He's Still Alive & Available

Prefer the Stars

Sara and I love Broadway shows, musicals.

She’s seen a few on Broadway. That’s the major leagues.

Best I’ve seen is in Chicago. Wicked.

I can’t compare it to Broadway, but still, really good.

I didn’t grow up w/ shows like this. And, wasn’t much of a fan when we were first married.

I took Sara for her birthday to see Phantom in Ft. Worth, the Bass Theater. My first and I was hooked.

I had no idea talented people could tell such a moving story w/ music. Phenomenal

I’m getting a little culture in my old age.

South Bend has a Theater. We saw Le Mis there. The talent level not on par w/ Chicago, Ft. Worth, but still very good.

Last year we saw Aladdin at the Gammage in PHX.

I would have loved to see Will Smith play the genie, still they guy who played him was very good.

I don’t have a great ear for these things, but I understand those who do can tell the difference.

When you show up in South Bend, you know it’s going t/b good. Not Broadway good, but good.

When you show up to Broadway, you expect better than South Bend.

Sometimes when you show up, there’s a note in the Playbill that an understudy will be performing that night. Maybe the regular, the star, isn’t feeling well, or just needs a night off.

I’ve never been disappointed in the performance of an understudy. But, if you are looking forward to the star, it’s a little disappointing.

Musicals not so much. Baseball, I get.

Spring training games you know what to expect. The early innings you’ll see mostly major leaguers. Late in the game they put in triple A and double A players to get some reps.

Still really good players. Just not the stars.

When we go to Chase Field to see the D-backs play during the season we expect to see the ace pitchers and the star hitters.

It’s disappointing to find out they are unavailable, injured, or just taking the night off.

If you’re directing a Broadway play managing a major league baseball team you want your best out there b/c of what they can do.

You’re not going to sit the stars on the sideline and play the understudies or minor leaguers if the stars are available.

And it’s doubly disappointing to go watch and find out the stars are available and can perform but they are not getting to play.

If you are responsible for the broadway play that is your life, or responsible for the team that’s playing out the season that is your life, why would you not put the best ppl in their best positions?

Every person has throne room and a throne in their life. And we get to choose who sits in the throne in that room.

Why would we choose anybody other than the star, other than the best person available? Why would we settle for an understudy or a minor leaguer?

If He isn’t available, that’s one thing. but if He is sitting on the sideline ready to go, why wouldn’t you put Him in that position?

Today is Easter. He Is Risen!

Almost 2 thousand years ago Jesus walked out of His tomb. It’s still empty.

He ascended to Heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

First, did that really happen?

Then, is that it? Is that all He did and does?

No.

Jesus came to life and is still alive.

When He sat down next to His Father He made Himself available to us to sit on the throne that is in our throne room and be the star of the show that is our life, to be the ace of the staff of the team that leads our life.

Why would we put anybody else in that position, including ourselves?

If we leave Him on the sideline it’s as if we believe he really didn’t come to life or He’s too busy or doesn’t care.

If He was still dead, it’d be impossible.

If He were unavailable, unable, too busy, preoccupied it would be one thing.

But, He’s not.

He is still alive, available, and able for us to take off the sideline put in the most important position in our lives to lead us thru this difficult situation and every circumstance we will ever find ourselves in.

We just have to put Him in.

The resurrection story I’m going to read comes from .

Remember, if the events described in didn’t happen, then the events of don’t really matter.

In fact, none of the rest of the bible matters.

Did it really happen? Did Jesus really come back to life and walk out of His tomb?

Here’s what Matthew wrote about that day.

Did it Happen?

If it didn’t happen then let’s just stop now. It’s not worth going on.

But there is strong evidence in this passage that proves it’s true.

No one who was there, who saw it happen, would make this story up.

To begin w/, Matthew, raised as a traditional Jew, but rejected b/c he became a tax man.

if he were making it up, hoping to influence traditional Jews, non-practicing Jews, Gentiles, or anyone else, he never would have written that women were the first to recognize and tell the men that Jesus was alive.

Traditionally, their report would have fallen on deaf ears.

The women’s report

Matthew 28:1–10 NIV

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

Matthew 28:1-

In c.1, a woman’s word was not considered reliable. A woman could not testify in court.

And, certainly, life-changing decisions were never made based on the word of a woman.

If Matthew was afraid the movement would end because their leader was killed, he never would have made this story up.

As if: Jesus is dead, afraid the movement would die w/ Him, he and the others would lose their influence, they had already left their careers and families to follow Jesus.

Some had been tortured and imprisoned.

If he were making this story up to save what little momentum they had left, then the first to discover Jesus’ empty tomb would have been influential men. Not even the fisherman who were part of the cause.

Something had to be at work in the lives of the men they told to go to Galilee otherwise they would not have obeyed the women.

Then, there were the guards. The 2 men were the equivalent of our Navy Seals or Army Rangers.

Their report is equally as convincing that these events actually happened.

The guard’s report

Matthew 28:11–15 NIV

While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

Matthew 28:11-15

2 highly trained, well-qualified soldiers ran away when the women showed.

Well, it wasn’t the women that scared them away.

The story they agreed to tell amounted to admitting to a capital offense.

If the disciples really did sneak past the guards while they slept to steal the body then these 2 would be put to death for dereliction of duty.

There’s no way they would have agreed to this unless the truth was a greater threat.

As far as the disciples, would they have stolen the body?

