If you ask most people what comes to mind when they think of Easter, they might say chocolate bunnies, children hunting Easter eggs in their pastel-colored Sunday best or perhaps a nice lunch with family after possibly going to church. If you ask most people what Easter symbolizes, they would say the start of spring — the beginning of new life. 

And what “life” means to such people falls so short of what it truly is. Shakespeare’s Macbeth described life as “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing.” And to most people life is a void. Such people don’t understand who they are, why they’re here or where they’re going.

Some people seek a life of pleasure — party on! Have a blast while you last! Eat, drink and be merry because tomorrow we die! is their creed.

Other people spend their life in the pursuit of money or possessions so they can have status or security for themselves or their family.

Others might, less selfishly, make caring and serving their family, “the next generation” or even needy strangers their primary purpose.

But in the end, all of these pursuits, some noble and some not, fail to fulfill our true purpose.

James 4:14 describes life as a breath vapor on a cold morning; it’s there for a moment, then gone. Ecclesiastes 3:2 says “There’s a time to be born and there’s a time to die.” And so life is a vapor… here today and then gone. Death is a terrible enemy. It stalks the earth relentlessly, taking young lives as well as older ones. Death is an interloper, an intruder and no respecter of persons!

SOURCE: Christian Post, Jack Graham

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

As many Christians in the West mark the first time they’ve been unable to celebrate Easter publicly at church due to the COVID-19 outbreak, theologians are weighing in on how God might be moving in the world.

Because of the ongoing pandemic, federal, state and local governments have issued “social distancing” and stay-at-home orders along with the temporary shutdown of businesses deemed as “non-essential.” And churches have been largely prohibited from holding services, even on the holiest of Christian holidays.

“I’m reminded that for the persecuted church, this is every week for them,” said Glenn Packiam, pastor of New Life Church-Downtown in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in an interview with The Christian Post.

“The inability to gather, the restrictions on church and worship, we are in many ways standing in solidarity with the persecuted church because we are experiencing what has been their norm on a weekly basis,” he said.

The pandemic presents another opportunity to reconsider the first Easter and the period soon thereafter where Jesus appeared to the disciples while they were in locked rooms, afraid and unsure of what had just happened.

“The last they knew, He was crucified and buried in a tomb. So there is, in a very real sense, not just a connection with the global church —a portion of which is the persecuted church — but there is also a connection with the earliest of churches, the first followers of Jesus who found themselves in locked rooms. And Jesus appeared to them,” Packiam said.

“The resurrection of Christ is able to appear to us, to come to us wherever we are. And as we think about Easter we can remember that the risen Christ walks through locked rooms, He appears through locked rooms, He comes through closed doors and finds us afraid and alone.”

American Christians sometimes tend to interpret events based on what is happening to them, that if they are experiencing difficulty then it must be the end times, he added.

“I think we have to be careful of that because we get spoiled by comfort, we get spoiled by life sort of being relatively good. And because of that we lose our sense of the power of what Christian hope actually is. Christian hope has always been the future,” he said, referencing the Apostle Paul’s words in Romans 8 where he speaks of a hope which remains yet unseen.

“For many of us living in a comfortable sort of existence, our definition of hope gets skewed to be a sense of peace and everything is OK.”

SOURCE: Christian Post, Brandon Showalter

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

There has been much discussion recently over what to believe. Are the coronavirus numbers accurate? Are the reports from other countries dependable? Dare we be optimistic about treatments and vaccines?

Like you, I’ve struggled to separate caution from overreaction.

There was one headline, however, that we can quickly discard. Don’t believe it. Don’t fall for it. The message just ain’t true. Here it is: “Easter Canceled.” The article detailed the sad reality that most church sanctuaries will be closed this coming Sunday. Hence, the announcement, “Easter Canceled.”

Hence, my reply, “Not on your life, friend.”

Easter cannot be canceled. The church doors might be closed, but the promise is alive and well. What the angel said on the first Easter, he says still.

“He is not here. He is risen from the dead as he said he would” (Mt. 28:6).

