From Jon Searle, Pastor

Happy Easter! The Easter celebration in the Christian calendar and this time of year all shout to us of new life. It’s a time where we celebrate what Jesus has done for us all in his death and resurrection, and when we also look around and see new life shooting up everywhere. This is my wife’s favourite time of year, when blossom appears on the trees and the daffodils begin popping up. Easter is all about new life. Jesus was crucified for our sins, and raised to life so that we can also live a new life in Him. He didn’t just pay for our salvation through His crucifixion, He invited us into abundant life through His resurrection. It wasn’t just about offering us forgiveness, but an opportunity to thrive and flourish with His resurrection power and life.

Easter is a celebration of our new life in Him; completely forgiven, adopted into God's family as a son or daughter of our Father in Heaven, a co-heir in the Kingdom alongside our King, Saviour and Brother - Jesus. We have been fully accepted, fully known and fully loved. There is a lot to celebrate! But it’s not just our status that has changed - we have changed. In a mystery I absolutely do not understand, we were crucified with Christ on the cross. As He was raised to new life, so were we (Romans 6), we became a new creation in Him.

Like all new life, in order to grow and flourish we need the right conditions. Throughout the Bible we see a common theme of a tree, planted by streams of Living Water, bearing fruit. When Jesus was crucified for you, it wasn’t just so you could become a new creation, He also opened a Fountain of Living Water to you, His Holy Spirit. This is so you could grow, flourish and thrive in abundant life.

As we allow our roots to soak in The Living Water (The Holy Spirit) by spending time with Him in prayer, worship and meditating on Scripture, we will see Him produce His fruit through our lives. As we know from the Bible, the fruit of The Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. A tree doesn’t strain and work really hard. As long as it positions itself in good conditions, it will produce fruit. Part of the joy of Easter (apart from the chocolate), is the realisation that we can produce the fruit of The Holy Spirit, not by trying really hard to be good Christians, but by simply positioning ourselves correctly, learning to live in Him and enjoy the blessings of relationship He has opened up for us. Thank you Father, Son and Holy Spirit!