{"id":25533,"date":"2019-04-21T03:30:54","date_gmt":"2019-04-21T10:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/?p=25533"},"modified":"2019-04-19T09:51:18","modified_gmt":"2019-04-19T16:51:18","slug":"april-21-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2019\/04\/21\/april-21-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"April 21, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cNow when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>Acts 13:29-30<\/p>\n

But God!<\/strong><\/h2>\n

If only<\/em>\u2026 my kids would walk with God.<\/p>\n

If only<\/em>\u2026 I had enough money to not have to go to work every day.<\/p>\n

If only<\/em>\u2026 my health was better, my knees were stronger, my skin was less wrinkled, my car was newer, and the weeds would pull themselves.<\/p>\n

If only<\/em>\u2026 Adam never sinned, and no one else ever sinned, and God didn\u2019t need to send a Savior.<\/p>\n

If only<\/em>\u2026 the Jews in Jerusalem did not cry out for Jesus to be crucified, and their rulers did not hang Him on a tree until He died, then take Him down and hurriedly bury Him so they could go home to celebrate the feast commemorating God\u2019s protection of His people.<\/p>\n

But God…<\/strong><\/p>\n

But God raised Him from the dead!<\/p>\n

God\u2019s plan cannot be stopped.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He is not bound,<\/em><\/p>\n

contained,<\/em><\/p>\n

or limited by man\u2019s actions,<\/em><\/p>\n

emotions,<\/em><\/p>\n

beliefs,<\/em><\/p>\n

or failures (no, not even mine.)<\/em><\/p>\n

He works in<\/strong><\/p>\n

and through<\/em><\/p>\n

and in spite of everything we do, or fail to do.<\/em><\/p>\n

In perfect wisdom, He knows just what to do in any circumstance we create,<\/strong><\/p>\n

whether we do it knowingly, or in ignorance, or by omission.<\/em><\/p>\n

He sees right through us,<\/strong><\/p>\n

right through our excuses, our ill-conceived notions, and our discontented \u201cif onlys\u201d just as He saw through the \u201cif onlys\u201d of His people\u2014if only the Son of God had come riding on a white horse, if only He had squashed Rome, if only He had set up an earthly kingdom.<\/em><\/p>\n

The enemy of God did not, could not, defeat or prevent the plan of God.<\/p>\n

Likewise, though they did not know they were cooperating with the enemy of their very souls, the unbelievers did not, could not, defeat or prevent the plan of God. They killed His Son, but they couldn\u2019t keep Him dead. God raised Him out of the grave, <\/em>just as He will raise us out of our graves.<\/p>\n

He is worthy of our heart-swelling songs, our overflowing tears of repentance, and our loudest shouts of praise. Hosanna!<\/p>\n

\u201cOh Father, we are filled with thankfulness on this Resurrection Day that the completion of Your plan doesn\u2019t depend on us! It pleases You to do it all. We know that You can<\/strong>, and we can\u2019t<\/strong>. We are filled with joy! We pray in the Name of our mighty Savior whom You raised from the dead. Amen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

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