Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

It’s Easter WE and we are looking at how the resurrection changed everything.

33 AD - 120 followers of Jesus.

Started with the 12 and grew to 120

Today - 2.3 billion followers of Jesus.

1/3 of the world is Christian

1 out of 3 people

The Christian Church is largest organization on the planet.

Larger than USA, Europe and China combined.

The Christian Church is the Largest Organization on the Planet

It speaks more languages than the United Nations and is in more nations.

It’s the biggest thing on the planet.

What Happened?

How did 12 disciples turn into 1/3 of the world?

How did the Christian Faith become bigger than China, Europe and USA combined?

The Resurrection of Jesus.

The resurrection changed everything.

No other event in history has impacted the world like the resurrection.

Here is whats amazing.

Jesus never

wrote a book, but more have been written about him than any other subject in history

composed a song, but more songs have been written about him than all the others combined.

built a building, but more architecture has been built in his honor than all others… churches, cathedrals, schools, orphanages, hospitals, universities...

drew a picture, but 2,000 years of art have been dedicated to him

never traveled more than 200 miles from his hometown, but you can find his followers in every corner of the world.

Everything is referred to as either AD or BC on the event of the resurrection… your birthday, anniversary.

Today is April 16, 2017.

2017 years after the resurrection of Jesus.

Don’t talk about separation of Church and state.

How Did Christianity Grow so Fast and so Far from 12 Disciples?

How did it go from 12 to 2.3 billion?

What made the first Christians so contagious?

They carried the Gospel!

Good News

We are going to look at what makes the Good News… Good News.

What is it about the Gospel that 1/3 of the planet follows Jesus?

Our culture would lead you to believe that we are more sophisticated and don’t need the crutch of Christianity anymore, but there are more followers of Jesus Christ than there are stupid people in our culture that say that.

What Jesus did 2017 years ago on the cross and in the resurrection proved He was the SOG.

He split history in half and this event gives you and great benefits.

The First Benefit of the Resurrection is,

1. YOU DON’T HAVE TO LIVE WITH GUILT AND SHAME ANYMORE

Jesus paid the price for your sins so you don’t have to keep trying to pay it yourself.

FACT - most people carry a load of guilt and shame and regret.

They carry this load because we are all imperfect and we make mistakes and we sin.

If I gave you time, you could probably make a list as long as you knew no-one would ever see it.

Guilt, Shame and Regret Will Rob You of Peace of Mind

God never intended for you and I to carry that kind of a load.

That’s why he sent Jesus to take away that guilt, shame and regret.

Jesus gives you the opposite… clear conscience, peace of mind and courage.

GOOD NEWS - You can be Free from Shame and Forgiven from Guilt.

Freedom and Forgiveness are 2 great benefits of the Resurrection.

Freedom and Forgiveness are the First Benefits of the Resurrection

We are Free and We are Forgiven.

Tell the Story

Because Jesus was popular they had to arrest him at night.

So they arrested him at night and then they took him through six sham trials.

Three religious trials and three Roman trials.

Jesus went to Annas and then he went to Caiaphas and then he went to the religious supreme court then he went to Pilate and then he went to Herod and then he went back to Pilate who was the Roman governor of Israel at that time, or Palestine.

None of those trials were legal because it was illegal to have a night trial.

But they were rushing this thing through.

They wanted to persecute and prosecute and then they wanted to execute Jesus.

After six trials, do you know what they found Jesus guilty of?

Nothing.

Nothing, because he hadn’t done anything.

So they actually had to pay some phony witnesses to come in and trump up charges against Jesus.

They made up these charges but you know what happened?

Those paid witnesses contradicted each other, so they still didn’t have a case.

They had nothing to hang on Jesus.

Finally, they made one accusation that stuck… because it was true.

“He Claims to be the SOG.”

They were right because Jesus claimed to be the SOG.

Jesus was sentenced to death… by crucifixion.

Crucifixion was brutal… bloody and gory and torturous.

Before the Crucifixion, Jesus went through enormous physical abuse.

They kept him up all night… Blind folded him and mocked him… beat him… spit on him… plucked his beard out… they would ask who hit you....

Jesus could have named them, their fathers and their grandfathers all the way back to Adam if he wanted to… he created them.

But the Bible said he did not speak a word to them.

Then they agreed that he was a king and made him a crown of thorns… They then crushed it down on his skull causing great pain and bleeding.

Then the Bible says they flogged Him (Luke 23:16).

They used a whip with long strings of leather with bone, rock or glass tied into the strips so that it ripped the flesh off of anyone being beaten.

By Roman law, you could not beat someone more than 40 times because they would bleed to death.

If they beat you more than 40 times, the law said the person giving the beating got the same beating and that’s why they usually only beat someone 39 lashes.

39 lashes X 9 strands each = 351 wounds on his body.

Then they gave Jesus a heavy cross to carry up the hill where they were going to kill him… Golgotha or Calvary.

As he is carrying this heavy cross he is weak from the loss of blood and lack of sleep, and from the tortures he has endured… so he stumbles.

They Roman Soldiers look into the crowd for a strong person to help Jesus and pick a man named Simon from North Africa to help.

Simon was a Black man.

I think it’s profound that God chose a black man for the privilege of helping Jesus.

God hates racism and prejudice… I do too.

They bring Jesus to the Hill and lay him down on the cross.

They nail his hands and feet to the cross… legs bent so he could push up to breath which extended the torture.

Without that, he would have died quicker because he would not be able to breath out while hanging from his arms.

So by nailing he feet to the cross, when a person could not breath, they would push up with their legs causing incredible pain.

Once his feet hurt too bad, he would lower himself down until he could not longer breath and then push back up…

Death on the cross usually took days and was the worst torturous way to kill someone.

Jesus dies pretty quickly so to make sure he was dead, the pushed a spear though his heart.

Why Would Jesus go Through the Crucifixion?

He did if for you and for me.

ON the cross in all of that pain, Jesus wasn’t thinking of himself, he was thinking of you.

Let me ask you....