04/19/2026
A Weekly Word Renee Noseworthy
Readings for the week of April 5/26:
Acts 10:34-43
Psalm 118:1-2,14-24
Colossians 3:1-4
John 20-1-18
In our Good Friday worship (April 3/26), John 19:30 was read. That verse says, “When Jesus had received the wine, he said, "It is finished." Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
I’ve heard that Scripture many times since I was a young girl, but for some reason, the reality of those words impacted me differently this time than ever before me.
On that day, I heard John 19:30 unlike I had previously. I knew that Jesus died for me willingly, but this penetrated my heart to remind me that Jesus was fully God during the Crucifixion. He was fully able to stop this at any point, but He didn’t.
“Gave up his spirit” is an action phrase. Dying on the Cross is something Jesus actively and intentionally did for me, and all of humanity. He is sovereign. He could have halted this and saved himself. From Jesus’ prayer to His Father on the night before His Crucifixion, we know that Jesus agonized over the events that He would endure on the following day, through the words that He prayed as recorded in Luke 22:42, which says, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
That reminder and renewed realization put me in the right frame of mind for Easter Sunday worship. I had a fresh vision for what we were truly celebrating that day. Jesus Christ had risen from the dead on that first Easter morning, and that is worth celebrating.
In Acts 10, we see that Salvation is for everyone; Jews and Gentiles alike. Anyone who is not a Jew would be considered a Gentile. God asks that we revere Him and behave in a manner that shows integrity and seeks to please Him. Acts 10:34-35 says, “Then Peter began to speak to them: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every people anyone who fears him and practices righteousness is acceptable to him.” Jesus Christ is Lord of all. (v. 16)
Acts 10: 39-40 goes on to say, “We are witnesses to all that he [Jesus] did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear”
We can live eternally because He lives. John 3:16-17 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
For those who have repented of their sins, and chosen to believe in Him, a glorious future awaits. We are all unique and can have a beautiful testimony of all that the Lord has done for us, and through us by the enabling of His Holy Spirit.
Acts 10:42-43 reminds us that “He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."
As followers of Jesus Christ, we are privileged to share the Good News about Him to everyone we meet.
