He Is Risen!!

Hello, dear friends!

I hope you had a wonderful and blessed Easter Sunday yesterday! Our pastor taught us that saying “He is risen!” and replying with a “He is risen indeed!” was actually a very popular greeting used by the early church. They must have found such comfort in that…as we do now. Where would we be if He hadn’t risen?

I am just so grateful He did.

In the hopes it will bless you, here is the communion meditation I shared with my church family yesterday…

Colossians 2:14 says,

“…by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross.”

You know, often I think we get by with a very dim, almost surface-like, understanding of what the cross has done for us.

For Christians, we know it’s the reason for our faith. We know the One who took the cross, our Jesus, is the cornerstone of Christianity and the very reason we call ourselves Christians. But it’s easy to forget exactly what our Lord and Savior did, for us, on the cross.

And then Easter morning comes! Resurrection Sunday comes! And along with it, a fresh understanding; a renewed joy in the goodness of our God and the reality of a love so strong that nothing would stop our God, nothing could stop our God, from setting us free.

The New Testament’s original language was Greek and the Greek word used time and time again in the scriptures to describe just what we were given when Jesus took the cross is SOZO.

“Sozo” is unlike any English word we have and is so very rich in its translation. It says that, through the cross, we have been:

Delivered. Saved. Made safe and sound. Rescued from danger, destruction, injury, suffering and disease. We have been made well, healed, restored. We have been preserved and we cannot perish.

It seems when we look at the Christians who acknowledge the depths of His mercy, compassion and provision on the cross, we see the greatest displays of faith and the greatest displays of wholeness…

because it seems to the varying degrees we believe in the promises of sozo, those become the varying degrees to which we’re able to receive them.

But even if any of that is debatable in your heart, one thing isn’t debatable. One thing is accepted as undeniable truth among those who know Christ and that is this:

you can leave all your shame at the cross.

Whatever shame you walked in here with this morning, whatever guilt, whatever heartbreak that’s come into your life as a result of your sin…

it can all be laid at the foot of the cross and forgotten as you begin (or maybe continue) this overwhelmingly beautiful journey of healing in Christ Jesus.

You can leave all your shame at the cross.

Because the scriptures say,

“I will remember their sins no more.” (Hebrews 8:12)

And the scriptures say,

“As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12)

And the scriptures say,

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1)

My friends, I don’t know where you are in your individual walk with Him this morning but I do know He came to set you free.

He came because He loves you.

There is no debating that when you read His Holy Word.

So whether you know what the cross has done and you just need a little reminder from time to time, or you are just beginning to learn what the cross has done and you’re eager to receive,

today is the perfect day for you to come to the table and lay every single burden down at the foot of the cross.

And as we partake in the Lord’s supper together today, as a remembrance of Jesus’ extravagant love, I pray we do so with joy-filled, thankful hearts…

with Easter morning hearts…

with RESURRECTED hearts…

because there is no greater way to honor our God than to receive what His precious Son paid for with so high a cost on Calvary.

By His stripes, we have been healed.

Please pray with me…

Father God, GRACIOUS Heavenly Father,

What wondrous love is this? That you should go to such lengths to save the ones You call Your own?

Father, there is no way to repay what You have done but You don’t ask for that. You simply ask for our hearts…

so you can be the Lord of our life and save us from the counterfeit gods who try to steal us from Your love.

Father, as we come to the table today, we do so in faith in what the scriptures have made clear: we are saved, healed and delivered. Our sins are no more. You keep no record of our wrongs and we are free to grow in the love which you daily pour into our lives.

Jesus, thank you. Thank you for tearing the veil so nothing can come against us and our Father and so we can know You now and someday, be where You are.

Father, it is our most sincere prayer that with every breath we have, we honor You and honor our Jesus for what You have done and the love You have shown.

We take this bread and this cup and we do so in Jesus’ holy name and to His glory,

Amen.