The good news of Easter is, not only can you know Jesus, but he can be close to you all the time, through every situation. The risen Lord offers to share his victory with you, to take you through whatever you must face as your close and competent Companion who will never, never leave you.
Some of you have to face very serious problems this week. Some confront what looks like the end of their hopes and dreams. Fears and anxieties, loneliness, emptiness, heartache and sorrow are before them. But the good news of Easter is, you don't have to face any of that alone.
Listen to Jesus' exact words, from Revelation 3:20:
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any one hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him and will live with him and he with me."
That is the promise that millions have trusted. They have asked Jesus to enter their lives, to come and dwell with them, to go with them through life, not only through death. To their joy they found that every word was true. They can face tomorrow because He lives. And that strength is available to each one of us today. That is what makes this day a celebration of the resurrection, and a time for the greatest rejoicing.
Do you love God? Is Jesus Christ Your Lord and Savior? Is He the Lord of your life, not just on Sunday morning but on every day and night of the week? Is so, then enjoy this beautiful bright festival of the Resurrection of our Lord!
Are you His grateful servant?
Then rejoice and enter into the joy of their Lord!
Have you worked hard in the fields of our Lord doing good deeds, helping the poor, the hurting, the lonely? Then rejoice and receive you’re the blessing He won for you on the cross! Praise His Holy Name!
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Christ Arose -- The Exulatation of the Resurrection! Part One
It was Paul who included the great Christ Hymn of Philippians 2:5-11, stating that there is coming a time when, at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. That is our future. Our Lord will come again and set all things right.
Remarkably, however, the very first news of Easter was not good news at all. It was terrible news that Mary Magdalene brought to the Apostles Peter and John when she came running with the announcement that the body of Jesus had disappeared. What a shock that must have been.
When the body of Abraham Lincoln was almost stolen back in 1876, some years after his death, to be held for ransom, our entire nation was shocked and dismayed. Thankfully, the plot to steal the body was uncovered at the last minute. But it caused his son Robert Lincoln to make sure his father’s body was put in a permanent tomb, buried ten feet deep under 4000 pounds of cement in 1901, so that no future plots could disturb his dad’s remains..
We can only imagine the shock of these disciples of Jesus, smitten and numbed as they already were at the unexpected death of their Lord, when they heard Mary's hysterical announcement.
On hearing this, both Peter and John immediately left for the tomb, running through the streets of Jerusalem and through the Damascus Gate to the tomb. John, the younger of the two, outran Peter and, stooping down, he looked into the tomb. They both saw that Jesus was not there. And they did not understand the full meaning of it all. The New International Version renders that verse: "They still did not understand from the Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead." That suggests that Peter and John did not believe that Jesus had risen.
That brief account focuses first upon the sobbing of Mary, standing outside the tomb, still convinced that her Lord was dead and his body had been stolen. Then, looking in, she saw two young men, "angels" we read, sitting inside. "Woman, why are you weeping?" they asked her. In the early light of dawn they seemed to be looking not at her, but at someone behind her. Turning, she saw a man standing there whom she took to be the gardener, who asked her the same question, "Woman, why are you weeping?"
There is a gentle rebuke inherent in that twice-asked question. It is saying, "This is no time for weeping, but for rejoicing, praise and thanksgiving." It implies that she could and should have known that. Jesus had clearly said several times, as the Gospels record, that he would rise again on the third day. One of the striking phenomena of the Gospels is the deafness of the disciples to the consistent revelations of Jesus concerning his resurrection. He had great difficulty convincing them that he was going to die in the first place. It was only as they saw the opposition closing in on him that they realized his words were true. But even then none of them seemed to grasp that every time he mentioned his death he also added that he would rise again on the third day.
This is a legitimate part of the message of Easter. It does indeed give us a glorious hope when we face death's door. You know, there are three questions we all ask of ourselves at one time or another, "Where do I come from?" "Why am I here?" and “what happens when we die/” We Christians have the answer to that, but still we often ask the question. "Is it really necessary to leave?"
