HE IS RISEN

HE IS RISEN!

"Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here: He has been raised! Remember what He said to you, while He was still in Galilee -- that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, and must be crucified, and must rise again on the third day." Luke 24:5b-7 (Phillips)

Good morning, my brothers! HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! This quote this morning captures what is in my heart this morning:

Some years ago a newspaper editor telephoned and asked me to tell in a few words what Easter means to me. My testimony was this: Easter means Christ to me. It means Christ in His kingly splendor, Christ in His serene glory, Christ in His gracious condescension. This is because Easter is the return of Christ from inflicted violence, from induced death, from imprisonment in a tomb. Easter is Christ triumphant over all that sin and death could do to Him. EASTER MEANS CHRIST!

And where Christ goes, drama goes. For it is impossible to look anywhere in the Gospels and fail to find something powerful happening. This is because Christ is Himself the Gospel and He is life, abundant life, and His life means action, pilgrimage, arrival.

Easter means life. Christ defeated death in order that life in Him might always live. And it is life that we want, life in Christ. Whether we put it into words or not, our constant thought is "Life, more life, always more and more life!" We want life in ourselves, in our loved ones, in our friends, the kind of life that cannot be diminished, the kind of life that always expands.

Easter is Christ's victory over all that would restrict, deny and strangle. "For to me to live is Christ." That is Easter. -- Raymond Lindquist

My brothers, is HE your life today? Rejoice! He lives! You ask me HOW I know HE LIVES -- He lives within my heart. I trust that HE lives in YOUR heart today! If not, please write and I will be happy to send you information how you can know for certain that He can be YOUR Savior -- Bill Welte is President and CEO of America's KESWICK.

Digging Deeper: Proverbs 4; Ruth 1-4; Luke 8:1-25

Dig This Quote: When all other doors in life are closed to us, Jesus will be for us the ever open door. If we really believe this then no situation in life will ever be hopeless. For to call any situation hopeless is to shut the door on God. Anthony M. Coniaris

Determined Digging: Level 1 -- Psalm 119:11; Level 2 -- Psalm 51:5-9

TAKE THE CHALLENGE: May is fast approaching and we will be hosting our 2nd annual Family Freedom Walk on Saturday, May 8th. You can help in two ways. 1. walk – call guest services to obtain a walk package, solicit sponsors and come to the walk. 2. (this is a fun one) Sponsor Freedom Fighters for the walk. We are having a friendly competition between the 2 groups of devotional readers (Freedom Fighters and Victory Call). Our goal is to raise more funds for the Freedom Fighters team than the women raise for the Victory Call team.

If you would like to join the fun, simply go to this link on our website https://01.secure.elexio.com/donations.aspx?id=366346&websiteurl=http://www.americaskeswick.org&siteid=2184 fill out the information and indicate in the “DESIGNATION” area : Family Freedom Walk: Freedom Fighters or if you prefer make your check out to America’s KESWICK and put in the memo line: FFW/Freedom Fighters and mail to : America’s KESWICK 601 Route 530 Whiting, NJ 08759. ALL DONATIONS MUST ARRIVE NO LATER THAN WEDNESDAY, MAY 5TH in order to be counted for our TEAM. Come on men, we can do it!!!