Welcome to Super Bowl Week!!!

I know some of you will read the title and think the pastor is going out of his mind. If you are a football aficionado like myself, you know the Super Bowl is over and done. The Super Bowl is the pinnacle for football fanatics like myself...just like the opening of your favorite hunting season (attention turkey hunters---just a few days)...or the Masters, for your golfers. There is that One Day that is the epitome of experiences for your respective passion. For passionate Christians, our "Super Bowl" ought to be Easter. I know, some of you really, really love Christmas. It's a close second. I mean, you can't go to Myrtle Beach and shop at a year-round Easter store! We know what most people think is the most important holiday. What happened on Easter, though, is the reason we exist. Granted, you can't have Easter without Christmas...but you can't have eternal life without Easter. It's the pivotal event of all human history. So it should be the biggest celebration of the year! Our hearts should beat a little faster and our minds should race when we think of it. Take a moment and ponder what the Resurrection means for you. Jesus' resurrection was the fatal blow that destroyed Satan. Easter morning is the exclamation point on the end of God's redemptive plan for humanity. We echo Paul's thoughts in I Corinthians 15:54-55 on this day, "Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The one thing all people universally dread has been nullified, emptied, and deemed impotent by the One who conquered death on this day. For believers, death is just a doorway that ushers into eternal life with our resurrected savior. Death actually initiates what we will come to know as "real living" for eternity to come. When Jesus burst out of the tomb some 2,000 years ago He illustrated what we should expect will happen with us. He is the first of many who will explode out of the tomb in power. So, yes, we do have something to celebrate on Easter. The whistle is blowing, it's time for kick-off. The crowd is jumping up and down as "Zombie Nation" pulsates over the intercom. Let's celebrate this Sunday like it's supposed to be done! Who's in!?!