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Ep 11 :: The Simple Gospel
45 Plays1 month ago
Today, on this GOOD Friday, Megan takes a moment to slow down and share the Gospel Message, or "Good News", of Jesus Christ. If you've never heard "the simple Gospel", the reason Jesus came to this earth, this is for you. Have you trusted in Him as your personal Lord and Savior? Today is the day of salvation, scripture tells us. Don't delay friend, as we are not guaranteed the next breath, and your eternal destination depends on it.
If you made that decision today, contact Megan, as she would love to send you a Bible if you don't already have one.
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Music:
The Success by Keys of Moon
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Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
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Transcript
00:00:01
Speaker
Hi friends, welcome to Diggin' I'm your host, Megan. This is a place where we discuss the things that really matter in life. We cut through the surface to dive deeper. So pull up a chair because here we're Diggin' In.
00:00:17
Speaker
Welcome, welcome to the Diggin' In podcast. I am so excited to share today.
Good Friday and its Significance
00:00:22
Speaker
This episode is coming out on Good Friday. So what in the world is Good Friday?
00:00:29
Speaker
Why is it good? Well, that would require that we back up a little bit and talk first about Palm Sunday and kind of go through what is often called Passion Week or Holy Week.
00:00:41
Speaker
So Palm Sunday was last Sunday, and that is when Jesus came in in the triumphal entry, the Sunday before Jesus was crucified. So in Matthew 21, verses 2 and 3, Jesus told his disciples to go into the village over there. He said, "'As soon as you enter it, you will see a donkey tied there with its c colt beside it.
00:01:04
Speaker
Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, "'The Lord needs them.'" And he will immediately let you take them. So this is a fulfillment of Zechariah 9.9. And I just love that like he literally knew exactly how this was all going to go down. So then um they did as Jesus told them. and in Matthew 21, it continues to say,
00:01:29
Speaker
They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set him, meaning Jesus, on them. And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road. Others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
00:01:44
Speaker
Then the multitude who went before and those who followed cried out, saying, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
00:01:56
Speaker
Hosanna in the highest. So what does Hosanna even mean? Well, some have thought that it is a declaration of praise similar to hallelujah, but it actually is not. It literally, Hosanna means, i beg you to save or please deliver us.
00:02:15
Speaker
So this multitude that Matthew 21 speaks of are all around him, crowded around, going before him and behind him, waving these palm branches in the sky and laying them down before him, laying their their clothes, their their jackets, their coats, their down before him on the road as if it were this you know red carpet of sorts, if you will. And they're all shouting, Hosanna.
00:02:39
Speaker
So that's literally, he's riding in on this little baby donkey, a colt. And they're saying to him, i beg you to save or deliver us. And they're all singing it and saying it aloud.
00:02:53
Speaker
Can you even imagine the scene before them? It's just amazing to even try and picture what's happening.
Symbolic Acts Leading to Crucifixion
00:03:01
Speaker
So then he spends the week in and around Jerusalem continuing to preach and teach and be with his disciples. um This is when he famously flips the table in the temple. All that kind of stuff happens in this week. So then we come to Wednesday, and this is when Judas, one of his disciples, betrays him. He decided that he was going to turn them over to the Jewish leaders.
00:03:24
Speaker
This was also when Mary, the sister to Martha and Lazarus, anointed Jesus with the alabaster jar of spikenard. And I started looking into that, and it's just there's so many layers of all the things. And you should know and go back and perhaps we'll do that another time. Dig through all the things that happen in Passion Week, but there's just so many layers of prophecy that are happening in and through that week.
00:03:50
Speaker
um But the spikenard, there's so much meaning behind it. But basically, suffice us to say, it was an extremely expensive oil and perme perfume. And so Mary, this woman, comes when he's at table with his disciples, and Alabaster was a very... um fragile material and it was used to make these perfume bottles and other things. It was sometimes used as glassware too for drinking, but it was very fragile. And so you had to break it in order to use it, which also got me to thinking about like the different symbolism for Easter. And, you know, we do Easter egg hunts and, you know, there's bunnies and all these things, but the egg in particular, I was just thinking about it. I'm like, how did this come? I did a little bit of research and it
00:04:41
Speaker
It does come from Christian um foundation. But i was just thinking about the symbolism of an egg, you know, and how you have to break it to use it and how Jesus is that. He had to be broken in order to be used for our salvation. um So Mary brings this.
00:05:01
Speaker
very expensive perfume, and she breaks the alabaster jar or box, and she pours it over him and anoints him. And he acknowledges what she's doing by even saying that she is anointing me for my burial. So in Matthew 26, 13, he says, Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will be told as a memorial to her. Isn't that just an incredible statement by Jesus? He's acknowledging what she's done, which was a sacrifice in and of itself. But then he says that it'll be a memorial to her. And I just thought, what an incredibly beautiful example of how we are to live our lives as just a poured out offering sacrificially, you know, at at whatever cost it may be. We are to live poured out, for Jesus as our lives are a living sacrifice, as it says in Romans 12.
Maundy Thursday and the Last Supper
00:05:59
Speaker
So then we come to Thursday, and often this is referred to as Maundy Thursday. It's when Jesus and his disciples shared the Passover meal and where he washed their feet. This is when he acknowledged that his betrayer was among them. He was sitting at the table among them. And then again, there's so many layers to this, but that just goes into the Jewish culture at the time to fellowship around a table and to share a meal together was extremely intimate. And so the fact that Jesus is acknowledging amongst the 12 disciples that are sitting there, one of them was going to betray him. And what an intimate betrayal that was because they were sharing this meal.
