Actually the word Easter has its origins in the passover.  The Hebrew word is Pesach (פֶּסַח) meaning the festival of passover.  The Greek translation of Pesach (פֶּסַח) is Πάσχα and another Greek word used is Ανασταση which means upstanding, up-rising, resurrection.  Now let me ask you a serious question.  Aren’t you thrilled to find out that Easter is not the name of a cancerous tumor that grows on a chicken’s ovary.  I say that in jest, to bring to light the reality that most people don’t know where the word Easter came from or what it means.

For many people Easter is just another holiday they get to celebrate by eating big meals and watching the kids find eggs in the yard.  I will admit I love eating those great big Easter dinners.  I can remember how fun it was to point Tyler and Dustin in the direction of eggs I could see.  However Easter is about infinitely more than rabbits, eggs, and Easter baskets. So when you greet people with the words, “Happy Easter” it could bring to their minds anything from eggs, to dinners they had with their family.  However, if we greeted one another with the salutation of old, “He is risen”.  What do you think people would think about then?

That is what Easter is all about.  think about what it must have been like for the disciples of Christ on the third day.  There hearts were crushed when they saw their master die.  Some of them watched, others heard about how humiliating His death was.  They were convinced that He was the one.  So much so that they were arguing a few days earlier about who was going to sit at His right hand and His left hand in His kingdom.  This is why Peter pulled out his sword and cut off the ear of the servant of the High Priest.  For them, it was all about throwing off Rome and setting up that earthly kingdom.  Jesus was the man who was born, according to the flesh, a son of David.  He was the man who could unify the Israelites and lead them into battle.

But now, He is hanging there.  His form so marred by the beating that He is hardly recognizable as a man.  His nakedness exposed for all the world to see.  His face covered with blood and spit.  The crowd cries, “He could save others, lets see Him save Himself.  Better yet, let God save Him, seeing how He claimed to be the Son of God.”  Can you hear them laughing as they taunted.  I wonder, Can you find yourself in that crowd?  Hey, you who said if we destroy the temple you could rebuild it in three days.  How you going to rebuild it when you are fastened to a cross?  Then He died.

Think about how defeated all of the followers of Christ were.  It was over.  Their hope was dead.  The one they loved was gone.  I mean they left their homes and jobs to follow Him.  They really believed there was something different about this guy.  He had command over the winds and the waves, but now He is dead.  Three days they have been in despair.  Trying to wrap their minds around what just happened.  They are probably thinking, “why didn’t He let us fight?  Why didn’t He even try to defend Himself in the courts?  Why didn’t He come down from the cross?  Why?  Why?  Why?

On the third day the ladies decided that they will go to the tomb to pay there respects one more time before going on with their lives.  To their amazement He is Risen.  The ladies run back to the disciples and become the first ones to greet with that magnificent sentence.  I can imagine her breathing hard.  Gasping for air and trying to get the words out.  They can see that something has happened.  She left this morning crying and defeated.  Now she is consumed with excitement.  Can you see her?  Can you hear the words as she cries them?  HE IS RISEN!  I can hear the disciples asking, Mary what are you talking about?  THE LORD!  I HAVE SEEN THE LORD!  HE IS  RISEN!  Writing these words makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck.  I can imagine that is exactly what happened to the disciples.  Peter and John took off running.

This changes everything.  I could imagine John saying that to himself as He outruns Peter to the grave.  And change everything, it did.  For the next forty days Jesus revealed Himself to His followers.  Once they saw Him it completely changed their lives.  Can you see them as they are walking through the streets of Jerusalem.  Or better yet can you hear them as they see their friends along the way.  What words do you hear them crying out as they begin running to the friend they saw in the distant.  HE IS RISEN!  Waving their hands in the air.  HEY!  HEY!  HE IS RISEN!  HE IS RISEN!

Should we be any less excited about sharing that news than the disciples?  Is it weird for us to great people with those words?  He is Risen!  I don’t think so.  That’s what Easter is about.  In fact that’s what every Sunday is about.  We come together and remind ourselves and each other that He is Risen.  We proclaim to the lost every Sunday that Jesus Christ died a ransom for His people.  That they placed Him in a tomb, and three days later He arose.

I hope this Sunday, and everyday for that matter, that the thought that fills your heart and mind is that He is risen.  I pray that the salutation that flows from your heart and out your mouth is, HE IS RISEN!  I pray the hair stands up on the back of your necks when you hear it spoken back to you.  INDEED, HE IS RISEN!

