Daily Focus
Personal Prayer:
Lord, thank You for Your life giving Word. Thank You that Your Word holds all the answers. Help me to separate my ideas and thoughts from the worlds'. Help me to adapt and submit my life, thoughts, and feelings to what Your Word says, Help me to develop the fruit of self-control by living an obedient, submitted, and consecrated life. Thank You for Your Son and the living example that He lived. Thank You. . . Thank You. . . Praise You! In Jesus' Mighty Name, Amen!
I choose Longsuffering. . . I am a spiritual being. . .After this body is dead, my spirit will soar. I refuse to let what will not, rule the eternal. I choose self-control. I will be drunk only by joy. I will be impassioned only by my faith. I will be influenced only by God. I will be taught only by Christ. I choose self-control.
Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance. To these I commit my day. If I succeed, I will give thanks. If I fail, I will seek his grace. And then, when this day is done, I will place my head on my pillow and rest.
Read: Galatians 5:22-25
22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. (NRSV)
This week's scripture is coming from the New Revised Standard Version.
Bible Study "The Fruit of the Spirit"
[By Glenn Pease]
Week # 9 (Fruit of Temperance)
Date (4/15/14)
9. THE FRUIT OF TEMPERANCE: SELF-CONTROL
One of the things that made Lincoln so great was his marvelous self-control. The nation was coming apart at the seams with a civil war that had everybody's emotions operating at extremes. To add to the tension, some army contractors were ripping off the government. This made Lincoln very angry. Seward, his Secretary of State wrote a scathing letter to a thieving contractor, and showed it to Lincoln. "Not half strong enough" said Lincoln. Seward was delighted. He wrote another letter that scorched the paper. "There" said the president, "that serves him right!" "Very well, Mr. President, I'll mail it at once", said Seward. "Oh no", said Lincoln, "don't mail it, throw it into the waste basket." Lincoln knew he could not afford to alienate any more people if he was going to win the war. So he controlled his desire to blast those taking advantage of the situation for personal gain. If Lincoln would have sent all the nasty letters he wrote, he probably would have lost the war. His self-control is, in great measure, the cause of why we are a free nation. It is not enough that Lincoln was a good man, for had he not been a self-controlled man, all his goodness could have been in vain.
This last fruit of the Spirit is not at the end, as a sign that it is the least important of the nine. It is,
in fact, essential to keep all the others from being perverted. Every virtue can become a negative
thing if it is not controlled. Even love needs the balance that comes with self-control. Christians are
to love members of the opposite sex in Christ. This caring, loving spirit, however, can cross the line
and lead to love, not just in the spirit, but in the flesh. The number of Christians who have crossed
that line by lack of self-control are legion. It is the fruit of self-control that tells a believer when they
are getting out of balance, and letting the flesh be their guide rather than the Spirit of God.
If love can go bad because of lack of self-control, then so can all the other fruits. Joy out of
control can lead to extremes of wildness that are pagan. Peace and patience can be so extreme that it
leads to lethargy and indifference to a hurting world. Kindness can lead one to be so sugary sweet
that people gag on it, and avoid it as being superficial. You find this once in awhile in a waiter or
waitress, who you know is going overboard in sweet talk, hoping for a greater tip.
The point is, everything good can become bad if it goes to excess. The Mississippi River is one
of the best assets of our nation, but when it overflows we have the worst floods in the nation, and it is
a curse. It is a good thing out of control, and a good thing out of control is a bad thing. That is why
self-control is the key to keeping all of these fruits of the Spirit from going bad. They never rot and
go bad as long as they are linked to self-control. The movie Jurassic Park is based on this theme. It was an awesome world of great wonder until the control system was lost-then it became a nightmare. The Christian life can be a world of wondrous beauty, but then it can turn ugly if self-control is lost. History is filled with examples of the beautiful Bride of Christ becoming an ugly hag because she lost self-control. There have been periods of history when the fruit of the Spirit dried up, and the church looked more like the bride of Frankinstein. Great have been the numbers who have fallen because of lack of control of their sex drive. But many more have become ugly by the loss of control of their tongue. James 3:6 says, "the tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the
whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell." All of us carry a portion of hell fire
around in our mouth, and if we lose control of it we can be as destructive as a fire-breathing dragon
spewing out flames of gossip and slander that turn reputations to ashes in seconds.
