Pastor Odie Kennedy's Pearls

Today is a special day for believers all over the world! It's Resurrection Sunday! Due to the traditions, many regard Easter as a day of eggs, candy, and church.  And that's not really a bad thing if we know the egg symbolizes new life, the candy is a sweet triumph, and the church is kingdom celebration.  This is the time that we celebrate the resurrection of our crucified Savior.  He got up! To redeem man and conquer sin, Jesus endured humiliation, betrayal, and a brutal death.  I am so glad that his story did not end there.  He rose with power over death and the grave.  Because Jesus got up, you can get up. No matter what you are going through today, you have the Risen Savior on your side.  He loves you so much that he gave his very life for you, and then he got up to give you the victory! I encourage you today to get up.  Life may have beat you down, but don't stay there.  You may be asking yourself how you will do it.  On the cross, while enduring excruciating

Do you ever feel like your situation is just too much?  Too much for you? Too much for the people around you? Sometimes even too much for God? Some would rebuke you for even admitting such things.  I'm not one of them.  The truth is, life can beat us down to a place that we struggle to hold on to our faith.  It doesn't mean that we have turned our back on God.  It's just our natural is feeling disconnected from God's supernatural.  When this happens, we either give up or we become desperate.  Mark 5:25 tells the story of a woman who had an issue of blood for twelve long years.  She spent all she had trying to get help.  No matter what she did, she got worse instead of better.  One day she heard that Jesus was close, she made up her mind that if she could just touch his hem, her twelve years would be up! This woman was an outcast just because of her unclean condition.  No doubt, she was ostracized, ridiculed, and abandoned.  Can you imagine the desperation tha