Chuck Colson, of Watergate Fame in the 70s, says this episode is a major reason why he came to faith during that whole sorry scene.

12 men concocted a lie to cover up their break in into democrat national headquarters to help get Richard Nixon re-elected.

Under the threat of prison, these men could not maintain their lie for just a few days. They all cracked, confessed and changed their story.

In the disciples case, 12 men told a remarkable story up to their death, in all cases but one a brutal, martyrdom death.

None of them changed one detail about their story of witnessing Jesus’ resurrection. They did not steal his body nor did they know anything about its whereabouts beyond his ascension to heaven.

Eye-witnesses, under the threat of death, maintained their story to their grave.

It happened just as it is reported by Matthew and these eye-witnesses.

So what? So what it happened. Well, then there’s Jesus’ report.

Jesus’ report

Matthew 28:18–20 NIV

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28:

You know the Great Commission. As you go, as you live your life, invite ppl to join you in your walk w/ Jesus.

But what I want to focus on is what Jesus says next:

“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

If He was dead, what’s the point?

If He’s too busy, unavailable, unable, so what?

What did that mean? He’d be w/ us all the way to the end of the age.

Is He just watching from the sideline? Too busy w/ the universe and creation to care about us as individuals?

Is He available?

Is He able?

He’s alive, available, and able.

This is why it matters to us that He walked out of his tomb that day and is available for each of us today.

Let’s look at 4 reasons why it matters that we invite Him in to play a starring role in our lives.

Why it Matters

He is the head of His body. And, He is building His body.

Every new member gets everything Jesus offers.

Here are 4 things we get, 4 reasons it matters that Jesus is alive, available, and able play a starring role in our life.

Every member:

Gets a new life

Romans 6:4–5 NIV

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.

This new life we get begins at the moment of faith and never ends.

No matter how our situation may change on earth or in heaven this new life goes on forever.

With it, comes all the fruit of the spirit and all the power to use them to their potential.

We gain the ability to break old habits, beat strongholds, and be completely fulfilled and satisfied in life.

Nothing needs to take us down ever again b/c Jesus took us up when we became a member of His body.

2nd, every member

Every member

Gets changed

Ephesians 5:25–27 NIV

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

Ephesians 5:26 NIV

to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,

The churchy word is sanctified. What it means is we change.

We change from the inside out. Not just appearances, but in fundamental ways.

I remember vividly the night I came to faith I was different. I was 17. The change was real and permanent and just beginning.

Now, here I am 43 years later and nobody would recognize me if they saw me them.

I thought I had changed more than I had that night. What I realize now is the stage was set for the changes to continue until Jesus is done and I’m standing in His presence.

Had he laid all the necessary changes on me at once it would have been a crushing blow.

He reveals the necessary changes as they come up and as I can handle them and leads me thru them.

I still have a ways to go. But, don’t we all.

3rd, every member

Every member

Gets gifts

Ephesians 4:7–8 NIV

But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.”

Ephesians 4:

Every member

Gets nurtured

John 15:1–8 NIV

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

If the vine, the part going into the ground, is dead, then the branches don’t stand a chance.

If the vine is unavailable, in the shade, covered up by a rock, then the branches won’t survive.

Our vine moved His rock and is thriving.

There’s a little confusion in the language here. A gardener would never cut off a branch that has any life in it whether or not it bears any fruit.

What he will do is lift it up, bind it up, tie it to a stronger branch, give it special care making sure it gets plenty of sunlight and water.

If he does that, the branch will produce.

That’s what Jesus does for us. If we are buried in the dirt of life and struggling to breathe, He lifts us up, binds us up, exposes us to more sunlight and water, that is the HS, and gives us a much greater chance in life to bear fruit.

This is the kind of involvement Jesus offers if only we will give Him the starring role in our life.

Last week, Palm Sunday, I talked about Jesus riding into town to be King.

Not just King over Jerusalem, or just Israel or the Mid East

He is the King over all creation including you and me.

That throne room in your life, that throne, He is the most qualified to sit there.

He is alive, available, and able to be asked to occupy your throne. Don’t leave Him on the sideline like He’s still dead or preoccupied with other matters.

What’s the point of having Jesus alive, as King, ready to be personally involved in your life but you leave Him out of your story.

If He isn’t available, that’s one thing. but if He is sitting on the sideline ready to go, why wouldn’t you put Him in that position?

Today is Easter. He Is Risen!

Almost 2 thousand years ago Jesus walked out of His tomb. It’s still empty.

He ascended to Heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

Then, is that it? Is that all He did and does?

No.

Jesus came to life and is still alive.

When He sat down next to His Father He made Himself available to us to sit on the throne that is in our throne room and be the star of the show that is our life, to be the ace of the staff of the team that leads our life.

Why would we put anybody else in that position, including ourselves?

If we leave Him on the sideline it’s as if we believe he really didn’t come to life or He’s too busy or doesn’t care.

If He was still dead, it’d be impossible.

If He were unavailable, unable, too busy, preoccupied it would be one thing.

But, He’s not.

He is still alive, available, and able for us to take off the sideline put in the most important position in our lives to lead us thru this difficult situation and every circumstance we will ever find ourselves in.

We just have to put Him in.

It’s Easter Sunday. He is Risen!

Don’t leave Him on the sideline. He was raised from the dead to not only provide a way for us to live forever, but also a way for us to live abundantly here.