We need to realize there are enemies ever banging at the gates of our lives, but they have little
power unless we throw them the key by loss of self-control. This last fruit is no mere caboose that
can be taken off the train with no ill effects. This final fruit is vital to keeping the whole train on the
tracks. It keeps all the other fruits fresh and appealing to both God and man.
Self-control is the inner strength that determines what external stimuli will be allowed to move
you to action. The reason Christians are motivated by external stimuli to do things out of God's will
is because they lack this fruit of the Spirit. We all know the story of David and Bathsheba. David allowed the sight of her bathing to invade his inner life and take over the control of his actions. His
plan that evening was not to disobey the will of God, but he lost control, and let his future be
planned by other forces. In this tragic story of lack of self-control is another man who illustrates perfect self-control. It was Uriah the Hittite, the husband of Bathsheba. David brought him home from the battle front to sleep with his wife, so he would think the child was his own. But Uriah was one in ten thousand,
and he refused to sleep with his wife when other soldiers were out risking their lives. David even got
him drunk, but he would not change. He was so self-disciplined David could not manipulate him by
any external stimuli. David had him murdered to get him out of the way. Uriah was a man of such
self-control he could not even be tempted by legitimate enticement to pleasure if he thought it was
more noble to refrain. Here was a soldier who was superior to his king in self-discipline. The king let
the enemy in, and he betrayed his God, his people and himself. Here was a soldier who would be
faithful to his commitments even if it meant self-denial of legitimate pleasure. He, not David, is our
example when it comes to self-control. All Christians fight some battles in this area of self-control. John Timmerman in his book, The Way Of Christian Living, tells of his pathetic battle with smoking. It is a battle thousands fight, and they lose, because they lost self-control. Like many others, he quit over and over again, but soon he would lose control and be back at it. He writes, "And believe me, I have tried every technique. I have a medical journal with full-color pictures of diseased organs! I have a drawer crammed with motivational literature, stop-smoking pills, nicotine chewing gum, and other things. It's laughable; it's sad. Is it beyond my control? I'll keep fighting until I find out. I would like to tell a happy story here of how I was able to give it all up and praise the Lord. But I can't tell that story. Yet. The sad fact of fallen nature is that self-control is a ceaseless battle, and we are not always victors. Perhaps we can't defeat the problem entirely, but we can fight to control it. This one thing is certain: if I had not started, I wouldn't have this trouble stopping." That last sentence is the key. If he had not lost self-control in the beginning he would not be fighting so hard to regain control of his life and habits. The purpose of self-control is prevention. Ifwe prevent the enemy from getting a foothold in our life, we are free and in control of our actions. It is easier to keep a bad habit from starting that to stop it once it gains control of your life. It is the job of self-control to keep enemies out of your life. Let this fruit get weak, and you are fair game for the enemy of your soul. Self-control is what keeps the mind ever alert for the infiltration of enemy forces. A self-controlled person is one who does a lot of self-examination. They do not just drift and respond to whatever comes along. They listen to their body, and if they feel a strong attraction to another person, who is not their mate, they do not add fuel to the fire and quench the Spirit, but, rather, they add the fire of the Spirit and quench the flame of lust. They fight fire with fire. They are honest
about their lust and are determined to control it within the bounds of God's will. Those who lose
control and disobey God, often do so because they are not honest about their potential for sin and
