The Third Day

Resurrection is the new life, the new reality, we enter into in Christ. Everything in us and around us in the world has changed!

When Jesus died on the cross, something happened that forever changed the world. N.T. Wright says it this way, “By 6 o’clock in the evening on that first Good Friday, the world had changed. A revolution had begun.” 1

The very first sign of this change came on the third day when Jesus was raised from the dead. Resurrection is the glorious beginning of a new reality. The darkest and strongest power in the world, death itself, had been defeated. A new power had been unleashed, the power of forgiveness.

Resurrection is nothing less than the new life and the new reality we enter into and live under when we dare to believe and to behave as if, in Christ, everything in us and in the world around us has changed.

Throughout the season of Eastertide (from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday), we will explore the changes that resurrection has on the lives of 8 central Biblical figures: Mary Magdalene; Peter; Thomas; Cleopas and his friend; Paul; and Jesus, himself. 2

The resurrection of Jesus, and the subsequent changes and new life that comes to his followers, launches us into a new purpose – announcing the good news and working for a changed world that flows from forgiveness and reconciliation.

I hope that you’ll join me in worship to learn how much power and purpose God has for you in this new, resurrected life. You were created to be a revolutionary. The third day is the day the revolution began!

I’m praying for you and will see you in church.

Pastor Jim

1 N.T. Wright, The Day the Revolution Began (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2016).

2 To learn more about resurrection change in your life, consider reading Tom Berlin’s book, The Third Day: Living the Resurrection (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2023).

The resurrection of Jesus changed forever the lives of those who followed him, and it can transform your life as well. Only resurrection can turn the hopelessness and despair into joy and peace, positivity and purpose for a good and Godly future. Thanks to the cross and the resurrection, hope is breaking through the darkness we face every day. Join Pastor Jim for our Eastertide study of the power of the resurrection to change the lives of 8 key figures in the Bible. What God did on the cross and through the resurrection changed their lives. It has the power to change yours, too!

April 7, 2024
Eastertide 1
Mary Magdalene – Trusting in God to make you whole.

April 14, 2024
Eastertide 2
Simon Peter – Beyond the reach of God’s forgiveness?

April 21, 2024
Eastertide 3 – Earth Day
Thomas – Get involved, hands on, and see how real change works.

April 28, 2024
Eastertide 4
Cleopas and his Friend – Walking with Jesus through grief and pain.

In May…

Paul and Jesus and Pentecost Sunday (May 19th)