so, Going Rogue. Palin’s writing is fast-paced and captivating. (Yes, she has a collaborator, Lynn Vincent, which is common-place in such political autobiographies. However, the fact that Sarah Palin is a college-educated journalism major also likely has much to do with how well-written her autobiography is.)

Palin begins by foreshadowing the rest of the book.

She’s zig-zagging from booth to booth at the 2008 Alaskan state-fair, her four-month-old son, Trig, in her arms, Piper, her seven-year-old daughter her constant companion. Her phone rings and it’s John McCain asking if she “wanted to help him change history.”

From state fair to world politics. From babe-in-arms to fighting for the life of the unborn. From the obscurity of the Alaskan outback to the notoriety of vice-presidential candidate. Hers is “an American life”—where an individual can rise from a working-class home and work her way from city council, to major’s office, to governor of the largest state, to a heartbeat away from the most powerful office in the land.

Her American Life

From there, Palin transports her readers back in time to February 11, 1964, the day she was born in Sandpoint, Idaho. Within three months, her family is moving to the remote frontier town of Skagway, Alaska.

Palin tells the revealing story of her first attempt to fly. Four-years-old, she leaps off the wooden plank sidewalk. Her description is metaphoric for her life.

“I got to thinking: I had seen eagles and dragonflies and ptarmigan fly, but I had never seen a person fly. That didn’t make any sense to me. Hadn’t anyone ever tried it before? Why couldn’t someone just propel herself up into the air and get it done? I stopped and looked up at the summer sky, then down at the dirt road below. Then I simply jumped. I didn’t care who might see me. I wanted to fly more than I worried about what I looked like. My knees took most of the impact, and I scraped them both. ‘Well, that didn’t work,’ I thought. So I got up, dusted myself off, and kept walking.”

That’s the story of Sarah Palin’s life in just over 100 words. Like her or hate her, agree with her or disagree vehemently, Sarah Palin is a flyer. A risk-taker. She’s resilient. As Yukon Cornelius would say, “She’s like a Bumble. Bumbles bounce.”

I enjoyed her first fifty pages perhaps most of all. Her readers learn not only of her upbringing, but of her ancestry, back several generations to well-educated, middle-class, hard-working Americans. We also learn of her husband, Todd’s, background and Yupik Eskimo ancestry. Additionally, we learn of her athletic accomplishments, her working her way through college, her childhood and young adulthood friends, and of her meeting and marrying Todd.

Why the Feminist Hatred?

Palin not only traces her early years, but also outlines her political rise: from city council, to major, to governor, to vice-presidential candidate. Reading these pages, I couldn’t help but ponder, “Why the feminist hatred?”

Let’s be honest. If her political and religious views were liberal, then her back story would be the darling of the feminist world. Born without any silver spoon. Not making it in life and politics because of the help of a well-connected father, or on the coattails of a politically-powerful husband. Working her own way through college. Raising a family and becoming a working mother. Getting involved in local causes. Fighting the old-boys’ network to be elected to the city council, to be elected mayor, and then governor. An athlete. A beautiful woman who never used her physical beauty to gain political clout.

I mean, what’s not to like about her radical womanhood?

No doubt, it’s her conservative values that prompt the feminist hatred.

Painful Reading

Reading about Palin’s rise within Alaskan politics was enjoyable reading. However, once she made the transition to the national scene, I cringed as I turned every page. Not because of poor writing, but because of the documentation of the constant attacks—attacks on her family, on her intellect, on her views and values.

I’m no Sarah Palin apologists. I don’t agree with all her views—whether religious or political. I’m not even claiming she was the most qualified vice-presidential candidate in American history (she certainly was not the least qualified and she had more political and executive experience than many presidential candidates).

It’s just the sheer unfairness of the attacks. Consider just one small, almost ancillary example: her college education. She was mocked by the media because it took her five years to graduate from college. That’s because she worked her way through college and had to take time off to earn enough money to pay her tuition. Sounds rather honorable.

Others mock the schools she attended and the degree she earned. True, she did not attend an elite, Ivy League, Eastern university. Then again, neither did arguably one of America’s most successful Presidents, Ronald Reagan (Eureka College). Perhaps most ironic, those complaining the most about her college education had the identical degree: a bachelor’s degree in journalism.

Of course, that’s pretty trite stuff compared to the way Palin was savaged as a hick, an anti-intellectual, a religious extremist, dangerous, totally unqualified and unfit, etc., etc., etc.

Yes, it was painful to re-live those excruciating months of national “notoriety.”

Then again, it was instructive finally to hear “the rest of the story.” Sure, as an autobiography, you read Sarah Palin’s personal slant and biased perspective. At least her side of the story is finally told.

What About Christ?

