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Across Australia, Christians are preparing for the holiest, most sacred weekend of the year: Easter. Many faith traditions call the week leading up to Easter Holy Week.

For some Christians, Easter is all about Good Friday. For others, there’s more of a focus on Easter Sunday. Some Australians may even say the best day of the Easter long weekend is Monday, as it means they have an extra day to recover from a big weekend before returning to work on Tuesday.

Wherever you may sit on the spectrum of theistic probability, the historical facts are that Jesus Christ lived on earth circa 6 to 4 BC – AD 30 or 33, died a cruel death by crucifixion, and then rose again. What we believe about these facts is up to us.

In 2004, Icon Productions released The Passion of the Christ, the highest-grossing independent film of all time. If you can handle the graphic violence, it’s well worth watching, especially leading up to Good Friday.

I remember watching it with my then-fiancée (now wife) in the cinema and not being able to hold back the tears. We both wept as The Passion of the Christ’s cast (including the brilliant Jim Caviezel as Jesus) and crew brought to life on screen the immensity and sheer brutality of Jesus’ death.

Ultimate Sacrifice

Crucifixion is one of the most savage ways to die, and Jesus went through all of that for humanity. He took the sins (wrongdoings) of the world upon himself and paid the ultimate ransom for us.

Not long before his violent death on earth, Jesus Christ said to one of His disciples (followers), Thomas: ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’ [John 14:6 (NKJV)]

As fathers, we owe it to our families to seek out the truth and lead them, in love, toward it. The older I get, the more I want to know the truth (after all, it will set you free, as Jesus also said in John 8:32), follow Jesus and model His example as best I can for my kids.

In researching this week’s Newsletter, I came across a beautiful prayer from the St. Paul Street Evangelization organisation. If you want to know the truth and follow Jesus, you can pray this prayer right now:

‘God our Father, I believe that out of Your infinite love, You have created me. In a thousand ways, I have shunned Your love.

I repent of each and every one of my sins. Please forgive me. Thank You for sending Your Son to die for me, to save me from eternal death.

I choose this day to enter into (renew my) covenant with You and to place Jesus at the centre of my heart. I surrender to Him as Lord over my whole life.

I ask You now to flood my soul with the gift of the Holy Spirit so that my life may be transformed. Give me the grace and courage to live as a disciple in Your Church for the rest of my days. In Jesus name, I pray Amen.’

If you prayed this prayer, we’d love to hear from you. At Dads4Kids, we’re all about inspiring fathers, but easily, the best way to be inspired is by following Jesus and making him the Lord (King) of your life. After all, how can we expect to be the best fathers we can be if we don’t know the ultimate father, our Father in heaven?

Thanks to the eternal sacrifice Jesus Christ made for us all those years ago on Good Friday, we can know our Father in heaven. And that’s why they call it Good Friday.

Lovework

Could I encourage you to gather your family and visit a local church this Good Friday or Easter Sunday? Most towns and cities across Australia contain Bible-believing churches that are planning celebrations for the Easter weekend. If you’re not sure which local church to visit, please reach out to us via info@dads4kids.org.au. We know of some good ministers and churches across Australia that we could connect you with.

If you’re in the Illawarra, New South Wales area and not already part of a local church, you’re more than welcome to visit my local, Awaken Church. My family and I will be there celebrating Good Friday (from 9am) and Easter Sunday (from 10am). Please come and say g’day — I’d love to meet you!

The key thing is to find a church where you and your family feel comfortable to visit this Easter.

Yours for Good Friday,
Nathaniel Marsh

P.S. If you’re encouraged by the work of Dads4Kids and would like to help us continue Building Men, Growing Fathers, and Changing Generations, please consider making a tax-deductible donation here.

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Originally published at Dads4Kids. Photo by Daiji Umemoto.