| She is the Queen Mother Elizabeth, she went home to
be with the Lord yesterday, died in her sleep in
Buckingham Palace in England. I'm sure that dignitaries
from all over the world will come to her funeral, it will
be quit an occasion....remembering a great woman. There
will be grief but there will be a sense of God blessing
her with a long life, or at least in the way we look at
things, at 101 years. It was a somber occasion, Friday a week ago in West Alexander, Ohio. About 150 cars proceeded to the cemetery. They were following a black hearse carrying a silver casket carrying the body of Britany .............. A very unusual accident being hit by a hockey puck at a game in Columbus, Ohio. At first, they thought she just had a gash and took her to the emergency room but found that the snap of her head back, with the hockey puck doing 100 miles per hour, can do some damage and she begin to hemorrhage and then she died. Whether it's someone who is 101 years old or a teen age girl, who loved soccer and not unlike most teen age girls today, we are all going to have to face death sooner or later. The disciples had to, on Easter morning, had to face on Friday one they loved, one they had great hope for and then they found some very good news. He was not in the tomb. He was alive. It took awhile for this fact to sink in. They came to a belief in the resurrection that changed their lives and changed this world and it still, to this day, continues to change it. I simply want to ask you to consider what believing in the resurrection - what difference it makes in your life today. Is it more than a hope that when you die, you will go to heaven or has the risen Christ truly come to live in your life and change you and to give you power to live for him? I want you to look at that first Easter morn....Jesus had come into Jerusalem, Palm Sunday, with great hosannas... .The Messiah. By the end of the week, they were crying out for Barabaus , instead of him - they crucified the Messiah. When he was arrested, his disciples, the one who betrayed him, the rest deserting him. He died upon the cross, in a very cruel way, was buried, entombed. Joseph of Amathesis saw that he had a proper burial. When they were coming to the tomb, they were not expecting Jesus to be gone. There is fear! It says that these great, strong Roman soldiers were afraid. There was a violent earthquake. I haven't been in an earthquake except a real little one, not even knowing it was an earthquake, but if you've been in an earthquake, you know fear. It's unsettling when the ground is unsettling. So they were afraid about that but they were also afraid about 'these aliens' who had moved this rock - they didn't know what to expect. They had never encountered anything like this. There is a great fear for people today who do not understand the Christian faith. They are afraid of what they don't understand and obviously , these soldiers did not understand what was going on as they did not expect anything more than recovering a dead body at Pilate's request. The women - it says "their appearance was like lightning and their clothes were white as snow and the guards were so afraid of him, they shook and became like dead men but the angel said to the women, do not be afraid for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified, he's not here, he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he laid and then go quickly and tell his disciples". I looked at ten reasons to believe in the resurrection - consider these for a moment. First of all, Jesus said, where I am, the resurrection and the life, and he who believes in me, thought they die, yet shall they live. He predicted he would rise from the dead. Secondly, the witness of the angels - the angels said clearly, why do you look for the living among the dead.......he is not here, he has risen! It could have been some of the same angels that were singing at his birth, who are now saying "he's not here, he has risen". Third - the empty tomb. The stone is rolled back, not to let Jesus out but to let them in to see that he is not there. The Roman soldiers were guarding it upon a threat of death to not let him out or not to let anyone get the body. Fourth - the appearances of Jesus to his believers. Jesus appeared not only to these women but to Thomas, doubting Thomas, who had wanted to see the nail pierced hands and the marks where the spear had been in his side. He appeared to those disciples on the road to Emmaus who were so discouraged. He appeared to them on the mount and told them to go forth and make disciples and I'll be with you always. They saw him ascend into heaven and he gave them the promise of power from upon high to take this gospel forth to the ends of the earth. He appeared, even to 500, at one time. As Paul said, "by the reaction of the opposition, they were frightened". They had killed him, they had crucified him and they were frightened when they heard the tomb was empty....they bribed them to lie about it to say someone had come and got him. Six, Jesus made it very clear that he wanted them to go forth and share this great commission, to make disciples. Seven - especially the transformation of the disciples. They were scared, they were frightened, they were hiding in the Upper Room and then you look in the book of Acts and they are preaching out in the streets, sharing that he is alive. What has happened to them? The risen Christ has come to live in them. Eight - the existence of the gospel itself. The gospel has undergone a tremendous persecution. Goverments have said 'you cannot have this book'....you will be imprisoned, you will be killed if you have it. The gospel still stands. Christians today still gather in secret and the fear of death to read little portions of this book. Nine - the fact that they did not expect it - and then they believed. Some two billion Christians in the world today, believe that Jesus rose from the dead. You can say, I believe that in my head and yes, I am looking forward and I believe that I am going to heaven when I die. I sure wouldn't settle for that. If you truly believe in the resurrection and truly believe in the risen Lord - he is not someone who died and rose from the dead 2,000 years ago, only. He is someone who comes to live in your heart, right now and wants to take up residence in your life. He will direct you, he will empower you, he will give you the abundant life and he longs for you to come and call upon him. Ten - how does he do this? Well, on this Easter, there is much to be discouraged about....we can be discouraged about September 11th and the threat of terrorism. Is it any wonder people gathered in the churches and people