Well, Easter has come and gone, and the Community Church of SunBird has been strangely quiet. The coronavirus may have put our social life on hold, but not our faith.
Last month we left our news article asking the question, “What does it all mean?” We invited you to come to our Easter service to hear the answer. COVID-19 may have interrupted our lives, but our answer is still the same. It is simple, direct, powerful, and life changing.
Jesus is not in the grave. He has risen!
Hope. The Son of God defeated the devil the minute He rose from the dead. No, He did not kill the devil. That will come later in the history of the world, but Jesus did defeat the enemy that formidable afternoon over 2,000 years ago. Jesus took upon himself that fateful afternoon all the sins of the people, past, present, and future. God turned His back to the sin piled upon Jesus’ shoulders, and Jesus’ very heart broke beneath the load.
Not only did He conquer the grave, but He appeared to the disciples who were hiding behind locked doors. He appeared right there in the middle of them. He showed them His hands and His feet. He proved it was Him, very much alive and very much the Messiah.
It was all mind-boggling, believably unbelievable, defying the very order of the universe, so real, so true, so incredible, so confirming, and so mighty, powerful and divine. The reassurance that Jesus was alive rang true in their hearts and minds. Before He left them to return to His Father, He told them to wait in Jerusalem for the gift His Father promised. They waited, and on the day of Pentecost, they received their gift. The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, came down and filled all those that believed Jesus to be the Son of God. Now, they had the very power of God living within them. This simple band of disciples began to share the Gospel message with everyone who would listen.
Even for these sold-out, committed, dedicated disciples, God allowed them to be persecuted for sharing the message of Jesus. It caused them to flee from their comfortable homes, their familiar neighborhoods, their families, and their friends to be scattered to countries far away. God used the horrible persecution and pain to spread the Gospel message to the ends of the earth. God used for good what the enemy meant for destruction.
Even though the coronavirus is making life uncomfortable or even a little scary, we know that no matter what happens to us in this life, we have hope in the Name of Jesus. Whether God chooses to deliver us from the difficulties of life, or walk with us through them, or deliver us to Him in the midst of them, we know that our future is secure in the hope of the cross. Jesus’ one act insures those of us who trust in Jesus as the Son of God a life with Him in Heaven forever.
We hope by the time you read this edition of the SunBird News, our church doors have been reopened. If not, just hang in there. We are getting close. The first Sunday that the HOA opens the ballroom, we will be having church. The service will begin as usual at 9 a.m.
We now have an email address for the church. If you have any questions, concerns, or prayer requests, please send them to us at [email protected]. If you want to send your Easter offering, regular offering, or Tithe, you may mail it to the Community Church of SunBird; P.O. Box 11123, Chandler, AZ 85248-0006.