Easter 2022
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Good morning! Welcome to Cutler Bay Worship Center, we are so glad that you are with us this morning. If you want to follow along I have put some of my points and scripture on the website, if you use the QR code on the sign right at the front here it’ll take you to our service page and you’ll have all the information you need for today’s service.
Today, of course, we are celebrating Easter. And depending on where you come from, or what your priorities are, that will may mean something different.
To a child it mostly means candy and easter bunnies… Our daughter said to my wife the other day, “I’m so excited for Easter… I can’t wait to do egg hunts...” and all the fun things, of course. Yesterday we were at the town of Cutler Bay’s Eggstravaganza, this morning we had a little hunt for her at home, then she’s here and the kids are going to get their own little easter egg hunt in Kids Connect today and then this afternoon we have our friends over at Village church doing an event we’re going to sneak into there too. She has a LOT to be excited about, we just have to temper how many eggs that have candy in them that she gets into today!
To a child, it seems pretty simple - Easter is a whole lot of fun!
To some it’s a day to be with their family, share a meal.
To some it meant you got Friday off of work. At least the kids were out of school, another win for them!
If you grew up going to church there’s going to be a certain reverence for Easter, and what that meant would have been dependent on what type of church you grew up in.
Some follow what is called Lent, 40 days of self sacrifice and dedication in prayer that lead up to Easter
This past week is what we call Holy Week, and for some each day of the week has its own meaning and focus:
I grew up in a church that focused on three important days, Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
So we started the week with Palm Sunday, the day we celebrate the arrival of Jesus into the city of Jerusalem, in the week that he is going to die. And it’s an incredible day where He is praised and worshiped as the coming and hopeful King. We talked about this last week, and if you weren’t with us you can go on our website to see that. But something shifted during that week - Jesus went from being celebrated to the mobs screaming ‘crucify him’… That’s a pretty dramatic shift...
Holy Monday reflects on the story of Jesus clearing the temple in Matthew 21.
Some believe Tuesday is the day that Judas met with the religious leaders and agreed to betray Jesus.
And there are others who believe that Wednesday is the day of Judas’ meeting, and it’s called Spy Wednesday. Who would have thought there was a Spy day in the church, huh?
Thursday is called Maundy Thursday. Not Monday, but Maundy. And John 13 tells us this story that we’ve all see the painting of - we call it the Last Supper, Jesus sharing his last Passover meal with his disciples, which is a Jewish festival.
I like the meme that says Jesus walks into a restaurant and says, “Table for 26 please” and the matre’d says, “I only see 13 of you, we have a policy we don’t seat our guests until the whole party is present.” To which Jesus replies, “Oh, we’re all here, we just all going to sit on the same side of the table...”
But it’s after that dinner that Jesus does something truly strange, he washes all of their feet. This is so weird for Peter, one of his closest followers, that he says to Jesus in John 13:8, “You will never ever wash my feet!” and Jesus replies, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.” And Peter’s response is great, he says, “Then wash my hands and my head as well, Lord, not JUST my feet!”
But here’s the interesting part. Maundy comes from the latin word mandatum which is the first word used in a new instruction that Jesus gives to his disciples in John 13:34, they’ve had dinner, he’s washed their feet, and then Jesus says to them, “mandatum novarum” or “a new commandment” I give to you: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. mandatum novarum, a new commandment. And so Maundy Thursday.
Then of course we have Good Friday where Jesus goes to the garden of Gethsemane, prays to his Father, “If there is any way for this cup to pass from me [speaking of his soon coming betrayal, abuse and death], but not my will, not my desire, but yours be done.” Judas comes, kisses him, indicating to the mob that he’s led to them that Jesus is the one they are to arrest. John 18 tells us that Peter grabs a sword and swings at the High Priests servant and maybe he was aiming for a fatal blow, but he just got the poor kids ear, and it says he cut his right ear completely off. Luke 22 says that Jesus touches the man’s ear and heals him. Luke was a physician, so not surprising he’s the only one that mentions the ear getting put back and the servant being healed - everyone else just says, “a guy got his ear chopped off”… a little side note for ya this morning, but that’s how rumors get start, when you don’t have the whole story from all eye witness accounts, right?
So Jesus is betrayed, brought to trial, wrongfully accused and sentenced to be beaten and hung on a cross to die. Good Friday feels like the longest day in history and really not that good at all, at least not when it happened.
