Pastor Quinn • April 16, 2023

He Lives To Restore My Hope

Imagine someone you love is near death. Their only hope of survival is a risky brain surgery, one so complicated only one surgeon in the state will attempt it. The surgery is scheduled. But as that doctor drives to the hospital, he is killed in a car accident. Any hope you had for your loved one’s salvation died along with that surgeon.


That is how Jesus’ disciples felt after his death. “We hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel,” they said (Luke 24:19). Their hope for a better life died along with Jesus. They had let their personal wants and expectations cloud their view of Scripture which said that the Messiah’s death and resurrection were actually the source of all hope! So, the living Lord appeared to his disciples. He explained. He opened their minds to the truth of God’s Word. And in doing so, he restored their hope. There is little worse than a feeling of hopelessness. Christ’s disciples have victory over that feeling. He died, but he is dead no longer. The one who can heal us and give us life to the full lives! He lives to restore our hope.

By Pastor Quinn June 7, 2026
They never forgot their past. Moses never forgot how he killed a man in a fit of anger. Paul never forgot how he had savaged the Church of God. Matthew never forgot how, as a tax collector for the Roman Empire, he was considered a traitor to his people. But God forgot their past. He forgave all their sins and called them to proclaim his mercy. Christians are sinners whom God has mercifully called. Only mercy can explain why Jesus brings people to faith and promises them salvation. Only grace can explain how he calls them to serve as they are able, even in the ministry of the gospel. God loves sinners.
May 31, 2026
Without the resurrection of Jesus, death would appear permanent. No one would have come back from the dead to explain what happens after death. Jesus told his disciples what would happen. But they were slow to believe the Easter truth. God ensured that his people had witnesses to assure that Jesus did not remain dead. He lives, and it makes a difference! I too shall live. Death has become a pathway into paradise. Jesus has already made me spiritually alive by giving me faith in his resurrection. In every possible way, Jesus takes me from death to life.
By Pastor Zahn May 24, 2026
When the disciples were distressed about Jesus ascending into heaven, he assured them, “It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7). That Advocate is the Holy Spirit. If Jesus had stayed in the grave, the Holy Spirit would have had no reason to enter the lives of disciples. But Jesus lives, and it makes a difference. The Spirit provides faith and purpose for life.  Pentecost, the celebration of the special arrival of the Holy Spirit, is the third great festival of the Church, along with the Nativity and the Resurrection. Pentecost closes the fifty-day period after Easter and ends the festival half of the church year. The Church dresses in red on this day to commemorate the tongues of fire that marked the Spirit’s gift as well as the blood of the martyrs.
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