3/25/2024
There are hundreds of religions in this world. You read that right, hundreds. I’m sure you’re aware of many of the larger, more prominent ones, but there are hundreds of smaller organizations as well. All of these religions, with the exception of Christianity, have one thing in common. Regardless of what they believe, how big or small they are, where they exist…..the all believe in “do”. They all believe that they have to earn their way into paradise (or whatever they refer to eternity as).
The difference Christianity? The difference is, Christianity believes in “done”……as in, the work has been done. Jesus went to the cross as the supreme sacrifice for our sins. He paid for every one of mine, yours and everyone else’s. But as you know, that’s not the end of the story.
Yes, Jesus died.
Yes, Jesus was buried. (Which was highly unusual, as we’ll learn this weekend.)
At this point, everyone thought it was, “game over”. Everyone. Even His disciples, who had been with Him for so long, went into hiding because they feared that they would be next to die. But then came Sunday and something no one expected:
An empty tomb.
JESUS HAD RISEN!!! Just as He said He would, Jesus had risen from the dead. He had conquered death and taken the keys of death, hell and the grave.
This is what Easter is all about!!! This is what this coming weekend is all about: celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ; celebrating the victory that was won; celebrating the freedom from sin that is ours when we put our faith in Jesus and what He did on the cross. This is what we will celebrate this weekend.
And this is why it’s so important to invite people who are far from God to come and sit with you this weekend. Maybe they’ve heard the message many times, maybe this will be the first. Regardless, we want them to hear. The reason is because, as we’ll see a few weeks later in this series, Jesus’ invitation is the same now as it was nearly 2,000 years ago:
Follow me.
So between now and Sunday, would you join me in praying for everyone who shows up this weekend? We want them to have open hearts to hear the message as the Holy Spirit speaks to them, and we want them to respond to the invitation to trust in Jesus.
I’m looking forward to being with all of you and celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
I love you, church!!!!