Ministers Message – Licking Christian Church

CELEBRATING THE RESURRECTION

by Rick Mosher

This month we celebrate Christ’s resurrection – commonly, although not in Scripture, called “Easter”. Some churches will have early morning services to mark the day. This is largely because we are told in the Bible that it was at daybreak that some women who were disciples of Jesus went to the tomb to anoint His body and found that He had risen.

We are among those who conduct such a service in addition to our regular Worship on Easter Sunday. It commemorates an important truth about Jesus’ resurrection. It’s certainly appropriate that Jesus arose very early in the morning just as the sun was coming up. This old lost and dying world couldn’t stand to wait a second longer.

You see, Christ’s resurrection was one of those events that “just couldn’t happen soon enough”. I once did a sermon about the Saturday between the Friday Jesus died and the Sunday He arose. That had to be the most hopeless, miserable, day in all of eternity. It

seemed Satan had won, death and sin were victorious. Perhaps on that day few of us would have had much of an argument to put up against the liberal scholar of fifty or so years ago who proclaimed God was dead. Any word of hope for a helpless dying world could not come soon enough that Saturday.

Then on Sunday morning as the sun rose so did the SON! To those grieving women who so lovingly had come to further take care of Jesus’ dead body the angel announced such words of joy and hope in Matthew 28.5-6: “Do not be afraid, for I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.”

In a world full of sadness, pain, sin, despair, confusion, and hopelessness I’m glad we’re reminded again by this season that the tomb is empty, Jesus arose from the dead, was seen by many witnesses, and that we have a living Savior. Jesus’ resurrection is the evidence on which our faith rests. It is the bedrock of our hope.

So, for the days just before and the weeks just after Resurrection Sunday I’m not posting a lengthy message here on our web site but this simple one of hope and joy. If you are in Christ, may the hope we share in our risen Lord encourage you even in times of sorrow and distress.

To you who are still lost in sin, don’t you want the hope and victory that can be yours only through Jesus who died on the cross for your sins and arose from the dead to give you hope and life eternal? The Bible is quite clear how you can receive Jesus into your life as Savior and Lord. Let’s see how.

First, John 3.16 tells us: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” It all starts with faith, believing Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and trusting Him to be your Lord and Savior.

Next, in Matthew 10.32 Jesus tells us we must “confess” (or as the version I’m using here puts it “acknowledge” our faith in Him. “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.” Whether in the presence of many, such as at a worship service of the church, or just one or two as with the Ethiopian man in Acts 8, we must go on record that we believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

We also find in Scripture that we must repent from sin, that is change our mind about who’s in control, take ourselves off the throne of our lives and put Jesus there so that we will live for Him the rest of our lives.

Furthermore, we must be baptized into Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins and to have the Holy Spirit come live in our lives. Acts 2.38 tells us: “Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Peter told this to thousands in Acts 2 as he told them of their guilt in the death of Jesus and of the glorious news that he had risen from the dead and is Lord and Christ. Romans 6.4 informs us that in proper baptism (immersion) you spiritually connect with and receive the benefits of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. Romans 6.4 tells us, “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

If we can assist you in your obedience to the Gospel as seen in these verses so that you will be saved, come visit us at Licking Christian Church. If you live outside our area, contact us and we’ll do our best to connect you with a church in your area that will so help you.