Easter weekend is almost here. Are you counting down the days? To me there is no more important time of year for Christian celebration than now. It’s the opportunity for every follower of Jesus to join with others to affirm the reason for our hope. Simply put, without the death and resurrection of Christ we have nothing more to believe in than anyone else does. The apostle Paul actually says in 1 Corinthians 15 that if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead we are all just wasting our time. He adds that we should be pitied for living under a delusion.

But Jesus did rise from the dead. There are lots of convincing proofs of that historical fact. We are not being asked to put our faith in nothing. We are invited by God to believe in something real that’s life changing.

Last Sunday I spoke to you about how Jesus is perfectly qualified to be our Saviour and King. Because he is God, Christ is able to fulfill all the requirements necessary to provide forgiveness for our sins and to give us a fresh start. Everything we need for life and godliness is made available to us as we put our faith in Jesus as our Lord.

That’s why Easter weekend is such a big deal. It is the high point of the year because the focus is Jesus crucified and risen from the dead. We remind ourselves why we have hope in a hopeless world – Jesus.

I encourage you to be here on Good Friday. We will gather as the church family to remember Christ’s death and what he accomplished for us through it. Around the tables all of us as children and adults will honour Jesus for his sacrifice on our behalf.

Sunday morning will be another amazing time as we celebrate Jesus, our risen Saviour and Lord. The kids will be presenting a special tribute to Christ that I trust will inspire their faith in him as it will in all of us in the room. Erin and I will be speaking short messages based on the Apostles’ Creed. She will focus on why Jesus’ resurrection matters, and I will talk about how it changes everything for us in the present and future.

I Believe – what a great theme for our lives. My prayer is that every person, young and old, that hears the message about Christ this Easter will accept his gift of salvation and follow him every day. Let’s believe that what Jesus has done in our lives he will be invited by many others to do in them.

See you Sunday….

Pastor Del