Sermon Tone Analysis

Happy Resurrection Morning!

If you visiting us today… we are so glad that you are with us this morning… we hope that you feel welcomed and appreciated.

I am also excited to have my family joining us this year .... visiting from the UK..

This is so special… we get to Eat breakfast together with church family and friends and then..… as we gather together … to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus....

lets have a start with a little time of confession … Have you ever got a speeding fine?

Well... a number of years ago on a 4th ofJuly weekend we went up to Lake Almonor for the weekend… and it is really beautiful up there… And Pam want us to stop on the side of the road so she could take a photograph of this stunning view…of Mt.

Lassen.

But, to be honest I was reluctant to pull over - and so at subconscious level instead of slowing down - I started to speed up… The next minute I look in my review mirror and there are blue lights flashing behind me and I get pulled over … and sure enough I receive a speeding fine… I look over and there is Pam as cool as cucumber --- she says nothing.... pulls out her camera and takes a picture of Mt.

Lassen..

We both got something that day “Pam has this stunning picture of Mt Lassen… and I got to pay for it..”

Easter is a great reminder… it’s a kind of notification to all of us… .its a reminder that it is easy bet so busy that we go into auto pilot mode... and instead of slowing down we just keep speeding up.

I get it life is full of responsibilities and pressures --- but how we navigate through life is so important…

One of my mentors Dr. Rod Cooper would quote this old Greek proverb that says, "The bow that is always bent will soon break."

In other words...If we are always under pressure and never have opportunity to release or let go, will soon break into a million pieces.

You and I were not designed to carry this kind of pressure… we need to understand the difference between doing and being in life.. finding Balance....

The Easter message beckons us to stop, to a pause and to consider Christ… …Heb 3:1 tells us…“Consider Jesus, the apostle and the high priest of our confession.”

Jesus came on a mission… and that was to fulfill the Fathers will - As your read the gospel account of the life of Jesus… one of the things that is apparent is that Jesus is living according to a Divine timetable… There is definite intentionality..

There were some things He did not do because the was not yet time…for example … when the disciples went to Jerusalem to celebrate passover in John 7:8… Jesus actually stays behind in Galilee- Jesus says to his disciples.

As Jesus earthly ministry comes to a conclusion.. …He becomes more focused on going to Jerusalem - The bible say that he fixed his eyes on going to Jerusalem.

Jesus organizes and orchestrates His triumphal entry into Jerusalem…..

He is on A DiVINE TIME TABLE…

In John 17. Jesus prays for himself, his disciples and for all those believers who were to follow....

He prays that in these final moments as he is being Glorified… that God would be Glorified…

Jesus Addresses His Father… He is in total sync with the Fathers will and he prays, “the hour has arrived”… this a moment of God’s sending and commission intersecting as Jesus displays his obedience and wiliness to do Fathers bidding.

He had already agonized in the garden… He had already prayed to the Father, if you are willing , remove this cup from me.

Nevertheless, not my will but your will be done.”

Now, was that moment to serve and to give his life was at hand..

Jesus prays that the son would now be glorified...

The word glory is used eight times in this prayer, so it is an important theme.

This word Glory means to positively acknowledge, recognize ones character, nature or attributes.

In the cross we are going to the Brilliance of God… the attributes…of God… Here is something that we learn about God… That the way the Godhead works is that they are continually uplifting and glorifying one another…

What is going to bring Glory to God is not the execution of the Cross itself but the accomplishment of the cross.

That the purpose of cross… that is through his death and resurrection.

“They may know.... the only true God”

T/s There are three implications of Easter - we are going to touch on this morning..

1. God has a ROAD MAP for Life

We all have a certain grid or context from which we view life, and this reference point influences virtually every decision we make.

Stephen Covey, in his best-selling book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, said that paradigms are like road maps that lead us in a particular direction.

Each of us has many, many maps in our head [and] we interpret everything we experience through these mental maps.

We seldom question their accuracy; we’re usually even unaware that we have them.

We simply assume that the way we see things is the way they really are or the way they should be.

And our attitudes and behaviors grow out of these assumptions.

The way we see things is the source of the way we think and the way we act.…

Paradigms are powerful because they create the lens through which we see the world.

(Palmer, S., & Palmer).

The world that Paul lived in was influenced by the road Map of fatalism.

Greco Roman culture they believed that everything that happen in life is result of fate… It is the belief that events in life are fixed by fate are unchangeable by any type of human agency.

In other words, humans can not alter their own fates or the fates of others.

Ray Johnson wrote the hope quotient.. say there is a major problem with this world view - is it replaces HOPE with DISCOURAGEMENT...It replaces confidence with cynicism.

Fatalism say, "Things will never change!"

What makes Christianity different from other religions is this idea…that God has a plan and a purpose for our lives… God says to the prophet Jeremiah… That he knew him before he was even formed in the womb… before he was twinkle in his mothers eye…

God has this blue Print for him to be a prophet to the nations.