Because He Lives,

Toby (more…)

I just wanted to give you all the opportunity to help get our church ready for our Easter Service. We will have a sign up sheet in the foyer Sunday for everyone to sign up for certain jobs. I thought that might be easier than planning a work day and I thought more people would be able to participate that way. This way you can come whenever you have time and take care of whatever task you signed up for. If someone else signs up for the same tasks then you can contact one another and see if doing the job together is possible or you can work out the details of what each of you will do. Here is the sign up sheet so you can begin praying about what God would have you to do.

Operation Spring Cleaning Sign Up

1.____________________Flower beds

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____________________

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2.____________________Parking lot clean up

____________________

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3.____________________Spread rocks in back parking

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4.____________________Finish spreading rift raft in ditch

____________________

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5.____________________Clean front windows to Sanctuary

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6.____________________Spring clean the foyer (reorganize, coat rack needs cleaning, foyer table, vacuum dust etc….)

_____________________

_____________________

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7._____________________Sanctuary spring cleaning

a.____________________Wash pews

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b.____________________Window seals and paneling need polishing

____________________

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c.____________________Carpets need cleaning

____________________

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8.____________________Choir loft spring cleaning

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1. ____________________Many light bulbs are out in the sanctuary, and foyer
2. ____________________Dust piano and organ
3. Spring clean the area outside the offices.
   1. ____________________Coffee table and book shelves need attention
   2. ____________________Clean pew
   3. ____________________Carpet needs cleaning

1. ____________________Bathrooms need cleaning.

I hope that you will find a place to be involved in spring cleaning our Church.

In Christ,

Toby Jenkins

We have been working in the basement again this week, destroying what use to be, to make room for what will be. It has really been going good. I want to thank all the guys who have really worked hard to tear all those walls out. It is really beginning to look good. You should drop by and take a look. I can’t wait until it is complete. It’s going to look great.
One of the things that I noticed this week in tearing out the walls and ceilings was that we had many different types of hammers. We began tearing out the walls with regular carpenter hammers, and sledge hammers. Some people call sledge hammers, malls. I never really figured that one out. Why would you call a sledge hammer a mall? It’s not like you can go shopping at it. Anyway, Guy and Roger, who are firemen, brought a rather unique hammer to the party. It was pointed, but it was also blunt. It’s really hard to describe this thing, but it was very effective in pulling the sheet rock off the ceiling.
I guess what I want to say is that there are different hammers designed to do different things. The carpenters hammer is for driving nails. The sledge hammer was designed for breaking up rocks and driving steaks. The fireman hammer thing was designed to tear out ceilings and walls. You may be wondering why I am wasting your time writing about hammers. Well, working with those different hammers yesterday got me to thinking about all the different types of hammers. Thinking about those different types of hammers made me think about what Isaiah said about this one particular type of hammer.
Isiah 23:29-Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? God tells us that His Word is like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces. Why would God call His Word a hammer that crushes the rock? He calls it a hammer because He uses it to crush the stony heart in your chest. The reason our hearts are so hard is because of sin. The longer we let sin reign in our hearts the harder they get. Some may protest, “my heart is not cold and hard!” The scriptures declare, “my heart is deceitfully wicked above of all things. Who can know it?” God can. He knows your heart better than you do. He has a tool He uses to crush that stony heart; It’s His Word.
He actually calls it by many different names. He calls it a Sword. He says it’s sharper than any two edged sword. So sharp that it can separate bone from marrow. He calls it His voice in Psalms 29, which I’m preaching on tonight at church. It’s a beautiful Psalm about the power of God’s voice. His voice is so powerful that it breaks the cedars in Lebanon and strips bear the forest of Kadesh. There are many other names by which God uses to refer to His Word, but I think they all veil in comparison to this last one. We learn in John 1:1-3 that Jesus Christ is the Word.
Jesus is that hammer that crushes the Rock. Then, by the power of the Holy Spirit, He takes out all the pieces of that old heart and replaces it with a new heart of flesh. A heart that seeks to know Him. A heart that seeks to worship Him. A heart that longs to be in His presence. A heart that beats to love Him more. Oh! What a hammer is my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! As we demolished the basement with all those different type hammers it made me think about how God demolished my old heart of stone. But there are new lesson to be learned as we continue this project. We won’t leave the basement in rubble, and neither will God leave your heart in rubble. He destroys it because He is going to replace it with a new heart. Just like we are going to replace the old basement with a new one. I love seeing that transformation take place in a persons life.
Down in the basement working on the demo with us was David Crawford. Three months ago David was enslaved to drugs. He was a man with a stone heart. It was an incredible sight to see that Hammer crush that rocky heart of stone. To see a grown man cry in repentance before a Holy God is the work of a special kind of Hammer. God crushed his old heart of stone and put within him a new heart, and now we get to watch as God begins the life long project of remodeling David into the image of His Son Jesus Christ. God by the power of His Spirit is using the Word to remodel all of us back into the image of His Son Jesus Christ. The image that Adam lost, Christ has renewed. I just think it’s awesome how the project began with a Hammer crushing and tearing out, and now the project continues with a Hammer molding, forming, and framing us back into the image of God.
I never grow tired of watching this process take place in peoples lives. Just last night Sonia, Shelly, and I saw God crush someones heart in our community. It was incredible! I love it! I love Him! The hammer that crushes the rock!! The Hammer that is forming us into the His own image.

