CHRIST IS ALIVE!

        On February 17, 1977, candy heiress Helen Brach stepped off the plane at O’Hare Airport and disappeared into a crowd without a trace. Ever since that day her disappearance has mystified police and investigators alike. In 1984 she was declared dead, and years later when her parents and husband died and were buried at Unionport, Ohio, the family monument included her name. But her grave was empty.

        While convinced she was murdered, investigators haven’t been able to determine how or why she died, because they have never found her body. Police have speculated about what happened and even got a judge to declare someone responsible for her disappearance. But without her corpse, her murder is unsolved. 

        Easter is the story of an empty grave. However, unlike the Helen Brach case, the issue of Jesus isn’t that He disappeared and was nowhere to be seen. Indeed, He was seen, alive at His trial, then He was seen brutally beaten, murdered and buried in a grave. Most importantly, He was also seen alive again in a healed and whole body, not by only a few people, but by dozens, even hundreds in the weeks following His crucifixion. 

        The Easter story is not about a body missing from a grave. It’s about a dead body coming to life again, walking around, talking, eating, touching people and urging them to trust in Him. The empty grave together with the living, healed body of Jesus are real proofs of the Resurrection. 

        The Resurrection is the center point of the Christian faith. Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:17, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” Christianity without the resurrection is not simply Christianity without a final chapter, it is no Christianity at all.

        Easter is the miracle of all miracles. Skeptics may say there is not enough evidence to believe He lived again, but Christians believe the case is closed. Jesus came to life again because He is the Promised Savior. Furthermore, He still lives today, and as the Son of God and our Savior, He lives forever. And so shall we!

Happy Easter!

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah! 

Rev. Bob Tasler

www.bobtasler.com

THE CASE FOR CHRIST

       In yesterday’s Gospel for Palm Sunday, Matthew 21:10-11 tells us, “When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” The Jerusalem church leaders were skeptical about Jesus, and most were certain He was a fraud. Millions of people still think He is, despite the depth of the Biblical witness. But any person who wants to follow the truth will discover Jesus is Who He says He is: “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30)

      This past weekend Carol and I saw the movie premier of “The Case For Christ,” produced by Lee Strobel, best-selling author and former investigative reporter for the Chicago Tribune. This true story chronicles Strobel’s personal journey from atheism to faith, triggered by his wife’s conversion to Christianity after a Christian nurse helps them through a near-tragedy. 

      The movie is well written, realistically acted and moves along at a good pace. Gratefully, it doesn’t have a syrupy ending as do many Christian movies. It just presents Strobel’s personal journey from unbelief to faith in Jesus, and lets the Holy Spirit do His work with the audience.

      For those who have wondered about the basis for the truth of Christianity, Strobel’s books are very helpful. His most popular works, The Case For Christ, The Case For Faith, and The Case For a Creator, are thorough and interesting, based on interviews with experts in their field. 

      Strobel is now an ordained clergyman who knows his stuff and how to explain it. While I don’t mean for this WEEKLY MESSAGE to be a movie review, I do give “The Case For Christ” two thumbs up. Go see it; I think you’ll be glad you did. It’s great to see how a skeptic discovers the truth of Jesus being our Messiah.

May the Holy Spirit move faith in the hearts of all who read his words.

Rev. Bob Tasler, www.bobtasler.com

"OCOTILLO JESUS" LIVES

        My Arizona cactus garden contains two dozen or more odd plants, and none is odder than the ocotillo (oh-koh-TEE-yoh). Where most varieties have verdant green pads or barrel heads or arms growing skyward, the ocotillo is an ugly bunch of sticks mostly barren of foliage and vicious to touch. 

        Like most cacti, ocotillo can be started by planting a piece in the ground. Soon it makes its own roots and grows a few inches each season. A year ago I planted a two foot ocotillo stick on the edge of my garden and when I returned in six months it had grown an inch and had small green round leaves. 

