REVIVALTALK

  Exodus 12:19 – “For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses…” Several years ago I met this gentlemen who lived alone.  He had been married, but had lost his wife to illness.  He was blessed with several sisters who loved and cared for him.  They would come and clean his house each week, but several times a year they would come and give the house a good spring-cleaning.             What is spring-cleaning?  It is cleaning the house from top to bottom.  It usually occurs when the season changes and the weather gets warmer.  One thought is that it originated with the Jewish people when they would give their homes a thorough cleaning leading up to Passover.   In the days before Passover the family will clean the house and remove any leaven (a substance like yeast or baking powder).  In Exodus chapters 12 and 13 Moses instructed the peo...

  Jesus Passion Week – Monday Matthew 21:12-16       On Monday of His passion week, Jesus entered into the Temple at Jerusalem.  The Jewish Temple was very important in the life of the Jewish believer.  It was the center of their worship.  The Jewish male was required to come to the Temple at least three times a year to worship, offer sacrifices, and to celebrate the different feasts the Lord had given to them in the Law of Moses.      This event is recorded in three of the four Gospels.  We learn that He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold doves.  The outer court of the Temple had become a place of merchandising.  The merchants were profiting from God’s people at the expense of their worship.       Notice Jesus words, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”  The reference to “den of thieves,” has to d...

   Outside the old city walls of Jerusalem in an Arab neighborhood is a place called, “Gordon’s Calvary,” or the “Garden Tomb.” It is surrounded by an Arab Bus Station and on the top of the sight believed to be Golgotha, the Place of the Skull, there is a Muslim cemetery.   Outside the walls of this serene place is all kinds of activity. People are consumed with their everyday life. Like any other city in the world, the   people are trying to survive. When we made our journey to what is believed to be the place where Jesus died, was buried, and rose from the dead, there were several things that captured my attention. There were a number of birds that were singing. There were many signs of life in the garden. I experienced such peace as we spent time in prayer and communion with our guides.    Perhaps those who live in the surrounding neighborhoods only see this place as another tourist stop, but for me it was a place of refuge and rest. It was a place to be...