Happy Easter to all of you! Thank you so much for making time ... - Bitly

Sermon Series: Easter 2017 Series

Colossians 2:13-14 “How Easter Impacts You”

1 Pastor Brian Long: April 15 & 16th, 2017 Big Idea: The Resurrection transforms your past, present, and your future..

Happy Easter to all of you! Thank you so much for making time in your full lives to be here for one of our Easter celebrations. Once again, if you haven’t done it yet, whether you’re a guest or a regular part of our church, take a few moments and fill out that “Connect” card in front of you. You can drop that in the baskets that come by later or if you are NEW with us today, take that card to the “Connect Booth” on your way out and we have a free gift for you. I know your lives our full, so I give you my word we won’t abuse the information you give us on that card in any way.

Easter, as many of you are aware already, celebrates the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth from the dead. A lot of people say, "I believe in the resurrection; I just don't understand it." So, here’s what I want to do in my time with you today. I want to ask two questions: Easter—what does it mean, and why does it matter?

It’s our belief here around here that the resurrection is historical fact. Here’s why: It wasn't done in secret. The whole city of Jerusalem and the whole Roman Empire knew about it. It was big news. If CNN had existed then, they would have had it live. There are at least 15 historical references to Jesus meeting people, touching people, and talking with people after he had been crucified. One time he cooked breakfast for some people. One time he addressed about 500 people after he had risen from the dead. A lot of people saw him.

But what does his resurrection mean? Fundamentally it means three things: First, Jesus is who he claimed to be.

The resurrection means Jesus is who he claimed to be.

If you’ve read your Bible or gone to church much, you know Jesus made some outrageous claims when he was here on earth. He said things like, "I'm God. I'm perfect. I'm the only way to heaven. I'm the savior of the world."

A lot of people try to make Jesus a good teacher, but a good teacher would never say those kinds of things. I could teach you good moral truths each week, and you might say, "Brian’s a good teacher." But if I started calling myself God, you wouldn't think I was a good teacher anymore. Jesus was either who he said he was, or he was the biggest liar who ever

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lived.

One day Jesus cleared the moneychangers out of the temple courtyard. They had turned the temple into something like a local flea market, so he drove them all out. They said, "What right do you have to do this?" He said, "Because I'm God." They said, "Prove it!" He said, "I will. Three days after you kill me, I'm going to come back to life." He claimed to be God, and his resurrection backs up what he claimed to be.

Here’s one of Jesus’ truth claims: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can get to God the Father except by means of me.” -John 14:6. That's a strong claim. Look there, he said, "I'm THE way." He didn't say, I'm one way, I'm a good way, or I'm one of the ways. Saying "all roads get to heaven" is not reasonable. That's like saying I can dial any phone number I want and get my home. Jesus said, "I am THE truth." That means any other way is not the truth.

Bottom line, Jesus claimed to be God. And the resurrection was tangible proof the he was who he claimed to be. Secondly, the resurrection means Jesus had the power he claimed to have.

The resurrection means Jesus has the power he claimed to have.

At one point Jesus said, "All power on earth and in heaven is given to me." Because he is God, he can do everything God can do. In John 10:18 Jesus said: “Nobody takes my life from me. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it up again.”

No force could keep Jesus in the tomb. The Romans killed him, put him in a tomb, put a big stone in front, sealed it with the Roman seal, and posted a 24-hour guard. They were only trying to prevent the inevitable. Jesus said: They can't stop me. I can give my life away, and I can take it up again. He said it…then it did it. That’s powerful proof he had the power he claimed to have.

The resurrection means Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God was legit. It means his claim to have the power of God was legit. And finally, the resurrection means he accomplished what he promised to do.

The resurrection means Jesus did what he promised to do.

In Mark 10:34 Jesus says: “They will mock and flog and kill me, but after

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three days I will come back to life.” The cross was no surprise to Jesus. It was all part of God's plan.

Now, let’s take a step back for a moment. When you think about it, there's a little bit of humor in the Easter story. I mean, how would you feel if you had been the guys who put Jesus to death? You publicly execute this man in front of thousands of witnesses, who see him die, then you have him buried, a stone put over his tomb, and a 24-hour guard. Three days later this guy's up and walking around the city again. If you’re a Roman executioner, you’re thinking, “ I stink at my job!”

When the first folks arrived at Jesus’ tomb that first Easter, the angel basically said: “Don't be frightened. I know you're looking for Jesus, who was crucified. But he isn't here. He's come back to life again, just as he said he would. He did what he promised”(Luke 24:5).

Folks…here’s what I’m suggesting to you…when God makes a promise, you can count on it! That's a bottom-line Easter truth! Because Jesus did rise, he demonstrated inarguably that he was who he said he was, he has the power he said he had, and he keeps the promises he makes.

Now…with that in mind…So what? Why does the resurrection matter to you? What difference does it make for your life?

It matters for three reasons: Since Jesus is who he claimed to be, has the power he claimed to have, and does what he promises to do…this matters to you first, because your past can be forgiven.

The resurrection matters because your past can be forgiven.

That's good news. Have you ever been halfway through a project and wished you could start over? A lot of times people feel that way about life. They get halfway through life and wish they could start over. We have all done things we wish we hadn't done, said things we wish we hadn't said, and thought things we wish we hadn't thought. We all have regrets. We all feel bad about things. We all have guilt. Most of us have hit moments in our lives where we wish we could hit “restart.”

You guys all use personal computers or you have smart phones. You know how inevitably your device starts running slower, or it seems to freeze up or lock up? When that starts happening it’s frustrating and annoying. When you call tech support what’s the first thing they typically ask you? “Have you restarted your device?” I even get this message on my Comcast box. I read one place where the majority of issues can be

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resolved by restarting. Restarting is your best friend.

Here's the good news. Speaking of Jesus, Colossians 2 reads: “He has forgiven all our sins and canceled every debt we owe. Christ has done away with it by nailing it to the cross.”- Col. 2:13-14

This is God's pardon program. Jesus nailed it all to the cross. He paid for your guilt. That means you don't have to pay for it. He was hung for your hang-ups. Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross, so you can quit nailing yourself to the cross. He wants to forgive your past. He wants to cancel every debt you owe—emotional debts, relational debts, and sins. All canceled. What a “restart” button!

I want you to see this verse from Romans 8: “There is now, no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ” (Rom. 8:1) Isn’t that an amazing promise!

The resurrection means Jesus has the ultimate “delete” button. You can walk out of this service today, knowing that every single thing you've ever done wrong until this point is completely forgiven—Deleted. No condemnation! That's good news. Jesus Christ did not come to rub all our failures in; he came to rub them out. He said: I didn't come to condemn the world; I came to save it. I want to change you, I want to help you, I want to give you a new beginning. I want to give you a clear conscience.

Now, the resurrection not only matters to you because your past can be forgiven, but second, it matters because your present problems can be managed.

The resurrection matters because your present problems can be managed.

The older I get the more I’m coming to grips with how much of life is out of our control. I was reading about Charlie Shedd, an author. He wrote, "Before we had kids, I used to travel across the country teaching a lecture I called 'The Ten Commandments for Raising Perfect Kids.'" After he and Martha had their first child, he changed the title to "Ten Hints for Parents." After their second child, he relabeled the lecture, "A Few Tentative Suggestions for Fellow Strugglers." He said after the arrival of their third child, he gave up speaking on the topic altogether.

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Maturity is when you figure out you don’t have it all figured out. Maturity is when you realize you can't manage all life is going to send you. But God can! And that's amazing to experience. So I want to hook up with him and let him control it and ask him for help.

One of the most common frustrations I hear from people in one-way or another is this: My life feels out of control. I hear that complaint in many forms: I feel powerless to change the situation… powerless to break a bad habit…powerless to save a relationship…I feel powerless to get out of debt…I feel powerless to manage my time and my schedule.

You see, what you need is a power greater than yourself. You were never meant to live this life on your own power. God wants to have a relationship with you! And here's the good news. Ephesians teaches that the very same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in the lives of those who trust in him and follow his leadership in their lives (Eph. 1:19-20).

