Author: debo

Happy Easter to you. On this beautiful resurrection day, we celebrate the victory that Jesus paid for with his blood. What a day of rejoicing for all mankind. God’s liquid love was spilled for us. It was actually his blood that was spilled, but it demonstrated his love for us. His desire to make a way for us to be part of his family was the greatest love story ever. Because of Resurrection morning, we are now part of a family, a family with favor, passion and purpose on the earth, God’s own family. The Greatest Love Story Ever! We definitely got the best end of this arrangement! Let’s step back to Good Friday in remembrance and really discern what happened to the body of Christ. It definitely wasn’t a pretty scene. Darkness covered the earth as an outward expression of the somberness of the moment. The Bible says that the time would have been about 3:00 in the afternoon. Jesus said with his last breath, “Father into your hands I commit my spirit”. Immediately following His final words, there was an earthquake and the curtain in the temple was torn in two, from the top to the bottom. This moment was what Jesus’ life was meant for. He came to fulfill purpose and that is exactly what He did. The veil was gone, and the bridge was opened. Jesus paid the penalty for our sin so that we could be totally forgiven and accepted. God made a way for family, for connectedness and togetherness. Now mankind could not only be just God’s creation, now we could accept his sacrifice and become a part of God’s family, one of God’s own children with all the benefits and privileges of being family. The bloodied body of Christ, His sacrificial death, and triumphant resurrection made provision for the body of Christ to be beautiful. We, as Christ’s body on the earth, are His representatives, and we display His beauty as we fulfill our primary purpose on the earth to go and make disciples of all people. As we love God whole heartedly, and love people fervently, the beauty of Christ’s body is revealed. How beautiful is the body of Christ. His actual body, and the church body, which He bought with His blood. Truly it is the Greatest Love Story Ever. Let’s be committed to the purpose Jesus gave His life for. It was for people who were, and who are, worth the cost. It was for you. He did it all for you.

Jesus rescued us by his death on the cross! He said yes to God’s will. How amazing! It didn’t look amazing to the ones who witnessed the crucifixion. As his body was taken from the cross and placed in a tomb, everyone was so sad. It seemed that all was lost. All the good that Jesus came to do was over. He was dead. They buried him in a tomb. Little did His friends know what would happen in a short time. Jesus would come busting out of the tomb, alive and well. His Father would raise him from the dead. That is why we celebrate Easter. He made a way for us to have a relationship with God. And that is why we can be part of the family of God! The world may celebrate Easter with bunnies and eggs, but we get to celebrate Easter with new life in Christ and being part of God’s family. One of the best benefits of what Jesus did for us is that we can have total and complete relationship and friendship with God. We become friends and family! Jesus circle of friends got bigger when Jesus came out of the grave. His family keeps getting bigger as we tell our friends about the wonderful relationship with Jesus that we have, and they accept Him as their Lord and Savior. There is no more need to be sad anymore either. Jesus can bring them joy! Say yes to sharing the good news. Jesus died for us, and now lives for us!

This is the day of destiny. The day that Jesus was born for was the day He would die on a cross. It’s hard to see the sweet baby Jesus and realize that He was born to die. For believers, this is a sad day. As Christians we take this day to remember what Jesus did for us on the cross of Calvary. It is Good Friday, but it is also destiny Friday. The reason we can have an intimate relationship with Jesus is because He was willing to take on the weight of the world, through the stripes across his back, and through His crucifixion, and then his resurrection. The proof of His love for us was the scars that he bore on his body. He bore the marks of death, but was dead no longer! On Sunday morning he arose. Maybe you can use today to think about the hurting people around you. They have scars and wounds. God put you in their world to be his mouthpiece. Tell them about his love, and his healing power. You can say yes to helping someone else on their path to healing. Usually the very thing you have overcome in your life can be an avenue of blessing in someone else’s. One of my favorite verses is in II Cor 1:3 where it says that the very areas you have received comfort from the Lord, He will use you to comfort someone else. You really do become a minister of reconciliation to your world. That’s the power of the cross. That’s the power of knowing the love of God. That’s the power of obedience! That’s the power of saying yes.

