Believe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3qwadI1AP0

We had a wonderful celebration of Christ's resurrection today at church, great family time, and enjoyed watching The Case For Christ with some family and friends.  I was honored to sing a song for offertory today so sang, Resurrection by Nicole Sponberg....one of my favorites.  It is so exciting to think about the empty tomb and that the power of the resurrection has been made available to us through Christ....death has NO hold on us....God makes all things NEW, ALIVE and GROWING.  We can think about the sacrifice Christ has made on our behalf to show us LOVE and to offer us REDEMPTION....and that is so amazing!!!!  I love that Jesus didn't just die and arise....I mean, His disciples could have still shared Christ's claims about his promise to rise from the dead and it still would have been by faith that we are saved, but Jesus actually showed himself, physically, to many people and God also allowed for many others to raise from the dead during that time and go into Jerusalem to testify that they had been resurrected.  We don't talk about those people very often at Easter, but it was a HUGE marker in history and GOD wanted to make sure that there was NO MISTAKE that the resurrection was fact.  Praise God for this evidence through the eye witness accounts, the manuscripts, the archaeology, the medical proof....as well as the personal assurance and peace we can find through our faith.

I praise God too that faith is difficult, that loving people is hard and takes sacrifice.  I praise God for the opportunities for my faith to be made sight by those who may be able to see Christ in me.  I want God to say, "Well done, GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT" as I walk into eternity, but I also want those who know me to see Christ in me now by how I love people, how I handle my trials....by my faithfulness.  I think that takes my understanding that I need Him so desperately....I need His resurrection hope in my life, I need His resurrection love, I need His resurrection power!

 Resurrection

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t8Sk6cZ-PA