Bible Verse of the Day Sunday April 17th , 2022 Resurrection Sunday

Galatians 5:1 (Freedom in Christ) It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

The joy of the Cross was the homecoming Christ was preparing for all that would not be ashamed of Him but called unto Him. Since Adam and Eve left the Garden, God has designed a homecoming for us. So, there is triumph, power, and homecoming in the Cross. Satan thought that seeing Christ on the Cross would finish all of his concerns and that he would have his retribution on the one that saw him fall in the Garden. Be that as it may, he was wrong, and when God put the Cross on Calvary's Hill, Satan's greatest fears came to fruition. When the Cross hit the earth, God knocked Satan off his feet from the lofty position where he governed over us. We are all evened out at the Cross, and Christ becomes magnified as our victorious Savior, King, and Master.

The sins of all humankind laid heavy on Christ's heart, a weight no one could bear because we could not carry our own weight of sin. But one that had no weight to carry, picked up the weight of all, that they may be free to follow him to the Cross where salvation lay.

Today, we observe and celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord Christ Jesus from the burial chamber that couldn't hold him more than 2000 years ago. But, as with any holiday, the meaning of what we are celebrating can lose its sense of direction. In the entirety of the enthusiasm and energy of the actual festival, its true meaning fades away. Lost in all of the confusion is Resurrection Sunday's real meaning and message. Today we celebrate one thing and one thing only. The Resurrection Sunday celebration is all about hope when you take away all we've made of it.

The Resurrection of Christ Jesus brought real hope for all of humankind for the first time in world history. Hope is a word that the world uses quite often; I hope my plan works, I hope you get to feeling better, or I hope this happens or that occurs. The true spirit of the word hope gets denigrated at times. The Dictionary defines hope as: "To wish for a particular event that one considers possible: We are hoping for more financial support." To the world, hope is to long for something; it's to anticipate something that you want to happen with all of your heart. So, we have to have hope in this life.

Hebrews 6:19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,

The hope that God offers us is something to build on; it's an anchor; it keeps us from drifting after this and that; it is the rock on which the Christian stands, one that cannot be moved or shaken. The hope of God is forever bound up in the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, and that is what we celebrate today.