Easter Message 2013

Thanks be to God!

In the land of the living, the night of encircling gloom comes; it comes to everyone. No depth of commitment, no height of obedience can prevent the onset of that night in human experience.

And when that night comes, feeling afraid, we may draw near places of despair. This happens when we allow ourselves to dwell only in that moment, to live as captives of that moment, and we fail to scale the horizons of the dark to see the promise of the emerging dawn of God's deliverance.

Thick darkness can never remove the gracious hand of God. It may threaten to hide that hand, to remove it entirely from sight; but it can never obliterate it. And even while we dwell in the realm of darkness, the promise of God's liberating light can fill our hearts with the nearness of the day of victory.

Let us be careful to appreciate that the Cross of Jesus is not merely a sign of pain and suffering occasioned by sin because in it is the guarantee of victory. Because Jesus is lifted up, he draws all humankind to himself. In the arc of history, the Cross does not exist apart from the resurrection. Joy is possible in the midst of pain because Jesus is our joy. The sadness of Good Friday can subsist only where the joy of Easter is forgotten.

Soon, Easter morning comes. Full-orbed light displaces the darkness of Good Friday.  What was only partly visible in the dark night of pain and disappointment now glows at the dawn of renewal. Hope springs anew; courage rises from bowels of fear for Jesus is risen! The solemn purposes of God come into fuller view. "Death is crushed to death" in order that we might enjoy the risen life of the Son of God!

This Easter day, Christians are not deceived by the darkness that threatens to trap us in a web of negativity and hopelessness. We see the power of evil even where people desperately search for signs of the victory of the good and the right.  Swarming doubt and unbelief are taking hold of the human heart, filling us with a sense of the futility of life. Yet, while darkness hovers, we are not overwhelmed because, by the grace of God, we are able to escape the crippling numbness despairing times produce.

On Easter day, we affirm that Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again. Thanks be to God!

Neville Callam
General Secretary

Baptist World Alliance®
© March 26, 2013

ARE YOU PALNNING TO FAIL?

According to Robert Schuller, “If we fail to plan, we are planning to fail”. We must decide our destination before we start the journey. And like the saying goes, if you don’t have a target, you cannot hit one.

What are your targets for this year?

We must have goals. Goals are powerful. They make the difference between success and failure, between wealth and poverty, and between happiness and frustration. Without specific goals, success is impossible. Because success is simply the accomplishment of goals. Without goals therefore, frustration, depression and discouragement set in, but do not be discouraged. You will not fail, you will succeed.                          

God will help you to breakthrough, but first, right now; I challenge you to set definite goals for this year. Crystallize your dreams on paper. Set goals for your family, your finances, your health, your relationships and most of all, your spiritual life.

How important are the items on our list?

There are two words that come to us forcefully, in the process of listing priorities in the use of time. They are the words URGENT and IMPORTANT. These two words divide our list of things to do into four groups.

The first group contains the urgent and important. Such as failing health, projects with deadlines that are close and crisis in general. We must act on the items in this group. The only snag here is that too many crises wear us out. If we plan and act early enough, we can prevent many crises in our careers, homes or our health.

The second group of things to do contains items that are urgent but not important. These items press on us. They demand immediate attention. Some phone calls fall into this category. When the telephone rings it seems to take priority over everything else we are doing. Meanwhile, the discussion on phone may not be as vital as the job at hand. Some other kinds of interruptions fall into this category. Some visits during official hours. Many of the items that are urgent but not important make us popular with people but do not add to our lives in very significant ways.

 The third group of things to do that are not urgent and not important. These things usually do not require discipline. They are pleasurable activities. Some phone calls, letters and visits still fall within this category.

The fourth group of things to do are those that are not urgent but important. If we spend most of our time on items in this group, we will live effective lives. The activities here include our spiritual lives – Prayer, studying the bible and going to church. Also, prevention and maintenance activities also come in here. Listening to your spouse, Helping the children with homework and watching them grow. Visiting some loved ones.

