Holy Week takes a somber turn on Thursday

From Bethany...

Jesus sent Peter and John ahead of Him to the Upper Room in Jerusalem to prepare for the Passover Feast

That evening after sunset...

Jesus washed His disciples' feet

As they prepared to share in the Passover

By performing this humble act of service...

Jesus demonstrated by example...

How His disciples should serve the church

Today...

Many churches practice foot-washing ceremonies...

As a part of their ​Maundy Thursday services

Then...

Jesus shared the feast of Passover with His disciples...

Saying...

"I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins. For I tell you now that I won't eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God."

~ Luke 22:15-16

As the Lamb of God...

Jesus was about to fulfill the meaning of Passover

By giving His body and his blood in sacrifice

Freeing us from sin and death



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9 / 15



During this Last Supper...

Jesus established the Lord's Supper

Or Communion...

Instructing His followers to continually remember His sacrifice by sharing in the bread and wine 

( ~ Luke 22:19-20 )

Later...

Jesus and His disciples left the Upper Room

And went to the Garden of Gethsemane

Where Jesus prayed in agony to God the Father

Luke's Gospel says...

"his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground"

~ Luke 22:44

Late that evening in Gethsemane...

Jesus was betrayed with a kiss by Judas Iscariot

And arrested by the Sanhedrin

He was taken to the home of Caiaphas, the High Priest

Where the whole council of the Sanhedrin had gathered to begin making their case against our Lord

In the early morning hours...

As Jesus' trial was getting underway...

Peter denied knowing his Master three times before the rooster crowed

Thursday's events are recorded in

~ Matthew 26:17–75
~ Mark 14:12-72
~ Luke 22:7-62
~ John 13:1-38


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Good Friday is the most difficult day of Passion Week

Christ's journey turned treacherous and acutely painful in these final hours leading to His death

According to Scripture...

Judas Iscariot...

The disciple who had betrayed Jesus

Was overcome with remorse

And hanged himself early Friday morning

Meanwhile...

Before the third hour (9 a.m.)

Jesus endured the shame of...

False accusations
Condemnation
Mockery
Beatings
And abandonment

After multiple unlawful trials...

He was sentenced to death by crucifixion

One of the most horrible and disgraceful methods of capital punishment known at the time

Before Christ was led away...

Soldiers spit on Him
Tormented
And mocked him

And pierced Him with a crown of thorns

Then Jesus carried his own cross to Calvary

And was again mocked and insulted

As Roman soldiers nailed Him to the wooden cross

Jesus spoke seven final statements from the cross

His first words were.......



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"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

~ Luke 23:34

His last words were...

"Father, into your hands I commit my spirit"

~ Luke 23:46

Then, about the ninth hour
(3 p.m.)

Jesus breathed his last breath and died

By 6 p.m. Friday evening...

Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea

Took Jesus' body down from the cross and laid it in a tomb

Friday's events are recorded in

~ Matthew 27:1-62
~ Mark 15:1-47
~ Luke 22:63-23:56
~ John 18:28-19:37


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Jesus' body lay in its tomb...

Where it was guarded by Roman soldiers throughout the day on Saturday

Which was the Sabbath

When the Sabbath ended at 6 p.m.

Christ's body was ceremonially treated for burial with spices purchased by Nicodemus...

"He brought about seventy-five pounds of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes. Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus' body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth."

~ John 19: 39-40

Nicodemus...

Like Joseph of Arimathea...

Was a member of the Sanhedrin

The court that had condemned Jesus Christ to death

For a time...

Both men had lived as secret followers of Jesus

Afraid to make a public profession of faith...

Because of their prominent positions in the Jewish community

Similarly...

Both were deeply affected by Christ's death

They boldly came out of hiding

Risking their reputations and their lives because they had come to realize...

That Jesus was indeed

The long-awaited Messiah



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Together they cared for Jesus' body and prepared it for burial

While His physical body lay in the tomb...

Jesus Christ paid the penalty for sin by offering the perfect spotless sacrifice

He conquered death

Both spiritually and physically

Securing our eternal salvation...

"For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God."

~ 1 Peter 1:18-19

Saturday's events are recorded in

~ Matthew 27:62-66
~ Mark 16:1
~ Luke 23:56
~ John 19:40



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On Resurrection Sunday...

Or Easter...

We reach the culmination of Holy Week

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is...

The most important event of the Christian faith

The very foundation of ALL  Christian doctrine hinges on the truth of this account

Early Sunday morning...

Several women...

Mary Magdalene
Joanna, Solomon
Mary the mother of James

Went to the tomb and discovered that the large stone covering the entrance had been rolled away

An angel announced...

"Don't be afraid! I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn't here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen."

~ Matthew 28:5-6

On the day of his resurrection...

Jesus Christ made at least five appearances

Mark's Gospel says the first person to see him was Mary Magdalene

Jesus also appeared to Peter

To the two disciples on the road to Emmaus

And later that day...

To all of the disciples except Thomas

While they were gathered in a house for prayer



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The eyewitness accounts in the Gospels...

Provide what Christians believe to be undeniable evidence that the resurrection of Jesus Christ did indeed happen

Two millennia after his death...

Followers of Christ still flock to Jerusalem to see the empty tomb

Sunday's events are recorded in

~ Matthew 28:1-13
~ Mark 16:1-14
~ Luke 24:1-49
~ John 20:1-23

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Happy Thursday to everyone 🙏🕊🦋🌷🌼

📖 Bibleverse of the Day 🌤 ⛰ 👫🏾
Thursday – February 19, 2026 🖋

"A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother."
~ Proverbs 18:24 | KJB

This verse teaches us that nurturing genuine, quality friendships require active efforts in being friendly and kind, and where loyalty and devotion to the friendship are central. These types of friendships stand in contrast to superficial, fair-weathered relationships and friendships where loyalty lacks. Let this verse remind you to cherish the meaningful friendships you've built in your life and honor them, while being thankful to God to be able to discern a genuine friendship from an ingenuine one – as you are reading through Scripture today...

