“Is Seeing Believing?” An Easter Message by Shane C. Montgomery

Scripture Reading: John 20:1-18


Prayer:

Introduction:
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the heart of our faith. Christianity, is above all, a
religion of Resurrection. The Church is called primarily to be the community of the
Resurrection. We as God's Covenant people are called to be witnesses to the
Resurrection. We might not have been in the tomb with Mary, Peter and John on that
first Easter Sunday, but we know what is true and we bear witness to this truth.
On Easter we celebrate the Resurrection, on this day we come together as believers in
the Resurrection, and we worship and then we celebrate the fact that the Tomb was
empty, that Christ has indeed Risen, that Christ is alive today and sits at the right hand of
God the Father in Heaven, and that Christ is a witness on our behalf of our faith and
love.

"Gospel Fruit the Test of Genuine Discipleship" by J.C. Philpot

 "Herein is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be My disciples." John 15:8

Why does the farmer, at this season of the year, cast into the bosom of the earth so much valuable corn? That at harvest time he may reap a crop. Why does the gardener now transplant fruit trees, and put them by the side of a sunny wall? That those trees, when their bearing season comes, may produce rich and ripe fruit. If the farmer reap no crop, if the gardener gathers no fruit, each is disappointed, and they would conclude, either that the seed was bad and the tree worthless, or that there was something wrong about the soil. So it is in grace. Why does God sow the seed of His Word in the heart of any? or why does He plant any tree of righteousness in His garden here below? That there may spring from the one a crop which may issue in His glory; and that fruit may be found on the other which shall be acceptable in His sight.

Easter Poem

Some of us stay at the cross,
some of us wait at the tomb,
Quickened and raised with Christ
yet lingering still in the gloom.
Some of us 'bide at the Passover feast
with Pentecost all unknown,
The triumphs of grace in the heavenly place
that our Lord has made His own.
If the Christ who died had stopped at the cross,
His work had been incomplete.
If the Christ who was buried had stayed in the tomb,
He had only known defeat,
But the way of the cross never stops at the cross
and the way of the tomb leads on
To victorious grace in the heavenly place
where the risen Lord has gone.

Annie Johnson Flint.

"Is Mankind Lost in Sin?" by J. Gresham Machen

We have spoken of the first sin of man, and we have spoken of the question, "What is sin?" The question now arises what consequences that first sin of man has had for us and for all men. Some people think it had very slight consequences -- if indeed these people think that there ever was a first sin of man at all, in the sense in which it is described in the third chapter of Genesis.

I remember that some years ago, when I was driving home in my car after a summer vacation, I stayed over Sunday in a certain city without any particular reason except that I do not like to travel on that day. Being without any acquaintance with the city, I dropped into what seemed perhaps to be the leading church in the central part of the town.

"Hell" by Dr. Francis Turretin

Is there a hell? And what are its punishments—whether only of loss or also of sense.  We affirm the latter.

I. The execution of the sentence of the Judge will follow its promulgation. This will be carried out with respect to the wicked by casting them down into hell, where they must be tormented for ever with the devils; but with respect to the pious, by their introduction into heaven, to the joys of eternal life. Concern­ing this twofold end of men, of eternal life as well as of eternal death, something must also be said. And in the first place of hell or eternal death:

"Experimental Preaching" by A.W. Pink-Volume 16, No.7 S.I.T.S

The mere quoting of Scripture in the pulpit is not sufficient—people can become familiar with the letter of the Word by reading it at home; it is the expounding of it which is  so much needed today. “And Paul, as his manner was . . . reasoned with them out of the  Scriptures,  opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again  from the dead” (Acts 17:2, 3). But to “open” the Scriptures helpfully to the saints requires  more than a young man who has had a few months’ training in some “Bible Institute” or  a year or two in a theological seminary. None but those who have been personally taught  of God in the hard school of experience are qualified to so “open” up the Word that Divine light has cast upon the perplexing experiences of the believer, for while Scripture  interprets experience, experience is often the best interpreter of Scripture. “The heart of  the wise  teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning  to his lips” (Prov. 16:23), and  that “learning” cannot be acquired in any of man’s schools.

A Review of "Peace for the Troubled Heart" written by the late Herman Hoeksema

Sometimes even the most mature believers fall on hard times and endure suffering. We are not promised “Our Best Life Now” and life will and does remind us of this truth, we endure hardship, we suffer, we fall ill and we at times will fall into poverty, financially and spiritually. There will be times in every believers life where they feel God has removed Himself from an active role in their life. Nobody enjoys suffering, but we can take comfort in that God has not abandoned us and that He can and does use suffering and hardship to grow us as believers, making us more holy and prepared to endure this life and make us ready for eternal life in heaven.