folly. The Christian who says I know I can fall is the one most likely to avoid a fall. The one who
pretends temptation is no problem is the one at high risk. Self-control demands that we be honest
about our weaknesses, and admit them before we face temptation. Almost every failure to be Christ like can be traced to a lack of self-control, but, on the other hand, almost every success at being Christ like can be attributed to the power of self-control. When Jackie Robinson was signed up as the first black man to play in the major leagues, he was warned by Branch Rickey that he would be persecuted. What will you do, asked Rickey, when someone without provocation hauls off and hits you in the face? Jackie said, "I have another cheek-isn't that right Mr. Rickey?" That was how he won over all the opposition. Had he lost his temper he would have lost his place in history. By self-control he not only won for himself, but he won for all blacks who followed him. The only way he, or anyone else, can obey the Sermon on The Mount, is by the power of self-control. Harold Kushner, America's most famous Rabbi, tells us why the Jews abstain from food, drink, and sex on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The primary reason he says is to demonstrate man's capacity to control his natural instincts. It is natural to eat, drink, and have sex, when you feel the hunger for these things. But those who want to obey God recognize that God's will often goes against the grain of those natural feelings. God said do not eat of the forbidden fruit, but when Eve saw how delightful it was, and good for eating, she let her appetite and desire rise above her loyalty
to God, and that was the origin of sin. Sin is primarily a loss of self-control. It is letting the desires of
the body take precedence over the will of God. The Jews, therefore, practice abstaining to show man has been given the power of self-control. He can choose to obey God, and deny the body. The image of God is seen in man's ability to control his instincts. Animals do not have this ability to choose voluntarily not to respond to their instincts. Pagans practiced giving in to the natural instincts-just go with the flow-if it feels good do it. This has become popular again in our modern world. The Bible teaches that man is no mere animal. He is made in the image of God, and he can control his instincts. Was it natural for David to have lust for Bathsheba? Yes it was, and it would be the response of the vast majority of men. But millions of men would resist that response and remain faithful to their mates. Why? Because they have the power ot choose not to be controlled by their instincts, but to be in control of them. If there was no choice, there would be no sin. But what David did was a sin because he had a choice. What Kushner is saying is valid for Christians as well as Jews. We need to discipline our bodies and not let them control our behavior. But this natural self-control often fails us in times of strong temptation. We need the fruit of the Spirit self-control to be victorious at such times. One of the greatest victories of life is to be in charge of your own life. That is true freedom. If we consistently do things that we do not like, we are slaves to our own habits and desires. Self-slavery is the opposite of self-control. Gary Warnar, writing in the Christian Herald, tells of victory over himself as a fencer and racket ball player. He was so competitive that he wanted to knock the lights out of the opponent who would beat him. He could not accept defeat, but would always demand a rematch to get even. He was a slave to his compulsion to win. You would think this would be a virtue, but when it controls you, as it did him, it is a vice. His testimony is not that he learned to love losing, but that he no longer had to win. He could accept defeat, and still enjoy the game. His self-esteem did not depend upon winning. He was free because he was in control of his emotions, and not at their mercy. Self-control is the ability to deny yourself what it desires, if that desire is not consistent with what you know to be the will of God. Since the desires of the flesh can often cloud our thinking, we can't depend upon natural self-control. We need the fruit of the Spirit self-control to be assured of victory.
