The Secret of Joy: Psalm 126, by Josh Moody, Senior Pastor of College Church, at Bible Study Tools









When the LORD brought back the captive ones of Zion, We were like those who dream.  Then our mouth was filled with laughter And our tongue with joyful shouting; Then they said among the nations,"The LORD has done great things for them." The LORD has done great things for us; We are glad. Restore our captivity, O LORD, As the streams in the South. Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

Psalm 126


"Spurgeon was once criticized for putting too much laughter into his sermons. Frivolous. Lacking gravity. His reply to the woman who had button-holed him was classic: “My good lady, if you only knew how much I restrain myself.” This psalm shows us not only that “laughter” (Psalms 126:2) and God go together but also God and “joy” (Psalms 126:2-6). This psalm is written to help you discover the secret of joy..."

"...When the psalm refers to joy, it does not mean the tendency that some people have, because of their temperament, to be happier than other people. For one reason or another there appear to be people who are more naturally wired to smile, who can wake up in the morning singing a cheery song, and who look at their breakfast cereal and simply clap their hands with delight. You may feel sympathy with the Snoopy T-Shirt that was popular when Charlie Brown was all the rage—“I hate people who sing in the morning”—but then others get up early because they like it. Some people are morning people, some people are evening people, and some people seem to feel happier than others. They are wired that way. However, the joy here is not this matter of temperament.

"Nor is this joy about faking it, the sort of pretend joy that plasters a smile on your face while inside you growl. Nor is it imposing joy on others by going up to someone who that moment discovered his best friend had a car accident and telling him to “rejoice in the Lord always,” to which the understandable reply might be, “Let me punch you in the nose and see how much rejoicing you’re doing then.” Nor is it the deep Christian joy that is so deep—soooo deep—that to find it you practically have to set up an oil well. Drilling, drilling, deeper, deeper, deeper. Ah, we have struck oil; there is a smile down there; it was deep Christian joy."

"After chastisement from God, and recognizing him, our way to repay him is to exalt him and confess his wonders before every nation under heaven."  

ST Patrick, Confesio, Fifth Century.





"...it's worth pondering for a moment why we celebrate St. Patrick's Day far more than, say, St. Augustine's Day or St. Athanasius's Day, even though those two men probably had more influence in shaping Christianity across the world. Put simply, it's because Patrick didn't shape Christianity across the world—at least directly. (Though one can argue that his work in shaping Irish Christianity later bore fruit that would affect the faith through the ages.) He's a large but local figure. And, to over-simplify a bit, it was mostly Irish Americans rather than Irish Irish who made the day a festival of national pride."

ST Patrick Fought Human Trafficking

""It would take too long to … sift through the whole of the Law for precise witness against such greed," Patrick wrote in Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus. "Sufficient to say, greed is a deadly deed. You shall not covet your neighbor's goods. You shall not murder. A homicide may not stand beside Christ. Even 'He who bates his brother is to be labeled murderer.' Or, 'He who does not love his brother dwells in death.' therefore how much more guilty is he, who has stained his own hands in the blood of the sons of God, those very children whom only just now he has won for himself in this distant land by means of our feeble encouragement. … Roman Christians in Gaul behave quite differently: it is their custom to send holy, capable men to the Franks and other nations with several thousand soldiers so as to redeem Christian prisoners, yet YOU would rather kill or sell them on to a far-off tribe who know nothing of the true God. You might as well consign Christ's own members to a whorehouse. What kind of hope can you have left in God?'"

ST Patrick was an Evangelist

"Patrick may have been upset that the raiders took freeborn Irish as slaves. But he was truly upset that they took new converts to Christianity. "The very same people I have begotten for God; their number beyond count, I myself confirmed them in Christ," he wrote, "'Ravenous wolves' have gulped down the Lord's own flock, which was flourishing in Ireland and tended with utmost care. Now I have lost count how many sons and daughters of the kings of the Scotti have become monks and virgins of Christ.'"

