Sermon Tone Analysis

Prelude

Welcome

Call to Worship

Leader: /Easter Sunday has come and gone, but the Easter season continues/.

\\ \\ People: *Let us prepare to meet the resurrected One again.*

\\ \\ Leader: /Disciples of Jesus, do not cower in fear in a locked room!

\\ / \\ People: *Let us throw open the doors to the risen Christ!

\\ * \\ Leader: /Christ gifts us with the Holy Spirit, a gentle breath on the cheek./

\\ \\ People: *Let us worship God in spirit and truth!* \\ \\

~*Hymn of Praise                       # 189   O Spread the Tidings ‘Round

Invocation        (the Lord’s Prayer)       Father, we believe  that in the beginning was the Word,   and the Word was with God,   and the Word was God, He was in the world, and the world came into being through him,    but the world did not know him.

He came to what was his own,    and his own people did not accept him.

But to all who received him,    who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.

Judas betrayed him, Peter denied him,    Caiaphas condemned him, and Pilate sentenced him,    while the crowds yelled, "Crucify him!

Crucify him!"

At Golgotha we nailed him to the cross,    while the soldiers cast lots for his clothes.

We thought he was finished    when his body was laid in a garden tomb,    but early on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came running to tell that he was not there.

Then Jesus appeared to Mary, and after that to the other disciples, and then again even to Thomas who had doubted.

"Blessed are those who have not seen    and yet have come to believe," Jesus said.

Now, thanks be to God,    we too believe    that Jesus is the Messiah,    the Son of God,    and that through believing    we may have life in his name.

Psalm 16

/Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.

I say to the Lord, \\ /*”You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”*

/Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows;/

*The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup, you hold my lot.*

/The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage./

*I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.*

/I keep the Lord always before me; because He is my right hand, I shall not be moved./

*Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure.*

/For you do not give me up to Sheol, or let your faithful one see the Pit./

*You show me the path of life.

In your presence there is fullness of joy;*

*/In your right hand are pleasures forevermore./*

Our  Offering to God                (Rev 1:8 NLT)  ""I am the Alpha and the Omega--the beginning and the end," says the Lord God.

"I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come, the Almighty One.""

Doxology

Prayer of Dedication                 O Lord, we pray that you would use these offerings in ways that would bring glory to your name.

~*Hymn of Prayer                      *Spirit of the Living God*

Spirit of the living God fall a-fresh on me.

Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me,

Melt me, mold me, fill me, us me.

Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me.

(repeat using us in place of me)

Pastoral Prayer                         God of all creation, hear our prayers for your world and your people.

We lay before you our Easter hopes and resurrection dreams — visions for a world of wholeness, an end to poverty and violence, the healing of divisions and the mending of brokenness in communities, families, and within ourselves.

Like Thomas, we want to believe that you are with us, uttering words of blessing and peace.

But we plunge our hands into the wounds of the world, and our belief wavers.

Our doubt increases, until like Thomas, we cry out: My Lord and my God! How can we sing of resurrection in a suffering world?

How can we preach the good news with integrity and depth?

How can we have life in your name while too often the world around us deals in death?

\\ \\ It is possible through your grace.

We believe; help our unbelief.

Send us a full measure of your Spirit, that we might continue to make peace, to repair broken lives, to preach your liberating news, and to dream resurrection dreams.

Amen.

~*Hymn of Praise                       # 187   Breathe on Me, Breath of God

Scripture Reading                     John 20:19-31  

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"

After he said this, he showed them his hands and side.

The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Again Jesus said "Peace be with you!

As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."

And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.

If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

Message                                   Behind Locked Doors

     The disciples have just gone through the most difficult weekend of their lives.

Jesus has been tried in a mock trial, ~/~/ Jesus has been murdered in the most awful manner known in the ancient Roman world, ~/~/ Jesus body has disappeared from the tomb.

~/~/ The disciples are hopeful that Jesus is alive, but they are horrified by the possibility that some of the Jews might come after them.

As they huddle, frozen in fear, behind locked doors, they are not quite sure who they can trust, for Jesus is no longer with them as their leader and they are fearful for their lives and do not know about their future.

~/~/ They recognized the bitterness of the Jews who had plotted against Jesus, and they were afraid that their turn would come next.

So they were meeting in terror, listening fearfully for every step on the stair and for every knock on the door, afraid that the Sanhedrin would send someone to arrest them also.

In this time of hopelessness Jesus comes and stands among them.

He is once again in their presence.

Do they dare believe their eyes?, did they hear Jesus say to them "Peace be with you!"?.  Yes, he is really with them.

He shows them the nail print in his hands and the hole in his side which proves that he had actually died.

But he is now alive!

So that they may know without a doubt he repeats to them his greeting and blessing.

"Peace be with you!"      May God give you every good thing.

Then Jesus gave the disciples the commission which we must never forget.

Jesus told his disciples that God had sent him into the world, and he was sending them into the world.

Westcott called it the Charter of the Church, saying that it meant three things:  1st:  it means that Jesus needs the church.

Jesus had come into the world with a message for all humanity and now he was going back to His Father.

His message could never be taken to all people unless the Church, working together as his body, took it.

The Church was to be a mouth to speak for Jesus, feet to run his errands, hands to do his work.

JESUS IS DEPENDENT ON HIS CHURCH.

2nd:  It means that the Church needs Jesus.

People who are to be sent out need someone to send them; they need a message to take; they need power and authority to back their message; they need someone to whom they may turn when they are in doubt or in difficulty.

Without Jesus, the Church has no message; without him she has no power; without him she has nothing to instruct her mind, to strengthen her arm, or to encourage her heart.

THE CHURCH IS DEPENDENT ON JESUS.

3rd:  The sending out of the church by Jesus is parallel to the sending out of Jesus by God.

The relationship between Jesus and God was continually dependent on Jesus' perfect obedience and perfect love.

Jesus could be God's messenger only because he delivered to God that perfect obedience and love.

It follows that the Church is fit to be the messenger and the instrument of Christ only when she perfectly loves him and perfectly obeys him.

The Church must never be out to communicate her own message; she must be out to communicate the message of Christ.

She must never be out to follow man-made policies; she must be out to follow the will of Christ.

THE CHURCH IS DEPENDENT ON LOVE AND OBEDIENCE TO GOD.

Are we as a local church dependent on God the Father, and God the Son or are we behind locked doors for fear of........

Jesus again identified himself with his Father.

He told the disciples by whose authority he did his work.

Then he passed the job to his disciples of spreading the Good News of salvation around the world.

Whatever God has asked you to do, remember: (1) Your authority comes from God, and (2) Jesus has demonstrated by words and actions how to accomplish the job he has given you.