The founders of our nation knew that self-control was the key to freedom. They built checks and
balances into the government, so no branch of the government could get full control and lead us
back into a dictatorship. Slavery of one sort or another is always the consequence when self-control
is lost. The battle may be with chocolate, ice cream, power, sex, or any number of desires that can
run wild, and like an uncontrolled river, flood your life and destroy all the balances of the past. This
happens to Christians who depend too much on their own natural self-control. The natural parallels of the fruits of the Spirit, that are valued by all men, are also valued by Christians. But the natural man is fallen, and so even his virtues are corrupted and inadequate for the pressures of this fallen world. The Christian, to be superior to the natural man, must have the fruit of the Spirit. It is a case where the good is not good enough. You need the best to be a truly successful Christian. This study of the fruits has made it clear why Christians fail so often to be Christ like. They are not open to be led by that same Spirit that led Him. Trying to live the Christian life without the fruits of the Spirit is like trying a make a cake while leaving the flour and sugar out. Some ingredients may not be missed, but others are essential. The fruits of the Spirit are essential to the effective Christian life. In her book, Divine Discipline, Dr. Rhonda Kelly, who works with autistic children, uses the movie Rainman, to make her point. Dustin Hoffman plays a role of an autistic adult. He had an inflexible daily schedule, which included watching his favorite T.V. program at exactly 5:00 P.M. He had to do it. Traveling with his brother, he demanded they stop at the house of a stranger to watch his program. He was a slave to his schedule. Dr. Kelly says she sees this in all kinds of people who have inappropriate social behavior, and she sees it a lot in Christian people who are still slaves to old ways of thinking, and old habits. She knows what this slavery is all about, for she was a slave to food and to clothing. This made her a compulsive shopper. By the grace of God she gained self-control, and she wrote her nearly 200 page book to tell Christians this truth--the key to freedom is the fruit of the Spirit, self-control. Clearly, this last, but not least of the fruits, is vital to our success as Christians. May God motivate us to be willing soil in which the Holy Spirit can grow all nine of these precious Fruit.
Extra: Temperance
I choose Longsuffering. . . I am a spiritual being. . .After this body is dead, my spirit will soar. I refuse to let what will not, rule the eternal. I choose self-control. I will be drunk only by joy. I will be impassioned only by my faith. I will be influenced only by God. I will be taught only by Christ. I choose self-control.
Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance. To these I commit my day. If I succeed, I will give thanks. If I fail, I will seek his grace. And then, when this day is done, I will place my head on my pillow and rest.
Read: Galatians 5:22-25
"22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit." (NRSV)
Reading Scriptures:
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
2 Timothy 3:1-4
2 Peter 1:5-8
Reflection Questions: Self-control
Personal Prayer:
Lord, thank You for Your life giving Word. Thank You that Your Word holds all the answers. Help me to separate my ideas and thoughts from the worlds'. Help me to adapt and submit my life, thoughts, and feelings to what Your Word says, Help me to develop the fruit of self-control by living an obedient, submitted, and consecrated life. Thank You for Your Son and the living example that He lived. Thank You. . . Thank You. . . Praise You! In Jesus' Mighty Name, Amen!
Ending Scripture: Isaiah 55:11
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
INTRODUCTION:
"THE SEVEN LAST SAYINGS"
Jesus Christ made seven final statements during his last hours on the cross. These phrases are held dear by followers of Christ because they offer a glimpse into the depth of his suffering to accomplish redemption. Recorded in the Gospels between the time of his crucifixion and his death, they reveal his divinity as well as his humanity.
One by one they questioned, "I'm not the one, am I, Lord?" Jesus explained that even though he knew he would die as the Scriptures foretold, his betrayer's fate would be terrible: "Far better for him if he had never been born!"
Then Jesus took the bread and the wine and asked his Father to bless it. He broke the bread into pieces, giving it to his disciples and said, "This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
And then he took the cup of wine, sharing it with his disciples and said, "This wine is the token of God's new covenant to save you--an agreement sealed with the blood I will pour out for you. He told all of them, "I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom." Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.
• Typically wine is served four times during the Passover meal. According to Jewish tradition, the four cups represent four expressions of redemption. The first cup is called the cup of sanctification; the second is the cup of judgment; the third is the cup of redemption; and the fourth is the cup of the kingdom.
• These verses surrounding the Last Supper form the biblical basis for the practice of Communion.
• There are 3 main Christian views regarding the blood and the wine during the practice of Communion:
-The bread and the wine become the actual body and blood of Christ.
- The bread and the wine are unchanged elements, but Christ's presence by faith is made spiritually real in and through them.
- The bread and the wine are unchanged elements, used as symbols, representing Christ's body and blood, in remembrance of his enduring sacrifice.
