“Why do you look for the living among the dead? His is not here; He has risen!

Luke 24:5b-6a

He has risen; the truth of these three words forever changed the course of human history. Because Jesus died for the sins of all people and rose from the dead He has made it possible for everyone to experience His forgiveness and eternal life, which begins at the moment we invite Jesus into our heart as our Savior and Lord. And through His resurrection Jesus has made it possible for all who believe in Him to live in the fullness of His grace, mercy and love.

During the month of March, and leading up to Easter, each Sunday we will look at ways that Jesus challenged and changed the lives of the people He encountered during His 3 years of ministry on earth. And as we know, each of these are ways that He still challenges and changes us today when we give Him the freedom to work in our lives.

May the words that the early church shared to encourage each other still encourage us today: “The Lord is risen. The Lord is risen indeed!”

                                             God’s Grace and Peace,

                                                                  Mark

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” I Corinthians 13:13

Faith, hope and love are three of the key words in all of scripture, which is not too surprising when we consider the roles of faith, hope and love in our lives and relationship with Jesus.

Faith is believing in what we have not seen. Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Hope is looking forward to something with confident expectation. Isaiah 40:31 tells us, “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

The Greek word for love here is agape, God’s love, an unselfish love; a love that isn’t based on our worthiness to be loved but on God’s desire to love us. In Romans 5:8 we read, “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Faith, hope and love are all key elements in our relationship with God, each is of major importance in its own right, and while everything else that seems so permanent in the world is gone, only those three things will remain. And yet, I Corinthians 13:13 tells us that the greatest is love.

The greatest is love because, as I John 4:16 tells us, “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.” Faith and hope are based on God while God is love, which truly makes love the greatest.

As we seek to grow in faith and hope, may we continually seek to know God better and be filled with more of His love, so we are able to reveal God to the people whose lives we touch.

                                               God’s Grace and Peace,

                                                                  Mark

Christmas 2012 is over. The presents are put away, the goodies have been eaten, thank you notes are written, the outside lights, decorations and tree have been taken down and everything has been packed away until next year. The one thing we don’t want to pack away until next year is the meaning of Christmas.

It never ceases to amaze me that during the Christmas season people become friendlier (except maybe in parking lots), are more open, more helpful, more giving and more caring. These are all attitudes and qualities that I hope we don’t pack away with our other Christmas decorations because they speak to the essence of what God desires for His people as we live for Him through faith in Jesus.

In Micah 6:8 we read, “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” To live in justice, treating people fairly. To love mercy, and not just for ourselves, but to show mercy to others in the same measure, or even greater, than we have received ourselves. To walk humbly with God, living as God leads and directs in our lives, following the example of Jesus and putting the needs of others ahead of our own. Doesn’t that sound even better than our best Christmas behavior?

I may be a dreamer, but think about the impact that the church of Jesus Christ could have on the world if we chose to live like that 24/7, 12 months out of the year; showing people that being a Christian isn’t about following a religion but living in a personal relationship with the living God. Demonstrating to the world that Jesus loves them, died and rose from the dead so that they may experience forgiveness and life. Showing that life with Jesus isn’t missing out on the “fun” of the world but living in the joy of the Lord!

This year, let’s keep the Spirit of Christmas alive throughout the year and allow Jesus to work in and through us to show the world what it really means to live for Him.             

                                                                                Living in the Joy of the Lord,

                                                                                                            Mark

We just completed Black Friday, which really began on Thursday, and Cyber Monday, which really ran all weekend. If we had gone to stores on Black Friday or posted a survey online on Cyber Monday and asked people why they celebrated Christmas I suspect we would receive a variety of answers.

Some would say that Christmas is a time of giving while others would say it’s a time of receiving. Some would say it’s a time of love and others would say it’s all about family. And of course, many would say that it’s all about getting the best deal possible.

All of these answers speak to an element of the true meaning of Christmas, but which answer do you think comes the closest to God’s perspective about Christmas? You may be surprised, but it’s the one that says Christmas is a time of receiving.

Romans 6:23 tells us, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” And in Matthew 1:21, regarding Jesus’ impending birth we read, “She (Mary) will give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”

Because of His immeasurable love for us, God came to earth in human flesh as Jesus, what we call the Incarnation, to pay the price for our sin so that as we receive Jesus into our hearts we may also receive the incredible gifts of forgiveness and eternal life that He offers to all who accept Him.

As we celebrate this Christmas season, in all that we do let’s focus on the true reason for the joy and celebration of the season; God has given us the most wondrous gift of all, Jesus, who freely gives us eternal life through faith in Him. What better gift could we ever receive?

                                    With Thanksgiving,

                                                            Mark