In Christ,
Toby Jenkins

If you have prayer requests for your brothers and sisters in Christ to lift before the Lord during March, Click on Prayer Requests for March  2010  above, then type the prayer request in the comment box below.

I hope all you are doing good. I’m really excited about all that God is doing in our church, and I want to thank all of you for your support for GPS. I received several e-mails and letters thanking First Baptist for their enthusiasm and work that they put into the GPS conference. It felt good hearing all those pastors talk about how blessed I was to have this congregation. I’m also thankful that so many of you got on board and volunteered to help make it possible for us to take the gospel to our community by participating in GPS.

I’m so blessed by God that I have a Church that’s ready to spend and be spent for the cause of Christ in Henryville and in the Nations. I just wanted to give this word of encouragement, and let you know how proud I am of the work that God is doing in and through you. Sonia and I have went to visit 4 families in the last 2 weeks that visited our church on the last two Sundays. Everyone of them talked about how loving and receptive you all were to them. That’s what it is supposed to be like when people visit, and I just want to tell you how proud I am to be your pastor and how you are impacting our community with your love.

Don’t forget Thursday at 3:00 pm we are doing church demolition, as we begin our church renovations. Please come and fellowship with us as we work together to remodel our church.

In Christ,
Toby

February 28, 2010

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February 21, 2010

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February 14, 2010

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I don’t know about you, but I’m longing for Spring. I long to see the trees decorated with greenery, the fields dancing in the winds, and the flowers showing off their beauty in the sunlight. I long to hear the bees buzzing, the birds singing, and to watch the butterflies fluttering around in silent majesty. Don’t get me wrong, I love the winter. I like cold weather. I love cuddling with my wife in the mornings to stay warm, and sledding in the snow with my boys, but I’m ready for Spring now.

God uses the seasons to teach us some remarkable things about life. Spring teaches us a theological truth that fills us with hope and expectation. When fall comes it is so beautiful. However it only last for a short while and then the appearance of death occurs. However, when Spring comes we realize that those trees which appeared dead are very much alive. The fields that seemed lifeless begin to teem with life. It’s a very exciting transformation to watch.

What does God teach us through this? He teaches us an important truth about life and death. It is the same lesson that Jesus taught the sisters of Lazarus but in full color. Jesus told Mary, “though he is dead, yet shall he live.” Jesus is saying, I know it looks like he is dead. His limbs are lifeless, his heart is silent, and his body is decaying, but Mary I am the resurrection and the life, and he who believes in me, though he is dead, yet shall he live. Then Jesus says, “do you believe this Mary?”. This was the same question Jesus asked me when I stood speechless looking at my brother’s body in that casket. I felt Him speaking to my heart through the power of His Spirit saying, “I am the resurrection and the life Toby. Even though your brother looks dead, yet shall he live. Do you believe me?” I can remember it like it was yesterday. I felt peace come over my soul as I mumbled, yeah Lord, I believe.

God is teaching us this same lesson through the seasons. All of us are living in the season of fall. We live in a fallen world that is slowly fading away. We are born dying. The colors are bright and beautiful at first, but it’s not long before they begin to fade. We begin to turn gray and wrinkle up until our bodies are to frail to cling to life any longer. To the eyes of men it looks like winter. It looks like life is gone and death has won. But just as Spring reveals the true nature of Winter, so does God reveal the true nature of death through His Son, Jesus Christ.

In Spring all things are made new. This is exactly what is going to happen when God’s people die. All things will be made new. Corruption will put on in-corruption. Mortality will put on immortality. Just think about what that is going to be like. The Scriptures say that all things will be made new. All creation longs for this day. I can’t wait until He comes and takes us home. If Spring is just a reminder that He is going to make all things new, just imagine what it’s going to be like when He does. The beauty and majesty will be a wonder to behold. Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, neither has entered into the mind of man the things that God has prepared for those that love Him. But I doubt I will give it more than a glance, if even that. For I will be in the presence of Him, who has holes in His hands and His feet. I will behold Him who mine eyes have longed to see since the day He redeemed me from the pit. I can’t imagine anything being more beautiful than Him. I can’t wait to fix my eyes upon Him who saved me by His grace. What a day that will be when my Savior I see in that beautiful City of Gold.

Even so now, Come Lord Jesus,

Toby Jenkins