Many may be surprised where I do find fault with Going Rouge.

Where is Christ in Going Rogue?

I’m not questioning Sarah Palin’s personal Christian faith in Christ. Nor am I questioning her religious values. Neither am I denigrating her Christian lifestyle. She prays. She depends upon God. She attends church. She loves her husband and family. She lives out her pro-life beliefs. Etc., etc., etc.

I also realize that Going Rogue is primarily a political autobiography, not a religious one. I understand that Palin’s purpose was not to make converts. Still, Sarah Palin is not afraid, throughout Going Rogue, to speak her mind and to share her heart. In fact, she’s not afraid to talk about her relationship to God.

All that said, I ask again, “Where is Christ in Going Rogue?”

My antennae first went up when I read Palin’s two explicit descriptions of what Evangelicals might call “conversion.” The first, on page 22, describes her personal conversion.

“I made the conscious decision that summer to put my life in my Creator’s hands and trust Him as I sought my life’s path.”

The second, on the last page of her book (page 413), involves what some might describe as an “altar call.”

“And I do know there is a God. My life is in His hands. I encourage readers to do what I did many years ago, invite Him in to take over . . . then see what He will do and how He will get you through. Test Him on this. You’ll see there’s no such thing as coincidence. I’m thankful for His majestic creation called Alaska, which has given me my home, and for His touch on America, which has given us all so many opportunities. By His grace, an American life is an extraordinary life.”

What’s missing?

Christ is missing.

Sin is missing. Confession of guilt before a holy God is missing. Salvation is missing.

My antennae alerted, it then dawned on me that I didn’t remember hearing any Christian salvation concepts anywhere in Going Rogue. Perhaps my memory was bad, especially since I wasn’t consciously looking for these concepts in a political autobiography.

So I performed an Amazon “Search Inside” the book.

How many times in her 413 pages does Sarah Palin mention Christ? Zero.

Christian? Zero.

Christianity? Zero.

Salvation? Zero.

Sin? Twice. However, both are said sarcastically about journalistic sins of omission. So, sin? Zero.

Grace? A dozen times. However, not once in the context, or with the meaning of, “saving grace.” So, saving grace? Zero.

Evangelical? Twice. Once about her mother being invited to an Evangelical church, and once about Sarah being called a “book-burning Evangelical extremist.”

Lord? Eleven times. Several in Old Testament quotes. Several in prayers, such as “Dear Lord.” Several in slang, such as, “Dear lord, you call that a good interview?” Never in the Evangelical sense of Christ as Lord.

Church? Eleven times.

God? Forty-two times.

If Palin had never shared her conversion experience (page 22), or never broached the topic of encouraging her readers to do what she did many years ago (page 413), then I would have been a little less concerned. I could say, “It’s a political memoir, that’s why Christ is missing.”

However, having addressed the topic, plus having mentioned God 42 times, and then leaving Christ, sin, and salvation totally out of all 413 pages… I have to ask, “Where is Christ in Going Rogue?” “Why was Christ omitted from Going Rogue?”

What to make of this? Again, I’m not questioning Sarah Palin’s Christian faith or Christian life.

However, I am raising the important question of how she chose to describe her conversion and her Christian faith in her autobiography, where on so many other personal issues she’s so unafraid to speak her mind boldly.

Honestly, it’s scary. Scary because it’s illustrative of our post-modern conception of religious faith.

It’s religion lite. It’s conversion without Christ. It’s salvation without the cross. It’s redemption without sin and guilt.

It’s “AA Faith”: putting our hands in the hands of an anonymous, generic “Higher Power.”

If the “Religious Right” is behind Sarah Palin, it had better not be because of her depiction of salvation from sin by grace through faith in Christ alone. At least not on the basis of 413 pages of autobiographical narrative where she mentions Christ zero times, where she never once mentions sin and salvation from sin.

Yes, unfortunately, it is a typical American life. We pray to God in the hard times. We mention God. But we eschew explicit dependence upon Christ as our only Savior from sin by grace through faith.

A Political Autobiography

As a political autobiography, Going Rogue: An American Life is an excellent read. If you want Sarah Palin’s defense of Sarah Palin’s political life (which is what every political autobiography offers), and you want it in a tell-all, fast-paced, well-crafted book, then do what 2.5 million people have done already—buy Going Rogue.

However, if you want a personal autobiography (of someone who claims to be a spokesperson for the Evangelical Right) that at least provides a snippet of content about conversion to Christ from sin by faith—then Going Rogue will disappoint. Going Rogue, while it is a defense of Sarah Palin’s life and politics, is not a defense of Christ’s saving life, death, burial, and resurrection for our sin. Which, in my conviction, is not only America’s only hope, but the only hope of the world.