It was Sunday morning after the Friday execution. Jesus’ final breath had sucked the air out of the universe. As his body lay breathless in the grave, no one was placing bets on a resurrection.

His enemies were satisfied with their work. They raised a toast to a dead Jesus. Their only concern was those pesky disciples. The religious leaders made this request of Pilate, “So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead” (Mt. 27:64).

No concern was necessary. The disciples were at meltdown. When Jesus was arrested, “All the disciples forsook Him and fled” (Mt. 26:56). They cowered in Jerusalem’s cupboards and corners for fear of the cross that bore their name.

No one dreamed of a Sunday morning miracle. Peter didn’t ask John, “What will you say when you see Jesus?” Mary didn’t ponder, “How will he appear?” They didn’t encourage each other with quotes of his promised return. They could have. At least four times Jesus said words like these: “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.”[1] You’d think someone would mention this prophecy and do the math. “Hmm, he died yesterday, today is the second day. He promised to rise on the third day. Tomorrow is the third day… Friends, I think we better wake up early tomorrow.”

But Saturday saw no such plans. On Saturday, the enemy had won, courage was gone, and hope caught the last train to the coast. On Sunday, the women went to the tomb to embalm Christ, not talk to him. But then they saw and heard the angel.

“He has risen.”

SOURCE: Christian Post, Max Lucado

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

Ahead of the coronavirus task force briefing Friday, President Trump gave an Easter message, urging Americans to “focus on prayer, reflection, and growing in our personal relationship with God” during “this sacred time” as most churches hold services online, and asked Bishop Harry Jackson to pray.

“On this Good Friday, Christians from all around the world remember the suffering and death upon the cross of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,” Trump said at the briefing at the White House. “At Easter Sunday, we will celebrate His glorious resurrection.”

Trump said as people won’t be able to “gather together with one another as we normally would on Easter,” they can “use this sacred time to focus on prayer, reflection, and growing in our personal relationship with God. So important.”

He continued, “I ask all Americans to pray that God will heal our nation; to bring comfort to those who are grieving; to give strength to the doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers; to restore health to the sick; and to renew the hope in every person who is suffering. Our nation will come through like never before.”

Trump assured that the U.S. death toll from the new coronavirus pandemic will be “substantially less” than the last week’s projection of 100,000.

As of early Saturday, there were more than  1.7 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 around the world with 103,257 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. In the United States, the case count was 501,615  with 18,777 deaths.

The president acknowledged that “many families” have prayed “for me and for my family.” He said, “your prayers are felt, and I am forever grateful.”

SOURCE: Christian Post, Anugrah Kumar

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

As most church campuses in the U.S. remain closed due to restrictions meant to contain the spread of the COVID-19 disease, church leaders are hosting a two-hour national video streaming event called Easter Across America, featuring speaker Nick Vujicic and megachurch pastors Max Lucado and Miles McPherson among others.

“Easter Across America is a faith-filled, hope-bringing, positive message for all Americans,” says the Facebook page of the online event, which will be hosted by author and pastor Nona Jones.

The speakers of the event, to be livestreamed Sunday at 7 p.m. Eastern time, include Lucado of Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas; North Point Community Church Senior Pastor Andy Stanley; Australian motivational speaker Vujicic; Grammy Award-winning musician Jon Foreman; pastor McPherson of California’s Rock Church; and author Bob Goff.

“Social distancing and shelter-in-place quarantine measures have been in effect for weeks in various parts of the country and many Americans are starting to feel the effects of isolation and an uncertain future,” says a statement announcing the event, which is sponsored by the Christian humanitarian organization World Vision and the health care sharing ministry Medi-Share.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Anugrah Kumar

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

COMMUNION

SING “Let Us Break Bread Together”

Let us break bread together on our knees, (on our knees)
Let us break bread together on our knees. (on our knees)
When I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun,
O Lord, have mercy on me.

Let us drink the cup together on our knees, (on our knees)
Let us drink the cup together on our knees. (on our knees)
When I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun,
O Lord, have mercy on me.

