Easter 2017 Service

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The Significance of the Resurrection

Today we gather to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ! But as always it is important to recognize that my voice and this service is being heard by people who are at many different points of their spiritual journey. This morning I look out and see both many familiar faces and also many new faces. For some this day has been a yearly occurrence that has a marked significance. For others you attend this gathering because that is what you do as a “Christian” and for others you come here today because someone invited you and either out of respect or the hope that this will get them off your back you are here today!

The reality is that we gather here today for many reasons and we come from varying backgrounds and life experiences but here we are in this moment together!
Separate containers but for a moment being poured into a single vessel illustration.
The story of Jesus that starts in the opening pages of the book of Genesis where God’s children choose to step out of a God designed relationship for the promise of a better, higher evolved more like God relationship. For those that may not know the creation story the short version is this. Mankind listens to false news and ends up violating the design and their covenant with God. The story of God’s love, grace and pursuit of a fallen mankind runs throughout the 5 books of the Torah or (the Pentateuch) with the promise of a coming Messiah that would redeem God’s creation.
The story of the history of God’s chosen people through the decedents of Abraham within the 39 books of the Old Testament weave together many people’s journey over thousands of years with a common tread at the base of every story. That common tread was a belief that there was a bigger picture and a future that could not be defined by the the number of years we lived upon this beautiful blue spinning planet. The storyline of the Old Testament challenges us to consider that even our intellect and humanity itself could not be contained within this one fragile and limited life, but that we were made no we were designed for a thing called eternity!
But as the story continues through the Old Testament we hear echoes of this eternal design through the voices of prophets.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be xupon4 his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace
aEverlasting Father, Prince of cPeace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
As the storyline of God’s promise to redeem mankind reappears on the pages of the four accounts of the birth, life death and resurrection, the Good News is proclaimed. This promised redeemer emerges from the unseen realm of eternity and invades this world with a truth and a light that cannot and will not be denied!
John 1:14 ESV
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(ESV)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
This redeemer, the promised Messiah would become flesh like you and I and He would dwell among us. He would experience the full depth of
:14
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
This redeemer, the promised Messiah would become flesh like you and I and He would dwell among us. He would experience the full depth of pain and suffering that a fallen mankind could give.
The story of Jesus is the most documented and told story of anyone who ever lived yet scripture depicts Jesus’s disposition in
who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
ESV
who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
All the stories of the Old Testament culminate in the promised Messiah, Jesus who came out of eternity to couple humanity’s story to the bigger picture!
The God we come here to celebrate is a relentless God who has never given up on His plan for you and I! He has determined to have faith in us even when we are far from Him. He is committed to the covenant and He made a way for us to reenter the covenant relationship. That was accomplished by the completed work of Jesus. His virgin birth ensuring a pure bloodline, His sinless life ensured a spotless sacrificial lamb who’s blood satisfied the requirements of the Law and placed us in right standing with a Holy and Just God!
This week I studied again the 3 stages of the cross:
The first representing the suffering of Christ (Purple)
(ESV)
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,
The second representing Jesus’s willful death (Black)
(ESV)
And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.
No one took His life! Jesus gave His life for you and I so that we could once again have a hope that was bigger than this life and a future that has been secured not based upon our works but upon God’s Grace! Grace that was poured out on a cross, Grace that was given freely not on merit! Grace that is beyond our human comprehension!
Grace that allows for our past but gives a future not defined by our past!
Grace that gives us Joy even when our current season of life is full of pain!
Grace that give a future that is beyond our imagination because eternity is not yet within our understanding!
But the story does not end on the cross and I want you to know that if you are sitting there and you do not know this Jesus I am talking about--- you may think this is all there is and it does not have to end like this! There is more and God has brought you to this place today so that your story could become part of a much bigger story!
Ephesians1: 18-20 ESV
having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
The story did not end on the cross and it did not end in the grave!
The third stage of the cross represents the resurrection!
The story of Jesus’s resurrection is where true life is found for all those who believe because without the resurrection there is no hope.
12 But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? 13 For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. 15 And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. 16 And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. 18 In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! 19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.
And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
20 But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.
Some would say that this Good News is all about some man’s way of controlling people for their own selfish gain!
Tell that to the Apostles who were all punished and most even died for this believe of a resurrected Jesus! As did Paul and many of the early church leaders.
No the empty cross and then the empty tomb are signs given to us so that we can have a Hope that can not be taken from us no matter what we are facing!
(ESV)
Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
It is the resurrected Jesus who now intercedes on our behalf! It is the resurrection that says there is hope for you and I!
(ESV)
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
So my question to you on this resurrection Sunday is do you believe? Today I have spoken the life giving words of the Good News and now no one in the sound of my voice if you have the ability of understanding can be silent nor stand on the sidelines of Life! God’s Spirit has lead you to this place and He has keep you and drawn you to this moment!
God is asking us all--- some for the first time--- to allow this simple truth to transform who we are from the inside out!
For those that do not know Jesus as their Savior and Lord this can be your resurrection moment when you are transferred from being spiritually dead -- because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God into the Kingdom of God where you by Grace are called a child of the living God!
But it is not the words you say that seal you in your confession of faith, It is the Spirit of God who seals you
It is the Spirit of God who seals you and becomes a
NET
And when you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation)—when you believed in Christ—you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit, who is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of his glory.
I would like us all to say these words but I do ask that you would raise your hand so that we can celebrate with you after we pray together.
Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner --- and I repent and I ask for Your forgiveness --- I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead---- I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my life. I commit to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. In Jesus’s Name.
Amen.
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