Ressurections Still Happen!

The cornerstone of the Christian faith is the person of Jesus Christ. More specifically, His resurrection from the dead. Even the Apostle Paul understood this. He writes:

“If there’s no resurrection, there’s no living Christ. And face it- if there’s no resurrection for Christ, everything we’ve told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you’ve staked your life on is smoke and mirrors. Not only that, but we would be guilty of telling a string of barefaced lies about God...sheer fabrications, if there’s no resurrection...If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we’re a pretty sorry lot. But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries. (1 Cor.15: 15-20, The Message Bible)

Today, resurrections still happen. Not bodily resurrections but spiritual. The Apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesian church, chapter 2:

“V.1: As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins...V.4-5; But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ...by grace are you saved.”

This spiritual resurrection is far more than being inspired to “turn over a new leaf”. Rather, when one calls upon Christ to save, and makes a genuine commitment to live for Him, it is His Spirit which gives new life to the heart, and we become a “new creation.” Sometimes this conversion is sudden and dramatic as Paul himself experienced on the Damascus road. He went from persecutor of the church to preacher. of the gospel. Other times it’s gradual such as with Timothy who was taught faith from youth by his mother and grandmother.

It was the same divine power that took John Newton from being Captain of a slave ship and transformed him into a preacher of the gospel who wrote the hymn, “Amazing Grace.”  It was the same transforming power that finally found rationalist and skeptic, C.S. Lewis, professor at Oxford and Cambridge who wrote Mere Christianity and  Narnia . In his book, Surprised by Joy, he writes of his encounter with...

“Him whom I so earnestly desired NOT to meet...That which I greatly feared had at last come... in 1929 I gave in, and admitted God is God, and knelt and prayed; perhaps that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.”

This is the hope of the resurrection, first in this life and then the next in glory. The former being a necessary qualification for the latter. This is the wonderful experience that Christ offers to all. It provides the blessed assurance of forgiveness and acceptance with God for, through faith in Christ, we become His children;

“Yet to all who receive Him (Jesus) to those who believe on His name, He gave the right to become children of God...John 1:12

This is not more “religion”, this is a “relationship” with the living Christ. I invite you to join us Easter Sunday atand hear more about resurrection. We have a free Easter Breakfast at 9:30AM followed by our Worship Service at 10:45AM.