Most of us wish we didn't have to say "Yes" to the third. But that is not what comforted Mary or any of the disciples at this point. It never crossed their minds that this event would give them a hope in the hour of death. What brought them deliri But Mary was just like us! Have you ever found yourself in a distressing circumstance, when the sky seemed to come crashing down on you, and Christian that you are, sometimes you temporarily forget all the promises of God? You felt sorry for yourself, you became anxious and upset. I have. We so quickly forget the promises of God.
Martin Luther once spent three days in a black depression over something that had gone wrong. And he had lots of things go wrong. On the third day his wife Katie came downstairs dressed in mourning clothes, all dressed in black. "Who's dead?" he asked her. "God," she replied. Luther rebuked her, saying, "What do you mean, God is dead? God cannot die." "Well," she replied, "the way you've been acting I was sure He had!"
Many of us have been caught in that trap. We forget who is in charge. We forget whose children we really are. This is also what had happened to Mary.
But Jesus has to speak but one word to her to open her eyes. With indescribable tenderness he simply uttered her name -- not Mary, which is what the account here says, but "Miriam," as he reverted to their native Aramaic. Mary instantly recognized his voice, just as any one of us would recognize a loved one's voice on the telephone. Responding in Aramaic, Mary flung herself at his feet and cried, "Rabboni!" (which means "Teacher"). She seized him by the feet and began to weep tears of joy.
Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"
And Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her. She was the Apostle to the Apostles. She told them that Jesus Lives. He lives!
I believe this is the first and the chief "good news" of Easter. Most celebrate Easter as a reminder that there is hope on the day when they have to leave this earth -- that Easter means because he lives we shall live also. The hymn says,
Jesus lives, and so shall I,
Death, thy sting is gone forever.
ous gladness of heart was the realization, "Jesus is back again! We haven't lost him! He is here with us, and he will always be with us!"
That is the truly good news of Easter. Through two thousand years of Christian witness what has sustained the hearts of millions is the realization that Jesus can enter one's life and go with you through the trials, pressures, tears and joys of life right here on earth. He will be with you at the hour of death, yes, but not as a stranger just then entering your experience. He will already long have been a trusted Friend, not merely a comforting Companion, but as Lord, Sovereign, authoritative and able to work through the difficulties you face. No one wants to face pressures all alone; it helps to have someone with you. And not only someone like yourself, one who can understand how you feel, but if it can also be someone who has authority and power, one who can work out solutions to your seemingly insoluble problems, what a comfort that is!
Remarkably, however, the very first news of Easter was not good news at all. It was terrible news that Mary Magdalene brought to the Apostles Peter and John when she came running with the announcement that the body of Jesus had disappeared. What a shock that must have been.
When the body of Abraham Lincoln was almost stolen back in 1876, some years after his death, to be held for ransom, our entire nation was shocked and dismayed. Thankfully, the plot to steal the body was uncovered at the last minute. But it caused his son Robert Lincoln to make sure his father’s body was put in a permanent tomb, buried ten feet deep under 4000 pounds of cement in 1901, so that no future plots could disturb his dad’s remains..
We can only imagine the shock of these disciples of Jesus, smitten and numbed as they already were at the unexpected death of their Lord, when they heard Mary's hysterical announcement.
On hearing this, both Peter and John immediately left for the tomb, running through the streets of Jerusalem and through the Damascus Gate to the tomb. John, the younger of the two, outran Peter and, stooping down, he looked into the tomb. They both saw that Jesus was not there. And they did not understand the full meaning of it all. The New International Version renders that verse: "They still did not understand from the Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead." That suggests that Peter and John did not believe that Jesus had risen.
That brief account focuses first upon the sobbing of Mary, standing outside the tomb, still convinced that her Lord was dead and his body had been stolen. Then, looking in, she saw two young men, "angels" we read, sitting inside. "Woman, why are you weeping?" they asked her. In the early light of dawn they seemed to be looking not at her, but at someone behind her. Turning, she saw a man standing there whom she took to be the gardener, who asked her the same question, "Woman, why are you weeping?"
