Good morning, CHURCH!

Welcome to FFM where we love God and love people.

Are you ready to be equipped today?

Let me see your Bibles.

Pray

Lord, help us to see you as new and fresh through your word today?

Lord, help us to see truth where we have believed lies?

Lord, let us not get puffed up in pride and arrogance with the knowledge you give us.

Most of all, help us to love you and others more.

Let’s go to the book of John 14:15 NET for this week’s wisdom Vaccination.

On this day, so much of the country is celebrating our risen savior by hosting easter egg hunts for kids, or calling themselves doing someone a favor by attending church with them.

Restaurant sells will be pretty high.

Clothing stores get in on the celebration as well by featuring their new fall-colored suits and dresses.

It’s one of those two Sunday’s a year that our country has always acknowledged Jesus’s existence.

But there are droves of children growing up today that will not associate Easter with resurrection Sunday.

When I think about it, this day for many has become a day that feeds into the deception that has bewitched so many Americans.

You know the deception that tells us that if we believe there was a man who walked the earth thousands of years ago named Jesus from Nazareth, and we close our eyes and occasionally ask him to do something for us and we occasionally thank him for good things that take place in our lives, we are believers. We will spend eternity with the Father.

Such deception!

And this is how so many Americans define their relationship with God.

Instead we should be allowing God to define the relationship.

A true relationship with God is one that began once you came to that place where you understood that you were a sinner in need of a savior.

You understood that the reward for sin was eternal death or separation from God.

You understood that the only way to be saved from that eternal death sentence was to acknowledge that Jesus died for sin in your place, and to acknowledge him as savior and to accept him into your heart to be Lord of your life.

Then and only then will you receive the Holy Spirit into your heart.

And He begins to work on you from the inside where true change takes place.

Your job then becomes to get to know all about God and His love for you, and how he created you to live, love, and treat others.

And you do this by reading the scriptures, getting around other Bible believing followers of Christ, joining a community of believers, and obeying God in all that he teaches and in all that he asks of you.

This is what a relationship with God looks like.

And Jesus makes it clear in scripture of what it looks like when we say we love Him.

This Week’s Wisdom Vaccination

John 14:15 NET

“If you love me, you will obey my commandments.

Acts 5:29 NET

But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than people.

1 John 5:3 NET

For this is the love of God: that we keep his commandments. And his commandments do not weigh us down,

James 1:22 NET

But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves.

We find this constant theme of obedience to the one true God all throughout the scriptures.

So, now we know as you sit here today if you are in a relationship with God or if you have been deceived into thinking that you were.

Let’s get into today’s message.

Today we are celebrating our risen savior.

How actually do you celebrate someone?

We are going to look at a few ways today?

Today’s message title is:

How do I celebrate the savior of the world?

One way to celebrate someone is to meditate on something impactful they have done for you.

We can take a moment to meditate on Christ’s selfless act of death in our place.

(On our trip this week to Scottsdale, AZ Dr A and I had a moment with our hosts in which I had to meditate on probably the most impactful act of love I’ve ever received from anyone outside of Christ on the cross.)

It made me feel so much appreciation for her.

Before Christ rose from the dead, He allowed Himself to experience the most brutal injustice, and incredible pain.

And he did it all for you and me.

Luke 23:22 NET

A third time he said to them, “Why? What wrong has he done? I have found him guilty of no crime deserving death. I will therefore flog him and release him.”

Luke 23:23-25 NET

But they were insistent, demanding with loud shouts that he be crucified. And their shouts prevailed. 24 So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. 25 He released the man they asked for, who had been thrown in prison for insurrection and murder. But he handed Jesus over to their will.

Point #1

Give him a gift.

If you’re going to give someone a gift, wouldn’t it be good to either ask them what they would enjoy or know them well enough to surprise them.

(I’m batting about 50% on my last two surprises for my wife.)

What do you give someone who doesn’t need anything from you?

Jesus would love for you to give him the gift of witnessing to others.

Romans 1:16 NET

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Point #2

Do something for him.

If you want to do something for someone it’s best to ask them a simple question.

If I could do anything for you, what would you have me to do?

For some people that sounds like a scary question to ask of Jesus.

That’s because some people think that Jesus wants to make your life miserable, so if I ask him that he’ll probably ask me to do something I would never want to do.

That’s not how he operates.

And God doesn’t usually ask us to do anything until our hearts change.

(When I was a younger husband, I did things my wife asked because I felt obligated or knew it was the right thing to do.

As my heart grew towards her, I did things for her because I loved serving her in that way.)

There was a time in my life where God hadn’t asked me to serve Him in the capacity in which I do now because I would have thought that I’d never want to do something like this.

However, as my heart grew towards Him, when He brought this assignment to me, I accepted with no hesitation and quickly grew to love it.

Before we get to my last part for today, I want all of those who would like to participate, to join me in doing something for Christ today.

Let’s take communion together in his presence.

The scripture says:

1 Corinthians 11:26 NET

For every time you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

1 Corinthians 11:23-25 NET

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread,

24 and after he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

25 In the same way, he also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, every time you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

Point #3

Invite others to celebrate Him.

Ain’t nothing like being celebrated by a lot of people.

And who better to have thousands, millions, and billions of people celebrate than the savior of the world.

What can you do today and this week to invite others to celebrate our risen savior?

And not only to just celebrate him but also to join us in following him.

Pray for an opportunity to personally lead someone to follow Christ.

And then be ready.

1 Peter 3:15 NET

But set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess.

And once you have led someone to follow Christ, maintain contact with them.

They are now a new believer, and they will be dependent on a follower further along than them to guide them in this new relationship.

If you’re watching online or here in the building, I have a very important question to ask you.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you right now?