Easter Minister Messages 2025

- Submitted by Heather Block

Fathomless Love

Submitted by Rev. V. Young

The beautiful baby in a lowly manger grew up and sacrificed His life to defeat death. Three days later He arose! That’s what makes our God different from any other god. HE LIVES!

Isaiah 53:12 tells us He (Jesus) poured out His soul unto death. Why did He do that? The Bible says in John 3:16 “for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (Jesus) so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” When God created us He chose to make us able to choose to serve Him - or not! He loves us so much because we are His children. He is our heavenly Father. What are we thinking when we are praying the Lord's prayer, beginning “Our Father?”

Colossians 2:9 reads “In Christ there is all of God in a human body.” Max Lucado describes Jesus Christ as God-man, the maker of the world with a belly button! He suffered on the cross so we wouldn't have to die, eternally. We just need to believe and trust Him. His Commission to us: love God with our whole being and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. John 5:21 says “The Son gives us life.” John 3:16 says” God so loved the world.” Think how our world would be if we all loved our Creator as He loves us. Serving God is no wimpy act. God gives us the courage and strength to serve Him. He forgives our sin, and the Bible says, forgets it also. Just ask for His forgiveness. John 14:1 admonishes us “don't let your hearts be troubled; trust God and trust in me.”

God bless you all this Easter season. HE LIVES!

Jesus’ Unwavering Love

Submitted by Murray Patzwald and your Friends at Duvazl and Govan Lutheran Church

May the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ inspire your faith and renew your hope. This Easter Season, let's embrace Jesus’ unwavering love, learn to forgive like Him, and spread joy in all the world.

Look to the Cross of Jesus

Submitted by Kurt Kuykendall, Pastor - Wadena Baptist Church

Many people today are looking for solutions to help them live as long as possible. “If I weight train, if I walk my 10,000 steps every day, if I take this and that supplement, if I go on a vegan diet, or if I go on a carnivore diet, then maybe I can live to 100.” Bottom line is: people are looking to whatever can help extend their life for as long as possible.

While looking after my physical health is also important to me, I wonder if beneath this cultural desire to live as long as possible is a deep-down spiritual desire that God has placed within each one of us. A desire for eternity with God.

Along these lines, Jesus connects Himself to an age-old story from the Bible in Numbers 21: 4-9. Here we see the people of Israel making their way to the Promised Land following 400 years of miserable slavery in Egypt, followed by 40 more years of aimless wandering in the wilderness. On their way, the complaining against God and Moses begins again. “Why would you bring us out here to die with no water and this worthless food?” Incredibly, God was faithfully providing for their provisions.

In response, what does God do? He inflicts poisonous serpents on the people. They bite them. Many die. Those who don’t are poisoned. The people admit their sin before God, begging Moses to pray for them, which he does. God then tells Moses to craft a bronze serpent, attach it to a pole, and set it in the ground. Moses again does exactly this. Why? Because anyone who looks at the bronze, blood-colored serpent is cured and will live. Is it any wonder that the Canadian Medical Association has as its logo a depiction of a serpent on a pole?

Jesus refers to this true story in John 3: 14-15: “...as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (ESV). That old story wasn’t just to heal and rescue ancient Israel. The story happened in order to give them and us a sneak-preview of Jesus.

You see, Jesus was literally nailed to a pole, a rough-hewn Roman cross, on Good Friday, left there to hang and suffocate to death. The perfect Son of God died on that cross for our sins, in our place. He was judged so we could avoid God’s judgement, and instead brought into a life-giving relationship with the Father. On the third day thereafter, Jesus proved He was bigger than our sins, death, Satan, and hell by rising from the dead, so we could rise from the dead and go on to eternal life.

Look to Jesus. He is the better bronze serpent. He will give you the eternal life your heart craves. His bronze-red blood paid the full wages of your sins. Turn your life around. Believe, trust, and place your full confidence in what Jesus did to save and change you. To cure you from Satan, sin, and death, and bring you into His family forever by His sheer grace.

Look to Jesus this Easter season. He’s the One you need. There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. He’s proven how much He loves you.

The Cross on the Hill

Submitted by Jack Robson, (Deacon), Anglican Parish of Last Mountain

Our harsh winter is finally over and the warm spring winds are melting the snow & drying the fields. Each spring is a season of new beginnings, new hopes, new crops planted and new births in the pastures and the fields. With the coming of spring, we know we have been on a journey, we have walked our Christian Lenten Walk with Jesus, and before us on Calvary’s Hill stands the stark, cruel cross, upon which our Savior Jesus will be sacrificed, He will be crucified, His blood shed for us. But why?

