Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, April 13, 2022 -- THREE
Messages of Easter hope from local pastors
Resurrection of Jesus
hard to believe
What is Love?
The answer may seem
obvious – God demonstrat-
ed love for us through Jesus
Christ - Who lived, died
and was resurrected for us.
What might not be as ob-
vious is how this love has
power today to transform
every aspect of our lives.
The resurrection
changed everything.
At the cross, Jesus died
in our place for our sins;
Jesus entered into our pain
and our shame; Jesus came
and took on the weight
of Evil itself—so that its
power could be broken, and
because Jesus didn’t stay in
the grave, we see that His
death and resurrection is
God’s love freeing us from
sin . . . God’s love overcom-
ing death . . . God’s love
announcing that one day a
new creation will come.
Because of the death
and resurrection of Jesus,
we see the love of God.
When we look at Jesus, we
can say, “This is love.”
Sin is not a popular
word and sin can be a con-
fusing word. Sin is the
sense of missing the mark
or failing to be who God
created us to be. Sin is fall-
ing short of our first calling
to be God’s image-bearers
who reflect God’s wisdom
and love and rule into the
world. Sin is also a rebel-
lion, a turning away from
God, a decision to move
against God or independent
of God. Sin is a transgres-
sion, a crossing of lines and
boundaries, a violation of
another person, and ulti-
mately sin is a power. It is
Sin with a capital “S” that
holds us captive and para-
lyzes us with shame.
Take all of this together
and realize that sin is a dead
end. It’s a grand “Game
Over.” So, what do we do
about that? We can accept
and receive what God has
done for us through Jesus
Christ. Through the resur-
rection sins can be forgiven.
Think of it: Our sins—
our missing the mark, our
falling short, our transgress-
ing and crossing of lines—
are forgiven because Jesus
died and rose again and the
power of Sin that holds us
captive, that paralyzed us,
that holds us in the same
patterns of failure, is now
broken.
To be forgiven is to be
free. Free from guilt, free
from shame, free from the
power that enslaves us, and
free to be fully human. To
be what God made us to
be. To reflect God’s image,
God’s wisdom, God’s love
into the world.
Our lives can be trans-
formed right now. May-
be you’ve thought it was
“Game Over,” that you’ve
hit a dead end because of
a mistake you’ve made, or
a destructive habit you’re
caught in… I’ve got good
news for you: It’s not over.
Just as it wasn’t over when
Jesus died on the cross and
was buried, it’s not over for
any of us. Because Jesus
carried our sins upon Him-
self on the cross—because
God raised Jesus from the
dead in victory over sin and
death—it is not over. Sin is
not the end. The resurrec-
tion changed everything.
You’re invited to join
us for a special three-week
series starting Easter Sun-
day- This is Love will help
us discover just how deep
God’s love is and how pow-
erful it is to transform us
from the inside out. We’ll
begin Easter Sunday with a
breakfast at 9:30 a.m. Wor-
ship starts at 11 a.m.
All are welcome, so
bring a friend.
Blessings to you and
yours.
Pastor Jeff Clabaugh
Ione Community
Church
Disregard your own
well being
Not many of you may
know this about me, but
I am deathly allergic to
spiders, which makes me
terrified of them. I am sure
I will regret sharing this in-
formation to the community
of Heppner because it often
puts me at the butt of many
jokes. I share this with you
all today because there
was one moment when my
children were little, that
I didn’t think of my fear
or my self-preservation
from these creepy, crawly,
eight-legged creatures with
their terrifying pinchers
and instead, I saw that my
daughter had a giant spider
in her hair, that she was
completely unaware of. My
love and care for her safety
led me to disregard my own
well-being. I snatched the
spider up as quickly as I
could and smashed it within
my fingers, knowing full
well, that the smallest bite
could have sent me to the
hospital.
In a similar, but much
grander way, our Lord and
Savior did the same thing
for each and every one
of us. We had the lurking
danger of sin hanging over
each of our heads. We were
unable to overcome it on
our own accord. We were
doomed to suffer the con-
sequences of death because
of our sin.
However, our loving
and gracious Savior, Jesus
Christ, stepped off of His
Holy thrown in order to
take on flesh and dwell
upon us. With the sole pur-
pose to disregard His own
well-being, to suffer on the
cruel cross, all so that three
days later, He could rise
from the grave, complete-
ly victorious. He put the
danger of sin to rest for all
those who put His faith in
Him. With this imagery in
mind, it makes 1 Corinthi-
ans 15:54b-57 much more
encouraging and uplifting.
“Death has been swallowed
up in victory. Where, O
Death, is your victory?
