Saturday... They had a plan laid out.

Saturday... They had a plan laid out. They knew what they were going to do no matter what happened.

We do that don't we? We know what we want and we make plans and we're going to do it even if it isn't the right thing.

The last chapter of Matthew tells of Jesus' resurrection. He had said that he was going to die and then in three days he would be raised from the dead and he did. Now the Jewish religious leaders must have had a idea that what Jesus taught was true because they had a plan if it happened. 

They put guards at the tomb to keep the disciples from coming and stealing Jesus' body and then trying to prove that he did what he said he was going to do. And then when it happened, when Jesus was raised from the dead and the guards came and told the leaders it had happened, it says in Matthew 28:13 (NLT), That they told the soldiers, "You must say, 'Jesus disciples came during the night while we were sleeping, and they stole the body.'" 

And then when it happened, when Jesus did what he said he would, the soldiers ran to the leaders and told them what happened so they gave them a bribe to say something else and verse 15 says, So the guards accepted the bribe and said what they were told to say. Their story spread widely among the Jews, and they still tell it today."

So what would have happened if they had believed that Jesus was who he said he was and in what he said was going to happen? It's like going back to Adam and Eve and saying, "What if?"

And that is true about many of our lives. What if we had believed? And many of our friends. What if they had believed? 

And here is the point. There was a bunch of people in a room who were afraid and who were waiting for the celebration to began when those women came running and telling them that it had happened and with that news they headed out to change the world and to give us the news that Jesus can change our lives.

And you see in the last verses of Matthew 28 that Jesus did come to them and he told them what they were to do. He gave them another story to tell, the correct story, the one that would change their world and change our lives today. 

Verses 18-20 says, "Jesus came and told his disciples, 'I have given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the ages.'" 

Yes they had a plan laid out but so did God. I love his plan and I'm doing all I can to live out that plan. Let's do it together. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning