An Easter Message from Andy Casper, Lead Pastor of South County Church

What's so great about Easter?

Do you ever turn on the nightly news and feel fabulous - down economy, high gas prices, murder, earthquakes and tsunamis? My guess is not likely. These are perilous times for nations and for us as families. We hear all these negative stories in the world and along comes Easter Sunday.

This morning, millions of people will get up and go to a local church to celebrate Easter. Some don't even know why they are getting up, other than this is what their family did each year as they were growing up. All they know is they feel better. In a chaotic world, there is something about this man named Jesus that provides hope.
Anyone who can die such a horrible death on a cross for crimes he didn't commit and come to life again says good can happen.

What's so great about Easter...hope for all mankind. God's son Jesus came to earth as a man to give us hope for today and an eternal life to come. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Believing in Jesus and surrendering our lives to his plans and purposes gives us hope because we are trusting the leadership of our lives to God's supernatural power.  The character issues we struggle with, the financial problems we face, the stress we feel over protecting our kids, the evil we see in the world...we surrender all of our lives and these issues to a God who loves us and gives us power beyond ourselves. Romans 8:11 says, "And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

Easter doesn't just provide hope for today, but hope for beyond death. The resurrection of Jesus shows that death isn't the end. Jesus conquered death through his resurrection. In John 11:25-26a, Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." As believers in Jesus, we don't have to fear death. We know that the best is yet to come as we surrender to Christ.

God has a plan for every person in the world and it starts with surrendering our lives to the leadership of God's Son Jesus. Easter doesn't have to end on Easter Sunday for any of us. The same hope we feel on Easter, we can experience each day as we trust Jesus daily.

Andy Casper is the Lead Pastor at South County Church and the Director of South County Cares.