| Easter in a Time of Panic - A Time to Practice What We Preach |

I'm sure many of you heard a similar message that I heard this Easter Sunday.  The message of the Resurrected Son of God is not new, but the circumstances which we find ourselves in is. The emphasis in this week's sermon was that of the fear and grief the disciples had to endure as they waited for the Ressurection.  It seems that the current church is suspended in a time taut with fear and anticipation.  Headlines that only seem to preach the gospel of panic and fear, it can be easy to doubt the outcome.  We are getting a taste of what the early church must have had to endure, as their faith was tested with the ultimate question:

Is this Man really who He says He is?

We can only imagine the panic Mary would have experienced had she gone to the tomb on the third day to find that the stone and guard was still in front of the tomb.  But that isn't how the story ended, as the tomb was empty, and the Messiah had risen.  

In a time that the whole world seems to be engulfed in worry and anxiety, it seems that this is the exact message that the church needs to hear.  We already know the outcome of this story.  Christ is risen.  Death is no more.  We already know that He has won.

It is a perfect time to practice what we preach.  Trust in Him, as we have been made conquerors through Him.

"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.  35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;

    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."  - Romans 8: 31-39

Thank the Lord.  He is Risen!