The resurrection of Jesus is an event of incalculable significance - it brings hope into every circumstance and gives us hope beyond the walls of this world. It means everything is going to be alright!

Luke 24:1-9

Very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.

They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.

So they went in, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus.

As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes.

The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive?

He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee,

that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.”

Then they remembered that he had said this.

So they rushed back from the tomb to tell his eleven disciples—and everyone else—what had happened.

Acts 4:2

[the disciples were] “proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead”

1 Corinthians 15:20

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Revelations 3:20

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”

1 Peter 1:3, 21

in his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead … and so your faith and hope are in God.

Philippians 3:8-11

… that I may gain Christ

and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Worship in the ancient world had everything to do with negotiating with the gods / attempting to manipulate the gods. The Cross defines Christian worship - and forever changed “worship” - because God has given a once for all sacrifice. What more was there to manipulate God for? Worship now is all about remembering and celebrating what God has already done. Let’s do that this Good Friday.

Often in life we can be so much more concerned with who, what, and where that we don't stop and consider the why. Why am I here? But at some point this question rises to the forefront. So why are we here? As we look for the answer to the question of purpose, we'll look to Jesus to shed some light on the matter.

-Jesus, Matthew 5:14-16

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

-Jesus, Matthew 5:14-16 (Message Version).

Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colours in the world.

God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill.

If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand.

Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.

Standing on a hillside Jesus gave the followers who had assembled to hear him a unique label. A label that would explain what their purpose was for being on this earth, and one that is as applicable to his followers today as it was then. Discover what that label is and how it impacts how you see yourself and why you have been placed where you are.

- Jesus, Matthew 5:13

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

- Jesus, Luke 14:34-35

“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.

Many people assume that real life begins with marriage, as if single people are incomplete. But the gospel reshapes that assumption. Jesus reminds us that marriage here on earth is temporary. It is a beautiful picture pointing to our forever union with Christ. Singleness in God’s kingdom, then, is not a burden to endure but a gift God uses for his purposes.

Strong, healthy marriages and relationships are constantly under attack from many different directions. In our culture today, lust and pornography permeates our culture, shapes attitudes, and can cause so much hurt and chaos in our marriages. The story of Samson serves as a cautionary tale of what can happen when we just take one small step, and then another, and another, away from God’s plans for our marriages and relationships.

Judges 16:1-9

One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her.

The people of Gaza were told, “Samson is here!” So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, “At dawn we’ll kill him.”

But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.

Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah.

The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.”

So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”

Samson answered her, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”

Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him with them.

With men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.

Judges 16:16-19

With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it.

So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”

When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.

Judges 16:22

But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

This Sunday features a Marriage Q & A with Dustin & Lauren, covering various topics related to the series “Making Relationships Work.”

This message explores the incredible and counterintuitive benefits an exclusive marriage covenant gives.

Genesis 2:24

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother,

and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Matthew 19

When Jesus had finished saying these things,

he left Galilee and went down to the region of Judea east of the Jordan River.

Large crowds followed him there, and he healed their sick.

Some Pharisees came and tried to trap him with this question:

“Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife for just any reason?”

“Haven’t you read the Scriptures?” Jesus replied.

“They record that from the beginning

‘God made them male and female.’”

And he said, “‘This explains why a man leaves

his father and mother and is joined to his wife,

and the two are united into one.’

Since they are no longer two but one,

let no one split apart what God has joined together.”