On Palm Sunday, Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem in direct fulfilment of messianic prophecy (Zechariah 9:9), knowing the authorities would respond by seeking his arrest and execution.

On Monday, he overturned the money changers’ tables, further provoking the wrath of his enemies.

On Tuesday, he defeated them again and again in public debate.

On Maundy Thursday, he waited in the Garden of Gethsemane as they came to arrest him

On Good Friday, the One whose power calmed raging seas and raised the dead allowed Roman soldiers to nail him to a cross.

On Sunday ,The tomb where he was laid was empty.

Bible reading: Matt 28 v2-7

Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it.

His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow.

The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint.

Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying.

And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee.

You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.”

In the bible we  read of about the lives of many individuals. These stories are not in the |Bible by accident but are for us to read about and learn from their experience of God.

S0 in Agape over the next few weeks after Easter we are hoping to learn from   Ruth, Esther, King Hezekiah, Gideon, Jacob,Joseph, Barnabus.

Historically, Teen Challenge Newport had been reaching out to the Homeless/ Vulnerable/ Addicted of Newport for almost 20 years under the leadership and pioneering work of Stuart & Caroline Johnson. Through this work it was identified that Newport needed it’s own charity committed to address local problems. This was the birth of Eden Gate. Eden Gate was founded by Stuart & Caroline Johnson in November 2013 who were central to establishing the charity in Newport.
Eden Gate continues to carry out the work established by Teen Challenge Newport with dedication to address local needs.

‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.

²⁴ “He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, ²⁵ and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. ²⁶ From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.

²⁷ “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. ²⁸ For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ ²⁹ And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone.

³⁰ “God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. ³¹ For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.”

(Apostle Paul, Athens)

In the face of tragedy, we have two options.

We can decide that God is not who he says he is. We can let our questions keep us from experiencing his transforming love and sustaining grace. We can trust our doubts more than we trust our Creator.

Or we can decide to have faith in our Father even when we don’t understand him. The harder it is to trust God, the more we need to trust God.

Today’s secular worldview is cohesive and consistent only in that it views life through the prism of the self. Our ultimate value is whatever makes us happy. Dwelling on the sufferings of others doesn’t seem to help them and only saddens us. This era of constant access to the world has actually accomplished the opposite—it’s made us less attentive to the world. If the news doesn’t make us happy, we turn it off.

By contrast, one way the Christian worldview is cohesive and consistent is that it views life through the prism of the other. We’re taught to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). Loving God and loving our neighbor are intertwined (Matthew 22:37–39). Jesus identifies himself with those in need: what we do for them, we do for him (Matthew 25:40).

If we value people in pain as Jesus does, we can never be callous to their suffering. Every victim of violence—and every perpetrator—is someone for whom Jesus died (Romans 5:8). The answer to compassion fatigue is not less compassion—it’s the power of the Spirit. The first “fruit of the Spirit” is “love” (Galatians 5:22). The ability to care for those in crisis comes ultimately from Christ.  (Denison)