Christmas Musicals for Church
Issue link: http://read.jwpepper.com/i/100251
(music begins to ���Underscore 5) Do you remember Abraham and King David? All the great rulers of ancient Israel had been warriors, builders, diplomats. Little wonder that most people imagined that the new king would be the greatest warrior, builder and diplomat of all. How odd, then, that Jesus seemed indifferent to regime change. His message was ���Open your heart to God.��� This unexpected focus, coupled with Jesus��� insistence on genuine personal repentance, offended many in Jerusalem���s religious establishment. Usually, people try to avoid trouble, but Jesus set His direction straight toward those who were plotting to kill him. And now Jesus would enter Jerusalem for the last time. Behind the scenes, under the radar of politics and religious courts, a dark power was waiting, and when soldiers of the Jewish religious establishment came to place Jesus under arrest, Jesus gave Himself up. He was sentenced to the Roman method of execution���a crucifixion. Nailed to a wooden cross by wrists and feet, it was excruciating, slow and a very public way to die. For Jesus, this heinous death was undeserved. (ms. 25) As He gave His life, He looked beyond it to God���s bigger story of salvation that was being played out through His life and death. ie w O nl y HOST: Fo rP re v (music begins to ���How Love Wins���)