Easter Sunday 2019

“ The Grave is Empty”

Read and 20

Why the need for God in our Lives

Today one might look at his life and wonder why do I need God?

Because of the Void in us - a sense of emptiness , lacking something really important, missing out. Its like an inner desert. We don’t like it so we do things to fill it.

Philosophers and those who study human behavior all attest to the fact that this emptiness is a real thing. There are books written on it. Religions, Cults based on it They use Nothingness as a foundation.

“Michael Novak is an American Catholic philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat. He is George Frederick Jewett Scholar in Religion, Philosophy, and Public Policy at the American Enterprise Institute

Novak served as United States Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 1981 and 1982 and led the U.S. delegation to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in 1986.

In 1993 Novak was honored with an honorary doctorate degree at Universidad Francisco Marroquín] due to his commitment to the idea of liberty. In 1994 he was awarded the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion.”

“I need not to be afraid of the void. The void is part of my person. I need to enter consciously into it. To try to escape from it is to try to live a lie. It is also to cease to be. My acceptance of despair and emptiness constitutes my being; to have the courage to accept despair is to be.” ― Michael Novak, Experience of Nothingness

So according to the world’s philosophy we should embrace it and accept it as a fact of life.

Today we celebrate Easter and I hope to share with you what this means when it comes to the void within our souls.

The Bible confirms the existence of the void. It describes the moment it entered man!

Genesis 3:7 NKJV

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

Gene

Think about it it is because of our lack that we pursue so many things isn’t it?

I need more money… more things… I don’t have a house… I don’t have a friend a spouse… we lack and therefore we search… we search… we are all chasing happiness, contentment… we all are chasing life! we want it and we want a lot of it!

This pursuit in itself isn’t the issue. The truth is that we all lack! we all have wants and desires and needs!

Here are a couple of problems with our search

- We never get enough!

- We hurt ourselves and others in this pursuit!

All the things we are pursuing will they really fulfill us? Are the promises they make real? Can money really buy us happiness? Can having more things make me feel better about myself? A wife or husband or a partner really “complete us”. Love all we need is love John Lennon sang.

Are we just trying to fit in and cover ourselves up and hope no one really notices that we are naked! That our need is in fact so great that it blinds us. That our desires are so strong they control us.

The world says get used to it and live in it… do the best you can. Embrace the Grave! Embrace that which has been proven to not work....

How does God’s love for us work?

What are our options?

The world says embrace it!

What does God say about it?

He says its empty! why pursue fullness in a graveyard!

God says it doesn’t have to be like this anymore!

God faced off with this enemy of our soul and defeated It!

He said it is finished! He ended it once and for all!

Now when the emptiness hits us with betrayal, abandonment, lies, accusations, condemnation, mockery,

How does God’s love for us work?

It works because He paid our debt in full!

Therefore there is no legal claim against us!

You see what caused the void was sin! Jesus healed us from sin!

now we can be made whole.

Ephesians 1:7 NKJV

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace

Our debt has been paid!

It was not cheap.

Colossians 2:15 NKJV

Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

It is a victory that today Jesus wants to give to you and me!

There has been a disarming of the powers that once raged war against us! Jesus suffered all things so that He could bring us together with Him to a place of victory and fulfillment a place of life!

Romans 6

Romans 6:8–10 NKJV

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

Collossians 2:15

What does this mean? it means that the things that used to claim power over you no longer hold that power!

It means all the accusations against you have been removed and deleted! never to be brought up again by God.

It means all things are new! all things are possible! you are free!

You are free to live!

there is a warning though, don’t go back! Connect with other believers and start moving forward and discovering what this means to your life now.

God wants us to remain in Him and not to fall back into our previous graves!

So this is what God offers!

To eliminate the grave! the emptiness! no more grave… no more death!

Fullness of life!

How do we step out of the grave?

Believe what your just heard about Jesus!

open yourself to a new connection with Jesus

Connect with Him now with your heart mind and soul

Jesus want to begin to download into you life!

Connect with others to help you on your journey.

Let’s Pray!

For God so loved the world that He gave Jesus to pay our debt and defeat our enemies.

For God so loved the world that He gave Jesus to pay our debt and defeat our enemies.

The Love of God emptied the Grave!

Jesus was betrayed

Jesus was disowned 3 times by Peter

Jesus was abandoned by His disciples

The Love of God for us emptied the grave!

Isaiah 43:1–2 NKJV

But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.

Isaiah 43:1-2