The weekend was a blur, but man, what a great ride! We were able to connect with over 500 people at our Egg Smash community event on Saturday. Then had a great crowd of over 120+ come together this morning to celebrate the empty tomb.
As a part of our worship gathering this morning I did a reading from The Voice that I would just like to share with you as I put this day to rest. I hope you enjoy and if you are reading this in the Royse City area come back next week as we continue to dive into this thought that, "It Didn't End At The Cross".
We were a band of fishermen who were lost and lonely. But just when we thought things couldn’t become stranger, Jesus showed up. He told us to fish on the other side of the boat. We did, and we were suddenly overwhelmed with fish. The nets were bulging. What He showed us here, is that not only would our old ways of living leave us as empty as our nets, but our old habits were not going to work for us anymore. He had impacted our lives in a way that changed us forever. We couldn’t go back. And He knew we didn’t know how to go forward.
After spending time with Jesus, I realize there are no coincidences. He revealed to me a world where God is intimately involved, the main actor in the drama of history. It was no accident that we caught the fish. It was no accident the nets didn’t break. These fish, all 153, were a sign from God representing the community of believers, men and women transformed by faith. Some of us sat down and didn’t say a word as we pondered all of this. Others busied themselves in work, their hands moving quickly to stack the catch in baskets and untangle the nets. Each in his own way thought, wondered, and prayed. I have to admit, the prospect of it all still makes me smile. That’s how I always begin and end my stories of Jesus. I remind my little children that through faith He gives us the authority to become the sons of God. Brother Paul said it’s all grace. He’s right. We are what we are because of His wonderful work in us. The challenge we face every day is to become what we are—His loving, devoted children. To do that, we have to strip away every vestige of our old lives. Like worn out clothes, we find our former lives aren’t able to contain the beauty of this new creation. Before we can put on the new life and take up our new calling, we have to set aside every ugly and broken aspect of our lives. Repentance, Jesus told us, is not just about what you put off. It’s about what you put on. In the human spirit, there is no vacuum. Something will always occupy you and fill your life. It is either life from above or death from below. If the resurrection of Jesus taught us anything, it’s that He is the resurrection and the life. I’m not talking about life after death. What I mean is that through Jesus we can have abundant life, a full and meaningful life, here and now.
ZS
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