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April.14.06: Light for the Day - "Easter - Jesus' Resurrection"

-- John 3:16
   For God so Loved the world that He gave His Only 
   Begotten Son, that whoever Believes in Him should 
   Not Perish but have Everlasting Life.

-- Matthew 28:5-6, 18-20
5 The angel said to the women,  "Do not be afraid, 
    for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was Crucified.
6 He is not here;  He has risen,   just as He said. 
   Come and see the place where He lay."

18 And Jesus came and said to them, 
    "All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to Me.
19 Therefore Go and Make Disciples of all nations, 
      Baptizing them in the Name of the Father 
      and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and Teaching them to Obey everything that I have 
     Commanded you.  And Remember, 
     I Am With you Always, to the end of the age."

-- 1 Corinthians 15:14, 17
14 And if Christ has not been Raised, 
     our Preaching is Useless and so is your Faith.

17 And if Christ has not been Raised, then your Faith is Useless, 
     and you are Still under Condemnation for your sins.

--------------------------------
 *** Easter

The celebration of the Resurrection of’ Jesus occurs every 
Sunday  (which Christians came to call “the Lord’s Day”), 
and it was about a century before anyone began observing 
the annual event that came to be called Easter. It was first 
called Pascha, the Greek word for Passover, which was 
natural since Jesus’ death and Resurrection occurred near 
the Jewish Feast of Passover.  The apostle Paul referred to 
Jesus as “our Passover Lamb” (1 Cor. 5:7).   Jesus, called
the “Lamb of God” several times in the New Testament, was 
regarded as the Perfect and Final Sacrifice for man’s sins.

In the year 325 the Council of Nicaea decreed that Easter 
would be celebrated each year on the Sunday following the 
first full moon after the spring equinox.

----------------------------------
*** The Resurrection of Jesus

This is the key event in the New Testament, as important for 
the Christians as the deliverance from Egypt was for the Jews. 
All Four Gospels report that the body of Jesus, crucified on a 
Friday and placed in a tomb, was not in the tomb on the 
following Sunday. The Gospels do not explain how the event
occurred, only that it did, and that many people saw the Risen 
Jesus.  When the women went to the tomb on the Sunday 
morning, an angel at the empty tomb told them, 
“He is not here, He has Risen!”  

Jesus’ body was somehow changed --  He was like Himself 
enough to be recognized, yet changed enough that two of 
His disciples did not immediately know Him (Luke 24:13–27). 
Some of the disciples thought He was only a phantom, but 
clearly He had a body of flesh:  He told them, (Luke 24:39
"Look at My hands and My feet. It is I Myself! Touch Me and see; 
a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.")
He also ate some food to show He was Truly Alive, not just a 
ghost.   After some days He Blessed His disciples and 
Ascended into Heaven (see Ascension).

The New Testament never tires of speaking of the Risen Jesus. 
While Jesus was admired as a Teacher, Healer, and Miracle worker, 
the Key event was that after dying a horrible death on the Cross, 
God Raised Him from the dead.   

+++   Had the disciples not Sincerely Believed that their dead 
Master had been Raised up by God, Christianity would not 
have Spread across the globe.  +++

----------------
*** Ascension

All four Gospels report that Jesus Rose from the dead and 
Appeared to His disciples. Only Luke reports what became 
of Him afterward: “Now it came to pass, while He blessed 
them, that He was parted from them and carried up into 
Heaven” (Luke 24:51).      

In Acts 1:10–11, Luke adds more detail to this account: 
“While they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, 
behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, 
‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into Heaven? 
This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into Heaven, 
will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into Heaven.’ ” 
This is known as the Ascension, and it is mentioned several 
times in the New Testament. The early Christians believed that, 
just as Jesus had left the earth to ascend to Heaven, He would 
soon return from Heaven and take His followers Home.

------------------
*** Lent

Some churches observe the Forty days before Easter as Lent, 
a time of Soul-Searching and Penitence. The practice dates from
around A.D. 300 and was based on Jesus’ Forty days of Fasting 
during the time He was tempted by Satan (Matt. 4:2; Luke 4:2). 
In earlier times, Christians did fast during Lent, but later the idea
developed of some form of self-denial—“giving up something 
for Lent,” as many people phrase it.

--------------------
*** Palm Sunday

The Sunday before Easter commemorates Jesus’ welcome by 
crowds carrying palm branches as He made His way to Jerusalem.
They took palm branches and went out to meet Him, shouting,
“Hosanna!” and “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the 
Lord!” (John 12:13). This is known as His “Triumphal Entry.”  
By the following Friday He was crucified. Some churches 
still stage processions using palm branches.

