Don't miss your resurrection

A blessed Good Friday to you, dear friends. Notice I did not say “do not miss HIS resurrection.” You know we celebrate that this Sunday, right? The most important day in all of Christianity is when we contemplate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know you won’t miss it… Easter Morning at 9:00 or 10:30 a.m.  I’m not worried about that. I am concerned, however, about YOUR resurrection. *That* one could get missed if we’re not careful. Let’s talk in Deeper Thoughts below…
 
 BUT first…
 

• EASTER is THIS Sunday, April 5!!! Bring some family or friends with you to one of our TWO identical 65-minute worship services Easter Morning at 9:00 and 10:30 a.m. The Gospel will be clearly and sensitively presented for your unchurched loved ones, and we will all be challenged to experience the resurrected life that Jesus has for us!

 

• Kids Connect will be offered at 10:30 a.m. ONLY, but kids are welcome with us in the main service either hour. Nursery is available at 9:00 and 10:30 a.m.

 

• AND… join us for an Easter Egg hunt at 11:45 a.m.… age-appropriate hunts for toddlers, kids, and teens! Everyone come watch the fun!

 

• NOTE: Our plan for the egg hunt is rain or shine… the forecast has some light drizzle in store for us Sunday; please have your kids dressed for some damp. (But if it’s a hard rain, we’ll have a backup plan for under the pavilion or indoors.)

 

• TEENS: NO youth group this week… BUT… join us NEXT Saturday, April 11 for FIRE Worship Night, 6:00 – 8:30 p.m. – Dinner, worship, connection, and conversation about God’s GRACE! Friends are welcome!!

 

• Ladies: Join us Saturday, April 25 at 9:30 – 11:30 a.m. for breakfast and a prayer walk at Morven Park in Leesburg.  Click here for more info and to RSVP!

 

• Save the date for Saturday, May 16 for a women’s self-defense training led by Pastor Samuel Sierra. More details to come!!

 

• NEW Daily Six content THIS WEEK!! Join us for six minutes each day, Monday through Friday, as we continue our character-by-character study of how to find the heart of God… click here for our Daily Six webpage to find new content on Monday morning, OR… click here to sign up for our daily email reminders (if you’ve not already done so!).

 
 
OK… that’s it for today for you email skimmers and those who hate long emails…
 
BUT…
 
 
Some Deeper Thoughts
 
Roughly one-thousand, nine-hundred and ninety-six years ago there was a violent earthquake in Jerusalem. A massive angel shook the earth as he rolled back a 3,500-pound, five foot tall and one-foot-thick stone, plopped down on it and sat.
 
Gosh… wouldn’t that have been so cool to see? Bam, the angle takes a seat. The Roman guards who were filled with hate and sin “were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men” (Matthew 28:4).
 
“Greetings,” Jesus said to the ladies who had come to the tomb with spices for his embalming. Translate that to modern English: “Hey there, ladies. What’s up?”
 
So cool.
 
But so what?
 
Is this merely a story in the Bible meant to encourage and inspire us? Is this to just create in us a fairy tale image of Jesus’s memory being alive in our hearts? Or did this really, literally occur? And what do I DO with this?
 
This story is not meant to stand alone. This is because it is not just a story. It is a reality.
 
This event was the most transformative experience that humankind has ever known. Not because it happened to one man—Jesus—but because of what has happened to hundreds of millions of believers who have embraced not only HIS resurrection, but also THEIRS.
 
When Jesus died on the cross (remembered today on Good Friday), a grand transaction occurred in the spiritual realm: “When you were dead in your transgressions and sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sin, having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross… and triumphing… by the cross” (Colossians 2:13-15).
 
Did you miss it?
 
Your sins were forgiven. Check. The letter of God’s Law that stood opposed to our wickedness was nailed to the cross. Every detail, every code, every regulation we have violated before God was cancelled.
 
But wait! There’s more!! Did you miss it?
 
“God made you alive” (Colossians 2:13).
 
You and I were dead. Spiritual doornail. Done. Failed. Six feet under. Kaput.
 
But then there was a resurrection. HIS resurrection, yes. But that wasn’t all. YOUR resurrection occurred, too. “We were therefore buried with him…into death [our sins were nailed to that cross, and our sinful bodies were spiritual buried with him in that tomb] in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:4).
 
“If we were united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection” (Romans 6:5).
 
This has tremendous implications for our lives… *IF* we will not miss it.
 
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:1-2).
 
Beloved, if this physical resurrection really took place; if that big and tall angel sat so hard on a 5-foot boulder that an earthquake rocked the city; if the God of the Universe embodied in Jesus could not be held down by the grave… then you and I need to respond. There is a setting of our hearts and minds that we are called to do. There is a change of focus that will change our reality.
 
In short: We need to show up for our own resurrection because Jesus showed up for his.
 
Let’s talk more about this as we meet for a mighty Resurrection Sunday, 9:00 a.m. or 10:30 a.m. sharp… Don’t be late… bring your friends and your Bible!!
 
Much love to you all…
 
Chris Eads
Mt. Hope Pastor
Friend