Preparing for Easter at FBCA

Easter Sunday is a great day in the life of a believer in Jesus Christ. It is a day to celebrate God’s gifts to us of forgiveness of sin, power for living, and eternal life with God. All these wonderful gifts were made possible because God sent His Son, Jesus, to die on a cross in our place to pay the penalty for our sin. He was raised from the dead to demonstrate the truth and power of the cross. God has made all this possible, not because we earned it or deserved it, but because of His great love for us. The Bible says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, NIV).

Special days call for special preparations. Every time we gather together as God’s people to worship and experience God we should be making spiritual preparations. Easter Sunday is a unique day and calls for extra planning and preparation. We will have large numbers of guests with us on Easter Sunday at First Baptist Church of Allen. When guests come to visit our homes we want to be at our best. The same should be true when guests come to church. In light of all Easter represents, let me offer up some suggestions for you this Easter:

Continue reaching out to your friends, neighbors, and family and invite them to attend one of our Easter services with you.

Read the Easter story from Mark 14-16. It would be a blessing to read it out loud with your family.

Get up early Easter morning to see the sunrise. Meditate on the story of the women coming to the tomb at sunrise and hearing the message, “He is not here. He has risen.”

Spend extra time in prayer and spiritual preparation for worship. Ask God to create within you a spirit of anticipation as you come to worship. Spend time in confession of sin that nothing would stand as a barrier between you and what God would want to communicate to you.

Arrive early for church so that you will be available to help meet needs and informally function as a “host” to our guests who will arrive.

Pray for all the guests who will join us for worship on Sunday. Some of them will be coming to church for the first time or the first time in a long while. Pray they will have courage to come to church. Pray they will feel welcomed and at home with our church family.

Pray the distractions would be minimized. Specifically, that people would not distract one another and that we would avoid technical difficulties that might distract.

Be friendly and alert to the people around you. Think of yourself as a host on Easter Sunday. Watch for needs of others and be helpful. Smile and speak to the people around you.

Pray for the church staff as we lead Easter worship at 7:30, 9:00, and 10:30 am. Pray for me as I share what it means to be a Christian in each of the three worship hours. Pray that hearers will make commitments to Christ and be drawn closer to Him. Pray everyone will find their next steps with God.

Pray that the guests will experience something real that they find attractive. Pray for the Holy Spirit to continue to work in their lives after they leave church. Pray they will take the great next step of coming a second time. Pray for the harvest we will see for months to come.

Sunday will be a great day in the life of our church. I would pray it would be a day that would forever touch our lives and elevate our ministry to new levels. “Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God.”