ST Patrick Sought an Incarnational Ministry

"Patrick's work in Ireland was more incarnational—taking on the identity of his flock and laying aside his former identity and rights. As he wrote in the Letter, "For by descent I was a freeman, born of a decurion father; yet I have sold this nobility of mine, I am not ashamed, nor do I regret that it might have meant some advantage to others. In short, I am a slave in Christ to this faraway people for the indescribable glory of 'everlasting life which is in Jesus Christ our Lord.''"

ST Patrick Sought a Christian Education for the Irish

"'How is it that in Ireland, where they never had any knowledge of God but, always, until now, cherished idols and unclean things, they are lately become a people of the Lord, and are called children of God; the sons of the Scotti and the daughters of the chieftains are to be seen as monks and virgins of Christ," he wrote in the Confesio, then goes on to tell of a "a most beautiful, blessed, native-born noble" convert who fought against her parents to become a virgin of Christ."

ST Patrick Submitted to the Authorities and Rebelled against Them

"The debate over how distinct "Celtic" Christianity was from the "Roman" Christianity of its time is ancient, and descriptions of how much a maverick Patrick was depends largely on conjecture. Was Patrick submitting to authority by sending his Confesio in response to accusations that he was unfit to lead (the specifics of which are lost to history)? Or was he recalcitrant or independent in merely sending a written response and not responding in person to what seems to be a summons? Does his letter to the soldiers of Coroticus indicate that he had good relationships with church leaders in Great Britain, or is it an indication that he thought they were being derelict in their church discipline? The evidence can be read either way."

Reclaiming ST Patrick's Day, Ted Olsen, Christianity Today

"In recent days, the Crimean peninsula has been at the heart of what some have described as the greatest international crisis of the 21st century. But this is not the first time the region has been so critical to international affairs. Many educated people have at least heard of the great struggle known as the Crimean War (1853-56), although its causes and events remain mysterious to most non-specialists.

"If the conflict is remembered today, it resonates through the heroic charitable efforts of Florence Nightingale and the foundation of modern nursing. Actually, that earlier war deserves to be far better known as a pivotal moment in European religious affairs. Without knowing that religious element, moreover—without a sense of its Christian background—we will miss major themes in modern global affairs, in the Middle East and beyond.

"Given its date, that religious emphasis may seem wildly anachronistic. This was, after all, a highly modern struggle between the Great Powers of the day: Britain, France, and the Ottoman Empire against Tsarist Russia. The war was fought with highly modern technology, including railroads and telegraphs, not to mention deadly artillery. Some 800,000 died, almost half from disease—at least as many fatalities as in the American Civil War of the next decade.

"Yet the war's causes seem to belong to a strictly pre-modern era, and Orlando Figes' excellent recent history calls this The Last Crusade. As in medieval times, the war grew out of the situation of Christians under Muslim rule in the Middle East, and specifically the control of Jerusalem's holy places.

"From the 15th century, the dominant Muslim power was the Turkish Ottoman Empire, which ruled over millions of Christians—Armenians, Greeks, Slavs, and others. As Ottoman power crumbled, European Christian nations pressed hard on its shrinking borders, annexing its territory. From the 1770s, the main predator was Orthodox Russia, which soon established its control of the Black Sea region and pushed into the Caucasus. The Russians also demanded and won the right to protect the holy places, which were to be under Orthodox supervision.

"Given time, the Russians would undoubtedly have snapped up the whole Ottoman realm if other powers, especially Britain, had not dreaded the creation of a Russian superpower stretching from the Arctic to the Indian Ocean. In effect, Britain became the protector and guarantor of the corrupt and failing Ottoman regime. This international balance of terror allowed the Ottoman Empire to drag on its existence into the 20th century.

"That status quo was destabilized in 1852 with the accession of a new French regime under Napoleon III, who had initially seized power in a coup d'état. Facing deep divisions at home, and desperate to prove his legitimacy, he sought to increase his prestige by provoking an international crisis. He did so by exploiting Orthodox–Catholic battles in Jerusalem, gruesome and grossly undignified street-fights led by clergy on both sides, which sometimes erupted into full-scale riots.'"