00:06:41
Speaker
And not only was it a meal, it was a meal of Passover, of remembrance of what God had done before. um And they they celebrated this every year. And so Just what an incredibly intimate place um to be betrayed. So it says in John 13, 25 through 30, "'Lord, who is it?' the disciples are asking. "'Jesus answered, "'It is He to whom I shall give a piece of bread "'when I have dipped it.'" And then having dipped the bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.
00:07:13
Speaker
Now after the piece of bread, Satan entered him. Then Jesus said to him, what you do, do quickly. But no one at the table knew for what reason he had said this to him. For some thought, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus had said to him, buy those things that we need for the feast, or that he should give something to the poor.
00:07:35
Speaker
Having received this piece of bread... he then went out immediately so jesus continues to encourage his disciples and he knew what was coming he warned them that the world at first hated him and that they too would have trouble but once he left he was sending the holy spirit to be with them wherever they go so they then go to the garden of gethsemane after the passover supper And this is at the foot of the Mount of Olives, which again, so many layers, but Gethsemane literally means oil press.
00:08:12
Speaker
And so that was symbolic to me in the sense that he, Jesus, was literally going to be pressed so excruciatingly as he prayed to the Father.
00:08:23
Speaker
Jesus would spend the night praying in agony in anticipation of what was to come. He was in so much turmoil that in the Gospel of Luke, it says that his sweat was as great drops of blood falling to the ground.
00:08:37
Speaker
After that, he was arrested. There was a sham trial that took place, and in the cover of night, Jesus was then crucified on Friday.
Good Friday: Jesus' Sacrificial Death
00:08:45
Speaker
So why is it good Friday? Well, Jesus had to die.
00:08:50
Speaker
He was the perfect and spotless Lamb of God who came to take on the sin of the whole world in order for us to make a way back into the presence of God.
00:09:01
Speaker
Because God loved us so much, he sent his son. Romans 8 tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All meaning everyone. No matter what you have or haven't done, we all fall into the same category. Romans 6.23 then tells us that the wages of sin is death.
00:09:24
Speaker
which is what we all deserve. It's literally the only thing that we deserve. But praise God. Romans 5 goes on to say that God demonstrated his love for us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
00:09:38
Speaker
That means that we don't have to clean ourselves up in order to approach the throne of grace. Hallelujah. That is called sanctification, and it's the process we go through once we have accepted Jesus Christ as our own personal Lord
Salvation Through Faith and Confession
00:09:52
Speaker
and Savior.
00:09:54
Speaker
but each one of us must make that decision for ourselves. The second part of Romans 6.23, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. So Romans 10 tells us that if we confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, that we will be saved. That's it.
00:10:16
Speaker
It's so simple, but it does take humility. And ultimately, God knows your heart. He created you and each of us from nothing. In Psalm 139, it tells us that He knit us together in our mother's wombs and that He knows our every thought.
00:10:34
Speaker
In the end, every knee will bow. In Revelation 5.13, John is speaking of what is to come, and he says, So that is everyone, everywhere.
00:10:57
Speaker
so that is everyone everywhere For me, my finally surrendering was when I realized that God just wanted my heart.
00:11:07
Speaker
Nothing more. He is not a condemning God. Romans 8 says, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in christ jesus when we accept jesus christ as our personal lord and savior we are then indwelled by the holy spirit that verse and its totality Again, didn't need to clean life. just needed to
00:11:36
Speaker
again i didn't need to clean up my life i just needed to surrender it And same goes for you. You don't need to clean up your life. You just need to surrender it.
Pray the Sinner's Prayer
00:11:48
Speaker
And so if you have never done that, I want to give you the opportunity to do that right now. There is no reason to wait. As it says in 2 Corinthians, today is the day of salvation. And so I want to lead you in a prayer. You can say this out loud right where you are if you have decided to make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life.
00:12:10
Speaker
Only you can make that decision. But if you have, you can repeat this prayer after me. Lord God, today i confess that I am a sinner in need of your saving.
00:12:26
Speaker
Thank you that you sent your son, Jesus Christ, to die a death that I deserve, to save me from an eternal hell.
00:12:38
Speaker
that I might live not only now in the land of the living,
00:12:42
Speaker
but that I will live eternally with you forever and ever.
00:12:48
Speaker
Amen.
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:12:50
Speaker
If you just prayed that prayer, congratulations. It is literally the most important decision of your life. You should know that the angels are rejoicing, and I would love to celebrate that with you as well.
00:13:03
Speaker
Just as Jesus told his disciples, they would receive the Holy Spirit. You now have him indwelling in you too. He is your helper, and he empowers you to live like Jesus.
00:13:14
Speaker
Please reach out to me on my socials or on my website. All the links are in the show notes as I would love to rejoice with you and pray over you as you begin this new journey. And if you don't already have one, I would love to send you a Bible.
00:13:27
Speaker
Thank you so much for joining today. if you know someone that needs to hear this message, please share it with them. I'm so thankful that the Lord has given me this platform to share his good news, which is the gospel. And in the Greek, euangelion actually means good news.
00:13:45
Speaker
As always, glory to God in it all. Thanks for joining and I'll see you next time.