Can I Get An AMEN? Homilies That Makes You Want to Shout

By Saundra L. Washington D.D.

Twenty-two homilies, written from the inspired soul of a seasoned preacher woman, are bound to make you want to shout out in thanksgiving and praises to our God.

Can I Get an Amen's content is educational, informational, spiritually elevating and glorifying to the Captain of our salvation. At times, you may feel as though you are in a Bible study class while as you read on, you may suddenly find yourself in one of those old fashioned tent revival services. The messages are Christ-centered and practical as well as encouraging to all believers walking the narrow way leading to the Kingdom of God.

Readers will take off to ancient Jerusalem as I describe my eye-witness account of the "Execution of Jesus Christ" and you will arrive back home landing safely on "Christ, the Solid Rock."

You are sure to experience a great rich inner renewal, dissipation of worldly stress that so easily besets us, new invigorating strength for the battles of life, and a rekindled sense of communion with the Father through Jesus Christ. To God be the Glory!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Saundra L. Washington D.D.
• Release date: May 8, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458176448

Saundra L. Washington D.D.

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,Christian writing in particular is an expression of my passion to educate and inspire the body of Christ. I enjoy writing (and reading) and perhaps the clue that it was to play a vital role in my future can be traced to my love of writing as a child. Actually, it was not writing but scribbling (smile). I would scribble pages and pages and go show my masterpieces to my mother for her critique. She always complimented me on how wonderful my stories were and had me interpret the meaning from time to time. But, to be honest, I never contemplated writing beyond those childhood illusions and fantasies. God does indeed work His will into the lives of those committed to Him.So now, decades later, semi-retired from pastoral responsibilities, I felt the Holy Spirit's urging to write what I otherwise would probably be orally teaching or preaching.I believe you will find my eBooks interesting, spiritually strengthening, educative, informative, motivating and encouraging as you grow in your spiritual walk.You are encouraged to view samples from each eBook to get a “feel” for content.God bless you and thank you for surveying my eBooks and perusing this profile.All glory to God!

Book preview

Can I Get An AMEN?

Homilies That Makes You Want to Shout

Saundra L. Washington D.D.

SMASHWORDS EDITION

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Can I Get An AMEN?

Homilies That Makes You Want to Shout

Copyright 2010 by Saundra L. Washington D.D.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. The NIV and New International Version trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica. Use of either trademark requires the permission of Biblica. The King James Version (KJV) is in U.S. public domain.

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Dedication

To the honor and glory of the triune God.

To all those struggling in faith to overcome.

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Table of Contents

Witness to the Execution

Apostle Paul’s Conception of the Last Supper

The Gospels Presentation of the Passion

Jesus’ Lecture on Banquet Etiquette

The Blood that Save Lives

Portrait of the Quintessential Story Teller

Development of Jesus is LORD Concept in Apostolic Church

Sinai: The Foreshadow of Calvary

Jesus Christ: Pioneer of Christian Philanthropy

TRUTH Embodied in Stories

The Miracle Element in the Gospels

Unforgettable Experiences and Christ’s Coming

In Defense of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

To Spare Us, God Spared Not His Own Son

Resurrection Hope: The Best is Yet to Come

The Kingdom of Heaven

The Weakness of Jesus Christ

The Angels’ Song of Praise

The Tears of Jesus

Bread of Spiritual Truth

But I Say to You

On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand

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Foreword

Twenty-two homilies, written from the inspired soul of a seasoned preacher woman, are bound to make you want to shout out in thanksgiving and praises to our God.

Can I Get an Amen's content is educational, informational, spiritually elevating and glorifying to the Captain of our salvation. At times, you may feel as though you are in a Bible study class while as you read on, you may suddenly find yourself in one of those old fashioned tent revival services. The messages are Christ-centered and practical as well as encouraging to all believers walking the narrow way leading to the Kingdom of God.

Readers will take off to ancient Jerusalem as I describe my eye-witness account of the Execution of Jesus Christ and you will arrive back home landing safely on Christ, the Solid Rock.

You are sure to experience a great rich inner renewal, dissipation of worldly stress that so easily besets us, new invigorating strength for the battles of life, and a rekindled sense of communion with the Father through Jesus Christ. To God be the Glory!

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Witness to the Execution

I want to share with you memories from that awful day when Jesus of Nazareth was crucified that none of you could possibly know or feel, unless of course, you were there too. Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

I ask because you would have had to be there to fully appreciate what I am about to tell you. For you see, I was there and I am guilty of the most serious of crimes.

