Pastor's Article April 17, 2022

Weekly Article ~ For Easter Sunday
Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: 14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.(1 Co 15:12–19) Think about the sad life that people who do not believe in Christ have. To live your life thinking that this life is all that there is, and that at death there is a forever goodbye that must be said. To think that or life is of no more importance than that of a dog or a cat and that when this body is dead we simply perish. When I hear statistics that say that only about 31% of the world’s population is Christian it saddens my heart to think of all the people who as the Apostle Paul said are most miserable. Life with the certainty of death and the uncertainty of resurrection from death would be a miserable way to live. I found this story that reminds me of the power of the resurrection that I wanted to share.
“ In a cemetery in Hanover, Germany, is a grave on which were placed huge slabs of granite and marble cemented together and fastened with heavy steel clasps. It belongs to a woman who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. Yet strangely, she directed in her will that her grave be made so secure that if there were a resurrection, it could not reach her. On the marker were inscribed these words: "This burial place must never be opened." In time, a seed, covered over by the stones, began to grow. Slowly it pushed its way through the soil and out from beneath them. As the trunk enlarged, the great slabs were gradually shifted so that the steel clasps were wrenched from their sockets. A tiny seed had become a tree that had pushed aside the stones.
The dynamic life force contained in that little seed is a faint reflection of the tremendous power of God’s creative word that someday will call to life the bodies of all who are in their graves. He will also bring back every person drowned at sea, cremated, or destroyed in some other way. This is no problem to the One who made something out of nothing when He spoke the universe into existence. Unbelief cannot deter the resurrection. But faith in the risen Christ opens the door to blessings that His resurrection guarantees -- a glorious new spiritual body and a home in heaven. In new bodies we will be reunited with saved loved ones to live with Jesus throughout all eternity.” Nothing can stop the power Christ over the death the resurrection is not just plausible it is promised and in that promise we live victorious knowing that the sting of death has been removed.    Rev. Wayne Marcus