----------------------
*** Holy Week

This is the week from Palm Sunday to the following Sunday, 
Easter, and includes the days known as Maundy Thursday 
and Good Friday. In some ways it was the most important week 
in Jesus’ life, with such critical events as His Cleansing the temple, 
the Last Supper, His Arrest, Trial, and Crucifixion, and, on Easter, 
His Resurrection from the dead.    Because the New Testament
connects these key events with mankind’s Salvation, Christians 
made their celebration a significant part of worship.

------------------------
*** Maundy Thursday

The Thursday before Easter commemorates the night before 
Jesus’ Crucifixion. It was an eventful night: Jesus’ Last Supper 
with His disciples, the agony in Gethsemane, the Arrest. 
Maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum, meaning
“Commandment.” In John’s account of the evening, Jesus told 
His disciples, “A New Commandment I give to you, that you Love 
one another; as I have Loved you, that you also Love one another”
(John 13:34).

----------------------
*** Good Friday

In a way it is an odd name for a Sad day -- the day of Jesus’ 
Crucifixion. It came to be called “Good” because Jesus’ death 
on the Cross was regarded as the Perfect Sacrifice that Canceled 
Out human sin and Allowed man to be Reconciled to God.

The following day, when Jesus was in the tomb, 
is sometimes called Holy Saturday.

-----------------------

-- Romans 5:8 
   But God showed His Great Love for us by sending Christ 
   to die for us while we were Still sinners.

-- 1 John 4:9, 10
9 God showed how much He Loved us by sending His only Son 
    into the world so that we might have Eternal Life through Him.
10 This is real Love. It is not that we loved God, but that He 
    Loved us and sent His Son as a Sacrifice to take away our sins.

-- 2 Corinthians 5:19-21
19 For God was in Christ, Reconciling the world to Himself, 
     no longer counting people’s sins against them. This is the
     Wonderful Message He has given us to tell others.
20 We are Christ’s ambassadors, and God is using us to speak 
     to you. We urge you, as though Christ Himself were here 
     Pleading with you,  "Be Reconciled to God!"
21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the Offering 
     for our sin, so that we could be Made right with God 
     through Christ.

-- 1 Timothy 1:15-16
15 This is a True saying, and everyone should Believe it: 
     Christ Jesus Came into the world to Save sinners -- 
     and I was the worst of them all.
16 But that is why God had Mercy on me, so that Christ Jesus 
     could use me as a prime example of His Great Patience with 
     even the worst sinners. Then others will Realize that they, 
     too, can Believe in Him and Receive Eternal Life.

-- John 11:25-27
25 Jesus said to her, "I am the Resurrection and the Life. 
     He who Believes in Me will Live, even though he dies;
26 and whoever lives and Believes in Me will never die. 
     Do you Believe this?"
27 "Yes, Lord," she told Him, "I Believe that You are the Christ, 
     the Son of God, who was to Come into the world."

-- John 5:21 
    For just as the Father Raises the dead and Gives them Life, 
    even so the Son Gives Life to whom He is Pleased to give it.

-- John 6:40 
     For My Father’s Will is that everyone who Looks to the Son
     and Believes in Him shall have Eternal Life, and I will Raise
     him up at the last day.

-------------------------------
-- Psalm 103:1-5
1 Bless the LORD, O my soul; 
   And all that is within me, Bless His Holy Name!
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, 
   And Forget not all His Benefits:
3 Who Forgives all your sins, 
   Who Heals all your diseases,
4 Who Redeems your Life from destruction, 
   Who Crowns you with Lovingkindness and Tender Mercies,
5 Who Satisfies your desires with good things, 
   So that your youth is Renewed like the eagle’s.

-------------------------------------

HAPPY, HAPPY EASTER MORN 

Happy Happy Easter morn
with Loud Hosanna's sing
Jesus Christ is Risen today
Our Savior and our King 

We raise our voices to the Lord
and Rejoice in all His Glory
Christ the Lord is Risen today! 
We hear the Easter story. 

He cried for us, He died for us
He Willingly Forgives
all who come and kneeling down
their lives to Him they give 

Celebrate this Easter morn
with Joy and Happiness. 
He is our Lord and One Great King
Eternally He Lives! 

-- D.H.Lachapelle