This is the Day

In case you haven’t been with us the whole time we are ending a sermon series entitled “Psalms for the Season”. We have been allowing the Psalms to speak to us and allow for us to become closer to God or reconnect with God. You are able to find our previous sermons on our Facebook page and YouTube Channel.

Today we focus on today because “This is the Day.” Our scripture comes from Psalm 118:1-2 and 14-24.

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. 2 Let Israel say: “His love endures forever.”

14 The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. 15 Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: “The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things! 16 The Lord’s right hand is lifted high; the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!” 17 I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done. 18 The Lord has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death. 19 Open for me the gates of the righteous; I will enter and give thanks to the Lord. 20 This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous may enter. 21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation. 22 The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 23 the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. 24 The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad.

Please pray with me…

This is the day. This is the DAY when everything changed for those that had been followers of Jesus. Friday was the day of dread and disappointment. The day in which they witnessed their rabbi, the one that they believed to be the Messiah, die upon a cross.

A day that would have led not only to doubts but also the belief that all of this time they had been tricked into following a false Messiah. Someone who could not be the one that the Jewish people had been waiting for.

That all changed on this day. We celebrate Easter because “this is the day” that made belief in Jesus as the Messiah possible. Jesus was not only able to heal, raise the dead, and speak with authority, he was able to conquer death. There was nothing on earth that Jesus was not able to do.

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We receive this message from Peter in our first reading. Jesus is no longer with the disciples. He has now arisen to join his Father in Heaven. We have Peter speaking to a group of people that were Gentiles, those that were not Jewish about this Jewish Messiah.

He had just previously received a sign from God that what the Jewish people had previously considered unclean by God, God has stated is clean. That was followed up with him being told to follow these men who had come to see him to the house of a man named Cornelius.

Peter reaches the house, enters the house, something he should not have done as someone who is Jewish, and takes the time to offer the story of Jesus to those in attendance. He begins with John the Baptist. He continues pointing out to these Gentiles that Jesus is the anointed one that the Jewish people had been waiting for.

He tells of how Jesus was given the Holy Spirit and power and used them both for good. He continues by making sure that they understood that what Jesus did was not hearsay to him. It was something that he had personally witnessed.

He continues by adding that they ended up killing Jesus by hanging him upon a cross. But this did not stop Jesus. God the Father raised Jesus from the dead three days later and again Peter was a witness to what had taken place.

He ends with the message given by Jesus before he ascended into Heaven. A message that the disciples were to spread the word about him. The disciples were to tell his story. The story of the Messiah to all of the nations.

Jesus isthe Messiah. The one who came not just to save the Jewish people but to save all people from sin and death. This is the same message that has been shared from generation to generation to us that believe today.

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Those of us here today have the same message to share with those around us. We may not be witnesses of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus but we have the words of those witnesses to share with those around us.

We also can witness to our own changed lives. We can witness to how we once were lost but now are found, we were blind but now we see. We have heard the word, and we decided to become followers of Jesus, and that this same opportunity is available to each person that walks the earth.

We havea message of peace, love, and hope. A message of a God that came down to earth to die for each person that walks the earth. A God that loves his creation so much that he wants each person to decide that they want to be a part of the family of God.

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We have the message of the Psalmist. The psalmist was a follower of God before Jesus. He was still awaiting for the Messiah but he is able to acknowledge God in the same manner that each one of us should be willing to acknowledge him. “He has become my salvation.”

Our text offers us ways that we should respond to the love offered to us by Jesus through what he did for us by dying on the cross in order to allow for us to have forgiveness of sins and eternal life. The wordwe find used by the Psalmist is glad.

The word glad in this context is referring for us to offer joy and jubilation. It is us not only acknowledging what God has done for us but also for us to respond with the joy that should be within us and allow that joy to be shown to the world.

We findfour ways that the psalmist has responded with gladness to what God has done for him. Four aspects of faith that we should also choose to focus on. They are for us to rely on God, recognize what he has done, let others know about him, and give thanks to God.

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We need to rely on God to be our strength, in 2 Corinthians we have Paul speak of the weakness he believed he had that he desired to have removed. He says that he received the following message from God, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Paul goes on to say that because of that message he “will boast all the more gladly about his weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on him.” He is “glad” to acknowledge his weakness. Paul knows that his strength comes from the Lord.

Paul is trusting in God. He believes that God is walking with him and helping him through both the good and bad times that he is facing. We have a God that is with us when we are struggling. We need to trust him to help us through all that takes place in our lives.

I know it seems like I mention it every week, but I believe it is so important. We have to be in communication with God. God can help us without our assistance. God knows what we are going through, but God wants us to decide that we want his help.

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God loves us enough that he doesn’t make us accept his help. We find this through the life of Jesus. If you look at the healings from Jesus, most of the time he seems to heal people the way that their faith allows for them to be healed.

