April 10, 2000
TOGETHER:
Walk where Jesus walked
as you look toward Easter
___Easter Sunday approaches.
___I've always rejoiced in the sense that every Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection of our Lord. I feel a kinship with all Christians everywhere and in every century when I come to worship on Sunday morning.
___We are the people who come to an open tomb and in amazement hear the angels say:"He is not here. He is risen!" (Matthew 28:6).
CHARLES WADE
Executive Director
BGCT Executive Board
___Don't let the celebration of Christ's victory ever lose its wonder in your life.
___Sunday by Sunday, bring to your Savior the dead things in your heart and ask him to restore and renew your spirit.
___We serve the God who calls us out of sin and brokenness to forgiveness and healing. Jesus gave as his life's purpose: "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).
___Having said that, it is good to remember that there is biblical precedent for annual remembrances.
___The Passover feast is my favorite example from the Bible. Each year, the Jewish people gathered, and still do, around the table to remember that God delivered them from the slavery of Egypt and set them free for the doing of his will. What Moses and Joshua did to lead God's people to a new life prefigures what Jesus would do when he laid down his life in sacrifice for the sin of the world and took it back again in resurrection power so he might set us free and lead us to new life.
___In the churches I pastored, I wanted to help us take a journey to the cross and on to resurrection morning.
___Many people come to church on Easter, and they have not considered at all what it required of Jesus to be able to give us Easter.
___My experience with my own heart has been that if I did not take time to walk through the darkness of his temptation, agony, betrayal, rejection and crucifixion, I could not fully enter into the joy and gladness of Easter morning.
___If your church provides special times of worship which help you enter into the week of his passion and pain, I encourage you to participate fully. All of us can read through one of the Gospels as we approach Easter in order to experience more deeply the spiritual power of what Jesus Christ has done for us and for all the world.
___Here is a suggested list of readings you could use beginning on Palm Sunday:
___April 16: Matthew 20:17-34; 21:1-17.
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___As you prayerfully ask the Holy Spirit to teach you and help you feel deeply the experience of your Savior, I guarantee you, this will be the most powerful Easter you have ever known.
___God has created us to have a personal relationship with him. He really does love us. He feels as well as hears our prayers.
___Jesus invited his disciples to go with him to pray. He needed them then. I sense that he needs us even now to come close to him in his suffering and, then, to know the power of his resurrection.
___We are loved.
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