And maybe the darkness of Good Friday is only to be eclipsed by Saturday, which of course we call Holy Saturday, but some call it Black Saturday. This is the day of mourning. Jesus has been buried, it’s the sabbath, there’s no work to be done, they can’t go treat the body, they can’t do anything. They are stuck, tired, broken and devastated by the fact that their friend, their leader, their savior, the one they called Messiah, which literally means the anointed one sent by God to deliver God’s people…he’s dead.
Then comes Sunday. After all that it’s no wonder that this day, Easter Sunday, or what we also call Resurrection Sunday, has such power and value, whether people actually recognize it or not. You ever walk into a room, didn’t know there’s a party going on, but it’s just absolutely decked out to the 9’s and you’re like, “Whoa, something good is going on here...”
Maybe you walk into a church and it’s decorated for a wedding, “Wow, something special is happening here today, isn’t there?” Or you go to a friends house for a get together, but it’s actually a surprise birthday party and they’ve got it all set up for a great time. The atmosphere indicates something good is happening.
That my friends is Easter Sunday. That’s Resurrection Sunday. Something Good is happening. Something special. Something extraordinary. Maybe you can’t explain it. But for some reason, today of all days feels like it’s a good day.
For a lot of people Easter Sunday is just one of the days where you go to church. Feels like it’s the place to be.
There’s good reason for that.
We call this the good news, because it really is good. It’s the story of Jesus life, death AND resurrection. And this morning I want to read to you from the bible what takes place on that Resurrection morning… I’ve taken parts from the four books of the Bible that tell this story, Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.
And if you want to follow along it’s on our website, you can use the QR codes on the signs we have here or just go to www.cutlerbayworship.org and click on “Today’s Message” in the top menu.
Mark 16:1-3 Saturday evening, when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdelene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went out and purchased burial spices so they could anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on Sunday morning, just at sunrise, they went to the tomb. on the way they were asking each other, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?”
Matthew 28:2-5 Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. His face shone like lightening, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint.
Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified...”
Luke 24:5-7 The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the [angels] asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.”
Mark 16:6-7 “…Look, this is where they laid his body. Now go and tell his disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died.”
Luke 24:9-10 So they rushed back from the tomb to tell his eleven disciples - and everyone else - what had happened. It was Mary Magedelene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several other women who told the apostles what had happened.
John 20:2 [Mary Magdelene] found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him!”
Luke 24:11 But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it.
Luke 24:12 However, Peter jumped up and ran…
John 20:3-11 …and the other disciple [John] started out for the tomb. They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He stopped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed - for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. Then they went home.
[But] Mary was standing outside the tomb crying...
Mark 16:9 …the first person who saw [Jesus] was Mary Magdalene, the woman from who he had cast out seven demons.
John 20:11 ...as she [stood outside the tomb and] wept, she stooped and looked in. She saw two white robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.
“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”
She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”
“Mary!” Jesus said.
She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for teacher”)
Matthew 28:9-10 …as [Peter and the other disciple] went [home], Jesus met them and greeted them. And they ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid! Go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.”
John 20:18 Mary Magdelene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!”
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Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive?
This is Easter Sunday. This is the, “oh, something about today is different.”
See, we show up having experienced death. We wake up having experienced sorrow. We are all living our lives going through the things we go through and although we find joy in certain things, family, friends, maybe our work is fulfilling for us, ultimately the pain of loss and the lack of hope can become overwhelming.
What is the point if all of this leads to nothing?
Do we really just live and come to the end of life having done the best we can and hope beyond hope that the measuring stick of the universe determines we are good enough to find peace. We say it, we mark it on our graves in some sort of empty hope, “Rest in Peace...”
There’s a saying, and I said it the other day, and I was just joking, but I had a very busy week this week and remembering some things I had yet to do and trying to find time to do it I said, “Meh, I’ll sleep when I’m dead...”
But this is the thing. Death isn’t sleep. Death isn’t rest. Death isn’t even eternal. And death does not need to be our hope.
See, the thing that makes Easter pop like it does. The thing that sets it apart, that makes it special, that gives us that feeling like, “hmmm… maybe I should be in church today.” is that the entire reason for Easter, and no, it’s not eggs and bunnies, yes, it’s his life and his death BUT Easter Sunday is about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The life of Jesus is pretty incredible. He had some really amazing teachings. But he also said some pretty crazy stuff. UNLESS what he was saying is true. You can read what Jesus said and go, “Wow, this guy was not all there in the head” and it’s why so many chose, and still choose today, not to follow him.
