In Sri Lanka on 21st April 2019, Easter Sunday, many believers were killed by suicide bombers. Around the world at Easter believers face increased hostility and persecution. Please let us pray:

1) That God will protect believers during the Easter period as they gather to remember and give thanks to God for His saving work.

2) That God will enable believers to wisely share with family andfriends about Christ at this time.

3) That God will speak through dreams and visions to those who persecute believers, and that this Easter they will meet with our crucified and risen Saviour and Lord.

4) That we’ll be inspired and encouraged to learn from our persecuted sisters and brothers, who firmly stand up for their faith, and share it boldly. “I’ve been able to share the gospel with other women and seen lives transformed and faith ignited in ways I couldn’t imagine. We constantly feel God’s presence and authority in our lives. Despite the difficult circumstances we are empowered by our faith.” (Hila in Afghanistan, from Open Doors Prayer Diary)

BAPTISM is a very important ceremony for disciples of Christ as they publicly declare their commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ, and their commitment to live for God’s glory.

John baptizes Jesus – Matthew 3: 13-17

The baptism of the Lord Jesus shows His perfect humility, and love for us, as He submitted to God’s will by undergoing a baptism of repentance from sin, even though He was sinless. This week, please read about the Lord’s baptism, praise and thank Him for His humble obedience to the Father, and ask the Holy Spirit to make you more Christ-like“13Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River. He wanted John to baptize him. 14But John tried to stop him. He said to Jesus, ‘I should ask you to baptize me. You should not ask me to baptize you.’ 15Jesus replied, ‘This time, do what I ask you to do. We must do everything correctly, as God wants it.’ So John did what Jesus asked him to do. 16When John baptized him, Jesus came up out of the water. At that moment, the skies opened. Jesus saw God's Spirit coming down. He came down like a dove and he stayed on Jesus. 17Then a voice spoke from heaven, which said, ‘This man is my Son and I love him. He makes me very happy.” (Easy English Bible)

Dead to sin, Alive in Christ – Romans 6: 3-14

The reading from Romans shows us how we cannot allow sin to be our master in any area of our life and must allow God to be our Master in every area of our life. Please read the passage, thanking God for how He led you to be baptised as a believer. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you where God is not your Master, ask God to forgive you, and ask God to help you to let Him be your Master. If you’ve not been baptised as a believer, ask God to show you the importance of believer’s baptism. If you’re not a Christian, ask God to make Himself real to you. “3 Remember what your baptism shows: When they baptized you, it shows that you are united with Christ Jesus. It also shows that, because Christ died, your old life also died. 4Your baptism shows that they buried you, just like they buried Christ after his death. It is like you died with him and they buried you with him. Because of that, God will also raise us, just as he raised

Christ from death. God, the Father, is so great and powerful that he raised Christ to a new life. That means that we also can live our lives in a new way. 5We have become united with Christ, and we have died like he died. Because of that, we will also be united with him in his new life. Just like Christ rose, we also will rise to a new life. 6We know that God has caused our old nature to die with Christ on the cross. This happened so that God could make us free from the power of sin in our lives. We are no longer like slaves who have sin as their master. 7Sin no longer has any authority over someone who has died. 8So, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9God raised Christ, so that he became alive again after his death. Because of that, we know that he will never die again. Death has no authority over him anymore. 10When Christ died, he died once to destroy the power of sin for ever. Now that he is alive again, he lives to serve God. 11So you also should think about yourselves in the same way. Sin has no power over you, as if you were dead. In your new life, you live to serve God, because you belong to Christ Jesus. 12So do not let sin rule your life in this world. Do not do the wrong things that your body wants to do. 13Sin can use your body to do things that are wrong. So do not let any parts of your body serve sin as their master. Instead, be ready to serve God as your Master. You can do that because you now have a new life. Your old life is dead. So give every part of your body to God. Then he will use you to do right things. 14 Sin will no longer have authority over you. You do not have a new life because you obey the Law which God gave to Moses. You have a new life because God is very kind to you. (Easy English Bible)