Scripture Series: He Died for All Card---Join our Inspirational/Anything Goes Challenge at Word Art Wednesday!

 Hi there, Crafty friends! We are on our second week of our Challenge happening at Word Art Wednesday (WAW). As always, we feature a Scripture Word Art that you can download for free at the WAW site. Our highlighted verse today comes from 2 Corinthians 5:15 which says, "And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again."

Just a couple of days ago, we celebrated Resurrection Sunday---the greatest day ever for all of us who placed our faith in the eternal salvation brought about by the Cross of Christ.  When Jesus uttered "It is finished" (His final word) before dying at the Cross in John 19:30, He declared the truth that the payment for Sin and Death had been fully satisfied and settled by the blood of the perfect God  and perfect Man---Jesus Christ!  The time of sacrificing animal's blood as a temporary covering for one's sin ended that day.  Behold once and for all,  the blood of the Lamb promised by God to wash away the sins of the world  was wholeheartedly poured and that everyone who believed and received His gift of salvation will have eternal life. Jesus clearly tells us in John 10:14-18,  “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”  Though Jesus knew the intense suffering He would have to go through, He looked beyond the torture of the Cross including the indescribable pain when the Father turned His face away from Him. He endured it all because He knew what was at stake---the fate of all mankind!  He bore the Sin of the world upon His shoulder as He cried out in agony in Matthew 27:46, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  My friends, Jesus willingly went through it all for the high price of sure victory---a glorious outcome of liberating us from our bondage to Adam's Sin into the newness of life in Christ Jesus sealed by the power of His resurrection.

Jesus demonstrated to every believer (Born-again, John 3:3) that just like Him, we have a purpose for being on earth.  We are to faithfully follow God's Word and point others to the Gospel (death, burial and resurrection) of Jesus Christ just like His early disciples and followers showed us in the Scripture. We are entrusted with God's truth and miraculous power to shine the light of the Gospel in this last of the last days.  We are not to live for ourselves but we are to take on the same burden Jesus had for the perishing souls so they too may find forgiveness and benefit from the power of His resurrection.  So I would like to impart to you what My Life Application Bible shared with regards to our highlighted verse in this post as it truly blessed me.  It says, "Everything that Paul and his companions did was to honor God.  Not only did fear of God motivated them (Matthew 5:11), but Christ's love compelled their actions. The word for "compels" means "to hold fast."  In other words, the love of Christ was constraining them to certain courses of action. They knew that Jesus, out of His great love, has given up His life for their sakes.  He had not acted out of His own self-interest, selfishly holding on to the glory of heaven that He already possessed (Philippians 2:6).  Instead Jesus had willingly "died for all."  Because Christ died for us, we also are dead to our own lives.  Like Paul, we should no longer live to please ourselves, we should spend our lives pleasing Christ. Christians are brand new people on the inside.  The Holy Spirit gives them new life, and they are not the same anymore.  We are not reformed, rehabilitated, or reeducated---we are re-created (new creations), living in vital union with Christ (Colossians 2:6-7).  At conversation, we are not merely turning a new leaf; we are beginning a new life under a new Master.

For this Card, I used an image from Gina K. Designs called "Friendship Blooms" that I colored using my Promarker and Hobby Colour markers.  The base is a white A7 pre-cut cards from Paper Studio.  The DP is also from Paper Studio, the butterflies from Recollections and the nail head gems are from Imaginisce.  To finish it, I added a bit of glitters (Stickles-Crystal) to the butterflies and ran it through my sewing machine for some fancy stitching.  I think it turned out great.

