Zechariah 9:9-10, Luke 19:29-40, John 12:12-26, Revelation 19:11-16

Isaiah 56:7, Psalm 69:9, John 2:13-22, Matthew 21:12-17, John 4:19-26

Psalm 118:22-24, Mark 12:1-12, Eph 2:19-22, 1 Peter 2:4-10

What are you rejecting that God has already established as good?
Where have you looked at His design and decided, “I’ll do it differently”?

When I was in Renew, we had a saying, “Consistency breeds stability.” That phrase stuck with me and still carries a lot of weight because, if I regularly obey what is holy, perfect, and foundational, my life will look radically different than what it did pre-Renew.

When we elevate our preferences over His truth, or our feelings over His Word, we aren’t refining His design…we’re resisting it.

And the result is always the same: instability.

The tenant farmers in Jesus’ parable weren’t confused; they were calculated. Every servant who came was a reminder that the vineyard wasn’t theirs. And every time, they chose rejection over submission.

Even when the son came…they killed him, thinking it would secure their future.

It didn’t.

Jesus makes the meaning unmistakable: “The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.”

This is the danger of pride: it convinces us that rejecting God’s ideas is progress, when it’s actually causing an eventual collapse.

So, don’t reject what the Lord has established as perfect!

The consistency of Christ in our actions, speech, decisions, motivations, and intentions is only possible when our lives are anchored in the stability of His Word and His example.

Isaiah 54:5-8, Matthew 22:1-15, Revelation 19:6-9

It is by design that the first human relationship, established in Eden, was a marriage. Unlike any other relationship, marriage is a spiritual union, entered into willingly by means of a covenant. And this is a picture of the believer’s ultimate destiny- to be united with Christ at the wedding feast of the Lamb.

The Jewish marital tradition at the time of Jesus gives a beautiful picture of the Church’s relationship with her Savior. The groom’s family would pay a bride price (Mohar) to the bride’s family, securing the agreement. Jesus paid this price Himself in His covenantal blood at the crucifixion. There was a marriage contract (Ketubah) which made provision for the bride’s welfare. This was enacted both at Easter with Jesus’ defeat of the grave and at Pentecost with the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church. The groom would then go to his father’s house to prepare a dwelling place for his bride. The father would determine when the dwelling was ready, and the bride was to wait, without knowing the day or the hour, for the return of her betrothed. The groom’s return would be announced with a trumpet and a shout, after which time the bride would go to the house of the groom’s father for a period of ritual cleansing. This would be followed by the wedding feast.

Easter reminds us that our Betrothed has gone to prepare a place for us in His Father’s house, and we, the bride, are to watch and wait for His return. We have been invited, but we should soberly remember the words of Matthew 22:14- “For many are called, but few are chosen. ”

Psalm 41:9, Zechariah 13:7, Matthew 26:20-56, Revelation 12:10-11

Psalm 22:1-18, Mark 15:1-41, Revelation 5:1-14

Christ crucified. Blood dripping down the rough wood of a rugged cross as the crowd mocked and the sky turned dark. The sinless Son of God, beaten, broken, and abandoned, breathed His last as the earth shook beneath Him. From every angle, it looked like a loss. It looked like the enemy had won.
But even in the darkest moments, God was writing a story no one could fully comprehend.

What the enemy intended for destruction, God was turning into the greatest rescue mission in human history. Every drop of blood purchased freedom. Every wound pays a debt we could never pay ourselves. For as Scripture declares, "by His wounds we are healed." A crown of thorns pressed into His head. Nail-pierced hands and feet. Thirty-nine lashes on His back, blood spilt for every soul. The ultimate price. The ultimate sacrifice. Jesus, fully God, fully man, laying His life down willingly so that yours could be made whole.
Isn't it true that light shines brightest when the night is darkest? Could it be that God's Word is still true, that He brings beauty from ashes, that He works all things together for those who love Him?

Take heart, Christian. Though Friday is here, Sunday is coming. Death will not have the final word. For as Christ declared from that very cross before His last breath,

It is finished.

"Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free. For God the just is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me."

Oh death, where is your sting?

Isaiah 52:13-53:12, Matthew 27:57-66, Matthew 23:27-39

Matthew 23:37 gives us a unique summary of Jesus’ ministry. He came to gather us. Not like a General gathers his troops, or a banker gathers securities, not like a King gathers his subjects, or a teacher gathers her students. He came to gather us like a mother hen gathers her most precious chicks. An image that communicated the immense love of God and one that reveals the condition we are really in. Imagine a rural road, where a young chick, newly feathered and confident, wanders far from the hen. As dusk approaches, its fate is certain if it cannot find home – certain death. Just when it seems like the chick’s adventure will end in tragedy, the mother Hen comes with wings spread and gathers this little chick unto herself to lead it back to the safety of the coup. It is a beautiful picture of salvation. In Matthew 23, we observe a group of leaders - religious, full of confidence, and entirely lost. A group that has wandered so far from home and is in danger of the same fate as our little chick – certain death. But here comes the Savior, wings spread and ready to gather – but they reject Him.  How could this be? How could any chick reject the tender care and security of the mother hen? Jesus tells us why in Matthew 23:27 – they were dead inside. Filled with silence, darkness, and rebellion. Their insides were a graveyard, and there could only be one solution. The Creator of all things, our God, would have to go to the grave Himself to free us from the grave that exists within us all. He died so that we may have life. He died so that we could be free. He died, so that we, His vulnerable, lost, and rebellious chicks could be gathered under His tender mercy and brought back into His glorious Kingdom. So as we reflect on Jesus being in the grave today, remember why He went there – to save us from the grave deep within us.

Daniel 7:13-14, Luke 24:1-53 (Full Chapter), Revelation 1:4-8

The morning of Jesus' resurrection does not break with loud noises, but with quiet wonder. Before the world fully woke, a woman walked with a heavy heart toward what she thought would be a sealed tomb, carrying grief, not hope. Yet in Luke 24, she finds the stone rolled away, and heaven asks a question that still echoes through every generation: “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”

How often do we do the same, search for life in places where it does not exist, clinging to what has already passed, unaware that God has already moved the stone? The empty tomb is heaven’s declaration that His kingdom cannot be stopped.

Long before that morning in Daniel 7:13–14, he saw it coming, the Son of Man, not defeated but enthroned, receiving a kingdom that will never fade. What looked like loss was always leading to glory. What felt like an ending was in truth the crowning of a king.

And in Revelation 1:4–8, we behold Him fully revealed, the risen Christ, no longer hidden in suffering but radiant in all authority. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the One who stepped into death and walked out holding the keys to lock up sin and Satan.

His resurrection is not only a powerful moment for all, but it is deeply personal. It meets us in our ordinary mornings, in our quiet disappointments, in the places where hope feels buried. Like the disciples, we may not recognize Him at first. Our eyes are often clouded, our hearts slow to believe. Yet He comes near and walks beside us. Always speaking peace into our fear and gently opening the eyes of our hearts.

So today, we rise not because life is easy, but because He is alive.