SERMON 4.12.20 EASTER ‘GOD TOOK OVER’

Scripture: Luke 24. 1-12 Very early in the morning on the first day of the week, the women went to the tomb, bringing the fragrant spices they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in, they didn’t find the body of the Lord . 4 They didn’t know what to make of this. Suddenly, two men were standing beside them in gleaming bright clothing. 5 The women were frightened and bowed their faces toward the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He isn’t here, but has been raised. Remember how he told you, while he was still in , 7 that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” 8 Then they remembered his words. 9 When they returned from the tomb, they reported all these things to the eleven and all the others. 10 It was , Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. 11 Their words struck the apostles as nonsense, and they didn’t believe the women. 12 But Peter ran to the tomb. When he bent over to look inside, he saw only the linen cloth. Then he returned home, wondering what had happened…… God took over, that’s what happened!

From Charles Swindoll: “In the cross, God arranged a plan for our spiritual survival with divine integrity. This required the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. He followed through; we can take him at his word. He was who he said he was; he did what he said he would do. With a single heart, mind and will, he fulfilled God’s plan.” Let us pray: Thank you, Gracious God that even today we can celebrate our Lord’s resurrection and our salvation. As one people united, let us worship together in peace. Amen. I watched ‘leap of Faith the other day with Steve Martin who was a con man evangelist. He and his group of cons came to a town of people who were in a poverty situation because of a drought. The evangelist preyed on their faith for money while performing in a tent with a crucifix on center stage. At the end of this ‘performance’, he invited persons to come forward to be healed. This was all for show as he pretended with much drama to be a healer. They all doubted his honesty and were skeptical of his ability to heal at first until one night a young crippled boy comes forward to be healed which wasn’t planned. While the evangelist (Steve Martin) was trying to avoid the boy, this young man went to the hanging Jesus and kissed his feet. Immediately his crutches fell and he could walk without them for the first time. Having witnessed this authentic miracle of faith, the evangelist changed his life, stopped conning people and left the ‘show’, because at that point he realized his purpose was accomplished and God took over. After this people were gathered together, helping and serving one another on the grounds around the huge tent. This holy miracle changed the entire town. It ends 1 with the evangelist driving away-a smile on his face as it begins too rain after months of drought-he puts his head out of the window of the car and shouts Rain, rain-thank you Jesus!’ The people began rejoicing and shouting with thanks! Many were believers after that day, because God took over. Jesus entire 33 years was to show us who the God we worship really is. In human form we saw a compassionate, loving God. We also saw anger, impatience, loneliness, irritation, temptation and other truthful emotions from Jesus. Can you relate? I believe this was Jesus purpose in life—to relate to us as humans and to show us how great we can be when we are honest about fulfilling our own purpose here on earth and if we just let God take over. Jesus had free will just like we do, but he also had complete faith that he was fulfilling his destiny given to him by God. Even at his baptism Jesus stated his purpose as we hear in Matthew 3:15 Common English (CEB) 15 Jesus answered, “Allow me to be baptized now. This is necessary to fulfill all righteousness.” So John agreed to baptize Jesus. Jesus purpose was accomplished, his will for God was finished up to this point. In our scripture today from Luke, the men didn’t believe the women when they relayed what the had told them and that Jesus had risen! The apostles thought these women were crazy! Jesus had told his disciples what would happen to him and they still doubted. thinking part of this doubt was because the experience was told by women which may indicate the fact that women didn’t have much credibility in those days and it could also be an indication that these men didn’t fully understand God’s love and respect for women as much as for men. When Peter pondered the words the women spoke and went to the tomb himself— he was still not convinced. Later that evening, Jesus would appear to all the apostles and breathe the Spirit of God into them, giving them the new birth (:22). But at this moment, because the Holy Spirit was not yet resident in them as their Teacher, there was much they could not understand. Even though Jesus had told them He would die and be raised from the dead, they simply were not yet able to comprehend it. That’s why John 20:9 says,”They didn’t yet understand the scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead..” Although the apostles had heard this scripture from Jesus Himself, the reality and full impact of its truth had not registered in their