Below is a copy of the Grace Notes cover page prepared by The Rev.Charles Froh for May 2011.
The message of Grace and Truth remain the same yesterday, today and always...
LIVING BEYOND THE RESURRECTION
The 'forty days after the resurrection of our Lord' are a time of proclamation, witness and restoration of the miracle that occurred at the tomb which had been prepared for Joseph. Instead, for a brief time, the tomb held the lifeless body of the Son of God.
On that day of days called "Good Friday" Jesus cried with a loud voice, "It is finished!" But what was it that was finished? Was it His suffering? Yes indeed! But even more importantly what was finished was the life of Humiliation that He undertook to redeem a lost and sinful humanity.
His work of holy living as the substitute for sinners was finished. His perfect keeping of the law was accomplished. His being abandoned by God was done. The pain of mortality and death had been borne. On those shoulders He carried your trials, your troubles, heartache and pain. On His back He carried your transgressions and bore your stripes of punishment for sin. Yes, His work, the work that the Father had given Him to do, was finished.
Yet ahead lay the revealing to doubting and discouraged followers, the reality of His resurrection, and Peter, who must be placed back into His Vocation, to be shepherd of the flock of God!
You also are witness to the resurrection through those who were eye-witnesses. Listen as Jesus commissions His "Sent Ones" teaching them to be His witnesses throughout the world.
John 20:19-23
Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples where assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, "Peace be with you...As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." And 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." (NKJ) Acts 1:8-9
"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. (NKJ) Matt 28:18-20
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and Io, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. (NKJ)
These other "great gifts" continue to extend the Cross and the work of Christ into your world today providing faith and Hope for a sin-filled world. Thanks be to God! He is risen! Still!
Pastor Froh