Many years ago, God Almighty instituted a system of sacrifices to be followed by the Children of Israel, as they journeyed in their Exodus to the Promised Land. These were animal sacrifices (often lambs), the shedding of blood to atone for the sins of the individual. They were required to present sacrifices for their sins, (trespasses) to be forgiven by their all knowing, all-powerful, all-seeing God. They were God’s serious laws, and these ordinances continued until Jesus’ crucifixion.

Our Savior, Jesus, allowed Himself to be crucified, killed and His blood shed, as the sacrifice for all our sins. He was the sacrificial Lamb slain for us all. We have our sins atoned for, we all have a new beginning, this spring, this Easter and everyday, we can celebrate with thankful hearts, because of our Savior Jesus’ sacrifice, on that Rugged Cross and His resurrection.

The resurrection – what does it mean?

Submitted by Deacon Norbert Gaudet, RC Church, Raymore

As we approach Easter, the celebration of Jesus' resurrection. What does it mean to you? I'd like to share with you the thoughts of Ella Allen from Fredericton, New Brunswick on the Resurrection of the Lord.

She says, “With the early disciples we contemplate the empty tomb, and with them are renewed, refreshed, recentred – aflame with resurrection energy. In a world filled with discord, the devaluation of many and the pursuit of power at all costs, how can we live as disciples, as icons of resurrection?

In words and actions Jesus gives clear direction. Love, he says. Love God and love your neighbour as yourself. Recognize that we are all one. Learn compassion. Practise hospitality. Forgive. Seek peace. Simple words to say, but complex to live out.

And yet – resurrection is evident every day through the many who choose love and who give of themselves as agents of light, healing and truth, whether through everyday kindnesses or the pursuit of dignity for all.”

The fact that Jesus resurrected from the dead should give us hope in a world where hope seem to be in short supply. I encourage all to move forward with the words and actions of Jesus spreading the love that he calls all of us to share. Happy Easter.

A Journey of Easter

Submitted by Mary Anne Grand- layperson from Raymore United Church

Lent, that precious season, that journey to the cross. It is a time for reflection and sacrifice, and also a time to give thanks. It is a time to stand back and make room for God, to be thankful that God is there and happy to share our burdens if only we ask. Lent is a journey that has all of the possibilities of drawing us closer to God. As we look at Jesus’ journey to the cross, it is a journey we look at with love, with horror, with wondering, and yes questioning. Jesus did not associate with the authorities or the rulers, Jesus could be found with the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the Samarian woman, healing the blind, those with leprosy, those that had nothing to lose being with Jesus. But the authorities were threatened by this humble man, he broke their laws, he went against their authority, so they thought. Jesus knew he would die but it did not deter him from carrying out what the Prophets had predicted. His last days were filled with grieving, agitation, desertion, and the false testimony by the chief priests. Not a happy time for the Son of God, the Messiah, the Chosen One. When we look at the crucifixion, it wasn’t the sinners that crucified Jesus. It was the authorities that made it happen. Even in his death he asked for forgiveness, for they do not know what they are doing. Easter! A time for renewal, a time for new hope. Jesus Christ is Risen! Amen. God’s Easter Blessings to each one of you.

An Eternity in Three Days

Rev. Rick Shott, Nokomis Baptist Church

The Lord willing the snow will have melted about this time. As I write this I still have four foot drifts in my backyard. The start of this year makes you wonder when the palette of white will transition to a vibrant green. I wonder if that is what the disciples were feeling as they holed up away from people. Time slowly plodding along, pondering their next move as Jesus was laid to rest in the tomb. Would the world ever seem alive again after losing their teacher and friend to the final enemy?

We always think about the wonder of Easter. The joy of the empty tomb, but there is a serious side. The disciples were having a terrible time trying to work out what was going on. They ran to check the tomb to make sure the women went to the right one. The joy came because they met Jesus. When Jesus came alongside them and helped them understand.

We all have our hard days, as time drags along and the end seems out of reach. We have those times when we believe that nothing is going right, maybe life feels like nothing could go right. Yet, God is there. Like the disciples meeting Jesus after He rose from the grave, we need to find God in our lives. It must have felt like an eternity for the disciples, or like a winter that will not let go. God is always there, seek and you shall find him.