I am thankful that God delivered me back to New Hope UMC after my last mission trip to Ghana. It is with joy that we serve a risen Lord and Savior on this Easter morning. I saw God work in so many wonderful ways on this trip to Ghana. I was able to preach in five cities in Ghana: Kumasi, Sagadugu, Bugiya, Bolgatanga, Zokko-Goo. We held a three night crusade where over sixty people accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Jesus Christ is alive. Why do we look for him in the grave? Why do we think that he is dead? Why do we think that we are not important enough for Jesus Christ to care about us? I am here to tell you that Jesus was persecuted, suffered, died on the cross, and rose on the third day for each of us. He cares about US! God gave us the greatest gift of all. We are here today to celebrate that gift.
Read 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 (NIV). The scripture from 1 Corinthians 15 has significant meaning to us. The fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is also a promise that we will also have a resurrected body. The apple must die before the apple seed can be planted and grow again. Our old selves must die to live in Christ.
Paul was concerned about those who would not believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. He listed the people who save the resurrected Jesus Christ to help those with doubts in this world. The Bible says “Blessed are those who believe without seeing.” Doubt is a lie planted by Satan to make us doubt that Jesus died and rose from the dead. We must replace our doubt with faith and accept the love and compassion of Jesus Christ.
Acts 10:34-43
God does not show favoritism. He gave his son for the whole world. “God anointed Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the Devil, because God was with him.” I am a witness that we can receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit to go around doing good and serving God in the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is alive. We can serve with the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 10:42 says “God commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” Jesus forgave us and showed us compassion on the cross. We don’t deserve God’s grace. We just have to believe that Jesus Christ is our God and confess it with out tongue.
Last year, I was taken to a man with a snake bite last year in Nabari. I was told he couldn’t walk. I prayed for the Muslim man in his home. I told him to pick up his mat and walk in the name of Jesus Christ. He stood up. We cleaned up his leg where the skin had been eaten away by the poison. I gave him my bed sheets to use as bandages. I was concerned about his health. Last week, we returned to Nabari. We visited him again in his home. The leg was healed. He lost some muscle in his leg, but the skin has grown back. I prayed again in the name of Jesus Christ and asked him how he was doing. We were leaving when one of the men of the family came running up to us with a dozen eggs to say thanks that we showed the love and compassion of Jesus Christ.
The love of Jesus Christ paid the price for our salvation. The love of Jesus Christ is the hope and salvation of our lives. We can live in peace if we care enough to shout from the mountain tops that we serve a RISEN LORD who will transform our old selves into a new creation.
It says in 1 John 1:5 “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”
Jesus Christ is the light of this world. We have a choice to make today. Are we going to live our lives in the light of Jesus Christ? The blood of Jesus Christ protects us now and gives us eternal life. 1 John 2:8 says “The darkness of this world is passing away and the true light is already shining. The truth is shining in Jesus Christ and you! Whoever loves his brother lives in the light! Jesus said in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
Jesus gave everything he had for us so we could have eternal life. It is out of gratitude and thanksgiving that I go out into this world. We saw a lot of goats and sheep on this trip to Ghana. It really is hard to easily separate the sheep from the goats. That fact makes Matthew 25:31-40 more meaningful.
“Let’s go out our doors to proclaim the gospel of good news. It is such a wonderful message for all of mankind. Let us give food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, invite in the stranger, and care for the sick and those in prison.
Jesus Christ is alive in our lives TODAY. Jesus Christ wants us to have a relationship with God like Jesus had with his father. Jesus made it possible so many years ago to be in relationship with God. Let us believe and share the good news that Jesus Christ rose on the third day from the grave. He is alive. Amen!
SUNRISE SERVICE
We are here this morning to celebrate a new day where Jesus Christ arose on the third day. He suffered and died on the cross so that we could live life here on Earth and have eternal life. It is by God’s grace that we are saved. It is by God’s grace that God gave us the greatest gift of all, Jesus Christ. Jesus conquered death in a resurrected body on that Easter morning over 2,000 years ago.
We serve a risen Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ is alive. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We should not travel to the grave to look for Jesus Christ because he is not there. That is what the two angels said to the women at the grace. The angels asked the women “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here. He is risen!” The angels also asked them don’t you remember what Jesus Christ told you while he was still with you. Jesus said “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and on the third day be raised up from the dead.”
The angels are asking us to remember what happened on the cross so very long ago. Jesus was willing to die for us and cleanse us of our sins. Our lives are transformed by that act of love and grace on the cross. Why don’t we remember the words that Jesus told us? Why do we live without the gift of grace in our lives? Salvation is a free gift. It was freely given by Jesus Christ. We cannot buy it. We cannot earn it. We must accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and believe with all of our heart that Jesus is our God and we are His people.
We must say “Yes, Jesus! I want a new life today because you gave me the greatest gift of all – the gift of God’s grace.” I am thankful for those who saw the empty grace and gave their testimony. We must believe that Jesus conquered the grace without seeing the empty tomb for ourselves. We must believe in faith that God so loved the world that He gave his only son so that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
As soon as we believe and accept the gift given freely by the Son of God for our eternal life, we will be a new creation. Our old selves are gone and a new life will start. Let us rejoice that Jesus conquered death on the cross and was willing to die so that we could live life full of love, faith, and hope. Let us rejoice that the first day of the rest of our eternal lives starts today! Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior of this world. He created world by speaking the word. He saved us by giving his life on the cross so that we could have a future filled with a relationship with God. Let us go out today renewed that the gift of God’s grace is for each of us. Let us go out today and share the Love of Jesus Christ with everyone that we meet. Jesus Christ is alive! We serve a risen Lord and we are His people. Amen.
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