I was talking with a family outside of the gym at Wallula a couple weeks ago. The kids ministry’s annual Easter egg hunt had just concluded. I laughed with the dad about all the work that went into the preparation for the egg hunt (stuffing eggs, collecting candy, buying candy to donate, hiding candy from your husband until you could bring it to church, inviting others to the egg hunt, the list goes on) and then in about three and a half minutes… it’s done! On Monday I was sitting in my office reflecting on the weekend’s Easter celebrations. Four different services in three days. A record United as One event on Good Friday at the Lansing Middle School with at least 450 people (some counts were as high as 600) from at least seven different churches remembering Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, was encouraging. Wallula’s own record breaking attendance at three different worship services on Saturday and Sunday (620) provided us with a great time to celebrate the resurrection! In my office on that Monday morning those events seemed so far away. In a blink they were over…
Or are they? How should we live after Easter? What should we be doing after the resurrection? It’s a question my friend Luke Wright asked his kids at the dinner table, “how would you live if you actually believed that Jesus rose from the dead?” It is a question that everyone of us needs to ask, “what would we do, if we really believed what we believe was true?” How would our lives look different? How would our Mondays - Saturdays align with our Sundays? Maybe we need to take one of those first steps we talked about on Sunday. Perhaps you are ready to be baptized. This Sunday would be the perfect day to say yes to Jesus in baptism! Send me a note at lance@wallula.org and I’ll help you take that step. Or maybe you have some questions about what it means to follow Him, or what it would look like to serve at Wallula, well our Explore Wallula class this Sunday evening is a great place to have those questions answered. You can register for Explore Wallula here! Or maybe, your next step is simply to be back in a worship service this Sunday at 9:00 or 10:30? I am looking forward to seeing you all this Sunday.
Still there is more to life with Jesus after the resurrection than Sunday mornings! On our Small Talk podcast I mentioned these six questions we can ask ourselves daily to see if we are walking with Jesus between Sundays:
- Have you stopped and talked with God today?
- Are your current choices & priorities consistent with Scripture?
- Are service, sharing and giving of yourself to God hallmarks of your life?
- Am I demonstrating love to God & others through the use of my time, talents & resources?
- Have I connected with other believers in worship, study and fellowship this week?
- Have I invested in the life of someone so that I can invite them to church and ultimately invite them to know Jesus?
I’m praying that our lives would be spent walking with Jesus and not just talking about Jesus!
Because of Him,
Lance
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18