An Easter Miracle

A lot of people, put a lot of work, into preparing a very special Easter service at Garden Valley Community Church. And for the record, it IS possible to comfortably stuff 81 people into a sanctuary built for 65. However, I do admit that parking requires us to get a little creative but it keeps things interesting.

My talented sister in law got up early and baked 100 amazing cupcakes.
Nothing warms the hearts of the Saints like hot coffee and yummy cupcakes.

I can't say enough about the Worship Team. The whole team stepped up and served the good Lord with all their God given talent. I observed the entire church lifting their voices toward the Kingdom of God like never before. The singing was unified and strong. The spirit was sweet. And during the communion service, Scott lightly played the acoustic guitar and Jill softly sang songs that nudged people's hearts closer to the good Lord. It was truly an honor to witness God's people serving at that level.

One of the church Elders and his wife faithfully set up the communion elements and take care of all the arrangements. This is a service that they have done for years. Have you ever been privileged to work with someone that always takes care of whatever responsibility they are tasked with? It never crosses my mind to check up on them and make sure they have everything ready because their level of faithfulness to the good Lord is above reproach and I consider it an honor to serve with them.

At this point in the service, the good Lord gave us an Easter miracle. A young man in our church sang a special musical selection while his mom accompanied on the harmonica. It was amazing. In fact, when Adam finished singing, the church gave him a standing ovation. I noticed many people were moved to tears. Truly God had drawn close and bent His ear for this remarkable warming of our hearts.

Then 2 men that I have tremendous respect for, assisted me in serving communion to God's people. Serving the elements of communion is one of the greatest privileges. For one brief moment in time, we are honored to serve God's people the communion elements exactly as Jesus Christ commanded. It is like we are ministering as God's hands and feet.

Think of this: Jesus Christ gave explicit instructions on how He wanted his followers to celebrate communion. So as we obey His directives, we are acting in accordance with His perfect will. Our hearts are joined with His as we serve His people. Amazing.

There are more Saints that served in other capacities....

Such as our highly gifted Sunday School teacher. He has a deep love and respect for God's Word and each Sunday morning, he spends 45 minutes teaching verse by verse through books of the Bible. The Sunday School class grows every week as people are drawn to hear God's Word taught in a highly accurate and practical manner. Every week I find myself learning at the feet of our Sunday School teacher. He is truly a God sent.

And there is a dear Saint that comes in each week and cleans the facilities and decorates. She would be highly offended if I were to spend much time recognizing her and her faithfulness. However, the church facility was beautiful this morning and I loved her work with the flowers.

I am surrounded by people who love God and serve Him to the best of their ability.

I am truly blessed.

"For they refreshed my spirit and yours also.
Such men deserve recognition."
1 Corinthians 16:18

Celebrate Easter Sunday

Tonight at our church Bible study, we spent about a half hour organizing our Easter service.

Tonight was unique and revealing.

I was honored to be a part of this group of believers that are unified in love and grounded in the faith.

Besides spending time praying that God would draw hearts to Himself during the Easter service, we also had a time of open discourse where God's people expressed observations and offered input on how we could better serve during this Easter service.

For instance:

One of our church Elders suggested we celebrate communion during the Easter service. YES -- that was such an amazing suggestion I am going to implement it every year.

One of our church Elders observed that since I am preaching John 3:16 with a Salvation theme, it would be useful to offer an Alter Call.

There we spent about 15 minutes discussing the special dynamics involved with an Alter Call in a 1 room church.

There were other suggestions and observations made that will all be implemented.

Suddenly it dawned on me that this Easter service was a joint effort of a group of believers that were unified in a desire to please God.

All around the world, pastor's are planning and organizing their Easter service.
Not Garden Valley Community Church -- it was planned and organized by the congregation. At no time did it cross my mind to solicit feedback on how to conduct the service. In all my pastoral college classes and discussions with other pastors, I have never heard anyone suggest that the church join in planning one of the most sacred celebrations of the whole year. Celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

John chapter 20 records the resurrection story.
The last 2 verses conclude with this remarkable statement:

The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs
in addition to the ones recorded in this book.
But these are written so that you may continue to believe
that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God,
and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.
John 20:30-31

This is our spiritual take-away from this blog.

My God given desire for this Easter Sunday is that YOU will
continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah,
the Son of God,
and that by believing in Him
you will have life by the power of His name.