Scripture:

"Produce fruit in keeping with repentance"...."What
should we do then? the crowd asked John."
(Luke 3: 8, 10)

Reflection:

The verse today is what I call a "thinker verse".
It really makes me think. I find myself often
asking for God's forgiveness and repenting
my sins to my Lord. But I've learned something,
these many years of being a Christian, God wants
some proof of my repentance. Like they say,
"It is far easier to say than to do." Mark 1:15
tells us, "Repent and believe the Good News".
It seems to me repentance means changing
your mind about sin......seeing it as God sees
it.....and turning from it, (the proof). A
"straight" life is evidence of a mind and heart
"straightened out" about sin. Anything less
than that is not what Jesus or John preached.
You know really when it comes right down to it
righteousness is really proof of true rependance.
If that is true I would like to ask you this question:
If you had to convince a jury that you were serious
about repentance, would there be enough evidence
in your life to do it? Please think about will you?

Prayer:

Lord, let me keep in my heart and mind that
true repentance produces fruit.THANK YOU GOD
FOR BEING MY GOD!

St. Catherine of Siena
Political and Religious Peacemaker
(1347-1380)

"In mercy you have seen fit today to show me,
poor as I am, how we can in no way pass judgment
on other people's intentions. Indeed, by sending
people in an endless variety of paths, you give
an example for myself, and for this I thank you."

Scripture:

"This then is how you pray: Our Father Who art in Heaven."
(Matthew 6:9) (Lords Prayer)

Reflection:

Do you pray a lot? I really hope so, believe me it helps.
I often pray and I always begin my prayers with the Lord's
Prayer. Mainly because this is how He taught us to pray.
I keep the following in mind when I pray, I use the Lord's
Prayer as my guide and example:

1- The OBJECT of my prayer (Our Father in Heaven)
My Father God is always the object of my prayer,
no one else.

2- The PRIVILEGE of my prayer (Hallowed be Your
Name). It is my privilege to be talking with my
God.

3- The POWER of my prayer (Your Kingdom come)
There is no greater power than God's Kingdom.

4- The PROVISION of my prayer (Give us this day
our daily bread) My God does provide.

5- The PROJECT of my prayer ( Deliver us from evil)
My God is there for me always to deliver me from
the evil one.

I really attempt to keep these things in mine when
I pray. They help me to remember that God is there
for me, loving and caring for me. You see prayer, to
me, is not only an act of communication with God,
it is an act of worship. Now there is only one thing
left to do, PRAY.

Our Father Who art in heaven
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven,
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our sins as we forgive those who
sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
evil
For thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the
Glory forever and ever. Amen

AND THEY ALL SAID AMEN, AMEN

HE IS RISEN!

Scripture:

John 20: 1-23

The Resurrection of Jesus
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Jesus Appears to the Disciples

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Christ the Lord is Risen Today!
But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead. He has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again.
1 Corinthians 15:20 NLT
Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia! Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia! Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia! Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia!

Love's redeeming work is done, Alleluia! Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia! Death in vain forbids Him rise, Alleluia! Christ hath opened paradise, Alleluia!

Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia! Following our exalted Head, Alleluia! Made like Him, like Him we rise, Alleluia! Ours the cross, the grave, the skies
Alleluia! Christ the Lord is Risen Today
Charles Wesley (1707-1788) and others
Christ has won the final victory

The grave has been "boasting" of its power since Eden. But now it has finally met its match. It wraps Jesus up at the Cross and "forbids him to rise," but our Champion, Jesus Christ, fought and won. Where is your sting now, O Death? Christ has won the final victory.
We know that whatever boasting we do is not in ourselves, but in the power of Christ. He has won the victory, and now we're just soaring where Christ has led. We bask in the benefits of the Cross, and we look past the grave to our heavenly reunion with Him. Alleluia!
Our Easter Week readings are adapted from The One Year® Book of Hymns by Mark Norton and Robert Brown, Tyndale House Publishers (1995). Today's is taken from the entry for April 3.

As Christmas is celebrating Jesus' birth, Easter is celebrating Jesus' victory
over death and mankind's hope for eternal life.
The highlights behind the Easter story include Jesus' execution, His burial
and, most importantly, His rising from death.
The account of Jesus' rising from death was recorded in the most authoritative
historical records, the Gospel books: Three days after His death, a few women
first found His tomb empty. Then Jesus appeared in front of these women and His
disciples, talking and eating with them. Out of doubts still, one disciple did not believe
Jesus was alive again until he actually touched Jesus' fatal wounds. In the following
forty days, hundreds of people witnessed this Jesus who had returned from death
until He ascended to Heaven.
Before His death, Jesus had promised eternal life to those who followed Him.
If the story ended at His death, Jesus would have been no more than a religious
figure with a finite life span. But the fact the Jesus rose from death demonstrated
He has the power over death, and only through Him can people have hope for
eternal life. Jesus said, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and
only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).
JESUSCENTRAL.COM

It Is Finished!”
This Friday of Holy Week is the day that is called “Good Friday". It was a bad Friday
for Jesus, since He suffered unbearable pain and anguish on that day. But it was a
good Friday for us, since all of our sins were atoned for by His suffering and death.
On Good Friday He hung suspended on the cross for 6 hours, including those dark
afternoon hours. About 3:00 PM Jesus said in a loud voice, “It is finished!” (Jn 19: 30).

Shortly thereafter “He bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” He died.
Jesus said, “It is finished!” What was finished? His life? His sufferings? Yes,
but even more than that….His mission was accomplished. All that He had come
to do for us and for our salvation was accomplished. “It is finished!” With that
He is telling us, “Be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven!” “It is finished!” is the guarantee
of the peace of mind that we can have in knowing that our sins are fully paid for and we
are thus reconciled to God. “It is finished!” is His assurance to us that the way has been
cleared for us to someday enter eternal life in heaven.
On this Good Friday we will again be standing beneath the cross of Christ. We could
say we were there when they crucified our Lord. We were there, because our sins
were there. God laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Our sins were there and they were
fully atoned for by Him. That’s why this is a Good Friday for us and why we take
great comfort in Jesus’ words, “It is finished!”
RISEN SAVIOR LUTHERAN CHURCH