• Judas had already determined that he would betray Jesus, yet still he shared in the communion of the Passover meal.
1. In the Garden of Gethsemane
(Matthew 26:36-46; Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:39-45)
At the foot of the Mount of Olives stands the Garden of Gethsemane. Filled with olive trees, the Garden of Gethsemane is where Jesus spent his last hours praying to his Father, just before the Roman soldiers arrested him. Pleading with the Father for a "Plan B," he humbly submitted to his Father's will, preparing for the cross, as his disciples fell asleep when he needed them to help him pray.
Matthew 26:39
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."(NIV)
2. Jesus is Betrayed and Arrested
(Matthew 26:47-56; Mark 14:43-52; Luke 22:47-53; John 18:1-11)
When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 46 "Why are you sleeping?" he asked them. "Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation."
The last two verses conclude the section on the Garden of Gethsemane and lead us right to the point of our Lord's arrest. In verse 47, Luke will go on to tell us that it was as Jesus was saying these words (of verses 45-46) that Judas and the arresting party arrived on the scene. In a general description of the disciples as a whole, Luke informs us that when Jesus returned to the place where His disciples were to be "watching and praying" He found them asleep. Luke alone tells us that their sleep was induced by sorrow. This was not merely physical fatigue, or the lateness of the hour, nor apathy. The disciples, I believe (cf. "The spirit is willing, but the body is weak," Mark 14:38) wanted desperately to stay awake and to "keep watch" with Him, but could not. Their sorrow, perhaps somewhat vaguely understood or recognized by them, was too much for them.
The human weakness of the disciples did not totally excuse the disciples, however, and thus the final rebuke of the Savior in verse 46. They were urged, one final time, to awaken, to arise, and to pray, so that they would not fall into temptation. There was no more time, however, for Judas had now arrived, along with a group that was heavily armed, coming on Jesus as though He were a dangerous criminal, a robber, perhaps.
This passage may be short, but it is weighty indeed. I find myself emotionally worn down just in the reading of it. Let us consider some of the implications and applications of our text as we conclude.
First, the suffering of Jesus was not only his humanity struggling with the physical agonies of the cross, but Jesus' deity and humanity inseparably coming to grips with the awesome agony of Calvary. It is not Jesus' humanity which dominates this text, but the disciples' humanity. It is His deity and humanity, dying for man, that is in focus. It is supernatural suffering that is in view here.
Second, the measure of Christ's agony in Gethsemane is the measure of man's sinfulness and of its disastrous and painful consequences. We read the words, "the wages of sin is death," but these words take on a vastly deeper and more personal meaning in the light of Gethsemane.
Third, the measure of Christ's agony in Gethsemane is the measure of the suffering which Christ endured in bearing the wrath of God toward sinners at Calvary.98 The immensity of Christ's agony in the Garden of Gethsemane is in direct proportion to the agony which unsaved men and women will face in hell, when they drink of the "cup" of God's wrath. The doctrine of propitiation focuses on this area, stressing the fact that Jesus bore the wrath of God on the cross, satisfying His righteous anger, so that men might have peace with God.
Fourth, the measure of Christ's agony at Gethsemane is the measure of the love of God for sinners, which caused Him to die that we might live. The songwriter put it well when he wrote, "What wondrous love is this … ?" It is, indeed, amazing love which caused the Son of God to voluntarily pursue the path of pain which led to the cross. If you are troubled by the thought of an angry God and of hell, do not forget that this same God bore His own wrath for sinners. Those who will suffer the torment of hell will do so only because they have chosen to reject the love of God which brought about salvation on the cross for all who would receive it.
Fifth, this text makes it clear that what Jesus did for the salvation of men, He did alone. The disciples did not understand what Jesus was doing. They tried to resist it when it began to take place, by drawing the sword. They did not watch and pray with the Savior. They did not bear Him up in His hour of grief. Jesus suffered and died alone, unaided by men, even the closest of His followers. What Christ did, He did in spite of men, not because of them.