The word KNEW.. is Yada… is more than intellectual knowledge…its personal knowledge… it’s a marriage word… where someone knows you with all good attributes and all your flaws..God is not surprised by anything that happens…

T/s We have this Road map in the Bible called prophecy....

The Bible is comprised of prophecy and fulfilment - Church father Augustine who coined the well-known saying, "The Old is in the New revealed; the New is in the Old concealed."

Scholars tell us that there are more than 300 prophecies that were fulfilled in the life of Christ… From his birth to his death and resurrection.. Starting in Genesis the Adamic covenant - with the seed of the woman that is going to crush the head of the serpent.... Abrahamic covenant that promise

We have the prophecies in Isaiah 53 of the suffering servant who was wound for our transgression - bruised for our iniquity the chastisement that we deserved was upon him and by his stripes we are healed… Psalm 22 begins with the word

Hosea makes reference to a third day resurrection.

Jesus himself — predicts his Death and resurrection.

As they are heading toward Jerusalem… Jesus began prepares his disciples for what is going to happen.. Jesus said..

Jesus tells his disciples that would put on trial by the religious leaders and would be handed over to the Gentiles.. who will Mock him and Kill Him… But he also tell them that on the Third day he would Rise from the Dead.

WHY WOULD JESUS PREDICT HIS OWN DEATH AND RESURRECTION?

SIMPLY GOD HAS A PLAN… there is as plan - Prophecy is the Road map…you have the movement of scripture from point A - B. It is not a straight line… but what you see is that all of prophecy POINTS to a BIGGER PLAN..

The implication is that God has a plan for your and my life.

The two greatest days in a person's life are the day he was born and the day he finds out why he was born.

The Christian thinker Francis Schaeffer said…

Man, made in the image of God, has a purpose — to be in relationship to God, who is there.

Man forgets his purpose and thus he forgets who he is and what life means.

The Implications of Resurrection that...1.

God has a ROAD MAP for Life

2. God cares about our Doubts

One thing that the resurrection teaches us… Is that God cares deeply for the Skeptic… The disciple Thomas was not around when Jesus first appears to the disciples and so when they say to him “We have seen the Lord.”

He is skeptical… He Doubts.. and he makes quite the statement.

Eight days later Jesus appears to the disciples… and he appears to the disciples and he addresses Thomas — Put your fingers here… and see my hands…put out your hand in my side… Do you still disbelieve.. Thomas answer… MY LORD AND MY GOD… (personal savior — and God)

Lets look at this for a moment… We need to be intelligent about matters of Faith..The crucifixion is not what makes the life of Jesus unique and unusual.

There have been 1000’s of martyrs who have been willing to lay down their lives… for a cause and we are not just talking about Christianity.

We have modern day radical… Jehad… Was Jesus a radical?

Here is what sets Jesus apart ---Jesus died, was buried and then on easter Sunday He rose again.

If you look at all the religions in the world… Muhammad lived and he died, Buddha lived and he died… Confucius lived his life and he DIED… Jesus lived died and then rose from the dead...

When two Mary’s and the other woman arrive at the tomb that first easter morning, we are told that the stone was rolled away and the tomb was empty..

Over the last couple of centuries scholars have questioned the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus.

They have come up with various theories why the tomb was empty.. Quickly sumarize

Some have argued that the women and disciples went to the wrong tomb.

BUT here is the problem with this argument is that the Jewish leadership could have presented the corpse of Jesus in response to the proclamation of the resurrection.

Surely they knew the location of the tomb.

Another proposed alternative is that the disciples stole the body of Jesus.

Again there is a problem with this theory..

It is highly unlikely that the disciples would have stolen the body and thereby inventing a story for which they were willing to suffer persecution and martyrdom.

Still others contend that Jesus never really died on the cross but He merely “swooned” and later in the coolness of the tomb revived enough to escape.

This proposal fails to take seriously the severe beatings Jesus endured, the horrific process of crucifixion, the recognition by a centurion that He was dead (Mark 15:39), as well as the piercing of His side to confirm His death (John 19:32–34).

Some scholars have compared the resurrection appearances to hallucinations.

That those who saw Jesus - However, the NT gives evidence of appearances in various places to numerous people, even 500 at one time (1 Cor.

15:6).

This proposal also fails to acknowledge that the disciples were psychologically unprepared for the resurrection and actually disbelieved the initial reports.

The evidence in favor of the historicity of the bodily resurrection of Jesus is very strong.

The evidence for the empty tomb is weighty.

First, the story of the empty tomb is found in all four Gospels and is implicit in the early church’s proclamation of the resurrection.

How could they preach the bodily resurrection of Jesus if everyone in Jerusalem knew that His body was still in the tomb?

Second, it is difficult to believe that the early church would have fabricated the story of the resurrection and then made women the first witnesses to the empty tomb and the resurrection, since women were not considered reliable witnesses in Jewish culture (illustrated by the disciple’s response to them).

Third, something incredible must have taken place on that Sunday to cause Jewish believers to begin worshiping on the first day of the week instead of the Sabbath (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor.

16:2; Rev. 1:10).