May 2022...He's Alive!

HE'S ALIVE!!!

I am still flying high from the Easter celebrations.  On Good Friday, I participated in a joint service with three of our churches: First Fil-Am Baptist Church, The Great I Am Fellowship, and Iglesia Bautista Pacto de Gracia.  Each year these churches celebrate Good Friday with a service dedicated to the Seven Last Words of Christ.  It is an exciting time of food, music, preaching, and prayer.

Then on Sunday, I celebrated Easter with Tropicana Christian Fellowship.  It was a great celebration with food, music, preaching, and fellowship.  Easter is a time of celebrating the hope that we have in Christ.  Jesus has won the victory over death.

Here are some benefits we share because of Easter:

1. When we put our faith in Christ, we are born again!  We no longer faith death.  As a result of the resurrection all believers are given a new beginning.
2. The resurrection means that our sins have been forgiven.  Psalm 103:12 says, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has God removed our sins from us."  The east never meets the west so our sins are gone forever.  When Jesus died He removed our sins, so they are no longer.
3. In Jeremiah 31:31 the Lord declares, "For I forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more."  God promises that He has forgiven our sins.  He has removed it so far it cannot be found.  He has fogotten our sins.
4. Because of the resurrection, not only have our sins been fogiven and forgotten, our righteousness has been restored.  Our sins are many, but we now have a new life.  I John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, God is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  He has changed us from unrighteousness.
5. Our relationship to God is restored.  Jesus was delivered over because of our transgressions and was raised for our justification (Romans 4:24-25).  Salvation means we are justified.  We are made right with God.  So the resurrection has restored our relationship with God.  We are now children of God.
6. God promises us eternal life with Him in heaven.  Heaven is beautiful.  The streets are made of gold and the gates are made of gemstones.  The center of heaven is Jesus.  In heaven there is no pain, no suffering, no tears.  There is rejoicing, singing, and love.  This new home is filled with all our loved ones who proceeded us.  We will be able to visit with friends and family.  Most of all God is there.  We will be in the presence of God for eternity.

So what is the real meaning of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus?  What is Easter all about?  It is about hope!  It is God's intervention into history to give us a new future.  Without Easter we would have no hope.  We would face eternal separation from God.

We have hope!  We must remember that our purpose is to make disciples.  We need to remember to keep the main thing, the main thing.  Share the gospel!