There is a gentle rebuke inherent in that twice-asked question. It is saying, "This is no time for weeping, but for rejoicing, praise and thanksgiving." It implies that she could and should have known that. Jesus had clearly said several times, as the Gospels record, that he would rise again on the third day. One of the striking phenomena of the Gospels is the deafness of the disciples to the consistent revelations of Jesus concerning his resurrection. He had great difficulty convincing them that he was going to die in the first place. It was only as they saw the opposition closing in on him that they realized his words were true. But even then none of them seemed to grasp that every time he mentioned his death he also added that he would rise again on the third day.
This is a legitimate part of the message of Easter. It does indeed give us a glorious hope when we face death's door. You know, there are three questions we all ask of ourselves at one time or another, "Where do I come from?" "Why am I here?" and “what happens when we die/” We Christians have the answer to that, but still we often ask the question. "Is it really necessary to leave?"
Most of us wish we didn't have to say "Yes" to the third. But that is not what comforted Mary or any of the disciples at this point. It never crossed their minds that this event would give them a hope in the hour of death. What brought them deliri But Mary was just like us! Have you ever found yourself in a distressing circumstance, when the sky seemed to come crashing down on you, and Christian that you are, sometimes you temporarily forget all the promises of God? You felt sorry for yourself, you became anxious and upset. I have. We so quickly forget the promises of God.
Martin Luther once spent three days in a black depression over something that had gone wrong. And he had lots of things go wrong. On the third day his wife Katie came downstairs dressed in mourning clothes, all dressed in black. "Who's dead?" he asked her. "God," she replied. Luther rebuked her, saying, "What do you mean, God is dead? God cannot die." "Well," she replied, "the way you've been acting I was sure He had!"
Many of us have been caught in that trap. We forget who is in charge. We forget whose children we really are. This is also what had happened to Mary.
But Jesus has to speak but one word to her to open her eyes. With indescribable tenderness he simply uttered her name -- not Mary, which is what the account here says, but "Miriam," as he reverted to their native Aramaic. Mary instantly recognized his voice, just as any one of us would recognize a loved one's voice on the telephone. Responding in Aramaic, Mary flung herself at his feet and cried, "Rabboni!" (which means "Teacher"). She seized him by the feet and began to weep tears of joy.
Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"
And Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her. She was the Apostle to the Apostles. She told them that Jesus Lives. He lives!
I believe this is the first and the chief "good news" of Easter. Most celebrate Easter as a reminder that there is hope on the day when they have to leave this earth -- that Easter means because he lives we shall live also. The hymn says,
Jesus lives, and so shall I,
Death, thy sting is gone forever.
ous gladness of heart was the realization, "Jesus is back again! We haven't lost him! He is here with us, and he will always be with us!"
That is the truly good news of Easter. Through two thousand years of Christian witness what has sustained the hearts of millions is the realization that Jesus can enter one's life and go with you through the trials, pressures, tears and joys of life right here on earth. He will be with you at the hour of death, yes, but not as a stranger just then entering your experience. He will already long have been a trusted Friend, not merely a comforting Companion, but as Lord, Sovereign, authoritative and able to work through the difficulties you face. No one wants to face pressures all alone; it helps to have someone with you. And not only someone like yourself, one who can understand how you feel, but if it can also be someone who has authority and power, one who can work out solutions to your seemingly insoluble problems, what a comfort that is!
At the Cross Where I First Saw the Light!
In Sequoia National Park in California, There is a big tree that stands 275 feet high and is 36 feet in diameter. It is called the Christ – General Sherman. It is known as the biggest tree in the world. Today I want to talk to you about a tree that reaches from earth all the way to heaven and reaches all away around the world! And extends itself throughout all eternity!
I speak of the Tree - The Cross of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Calvary’s Tree!
You see the devil had made a road for man to travel that led straight to a place called Hell But Praise God - God did not want man to go to hell – So God slammed a Cross right in the middle of the road and said to man I love you and don’t want you to go to hell and if man goes to hell – He has to go around the Cross!
Just think God created the tree that He knew His Son would be crucified on!
There was a Savior before Sin – There was Grace before Guilt – There was Promise of Life before Death – There was a Heaven before there was a Hell.
Where sin did abound – Grace did much more abound! Adam sold us out – But Praise the Lord Jesus bought us back! HALLELUJAH FOR THE CROSS – IT IS THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION!