John 6:53-58 says that Jesus is sharing with a group of people and he says that his body is the true bread, true food, and his blood is the true drink, and IF you eat his flesh and drink his blood you will live forever.
And the bible tells us, and we shouldn’t be surprised, John 6:66, At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him.
See, they didn’t stick around long enough for them to get to Maundy Thursday, where Jesus was sitting at his table for 26, with only 13 people, and it says in Matthew 26:26, As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.”
And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many...”
And everybody sighs a HUGE sigh of relief!!!!! “Oh thank Yaweh, he was talking about Bread & Wine!”
Jesus actually said multiple times throughout his life, If you have ears and can hear, then truly listen… Don’t be like the ones who listen but don’t truly hear, or those who see but don’t truly understand.
Even Peter and John, who have come to the tomb on Easter morning, who up to this point the bible says the disciples didn’t believe the report from the women about what the angels had told them, and they get to the tomb and look in and finally, finally it clicks, “Wait a second, he told us this would happen!”
John 20:8-9 says, Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed - for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. Then they went home.
What makes the difference?
See, sometimes we don’t understand because what we are looking at might seem dead or gone, but the empty tomb is actually the first indication that something is now different.
The tomb that held our disappointments becomes the place of our hope because it points to the one simple truth that we have all been looking for: Life!
Life changes everything. And Life is what we’re looking for. In the midst of the busyness of this world. The jobs we choose the relationships we pursue and the possessions we buy, we are looking for a sense of fulfillment, a sense of life. This is why people followed Jesus, because this is what he was promising!
Here’s the thing - when someone promises you something, but then they die before you get it. That’s pretty disappointing, isn’t it? It’s no wonder some call Saturday Black Saturday. Jesus is in the grave and the disciples, the ones closest to him - it says they STILL hadn’t understood the scriptures that said he must rise from the dead.
Even the women who went on Sunday morning, they weren’t going and expecting an empty tomb, they were carrying the spices to anoint his DEAD body.
This is why the angels had to be just so plain and simple with them when they said, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive?”
And so my question for you this morning is, “What are you looking for?”
What you are looking for will determine the direction of your life.
We all know that. We all took the drivers test, you don’t look at the ditch, you’ll end up in the ditch. You don’t look directly at the oncoming traffic, you’ll end up in oncoming traffic. You look to the distance, to the future, to the place you are wanting to end up.
Why are you looking towards death when you could be looking for LIFE!
This was the message of Jesus from day one and it is the message that matters most for each and every one of us still today. So, this morning I want to point us in the right direction. Not just for this morning. Not just for Easter weekend. But the direction that is going to make the most difference in your life.
And if you’re following along on our website you can go to point 1:
1. Jesus is Life
In John 14 Jesus is having a conversation with his disciples and he says to them, “Listen guys, don’t be troubled, don’t be sad, Trust God, trust in me. I know it’s maybe a little different than you thought. You were expecting a warrior king, and I’m more of the humble servant type.” And he tells them that he’s going to leave and prepare a place in heaven for them. He’s like, my Father’s house has all kinds of room and I’m going to get it ready for you, and when it’s all ready, I’m gonna come and get you so we can be together forever.
And then he says this in John 14:4, And you know the way to where I am going.”
“No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where we are going, so how can we know the way?”
Man, Thomas… I grew up hearing him being called Doubting Thomas, because after Jesus rises from the dead and he appears to them the first time, Thomas isn’t there, and when they tell him he says, “Guys, I just won’t believe until I see him myself, and I can see the holes in his hands. I wanna be able to touch his hand with my hand and know it’s him...” And for so long people have taken that as doubt rather than a pursuit for clarity and understanding.
Thomas…man, we should be calling him the HONEST Disciples… No one else spoke up. But he does, he says, “Sorry, Jesus, we have no clue what you’re talking about.” Maybe you’re like the other disciples around the room who didn’t feel the need to ask, but I identify with Thomas a whole lot here. You ever feel like that? Especially about the things of God. Like, wow, I’m sorry, that went right over my head, I have no idea what you’re talking about.
And John 14:6 says that Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me...”
Jesus IS the life we seek. In him we find the life we are looking for. In following Him we are led to the place of true life.
2. This LIFE is for You
Remember earlier we were talking about Jesus being bread and wine? He actually says in John 6:48, 51 “I am the bread of life!… Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I offer so the world may live, is my flesh.”
ANYONE who eats this bread.... so the WORLD may life.