This is an amazing promise. The same power that enabled Jesus to rise from death will help you rise above your problems. The same power God used at the resurrection 2,000 years ago can be used in your life right now.

You don't know what the future holds. I don't either. I don't know what's going to happen next year, next month, next week. I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, and neither do you. But it doesn't matter, because even though it's out of our control, it's not out of God's. He will give us the power to face it.

It’s so reassuring to read Philippians 4:13 where it says: “I can do everything God asks me to with the help of Christ who gives me the strength and power (Phil. 4:13 The Living Bible). Some of you might have come crawling in here today—you've had a tough week or it’s been a tough season in your life lately. God wants to say to you: Don't give up. No problem is too big for me. No situation is hopeless if you'll turn it over to me. I can empower you to manage the challenges of your life.

Why does the resurrection matter? Because your past can be forgiven, your present can be managed, and thirdly…your future can be secure.

The resurrection matters because your future can be secure.

One of the universal problems we've all got is death. Let's face it—

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everybody dies. We all get this. Only an irresponsible person would go all through life unprepared for something he knows is inevitable. That doesn't make sense. But sometimes we get so busy in the here and now, we don't stop to think about what's going to come.

In my experience, most people have a deep internal nagging to know, "What's going to happen after I die?"

They asked some children to write sentences about what they believed about death.

• Gilda, aged 8, said, "When you die they put you in a box and bury you in the ground because you don't look too good."

• Stephanie, aged 9, said, "Doctors help you so you won't die until you pay their bill."

• Marsha, aged 9, said, "When you die, you don't have to do homework in heaven unless your teacher is there too."

• Raymond, aged 10, said, "A good doctor can help you so you won't die. A bad doctor sends you to heaven."

There are a lot of misconceptions about heaven. When you go to the Bible, what does God say it's really going to be like in heaven? Now…listen carefully to this. This is super important for each of you because one day you're going to stand before God, and you're going to need to know the right answers.

1. Number one, heaven is a perfect place. Total love, total peace, total joy, and total perfection. No sin, no mistakes, no evil, no bad, no errors. It's perfect in every area.

2. The second thing the Bible says is that in order for you to go there, you have to be perfect, because only perfection can exist in heaven.

Now…there are two ways the Bible says you can get to heaven. PLAN A is to earn it. That's the performance plan. And to earn it, here’s all you have to do: Never sin and always do what's right every second of your life. Always make the right decision, always say the right thing, never say the wrong thing. Just be perfect.

You’re probably thinking, “Great! That leaves me out." Right?! It leaves me out too. You’re thinking, "I'll never make it if I have to be perfect." Right! That's the point. Neither will I. Neither will any of us, because none of us is

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perfect; we've all messed up. Since none of us qualify for Plan A, God came up with PLAN B.

Here’s PLAN B: You trust Jesus Christ when he says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." He was the only perfect person who ever lived, because he was God. And by trusting and establishing a relationship with him, you get in on his goodness. He clothes you completely in his righteousness.

John 17:3 says: “This is the way to have eternal life: by knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ, the one he sent to earth.” When you get to heaven you'll say, "God, I can't get in on my own effort. The only way I can get into heaven is because I'm a friend of Jesus. I am wrapped in his perfection"

A lot of people try different ways to get to heaven.

• Some people try what I call "salvation by sincerity." It goes like this: "It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you're sincere." Here’s the problem with that. You can be sincerely wrong. Several years ago a friend of mine’s brother who piloted a small plane sincerely flew it right into a mountain between here and Reno. From all indications he sincerely thought he could clear the peak. He had three other family members in the plane with him. There were no survivors. Folks, he was sincerely wrong.

• Some people think you get to heaven by service: "I can do all these good things and work and earn my way there." Question: How much good is enough to compensate for your bad?

• Some people try "salvation by subtraction." You give up a bunch of things and then you get to heaven: "I don't drink, or do drugs or dabble with porn. I don't do any of that bad stuff." If getting to heaven is just a matter of not doing things, then at that point anybody who's dead qualifies for heaven.

