Author: TechCommittee

April 28, 2019                                                                              Text:  Revelation 1:4-18

Dear Friends in Christ,

            It is that time of year when different media outlets try to question who Jesus is, what He did and if He was really resurrected.  A few shows I saw just this past week were “The Real Jesus of Nazareth” and “The Lost Years of Jesus.”  With church attendance going down and down at least they are still talking about the Savior.  The debate continues to prove that the Lord is alive and well. 

            The disciples’ witness of Acts 5 proves that even under threat of death and prison they could not stop telling what God had done.  Peter and the apostles answered the authorities with this, “We must obey God rather than men.  The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree.  God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior…we are witnesses to these things.”

            Today with John’s Book of Revelation as our backdrop we take comfort in knowing that Jesus is . . .

“ALIVE FOREVERMORE!”

            Some 60 years after the witness of the apostles only John still remained alive.  Almost 100 years old he was exiled to the island of Patmos because of his testimony about Jesus.  Here is a portion of our text:

            “Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.  To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood . . . ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” (v. 5 & 8)

            Why does the world have such a hard time believing the resurrection even after all the eyewitness accounts?  Because people know that the resurrection of Jesus calls for repentance.  They don’t want to admit or recognize that someone died in their place or had to die in their place.  They don’t need Jesus and feel like they are doing o.k. on their own.

            What about us?  We too would like to think sometimes that we are o.k. on our own.  I can handle this.  I can take care of this.  Is it a family problem?  A health problem?  A recurring sin problem?  We have experience and know that this type of thinking just makes things worse.  We need the One who has freed us from our sins.  We need the One who is the Alpha and the Omega.  Like our culture we can’t fit Jesus into a box of our own thinking.  We can’t reduce Him to a category we can explain.  The Jesus of Scripture will not allow Himself to be limited by us.

            The apostolic witness is clear:  Jesus bodily rose from the dead.  That fact supersedes everything.  When John saw him, he said, “I fell at his feet though dead.  But he laid his right hand on me, saying, ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one.  I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.’” (v. 17-18)

            Have you ever had the opportunity to watch a funeral director crank shut the lid of a casket?  Jesus has the key that opens every casket.  He will speak, “Come out of there.”  We will rise, just as He said. 

            Yes, we die a real death.  Jesus also truly died – no one took His place.  He rose from the dead and is alive forevermore.  He will raise us and give us life that never ends.

            What proofs do we have of this resurrection?  The continued existence of the Christian Church for over 2,000 years.  The apostles who were martyred for their faith.  The eyewitnesses who touched him, saw him, ate with him.  It is a matter of public record that the grave was empty (Matt. 28:11-15).  No one went looking for the body.  None of the disciples ever changed their testimony.  Saul the persecutor was turned into Paul the Preacher.  The explosive growth of Christianity in the face of constant opposition.

            There is another reason and it is what we are doing right now.  Gathering for worship on a Sunday.  For centuries, Jewish believers gathered on the Sabbath, on Saturday.  Suddenly and without turning back, Jewish believers in Jesus began to worship on Sunday – the Lord’s Day.  What changed their deeply held practice?  Only something as fundamental as a real Sunday-morning resurrection from the dead.  Also, as we gather on Sunday believers for 2,000 years have been acting on the Lord’s command, “Do this in remembrance of Me.”  You and I join today that long line of believers who trust that behind forms of bread and wine there will stand, by the power of His Word, the living Lord Jesus Christ, giving us His body and blood.

            As the Church of Jesus Christ continues to be persecuted around the world and close to home we hear our Lord’s Words:  “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one.  I died, and I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and hell.”  In the name of this Jesus.

                                                                        Amen.     

April 21, 2019 – Easter                                                                   Text:  Exodus 15:1-8

Dear Friends in Christ,

            Do you like to play the odds?  Odds of winning the multi-state power-ball?  One in 185 million.  If you are a high school baseball player the odds of making the majors?  One in 6,600.  Odds of being struck by lightning?  One in 3 million.  Odds of you listening to most every word of this sermon?  One in 10.  Take a look around who is that attentive human being?

