Happy Blessed Easter Sunday to All Members of the CUMC Family,
I’m ‘staying at home’ at the parsonage after praying and worshiping on this glorious Easter Sunday. Thinking of CUMC family and how I miss you all! It is such a beautiful Easter Sunday! The weather is sunny and bright! What else can I ask for? But I’m missing you! May God bless on you this blessed Easter Sunday! Stay safe and healthy.
Easter message:
For Christians, Easter Sunday is a celebration of victory, love and fellowship over death. Even though we are going through tough time feeling like we are isolated at home, we are thankful that we are still connected with each other through mail, ZOOM, Church website, email and phone calls.
And, we praise God for Jesus’ resurrection today, more than any other Easter Sunday.
Jesus rose from the dead. It was the beginning of a new history. Ever since Adam and Eve had rebelled against God, the world has been living far away from God. But throughout the Old Testament, God had promised to save his people. Because Jesus rose form the dead, God’s new-creation kingdom has begun into this damaged world.
In Isaiah 11:1–9, God had promised to raise up a King from David’s line who would be anointed with God’s Sprit.
John 20:1-18 talks about how Jesus rose from the dead.
Peter tells us that when Jesus rose from the dead, it proved that he was the promised King. Jesus’ resurrection proved that he was the Spirit-anointed King from David’s line, ruling over all creation.
In Christ we shall live. When Jesus Christ, the last Adam, rose from the dead, new-creation life began to flow into this world because Jesus obeyed God. First Adam failed to obey God.
Through his resurrection Jesus became a life-giving spirit. The risen Jesus is the one who gives spiritual life to his people. God made us alive together with Christ. Because Jesus rose from the dead, he raises us from our spiritual death into spiritual life. When we say we have faith in God, we are saying, we believe in Jesus and believe that God raised him from the dead. Now when God raised Jesus from the dead, he was showing the world that Jesus was innocent of the charges against him.
Romans 4:25 tells us that Jesus was delivered up for our sins and raised for our justification. Because Jesus rose from the dead, we, who have faith in Jesus, are justified. We are declared not guilty in God’s gracious and merciful law.
Because God raised Jesus from the dead, he pours out the Holy Spirit on his people. Jesus gives us his Holy Spirit to live inside of us. Holy Spirit in us guides our lives to the right direction.
John 7:39 says that the Spirit could not be given until Jesus was glorified. Now by “glorified” John means Jesus’s death and his resurrection.
Everyone who is joined to Jesus Christ by faith has raised with Christ.
We are no longer slaves of sin. Instead, we are given the power by the Spirit of God to put sin to death. be his instruments of righteousness.
God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in us to empower us to spread the gospel and do good to others.
Our bodies age, decay and are subject to sickness in this world.
When Christ returns, he will transform our bodies to match his glorious resurrection body.
So, Jesus’s resurrection is the beginning of God transforming the creation. We experience that new creation the moment we are born again by God’s Spirit.
Every tear will be wiped away, no more death, no more sorrow, no more weeping, all because, Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
Jesus’s resurrection changed everything. So, we celebrate Easter Sunday. For us, every morning is resurrection day.
It is amazing how we can experience the power of Christ’s resurrection in our daily lives because of God’s Spirit is living inside of us.
We have hope in Christ!
No matter what goes in this world, we can endure because the risen Christ is with us, Therefore, we remain faithfully to God, to the end.
We are all walking together towards the kingdom of heaven. We are friends. We do not hate but love one another. We are brothers and sisters in Christ.
Our one and only enemy is Satan. Satan is trying to divide the churches and people. But we, as brothers and sisters unite in Christ, Christ as the head of our body. We love in Christ, until we see our God face to face and enjoy the feast that is prepared for us, all. God is waiting for us to spread the Gospel to the ends of the world so more people could join in heavenly banquet.
“For God so loved the world, he sent one and only one Son, that whosoever believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3: 16
By the grace of God, through faith, we are saved. And we give thanks to the Lord, For Christ is risen! Alleluia! Christ is risen indeed! Amen!
With love in Christ,
Pastor Jane
God is more powerful than COVID-19!