Good morning and a blessed Thursday morning to you.

Christ is risen! He has risen indeed! Hallelujah! 

It’s so wonderful so to have that word once again upon our lips, as we are in the Easter season.  What a glorious celebration we had this past Sunday as we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ… the victory that he claimed over our sin, over death, and over the devil himself. It’s such a wonderful celebration, and so wonderful to share in that with you. I find that each Sunday is such a joy to share with you.

As I ponder that, I think about a Sunday morning and as it approaches how eager I am to be at church worshiping. And I think about why that is. I think it's because we are created to commune with one another and commune with God… and do it all together. That's what we get to do for all eternity. We get to be in full communion with God and with one another. and It makes sense.

I think about Paul as he wrote to the Roman Church.  

Romans 1:11-12

“For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.”

Paul came as a servant of the Lord. He came teaching and preaching, but you see there that he was so eager to be with the church in Rome because he wanted to commune with them. He wanted to share the faith with them, as they shared the faith with him. And so, when we gather on Sunday mornings it is such a time. Yes, Pastor Eibel and I are called to minister and to serve the church, and to teach and to preach. And it's amazing and wonderful, but we are also part of the same flock, where we get to grow in faith with you. I think it's that community and that shared love of the Lord, and the shared blessing of being called in the Lord… and knowing that that is an eternal call, it is just so exciting and it's such a joy to get to celebrate that every single week with you. We walk in life together with one another. We face sorrow together. We face joys together, but ultimately we know that we are facing eternity together. And that is amazingly good news. This is good news not only for you, but it's good news for everyone. So go out today and find someone and share the good news that Jesus is alive. Invite them to come worship our Lord with you, with the community of the saints as we gather this coming Sunday. 

We are called to worship the Lord. We are called to serve the Lord.  And we are called to commune with the Lord all together. It's a good Word and a good opportunity for us as we continue in this Easter season.

Heavenly Lord, we thank you so much for the victory that we have in you, for the victory over our sin for the victory over the devil, and for the victory over all darkness. Lord, we ask that you would place the good news of your death and resurrection upon our lips; that everywhere we go, and to everyone that we meet we would want to proclaim that Jesus is alive. We thank you so much for returning the word “Hallelujah” to our lips, because we know when we lift that to you we are lifting it to the Sovereign Risen Lord… the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the God of all gods, who lives and reigns now and forever. Lord, we praise you and we thank you. We look forward to coming together to worship you with one another this Sunday. Lord, we lift this all to you in the precious, holy and victorious name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Have an amazing rest of your week, and I will look forward to worshiping with you this Sunday. 

God bless!

Pastor Malinak