gathered for prayer in the threat of an attack? Is it any wonder that you can become discouraged with what's going on in the Middle East today? But there is hope. There is hope in the risen Christ when he comes to live in the life of believers and they truly take his gospel forth. I want to share with you four ways the Holy Spirit comes and the power of the resurrection comes to live in your life. It's spelled with HOPE. The risen Christ is our HOPE today. When the risen Christ comes to live in our life as Paul said, "I want to know him and the power of his resurrection. H stands for healing and when Christ comes to your life, he will bring healing to your life just as he brought others countless healing in the gospels. He healing of blind Bartamasas, who began to see and his life is changed. Or the paralytic who was brought by friends to Jesus and he began to walk. So often times, Jesus gives people sight, basic, like walking. He even broke up a funeral now and then and people rose from the dead. People still brings healing today. He especially brings healing to people emotionally. When Jesus comes to live in you, he will give you the power to deal with the grief you are going through and lift your sorrows and give you gladness. He brings healing to those who are depressed and discouraged. Truly, Jesus comes in and helps you to deal with what's troubling you. He said, "do not be anxious about your life but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all of these things will be yours as well". He helps those who are tormented by fear to begin to live by faith. He brings healing when the risen Christ comes to live in our life. O is for overcoming. What is overcoming? Overcoming sin. Sometimes sin in our lives becomes such a habit that we think nothing can happen about that but Christ, through the power of the cross, gives us power to overcome any sin. He came in the drama which we had Thursday, (Maundy Thursday) in the portrayal of the woman caught in adultery and how that woman found Christ. In John, chapter 8, she found someone who loved her and didn't condone what she did but didn't condemn her. Jesus will not condemn you for your sins. Sometimes we think just don't tell anyone and he won't find out but that's not what you need to do. You need to be honest and come to him. We think of the woman at the well - relationship after relationship after relationship and finally she found someone to give her water from the well that will never run dry. I think of Zacchaeus, in the Bible, and money. If you don't have a God to deal with money, it will torment your life. Zacchaeus was greedy, he cheated people, but when Jesus came into his life, he began to pay back four times as much and when you start paying back four times as much to people you cheated , you know that Jesus has come into our life.....he has gotten hold of your pocketbook and you life and that something has happened dramatically. He helps us to overcome sin in the power of the cross. P is power to live a Christian life. I remember I use to read the Sermon on the Mount and become discouraged and I'd think it was nice to think you could forgive your enemies, its nice to think you can turn the other cheek but how do you do that? Well, you do it through the Holy Spirit. The risen Christ comes to live in you and he's told them that you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to all the ends of the earth. The very nature of the Christian gospel is to share it. I remember being so upset when our first born Phillip, was born in Atlanta, GA, and we had to wait about three weeks but it was harder on Liz, you know, she was the one that was having to wait. Finally, he came and all these people who had been telling me to call them - I came back home and called and they weren't home. I thought 'this greatest event of all times, my first born son, and they have the nerve to be away from the phone'. So I just went to the room and took a nap. This is even better - he's risen! He is alive! We share it. P gives us power through the holy spirit to live a Christian life. E - yes, he gives us eternal life. There are some things about Christianity that I still struggle with - you may catch on to that in the pulpit sometimes. It's not coming through quit like I would like. I believe Jesus is coming back, for example, but I don't have it quit all figured out. I've studied eschatology but I do believe I am going to heaven even if I haven't quit got it right. I truly believe if I die tomorrow, I am going to be in heaven with my Lord. It's not because I'm a Methodist preacher. It's because that God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whomsoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. That's it! You can complicate it all you want but that's it because by grace and your faith, you have been saved. I have the privilege and it's an honor, and Larry as well, to be there at the graveside when loved ones are grieving because their loved one has died and I certainly quote the 23rd Psalm, "the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want". He gives us comfort. But Jesus said, "in my Father's house are many mansions and if it were not so, I would have told you that I go to prepare a place for you". Paul said it this way, "...........God has prepared a place for those who love him". It's a real place where people will be waiting on you. What is the entrance? Faith in Christ. He is eternal life. Paul Asinger is a great golfer. In 1993, he had already won ten championships. Isn't it amazing to watch people who know how to play golf? They actually miss the water. They see the woods. When I use to play I use to think it was a tremendous accomplishment not to loose a ball for 9 holes and I think once, I did it through 18 holes but if there was water, that never did happen. He found out as a young man that he had cancer. That changed things. He said, "you know when you're laying on that cold table and they are taking x-rays and they say it's cancer, this tremendous fear came upon me as I thought I could die from this." What really sunk into him was that he was going to die one day. I'm young but I am going to die one day. Do you remember when Larry Moody on the Bible study on the PGA said we think we are in the land of the living going to the land of the dying but it's the other way around - we're in the land of the dying and we are going to the land of the living. He did recover but his perspective was changed. No longer was his abundant life depending on how well he played golf but it was his relationship with Christ. He's Risen! Has he risen in your life? He wants to come and abide in you. Let him today, I pray. Amen. |