That word World is the greek word kosmos, and literally means the whole wide world, everyone the whole mass of mankind who has been alienated from God, it is the world and the universe itself!
Jesus said in John 10:10, The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
The word life that Jesus uses is the greek word zoe, it means to be completely overcome with vitality of life right down to the very soul - the absolute fulness of life which, being devoted to God is experienced in this life and in a life that will last forever.
So, if Jesus IS the life, and he’s come so that we can receive it, how do we receive this life, HIS life? If life is what we are looking for and Jesus says he is that life and that he wants to give it to us, what next?
3. Follow the Life Giver
We were at the town of Cutler Bay’s Easter Eggstravaganza yesterday, and we had an absolutely great time. They did two easter egg hunts, which, there’s no hunting involved. It’s a big open field with a whole lot of eggs and it’s a mad dash to get as many as you can into your basket before the other guy… When my parents hid easter eggs for us they did NOT make it easy. My dad wasn’t just throwing them on the floor for us to go pick up… they were HIDDEN!
And then, add that they’ve told all the kids in this big open field with hundreds and hundreds of eggs that there’s one golden egg. My daughter and her friend came back after the first hunt with frowns…buckets of candy, and frowns…and I said, “What on earth are you sad about?” “We didn’t get the golden egg...”
Ya, the probability of that was pretty low to begin with.
Trying to find that special thing… But Jesus is so much better than a field of eggs. He’s even better than the Easter Bunny who you just have to walk up to and get an egg from because with Jesus everyone gets the golden egg.
John 3:16, and you may have heard this one before. It might be the most well known sentence from the whole bible. Jesus is talking to a man named Nicodemus and he says to him, For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son [speaking of himself], so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
See, with Jesus there is this invitation to come to him and receive this life.
But what does it mean to believe?
It means to accept something as being true. Well, Jesus has already said He IS the truth, right? I am the way, the truth and the life…
To believe is more than just to say it, it’s to commit to it and in the case of a person to entrust yourself to them.
To believe in Jesus is to commit to Him, to follow Him, to entrust our lives to him. THIS is the path to life.
In John 8:12 Jesus says of himself, “I am the light of the world. IF you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”
Sometimes I feel like I’m walking in darkness. Man, there have been points where I feel like I’m walking in complete darkness. Where I don’t understand what’s going on. I have questions that don’t seem to have answers. I have struggles or hurts and pains, rejections or difficulties that just make it hard to believe in anything. My circumstances feel very contrary to any promise of life and blessing. It feels like darkness.
But what if in the midst of our darkness, our questions, our worries and struggles, our reaching and searching for a life we can’t ever seem to obtain, the happiness we truly desire, in the midst of that darkness we saw a glimmer of light....would we not walk toward it?
This might be the greatest advice you’ve ever received - The key to walking out of the darkness is to follow the light.
The key to finding life is to start walking toward the source of life.
You see where you’re going by finding the person with the light!
And Jesus said it, I AM THE LIGHT! IF you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to LIFE.
4. Jesus Legitimate Claim to LIFE
Anyone can say they have the light. In fact, there’s a whole world out here trying to convince people that all you need to do is dig deep enough into yourself to find the light because it’s all in us. And I’m sorry if you’ve been told that lie.
And I’m not saying that there isn’t good in all of us. I believe the Bible when it says that God made mankind in HIS image, meaning we are all created with the purpose of reflecting the goodness of God. But that’s exactly it. We reflect what is already good. And the moon only reflects the sun when it’s in the path of the light! If I am in HIS image, and there is any good in me, it is only because of Him. If I am in His likeness and there is any hope in me, it is ONLY because of him.
So, what makes Jesus claim to this life and light legitimate?
It’s the empty tomb!
Here we are. Easter Sunday. Standing in front of the tomb where it looked like darkness had won.
Like I said, Anyone can say they have the light. Anyone can claim they can show you the way. Certainly there had even been those in Jesus time who had already said THEY were the Messiah come to save Israel. And even after him, there were those who tried to claim it.
See, Jesus is either 100% true or following him is no different than following any person who dies and is gone forever… what makes Jesus different is that the cross didn’t win. The grave didn’t stop him!
Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is ALIVE?
It’s the resurrection, the fact that Jesus is eternally alive is what makes his invitation for us to follow him to life legit.
He is the light that will never go out.
He is the life that will never die.
In Luke 9:22-25 Jesus says, “The Son of Man [speaking of himself] must suffer many terrible things. He will be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He will be killed but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.”
