1 John 4:4\u00a0<\/b>–\u00a0You, dear children,\u00a0are from God and have overcome them,\u00a0because the one who is in you\u00a0is greater than the one who is in the world.<\/i><\/p>\n
After accepting Jesus as our Savior and Lord we attended a church in a very cool building.\u00a0 Not modern, but very cool, lots of hidden passages and rooms.\u00a0 Afterward it was found out that the building, long before the church was established, had been used by the KKK.\u00a0 The thought of the KKK meeting in the same building so many years before was quite repulsive.\u00a0 At first thought it would be easy to think how could a church gather to worship Jesus in a building where formerly evil would gather?\u00a0 After talking to elders and praying about it, I began to think that the comparison of the dark history of the building versus what it was now being used for was really quite beautiful!\u00a0 It would have been best if the KKK had never existed anywhere, but it had.\u00a0 This building had been polluted by them.\u00a0 It can bring shivers to think of the evil spirits that once called this building home.\u00a0 Yet, in an open display of light overcoming darkness and love being greater than hate, the building became occupied by saints who loved Jesus Christ. \u00a0The former evil use was replaced by the incomparable good of God. \u00a0Anyone who loves God will celebrate that what was once a place where evil was propagated had become a place where God\u2019s love was now present.\u00a0 The evil spirits gone.\u00a0 All people of every race had become welcome.\u00a0 What evil used for bad God now used for God.\u00a0 Yet another win for God!<\/span><\/p>\n All of us were sinners, all of us were enemies of God, but Jesus came from Heaven to be miraculously born of a virgin woman to save us (Romans 5:8, 10, Colossians 1:21<\/b>).\u00a0 He came knowing that He would be tortured and die an excruciating death.\u00a0 Knowing what He must go through He still stepped down from His throne beside the Father and came to redeem what only He could redeem (Philippians 2:8-11<\/b>).\u00a0 He redeemed us.\u00a0 Our spirits were housed in a body of corrupted flesh that had become the soil of evil desires.\u00a0 Our spirits had become housed in a body that was filled with, and lusted after filthy desires (Isaiah 64:6, Romans 3:10-18<\/b>).\u00a0 Our spirits were trapped with no hope of escape.\u00a0 But God loved His creation too much to leave it in that situation.\u00a0 He knew that we could not save ourselves (Matthew 19:25-26<\/b>), so He Himself came to save, to suffer and die for us.\u00a0 He appeared in the form of man to eventually die a most horrible death.\u00a0 He redeemed our souls from a house of death (Ephesians 2:8-9, 2 Corinthians 5:21<\/b>).\u00a0 When we became born from above (John 3:<\/b>3<\/b>) by submitting to Jesus as Savior and Lord then our souls were freed from the curse brought on by Adam and Eve.\u00a0 He instantly freed our souls to be one with God (1 Corinthians 6:17<\/b>) and began cleaning up the temporary housing we lived in. In an open display of light overcoming darkness and love being greater than hate, we became occupied by the Holy Spirit of God.\u00a0 Our spirits became instantly cleaned, all our evil vanquished, and no stain of sin upon us (Isaiah 1:18<\/b>).\u00a0 As saints who love Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, we have been washed clean.\u00a0 What was once a dirty soul housed in a dirty body was then cleansed.\u00a0 The Light of the World had overcome the darkness of the world and the flesh.\u00a0 The love of God had overcome the one who hates us and who seeks to destroy us.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The truth of the story is that God can change the use of any building, any day, and any person to use for His glory.\u00a0 Peter and the Apostles had to learn that lesson (Acts 10:1-45<\/b>).\u00a0 They learned that the once unclean pagan could be cleaned to be used of God.\u00a0 The Lord called the murderous Saul to become Paul to become His apostle and to write most of the New Testament (Acts 9<\/b>).\u00a0 Let\u2019s remember that God can change anything, any building, any man or any date, to be used for His purpose.\u00a0 Who is any man to say what God will do or not do?\u00a0 He is sovereign and He answers to no man.\u00a0 So yes, the name Easter does not have holy roots, but rather pagan roots.\u00a0\u00a0Yet now it is mostly known as the day to remember and celebrate the resurrection of Christ.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that a glorious thing that a name that was used for evil is now a name to celebrate the resurrection of the Savior of the world?\u00a0 Yes, it is more accurately called Resurrection Day.\u00a0 So the day of celebrating the resurrection of Jesus was given an unfortunate name by men who meant well but who unfortunately chose a pagan name acknowledge the greatest event.\u00a0\u00a0Today many have an understandable distaste for the name Easter.\u00a0 However as Paul learned, and so stated, we believers should not let any person judge us what day we consider holy (Colossians 2:16-17<\/b>).\u00a0 Let us also not fight over what we call the day commemorating the resurrection of Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0To fight over such things is to disregard the highest laws of love (Mark 12:30-31<\/b>).\u00a0 The one who celebrates the day\u2019s name as \u201cResurrection Day\u201d\u00a0should not condemn the one who calls the day Easter.\u00a0\u00a0Are we not all the family of God?\u00a0\u00a0Does such public quarrelling really show that we are disciples of Christ who love each other? (John 13:35<\/b>)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Does bickering over name display a difference from the ways of the world or instead a likeness to it?\u00a0\u00a0All who think themselves superior, on either side, should examine their level of pride (Matthew 23:12<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0We understand that the point is not whether a believer celebrates the resurrection of Jesus by one name or another, but that the resurrection of Jesus is celebrated.\u00a0 As Shakespeare wrote \u201cA rose by any other name would smell as sweet.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0In the Bible Jesus is called by many names and it does not matter which true name references Him, it matters that the person of Jesus and the works that He did be honored and cherished.\u00a0\u00a0Besides, those who love the Lord know that it is not the name by which we refer to this Holy day that is most important, it is in the cherishing, celebrating and proclaiming of the resurrection of Jesus every day.\u00a0 Besides how does it glorify the Lord to fight with one or another over such a thing?\u00a0 So Family and Friends, I wish to all of you, whether one calls the day \u201cResurrection Day\u201d or \u201cEaster\u201d may the meaning of the day, and the power of it, be full in our lives and enrichening to us, as is the intent of God.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God<\/i>.<\/p>\n Numbers 6:24-26<\/b>\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Lord\u00a0bless you and keep you; 25\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0turn His face\u00a0toward you and give you peace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 1 John 4:4\u00a0–\u00a0You, dear children,\u00a0are from God and have overcome them,\u00a0because the one who is in you\u00a0is greater than the one who is in the world. After accepting Jesus as our Savior and Lord we attended a church in a very cool building.\u00a0 Not modern, but very cool, lots of hidden passages and rooms.\u00a0 Afterward…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,1863,129,1841,103,100,93,101,94,1874,1871,17,10],"class_list":["post-2143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-colossians","tag-corinthians","tag-ephesians","tag-isaiah","tag-john","tag-mark","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-philippians","tag-psalm","tag-romans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2143"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2144,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143\/revisions\/2144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}