 

 

 

HE DIED FOR ALL CARD 

 

HE DIED FOR ALL CARD LAYERS

 

 

HE DIED FOR ALL CARD INSIDE

 

HE DIED FOR ALL CARD WITH ENVELOPE-BOX

 

 This Card is entered into the following Challenges:

 

Crafty Gals Corner---Spring/Easter 

Creative Moments---Things with Wings

Ellibelle's Corner---Animals

Fab n Funky---Feature a Creature

Little Red Wagon---What you Made for Easter

Simon Says Stamps---Rain or Shine

Paper Funday---ATG/April Showers

Digi Choosday---ATG 

Ike's World---ATG/Animal/Crazy Critter

TTCRD---ATG

Unicorn---Include an Animal

A Place to Start---ATG/Key it Simple

Colouring in Scrapland---ATG

Crafting Happiness---ATG

Get Creative---Springtime

Incy Wincy---Easter and/or Animals

Jan's Digi---ATG

Pammie's Inky Pinky---Easter/Animals

Dragonfly Dreams---Spring/Easter

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends---ATG

We Love Stamping---Favourite Stamps

Gem of a Challenge---ATG

Crafty Calendar---Anything But Square

Di's Digi---Spring

Taylormade Cards---ATG/Great Outdoors

Make sure you join us at WAW Challenge.  You can use the free Word Art in your creation and link it to our Challenge but is not a requirement.  As long as it's family-friendly, uplifting and inspirational, you can submit up to 5 entries per week.  Our wonderful sponsor for this week is Heartfelt Creations ($20 GC).  So excited to see what you come up with.  Anyway, cheer up and let the joy of the Lord overtake you today knowing that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is always at work in us.  If you are trusting in Jesus, fear can't move you.

 

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Scripture Series: He is Risen Card---Join Our Anything/Inspirational Goes Challenge at Word Art Wednesday!

Hi there, Crafty friends! It's the second week of our bi-weekly Challenge happening at Word Art Wednesday (WAW). As always, we feature a Scripture Word Art that you can download for free at the WAW site.  So, our inspiration Scripture for this Challenge that I featured in my card below comes from Matthew 28:6 which says, "He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay."  

For those who placed their faith in the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, the resurrection of our Lord and Savior sealed the completion of our victory over Sin and Death brought about by the redemptive work of God's One and Only Son.  Every religious founders known to man that promised their own way to God have come and gone for no human being tainted by the fallen nature of Adam can break the power of Sin (nature of Satan) and Death (spiritual, physical and eternal).  We can't help but be a part of Adam's fallen nature the moment we're born into this world.  And if God had not fulfilled His promise in Genesis 3:15 pertaining to the "Seed" of the woman Who would crush the head of Satan, every single one of us are destined for eternal wrath. 

But the Word of God became flesh and dwelt among men in the perfect time ordained by God.  The promised "Seed" and Savior did everything His Father predestined Him to do so that everyone who believes (faith, trust, depend, rely) in His finished work at the Cross (death, burial and resurrection) would be saved and have eternal life.  Because we are one with Christ in His resurrection, we are one with the Lord in His victory. We are so blessed to be alive at this time when we have both the writings of the Old and the New Testament. For what was concealed in the old is now revealed in the new.  What was then a mystery is now our reality!  Wow, I can just imagine the mix reactions of the women who first saw what the angel of the Lord revealed to them when they visited Jesus' tomb.  And how they witnessed with their own eyes---Jesus was no longer there, He's alive!  Matthew 28:2 says, "There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it."  It is important to point out that the angel didn't roll the stone for Jesus to get out but to allow people to see that Jesus indeed rose from the dead just as He promised them before He died on the Cross.  Here, God is showing His disciples the value of trusting (faith) His Word and the exceeding joy that follows in the validation (tangible proof) when His promises are fulfilled.  A week after Jesus resurrected, He  appeared before his disciples including Thomas who strongly doubted the news of His resurrection at first.  It's only upon seeing Christ and His crucifixion wounds that day that he began to acknowledge that Christ truly resurrected.  For somebody who followed Christ for many years and saw firsthand the powerful and miraculous ministry of Jesus Christ, it is very sad to point out how he could still be shrouded with unbelief.  Although the Lord had been gracious to Thomas, there was a gentle rebuke in the Lord's response to Thomas in John 20:29 which says, "Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”  For faith is the currency in God's kingdom and you cannot do anything without it.  The worldly mindset says "to see (physical) is to believe" but Jesus wanted us to believe His Word though we haven't physically seen its manifestation.

