He's Alive!

But how many of the "once a year Christians" actually believe that Jesus died for their sins, rose on the third day, and passionately desires for them to know the fullness of His forgiveness, of His power, of His love, and His holiness? Not to mention all those who have given up all pretense of Christian faith. Easter confirms the effectiveness of Jesus' sacrifice for our forgiveness. It demonstrates His power over death and life. It reminds us of His love, that He stepped back out of eternity to establish the Church. It reminds us that we serve a God who is totally unlike any of the other "wannabe" gods.

Jesus did not just leave His followers here on earth to finish writing His memoirs. He was getting ready to send them out to "storm the gates of Hell", to advance the spiritual battle into every nook and corner of the inhabited world. Because He lives, we can do a whole lot more than just "face tomorrow"!

Website changes, etc.

I made a few adjustments to the website and the Wish List. The most significant change was to point out that tax-deductible designated contributions (in the U.S.) for the PrayerPaddle ministry may be sent to my church: Daniel Memorial Baptist Church, 3784 Terry Rd., Jackson, MS 39212-5099.

Last night I got some pool time in to practice my Eskimo rolls. I felt like I'd gotten rusty over the winter, but I got myself straightened out after a while. In less than 2 hours, I successfully rolled about 52 times! By the end I was starting to notice a slight bit of dizziness creeping in.

Do You Love Me?

In John 21, Jesus asks this question three times of Peter. For some reason, we always seem to focus on the question and answer dialog between Jesus and Peter, and neglect the explanation that Jesus gave of how Peter was to show his love for the Lord. Jesus instructed Peter to "feed my sheep". Although we may be in very different Kingdom roles than Peter was to be, I believe that this is still what God's servants need to be concerned with. The key word that I noticed in this passage a few days ago is "my". The sheep are not ours! Whether we are pastors or laypeople, we need to be ministering to our fellow believers where God gives opportunity regardless of whether they are in "our church" or of our ethnic group or even agree with us on all the finer points of Biblical interpretation.

There is of course one other context where Jesus instructs how we are to show our love for Him. In John 14:15, Jesus says "If you love Me, you will obey what I command". We must be obedient, reverent, desiring to let the holiness and righteousness of our Lord shine through us.

We show our love for God by living our own lives in obedience to His Word and by strengthening His Church (our fellow believers). We must have both an inward and an outward focus if we are to be complete in our faith. For a congregation, there must be a passionate concern both for the church and for the Church. And neither one of those is made of bricks or sticks.