Talking About Jesus

I love talking to people about Jesus. The night I said yes and surrendered control of my life to Jesus and began the journey as a follower, I immediately wanted to spend my life telling others about Him. That is what Jesus has allowed me to do. I get really excited when I talk with someone, especially if they know little about Jesus, and we discuss the most amazing person who ever lived. We can see his influence in many aspects of life, from the calendar to the way people communicate, even if they don't recognize it. I’ve talked to three people in the last week that have almost no knowledge of Jesus, the Scriptures, or why people believe and go to church. The “church” world is completely foreign to them. I love talking to them. It’s all new, interesting, and challenging. Unfortunately, those who have been around the church can become bored with living a life of faith. I often wonder how someone who follows Jesus, the most intriguing and impactful person in history, can ever get bored. I’m baffled by bored “Christians.” The immense interest in Jesus, has caused both the TV series “The Chosen” and the movie “Jesus Revolution” to become popular. People want to know about Jesus. Take advantage of the season we are in and invite people to join you for Easter. Engage in conversations with them. It's likely they want to know about the King of Kings. Easter is coming. Jesus, help us! Give us the courage to share the wonder of the Most Wonderful One. Amen.

Easter Is Coming

We are only a few weeks away from one of those times when people are more likely to accept an invitation to a church gathering. It’s Easter. There are people in your life that you want to know Jesus in the way you do. You want them to experience His love, grace, hope, and forgiveness. Easter gives you an opportunity to invite them to join you for our Easter Celebration. There is a month until our Easter Celebration. Now is the time to pray for your friends and for opportunities to invite them to join you. Jesus is more concerned about your friends and family than you can imagine. He loves when we pray for people to come to faith. The Apostle Paul wrote: God “wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:4 (NLT) The Apostle Peter wrote: “The Lord … is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.” 2 Peter 3:9 (NLT) Jesus sacrificed Himself for the people you are praying for. He is working in their lives and desires to use you as a messenger of compassion and mercy. God “brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’” 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 (NLT) Jesus gave me a couple opportunities to talk to people this week about Him. During our conversation, I invited them to join us for our Easter Celebration. It’s never too early to invite people to our Easter Celebration.

The Day the World Changed

Jesus lived the most incredible life ever. No one has impacted and revolutionized humanity like him. Years ago, English cultural commentator G. K. Chesterton said the story of Jesus is “the strangest story ever told.” The story is not only the strangest but also the most unlikely of stories. Charles Colson observed, “A borrowed manger, and a borrowed tomb framed his earthly life.” What other world revolutionary figure entered the world in such humble circumstances? Born to a woman pregnant before marriage, in a time when that was scandalous. She conceived without intimacy with a man. Unheard of! His first bed in a borrowed feeding trough. Yet, visited by Magi, from far-away lands, led to the infant by a star. He was a traveling rabbi who performed countless miracles. Many hoped he was the promised messiah, and he disappointed them. Rejected and hated by the religious establishment and executed for treason. Laid to rest in a borrowed tomb, on the third day he rose from the grave. This weekend, starting at the international dateline in Kiribati (a small island country in the Pacific) and ending 24 hours later, 3 billion people will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Even in countries where Jesus and his resurrection are not celebrated, Easter is recognized as a holiday. People worldwide, who don’t celebrate Jesus, or the resurrection recognize Easter as a holiday. No where on the planet can a person get away from the day the world changed. I hope Jesus invades your heart and life uniquely as the world celebrates the Risen Savior.

Happy Easter

For centuries Christians around the world have celebrated Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, preparing for the ceremony on Easter Sunday. What about Saturday? Why is Saturday not recognized? Why have believers been silent about Saturday? Poor lowly Saturday gets no recognition during Easter week.

Maundy Thursday – Maundy is from an Anglo-French term for command. On Thursday of Easter week Jesus gave his followers a “new command” to “Love one another as He loves.”

Good Friday – “Good” because on that day Jesus suffered and died on the cross for the forgiveness of all mankind.

Easter Sunday – The day that Jesus rose from the dead and permanently changed all human history.

Saturday – This was a bad day for the followers of Jesus. He was gone. Their Rabbi, physician, and promised Messiah was laying in a tomb. Jesus was lifeless, and they were hopeless. This was a bad day for the Romans. The troublemaker Jesus was in the tomb, but they feared someone would remove the body, so they positioned guards at the tomb.

Was anything going on that day? Of course, something was transpiring. God was going on. God never cease acting. Even in the minutes and days when it sounds like God is silent and "still,” He is not. He is constantly acting.

God proclaims in the Psalms:

“Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.” Psalms 46:10 (NLT)

On what appeared to be a quiet Saturday, “I am God.” On Easter Sunday, “I am God.”

In your circumstances yesterday, today and tomorrow, “I am God.”

Your hope is found in Jesus, the Son of God, who lived, died and rose for you!

Happy Easter!