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A New Season and a New Sermon Series


All Things New

Season of Easter 2013 at City Church

Painting of Jesus and several people around a table with food.
“Supper at Emmaus” by Michelangelo da Caravaggio (1573-1610).
Wouldn't it be amazing if there was a time in life where we could stop trying to get it right and just celebrate? That is actually the point of Easter, or resurrection day. But, one day out of 365 is hardly sufficient to celebrate the great victory of our faith — that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. In Biblical and church tradition, the season of Easter lasts seven weeks (a “week of weeks”), spanning the 50 days from the Sunday of the Resurrection to Pentecost Sunday and encompassing the day of the Ascension of the Lord. In the pressure cooked world most people live in, a season of joy that celebrates a whole new way to live is a welcome change.
The season of Easter should be a joyful time for celebrating the presence of the risen Christ, God the Holy Spirit, in the church. At City Church we celebrate the Lord’s Supper (a feast with the risen Lord) each week, during the season of Easter these times should be marked with gratitude and hope for the new life we have been given through the resurrection and the new power we have to live, the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Of course, Easter really isn't just a season either. In the fullest sense, Easter is a new way of life — in which we are "dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 6:11), called to "walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:4). Every year, for fifty days, the church celebrates and rehearses this new way of life in the Season of Easter — as we anticipate its completion in the fullness of Christ's reign and the renewal of all things in Him.  (This article is adapted from http://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/worship/season-easter/ )
Here is an outline of our sermon series for those who want to study along or other churches that want to adapt this for their context:
“Pentecost: All Things New”
April 7: Hebrews 8: 6-13 “New Covenant”
April 14: Ephesians 2:11-22 “New Identity”
April 21: Acts 2: 1-13 “New Power”
April 28: 2 Corinthians 3:4-6 “New Ministry”
May 5: Ephesians 2:1-10 “New Purity”
May 12: Matthew 28: 18ff “New Authority”
May 19: Hebrews 6: 11-12 “New Promises”
May 26: Hebrews 10: 19-25 “New Vision”

Let me know if you have any thoughts or questions.

Grace,

Trent McEntyre
Church Planter in residence
City Church Eastside Atlanta, GA 


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