What can put a smile on your face during times of difficulty? Do you try to get away for a while or buy yourself something new? While these may be good options, they cannot give us lasting peace. Please listen as we discover the secret to wearing a lasting smile, even during our most challenging days.
Scripture
Luke 24:1-12
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” Then they remembered his words.
When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
Renewing Reflections
It is our prayer that Renewing Reflections will be a blessing in your life this coming week. This quote is taken from the sermon A New Day delivered on Christian Crusaders March 23, 2008.
A moment that I will carry with me to my grave all began when I asked, “What did you read in your Bible this week that will give us something to talk about?” With a smile on his face, my friend told me that he did his Bible reading at 5:00 a.m. and afterward he had a time of meditation. On this particular day, he had read about Jesus’ conversation with Martha after her brother Lazarus had died. Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” This announcement was followed with our Savior saying to the heartbroken sister, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” Then my friend said with emotion in his voice, “Pastor, Jesus Christ is alive. I have read these words before, but now they take on new meaning. Jesus Christ is alive!” I wiped a tear away and said through the glass window that separated us, “And think of it! He is right here with us now.” It was Easter, not on Sunday, but on Thursday; not in a beautiful worship center with lilies all around, but in a county jail. The remaining visits with my friend at the jail before he was taken away to prison centered in this truth: Christ lives, and He will go with you.
About Christian Crusaders
Christian Crusaders is the seventh-oldest Christian radio program in the country. Originally called “Your Hour of Worship,” it was begun at Trinity Lutheran Church in Waterloo, Iowa. Christian Crusaders has continuously broadcast the Gospel message since 1936. It has had only three radio speakers in its long history. Our associate speaker, Rev. Steve Kramer, senior pastor of Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in Afton, Minnesota, will succeed Rev. Larsen when he retires.
On the Light Side
One Easter Sunday morning as the pastor was preaching a children's sermon, he reached into his bag of props and pulled out an egg. He pointed at the egg and asked the children, “What's in here?”
“I know, I know!” a little boy exclaimed, “Pantyhose!”
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