THE CROSS IS A CONSTANT REMINDER OF GOD’S LOVE
Every time you see the cross – it should remind you of the marvelous Love of God!
John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life! Romans 5:8 – But God commendeth His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Romans 8:32 – He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all.
The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell; it goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell
WHEN THE DEVIL COMES AND TRIES TO TELL YOU GOD DOES NOT LOVE YOU – TAKE HIM TO THE CROSS!
THE CROSS IS A CONSTANT REMINDER OF GOD’S GRACE
Eph. 2:8,9 – For by Grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God: Not of works lest any man should boast.
GRACE – The Unmerited Favor of God --- G.R.A.C.E – God’s Riches At Christ Expense!
Grace is free but it is not cheap – It cost Jesus His life on the cruel cross of Calvary!
THE CROSS REMINDS US OF THE PAYMENT FOR SIN!
When the devil comes –Jesus paid it all – All to him I owe – Sin has left a crimson flow – He washed it white as snow!
At the cross – At the cross – Where I first saw the light – and the burdened of my heart rolled away –
What does the cross mean to the church? What does the cross mean to you?
Galatians 6:14 contains an important answer: “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” The Apostles Creed declares, “I believe in Jesus Christ who was crucified.” When we say those words, we mean that the Son of God was murdered on a Roman cross at a place called Skull Hill outside the city walls of Jerusalem. We believe it literally happened — that if you and I had been there, we would have seen with our own eyes the slow, agonizing death of Jesus of Nazareth. We would have witnessed the humiliation of Christ as he died between two thieves, we would have seen the blood drip from his wounds, we would have heard him cry out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” He did it all for us -- AT THE CROSS -- Praise His Holy Name!
I speak of the Tree - The Cross of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Calvary’s Tree!
You see the devil had made a road for man to travel that led straight to a place called Hell But Praise God - God did not want man to go to hell – So God slammed a Cross right in the middle of the road and said to man I love you and don’t want you to go to hell and if man goes to hell – He has to go around the Cross!
Just think God created the tree that He knew His Son would be crucified on!
There was a Savior before Sin – There was Grace before Guilt – There was Promise of Life before Death – There was a Heaven before there was a Hell.
Where sin did abound – Grace did much more abound! Adam sold us out – But Praise the Lord Jesus bought us back! HALLELUJAH FOR THE CROSS – IT IS THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION!
THE CROSS IS A CONSTANT REMINDER OF GOD’S LOVE
Every time you see the cross – it should remind you of the marvelous Love of God!
John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life! Romans 5:8 – But God commendeth His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Romans 8:32 – He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all.
The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell; it goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell
WHEN THE DEVIL COMES AND TRIES TO TELL YOU GOD DOES NOT LOVE YOU – TAKE HIM TO THE CROSS!
THE CROSS IS A CONSTANT REMINDER OF GOD’S GRACE
Eph. 2:8,9 – For by Grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God: Not of works lest any man should boast.
GRACE – The Unmerited Favor of God --- G.R.A.C.E – God’s Riches At Christ Expense!
Grace is free but it is not cheap – It cost Jesus His life on the cruel cross of Calvary!
THE CROSS REMINDS US OF THE PAYMENT FOR SIN!
When the devil comes –Jesus paid it all – All to him I owe – Sin has left a crimson flow – He washed it white as snow!
At the cross – At the cross – Where I first saw the light – and the burdened of my heart rolled away –
What does the cross mean to the church? What does the cross mean to you?
Galatians 6:14 contains an important answer: “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” The Apostles Creed declares, “I believe in Jesus Christ who was crucified.” When we say those words, we mean that the Son of God was murdered on a Roman cross at a place called Skull Hill outside the city walls of Jerusalem. We believe it literally happened — that if you and I had been there, we would have seen with our own eyes the slow, agonizing death of Jesus of Nazareth. We would have witnessed the humiliation of Christ as he died between two thieves, we would have seen the blood drip from his wounds, we would have heard him cry out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” He did it all for us -- AT THE CROSS -- Praise His Holy Name!
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