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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">More Hope than We Can Handle</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br>
Earlier this week, an old couple received a phone call from their son
who lives far away. The son said he was sorry, but he wouldn’t be able
to come for a visit over the holidays after all. "The grandkids say
hello." They assured him that they understood, but when they hung up the
phone they didn’t dare look at each other.<br>
<br>
Earlier this week, a woman was called into her supervisor’s office to
hear that times are hard for the company and they had to let her go. "So
sorry." She cleaned out her desk, packed away her hopes for getting
ahead, and wondered what she would tell her kids.<br>
<br>
Earlier this week, someone received terrible news from a physician.
Someone else heard the words, "I don't love you any more." Earlier this
week, someone’s hope was crucified. And the darkness is overwhelming.<br>
<br>
No one is ever ready to encounter Easter until he or she has spent time
in the dark place where hope cannot be seen. Easter is the last thing we
are expecting. And that is why it terrifies us. This day is not about
bunnies, springtime and girls in cute new dresses. It’s about more hope
than we can handle.<br>
<br>
Craig Barnes, Savior at Large, article in The Christian Century, March 13-20, 2002 p. 16.<br>
______________________________<br>
<br>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Where the Fire Cannot Reach</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Corrie Ten Boom put it like this: "In
the forest fire, there is always one place where the fire cannot reach.
It is the place where the fire has already burned itself out. Calvary is
the place where the fire of God's judgment against sin burned itself
out completely. It is there that we are safe."</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">__________________________________</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">No Grave Deep Enough</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Several years ago, The Saturday
Evening Post ran a cartoon showing a man about to be rescued after he
had spent a long time ship-wrecked on a tiny deserted island. The sailor
in charge of the rescue team stepped onto the beach and handed the man a
stack of newspapers.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">"Compliments of the Captain," the
sailor said. "He would like you to glance at the headlines to see if
you'd still like to be rescued!" Sometimes the headlines do scare us.
Sometimes we feel that evil is winning, but then along comes Easter, to
remind us that there is no grave deep enough, no seal imposing enough,
no stone heavy enough, no evil strong enough to keep Christ in the
grave.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">James W. Moore, Some Things Are Too Good Not To Be True, Dimensions, 1994, p. 80.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">_______________________</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">On Redemption</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The catholic priest Erasmus two centuries ago wrote these powerful words. Listen:</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">How much more wonderful the work of
redemption is, in comparison with creation. It is more marvelous that
God was made man than that He created the angels; that He wailed in a
stable than that He reigns in the heavens. The creation of the world was
a work of power, but the redemption of the world was a work of mercy.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Erasmus</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">_____________________</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The Cape of Good Hope</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">I can still recall a geography lesson
from elementary school in which we learned that the southernmost point
of Africa is a point which for centuries has experienced tremendous
storms. For many years no one even knew what lay beyond that cape, for
no ship attempting to round that point had ever returned to tell the
tale. Among the ancients it was known as the "Cape of Storms," and for
good reason. But then a Portuguese explorer in the sixteenth century,
Vasco De Gama, successfully sailed around that very point and found
beyond the wild raging storms, a great calm sea, and beyond that, the
shores of India. The name of that cape was changed from the Cape of
Storms to the Cape of Good Hope.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Until Jesus Christ rose from the dead,
death had been the cape of storms on which all hopes of life beyond had
been wrecked. No one knew what lay beyond that point until, on Easter
morning, those ancient visions of Isaiah became the victory of Jesus
over our last great enemy. Suddenly, like those ancient explorers, we
can see beyond the storm to the hope of heaven and eternal life with the
Father. More than that, we dare to believe that we shall experience in
our own human lives exactly what the Son of God experienced in his, for
the risen Christ says to us, "Because I live, you shall live also." This
is the heart of the Easter faith.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Robert Beringer, The Easter People, CSS Publishing Company </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">_______________________</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The End of the World</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">There is a beautiful valley in
Switzerland which is deeply hidden in that mountain range known as the
Alps. That valley is completely surrounded by steep mountain walls. If
one enters this valley, that person will move along the only road until
it ends at the base of a steep wall of rock.<br>
<br>
The Swiss call this place the "End of the World." However, if one is
willing to go climbing by foot, Swiss guides will show a determined
hiker the path that leads up and over that mountain barrier.<br>
<br>
Reflecting upon this natural phenomenon, Harleigh Rosenberger comments
that many people believe that life is like a road that runs through the
valley of time. "We cannot turn back but must continue walking onward.
The days pass quickly and then comes the end of the road. We stand at
the sheer rock wall we call death. It is the end of our world, for it is
the end of life."<br>
<br>
Because Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead and we have through
him received the gift of eternal life, we find a way up and over that
wall of rock. Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who
believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and
believes in me shall never die (John 11:25)."<br>
<br>
My friends in Christ, our hope is grounded in the gift of eternal life
which we receive this day - it is our way out of the valley of darkness
and despair through which all of us walk at one time or another in our
lives. This gift of eternal life does not begin at death. It begins now
for all who worship the risen Christ. This life eternal will then
continue beyond the grave into the life to come, for our souls are
eternal, and in Christ we become one with the Father who made us. This
is the hope and the promise which we receive this glorious Easter Day.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Donald William Dotterer, Up and Down the Mountain, CSS Publishing Company,</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">________________________________________</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Christ’s Holy Checkmate</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">On display in the magnificent Louvre
Museum in Paris, France, is that dramatic painting of Goethe's Faust.
Faust is seated at a table engaged in a competitive game of chess. And
at first glance, it looks like Faust is losing. His opponent in the
chess game is Satan. The devil sits there grinning smugly. He thinks he
has the victory in hand. He is pointing at the chessboard with an evil
leer and he is gloating.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">As you look at the painting, you can
almost hear the devil shouting: "Checkmate! Game’s over! I win!"
However, a person with a keen eye who knows the game of chess can see
that the match is not over at all. As a matter of fact, just a few years
ago, an internationally famous chess player was admiring the painting
when all of a sudden he lunged forward and exclaimed: "Wait a minute!...</div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black;">The conclusion to this illustration and for many additional illustrations and sermons for Easter can be accessed at </span><span style="color: rgb(127, 127, 127); font-size: 8pt;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.sermons.com/"><span style="color: purple; font-size: 12pt;">www.Sermons.com</span></a></span><span style="color: black;">.</span></div>
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