Hello all,
I trust everyone had a blessed Easter Sunday. I took a trip into the heart of the Nebraska Sandhills, to fill in for a pastor who was taking a well-deserved and much needed break. Highway 20 across the northern part of our state holds many (mostly good) memories for me, and it is nice to go back now and then.
A long drive through what is called God’s Country, gives one time to reflect on God’s creative genius, but also to realize what a privilege it is to live here. I’m sure there are some who would see this as anything but an ideal situation, and I definitely would not want to live in their little corner of the world either. It is obvious that God has made something for everyone in that respect.
The observance of what we call Easter, rightly described as Resurrection Day, gives us pause to reflect on God’s eternal plan to provide payment for our sin debt. As the Bible explains, creation was in God’s own words ‘good’ and ‘very good’. Along comes Satan disguised as a serpent, to tempt Adam and Eve to disobey God’s specific instructions. As a result, all mankind was, and is born with a sin nature, and God’s perfect creation is damaged. Because God knows all things, he also knew this would happen. In his eternal wisdom, He also provided the means to pay the penalty for sin. No person could ever pay their own sin debt, much less the sins of anyone else.
In the book of Romans, it is written “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” It also states, the “wages of sin is death.” In light of this, God planned to provide a sacrifice that would satisfy His demand of payment for sin. This sacrifice would be in the person of his only Son, Jesus Christ.
“For God so loved the world (you and me), that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead proves God’s power over death, and fulfills his promise of eternal life to all who will believe.
He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life (1 John 5:12).
In His grace,
Pastor Jerry
sandhillspastor 