        But soon those leaves dried up, fell off and it looked dead all winter. Then a slow all-night rain brought it back to life. Within days new tiny green round leaves began to adorn its thorny branch again. Soon it’ll have a glob of red-orange flowers on the tip which will add another inch or two to its length. Maybe in a year another ugly branch will be added and all will lose their leaves as the plant “dies” again until the next rain.

        Only rain water can make it come back to life. The lowly ocotillo needs nutrients from the air in the heavens to make it leaf and blossom. It will never look fresh like the prickly pear or stately like the organ pipe, but its flowers are as lovely as the fuscia, yellow and gold of ground cacti or the deep red and pure white of the night bloomers. Its spiny crooked sticks are among the ugliest in nature, but it lives and blooms by the grace of God.

        It’s somewhat like our Lord Jesus. He was an oddity, living a short life, confounding those who heard Him. His spiny comments aggravated the authorities, and His miracles dazzled the meek and poor as He told them He was the Living Water of God on earth. 

        Isaiah 53:2 tells us, “He grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.” 

        Like a stick planted into the earth, Jesus bloomed awhile, dried up and died, then came back to life in glory everlasting. Because Jesus is Lord over all creation, all who trust in Him also shall rise, forever to be with Him in glory indescribable and words inexpressible. 

“Ocotillo Jesus” lives forever.

Rev. Bob Tasler, www.bobtasler.com

FINALLY SOME GOOD NEWS!

        We all need some Good News now and then to keep us focused on what’s important. Today’s Good News is that Christ Lutheran Church, Coolidge, Arizona, the small congregation I’ve helped serve the past two winters, will get a new pastor. And he will be their first full-time pastor in Christ’s 68 year history. 

        From its founding in 1959, Christ Lutheran has been served as part of a dual parish or by part-time retired workers. Some 25 years ago, its dual parish agreement with a larger congregation in Casa Grande was terminated, so retired pastors began serving as they could be scheduled. Laymen also led services when pastors could not be located. Although its local membership is small, area retired winter residents have given Christ a positive vitality that rubs off on all who attend. 

        Five years ago the congregation decided it was time to call their first full-time pastor. Their efforts culminated yesterday in a phone call to the congregation broadcast over its PA system at their 9 AM service. Amid cheers and singing the Doxology, the 130 people in attendance heard their new pastor accept their call and felt God’s blessing in a very special way. 

        Thus, in a month or two, little Christ Lutheran will have its very first full-time pastor who will bless current and future members and guests with the Gospel. It will also connect better with the local people, since it is the only Lutheran congregation in the Coolidge - Florence area of 40,000 residents. Like the many farms around the town, its fields are ready to harvest.

        Good News is what the Christian Church is all about, “Gospel” coming from Old English words that mean “Good News.” The Gospel of Jesus as the Savior of the world is the church’s central message. Jesus of Nazareth as the true Son of God come into the world to save sinners is Good News for all of us. 

        If you can’t find much that is positive in the news today, give God thanks for faithful pastors, congregations and leaders willing to share the Gospel, the Good News of eternal life in our Savior Jesus.

Please keep Christ Lutheran and its new pastor in your prayers.

Rev. Bob Tasler

www.bobtasler.com

WHAT IS RETIREMENT?

...A church member keeps membership records on her church's computer until she is ninety.

...An eighty-eight year old neighbor works at a local Post Office twenty hours a week.

...An eighty-six year old woman walks nine holes of golf five times a week, often when the temp is over ninety.

...A ninety year old man pilots a P-38 fighter plane, the same kind he flew in World War Two.
...A former president sky dives on his eighty-fifth birthday

...A man in his mid-seventies drives to church in his 700 horsepower Dodge sports car.

...At eighty-nine, a world renowned pianist performs one of his greatest recitals in Carnegie Hall.

...An eighty-six year old mother of seven is rarely home, usually traveling to see one of her families.

...A farmer's son publishes his first book at sixty-five and begins his twenty-fifth book seven years later.

