In this past two weeks... I have lost three very close friends... who have 'transitioned'... and I say 'transitioned instead of died'... because all three professed their faith in Jesus Christ... so... their body may be in a grave... but their soul and spirit is with the Lord...

And their loss was personal and painful... but I have such wonderful memories of them...

Don Curtis (Beitelman), Gary Hart, and Tommy Evans... all three touched my life in a profound way... and also... each of them... remind me of my own mortality... and thus... are a reminder of this one question... "Where will you spend eternity?"

It is because it is the 'celebration' of Jesus Christ's resurrection from the grave after being crucified on a Roman cross for our sins... past, present and future... and his substitutional death in payment for my sins and yours... and thus... Him providing the 'way' of 'redemption for you and me'... and to be 'reconciled to God the Father' forever!

He overcame and bridged death... He provided 'the way of eternal life with God'...

Remember His disciples who walked with Him during His ministry... and heard Him say...

Matt 26:53 "Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?"

John 8:58 Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am." 

Yet... here He was on a Roman cross being crucified between two thieves... and what were they to believe... what they were seeing... or what He had told them... and to have faith in that...

and remember... Abraham... 'believed the Lord'... and this is what is said... Gen 15:6 Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. (It was 'his faith... not his works... that made God declare him righteous.') 

The Resurrection:  Luke 24:1-9 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living One among the dead? "He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again." And they remembered His words,  and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

It is because Jesus Christ has victory over death... and resurrected from the grave... and He lives... and through Him... those who 'believe in Him as Savior and Lord'... they too will live... eternally with Him... and so... my dear friends are already in Heaven with Christ... and have perfect bodies and minds... they are 'perfectly satisfied and perfectly perfect!'

John 3:16-18 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

In Heaven... there will be NO GOOD PEOPLE... only FORGIVEN SINNERS... who believe in Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of God... who died for our sins...

John 11:24-27 Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?" She said to Him, "Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world."

Rom 10:9-10 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

And for those who believe in 'good works'... for salvation... either to gain it... or to maintain it... I ask them... how much is enough... or how much is required to keep it... see... I believe God's Word says it is all through Christ... and His sacrifice at Calvary was TOTALLY SUFFICIENT... we cannot add anything to it... nor take anything from it... it is sufficient... praise His Holy name... for I am a sinner still... but saved by His merciful grace... a free gift...

John 10:27-30 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. "I and the Father are one." 

Amen!

It means... because Christ laid down His life... and took His life back up again... because He is resurrected from the grave... because He lives... He has shown us Victory Over Death in Him!

He lives! So we too will live...forever! I will live forever too... in spite of my pride... my lust... my sins against Him... I am forgiven! The merciful grace of God through Jesus
Christ has redeemed me from the penalty of my sins... and I am forever a child of God!

Hallelujah! Once saved ... forever saved... sealed by God's Holy Spirit... Eph 1:13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation -- having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,

Rom 6:8-9 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.

Thus... for the 'believer in Jesus Christ'... death is but the doorway to eternal life!

Paul said: Phil 1:23 But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better;

1 Cor 15:50-55 Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. "O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O  DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?"

1 Thess 4:13-18 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Phil 3:20-21 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.

Children of God Love One Another 1 John 3:1-3 See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

"You cannot bury a saint"... their body may be there.... but they are not... they are with Jesus forever!

And each 'believer is considered to be a saint' in the eyes of God through Christ...

Rom 1:7 to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Cor 1:2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

1 Cor 15:53-55 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. "O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O  DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?"

Rev 22:1-5 Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.

Therefore... be sure you have: Put On the New Self -- in Christ Jesus... and cloaked yourself in His shed blood... and then... this Easter is a celebration of His resurrection... His Victory over Death... for all of us....
 

And as hard as it is for each of us... because we spend so much time on 'self'... on thinking and considering our own self... our circumstances... our environment... or society... that we spend so little time in centering ourselves on Him... who loves us so... that He is indwelling us with His Holy Spirit... that at Easter... we must again focus on Him... and that He is Risen... and it is NOT all about us... but it is ALL ABOUT JESUS....

Col 3:1-3 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

In Him,

Bill Watts

www.cowboybillwatts.com

Here is my favorite poem...