Haywood A. Smith, as Senior Pastor of Westminster United Methodist Church in Kinston, North Carolina, once told the story of Cathy Norman’s experience on Easter Sunday.
Cathy Norman said that after twelve years as a church organist she did the unforgivable. She said, “I overslept on Easter morning.
The church service was scheduled for 6:30 a.m. At 6:31 the minister called to see if I was on my way, but I was still in bed. Happily, I live near the church, and in ten minutes I was seated at the organ.”
The following Easter her phone rang at 5:45 a.m. When she answered, the minister told her gently, “CHRIST IS RISEN, and you’d better, too!”
Praise God for Easter! Jesus Christ has risen! He has risen indeed! And because He has risen, you and I can rise too!
For in the Gospel of John (11:25-26a) Jesus Himself said: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.”
He concluded this statement with a question in verse 26b: “Do you believe this?” And that is the key to life, both eternal and abundant: belief. For the Bible tells us in the New Testament book of Hebrews (11:6) that: “…without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
In the Gospel of John (3:16-18), we are told: “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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
I hope you have believed the wonderful story of Jesus Christ, Who as the One and Only Son of God, rose from the grave that first Easter morning. If so, then because He did so, and because of your faith in Him having done so, you too will one day rise again!
SOURCE: http://westminsterumc.net/files/2015/03/Apr2015.pdf.
Cathy Norman said that after twelve years as a church organist she did the unforgivable. She said, “I overslept on Easter morning.
The church service was scheduled for 6:30 a.m. At 6:31 the minister called to see if I was on my way, but I was still in bed. Happily, I live near the church, and in ten minutes I was seated at the organ.”
The following Easter her phone rang at 5:45 a.m. When she answered, the minister told her gently, “CHRIST IS RISEN, and you’d better, too!”
Praise God for Easter! Jesus Christ has risen! He has risen indeed! And because He has risen, you and I can rise too!
For in the Gospel of John (11:25-26a) Jesus Himself said: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.”
He concluded this statement with a question in verse 26b: “Do you believe this?” And that is the key to life, both eternal and abundant: belief. For the Bible tells us in the New Testament book of Hebrews (11:6) that: “…without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
In the Gospel of John (3:16-18), we are told: “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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
I hope you have believed the wonderful story of Jesus Christ, Who as the One and Only Son of God, rose from the grave that first Easter morning. If so, then because He did so, and because of your faith in Him having done so, you too will one day rise again!
SOURCE: http://westminsterumc.net/files/2015/03/Apr2015.pdf.