Pastor's Pondering
Read Lead Pastor Duane Mabee's weekly Pastor's Ponderings here!
Happy Easter!
by Duane Mabee on April 5, 2023Happy Easter! Today, we celebrate the most important event of all time. Nothing that has ever happened or ever will happen comes close to the importance of the resurrection. By His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ was powerfully declared to be the Son of God, through the Spirit of holiness, (Rom. 1:4). By His death and resurrection, Jesus gave everyone who believes in Him and receives Him, the right to become dearly loved children of God, (John 1:12). That is absolutely astounding.
1 Peter 1:3-6 puts it this way, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you…” (ESV).
Believer, I hope you never get used to what Jesus did for you. I hope you never take for granted how much He loves you. I pray it never becomes routine for you, but that each time you are reminded of it, it moves you to heart felt worship. May it bring tears of joy to your eyes and fill you with a sense of being deeply loved. As Paul prayed for the Ephesian believers, I pray that “your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God,” (Eph 3:17-19 NLT).
If you don’t have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, I pray that God will open your heart and mind to Him through faith so that everything I’ve written above will also be true of you. Some of the most famous verses in the Bible promise that God loves you so much He gave His only Son – to die and rise again for you – so that if you believe in Him, you will not perish but have eternal life. God did not send His Son into the world to condemn you, but in order that you might be saved through faith in Him. Whoever believes in Jesus is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the Name of the only Son of God, (John 3:16-18).
This is what we celebrate on Easter Sunday. This is what we believe. All of our hope and acceptance depends on what Jesus Christ did for us when He suffered and die for us, and then rose to life again. Happy Easter!