My ancestor and Spurgeon

My great-great-great uncle...Rev. Joseph Luke Blitch

From his obituary...


"Several of his sermons have been published, one of which, Thy kingdom come, so delighted Spurgeon, of London, that he said of it, 'Every sentence carries the sound of a glorious victory. I love it.'"


It rocks to hear that my ancestor was a man of faith and one who was so blessed by God to preach the Word that pastors as great as Spurgeon gave him positive feedback.


Amazing what you can find in your past to motivate and influence your future!

Holy Week - Resurrection Sunday

Luke 24...

And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them,

“Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. 

Holy Week - Saturday

From Matthew 27...


The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, 


“Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” 


Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.

Holy Week - Friday

Mark 15...

And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice,

“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”

which means,

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

And some of the bystanders hearing it said,

“Behold, he is calling Elijah.”

And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying,

“Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.”

And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.

And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said,

“Truly this man was the Son of God!”

Read the rest HERE... 

Holy Week - Thursday

From Luke 22...

And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them,

“I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”

And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said,

“Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying,

“This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying,

“This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Read the rest HERE... 

Holy Week - Wednesday

Luke 22...

Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve.

He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them.

And they were glad, and agreed to give him money.

So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.

Read more HERE...

Holy Week - Tuesday

From Matthew...

“Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying,

‘They will respect my son.’

But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves,

‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’

And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

They said to him,

“He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

Jesus said to them,

“Have you never read in the Scriptures:

“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

Read more HERE...

Holy Week - Monday

Mark 11...

And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them,

“Is it not written,

‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’?

But you have made it a den of robbers.”

Read more HERE... 

Holy Week - Palm Sunday

From Matthew 21...

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting,

“Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest!”

And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying,

“Who is this?”

And the crowds said,

“This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

Read the rest HERE