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The time is nearly upon us. This Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, the time between Good Friday and Easter. In many ways his is the most important season of the church year.

Now you might want to ask the question, What about Christmas? No doubt Christmas is hugely important. After all this is the day when we celebrate the incarnation. God becomes man, Jesus comes to earth to rescue His people it is very important, and we should celebrate it as best we can. Jesus is truly God’s greatest gift, but in the midst of that celebration, there is something we need to remember. The purpose of Christmas is Good Friday. Jesus came to lie down His life for our sins, to pay a price we could never pay. I’ve often wondered what the disciples would think if they would see us calling that day, “Good Friday.” Their friend was brutally killed and they were in fear for their lives. Remember they lived this story in real time. They did now know all that we know, and I doubt they would have seen that day as good, at least not when they were living it. And friends we need to make sure we get something as well. We need to remember the purpose of Good Friday.

We spend a lot of time in the church talking about Jesus’ sacrifice, Jesus dying for our sins, and please don’t get me wrong, we should definitely talk about it, but we have to remember that is not the end of the story. The purpose of Christmas might be Good Friday, but the purpose of Good Friday is Easter, when Jesus rose from the grave. Jesus didn’t stay in the tomb. He paid our price and on the third day He rose again. This is incredibly good news for all who place their faith and trust in Him. Because just as He rose, so too will we. The celebration of Easter is the celebration of eternal life, bought at a high price, the price of God’s only begotten Son. Have you placed your faith and trust in Jesus? Do you believe what the Bible says about Him? Do you believe that what He did on the cross, He did for you. He loves you. Trust Him and believe in Him today.

How do I do that. Well the Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. If you think about this, you know it to be true. There is no one who gets this life perfect, except Jesus and that is why He could lay down His life for us. Only a perfect sacrifice will do. So he first step is to pray and confess your sin to Him. Ask Him to help you to turn from your sin and live for Him. That is called repentance and it simply means to turn around. Then ask Him to come into your heart and to be your Lord and Savior. Tell Him you believe in Him and thank Him for paying your price. From there, life is a journey of learning to follow him and love Him more each day, and the good news is you don’t have to face it alone. First and foremost, His Holy Spirit comes to live in you, guiding and helping you, and secondly God has given the church, other believers to help you learn to follow Jesus. If you need that kind of help (and we all do), please consider joining us here at Springfield. We would love to have you.

Join us for our Easter Services Sunday April 21.

Sunrise service, 7:30 a.m.
Breakfast 8:30 a.m.
Easter service 10:00 a.m.

Our regular services are at 10:00 a.m. with Sunday School at 9:00 a.m.

I have to admit, while I love God and know He has a reason for everything He does, Winter is my least favorite time of year. It’s during this time that we sometimes end up canceling and postponing or trying to figure out whether or not to cancel or postpone. In making these decisions, we have to balance our desire to worship God together as the body, with our desire to keep our people safe. It’s sometimes a pretty difficult decision, but thankfully that time has almost passed for another year.

The Spring promises to be a busy one here at Springfield. Our upcoming calendar has a lot of things on it. Besides our regular Sunday morning worship (10 a.m. every Sunday, Lord willing) and Sunday School (9:00 a.m. every Sunday, also Lord willing), we have our annual Yard Sale, March 22,23 this is a regular event and the community is invited. Come on out and find a bargain or two. Proceeds from the sale go to support the ministries of our church. Church members will want to note our annual Spring council Meeting Sunday, April 7 after service at 1:00 p.m. This is a time when we make important decisions pertaining to the life of the church. On Good Friday, April 19 we will be hosting our Annual Easter Egg Hunt (time to be announced). Then please join us on that holiest of days Easter, Sunday, April 21. We will be having a Sunrise service at 7:00 a.m. our regularly scheduled 10:00 a.m. Service with breakfast in between. May 5 will be our semi-annual Love Feast Service at 6:00 p.m. The Love Feast is our communion service and commemorates the Last Supper, especially as expressed in John chapter 13. It includes a foot washing service, simple meal and bread and cup communion and is open to all baptized believers. Rounding out the Spring and heading into Summer we have our annual trip to an Iron Pigs Game on May 24 and finally we’re hosting a bus trip to Sight and Sound Theater to see their show “Jesus” on July 16. There are still a few bus seats available.

As you can see there’s a lot going on and I for one am looking forward to it. Spring is almost upon us. In the mean time, be safe out there, and in ever season, give God the glory!

God bless,
Pastor Dave

It seems we just got through with Christmas and all that is associated with it, and before long, we will be at Easter. Time sure does fly. This got me to thinking. Do we really get all that happened between that first Christmas and that first “Easter”Sunday. I put Easter in quotes because that day was not called Easter for many centuries after the day when our Lord arose from the grave. This passage of roughly four months could be said to represent about 33 years in the earthly life of Jesus. In the first 30 of those years, our Savior was born and raised, learned and grew and started his earthly ministry. His ministry lasted only about three years. Consider that impact. In three years, He taught, healed the sick, raised the dead, trained his followers and did all the other things that are listed in the Gospels and undoubtedly more. All that in three years, but beyond that, here we are nearly 2000 years later and the movement He started, His Church is still building and growing and flourishing. The odds against that kind of impact from three years of any human life are monumental, unless…

Unless He is exactly who He said He was. The son of God and God in the flesh; the promised King who would rule forever on David’s throne, the fulfillment of prophecy; the King of kings and Lord of lords. For he record, that is exactly who we believe He is here at Springfield. But there’s more. He is Savior. He came and paid the price for our sins, so that if we will place our faith and trust in Him, we will receive eternal life. This is God’s promise for everyone who will believe. So the big question for you is, Do YOU believe? We’d love to tell you more, we’d love to answer your questions and share what we have received. This much I can tell you for sure. God loves you, right here, right now, right where you are, no matter who you are, and no matter what you have done. God has a plan and a purpose for you life and you were worth so much to Him that He gave His only Son for you.

In our world, much of society gets all amped up about Christmas and rightfully so, but there is a hierarchy that should not be overlooked. The purpose of Christmas is Good Friday, the day Jesus died for our sins on the cross. At the end of the day, this is why He came, to rescue us and set us free. That being said, the purpose of Good Friday is Easter, when Jesus rose again from the grave for you and me. If we will place our faith and trust in Him, we receive the ultimate gift, Eternal life. We’re almost to Spring, a time when everything is, in a sense reborn and new life begins. It’s not coincidental that Easter falls in Spring. It is the ultimate expression of new life.

Have you received it?