Let us praise God together on our knees, (on our knees)
Let us praise God together on our knees. (on our knees)
When I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun,
O Lord, have mercy on me.

—PRAYER—

On the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread: And when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you: This do in remembrance of me.

PRAYER

John 6:58 says, “This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.”

TAKE AND EAT

“In the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, ‘This cup is the new testament in my blood: This do you as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me.’ For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come.”

PRAYER

Hebrews 9:22 says, “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.”

1 John 1:7 says, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

TAKE AND DRINK

After they had finished the first Supper, they sang a hymn and went out into the night.

Now, as we close this service, let us sing “There is a Fountain Filled With Blood”

There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Emmanuel’s veins
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains
Lose all their guilty stains
Lose all their guilty stains
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains

The dying thief rejoice to see
That fountain in his day
And there may I though vile as he
Wash all my sins away
Wash all my sins away
Wash all my sins away
And there may I though vile as he
Wash all my sins away

E’er since by faith I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply
Redeeming love has been my theme
And shall be ’till I die
And shall be ’till I die
And shall be ’till I die
Redeeming love has been my theme
And shall be ’till I die

When this poor lisping stammering tongue
Lies silent in the grave
Then in a nobler sweeter song
I’ll sing Thy power to save
I’ll sing Thy power to save
I’ll sing Thy power to save
Then in a nobler sweeter song
I’ll sing Thy power to save

—-

Now, as we close this service, let us sing “The Love of God”

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell
It goes beyond the highest star
And reaches to the lowest hell
The guilty pair bowed down with care
God gave His Son to win
His erring child He reconciled
And pardoned from His sin

O love of God how rich and pure
How measureless and strong
It shall forevermore endure
The saints and angels’ song

When years of time shall pass away
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall
When men who here refuse to pray
On rocks and hills and mountains call
God’s love so sure shall still endure
All measureless and strong
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race
The saints and angels’ song

O love of God how rich and pure
How measureless and strong
It shall forevermore endure
The saints and angels’ song

Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the skies of parchment made
Were every stalk on earth a quill
And every man a scribe by trade
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky

O love of God how rich and pure
How measureless and strong
It shall forevermore endure
The saints and angels’ song

—-

Now, as we close this service, let us sing “Blest be the Tie That Binds”

Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that

Before our Father’s throne,
We pour our ardent prayers;
Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one,
Our comforts, and our cares.

We share our mutual woes,
Our mutual burdens bear;
And often for each other flows
The sympathizing tear.

When we asunder part,
It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart,
And hope to meet again.

—-

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

Thousands already attend church online at GoToChurchOnline.tv . Because of the Coronavirus plague which has swept over the world, millions are being forced to attend church online.

If you do not already have a permanent church home to attend online, please visit Go To Church Online and choose from one of the many churches broadcasting services via the internet to worship our risen Lord and Savior from the comfort and safety of your home.

GoToChurchOnline.TV brings churches in America and around the world into one central location so that believers and seekers can attend church from wherever they are in the world. Here are the top 20 most popular churches on GoToChurchOnline.tv (especially since the Coronavirus plague started):

Don’t let religious persecution, disability or a deadly virus keep you back from the house of God. If you are a true worshiper, you don’t need to be in a physical church building being seen by other people to worship God. A true worshiper will make their home or living space a place where God dwells as well. Jesus said, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24). With GoToChurchOnline.tv you can go to the church of your choice from wherever you are in the world (and don’t forget to invite a friend)!

If you do not see your church on GoToChurchOnline.tv and you want it made available on the site, it can be added for only $400.00 per month or for $3800.00 per year, which is a $1000 discount if a whole year is paid for upfront. If payment is made today before 11:00 ET, your church can be made available on GoToChurchOnline.tv in time for Easter Sunday. If interested, please send your email address, church website and livestream address, and a copy of your church’s statement of faith along with payment via PayPal for the month or year-long option of your choice to [email protected]

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source