...A ninety-five year old Grandmother lives alone and reads books on her Kindle.

...A seventy-seven year old pastor accepts a fulltime call to serve a church in California.

...An eighty-four year old pastor finally stops preaching every Sunday and driving forty miles each way.

...A former school teacher composes her own Christmas letter in poetic verse until she is one hundred.

...A ninety-four year old entertainer performs at a theater where he first started sixty-three years before.

...At eighty-three, a nationally known radio broadcaster signs a ten year contract to continue his show.

           These people are supposed to be retired? What, then, does "retirement" mean? To some, it surely doesn't mean leaving a job, sitting in a rocker and doing nothing. It means a change in their schedule, working less, doing what they always wanted to do, or just saying "no" to a forty-hour week. They did it because they decided to, and they did it because they still could.

            We read of the many aged Bible people who blessed God with faith and good works. God still brings blessings into the world through such people. Psalm 92:14 tells us, "The righteous shall still bear fruit in old age; they will still stay fresh and green."

All of these "retirees" are Americans. I have personally known 10 of them..

Rev. Bob Tasler, www.bobtasler.com

SOS or MAYDAY?

      Most everyone knows that SOS and MAYDAY are international emergency signals. But what does SOS mean, and why is MAYDAY used?  By 1904 many trans-Atlantic ships had become equipped with Marconi wireless communication, and radio operators sought a code that everyone would know meant distress at sea.

      CQD was first used in 1904 as "General Call - Distress", but by 1908, SOS was ratified as the official distress signal. Some people still think SOS means "Save Our Ship", but the letters actually have no meaning. The Morse Code for SOS, 3 dots - 3 dashes - 3 dots, came into use because it was simple and unmistakable in its sound. Most everyone can remember its meaning in time of need.

      Mayday has a different root. It was adopted by Frederick Mockford, senior radio officer at London's Croyden Airport. By 1923 there were so many airplane flights from London to Paris that Mockford saw the need for a distress word. "Mayday" was coined from the French word, m'aidez which means "help me."

      All people face periodic life-threatening situations, whether on land, air or sea. God's people since ancient times have always cried out "God help me!" in different ways. David prayed, "Listen to my cry for mercy, Oh Lord. When I am in distress, I call to You because You answer me." (Psalm 86:6-7)

      Going through a crisis can strengthen both our resolve and our faith in God. Troubled times can lead to a stronger faith if we put our lives into God's hands and trust that He will bring us through our troubles in His own way which is always better. 

If today you are in distress, call out to the Lord in prayer.

 

Rev. Bob Tasler, www.bobtasler.com

WALK CAREFULLY

      Last week while at a store a little boy ran into me because he was walking forward while his head was turned sideways. His mother said rather sharply, "Watch where you're walking!" I wonder how many times I said that to my boys as they were growing up. 

      Little people want to see everything all at once. They don't always take time to watch where they are going, charging ahead and thinking the world will get out of their way. Big people can do the same. Even when we aren't sure where we're going, we still charge ahead and then are surprised as we stumble or hit a wall.

      Apostle Paul knew what it was like to charge ahead in life. When his name was still Saul, he knew exactly what he wanted to do. He had a plan for his life and self-confidently lived by his firm convictions. But they were the wrong convictions. One day on the road to Damascus he walked straight into a wall named Jesus, and the Lord brought him down low and into the Kingdom of God.

      This is the same person who tells us the words of our text today: "Be very careful, then, how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." (Ephesians 5:15-16) 

      With a passage like that, it would be tempting to preach about all the evil in the world, but that would accomplish little. There's always been evil in the world and today's world is much like Paul's. The point is not how bad the world is, but how we live and walk in the world in which we live. 

      Paul has timeless words of wisdom for us all, no matter how old or young:  "Walk carefully." Jesus forgives us when we misstep and the Holy Spirit will help us when we come to Him in prayer for guidance in our walk.

Walk Carefully!

Rev. Bob Tasler, www.bobtasler.com