What if Jesus was not in your life?
What would your life be like without Jesus?
What would you being doing with your life?
How would you live?

Take a moment and try to answer those questions...

I wonder what the 11 disciples experienced between the last verse of Matt 27 and the first verse of Matt 28. 
"So, they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard."

"After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb."

What did the disciples experience on the day between the death of Jesus and the day of Jesus' resurrection?
The man whom they had heard preach the best, life enhancing sermons is no longer alive teaching them.
The man whom they had lived with, served and traveled for the past three years is no longer with them, he is dead and in a tomb.
The man whom they had put their entire lives in His hands is dead.
The man whom they had seen heal the sick, calm the storms, walk on water, cast out demons, forgive sins, raise dead people was dead himself.
The man whom they had put all their future plans in, is gone and so are all of their plans.
Shock, sadness, despair, confusion, purposelessness, depression, loneliness might be a few words to describe life without Jesus; without the resurrected Jesus.

Did you take time to think what your life would be like without Jesus?
Were you able to describe someone totally different than who you really are? Maybe or maybe not.

Maybe you are thinking your life would not be very different if Jesus had not raised from the dead. That is a frightening thought. How is your life different because Jesus rose from the dead? Do any of the far from Jesus people in your life know that Jesus' resurrection has changed your life?

My life would be totally different. Not to have my sin forgiven? Not to be able to forgive someone else? Not to have a new identity and having to seek to prove myself to everyone and most of all to myself? Not to be content with who I am and what I have and what I have accomplished? I could go on and on and on.

Overwhelmingly grateful for Jesus' life, death and resurrection being at the core of my life. How about you?

Seeking to ask everyone I encounter this week, how are you going to celebrate Easter and what does Easter mean to you?

Pastor Chris

​What comes to mind when you hear the following words...
"It's your birthday."
"Happy Anniversary."
"Congratulations."

Hopefully, great memories just flooded your mind and heart. Hopefully, you are actually feeling a little better right now as you read this because of those memories.

What comes to mind when you hear...
"He is risen."
"It is resurrection Sunday."
"Come, let's celebrate Jesus."

Is Easter your favorite day of the year?
If not, why not?

How many people do you know that when they hear the word, "Easter," they think about Easter eggs, bunny, chocolate, hunts and baskets?

When was the last time you asked these two fantastic and possibly life changing questions...
1. How do you celebrate Easter?
2. What does Easter mean to you?

To get us ready for THE GREATEST DAY IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD - RESURRECTION DAY, I love to pick one of the four biographies of Jesus, Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, and read through the last week of Jesus' life.

What was Jesus doing right before Palm Sunday?
What was the original Palm Sunday like for Jesus? How did He experience it?
What was each day like leading up to Good Friday?
How did Jesus make it through the sweating drops of blood in the garden?
What was it like being moved around at night through all the illegal trials?
How did Jesus handle everyone deserting him and abandoning him?
What did Jesus experience between the crucifixion and the resurrection?
What was it like when he came back to life?

"Jesus went up to Jerusalem. On the way, He took the Twelve aside and said to them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day He will be raised to life!'" Matt 20:17-19

Grab one of those life giving biographies and let the greatest week in the history of the world wash over you again, afresh.

Also, take some time this week to ask those two questions to someone you meet. Let God lead that conversation into something fantastic...

In Awe of Jesus' Life, Death and Resurrection,
Pastor Chris

What an honor to follow Jesus...
What an honor to serve pastors...
What an honor to serve peoples' whose house is destroyed by hurricanes...
What an honor to serve kids who are controlled by drug dealers and witchcraft...
What an honor to team up with 30 others to enjoy serving...
What an honor is the best way I can describe the 2018 Puerto Rico Mission trip.

God led our team to experience the following:

1. Come together as a group of relatively unknown to each other and become a church family willing to serve. This is rare and desperately needed.

2. Serve a Pastor, his wife and church family who have been serving tirelessly with the overwhelming needs of Puerto Ricans. I will never forget Pastor Roberto's eyes at the end of each day. They communicated disbelief that so many things have been accomplished. He never had to say, "Thank you," even though he did many times.

3. Connect, build relationships with over a hundred kids who are controlled by evil. To see the nervous, apprehension of the kids turn into trusting joy was a powerful to experience. I hope I never forget those faces laughing, smiling, playing, hustling, listening and responding to Jesus. I will never forget 34 hands joyfully and excitedly being raised to have Jesus adopt them into His family. The power of Jesus in the midst of translation communication...

4. Serving a family whose house had been destroyed by the hurricanes. I hope to never forget 31 people serving this family, whom most Christians would ignore, shun or even rejected. To serve them for a day, to verbally share Jesus' love and grace with them and then to give 31 hugs to someone who usually gets treated like a leper was more than a gift.

Thank you Jesus for leading us and allowing us to experience so much life change. It is an honor to join you in serving others.

Grateful and joyful,
Pastor Chris