Where, O Death, is your
sting?” The sting of death
is sin, and the power of sin
is the Law; but thanks be
to God, who gives us the
victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ.”
During your Easter
Celebration, take the time
to praise Jesus for His great
mercy and love because
without His great sacrifice,
death would still have its
sting. Without His great
sacrifice, death would still
have the victory. With-
out His great sacrifice, we
would have no hope. Cele-
brate the truth that Jesus is
alive today and because of
that, we now have freedom,
hope and life.
Pastor Quentin Byers
of Heppner Christian
Church
Do you find the res-
urrection of Jesus hard to
believe? You’re not alone.
No one believed it at first.
Everyone doubted. The first
reaction to the discovery of
an empty tomb was fear and
confusion, not faith. But
that changed. The followers
of Jesus met the risen Lord
in person. He spoke with
them. He ate with them. The
experience of a living Jesus
changed them.
But that happened a
very long time ago. Can it
happen still? Can it happen
even at a time when things
religious are often met with
skepticism and some Chris-
tians have developed a
reputation for hypocrisy,
narrow-mindedness and
little ability to consistent-
ly live like Jesus? What
could possibly motivate any
thinking person in the 21 st
Century to take a leap of
faith and seek a relationship
with the still-living Jesus?
Maybe this: In a world
where brutal warfare has
returned and robbed so
many people of peace and
security, home and family,
the teachings of Jesus and
his death and resurrection
show us just how far God
was willing to go to set
us free from fear and sin
and hopelessness. We are
forgiven and loved by God
in spite of everything, and
we’ve been promised that
the day will come when
God’s kingdom of peace
and justice will prevail
over every trace of human
greed, lawlessness, and
destruction, and every tear
wiped away.
That future hope can
even become a present
reality, one person at a
time. Despite the distance
in time between the res-
urrection and this present
moment, it’s still possible
to experience the living Je-
sus now, through scripture,
prayer, worship, service
and a community of be-
lievers who are unafraid
to share their stories about
what God has been up to
in their lives. Sometimes
all of those access points
can even be found in one
place: a church, where faith
and doubt, honesty and
hypocrisy, trust and fear
often share a pew. That
gathering of saints and sin-
ners could be just the right
place to meet Jesus and
experience firsthand God’s
gifts of unconditional love
and forgiveness, offered to
all, even in the midst of this
messy world.
So don’t let this Easter
season slip away with noth-
ing more than chocolate
bunnies and colored eggs.
Take a risk. Spend time
with the living Jesus, cruci-
fied and risen. Who knows;
it might change you too.
Rev. Katy Anderson
Hopeful Saints Min-
istry
A Lutheran-Episcopal
partnership
Living Without Regret
Do you find yourself
living with regret? Per-
haps you regret not even
getting close to your New
Year’s resolution. (Bet you
forgot about that until just
now. You’re welcome. Yet
something else to feel re-
gretful over.). Perhaps you
regret having spent the last
two years of your life in
a Covid/war-torn world.
Perhaps you regret some-
thing very serious, a trans-
gression of some kind that
haunts you daily. Perhaps
your regret is less serious,
but still troubling. We all
have regrets.
As troublesome as re-
grets are, I want to reveal
something to you that can
change the way you see
regret. There was an event
2,000 years ago that was so
powerful it was capable to
abolishing all of our regrets
for all eternity. That event
was Jesus’ resurrection
from the dead. Jesus died.
Many people saw it happen.
He was publicly executed
by the Roman government
in the 1 st century AD. How-
ever, he didn’t stay dead.
Three days after dying he
came back to life. Remark-
able I know. Maybe even
unbelievable. How could
this happen? And even if
it did, why should we care
other than just being mildly
fascinated by a historical
detail long before we were
born?
This thing, this story
of Jesus’ death and resur-
rection, if you believe it,
has the power to complete-
ly change your life. Turn
your life upside down even.
Because if this is true, this
means that Jesus was really
who he said he was, namely,
the divine Son of God. This
means that he (by the act
of actually rising from the
dead) really was God in
the flesh and that when he
said, he died for your sin,
he actually died for your
sin. This means that you,
through Jesus, if you be-
lieve this, can actually have
a relationship with God and
be completely restored to
God (be in harmony and
unity with the God who
created all things). It means
that when you die, you will
be with God forever and
ever in a place of perfect
peace and that you have
always longed for but could
never find.
Jesus will restore you
for eternity, and Jesus has
restored you today, right
now, starting this minute
if you turn from worry and
regret and turn towards
him. That means that all of
your regrets, no matter how
grievous, have been taken
care of by Jesus and that
one day you will remember
these no more. This means
that no matter how badly
you have messed up, one
day because of Jesus you
will be made completely
whole again. And don’t
forget this…he is in the pro-
cess of making you whole
right now, if you let him.