Examples,pray and I will be healed. Pray and touch me and I will be healed. All I have to do is touch Jesus and I will be healed. These are just some of the times that we find healings taking place in the manner that the person requested to be healed.

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I know what you may be thinking, I have done this, and a healing didn’t take place. I cried out to God and my family member or friend is still suffering or has died. Where is God in these circumstances?

We will not always be able to tell how God is at work especially at that moment. I am not going to preach to you that all things are going to work out for good right away. What I am confident in saying to you is that God desires to be your strength through whatever circumstances that you are facing.

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We are able to receive help in trusting God when we are able to recognize what God has done for us. This can many times help us to overcome our doubts when it seems like God is not there. Remembering God at work in our own lives, in the lives of those around us, and through scripture can help us through our own struggles and doubts,

We find a great reminder of people trusting in God in Hebrews chapter 11 which offers what is sometimes called the “Hall of Faith.” It lists how individuals that we can find within scripture relied on God. It ends that they relied on God despite not receiving “what had been promised.”

They had been promised a land for them to live. A land flowingwith milk and honey. None of those listed every received that promise but that did not stop them from believing and following God.

We not only have their stories, but we also have what they were waiting for. We received the next promise. The Messiah. The Savior of the world. It was on this day that this became believable because of Jesus’ conquering death.

The church becomes a place where we can help prop up each other’s faith through the stories that each of us have. We can let those around us know about our Jesus stories which lets those around us know about how Jesus has changed our lives

We also are able to hear their stories. The church should be a place where we help each other remember and know how God has impacted our lives. The church should be a place where anyone who enters can hear about the impact that Jesus had on the people in the Christian community.

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We should be willing to not only share our stories within the church but to also let those around us outside of the church walls know about what the Lord has done. We have as the hymn goes “a story to tell to the nations”

Peter in our first reading is telling his story to those that God has placed before him. He tells them of what he personally witnessed by being one of Jesus’ disciples. He tells of how he witnessed Jesus after his death.

He includes that he and the other witnesses “ate and drank with him.” Peter wants to make sure they know that this was not some illusion. This was a real being that they interacted with in a personal way.

If we kept reading we would hear the results . Cornelius and his whole household end up being filled with the Holy Spirit and baptized. The story changed the lives of those that were there. God was at work through the words offered by Peter.

We might not be able to interact with Jesus in human form, but we do have God within us. We have the Holy Spirit who we can feel and follow to help us through our journey on earth. God never leaves us. God is always walking with us.

The disciples were told to share Jesus to those in “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” This should be a reminder to us that there is no one that God does not want us to share his story and our story with.

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God will often place before us people that need to hear our story specifically. Our life experiences will be able to impact them in such a way that it will cause them to want to know more about Jesus.

We need to be willing to trust in God. We need to believe that the Holy Spirit will help us with the words to say in such a way that will help a person decide that they need to know more about Jesus or are ready to give their life over to him

Our job isn’t to save someone. Our job is to share our story so that we can open the hearts of those around to what God desires. Our job is to help those God places before us to know that no matter what they have done or are doing that God desires to be in a relationship with them.

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The last way we show God that we appreciate the joy that he has given to us is to give thanks to him. We do this every Sunday through our singing and prayers here at Church of the Good Shepherd, but we also should be thanking God throughout the week.

We can do this through our time, our words, and our actions. We show God, we appreciate him by spending time with him. This would be what we are doing today and what we do throughout the week when we spend time with him.

We thank God through our words by letting others know about him and telling him that we appreciate him. We have this lived out on Palm Sunday when we have those early followers of Jesus singing Hosanna to the highest and stating for all to hear that Jesus is the Messiah.

We thank God through our actions by being willing to be the hands and feet of Jesus to those around us. Jesus becomes our example. He fed the hungry, he healed the sick, he showed love to the leper.

We might not be able to live this out in the same way Jesus did, but we have those around us that need us to show them the love of God. We have people in need in our communities. We show God we love him by helping them.

That may mean helping to serve at the produce distribution in our parking lot on the third Saturday of each month. It may mean seeing our neighbor struggling and finding ways to help. We might be someone that can listen and pray for the person that is struggling in their life.

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This is the day that the Lord has made. This is the day that Jesus rose from the grave and showed the world that he was the Messiah. We have a message to share with the nations a story of truth and mercy, a story of peace and light.

If you are not yet a follower of Jesus know that this message is for you. God loves you as you are. God desires to have you be in a relationship with him. You get to decide if you want someone in your life that will never leave you or forget about you. Someone who wants to offer you love, peace, and joy. All you have to do is ask for your sins to be forgiven and you can begin your journey with Jesus.

Those of us here today that do believe also have a decision to make. Are we going to be willing to share the message of Jesus with those around us? Let us decide today that we will tell those God places before us about the one who on “this day” conquered death.

Let us pray…