If you live in the Magic Valley area, we invite you to join us for Easter services this weekend at Amazing Grace Fellowship. It could be a great fit for you and those you love. So join us at AGF, every weekend at one of our Sunday services, either at 8:30 or 10:30. We are proclaiming the goodness of God!

It is hard to imagine the agony Jesus went through on his path to the cross. Through His struggle in the garden of Gethsemane we see what we might call putting under the flesh. He said yes to God’s will and said no to the flesh. We all would rather take an easy path. It is the path of least resistance that we all prefer. Discipline, self control, and patience are all part of walking the path God has for us. The path Jesus took wasn’t easy at all. His flesh wanted another easier option. I think we have all been there on a much smaller scale. We may want to do one thing, when we know that something else is the plan of God for us. Jesus wanted to redeem the world, He just wanted to make sure that this really was the only way to do it. When He said, “not my will, but Yours be done,” he was saying, I won’t choose the selfish path. I choose the path of righteousness. He said yes! That can be our response as well, when we are faced with decisions. Often our decisions to follow God really are just an act of self denial. To think that Jesus was willing to sacrifice it all demonstrates the kind of love that He had. “Amazing Love, how can it be, that my king would die for me.” So our encouragement today is that whatever decisions we need to make to have intimacy with Jesus Christ is well worth the effort. Say yes to God’s plan for your life. Take time today to meditate on His word, to look introspectively, and then to celebrate all that He has done for you so that we can have complete communion with Him. On Jesus’ hardest days, he still chose to say yes to God. We can stay the path too!

Easter is the Greatest Love Story Ever! God chose us, accepted us, and established us in His love. What a wonderful place to be in Christ! We become chosen, accepted and established, not by our works, but by His work in us. Now we just receive the love that God has for us. When we are in His Presence, we benefit the most when we take time to just receive the love of God. Can you say yes to receiving the love of God?

Love was manifested in a manger. Love was crucified on a cross. Love was raised from the dead to bring resurrection life to us. Jesus is love personified. Through Him we are accepted, forgiven, and received into the family of Go d. His love is placed in our heart, and that heart to heart connection is what breathes life into us. We get to experience intimacy with God all because of Jesus’ willingness to pay the price for our sin. Once we receive all of the love God has for us, we can begin to love like Jesus. The people in our lives get to experience the love of God manifested through us. We get to let them know they are chosen, accepted and totally loved. We then get to see the power of God at work in the lives of those who we come in contact with. Let’s be aware, and have our spiritual senses fully awake and alert. Someone you know needs to know they are loved and accepted. Jesus made the way for them, and He wants to use you to be his hands to them on earth!

What a wonderful season Easter is. This week we are focusing on how Jesus said yes to the will of God. Easter demonstrates the love of God in the best way possible. Easter is the Greatest Love Story Ever! God’s love came to earth in the form of a baby, to grow up to die on a tree for you and me. Jesus came to bring love close to us, and now because of the love we’ve received, we find ourselves, loving God, loving people and then loving this amazing life we get to live! During this last week of Jesus life, before he went to the cross, things got ugly. He was brought before officials who let another criminal go, so that Jesus would be crucified, at the people’s demand. Jesus triumphed over death.

My prayer for you is that you have a wonderful Easter celebration, full of victory and triumph. Beyond Easter, I hope you live in the victory Jesus bought for us. Because of Jesus’ victory, we have been made more than conquerors, and overcomers in this life. To be more than a conqueror is to be the recipient of all of the benefits, without having to do the work – like a boxer who is declared the champion, when he hands his wife the victory check! He did all the work and gave her the benefits. Jesus took on death hell and the grave for us, and handed us the victory! Who would do that but Jesus. He did that for you! That sounds like God, and that’s called grace! That is love beyond measure, for you and me!

