Good News Weekly Message Pastor Jonathan Bauer

How can you possibly be prepared for anything life might throw your way? The things that can knock us down and drag us under can come at any moment and from any direction. Nevertheless, it’s possible to withstand anything so long as you have one thing: Easter. This week we see that just Easter is able to help us withstand truthless love. Christ’s resurrection is not simply something we acknowledge and confess. It’s a living and life-giving power that dwells within us. Like branches connected to a healthy vine, those who are connected to the living Christ through faith will naturally produce fruit in their lives. Their love toward others and obedience to Christ’s commands show the truth of Easter in action.

How can you possibly be prepared for anything life might throw your way? The things that can knock us down and drag us under can come at any moment and from any direction. Nevertheless, it’s possible to withstand anything so long as you have one thing: Easter. This week we see that just Easter is able to help us withstand deception. There are many spiritual influences that try to lead us in all kinds of different directions. Nevertheless, the voice of our Good Shepherd is distinct among all the rest. His voice does not call us down a path on which we must live up to his expectations for us. Instead, his voice proclaims his desire to lay down his life for us and invites us to put our whole confidence in him. We can withstand the deception of false shepherds because Jesus’ voice is so distinct.

How can you possibly be prepared for anything life might throw your way? The things that can knock us down and drag us under can come at any moment and from any direction. Nevertheless, it’s possible to withstand anything so long as you have one thing: Easter. This week we see that just Easter is able to help us withstand guilt. Although the light of God’s law exposes our sin, Jesus’ resurrection means that forgiveness can be found in his name. His death was a sacrifice that made sufficient payment for the sins of the whole world. He now lives as our advocate, pleading our case at God’s right hand. Rather than holding our guilt inside, we can confess it before God and know he will forgive.

How can you possibly be prepared for anything life might throw your way? The things that can knock us down and drag us under can come at any moment and from any direction. Nevertheless, it’s possible to withstand anything so long as you have one thing: Easter. This week we see that just Easter is able to help us withstand doubt. A bodily resurrection from the dead is probably the most doubt-worthy claim that has ever been made. Nevertheless, many different individuals and groups saw, touched, and spoke with Jesus following his resurrection. Their eyewitness testimony is the basis for our faith in Jesus’ resurrection–and his resurrection is the assurance that we have peace with God.

When everyone is going the same direction, it’s easiest to just “go with the flow.” But Jesus came to pioneer a path that runs opposite of worldly currents. His life and death for us did not conform to the pattern set by the world but established a new, transformative pattern instead. This evening we reach the finish line of Jesus’ collision course with the currents that pull us away from God. That finish line was located at the top of a small hill outside Jerusalem where his cross was placed in the ground and he was lifted up from the earth. As the hours dragged on and his life slowly faded, Jesus was completing—fully and finally—the work of our salvation. When he crossed the line from life into death in our place, the unseen reality was exactly as he said: All was finished.

When everyone is going the same direction, it’s easiest to just “go with the flow.” But Jesus came to pioneer a path that runs opposite of worldly currents. His life and death for us did not conform to the pattern set by the world but established a new, transformative pattern instead. This evening we reach the finish line of Jesus’ collision course with the currents that pull us away from God. That finish line was located at the top of a small hill outside Jerusalem where his cross was placed in the ground and he was lifted up from the earth. As the hours dragged on and his life slowly faded, Jesus was completing—fully and finally—the work of our salvation. When he crossed the line from life into death in our place, the unseen reality was exactly as he said: All was finished.