Message From the Pastor

 

Dear Family of Faith,

What a joy! Spring is in the air; Jack Frost is trying to stay as long as he can but his days are waning. The time is drawing near for us to celebrate the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a special time because it is our special opportunity to share with others why we are followers of Christ. The Apostle Paul writing to the Corinthian Christians said in 1st Cor 15:3-4

For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

There is a good possibility that some of the people we know do not understand the necessity of our Lord’s death, here we read that Christ died for our sins. Christ endured the suffering and shame of the cross because of our sins. He went to the cross because it was the only way for the justice of God could be satisfied on our behalf. Secondly, we read that his death was according to the scriptures. The Word of God cannot be broken, our Lords death was prophesied hundreds of years before he came into the world (Isaiah 53, Zech 12:10, Psalm 22, 34:20). Thirdly after six hours of bearing the weight of our sin he died and he was buried. Our Lord experienced death for each of us (Heb 2:9) and for our sakes he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: the physical, bodily resurrection of Christ is the evidence that God the Father has accepted the work of God the Son for you and I. The Word of God says of Christ:

Romans 4:25-5:1 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

So then at Easter we celebrate the truth that Christ died for us, was buried and rose again for our justification before God, that is so that God can declare us righteous before him because of the finished work of Christ for us. This is the good news that you and I have been commissioned to proclaim to the world.

 

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor Woody

 

Quotes on the Power of the Resurrection

 

“He, the Life of all, our Lord and Saviour, did not arrange the manner of his own death lest He should seem to be afraid of some other kind. No. He accepted and bore upon the cross a death inflicted by others, and those other His special enemies, a death which to them was supremely terrible and by no means to be faced; and He did this in order that, by destroying even this death, He might Himself be believed to be the Life, and the power of death be recognized as finally annulled. A marvelous and mighty paradox has thus occurred, for the death which they thought to inflict on Him as dishonor and disgrace has become the glorious monument to death's defeat.” ― Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation

“It was no accident, no coincidence, that the seasons came round and round year after year. It was the Lord speaking to us all and showing us over and over again the birth, life, death, and resurrection of his only begotten Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, our Lord. It was like a best-loved story being told day after day with each sunrise and sunset, year after year with the seasons, down through the ages since time began.” ― Francine Rivers, The Last Sin Eater

“If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn't rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.” ― Timothy Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism

“Jesus's resurrection is the beginning of God's new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven. That, after all, is what the Lord's Prayer is about.” ― N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church