Starting Right
Starting Right is a 5 minute Day Starter to help keep you motivated, encouraged, and focused throughout your day. DannyMac is a pastor, teacher, motivational speaker, husband, and father. His years of leading and training people have given him vast experience in helping individuals to accomplish change in their lives and meet their goals. He can help you set the course for your day by offering practical advice from God's Word in a positive and fun way. There is no better way to begin your day than by Starting Right with DannyMac.
Starting Right
Jesus' Gift on Good Friday
The shadow of the cross stretches across centuries to touch our lives with extraordinary hope, even in the most challenging times. This powerful Good Friday episode explores the profound significance behind Jesus' sacrifice and what it means for us today.
Good morning and welcome to Starting Right with Danny Mac. I'm going to be here every Monday to Friday to help you get a great five-minute start to your day. So grab your cup of coffee, sit back, relax and let me help you start your day right. Good morning, everybody, and welcome to Good Friday. Today we're not going to do a Friday roundup, but instead I want to talk to you about the power and the beauty and the excitement of what this day and this weekend is all about.
Speaker 1:Good Friday is about remembering Jesus' sacrifice for us, the horrible suffering and torture that he went through physically, emotionally, the stress that was upon him, the scourging and pain of the beatings, the nails being driven through his hands and feet and being lifted up on that cross to hang there by those nails until he was dead. It was a horrible, horrible way to die, and yet he did it. He did it for one reason so that we could have a relationship with God. Hebrews, chapter 2 and verse 9 says this we see Jesus who, for a little while, was given a position a little lower than the angels, and because he suffered death for us, he is now crowned with glory and honor. Yes, with glory and honor. Yes, by God's grace, jesus tasted death for everyone. I find it very difficult the thought that other people could do the things to him that were done to him that day. It's absolutely horrific. But Jesus chose to go through it and he went through it because he had to, because he loves us. He also knew that in three days he was going to come back again. He was going to defeat the devil. He paid for the sin of all mankind for all eternity and he rose again in victory and in power, and he now sits on the throne in heaven, on the right hand of God, the Father. 1 Peter 1, verse 3. It says Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord, jesus Christ. In His great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We have hope in our lives because of what Jesus did For each one of us right now. Our lives are always filled with unanswered questions, with things that we're uneasy about or uncertain about in some cases things that we are even very much afraid of. The worry and stress can be overwhelming at times. Yet, because of Jesus Christ, there is always hope and the ability for us to find the hope of God in every part of our lives is to fully embrace what Jesus Christ did on Good Friday and the victory of Easter Sunday. When we accept his forgiveness of our sin, of our weaknesses, and we let him become the Lord of our lives and we decide to live by faith in him alone, then he can start to work and do miraculous things, powerful things, and sometimes we just need to be reminded of that.
Speaker 1:There are a lot of things that are vying for attention. Social media screams every day. Listen to me, listen to what I'm saying. I'm changing things. Listen to me. Politics right now. They just make me shake my head and wonder how anybody can even think along the lines that many politicians do. How can you possibly find any kind of hope for your future or for the future of the countries you're supposed to be leading, when you are talking and acting like you are? And then we look around us at the cost of everything Gasoline, food, clothing, you name it. Everything is getting more and more expensive all the time, and there's a pressure screaming at us about that as well. So how can we respond that as well? So how can we respond?
Speaker 1:Did you know that Jesus died on the cross and rose again to give us hope in every area of our lives, including what we're facing in 2023?. He did that. That was part of his purpose and part of his plan. He knew 2023 was going to come. He knew everything that was going to be happening right now. He knew that the hope and victory in his resurrection would give people the strength to deal with what was happening in their lives at every time in history, including 2023.
Speaker 1:You and I have hope today because of Jesus Christ. You and I can have peace today because of him. So let me ask you this when was the last time you told somebody about that hope that you have because of Jesus? Have you shared that recently? There are many people around us who have no hope. They're looking for something, somewhere, somehow, to give them some reason and some purpose and some light at the end of the tunnel. And, my friends, you and I have the answer. It is Jesus Christ, because of what he did on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, and he's alive today. Have a great weekend, celebrate the life that God has given to you through Christ and what he did on Easter, and I encourage you look for someone around you over the coming days. Who needs to hear about hope, the hope that there is and can only come from this resurrected King, jesus Christ. Have a great weekend, my friends. We will talk again on Monday. Thank you for listening today and I invite you to join me Monday to Friday, right here on Starting Right with Danny Mac.
