Don’t rush to get
to Sunday morning. For most
churches Easter Sunday is a high attendance day and that means we pull out our
very best (which actually we try to do
every Sunday) for those who may be attending for the first time. At Mountaintop we have planned an incredible
Easter Sunday that culminates with the celebration of 17 lives changed by the
love of Jesus! But the bright glory of Easter morning is even brighter when we spend time
in the shadows of Thursday and the overwhelming darkness of Friday. Tonight I will attend a Maundy Thursday service
downtown at the Cathedral Church of the Advent (if you want high church done well trust the Episcopalians). Tomorrow evening at Mountaintop we will have
a Good Friday service that ends in darkness and Jesus’ cry from the cross. The empty tomb is even more beautiful in
contrast to the cross – so don’t rush to get to Sunday morning – join us 7:00
pm on Friday for a Good Friday Communion
Service.
Pray. Prayer is the engine that drives everything
we do at Mountaintop. Yesterday I passed
along this thought to our staff from the Communications Director at West Ridge Church in Georgia:
“We’re focusing a lot on
prayer. We often get so wrapped up in our own plans and ideas and here’s how we
want it to go. But we know nothing of
eternal significance happens apart from prayer. So for us, even as a team,
we’re trying to focus on that side of it too, and pray that God will use Easter
services here and all over in a big way.”
I
hope that you’ve been using this Week of
Prayer to reflect on the events between Palm Sunday and Easter
morning. It’s a great way to prepare our
heads and hearts for Easter. In my times of prayer this week I’ve been reminded
of the power of the cross (the fact that
we have a spotlight on a cross in the Sanctuary helped lead me there). I hope God has been speaking to you in your
times of prayer. And I hope you will join
our staff in praying that God will use Mountaintop (and every church) in a big way this Easter. Our future is dependent on prayer.
Extend an
Invitation. After His
resurrection Jesus told His disciples to go and tell the world that a new
creation has begun. In that new world
the motivating power is love – a strong, powerful, life-changing,
life-directing love. That’s good news we
want to learn and share with everyone we can.
An invitation you extend just
might change someone’s life for eternity.
So invite to someone to join us ay 9:30 or 11:15 Sunday morning and make
this the best Easter ever!
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