            The most important “what are the odds” question is this.  What are the odds that a man, brutally beaten and then crucified by the Roman Empire, would come back to life?  No one is going to let you lay odds on that because it is astronomical.  But get this – it happened.  It really happened!  Christ is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed!

            The goal of this sermon is for us to profess Easter and to possess Easter.  Easter happened.  That’s profess.  Easter is happening in me.  That’s possess.

            We wrap our Lenten sermon series today as we come to Exodus 15.

“AGAINST ALL ODDS!”

            The drama begins in Exodus 1:11 when we are told the Egyptians would be the slave masters of the Israelites.  They would make their lives bitter.  But it gets worse.  You may remember from the sermon on Ash Wednesday that the quota per day for the Israelites was 3,000 bricks – in the heat, all day, every day.  It gets worse.  When they flee the powerful Egyptian army chases them – there is going to be hell to pay.  It gets worse.  They complain to Moses, “Did you bring us out into this desert just to die?”

            Just when they are up against the odds our text states, “Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.” (v. 4)  No wonder the Israelites sing in verse 2, “The Lord is my strength and my song and he has become my salvation.”  This is the first Hallelujah.  All of this is just a prelude and preview into the Bible’s greatest against all the odds story.

            People opposed Jesus early in His ministry.  Pharisees plot with Herodians.  Detractors think he is demon possessed.   Scribes test with Torah trivia.  His brothers ridicule him.  It gets worse.  Christ will have hell to pay.

            Once arrested, Jesus is bound, accused, blindfolded, and mocked.  But it gets worse.  They strip him naked and beat him into a bloodbath.  But it gets worse.  He is spiked to a tree for six hours.  He is crucified, dead, and buried.

            Just when everyone thought is was all over, the angel announced, “He is not here.  He has risen just as he said.”  Thomas for the ages, “My Lord and my God!”  Against all the odds, Jesus lives.  Hallelujah!  Again our goal is to profess Easter.  Easter happened.  That’s profess.  Easter is happening in me.  That’s possess.  What are the barriers to us possessing Easter?

            Maybe you grew up in a family that didn’t work.  Childhood is a haze and you are broken inside.  Your parents divorced or one had a mental illness.  Maybe you had a dad not around or a mom who controlled you.  You feel the odds are against you.

            Maybe you experienced a devastating loss.  Your spouse died.  Your marriage died.  Your child died.  Your mom died.  Maybe for some of you your dreams died.  You feel crushed.  You feel as though the odds are against you.

            Maybe you are crippled by a destructive habit.  Always on your phone.  Always critical of others.  Gambling.  Drugs.  Work.  Play.  Your problems have you looking around and thinking the odds are against you.

            Lee Capps knows about having the odds against him.  He was flying with a pilot friend when that friend had a heart attack.  It was Lee and the plane and an air traffic controller who told him, “Would you be interested in a flying lesson?”  Lee Capps brought that plane in like a drunk duck.  He was all over the place.  He hit it hard.  But Lee Capps walked away with only a few minor cuts.  Later, the air traffic controller was interviewed and asked if he thought Lee would walk away alive.  His answer, “Folks, Lee Capps made it against all odds.”

            I know.  God knows.  You have a lot of stuff going on in your life.  You are circling the runway and trying to land and your greatest fear is that you will crash and burn.

            Let me remind you of two honest-to-God facts.  Against all odds, Israel made it out of Egypt.  Better yet, against all odds, Jesus Christ is risen today.  We profess Easter with all our being.  We also long to possess Easter with every ounce of our being.

            Paul says we can.  “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” (Rom. 8:11)  Through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, Easter can happen in us.  God promises resurrection for everything that looks so lifeless, so hopeless, so dead!  May the Holy Spirit make all of this real for you.

            In John 14:19 Jesus puts it this way, “Because I live, you also will live.”  Easter happened.  That’s profess.  Easter is happening in me.  That’s possess.  We live now and we will live forever.  We have a word for all of this.  What word would that be?

Hallelujah!

                        Amen.