EASTER 2010

It has been over 2,000 years since Jesus came from heaven, incarnated, and sacrificed his life for sinful man. Christians celebrate not only his dying for us but God raising Him from the dead after 3 days. It is interesting to me that those who were closest to Him, the disciples, were with Him for three years and yet they came right up to Passover and still Thomas says, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?” The all important truth of Easter is summed up in Jesus’ reply to Thomas and the remaining disciples: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Well, are we any better 2,000 years later? I just read in the Baptist Standard, and I quote: “While most Americans describe Easter as a religious holiday, fewer than half of the adults surveyed link it specifically to the Resurrection of Jesus,” a Barna Group study shows.  Seven in 10 respondents mentioned religion or spirituality in their response to an open-ended question about how they describe what Easter means to them personally. But just 42 percent tied Easter to the Resurrection. The age group 18-25 were the least likely to describe Easter as a religious event.

If Jesus was who He claimed to be then the CROSS and the EMPTY TOMB are the two most important symbols in all of humanity. If Jesus was who He claimed to be then WHERE you spend ETERNITY is tied to a choice. The blood of Jesus covered the sin of humanity period! Will you believe that Jesus is the way to heaven, was telling the truth? If you do He offers you ETERNAL LIFE in Heaven with Him. If on the other hand you choose to reject His blood sacrifice for you then you will still have ETERNAL LIFE, but you will be forever separated from Him and Heaven.

If what I just shared is the truth, and I know that it is, then the CROSS is of eternal importance. What we learned from the Barna study is this…”the Easter holiday has a distinctly religious connection for people, but…the specifics of it are really fading in a lot of people’s minds.”  I hope the empty tomb is of paramount importance to you and your family. What the Barna study says to me is this, we need to be sharing the Easter message boldly with every opportunity that presents itself to us. If we are obedient to sharing the Easter message with the excitement of the 1st century believers we can turn this decline in believers around. “He is not here, He is RISEN!  Just as He said!” Luke 24:6

At IRVING BAPTIST FELLOWSHIP we serve a RISEN SAVIOR He’s in the world today! Have a Blessed Easter! DF

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Texas Hope 2010 is the dream of the incoming president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, Randel Everett. I’ve known Randel for almost 40 years now and he has always been a visionary kind of guy. When he accepted the position at the BGCT he immediately put forth a fresh focus for our churches and that was to share the gospel with all Texans by Easter 2010.  We are doing that through Prayer, Share and Care.

Texas Baptists are praying for the lost, the hungry, the hurting across the state and through caring hearts they are sharing and meeting the needs of people. Some have said that it was an impossible task to reach so many people in such a short time. That may be true…but thousands of people are now eating when they once were going hungry, they were lost but now have given their hearts to Christ, some were once inactive church members and are now moving out into their communities with a variety of ministering efforts.  We may not reach them all by Easter 2010 but we will reach some, and if the Lord doesn’t come back we will continue to press forward with the gospel, feeding the hungry, ministering to the hurting and…we have a place where you can get involved.

As for IBF and our 2010 efforts we are giving away the Bible on CD in over 360 different languages. With over 140 different languages being spoken in the metroplex surely we have most of these languages on this disc. We have already given these away at Christmas and will give them as gifts to everyone who visits our Easter services.  We will also be putting these CD’s in every Baylor Hospital in Dallas County during the Easter weekend.

Let me say that if are not a member of IBF and would like a Bible on CD we would be happy to send one to you. Please post your request in the comments or you can send a request to the church: Irving Baptist Fellowship   2201 W. Shady Grove Road, Irving, Texas 75060.  Or, stop by and visit our services and we will be happy to hand it to you in person!  IBF delivering HOPE in Texas in 2010.

Come Worship with us any Sunday!  DF

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