Have a blessed day 🙏🏽 🕊

° ᵗᵃᵖ ᵒⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ⁱᵐᵃᵍᵉ ᵗᵒ ˢᵉᵉ ⁱᵗ ⁱⁿ ᶠᵘˡˡ °

This beautiful song suits the verse of February 19 – as there's not a greater friend in life to have, than our Lord Jesus Christ. Enjoy listening 👇🏽 🙏🏽 🕊

https://youtu.be/nsreMDU8dVw?si=XJ9FtUZrbzZ4vxCC

. 📜 Fridaystudy 📖 February 20, 2026 🗓

𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐆𝐎𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐁𝐀𝐃𝐄 𝐌𝐈𝐗𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐊 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐌𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐏𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐋𝐄 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈𝐓

Few verses confuse readers more than Exodus 23:19, Exodus 34:26, and Deuteronomy 14:21 where God commands Israel not to boil a young goat in its mother’s milk. Some treat it like a random food rule, others ignore it completely, but Scripture rarely gives repeated commands without deep meaning. In the ancient world, many pagan fertility rituals used the shocking image of cooking a baby animal in the very milk meant to sustain it. God was drawing a hard line between His people and surrounding practices that blurred life, death, and worship. What looked like a kitchen instruction was actually a spiritual boundary.

Leviticus 20:26 shows the pattern. Israel was called to be set apart. Mixing milk, a symbol of nurture and life, with meat, a symbol of sacrifice and death, represented a moral confusion common in idol worship. God’s law often used physical actions to teach spiritual separation. The command was less about diet and more about identity.

Some argue the rule proves that all believers today must avoid combining dairy and meat. Others point to Mark 7:18-19 and Acts 10 where food laws begin to shift under the new covenant. The deeper principle remains. God was confronting a culture that normalized cruelty disguised as ritual. He was teaching that life given by God must not be twisted into something violent or profane.

The controversy today is not really about food. It is about whether believers still understand holiness as separation. When Scripture draws a line, it exposes the heart. The command about milk and meat reminds us that God does not only care about belief. He cares about what His people symbolize to the world. Ignore that, and the law looks strange. Understand it, and it becomes a warning against blending what God has called sacred with what culture calls normal.

𝔽𝕒𝕞𝕚𝕝𝕪 𝕀𝕟 ℂ𝕙𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕥 𝕁𝕖𝕤𝕦𝕤 ✝️🍃🕊

#BibleStudy #OldTestament #Faith

Solomon offers a contrast between discretion and gossip

Godly "discretion" does not mean ignoring offenses or hiding crimes

This is not the attitude referred to in English as

"sweeping it under the rug"

Rather, those who seek to demonstrate love

( ~ John 13:34–35; ~ Romans 12:10 )

Aim for repentance and reconciliation

( ~ Proverbs 10:12 )

That might involve consequences

( ~ 1 Corinthians 5:13 )

But the primary goal is bringing others closer to God

Choosing to handle offenses with grace can even convince an enemy of their own wrongdoing

( ~ Proverbs 16:7 )

The opposite extreme from entirely ignoring a problem is indiscretion

Repeating the news of an offense to those who have no reason to know about it

As with the first half of the Proverb...

The intent is not to discourage accountability

Informing authorities is not gossip

Saying nothing could mean enabling sin...


Part 2 continues below 👇

Part 2 continues...


What this part of the proverb describes are...

Personal differences
Mistakes
Or Embarrassments

( ~ Proverbs 12:16 )

"Blabbing" about someone else's shortcomings is a form of damaging, evil speech

( ~ Proverbs 16:27–28 )

Even good friendships can be destroyed by such betrayals

The New Testament strongly condemns gossip and the actions of a busybody

It encourages believers to help whenever a brother is overtaken in a transgression

~ Galatians 6:1 instructs...

"Brothers, if anyone is caught in a transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted"



~ Proverbs 17:7–21

Continues Solomon's wise observations

These remarks touch on...

* Speech
* Fools
* Strife
* True friendship
* Co-signing loans
* Love of sinning

And what a fool can expect thanks to his foolishness

Numerous comments involve errors that lead to arguments and division

Some observations make a statement and then add to it

Others present vivid contrasts




In Todays world there is alot to be learned from this in soooo many platforms...

Especially social media

You've probably heard this poisonous statement many times...

"It's just a little harmless gossip"

The Wise Teacher reminds us that gossip is neither little nor harmless

Sharing someone else's...

Stumble
Offense
Failure
Or Flaws

Separates friends and causes horrible damage

The consequences of such gossip are severe

And its damage is often lasting and devastating

Especially to relationships

Instead...

It is much better to be a peacemaker

And an offense-mender

Someone who covers over an offense with...

Grace, Forgiveness, and Love



As Jesus said:

“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall bee called the children of God.”

~ Matthew 5:9

A peacemaker is one who covers over an offense

And promotes love and peace



LET THAT BE SAID OF US !




My Prayer...



Father of Glory,

I confess that I am often more a peace lover than a peacemaker

Being a peacemaker seems to be a lot harder for us in these times

Covering over offenses feels a lot more difficult than passing on the gossip about an offense

So, please give me the character not to repeat gossip

But instead to have the wisdom and strength to be an offense-mender

And an offense-coverer

Through the Prince of Peace
Himself
I pray

Amen

🙏