 

Hebrews 11:6 tells us, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."  Believers of old were looking forward to seeing the Messiah, our Savior and Conquering King while contemporary believers (Born-again, John 3:3) comprising the Body of Christ (Ekklesia, Church) are celebrating and experiencing the benefits of His victory at the Cross and sharing the same Good News to the world while awaiting through faith the coming of the Bridegroom and our earthly reign with Him following His Second Coming.  Till then, we will continue to live by the faith of Christ deposited in us through the working of the Holy Spirit.  I would like to share with you the exhortation from My Life Application Bible surrounding our highlighted verse today about Jesus' resurrection for it truly blessed me.  It says, "The angel who announced the good news of the resurrection to the women gave them four messages: (1) Do not be afraid.  The reality of the resurrection brings joy, not fear.  When you are afraid, remember the empty tomb.  (2) He is not here.  Jesus is not dead and is not to be looked for among the dead.  He is alive with his people.  (3) Come and see.  The women could check the evidence themselves.  The tomb was empty then, and it is empty today. The resurrection is a historical fact.  (4) Go quickly and tell.  They were to spread the joy of the resurrection.  We too are to spread the great news about Jesus' resurrection.  Jesus' resurrection is the key to the Christian faith.  Why?  (1) Just as he promised, Jesus rose from the dead.  We can be confident, therefore, that he will accomplished all he has promised.  (2) Jesus' bodily resurrection shows us that the living Christ is the ruler of God's eternal kingdom, not a false prophet or imposter. (3) We can be certain of our resurrection because he was resurrected.  Death is not the end---there is a future life.  (4) The power that brought Jesus back to life is available to us to bring our spiritually dead selves back to life. (5) The resurrection is the basis for the church's witness to the world.  Jesus is more than just a human leader, he is the Son of God."

For this Card, I used images from  Stampers Anonymous and colored each one using my Distress markers.  The base is white CS, cut and scored to make a 5.5 inches square card.  I used my Corner Chomper to round the top edges.  I made my own colorful background using the stencils that came with the stamps using several distress markers.  I fuzzy-cut the images and placed it right beside the computer generated Scripture Word Art featured for this Challenge.  I decorated the inside and added some glitters (Stickles-Crystal) and this project was done.

HE IS RISEN CARD 

HE IS RISEN CARD LAYERS 

HE IS RISEN CARD INSIDE

 

HE IS RISEN CARD WITH ENVELOPE-BOX

This Card is entered into the following Challenges:

Colour Crazy---ATG

Crafty Catz---ATG

Creative Fingers---ATG

Pattie's Creations---ATG with Digital or Stamped Image

Krafty Chicks---Stamp Act

Crafty Gals Corner---Add Flower/s

Double D---Easter

Mod Squad---ATG

Ike's World---ATG

TTCRD---ATG

Try It On Tuesday---ATG

A Bit More Time---ATG

A Perfect Time---ATG

Bastel Traum---Spring 

Classic Design---ATG

Country View---Spring is Coming

Crafts Galore Encore---ATG

Crafty Friends---ATG

Creatalicious---ATG/Easter

Digi Doodle Studios---Easter/Spring

DL Art---ATG

Happy Little Stampers---Use Stencil

Let's Craft and Create---ATG/Beautiful Butterflies

LTCCB---ATG

Mirtillamente---ATG

Mix It Up---ATG/Fancy Fold

Morgan's Artworld---ATG

QKR Stampede---ATG

Rabisco---ATG

Scribbles Designs---Flower Power

Sognando---ATG

Stamplorations---ATG/Use Stencil

Crafting Challenge---ATG/Easter

Four Seasons---Spring

Worldwide DT---ATG

YSP---ATG

Make sure you join us at WAW Challenge.  You can use the free Word Art in your creation and link it to our Challenge but is not a requirement.  As long as it's family-friendly, uplifting and inspirational, you can enter up to 5 times each week.  Great prize package to be won from our wonderful sponsor---Crafty Individuals Stamp Co. (prize package).  Always remember the true significance of Resurrection Sunday.  Let us do away with the pagan rituals that is designed to veer us away from the truth.  Because Jesus Christ rose again from the dead, our faith is not in vain.  That is what's truly important!

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