THROW IT OUT OR-

SAVE IT

Well, just yesterday I started to houseclean! I am referring to my office at the manse. Why was I housecleaning? I was housecleaning because in two and a half months Jill and I will be leaving Bermuda. Where the past six years went I will never know. I will be retiring the end of July and providing our US Green Cards will arrive before that date we will be moving to our house in Florida by mid July! HOWEVER, prior to the move there is the packing and prior to the packing there is the sorting through of all of one's belonging. You have heard it said I'm certain that, “you never know how much you have until you move!” Well, I started this Saturday past to sort through all of my belongings in my home office. I keep a file for almost everything and I went through almost everything. “Should I throw this out or should I save it?” I went through letters, through sermons, looked at books, cds and dvds. I decided that for some items it had to be a time to go but for other items I just didn't have the heart to throw them out. It's a difficult decision what to keep and what not to keep. Sometimes it is not just difficult it is painful. Then there are those decisions that are easy to make; “I can't throw this picture out that my daughter drew for me of our dog Gypsy even though Gypsy hasn't been with us for a long long time and even though our little girl just got married three months ago!” Neither could I throw out a birthday card that our oldest daughter sent me a few years ago reminding me of our family vacations when we were all so young. Then there was the special picture that our daughter in California drew for me of a bright sun which shone so beautiful from the heaven's above reminding me of Bermuda! I did make a start and at the moment as I look around my office I see three little piles of keep these, throw these out and put these in the yard sale! When I finish with my office in the house then I have to start all over again with my office at the church. When I finish with my office at the church then I have to come back to the house and go through my closet, the basement and the yard beyond! When will it ever stop? It will only stop when we reach our house in Florida and then I will have to decide where will I put everything.

We all have to make decisions in life and some will be easier to make then others. Jill and I have reached a major milestone in our life (my retirement) and it only seems like yesterday that I started out in the little three point charge in Nova Scotia. I know that once we reach our new home in Florida that one of my major projects after I unpack and find a place for everything will be to pick up on the writing of my book. I started my book some time ago and when it is complete I will be certain to let you know! Thank the good Lord that He always has something for us to do!

Your Pastor & Friend,

John Fraser

Christ Has Risen

Easter Sunday

April 5, 2015

In the early days of the church believers in Jesus would greet each other with the words.

“He has Risen!”

The other believer would reply,

“He has risen indeed!”

Sadly, almost 2000 years later we celebrate the greatest miracle in the history of the world by saying, “Happy Easter.”

Why do we believe in the Resurrection?

If Jesus did not rise from the dead, the Christian faith is a foolish fantasy. However, if the resurrection of Christ did occur, it confirms His life, message, and atoning work. It is the basis of our hope of life beyond the grave. Christ is alive, and the evidence is overwhelming. Here are some of the reasons we can be so sure.

1. Jesus predicted His resurrection (Matt 16:21)
   
   From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
2. The Old Testament prophesied it (Psalm 16:10)
   
   For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow your Holy One to see corruption.
3. The tomb was empty and the grave clothes vacant. if those who opposed Christ wished to silence His disciples, all they had to do was produce a body, but they could not (John 20:3-9).
   
   So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

4. Many people saw the resurrected Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:3-8)
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.


5. The lives of the disciples were radically transformed. (Acts 4:33)

With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all 
 
6. People today testify that the power of the risen Christ has transformed their lives. We know that Jesus is alive not only because of the historical and biblical evidence but also because He has miraculously touched our lives. 

Leader says: HE HAS RISEN

The People Say: HE HAS RISEN INDEED