Easter is just days away, and I’m really excited. We had an awesome Palm Sunday at our church with loads of fun for kids. There were 15,000 eggs in an egg hunt and great games, horse rides, bouncy houses, train rides, and amazing fun in a carnival setting. There were kids everywhere! We love reaching kids at Amazing Grace Fellowship. We know very well that Easter is not about a bunny or eggs. What Easter is about is new life through Christ. He did everything that was necessary so that we could have LIFE in Him. We usually don’t like to think about His suffering and the pain that He went through, but it is important we remember that, because it shows how much God loves and values you. God wanted His family back so badly, that He was willing to do what was lawfully necessary to make it happen. It started by sending His son as a baby, and then culminated by sacrificing His Son on a cross, so that we can have salvation. Our sin, was redeemed by one man’s sacrifice. We probably have taken for granted the wonderful life we have in Christ, but it cost Jesus dearly. He agonized over it. His friends deserted Him when He needed them most. He carried the weight of the world on His shoulders for you. I hope you remember and are thankful for the miracle of LIFE we have in Christ. Even though Jesus asked if there was another plan, ultimately He said yes to the plan of God, and that was a big yes for us.

Today is Palm Sunday and it is one of my favorite days to be in church! I love every Sunday, but what I love about Palm Sunday is at our church we always have kids in the service waving palm leaves during worship. When Jesus entered Jerusalem on this day, that’s what the children were doing. They were worshipping Jesus with innocence and adoration. In our complicated world, to see young kids giving glory to God remembering the beginning of Holy Week when Jesus walked the rough road to Calvary to bear all of our sins on a cross, it brings joy and refreshing to me. Our highest aim in life is to glorify God, and to see young children doing that blesses me through and through. As we celebrate Palm Sunday today, I hope you realize that you were born to worship. You are called to glorify God. Today might be a great day to reevaluate and do some self introspection. When you look at the totality of your life, does your life exhibit, demonstrate or show evidence of Jesus living in you? Are you distinctly different than the world? Would it be a surprise for someone to find out you are a Christian, or could they tell right away? Let’s let the children’s praises remind us that even in a complicated world, there is beauty in simply worshipping God. Let’s give God all we are. Totally committed, on fire, ready to dance and sing and shout His praises, just like an uninhibited child. Let’s say yes to worshipping God with all we are.

Pray in the spirit! Do you know it is something you can do all the time? Today is my husbands birthday! Happy Birthday babe! The Bible talks about prayer in the spirit bringing rest and refreshing. I love that! Life can be a drain. Sometimes people in our life can feel like a drain. Situations that we face can drain life from our life. To get refilled, all we have to do is to begin praying in the spirit! God will refill our vessel, and it can overflow again, when we take time in His presence and pray in our heavenly language. The Bible says it is a mystery, but I can’t wait to find out when we get to heaven what were some of the things that were prayed for when we pray in the spirit. Perhaps you don’t yet pray in your new tongue. It really is so energizing, I encourage you to ask to receive your prayer language so you can be full and overflowing. It isn’t hard, or reserved for just a select few. God wants to pour out His Spirit on all flesh. In fact, in Joel 2:28 and 29, it says that on men women, on the young and old, on everyone God want to pour out His Spirit. So why not say yes, to being filled with the Spirit and praying in other tongues. It can be easy to receive. Start with this prayer, Jesus, I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit, and I will speak in tongues as the Holy Spirit gives me the words. Immediately begin uttering the words that are rising up in your heart. Start receiving some of that amazing rest and refreshing that God promised when we say yes to being filled with His Spirit.

Fellowshipping with other believers can be a great way to be refreshed. The enemy likes to get us off alone, and tries to convince us that nobody cares about us, or that we aren’t part of the family of God. We know the opposite is true! When we join the family of God, we join a world-wide body, where we can fit. In I Corinthians, Paul talks about how we are fitly joined together and that every joint supplies. Just like a physical body, each part is dependent on every other part. Jesus said he was the head, and we are the body. We can’t do without the head for sure, but every part of the body is important too. So if the enemy has been lying to you lately that you really aren’t important, or that nobody needs you, don’t believe it. Your place in the body is where you need to be. It is a perfect fit for you. If you are longing for more fellowship with the body, get involved in your church. The ones who cook together, or work together for the Lord, get to know each other. If you act as a loner sheep, the devil who prowls around like a roaring lion, will persistently try to snatch you away. If you huddle up and gather with the other sheep, and have a shepherd watching out for you, he can help ward off the predators, and your fellow sheep with have your back. Sounds like God has our best interest at heart! Let’s say yes to his way, and fellowship with the sheep! Huddle UP!