I was in the crowd in Jerusalem those last few days of Jesus’ life. I was an eye witness to the execution. I know what occurred and shamefully, I stood by and watched as they crucified Him without saying a word or lifting a finger to stop it.

That fateful week in Jerusalem started out exciting. It was an atmosphere of gaiety and festivities. Perhaps something like your Mardi Gras, or Independence Day celebrations. The talk around town was that a certain Prophet was coming to town. Of course, that was not unusual. There were always religious leaders coming to Jerusalem. After all, it was one of the great religious centers of all times. We had the great temple where people from all over journeyed many miles to bring their offerings and make homage to God. Jerusalem was a hub of activity most of the time.

But people were saying that there was something different about this Prophet. This Prophet was claiming to be the long expected Messiah. I was skeptical and did not pay too much attention because there were many who came claiming to be the Messiah. So what else is new, I thought to myself.

Yet, the rumors kept circulating about this Man they called Jesus, from the little town of Nazareth who spent a lot of time walking the roads and visiting the towns of Judea and Galilee. It was said He was preaching a message of love, compassion and forgiveness; what He called the true worship of God. I virtually ignored it because rumors, as you know, are unreliable and besides, I had a job to do. But then, one claim I heard did get my immediate attention. They said this Jesus referred to God as Father as if He was His Son. Imagine that! I kept mental notes.

Stories continued to spread about Jesus’ miracles which most of us considered to be nothing more than tricks or propaganda. But there were other stories, stories of His kindness; His genuine love for everyone whether they were rich or poor, strong or weak, male or female. People noticed that He did not have much to do with the Roman authorities who marched into our cities, took over the government and kept control over us with their soldiers. I tell you, there is much rage within a captive people. We were looking for someone, somewhere to deliver us from this bondage.

So you can understand that many of us zealots did not get too concerned over some Prophet who circulated stories of turning the other cheek and praying for your persecutors. We needed someone who would lead a revolt and drive the Romans out of our sacred city. The Romans had no respect for God or our temple. They only lived on power, pushing people around, making us do their work for them.

Thus, it was difficult for many of us to get excited over this Carpenter who preached peace. How can there be peace when a people is oppressed and suppressed by the powers that be? How can there be peace when a people is trotted upon and reduced to nothingness? And it was not only Jesus’ passive stance that bothered us, it was also His conflict with our scribes and Pharisees. They were our religious leaders and had been for centuries. We placed our faith in them. They were not ignoramuses, but learned, educated men. They interpreted the Torah for us and kept us looking for a brighter tomorrow. Even in a time of difficulty they had arranged with the Roman officials to allow us to continue our worship in our temple. If it had not been for them, our religion might have ceased to exist.

So we working stiffs did not approve of Jesus’ attitude and behavior towards the scribes and Pharisees. I remember once seeing Him disrupting the affairs of the temple. I heard Him making accusations against the religious leaders, calling them names, and telling them that prostitutes would enter the kingdom of God before they would. How did He know? How dare He say such things to our spiritual leaders; those we put our trust in, those who performed our marriages and the bar mitzvahs of our children, those who gave their lives in the service of God.

Okay, I will admit there were a few of our leaders who seemed to have gotten big headed. There were some we knew who had betrayed their calling by the activities they engaged in. But, they were, after all, human like the rest of us right? So when the scribes and Pharisees told us that this Jesus was not who He pretended to be, for the most part, it made sense. Perhaps, most convincing of all was when they told us Jesus had the unmitigated gall to refer to Himself as the very Son of God. That was blasphemy! Wasn’t it?

To be honest, I did not really know. The few times I heard Him preach it did not seem like blasphemy. His voice had a sound of genuine kindness and compassion. He seemed very loving and caring to everyone. Those disciples who followed Him from place to place seemed to have no doubt about Him, and they were regular people like us; good people, hard-working people. It was especially touching when He had the children around Him, some sitting on His lap. I remember thinking to myself, there is something sincere about a person who loves little children. He said they belonged to the Kingdom of Heaven, and then He said something that I did not fully comprehend. He said that we those of us in the crowd, must turn and become as innocent as children before we can enter the Kingdom of God. What did He mean?

Sermons like His had never been preached before. On the one hand I enjoyed what He said; on the other hand, I respected our religious leaders. And so I was real confused the day the crowd gathered outside the governor’s palace.

Jesus had been arrested because the Sanhedrin accused Him of blasphemy, calling Himself the Son of God and King of the Jews