Real life stories of the Resurrection. By Pastor Joe

Real life stories of the Resurrection. By Pastor Joe

For nearly 15 years, my previous church would host Teen Challenge on Easter Sunday. We blanketed the community with flyers, which stated, come hear real life stories of the Resurrection. By the time the students were done with their testimonies, there was not a dry eye in the sanctuary. For over 15 years the joy of preaching on Easter Sunday was not personally experienced. Six years ago, we had an Easter skit and five years ago was my first time in many years to share the ultimate message of God's love on Resurrection Sunday. The amazing truth is we pastors still need the power of the Gospel to affect our lives even during this Easter season of 2022. The scriptures tell us God's Holy Spirit has come to live in jars of clay. We are all flawed vessels. We are all QUIRKY! Today as we celebrate another Palm Sunday, let's make sure it’s not so much about what most of us will do with this day off. The Palm branches we wave today should remind us of the joy and sadness of this Holy Week ahead. It will do us all well to remember the magnitude of the first Easter Sunday some 2000 years ago. His great sacrifice of love which covered over our great magnitude of sin will culminate next Sunday when we will declare, He is Risen, He is Risen Indeed! What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Part of our responsibility as Christ followers is to help keep the message of Easter clear, concise and current. There is nothing wrong with wholesome activities attached to any sacred holiday, like our continental breakfast on Easter at 9am. The danger is in the true meaning of the season being replaced or relegated to being just some old church celebration. Our goal for next Sunday is to break the 100 barrier. (Which we have done on previous Easter Sundays.) The last 2 years have been challenging with the need to navigate through a world-wide pandemic. Many people church-wide and world-wide have not returned to their places of worship. Nevertheless, people need to hear the Gospel and be converted. The cross, which suspended Jesus between heaven and earth has never drawn followers because of its beauty, yet in the end the beauty of the cross is not in its composition but what it provides each of us in the form of forgiveness. Please invite a friend to be part of our service next week!