Planning and writing down our short range and long range goals.  Recognizing new opportunities.  These    activities may not press on us urgently but they are very important. If we ensure that the items at the top of our list of things to do are mostly those in the forth group, we will not have to manage many crises.

These are the things that guarantee results.

The first step towards determining the things that are important to you is DISCOVERING YOUR PURPOSE. When you discover your purpose your ultimate purpose in life and you decide to fulfill it that will help you to reach your destination. If we desire to spend our days accomplishing worthwhile things we must learn to say “NO” to many of the things that seek to grab our attention everyday.

If we fulfill others expectation of us, but fail in our relationships with God, with our family and even in our own personal  development, that will be unfortunate, we must cut down on trivialities and concentrate powerfully on things that will move us forward. Psalm 90 verses 12 says, “Teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom”.

Have a fruitful year ahead as you follow your dream.

Ajayi Olatunbosun

God Wants You to Enjoy Your Life

by Rick Warren

“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” (1 Timothy 6:17 NIV)

You may be under a lot of stress right now because of the economy, but God still wants you to enjoy life.
As a Christian, you can enjoy life because your conscience is clear. You can enjoy life because you are secure within God’s love. You can have fun and laugh in church. You can enjoy friends who don’t manipulate you because they are learning to be like Jesus, and that means they are learning to look out for the interests of others.
Unfortunately, there are many people who do not want to let God into their lives because they fear he will make them give up anything that is fun. They think that to become a Christian is the same as saying the party’s over, that to be spiritual is to be miserable.
People are frantically looking for fun fixes, but that means they operate under the law of diminishing returns. They spend more time, more money, and more energy to get less and less of a thrill. They go around asking, “Are we having fun yet?”
The truth is, God “richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment” (1 Timothy 6:17b NIV).
God wants you to enjoy life!
Talk About It
- Why would God want you to enjoy life?
- How do you respond to the truth that God’s love is extravagant, lavish, and beyond comprehension?

Is It Really Enough?

by Tom Norvell

When they asked Jesus, "Which is the most important of all the commands?" Jesus said, "Love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength. Then, love your neighbor as yourself. All the others hang on these two" (Matthew 22:34-40).
My question: Is this enough?
Jesus said these are the most important things: Love God and love people.
My question: Is this enough?
For those asking the original question, it seems the answer did not satisfy. Jesus follows His answer with a question for them, "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" (v. 42) After they wrestled with the question Matthew says, "No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions" (Matthew 22:46 MSG).
In chapter 23, Jesus speaks to the crowds and to his disciples: "The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach" (23:2-3).
The rest of chapter 23 contains some of the most harsh statements ever uttered by Jesus.

It's worth a try, don't you think?

Again, my question: Is love for God and love for people enough? What if it was? What if we took Jesus seriously? What if we said that loving God and loving people is our goal — that these two would be priority #1 and #2 in our lives?
If we would let loving God and loving people be enough, there would be few arguments about following His teaching and doing whatever He called upon us to do. He addresses this very clearly in some of His last words with His disciples (John 13:1-17:26). Most of the issues we debate about would possibly be resolved. He clears up many of these questions — hard questions we wrestle with — in His sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), but again, these all focus down to these two basic priorities.
If we would let loving God and loving people be enough, many of the issues of "Who is lovable and who is not?", "Who is acceptable in the Kingdom and who is not?", "What is right and what is wrong for God's people to do in worship, in business, in marriage, and in all our relationships?" could be settled. Or better yet, they would never surface. It might bring some clarity to many of the questions we have about how to take care of our planet, poverty, war, and how to interact with people of other races and religions.
All these good things could happen if we would let loving God and loving people be enough. So, we're back to the question: is it enough?
This is not a question to be answered only by the religious leaders of Jesus' day, or our day. It is the fundamental question we all must answer. As Jesus said, everything else depends on how we answer this question. Everything else in my life depends on how I answer this question. So it is rather important.
A new week is upon us. A new challenge is before us. Will we love God and love people this week as of first importance? Will that be enough? Will we let it be enough?
It's worth a try, don't you think? This week: love God and love people.
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