Jesus was dead, and I mean really dead, on a cross, but he's not anymore.

That's how my son Timothy, a few years ago when he was three, explained to neighbors why he was so excited about Easter. No one referred me to a therapist, or to a cognitive development seminar. Those around me didn't see the horror of what I was doing to my children. Neither did I.

We didn't know that the Gospel, like Ginsu knives and blood pressure medicine, ought to be kept out of the reach of small children.

At least that's what one church was told recently, by a publisher of children's Sunday school curricula, according to Two Institutions, a blog about family and church matters.

The pastors at this church in Raleigh, North Carolina, were perplexed when they saw the Holy Week Sunday school lessons for preschoolers from "First Look," the publisher of the one to five year-old Sunday school class materials. There wasn't a mention of the resurrection of Jesus. Naturally, the pastors inquired about the oversight.

A Discovery Channel movie claims that the limestone boxes with the names of two Mary's, Joseph, Jesus and the "Judah, son of Jesus" discovered in 1982 in Jerusalem actually contain the DNA of Jesus, his parents and his "wife" Mary and his child.

1. ARCHEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
   1. According to Joseph Zias, an Israeli archeologist, within a two mile radius of this tomb in Talpiyot there are 70 graves/ossuaries with the name Jesus and 2 with the name Jesus son of Joseph; 48% of women at that time had the name Mary/Miriam;
   2. this was a middleclass family and the family of Jesus was poor;
   3. the family tomb would more than likely be in Nazareth.
   4. Where are the other family members, James, Simon and the sisters?

Question 57 - What comfort does the resurrection of the body offer you?

Answer - Not only shall my soul after this life immediately be taken up to Christ, my Head,¹ but also this my flesh, raised by the power of Christ, shall be reunited with my soul and made like Christ's glorious body.²

¹ Luke 16:22; 23:43; Phil. 1:21-23. ² Job 19:25, 26; I Cor. 15:20, 42-46, 54; Phil. 3:21; I John 3:2.

Question 45 - How does Christ's resurrection benefit us?

Answer - First, by His resurrection He has overcome death, so that He could make us share in the righteousness which He had obtained for us by His death.¹ Second, by His power we too are raised up to a new life.² Third, Christ's resurrection is to us a sure pledge of our glorious resurrection.³

¹ Rom. 4:25; I Cor. 15:16-20; I Pet. 1:3-5. ² Rom. 6:5-11; Eph. 2:4-6; Col. 3:1-4. ³ Rom. 8:11; I Cor. 15:12-23; Phil. 3:20, 21.

Video from Session 11 is our last session from the Reform & Resurge Conference May 2006. Watch Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church, president of Acts 29 Network and founder of Resurgence, as he preaches on, "Death by Love: Reflections on the Cross." Revisiting who Jesus and the cross is, deserves more attention today than most people would like to think. Over time Christians arguably could begin losing sight of the cross, what it meant and what it means for us today. Mark Driscoll brings us back to the fundamental aspects of the cross and the practical implications of a proper view of the cross in this day.

Audio from Session 11 is our last session from the Reform & Resurge Conference May 2006. Listen to Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church, president of Acts 29 Network and founder of Resurgence, as he preaches on, "Death by Love: Reflections on the Cross." Revisiting who Jesus and the cross is, deserves more attention today than most people would like to think. Over time Christians arguably could begin losing sight of the cross, what it meant and what it means for us today. Mark Driscoll brings us back to the fundamental aspects of the cross and the practical implications of a proper view of the cross in this day.

When therefore he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately" (John 13:31-32).

Jesus is now alone with His eleven men. These had remained faithful to Him as real disciples. He opens His heart, more fully than ever before. What He sets before them is His glory! But what a strange thing He says regarding that glory. It is as if the Savior says, "An event will take place on the morrow which, however painful it will be for both you and Me, in reality will be the event in which maximum glory will be brought to Me and My Father!"

What actually motivates us to serve the Lord? I ask this because many of those in the ministry-even in the Reformed ministry-are working from the wrong motives. Some are motivated to make a name for themselves. Others are preaching or teaching or writing primarily to earn money. Some want to attract large audiences. Building their own little ecclesiastical empires over which they can be the authority motivates some. Then there are those who desire to impress people with their theological knowledge. Christian ministers, educators and writers who are wrongly motivated are way off track. They have forgotten that Paul's most powerful motive for dedicating his life to the ministry was the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The most significant revelation of God's grace and God's love ever given to mankind is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The divine mystery, revealed openly in the cross of Christ, contains heights we cannot scale and depths we cannot plumb. It is a truly amazing paradox!