Easter Goes On

At First Baptist Church, Jefferson, Georgia, we continue the Easter season by entering into a series with a new theme: Live Like You Were Dying.

On this first Sunday of the new theme we are urged to "Love Deeper."

The text comes from 1 Peter 4:7-11 in which with the knowledge of the end approaching, we are to have a fervent love for each other, and from Mark 12:28-34, The Great Commandment:

The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. (29-31)

In our worship this Sunday, we will begin by expressing our love for God: "I Love You, Lord," "My Jesus, I Love Thee," and "O How I Love Jesus." We acknowledge that to love God is the greatest thing that we can do in all of our life with "The Greatest Thing" (know, love, and serve the Lord).

Then the choir transitions by expressing that it is God's love for us and our love for Him that leads us, yea, compels us, to love and serve those around us in the Doug Holck anthem "Your Love Compels Me."

Finally, the music portion of our service ends with us expressing our love for each other in "I Love You with the Love of the Lord," and a statement of the love passage of 1 Corinthians 13 that, unless we love, all our actions are in vain, in the song, "The Gift of Love" by Hal H. Hopson.

May we love God and each other more deeply. In doing so, we acknowledge that although we are dying we live through Christ who loves us so.

When we live like we are dying, then Easter goes on ...

Blessings,
Richard