Rom 6:5

5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection NIV

We are here tonight because we have experienced the power of the cross and want to recognize it.

To the world out there who have never come into the reality of this experience the whole thing at best is a sentimental time and at worst another holiday to party and drink and laugh about the Easter bunny.

Paul wrote this:

1 Cor 1:18-19

18 I know very well how foolish the message of the cross sounds to those who are on the road to destruction. But we who are being saved recognize this message as the very power of God. 19 As the Scriptures say, "I will destroy human wisdom and discard their most brilliant ideas."   NLT

The power of the cross is experienced so simply in our lives that the pride of the average person keeps them from it. Most of us had to be is a state where we had tried everything else and had come to the end of all our natural wisdom before we were even willing to admit that there might be something in it.

1 Cor 1:20-22

 21 Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never find him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save all who believe. 22 God's way seems foolish to the Jews because they want a sign from heaven to prove it is true. And it is foolish to the Greeks because they believe only what agrees with their own wisdom NLT

Jesus himself said

John 3:3

3 Jesus replied, "I assure you, unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God.

NLT

But when you experience the power of the cross in your life you begin to learn how great its effect on you it really is.

The cross of Calvary is the center of everything that we believe.

The moment it happened it shook the whole world to its very core.

Matt 27:50-54

50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.

51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;

52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,

53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.

KJV

That Roman Centurion was not an easy man to convince that there would be anything special about Jesus. And yet standing at the foot of that cross that day in his fear of what was going on around him he admitted publicly that Jesus was the son of God.

The effect of that day is still shaking the earth.

The bible says that something happened in the world beyond us as well.

Amen, God Bless You & Your Family,

Pastor John Stewart