This is good news. And
this good news is all based
on Jesus’ resurrection from
the dead. Do you believe
Jesus rose from the dead?
Do you believe that he is
capable of restoring you? If
so, don’t forget it. Remind
yourself of it right now. If
not, why not let today be the
day when you believe it and
receive it. Regret no more,
be restored.
Tripp Finch
Willow Creek
Baptist Church
Owner/Broker David Sykes
541-980-6674
188 W. Willow
P.O. Box 337
Heppner, OR 97836
david@sykesrealestate.net
Do you have property to sell?
Now is the time!
I have buyers looking for homes, land and building
lots in the Heppner, Lexington and Ione area.
Call, text or email me.
Humbled and Exalted
Alas, according to the
law of gravity, what goes
up must inevitably come
down. That is a law which
governs the way things
work on this planet. It is an
undeniable and unavoidable
reality. There are many such
laws of physics and life
pertaining to the physical
realm of our existence.
Likewise, there are spiritual
laws which relate to all of
us. There are undeniable
spiritual laws, axioms if
you will, which govern the
affairs of men in relation-
ship to God.
One of those is a prin-
ciple often cited in the Bi-
ble: “Everyone who exalts
himself shall be humbled,
but he who humbles him-
self shall be exalted” (Luke
14:7-11, 18:9-14; Matthew
23:6-12). Those who lift
themselves up in pride, will
be humbled by God. Those
who humble themselves
before God, shall be exalted
(Proverbs 3:34; James 4:6;
1 Peter 5:5).
This validity of this
spiritual truism is vividly
demonstrated in the exam-
ple of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Philippians 2:5-11 speaks to
the humility and exaltation
of Christ. To what extent
did Jesus humble himself?
To the maximum extent
possible. In descending
from the heights of heav-
en, then humbling himself
to the point of death on a
cross, he humbled himself
beyond that of any per-
son in the history of men.
“He humbled Himself”
(Philippians 2:8). He was
not humbled by others.
He deliberately chose that
path. He “super-humbled”
Himself.
So, on the other side
of this spiritual axiom, we
have the expected result.
“He who humbles Himself
shall be exalted.” So, what
if someone decided to su-
per-humble themselves in
a transcendent and preemi-
nent manner? What would
we expect in that case?
Well, it is exactly as we
suppose—according to this
spiritual law—that person
would be “super-exalted”
to a place of preeminent
honor. This is exactly what
we read about in the history
of Jesus. He was born into
this world. He lived among
men as a servant. He hum-
bled Himself to the point of
death. He died on a cross
for our sins. He rose from
the dead. And in his first
sermon, the Apostle Peter
declared: “This Jesus God
raised up again, to which
we are all witnesses. There-
fore, having been exalted
to the right hand of God…
(Acts 2:32-33).”
Charles Spurgeon
once commented on this,
“He stooped, who can tell
how low? He was raised,
who shall tell how high?”
Wherefore God also hath
highly exalted Him. He
threw away his name; he
emptied himself of his repu-
tation. How high is his rep-
utation now? How glorious
is the name that God hath
given him as the reward
of his redemptive work?”
And He now stands in this
super-exalted position, ex-
ercising authority over all
and preparing His church
for His return. God has
given to Him the Highest
Place, the Highest Name
and the Highest Reign. The
One who died for sins in hu-
mility, is now exalted to the
right hand of God in glory.
And He’s coming again and
will reign over all. The day
is coming when every knee
will bow to Him, and every
tongue will confess Him to
be Lord (Philippians 2:10-
11). He died for our sins
and rose from the dead so
that He might save us from
our sins. Have you trusted
in Him for salvation?
The path of humility
demonstrated in Jesus, is
the path to which He has
called the Christian to live
(Philippians 2:3-5). The
Apostle Peter put it this
way: “Clothe yourselves
with humility toward one
another, for God is opposed
to the proud, but gives grace
to the humble. Humble
yourselves, therefore, under
the mighty hand of God,
that He might exalt you at
the proper time” (1 Peter
5:5-6). In other words, live
like Jesus. Humbly serve
Jesus by serving others. In
due time you will receive
your reward.
Jerry Conklin
Hospice Chaplain
Save The Date!
Jerry Martin’s
90 th Birthday Party
May 28 th
1 - 4 pm
Heppner Elks Lodge
Valby Lutheran Church
Valby Road
Ione Oregon. 97843
Church Services
1st & 3rd Sundays
10:00 AM
Available for:
Weddings • Funerals
Family Events
541-422-7300
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