Easter. Not just nice clothes and bright colors, the Easter bunny and Easter eggs. But more-- the celebration of the fact that Jesus -- the One from God who came and died here — has defeated death. This great surprise to the disciples, anticipated and known and celebrated by us, would have rocked their world. No one had ever defeated death. Only myths spoke of such a thing. But here in real time, the One they loved had died and been raised. Death had lost its sting. The shackles of the grave broken. No man had ever done this before. But through the power of God, in response to the testimony of the Word, Jesus had been raised from the dead.
As we gather for this Sunday -- come as did these first disciples to the tomb to help anoint his body and with them discover again, Jesus is Alive.
This is the fact that can change how we live.
This is the fact that can change how we experience the circumstances of life.
Nothing of death need defeat us as we look at the fact that this One who died has been raised.
Sin and death met their defeat at the cross and in the resurrection, so too for our lives.
What might it look like to live from the resurrection power in our life, daily? What might it look like if everything was filtered through this incontrovertible fact? If Christ truly has accomplished something this magnificent, it ought to impact all of our lives, not just our manner of life, but our thinking, our relationships, and how we process defeat. Truly, since this “defeat” became the ultimate victory, perhaps all defeats could be viewed then as stepping stones to victory. What if this were the case?
Try this on for size and don’t miss Easter Sunday -- 6:30 am at Duffield house; 8:15 and 10:00 am at Westside. Come and worship!