What a Savior!  I’m very grateful for what He’s doing in our church.  Our Easter weekend was amazing.  Good Friday was a sobering and meditative service.  It was sweet being together with God’s people, and our look at Isaiah 52:13-53:13 was a solemn joy.  I used those words purposefully because Good Friday is only good if Easter Sunday is true.  As we noticed in Isaiah’s famous song about God’s Suffering Servant, there is a glimpse of the servant’s resurrection in Isaiah 53:10-12.  

Then Sunday, we celebrated Easter.  There are many things that I love about our church, but let me list a few that were obvious to me on Easter:

• Our people worship EACH Sunday like it’s Easter.  I’m grateful that our church realizes that Jesus is alive every day, and they don’t need an annual reminder of that historical event to worship.  They worship each Sunday like He’s alive.  
• Our people are true partners in the gospel mission with us.  There were over 900 people at church on Sunday. Many were visitors invited by our church family.  I talked with several of our folks who had friends come with them, and I talked with some first-time visitors who were invited by our people.  That’s a remarkable joy.  
• Our people are remarkably hungry for the Word of God and the truth of the gospel.  Several thanked me for preaching God’s word weekly and knowing they could trust that we would preach the gospel each week.  Several told me how Sunday’s sermon encouraged them.  I heard several years ago that saying ‘amen!’ to the pastor is like saying ‘sick ‘em!’ to a dog 😂.  I don’t know how true that is for others and I’m not sure equating the pastor a to a dog is the right metaphor but I get the sentiment.  I can tell you that there are very few things that hold me accountable more than knowing that our people are hungry for God’s word and they expect it.  I love that they are examining to see if these things are true!  

This weekend was another reminder that God is working in us.  

Easter Hope

One of the things I said on Sunday needs to be drawn out a bit more.  And that’s Easter hope.  I was very encouraged by the quote I shared from John Piper at the end of the sermon.  Piper wrote, “The best news of the Christian gospel is that the supremely glorious Creator of the universe has acted in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection to remove every obstacle between us and himself so that we may find everlasting joy in seeing and savoring his infinite beauty.”   

Just think about that for a moment:  God removed every obstacle between himself and us so that we can find our everlasting joy in Him.  The act of Jesus’ resurrection is the gospel ‘sealing’ moment when everything Jesus did in His life and death was approved by God.  That means our justification, sanctification, and glorification were sealed and approved.  And it means that His work of setting this creation free of sin’s corruption was sealed as well.  The resurrection is the dawning of hope for this sinful world.  The resurrection means that nothing will stand in God’s way of restoring all things to the way He intends.  

Upcoming

This Sunday, April 16th, we will study Genesis 12:10-20 and look at God’s favor in Abram’s life.  Our service will be at 10:00 a.m. at Jacoby Auditorium on the campus of Umpqua Community College.  

From the Cheap Seats

• With the new speed-up rules in MBL, I find myself randomly listening to games throughout the day.  It is so much fun.  I think I write better sermons with a game on in the background…😂
• How about this for a day at the baseball field:  a no-hitter as a pitcher and hitting for the cycle as a hitter (single, double, triple, and homerun):  https://www.mlb.com/news/brady-ware-throws-no-hitter-hits-for-cycle-in-same-game?partnerID=mlbapp-iOS_article-share.
• I’ve enjoyed watching high school baseball games at One Champion Field this spring.  Roseburg High is 11-2 and has played really efficient baseball.  They don’t walk many, they play good defense, and they get timely hits.  The Monarchs (my team) haven’t left our field yet!  We’ve played all home games because of the weather (which is testing my contentment).  We’re currently 8-1 and played good baseball to this point.  We’ve left some ‘meat on the bone,’ but we’ll get better.  Lord willing, we will get on the road this week.  

To watch or listen to the sermon described in this post, please click here.

Have a great week!

In Christ, 

Dave York