Then he said to the crowd. “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?
Matthew, when he wrote about this event in Matthew 16:26 says, “And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?”
That word, soul, or how Luke writes it, what if you yourself are lost or destroyed. What Jesus is saying here is simply,
What’s the point of having all the things if it still can’t give you LIFE…?
If you are here this morning, and you are looking for something more than you have. If you have questions that make you feel like you’re walking in darkness sometimes. If you maybe think that there’s more to all this living than just having 70 or 80 years on this planet… the answer is found in following Jesus.
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See, within myself I have the potential to be a broken, depressed, steeped in addiction and pain, with no purpose to live… But because of the light of Jesus Christ that leads to life I have hope. I wake up with purpose. I wake up with joy. I wake up, even on the darkest days, knowing they won’t stay dark. Even if the light feels far away, it is the light I follow. And it leads me out of the darkness to the light of life.
There is no guarantee that life will be easy. I won’t lie to you and say darkness ceases to exist. Neither of those things are true. But, when life is difficult, and dark, Jesus is still the light. When questions are hard, and things don’t make sense, Jesus is my hope. When the grave is what I run to because all I feel is the fear of death and darkness, I see that the tomb is empty and it reminds me that He’s not there, He’s alive!
If you want life. True happiness. True Joy. True Life. It is only found in following Jesus Christ. There is no other way to a life that holds true meaning. And it’s not complicated. It’s not tricky. But it is a commitment. It’s waking up everyday saying, regardless of what I see, hear or experience, I am looking toward the light of life that IS Jesus Christ and I will follow it. And when you do that, it changes everything.
And it’s as simple as starting with a decision right now, in this moment, to say Yes, I will follow this man, Jesus Christ.
Honestly, today, right now, can be the moment that changes your life for the rest of your eternity, not just your 70-80 or maybe 100 years here on this earth. Because as Jesus proved so magnificently, the grave is NOT the end. And it is his resurrected life that we are following. We don’t follow a Jesus on the cross, suffering. We don’t follow a Jesus in the grave, even though He died in our place. We follow a very much alive Jesus who broke every conception of death and the grave, because neither of those things could hold him.
I didn’t choose to give my life to a religion. I don’t stand up here and preach because I’m a bible thumper, or a religious fanatic. I wake up everyday, just like you, in a world where there is darkness and question and hurt and pain, and yet I have the greatest hope in the midst of all of those things because I follow Jesus Christ who is alive, who is God himself, who is the light of life, and the GIVER of life, who shares freely with anyone who is willing to follow him - to believe - to commit their life to His way.
If you’re like me. If you wake up in the same world I do. And if you, in any way shape or form think that there must be more to this life that what you’ve experienced thus far, I want to give you the same invitation that the angels gave the women at the tomb of Jesus Christ 2000 years ago, “Why are you looking among the dead when you could be looking to someone who is alive?”
We have a tradition in the Christian faith. It’s called Communion. And it’s one of the greatest traditions we have, because Jesus said to his disciples, remember, at that table for 26, when he had told them that the bread and wine represented his body and blood, he said this, as often as you do this, take bread and wine, or juice as we use, do this to remember me. Because like I said, the goal is not to become a religious nut, it’s to wake up everyday and follow Jesus, and when we remember who He is, and what He did, we remember we are following the light of the world that leads to life.
So, if you want to make that decision to follow Jesus today, I want to invite you to enter into this tradition of remembering.
I’m going to lead us all in a prayer this morning, and if you are here and already believe in Jesus and already follow his way, this prayer for you will be a good reminder. And if you’re here and haven’t ever done this, or maybe you’ve done the church thing before, but never committed to a life of following, or you’ve been away from the church for a while because the church hurt you, or someone hurt you, and I’m truly sorry if that’s the case, if someone in this life misrepresented God’s great love - I am so sorry. If you’re sitting here thinking, “I’ve tried a lot of things, and I’m willing to try this...” then I want you to pray with me - and then I want to invite you to join us in this tradition of what we call communion, where we intentionally remember what Jesus did for us. He gave his life as a sacrifice and essentially his blood as a sacrifice, so that we could receive true life in him.
Pray with me:
Jesus, this life doesn’t always make sense. I don’t always know which way to go. But this morning, I am choosing, to follow You. If you are the light that leads to life, I will do my best to turn away from all other things, to follow the light, to follow You. Would you lead me out of darkness, into your magnificent light!