The Greatest Victory
I trust that you had a special day yesterday celebrating Resurrection Sunday, Easter! Jesus is alive! Hallelujah!
Jesus’ victory on Easter Sunday is the greatest victory of all time. And there’ve been some great victories over the years!
South Africa's Rugby Triumphs
Here in South Africa we remember quite fondly our 4 rugby world cup victories:
- In 1995, I was 5, and I remember watching it and us driving the streets waving our flag when we won!
- In 2007, we went to see Michael W Smith perform, but he delayed the start of the show because of the rugby. We won, and he came out and played We Are the Champions. Epic!
- In 2019, we were in Clarens for the weekend. That little town went mad when we won that game!
- And then in 2023 Shereen and watched the final at home. What a tense match! But we pulled through and the whole country celebrated.
Victory in Christ
But I also remember some epic sporting losses. The 92 cricket World Cup comes to mind, where South Africa lost in the semis. And the 95 CWC where we lost in the quarters. And the ’99 World Cup. And 2003. And 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019, 2023.
As sport fans in this country, we know the agony of defeat, and we know the ecstasy of victory, don’t we?
I think, if you look at Christians, you see something similar. You see some Christians living in the agony of defeat. Utterly broken by the world and its evil.
And you see others living in victory! Oh, they have taken many knocks and tackles and hardships on the way. Their victory was not easy. It came through tears and pain and struggle, but they live victoriously.
And I want to suggest today that all of us can and should fit into that second category, because of the empty tomb of Christ !
I want to ask you to repeat these three phrases after me:
Christ conquered.
Christ is in me.
I will conquer.
Did you hear what you said?
Power of Resurrection
You see friends, Easter Sunday is not just a 2000-year-old story which we look back on with fondness. It is real today. Christ is alive today. He is in his children today.
And we can conquer and live victoriously today in Him! Oh, we’re gonna be tackled. We’re gonna take some hard hits. We’re going to bleed and get broken even.
But through our tears and pains, we have the victory, if the risen Christ lives within us.
Celebrate today the risen Christ, and say to yourself: Christ conquered, Christ is in me, I will conquer. This is the power of the empty tomb!
