Experiencing the Passion

Easter Weekend

April 10th and 11th 2004

-Easter is a time when we set aside for the most part the principles and side issues and focus on the heart of Christianity: JESUS.

-He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died and was raised from the dead.

-He ascended into heaven with His physical body and today there is a man in heaven; the one mediator between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus.

Max Lucado Story

Max Lucado tells a story about a girl in a ceramic shop with all of those signs; if you break it you bought it. This ten year old girl drops something and the father walks in just as the girl is about to burst into tears and the shop owner looks very frustrated. The father sees the sign and the two of them standing there and says; “how much do we owe you?” That is a great picture of what happened for us and what Easter is all about.

-I hope you have had the chance to see the movie, “The Passion”. It is a graphic illustration of the price Jesus paid for us.

-I want to focus this week end on experiencing the whole passion and resurrection event.

-Think about the fact that the Easter event of some 2000 years ago changed earth forever.

-Time is marked around A.D. and B.C. His life and death split earth into before and after.

-We are those who live on this side of Easter. History is really “His Story”.

-Amazingly 2000 years later His story is being debated on CNN and other networks. Easter/Jesus has been on the cover of U.S. News/ Time/ Newsweek recently.

-Instead of just thinking about the events, let’s go a step further and check our lives to make sure we are experiencing the benefits He paid so much to get to us.

1. Experiencing (accepting) pure love

-Creation shows the hand of God but Easter really shows His heart.

Romans 5 LB

/6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, no one is likely to die for a good person, though someone might be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.[1] /

-We need to meditate on what Jesus did as He demonstrated His attitude towards us.

-Possibly the greatest thing that can happen to you is to fully realize that God loves you, really.

-Your perspective of your value goes up tremendously when you realize that Jesus gave His life and literally went into the grave so you wouldn’t be separated from God.

Matthew 27

42 /“He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! [2] /

-It is amazing that one of the religious leaders who were mocking Jesus laid out the options as they existed for Jesus;

· Save others

· Save yourself

-Jesus chose to save others instead of Himself.

-We need to fight those feelings of unworthiness and receive God’s love.

-He doesn’t just talk about it; He died to prove it.

-Just being around people you can see how much people need to know they are loved.

-I sometimes see little children and think; they just need someone to be nice to them and tell them they are important.

-That’s what moves the heart of God when He thinks about us. He wants us to know we are valuable.

Prayer to experience and receive God’s love

2. Experience Complete Forgiveness

Not long before she died in 1988, in a moment of surprising candor in television, Marghanita Laski, one of our best-known secular humanists and novelists, said, "What I envy most about you Christians is your forgiveness; I have nobody to forgive me."

John Stott in The Contemporary Christian

There's a Spanish story of a father and son who had become estranged. The son ran away, and the father set off to find him. He searched for months to no avail. Finally, in a last desperate effort to find him, the father put an ad in a Madrid newspaper. The ad read: Dear Paco, meet me in front of this newspaper office at noon on Saturday. All is forgiven. I love you. Your Father. On Saturday 800 Pacos showed up, looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers.

Bits & Pieces, October 15, 1992, pp. 13.

In A Forgiving God in an Unforgiving World, Ron Lee Davis retells the true story of a priest in the Philippines, a much- loved man of God who carried the burden of a secret sin he had committed many years before. He had repented but still had no peace, no sense of God's forgiveness.

In his parish was a woman who deeply loved God and who claimed to have visions in which she spoke with Christ and he with her. The priest, however, was skeptical. To test her he said, "The next time you speak with Christ, I want you to ask him what sin your priest committed while he was in seminary." The woman agreed. A few days later the priest asked., "Well, did Christ visit you in your dreams?"
"Yes, he did," she replied.
"And did you ask him what sin I committed in seminary?"
"Yes."
"Well, what did he say?"
"He said, 'I don't remember'"
What God forgives, He forgets.

David H. Bolton.

Karl Menninger, the famed psychiatrist, once said that if he could convince the patients in psychiatric hospitals that their sins were forgiven, 75 percent of them could walk out the next day!

Today in the Word, March 1989, p. 8.

-We were not created to live in guilt.

-When you and I receive Jesus Christ we submit to the greatest cleansing force in the universe; THE BLOOD OF JESUS.

Hebrews 9

14 /How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, b so that we may serve the living God! [3]/

Hebrews 10

22 /let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. [4] /

-You can experience the forgiveness that brings peace to your heart.

-Jesus paid for that sin. It should be paid for twice.

-Accept forgiveness.

3. Experience Ultimate Wholeness

-In other words, receive restoration and healing because Jesus didn’t just die to get you out of the ditch; He died to get you going again on the road to your destiny.

-The Psalm says; “He restores my soul..”

-This is letting God bring healing, hope and restoration to you.

-What is your dream? Where is your hope?

Jeremiah 29

11 /For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. b I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”[5]/

-The Israelites were in Babylonian captivity and it seemed hopeless. That is the context in which He said, I HAVE A FUTURE AND HOPE FOR YOU. I HAVE PLANS FOR YOU.

-This isn’t just healing but the restoration of hope.

-Remember the song, “Because He lives I can face tomorrow.”

-Since Jesus was raised from the dead He jerked our future from the garbage can.

4. Experience Eternal Life

-Because Jesus tasted death for us we are cured from spiritual death.

John 11

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

/27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, b the Son of God, who was to come into the world.” [6]/

Revelation 1

17 /When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. [7]/

Acts 1

46 /He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. [8] /

Prayer

“Dear God, I believe Jesus was who He claimed to be-Your Son, and I believe He proved it by rising from the dead. Jesus, thank you for dying for me on the cross. I realize that only your love could save me and I accept your free gift of salvation. I want to get to know You and follow Your plan for my life. As much as I know how I give my life to you. Amen

free video/water baptism in May 1st and 2nd-class before service then baptized

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[1]Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 1997 (Ro 5:5). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House.

[2]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Mt 27:42). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

b Or from useless rituals

[3]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Heb 9:14). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

[4]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Heb 10:22). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

b Or will restore your fortunes

[5]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Je 29:11). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

b Or Messiah

[6]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Jn 11:25). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

[7]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Re 1:17). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

[8]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Lk 24:46). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.