The Bible frequently talks about how the faithful are to live, demonstrating their faith in life. It is only natural that those who have been given - and forgiven - everything by God, want to respond to that gracious gift. We see this in the Old Testament as the prophet Isaiah dedicates himself to God’s service. In the New Testament we see examples of soldiers, athletes and farmers all giving their best to God. We can learn much from these godly examples, and certainly we strive to offer our best to God. Though ultimately the greatest offering made to God was that of His Son, as He poured out His life for our sake. It is only in Him and through His Holy Spirit that we are able to offer any good thing to the Lord.

If we are on a mission to connect, serve, share, and grow, doesn’t it make sense that we should stay in communication with the One who is sending us out? Prayer is how we stay connected to God, and is the source of our power and strength. Finding God’s heart for the world starts with prayer because it moves us from our perspective to His perspective. It is a central, consistent means to bring God’s power to bear on every life we touch. We cannot live a life on mission without prayer.

The impact of authentic love is so unlike what people experience in the normal course of life, that they may open the door for us to share our faith and the motivation for our service with them. However, it may also happen that people appreciate our kindness, but never ask why we do what we do. They may just assume that we’re “nice.” So at some point, God asks us to be bold, and to initiate the conversation. This can be a bit scary. But remember, we don’t need to have answers to their every question. We just need to be ready to share our own experiences, and to state clearly and simply how Jesus has changed our lives.

It may seem obvious, but if we never connect and spend time with people who are far from God, it’s going to be impossible to introduce them to Jesus. Jesus set an example for us by hanging around with people who needed Him—people who needed to be healed, not just physically but spiritually. And He calls us as His followers to not only believe in him, but to live like him and do the same.

Today's Easter message seeks to answer two questions. First, what are the benefits of believing in Jesus Christ? Faith in Jesus is life changing and actually beneficial to the believer. We’ll learn how that is so! Second, what does it mean to believe in Jesus? We’ll use the word TRUST to help us learn how to continue to have faith, even in our darkest days.

Today we focus on our forgiveness for denying our Lord. We humbly confess that we often join Peter in saying, “I don’t know this Man!” Denial is never a good thing – except in formal logic. In logic a denial simply reverses the truth value of a statement. Here is the truth statement about our human condition: we are sinners under God’s condemnation. Now, put a denial in front of that statement and we have this: It is not the case that we are sinners under God’s condemnation. That is a joyful denial. And it happens all because Jesus denied His righteousness for our sake. Paul writes, “But, God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus became our sin so that we become His righteousness. Rejoice in that new identity.

Jesus’ final lesson to His disciples is one of love: “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another” (verse 35). Being that this is Jesus’ final lesson – a last will and testament of sorts – shouldn’t it be of primary importance to us? So how are you doing at listening to and obeying Jesus’ call to love others?