He is Risen!

Easter Sunday is arguably the high point in the Christian calendar.  It is the celebration of Christ’s resurrection, the cornerstone of our faith.  It is the exclamation point for God’s love; the ultimate reminder of the certainty of God’s love. All of us live with the certainty of death. The resurrection reminds us that equally certain is the unchanging love of God for His people. He will not abandon us; He will not leave us without hope; He will not forsake His children. He did not abandon His Son and He will not abandon us.

Digging Deeper

1.  In the following passages we are told that God’s love accomplishes something for us, or affects our relationship with God in some way. Read each passage and then write down what the love of God accomplishes.  Deuteronomy 7:7-9; 1 John 5:16-19; Ephesians 1:4-6; 2:4-7; Titus 3:4-5; 1 John 4:10, 18-19; John 17:26; Romans 8:38-39.

2.  What is (or what should be) our response to God’s great love for us?  Read Luke 7:37-47 as you consider that question.  In the following passages God does something significant for the people involved – what is their response to God’s grace?  Mark 5:18-20; Psalms 116:12-14; Luke 17:5-6; Isaiah 6:5-9; Matthew 19:32-33.

3.  God loves you.  Do you believe that? Do you feel loved?  Why or why not? When we love each other we show that by the way we treat each other. How does God show His love for you? How might you show God that you love Him?

9 When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. 10 She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. 11 When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it.

12 Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. 13 These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either.

14 Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen. 15 He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

Todays Scripture

(Mark 16:1-16 NIV)  When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?" 4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. 6 "Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.'" 8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

(John 15:13-15 NIV)  Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

(Romans 5:6-8 NIV)  You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Christ arrives right on time to make this [our forgiveness] happen. He didn't, and doesn't, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn't been so weak, we wouldn't have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him. (The Message translation)

(1 John 3:1 NIV)  How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

(1 John 4:7-12 NIV)  Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
 

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