Resurrection…Make A Stand! …Hello Hump Day readers. I hope your Easter was filled with joy knowing that we, too, will be resurrected and live with Jesus in eternity. Nothing better than that, right? The campground was busy this opening week and a lot of people left on Saturday because they wanted to be with family in church on Easter. Others stayed and said “church wasn’t for them” and one gentleman said I love Jesus but that whole thing about resurrection is hard to fathom.” We talked for a bit and I can understand. It’s a matter of faith and often, let’s be real, someone dying and coming back to life challenges our faith. It’s so incredible and we have seen it through our own eyes. Yep, we walk in faith indeed.

“I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead.” (Philippians 3:10 NLT)  Paul makes it clear that the resurrection we celebrate isn’t just a historical event—it also plays an important role in our daily lives! He lays out six truths of Jesus’ resurrection that we can “hang our faith on.” We are assured that: 1) We are accepted by God. 2) We have the power to live out our Christian life. 3) We will live forever in heaven! 4) We will receive new bodies that are like his. 5) We will have resurrected relationships with other believers. 6) We are compelled to tell others, sharing the message of how God loves us and the joy of eternity is ours.

My conversation with the man that struggled with resurrection is not new—in fact it is a struggle for both the believers and those who cannot grasp it so they don’t believe. So I ask myself and all of you, “it is a hard belief, right?” And Jesus knows that and that is why we can throw-out our skepticism and take the stand that we side with God and not human authority.

It wasn’t long after Jesus’ resurrection that the disciples figured this out and with the power of the Holy Spirit they preached, they shared this beloved Jesus and thousands of people came to believe and share who Jesus was. We know in their day living under Nero was deadly, but it did not stop them from sharing Christ. They embraced Peter’s words in Acts 5: “We must obey God more than any human authority” and indeed they Made Their Stand. Many were killed because of that faith but they knew it could happen and they also knew that if they died, they knew where they were going – to heaven with Jesus forever.

Throughout the ages this has continued in many ways. Martin Luther defied the Emperor and preached Christ to the masses which launched the reformation which, at that time, changed the world! Why? Luther Made His Stand and he did not back out of it. And now, in this politized society we are in, we too, must make our stand. Our obedience is never to a political leader, it is as Peter said: “we obey God more than any other human authority.”

As we see people losing jobs because they believe in caring for one another; as we see people threatened if they speak out against what they know-by their faith-that things are wrong; and as we see truth being twisted and integrity degraded and money and “higher power” are judging and threatening, will we make our stand?

Yes, it can be scary, but claim this: “You will also know how very powerful God is. He uses that power to help us now, as we trust in Christ. God’s power is greater than anything we could ever know. He used that power to raise Christ, so that he became alive again after his death. Then he gave Christ a place to sit at his right side in heaven.” [Eph. 1:19-20 ERV] Truth is sacred and the ‘higher power’ is not in us or anyone else—it is in the Lord alone! So do the right thing, make your stand so others can know the Lord and find peace, joy, and the hope we all need. AMEN.