HE IS RISEN, HE IS RISEN INDEED

April 24, 2011 takes me back to another date, April 24, 1971. My wife and I said our wedding vows. Today we are celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary. Anyone who has been married forty years knows it takes work, effort and most of all love. I am very thankful to God for his blessing on our marriage. I’m sure many mistakes have been made in forty years. But, the one firm foundation we have shared for many of these years is our love for each other and our love for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Before Jesus our marriage was on rocky ground due to many things that are no one’s business but our own. Then Jesus came along and showed his perfect love for us. We received his wisdom and instruction through the churches we attended, the pastors we listened to and the instruction book of life, which is of course, the Bible. Now, forty years from that evening in 1971, when we said our vows, we are still together and still in love with each other. Five grown children, eleven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren are evidence of God’s blessing on our marriage.

Everyday I thank God for my wife. Incidentally, she is my typist and proofreader and biggest critic on how the online church service is presented to you. You know, the Word of God is very clear in Genesis 2:24 when it states:

“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: And they shall be one flesh.”

Good advice that I have taken and am blessed for it. Welcome everyone to your 24/7, week long, online church service. Everyone is welcome in this place. I am sure many of you are very busy celebrating Easter on this Sunday. Certainly, it is always good to remember the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. After all, he did all of that just for you. My request of you as you gather with your families, is to really take a look around you. What do the children think Easter means? Do they even know what Jesus did for them, or are they more excited about the Easter bunny and hunting for eggs?

You know folks, I am pretty sure God is not very pleased with the mixing of his son’s sacrifice for us and the practice of lifting up Easter myths. One of these days I will present a message to you that exposes the facts about Easter bunnies and how eggs are based on pagan Spring rituals that have nothing to do with God. I’ve asked this question before, but I fear it bears repeating. Does it not make sense if we tell our young children there is an Easter bunny and then they find out there isn’t such a thing, that they in their own little minds become aware that we have lied or at the very least mislead them. You link all of this, Santa Claus, the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny. All made up fiction which at its base is a lie. What should our children think when we tell them there is a God that loves them and is always with them, yet they cannot see him? Do you understand what I am saying here?

Look, I know these are all traditions that seem to be fun and a right thing to do for our kids. After all, our parents did them for us and we did have fun hunting those eggs, didn’t we? And, after all it’s just tradition, right? Well, let’s look at Proverbs 14:12 and read it together:

“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

Let’s put it this way, my friends. There are traditions of men that seem good, but actually lead you away from God. The celebration of what God did for us on that cross is a good thing to do. But, perhaps the way we do it is not good. Here’s what I don’t understand, church – Why do we as believers feel every celebration or holiday honoring God or his Son, Jesus, must run parallel with a worldly way of celebration? God wants a pure celebration of his goodness, not one polluted with the world’s fables and mistruths.

So, Bro. Bob, are you telling us not to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus? The answer, my friends, is a thousand times no. I am not saying that. I am just asking you to seek God and let him show you what is pleasing to him and what is not. Remove anything from your celebration that you feel would not bless our Father and his son Jesus.

I remember as a young child on Good Friday my mother would have me and my brother and sister stay in the house between twelve and three p.m., just to meditate on Jesus and the cross. There was no cable TV, but usually one of the regular TV channels would show a movie about Jesus, his death, burial and resurrection. We could watch that, but nothing else. No cartoons or shows, just stories about Jesus and the cross. I believe those three hours of meditation each year focused on Jesus and what he did for us was so special. I only wish you would share this same experience with your families. It is something they will never forget. I also wish my sister Rosie had been born at that time to experience it with us.

Remember this, church, everyday is the Lord’s day – rejoice and be glad in it. I will leave you this week with something we used to say in our church in Michigan on Easter Sunday. Pastor Bulloch would say “He is Risen!” and we would say in return “He is Risen indeed!” And you know what, church? He really has.

God Bless You,
Bro. Bob

Prayer Request: Please pray for Michelle in Virginia. X-Rays have shown a spot on her bladder. Complete test results have not come back yet. We are believing for a good report. We call Michelle healed in the name of Jesus. Thank you for your agreement.