Christian Reflection and Prayer

"So stay awake... if he comes unexpectedly,
he must not find you asleep" (Mark 13:35,36).

The pastor of a large urban parish did a TV series
called "The Kingdom of God." Each week on the
morning after the show aired he would visit sick
parishioners in the hospital. On one such visit,
he received an unusually enthusiastic greeting
from a man who had been hospitalized for weeks.
Said the patient, "You'll be glad to know that we
all watched your program last night. There was
only one TV available in the ward, so we had to
decide by majority vote what programs we would
watch. During your time-slot, it came down to
'The Kingdom of God,' or 'American Idol.' You
won by one vote." Said the pastor later, "I thought
to myself that when we can beat 'American Idol'
with 'The kingdom of God' at, last, we're headed
in the right direction!"

"Don't ask me about what was, but what is to
come," the Apostle Peter told the early Christians.
He was pointing them in the direction of the
coming again of Christ. We present day Christians,
if we are true to our calling, are pointing in the
same direction.

ARE YOU POINTING IN THE SAME DIRECTION?

(The Staff and editors of Sunday Sermons Online)

I AM ALIVE!!!!!!

RESURRECTION SUNDAY!

Scripture:

For God so loved the world that he gave his only
begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish.
But have everlasting life.
God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world through him might be saved.
(John 3:16-17)

Reflection:

Today's a celebration, today is a new beginning!
All the pain, all the suffering, all the degradation,
is over. Jesus Christ is risen from the grave.
Actually what have we experienced this past week?
We have experienced "agape", real love, the only love
God can give. This well-known verse in the Bible is
what Resurrection Sunday,(Easter) is all about.
It is so wonderful to believe that God loved us so much
that he literally gave us his son. The celebration of this date
represents a new beginning for me and for you. God
gave us his son out of pure love so that we can begin a new.
That is the supreme example of love. Jesus Christ sacrificed
his life on the cross for us. He went through all of this so that we
can be of forgiven people, so that we do not have to suffer for
our sins, so that we are people who are bonded to our God,
so that we can have eternal life with our heavenly father.
You see Resurrection Sunday is when I make my new years resolutions.
Because of what Jesus Christ did "my life becomes new".
And I resolve this day to be a better person, to be a better follower
of Jesus Christ, to serve others as Christ serves me, to love others
as Christ loved me. Today I bring hope back into my life!

PRAYER:

Our Heavenly Father, thank You for what You have done for me.
Through Your life, death, and resurrection, I have learned
the meaning of love,. Thank you my God for all that You give me,
for all that You have done for me, and for all You continue to give me.
Your grace and Your love abounds in my life, thank You for loving me Lord!
AMEN

Scripture:

Galatians 2:20


I have been crucified with Christ and I no
longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life
I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son
of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Reflection:

Galatians 2:20 best describes how I feel in what I term
the day in between. That is the day in between the crucifixion
of Jesus Christ and his resurrection.

In a very real sense, I feel like I've just been crucified with Jesus Christ.
I feel like, to a very small degree, some of the pain, some of the suffering
and some of the degradation that Jesus must have felt. In a very real sense
I feel dead. But yet something is alive and in me today, I discover
that Jesus Christ lives in me, yes he now lives in me.
I now live by faith in the son of God, I have faith in Jesus Christ.
And what is the most exciting thing of all, is that my Savior loves me
and has given himself for me. That makes me special,
because today, the in between day, I realize in my heart, in my soul,
in my very being, that Jesus Christ gave himself and now lives in me.

Prayer:

My dear father I would like to take this opportunity to thank you
for my in between day. I want to thank you God, that today I realize
that you love me so much that you gave your son Jesus Christ for me.
THANK YOU LORD! Today I especially praise you and honor you
for what you have given to me. Thank you Almighty God for your
very special love to me.
Jesus name AMEN.