Easter: Thursday, April 12, 2007

Old Testament Lesson

Ezekiel 37:1-14

This is that great passage about valley of dry bones. God brings that which was dead back to life. That is the truth of Easter, our Lord was raised from the dead, and in that destroyed the power of sin, death, and the grave. And, likewise, we can be brought back to life. The death of sin, the death of evil, the death of the things in this world, they can be ended by the power of Holy Spirit.

Things do not have to stay as they are. That is one of the cores of our faith. Things do not have to stay as they are. We can change, we can be brought to life, we can life. He brought life to the valley of dead bones. He can bring life to us as well .

New Testament Lesson

Acts 3:11-26

We see Peter tell us in this passage the choice we must make. We can chose following Jesus and find life and health and peace. Or we can choose to follow our sin and our will and wind up apart from God.

And when I say "follow Jesus" don't mistake that for just your conversion. I'm talking about all your life. Every day. For far too many of us our testimony ends when we walked the aisle. That should not be end of our testimony, but the beginning. Following Jesus is not something we do in the past, its something we do today.

Gospel Lesson

John 15:12-27

How do we follow Jesus? Love one another as I have loved you. It comes down to loving each other as Jesus loved us. When we love one another we serve one another. When we love another, we forgive one another. When we love one another, we do the things our Lord has commanded of us and we live in a way that gives glory to Him and helps others to know that He is Lord.

If we love, we are obeying. Through Christ, we see how much God loves us. Through our lives may others see how much God loves them.