Our Living Hope… 1 Peter 1:3
That He would die and come alive to bridge the distance, save & set us free from darkness and live with us forever…This is the love and hope that we celebrate – life is worth the living just because He lives…
1 Peter 1:3-12
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
Inspiration: Christ Is Risen – Matt Maher and David Bowden
Music and spoken word are merged in this moving video from LifeChurch.tv’s Church Online Easter Experience. Matt Maher’s song “Christ is Risen” and David Bowden’s poem “Death: His Sting and Defeat” remind us of Christ’s power over darkness and the grave.
Death Could Not Exist In The Same Skin As HIM – A Easter Piece from Oraia
Katy Coffman also known as Oraia presents a powerful spoken word piece “Death Could Not Exist In The Same Skin As HIM” recorded as part of the Easter Production recorded at Christ Tabernacle in New York City. Her passionate delivery paints the story of a Savior who could not be held down by death – and it’s because of His resurrection that we also can come alive.
For more info on Oraia and her ministry, visit www.oraiaspeaks.com.
Word: By His Stripes We Are Healed, Isaiah 53
Isaiah 53
1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Why I Say Happy Easter
Happy Easter!
I love this video from Igniter Media that reminds us of what the words “Happy Easter” Really mean…