• Then there are people who think they'll get to heaven by ritual: "I'll get baptized," they think. Or “I’ll join a church.” Folks, please realize, you can get baptized in the ocean until every fish knows your first name. And sitting in a church won’t make you a Christian any more than sitting in a chicken coup will make you a chicken. Just because you “joined the church” you’re not going to heaven. That notion doesn’t stand up to

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logic.

• How about "salvation by heritage." Your mother was a Christian. You grandmother was a Christian. So what? You have to make a personal decision yourself. That's like saying you're married because your mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother were married. No, you've got to make a personal decision.

• And then here’s a common one—"salvation by comparison": "At least I'm better than so-and-so." But the fact is, God isn't judging you according to me or anybody else. Looking around for people weaker or worse than you and trying to compare yourself to them is like saying, "I can bench press more than my grandmother." God doesn't grade on a curve. Remember: It's either 100 percent perfection or Plan B—trust Jesus.

Today is the perfect day to consider how the resurrection impacts you:

1. Would you like to have everything you've ever done wrong completely forgiven? Would like to enjoy a clear conscience?

2. Would you like to acquire a new power that would help you manage the problems in your present?

3. Would you like to have your future secured?

Folks…These are the ways Easter can impact you.

INVITATION

Now, to be clear, understanding why Easter happened, why Christ rose from the dead, is not enough. You've got to do something about it. You've got to take some action steps. Just understanding my talk today is not enough to get you into heaven. You've got to accept it and act on it.

You need to say to God, "God, I'm scrapping Plan A- the perfection thing. I've already blown it enough times to know I'm not going to make the 100 percent thing. So I'm asking you to work Plan B in my life. Jesus, I want to trust you, follow you, get to know you and have a relationship with you." That's how you do it. That's how Easter can make a difference in your life.

All of us came to this Easter Celebration for different reasons. Some of you came because it's the traditional thing to do. Others of you came because a friend invited you, somebody who really cares about you. Some of you came because an advertisement attracted your attention. It doesn't matter

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why you think you came here. You're not here by accident. God brought you here. He brought you here so he could communicate with you, so he could get you to sit still for 60 minutes so he could say something to you.

This is what God wants to say to you today:"You matter to me. I understand everything about your life. I know you. I made you, remember? I want to have a relationship with you. I sent my son to die for you. I want you to get to know me." -God

Some of you have been close to God in the past. You've drifted away. What does God say to somebody who has drifted away? Isaiah 54:7 says: “…with great compassion I will take you back.” Nobody will ever love you as much as Jesus does. You matter to God, and he brought you here today to tell you that. Jesus Christ died for you to prove how much he loves you.

We're all at different places in our spiritual journey. Some of you aren't sure you're going to heaven when you die. You need to make sure. Some of you need to recommit your life to the Lord.

Let's have a few moments of silence. Nobody's going to single you out or make you raise your hand, so you can relax.

Maybe you're not sure you'd go to heaven if you died today. If that’s you, you could pray something like this in your heart: "Jesus, I'm not sure if I'm saved or not. I'm asking you to save me today. I'm putting my total trust in you, and I want to follow you. Thank you for loving me and dying for me. Help me to understand it more."

Maybe others of you have drifted away from Christ. God wants to say to you, "With great compassion I will take you back." Would you say, "Jesus Christ, I'm coming back to you today. I want to reconnect with you again.

I'm sure some of you are barely hanging on; you've been discouraged, perhaps depressed. The pressure and stress has been building up this past week or this past month, and you feel overwhelmed. God brought you here today so he could say to you, "Give it all to me. Let go and let me work in your life." Maybe your prayer is this "Jesus, I want to give you these problems I'm facing. I want to give you my life—the good, the bad, the ugly. Fill me with your hope and your presence and power."

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If you are calling out to Jesus for forgiveness and help with your life for the very first time, or if you are coming back to him after a season of distance and distraction would you let me know that by filling out the bottom portion of the card that looks like this in front of you. (Tall Card, Green Stripe). Rip off the bottom portion and toss that in the baskets that will come by later and take the top portion with you.

Now…I’d like to pray for you.

PRAY

© Church of the Foothills 2016