Please continue reading at The 160 Year Christian History behind What's Happening in Ukraine, by Philip Jenkins, at Christianity Today.

"A saving knowledge of Christ crucified and risen is not the mere result of right reasoning about historical facts. It is the result of spiritual illumination to see those facts for what they really are: a revelation of the truth and glory of God in the face of Christ — who is the same yesterday today and forever."

Please read Eight Reasons I Believe that Jesus Rose from the Dead, by John Piper, Desiring God, at One Place.











Jesus himself testified to His coming resurrection from the dead:

And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
Mark 8:31

And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men;"
Matthew 17:22

saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day."
Luke 9:22

Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
John 2:19

"We heard Him say, 'I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.'"
Mark 14:58

and said, "This man stated, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days.'"
Matthew 26:61

But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet;
Matthew 12:39

"An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah." And He left them and went away.
Matthew 16:4

Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, 'THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES'?
Matthew 21:42

and said, "Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I am to rise again.'
Matthew 27:63

The tomb was empty on Easter:

but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
Luke 24:3

Now while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, and said, "You are to say, 'His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.' "And if this should come to the governor's ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble." And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day.
Matthew 28:11-15

The disciples were almost immediately transformed from men who were hopeless and fearful after the crucifixion into men who were confident and bold witnesses of the resurrection:

"But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened."
Luke 24:21

So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you."
John 20:19

But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.
Acts 2:24

but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.
Acts 3:15

being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
Acts 4:2

This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.
Acts 2:32

But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him.
Mark 9:32

But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them.
Luke 24:11

So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.
John 20:8-9

Paul claimed that, not only had he seen the risen Christ, but that 500 others had seen him also, and many were still alive when he made this public claim:

After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep;
1 Corinthians 15:6

The sheer existence of a thriving, empire-conquering early Christian church supports the truth of the resurrection claim:

"Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ - this Jesus whom you crucified."
Acts 2:36

The Apostle Paul's conversion supports the truth of the resurrection:

For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it; and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus.
Galatians 1:11-17

Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,
Acts 9:1

but their plot became known to Saul. They were also watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death; but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket.
Acts 9:24-25

"And I said, 'Who are You, Lord?' And the Lord said, 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 'But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.'
Acts 26:15-18

The New Testament witnesses do not bear the stamp of dupes or deceivers:

"And why do you not even on your own initiative judge what is right?"
Luke 12:57

There is a self-authenticating glory in the gospel of Christ's death and resurrection as narrated by the biblical witnesses:

"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
John 16:13

in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
2 Corinthians 4:4

For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:6

Please read Popcorn VS Preaching, What Son of God Is and Isn't, by Eric Metaxas, at Christian Headlines.











"Last year the History Channel struck gold with its “Bible” miniseries, a dramatization of selected sections of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. It was the most-watched entertainment telecast of 2013, drawing a record-breaking 14 million viewers on the night of its finale, and moving over a million copies within weeks of its hard release.

"And now, some of the material used in the series—specifically the sections covering the gospels and the life of Jesus—has been re-cut and with additional footage will soon be hitting theaters as the feature film, “Son of God.”

"A few of my BreakPoint colleagues have already attended screenings, and I’m encouraged by what I hear. While the miniseries drew some criticism from some pastors and Christian reviewers for taking some creative liberties with biblical details, I’m told the movie respectfully portrays the life of our Lord, His sacrifice on the cross, and His Resurrection.

"Based on the events described in the gospels of John and Matthew, this condensed interpretation explores characters often given short shrift in Hollywood, like Nicodemus, Matthew and Mary Magdalene. And players who’ve suffered from one-dimensional portrayals in the past—like the High Priest Caiaphas, Pontius Pilate and Judas—are given motives that make sense..."

"'...Son of God,” like Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” ten years ago, may just offer a powerful opportunity to witness to our unbelieving friends, or at least to get a conversation started."