hearts. Resurrection faith came slow to most of the disciples. But when it came, it changed everything. Doubt, questions, skepticism – these aren’t the opposite of faith, but rather an essential ingredient to faith. Faith, after all, isn’t knowledge or a book full of facts. Rather, faith, as the author to the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us, “is the assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen” (11:1). Faith- when we allow God to take over. Hasn’t God done many unquestionable miracles for you and me as well? How many times have we walked away unaffected by the power and miracles we’ve seen and experienced? God has delivered us, saved us, and rescued us from harm 2 time and time again; yet we still tend to wonder if God is really with us or not. How in the world could we ever question the faithfulness of God after all He has already done for us? We need to make sure we don’t remain unaffected by the miracle-working power of God that has worked in our lives. Instead, we should make the decision to fully embrace every good thing God does for us — to soak it up so entirely that it changes us and our outlook on life. God is good! He has been good to every one of us. If we fail to remember this, it is only because we are not opening our eyes to see His hand of protection, provision, and safety all around us. So make the choice today to recognize what God has done in your life. Remember to thank Him for it, let him take over and then never forget it! On that first Easter morning, no one greeted the news that God raised Jesus from the grave and defeated death and evil, with shouts of “Hallelujah, Praise God, Christ is Risen, Shout Hosanna.” No one, upon hearing the news that death itself could not hold the Lord of Glory captive, said, “I knew it, this is just like he told us it would be!” Believing in the resurrection is difficult, isn’t it? We’ve never seen or experienced anything like it. We have always been told that there are two things you can be sure of in life: death and taxes. We know taxes and we know death – it is all around us. We have watched plants, animals and people die. They don’t come back. So who can blame the disciples? There were good reasons for them to doubt. There were good reasons for the women also to be cautious, confused, and even frightened. Resurrection breaks all the rules, and resurrection upsets all of that. Resurrection throws off the balance, rocks the boat, upsets the apple cart, and generally turns our neat and orderly lives totally out of whack. The point is thist: The roots of faith cannot deepen and strengthen, if doubt is never allowed space in the church. We need both faith and doubt as they are woven quite closely together both allowing God to take over. As we remember the suffering, crucifixion, angels and the , let’s remember the women who when they first approached the place where Jesus body had been, remembered what he had told them about being resurrected and exclaimed “He is risen!. Remembering is important. began by remembering what Jesus taught. Every lesson, every sermon, every hymn, every prayer begins by remembering. By remembering what God has done through Christ Jesus. To believe in the takes a lot of faith and some courage these days, but it does not require full understanding or total certainty. Resurrection requires being comfortable with only knowing in part, with letting go of certainty, with resting in mystery in letting God have the final word. Through resurrection, God created a new reality; overthrowing death, sin, and all that we could fear; and declaring once and for all that life is more powerful than death……. and love more lasting than tragedy. God has a future in store for each of us and anything is possible with God. Like the movie ‘Leap of Faith’, the people were changed by God’s miracle of healing the boy…… and the drought that had 3 plagued them for so long, was at that moment forgotten. SO besides healing the boy, God’s gift came in the form of a much-needed rainfall. The Easter message calls us from our old doubts and lack of faith to a new belief in life everlasting and God’s providing us with what we need at just the right moment. The tomb couldn’t hold Jesus, and the idea that the one who died by crucifixion has now risen. Death does not have the final word-but God did and still does. JESUS IS RISEN!

PRAYER-Lord, it is true that You have worked so many miracles in our lives. If we were to try to recount all the times You have saved us, delivered us, rescued us, gotten us out of trouble, put us on a right path, and blessed us when we didn’t deserve it, there wouldn’t be enough time to recite them all! So how could we ever question that You would be with us right now in our present challenge with covid19? Of course You are with us and will help us! Forgive us for being so hardhearted as to forget what You have already done for us. And let us be thankful to You right now that You are going to help us this time too! In Jesus name we pray as we recite the Lord’s Prayer in closing. NOW--REJOICE WITH THANKS TODAY on EASTER 2020 AND ALWAYS-- GIVE GOD GLORY FOR HIS GIFT OF LOVE & FORGIVENESS & CELEBRATE!!!! A BLESSED EASTER TO ALL YOU BLESSED PEOPLE!

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