A Note of Encouragement

from Ciloa

This changes us....every day.

What difference does it make?

Volume XVI, Issue 13

March 28, 2016

No time of year is more significant to those who follow God than the Easter season. But I wonder. Do we care about the event or are we more interested in the show? Is this just another holiday?

I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and He was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, NLT)

Paul wrote this 24 years after those events, yet what they stood for still burned within him. "I'm telling you what was told to me. This is more important than anything else you know." To back it up, he made it clear, "This is exactly what the ancient prophecies said would happen!"

He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. After that, He was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then He was seen by James and later by all the apostles. Last of all...I also saw Him. (vv. 5-8)

If what he had heard and read were not enough, Paul had more. Jesus was seen...after He died, after He was buried...by hundreds of people. Many of them knew Jesus personally. They knew what He looked like and recognized His voice. Most were still alive and could verify what Paul was saying.

This was no mass hallucination, no communal desire desperately pushing aside rational thought for conjured fantasy. These witnesses put themselves on the line, for such an admission could cost them their lives.

And Paul boldly joined them. "I saw Him, too!" But it does not end there.

...whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out His special favor on me---and not without results...yet it was not I but God who was working through me by His grace. (vv. 10-11)

The crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus changes a person. As Paul later wrote, the old passes away, the new comes (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). A new way of thinking, acting, speaking, listening. A new life. We grow from simple believer to devoted follower. Every...single...day!

As we grow, God pours out His special favor on us, molding us into the people He has called us to be---and not without results! For as we follow Him...reaching out to those around us, loving and encouraging one another...we experience the power of God working through us.

Jesus died, the ultimate sacrifice for all the wrongs we will ever commit. He was buried in a tomb, sealed and guarded. And on the third day, He was raised from the dead.

Ancient prophecies fulfilled. Eye witnesses testified. Lives forever changed.

The Easter season is not a once-a-year observance of a historical event, but a daily affirmation of the new, growing life that God has given us by His love, mercy and grace.

What about you? Do you talk about what happened so long ago...after the service is over? Do you still experience what Jesus did? Does His death, burial and resurrection continue to change you?

Shout for joy, dance and sing,

For HE'S ALIVE...the Risen King!

Take care & be God's,

Chuck

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