FAITH TO MOVE FORWARD

Date: Wed Mar 31 02:20:14 2010

We are moving close to Easter now, and many people are discouraged. They are disheartened by the terrible times our nation is going through, with political rancor, massive debt, and so many people out of work and out of money. Wealth has disappeared from many, and there is a high level of despair and hopelessness. Some people haven't gotten paid in months. The reduced hours, the precipitous drop in self employment income and the sheer volume of people who have given up looking render official unemployment figures terribly misleading.

About 2,000 years ago, there was also a lot of despair and hopelessness. The best thing to happen in a lifetime was fading fast. Jesus of Nazareth had for three years instilled hope, brought healing, and raised the spirits of a country suffering under Roman bondage. Now, he was arrested, humiliated, tortured, and crucified on an old rugged cross along with common criminals. Hope was gone. Yet another Messiah had come and gone. But did he?

The message of Easter is one of resurrection. If Jesus had stayed in the grave, we would be most miserable. We would have no hope. We would have nothing better than those dead religious figures that others follow. BUT, Jesus did NOT stay in the grave. He rose physically. He defeated death. He is alive forevermore.

We must have resurrection faith in these days - faith that says God is not finished with us.

God has not removed forever our ability to impact society. God has not gone on vacation.

We have a long ways to go as a church and as a nation. We have to put to death the carnal ways and the fruitless ways. We have to forget religion as usual and keep away from all that would keep us from doing God's PERFECT will.

We need faith to march forward and to bring along as many with us as possible. Hard times may well stay, but there must not be hard times in our spirits! We must gather all that God has placed within us to move forward with full faith and assurance that he has wonderful assignments for us to do. Let's be sure we accomplish everything he has given us to do, both here and around the world.