I just wanted to wish everyone at the 4TG forum a safe and joyous Easter holiday!

Thanks Dan for extending your wishes.

The early Christian church had a refrain that still sends chills down my spine:

HE IS RISEN, INDEED!

Indeed, the resurrection is the greatest event in human history. The resurrection of Christ from the dead has ensured the victory over death, hell , and the grave.

The Easter weekend was virtually ignored when I was growing up Adventist. How sad.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Stan

Thanks Dan and Stan (hey, that has a ring to it) for the Easter holiday thoughts. Just yesterday my wife was talking about celebrating Easter with one of her Adventist family members and the response was basically “so what?”. Like, “what’s the big deal about Easter anyway?” This is the response we were trained to have as Adventists. The pagan Christians observed the pagan Easter holiday while we were kept unstained from their influence by simply ignoring it. But at the same time, as an Adventist I would have had a difficult time articulating why the resurrection was so fundamentally important to my Christian faith.

It’s instructive to see how the apostle Paul builds all of his arguments for Christian hope on the supernatural event of Christ’s resurrection. We must remember that Paul was writing at a time when witnesses of the resurrected Christ would have been alive to corroborate his story. It’s important to notice that Paul does not see Christianity as “nice way to live” or a way to “experience your best life” if it was divorced from the historic truth of the resurrection. He goes much further than this, saying that if the resurrection did not happen, “our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14 ESV). He goes on to say that he would be guilty of “misrepresenting God” (verse 15) if the resurrection didn’t happen and that his hearers would possess a faith that is “futile”. He crowns the argument with a stunning sentence: “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (verse 19).

Paul’s argument should be ours. The Christian faith is worthless if not for the resurrection of Christ--a resurrection we celebrate each Sunday and particularly at this time of the year. Jesus was dead in the tomb on a Saturday, but he conquered death on a Sunday, grounding our faith not in empty hopes but in historical fact. He is risen indeed!

Greg

Happy Easter to all,

CHRIST IS RISEN!

Even if here people are not celebrating Easter because they use the old Julian calendar, and it will fall after a month, I want to share with you a wonderful message from the last Ligonier National Conference it is online on their blog under the heading “The Resurrection of Jesus” http://www.ligonier.org/blog/

It’s worth watching, because Mahaney has a personal way in which he links resurrection with assurance of salvation. The Adventists miss a lot of the joy of resurrection since it is associated with a day considered to be the Mark of the Beast. Sad, very sad.

Gabriel

For me, I’d say that overall the most powerful lyrics to spiritual songs are found in the old hymns such as Amazing Grace, Holy Holy Holy, A Might Fortress, etc. Many of today’s praise and worship songs seem light and fluffy in comparison but with some exceptions to be sure. This morning during our Resurrection Sunday service, I heard for the first time a contemporary song with exceptionally moving and powerful lyrics highly appropriate for the occasion called “The Power of the Cross.” Here are the lyrics:

Oh, to see the dawn
Of the darkest day:
Christ on the road to Calvary.
Tried by sinful men,
Torn and beaten, then
Nailed to a cross of wood.

CHORUS:
This, the pow’r of the cross:
Christ became sin for us;
Took the blame, bore the wrath—
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Oh, to see the pain
Written on Your face,
Bearing the awesome weight of sin.
Ev’ry bitter thought,
Ev’ry evil deed
Crowning Your bloodstained brow.

Now the daylight flees;
Now the ground beneath
Quakes as its Maker bows His head.
Curtain torn in two,
Dead are raised to life;
“Finished!” the vict’ry cry.

Oh, to see my name
Written in the wounds,
For through Your suffering I am free.
Death is crushed to death;
Life is mine to live,
Won through Your selfless love.

FINAL CHORUS:
This, the pow’r of the cross:
Son of God—slain for us.
What a love! What a cost!
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Gabriel,

Thanks for sharing the link to C. J. Mahaney’s sermon.  It is well worth listening to in its entirety.  What a powerful message!  For the Christ-follower, every Lord’s Day is a weekly Easter.

Dennis Fischer

Easter is such a wonderful time. I was blessed.

Our church had an Easter Egg Hunt for the community. It was so cool to see all the young uns .... running around on Easter Sunday collecting eggs.