Time of Grace With Pastor Mike Novotny

We are participants in Easter along with Christ. We are bonded, connected, to Christ through our baptisms. Our sinful selves were buried with Christ, and our new selves rose with him. Believing the Easter message brings us forgiveness and eternal life. We live our lives as new people, free from the guilt of sin and full of the sure hope of heaven.

Like Mary Magdalene, we often have doubts—God’s promises are invisible much of the time and can seem far off. But God uses the doubts and difficulties in our lives to make us better servants who look forward to an eternity in heaven. In our sinful world it is often easier to believe in what we can see than an eternity in heaven. But Jesus’ resurrection did happen. Believe it—it guarantees your resurrection.

In one of the most beautiful paradoxes in Scripture, the innocent Jesus took on the burden of our sin on Calvary. Our sin, our hands, nailed him to the cross. His hands carried that burden, and he was punished for us. Jesus’ wounds heal us; his punishment forgives us.

This special St. Patrick's Day message shows us how God can use any situation in our lives to carry out his will and plan for us.

God used the lives of slaves like Joseph and Patrick to bring about his will. Both of these men brought God’s mercy to the people who had enslaved them. God can also use us and the situations in our lives to carry out his plan. Let him take you where he wants you to go. Let him use you to be a sharer of the good news of Jesus, to be a broker of God’s mercy on those around you.

Pilate tried to wash his hands of the situation with Jesus—saying Jesus’ blood wasn’t on his hands but on the hands of those who wanted to crucify him. How often in our lives do we try to pass off the guilt of our sin on something or someone else? Our sin and guilt are the very reasons that Jesus suffered. Though our hands are tainted with sin, Jesus washed them clean through his death on Calvary.

Here is a summary of the great truths of the stories in this message:

Like Judas, we are thieving, sinful human beings who use our hands to steal. None of us deserves heaven or could ever accomplish it on our own. But because of Jesus, we have eternal life. He used his hands to pay for our salvation, which he gives to us freely. Through faith in him our hands are clean of sin.

As believers in Christ and as members of congregations, God wants us to go out into the world and share the news of the Savior, not keep it to ourselves or people we are familiar with. It is our blessing to go beyond our familiar territory and preach the good news to people not like us. 

One of the blessings of being part of God’s family of believers is that there is a special bond through Christ from one family member to another. Our love for God is shown through the servant attitudes we display toward others around us. Our fellow believers are people who help carry our loads and share our joys. We are connected to them through our faith in Jesus.

Service to others starts with God’s love. Because of what he did for us, we fill up on that love and joyfully pour it out to those around us. God chose us for lives of service to him and others—we are to bear the fruit of our faith by acting it out in love. As individuals and as members of churches, we are to cultivate a servant’s attitude in each other and in our children.