Personal Reflection of the Sermon

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This week Pastor Greg preached about the events and significance surrounding the most incredible moment in earth’s history since the creation of the world: the resurrection of Jesus!
We saw the reactions of his closest disciples, the roman soldiers, the religious leaders and many many witnesses that Jesus appeared to after He was raised from the dead. Unlike with the miracles that Jesus performed earlier in His ministry, Jesus did not want people to be quiet about this one and tell no one. He wanted the news of His triumph over the grave and death to be spread far and wide!

No one can deny how amazing it is to see someone raised from the dead. Just look at the account of Lazarus or Jairus’s daughter, both whom Jesus raised back to life. But Jesus rising from the dead was different. Not only was He raised back to life, but He was also the firstborn of the resurrection. Jesus did not just receive a new life, he was given a new glorified body as well. This is likely why most of His closest followers did not recognize him at first. Christ may have been the firstborn of the resurrection, but He wasn’t the last. All who confess Christ as Lord, believe in the gospel, repent and are baptized, will receive the Holy Spirit … AND his resurrection power living in them.

We are reborn in the spirit, freed from the curse of sin and death and through the power of the Holy Spirit we are raised to new life in Christ Jesus. As we begin our new lives following Jesus, obeying everything that He has commanded us in His word, we are sanctified and purified until that awesome day when Christ returns when we will be glorified in the resurrection of the dead. We will be given new bodies to match the new spirit that lives within us. I imagine mine will be like that of Chris Hemsworth (Thor); hey, a guy can dream right? Honestly, I would just be happy to have hair. Whatever our resurrected bodies look like, they will be perfect and clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

May all of you have a blessed week.  Stay safe and do not lose hope…the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.

Suggestion for a Prayer: Heavenly Father, we look forward to eternal life and our new bodies. And we know that as You live in us in Your Holy Spirit, we have the blessing of living an abundant life filled with resurrection power right now. Until You see fit to call us home Lord, help us to be thankful that our eternity has already begun and that we are living in it right now. Help us to live as ones who have escaped the corruption of the world caused by evil desires, so that we may bring glory to you, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen!


Your writing team this week is Rob Tudball, Claire Walker and Peter Bowyer.

For the next month or two, the weekly agenda for these "stretching the sermon" posts will be:

Monday - Questions for reflection and discussion (for individuals, families and groups)
Tuesday - Deep dive: exploring one aspect of the sermon beyond what the preacher has time for
Wednesday - Reflection on the sermon for personal application
Thursday - Nerd corner: examining a technical or contextual aspect of the sermon
Friday - Reflection on the sermon for personal application

And Saturday will continue to be a story from one of your HCC brothers or sisters about how they are seeing God in this crisis.

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