Live Like Jesus is Risen!

"But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
I do not ask that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world."
John 17: 13-16

It is so easy to lose hope in the modern world. Every day we hear new stories of the horrible and sick things that people can do to each other. There is always a new rape victim, always someone else who was wrongly killed, always people who needlessly die for the enjoyment of others. There are always children forced into slavery, starving people who would do anything for a drink of clean water. There are people who die of diseases, suicides, and violence. In a world so full of hate and evil, how on earth can we be joyful?
I'll tell you how.
On this day the world celebrates spring with bunnies and chocolate. As Christians, we celebrate so much more. We celebrate the resurrection of Jesus; fully man and fully God who came, lived a completely sinless life, and was crucified and died for our sin so that we wouldn't have to live in separation from our Creator forever. Today we celebrate the power that Jesus has to raise himself from the dead and declare death defeated. Easter is truly the greatest holiday.
But what about tomorrow? What about in a few weeks when something else awful happens around the world? What about in a few months when there's another bombing? Will we still feel the joy of knowing that our Savior is risen? I doubt it.
But that's the whole point of this message! I want to let all of you know that everything that is going on right now, all the evil and death and abuse and hate, isn't going to last forever. This isn't the end, this isn't all that there is. Christ is risen and He has promised us hope! And that is a comforting thought, surely.
One of my favorite rap songs is by a man named Andy Mineo. The song is called Death Has Died and I would like to share the second verse with you:

 I hopped off the plane
My God, what a scene that I seen on that TV screen
People huddled round, hands on they mouth
Not again, same problem, it hit a new town
26 dead, 20 of 'em kids
Where do you begin when some lives just ended?
And everybody got the question:
If God's so good how He let this happen?
Is it mental health? Is it gun control?
Is it we make superstars out of animals?
Is it the movies we make? The video games?
I dunno, but God I want an antidote
All I know is this world is broken
Our sin is the reason it ain't like it's supposed to
Words fall short tryna comfort the grieving
But you gotta know that there's hope to believe in
One day my God gon' crack the sky
He gon' bottle up every tear that we ever cried
Bring truth to every lie, justice for ever crime
All our shame will be gone and we'll never have to hide
No more broken hearts, no more broken homes
No more lockin' doors, no more cops patrollin'
No abusive words, or abusive touches
No more cancerous cells that'll take our loved ones
No more hungry kids, no more natural disasters
No child will ever have to ask where his dad is
No funerals where we wear all black
And death will be dead and we'll lock the casket

 That's the hope that I want you to have and the encouragement that I want you to know. Even if everything seems hopeless now I want you to know that God is in control and that there is something better than you could ever imagine planned. So please, live your life like Jesus is risen. :) Happy Easter!