Tag Archive - Easter

Get the Whole Message!

April 6, 2012 in Daily Faith with 0 Comments

Historians tell us how the news of the battle of Waterloo came to England. There were no cables and telegrams in those days, so they used a system of signal flags called semaphore. Messages were sent one letter at a time.

A sailing ship would be sent to England from the battle and they would semaphore news to a signalman on top of Winchester Cathedral in London. He signaled to another man on a hill outside the city. The message was relayed across England from hill to hill.

Everyone knew that Wellington and his army were facing Napoleon in a great battle. They waited eagerly for the message. At last, the ship came into view and the signalman started the message. The first word was “Wellington.” The second word, “defeated,” was slowly spelled out. ” Just as the second word was finished being sent, a dense fog rolled in and the ship could no longer be seen. “Wellington defeated.” was the message that was sent across England. A despairing sense of doom came over all over England.

About three hours later the fog lifted and the ship could be seen. The message was sent again.   “Wellington defeated” were the first words that came, but this time the message continued, “the enemy.” All of England rejoiced. Their sorrow turned to joy.

 

As we look at the cross, we see defeat. The torture and the agony of death that Jesus suffered seem tragic. The message of that Friday sounds like, “Jesus defeated.” The Easter comes and the fog of despair is blown away and we get the whole message, “Jesus defeated the enemy.”

So often, as we face the problems and frustrations of life, there is a fog that rolls over us. We cannot see the whole message and we think we are defeated. We often become discouraged and filled with despair. Let us remember that the difficulties of this life are but the pain and sorrow of Friday but the message of Easter is that Jesus has defeated the enemy and that the victory has been won.

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Invite Me In!

April 5, 2012 in Church Life, Videos with 0 Comments

The War Is Finally Over!

April 26, 2011 in Daily Faith with 0 Comments

Hiroo Onada, 1944

On March 10, 1974, Lt. Hiroo Onada was the last World War II Japanese soldier to surrender.

Onada had been left on the island Lubang in the Philippines on December 25, 1944, with the command to “carry on the mission even if Japan surrenders.” Three other Japanese soldiers were left on the island as Japan evacuated Lubang. One soldier surrendered in 1950. Another was killed in a skirmish with local police in 1954. Another was killed in 1972. Onada continued his war alone.

All efforts to convince him to surrender or to capture him failed. He ignored messages from loudspeakers announcing Japan’s surrender and that Japan was now an ally of the United States. Leaflets were dropped over the jungle begging him to surrender so he could return to Japan. He refused to believe or surrender.

Over the years he lived off the land and raided the fields and gardens of local citizens. He was responsible for killing at least 30 nationals during his 29 year personal war. Almost a half million dollars was spent trying to locate and convince him to surrender. 13,000 men were used to try to locate him.

Finally, on March 10, 1974, almost 30 years after World War II ended, Onada surrendered his rusty sword after receiving a personal command from his former superior officer, who read the terms of the cease-fire order. Onada handed his sword to President Marcos, who pardoned him. The war was over.

Hiroo Onada, 1974

Onada was 22-years-old when left on the island. He returned a prematurely aged man of 52. Onada stated, “Nothing pleasant happened in the 29 years in the jungle.”

Like Onada, many people are still fighting a lonely war against their sin. Struggling with sin and shame. Living a meager life from the scraps of religious duty and obligations. Hoping that will help them get by. Inflicting pain and hardship on others because of their own misery. Like Onada, nothing pleasant ever happens.

The message of Easter is that the war is over. The battle has been won. No longer do we need to hide. We can come out of the jungles of our own making. We can give up our rusty swords of defensiveness and unforgiveness. We can return to the our home and enjoy the blessings of pardon and freedom.

The message of Easter is that we are finally free. Christ has conquered sin and death. Let us rejoice.

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. ” (Romans 8:1–2, NIV)

 

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Will You Shout?

April 20, 2011 in Daily Faith with 0 Comments

W. E. Sangster

Margaret Sangster Phippen wrote that in the mid 1950s her father, British Methodist minister W. E. Sangster, began to notice some uneasiness in his throat and a dragging in his leg. When he went to the doctor, he found that he had an incurable disease that caused progressive muscular atrophy. His muscles would gradually waste away, his voice would fail, his throat would soon become unable to swallow.

Sangster threw himself into his work in British home missions, figuring he could still write and he would have even more time for prayer. “Let me stay in the struggle Lord,” he pleaded. “I don’t mind if I can no longer be a general, but give me just a regiment to lead.” He wrote articles and books, and helped organize prayer cells throughout England. “I’m only in the kindergarten of suffering,” he told people who pitied him.

Gradually Sangster’s legs became useless. His voice went completely. But he could still hold a pen, shakily. On Easter morning, just a few weeks before he died, he wrote a letter to his daughter. In it, he said, “It is terrible to wake up on Easter morning and have no voice to shout, ‘He is risen!’–but it would be still more terrible to have a voice and not want to shout.”

Nest Sunday is Easter. This day is the cornerstone of our faith. Because of Easter, disciples through the centuries gladly faced trials and struggles, persecution and hardship. They boldly proclaimed the good news of the resurrection because they knew that Easter changed everything. Without a risen Christ, everything about Jesus would be pointless. Without Easter, we would have no message to proclaim, no hope for our future, and no salvation from our sins.

But because of Easter we have all that and more. The Resurrection made Easter different from every other day, because it made every other day different as well. We now have hope. We now have joy. We now have life! No longer do we live in sin and despair. No longer do we live in shame and sorrow. We now have courage to face all this world throws at us.

Why wouldn’t we shout?

HE IS RISEN!

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Come Awake!

March 28, 2011 in Daily Faith, Videos with 0 Comments

That’s My King!

April 4, 2010 in Videos with 1 Comment

DANGEROUS CROWD

February 17, 2010 in General with 0 Comments

Three year old Shawn accompanied his dad to church on Easter. The father wanted his son to understand the meaning of Easter so he tried to explain the significance of the cross which hung at the front of the church.

The father said, “Jesus died because people nailed him to the cross.”

The little boy’s eyes widened as he scanned the church. He then asked his dad, “You mean THESE people?”

It is too easy to think of the death of Jesus as a distant historic event. We tend to think of this horrible event as happening way back .then and done by those barbaric people. We overlook why Jesus died.

As we begin this time of Lent, let us remember that He died for OUR sins. It was for OUR salvation that He gave His life because it was OUR sins that nailed Him there. The cross in our sanctuary reminds us of two important truths. First, that we are a dangerous crowd, capable of sin and death. And second, that we are a forgiven people because Jesus paid for our sin on that cross.

So, when you’re sitting in Church Sunday, remember as you look around: you’re sitting in a dangerous crowd, but you’re worshiping a great Savior.

“But he was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed! All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s paths to follow our own!.. Yet the Lord laid on him the guilt and sins of us all.”
Isaiah 53:5-6 (NLT)