Sixth, the suffering of our Lord is the test, the standard, for all suffering. Let those who think they have suffered for God place their suffering alongside His, as described here. The writer to the Hebrews reminded his readers that they had not yet suffered to the shedding of blood (Hebrews 12:4). But whose suffering will ever begin to approximate His? The best that we can do in our suffering is to gain some sense of fellowship with Christ and His suffering, some minutely small sense of what He underwent for us (cf. Philippians 3:10). His suffering should surely silence our complaints of giving up much for Him.
Finally, we are reminded of the tremendous power of prayer. Prayer, in this text, did not deliver our Lord from suffering, but it did deliver Him through it. So often we pray that God might get us out of adversity, rather than through it. Prayer is one of God's primary provisions for our endurance and perseverance! His words to His disciples apply to us as well: "Pray that you will not fall into temptation."
The Religious Leaders Condemn Jesus
(Matthew 27:1-2; Mark 15:1; Luke 22:66-71)
"The chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask for Barabbas, and destroy Jesus."
I believe God allowed for an interruption from Pilate's wife (v. 19), which gave the Jewish leaders time to stir up the crowd against Jesus. Remember, it was the plan of God that Jesus die. Pilate's plan might have worked, but the people were convinced by the leaders because they were fickle. Four days had passed since Jesus came into town, and He had not performed any miracles or overthrown the Romans. Since both Pilate and Herod had found no fault in Him, the crowd might have concluded that anyone who Pilate said was not a threat was certainly no Messiah. They believed the Messiah would come to overthrow Rome, but here Rome saying Jesus had no fault. Could anyone Pilate approved of be their Messiah? The leaders used whatever leverage they could gain as they moved through the crowd. Mark 15:11 says, "The chief priests stirred up the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them." They wanted to destroy Jesus. By the time Pilate's attention was turned back to the people, he had a worse problem because the crowd and the leaders had become one. God's will be done. Jesus said, "I give up my life, no one take it!"
6 a.m.
7 a.m.
a) Jesus Returned to Pilate
(Luke 23:11)
b) Jesus is Sentenced to Death
(Matthew 27:26; Mark 15:15; Luke 23:23-24; John 19:16)
8 a.m.
a) Jesus is Led Away to Calvary
(Matthew 27:32-34; Mark 15:21-24; Luke 23:26-31; John 19:16-17)
9 a.m. - "The Third Hour"
a) Jesus is Crucified on the Cross
Mark 15: 25 - It was the third hour when they crucified him. (NIV). The third hour in Jewish time would have been 9 a.m.
Luke 23:34 - Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (NIV)
10 a.m. The Soldiers Cast Lots for Jesus' Clothing (Mark 15:24)
11 a.m.
a) Jesus is Insulted and Mocked
Matthew 27:39-40 - And the people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in
Mark 15:31 - The leading priests and teachers of religious law also mocked Jesus. "He saved others," they scoffed, "but he can't save himself!" (NLT)
Luke 23:36-37 - The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink of sour wine. They called out to him, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" (NLT)
Luke 23:39 - One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"(NIV)
11 a.m.
Luke 23:40-43 - But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."
Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." (NIV)
John 19:26-27 - When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, "Woman, he is your son." And he said to this disciple, "She is your mother." And from then on this disciple took her into his home.(NLT)
Noon - "The Sixth Hour"
Mark 15:33 - At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.(NLT)
1 p.m.
Matthew 27:46 - And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (NKJV)
John 19:28-29 - Jesus knew that everything was now finished, and to fulfill the Scriptures he said, "I am thirst." A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. (NLT)
2 p.m.
John 19:30a - When Jesus had tasted it, he said, "It is finished!"(NLT)
Luke 23:46 - Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last. (NIV)
3 p.m. - "The Ninth Hour"
Events Following Jesus' Death
Matthew 27:51-52 - At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. (NIV)
