On this Sunday when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus or the "Getting Up"..... I want us to reflect on how this event impacted all of our lives.....individually and collectively. I challenge you to discover new truth in the timeless message of Easter...
Before Jesus "Got Up" from the womb of Mary, where the divine seed of God was deposited.... We tend to think of the terms B.C (before Christ) and A.D. (after Christ).... but the truth be known, there is no B.C. because there is no time where there was no Jesus.... He was before anything that was made....He is the beginning and He will be at the end.... He is timeless, eternal, and it is in Him that all things exist.
While it is true that He became the son of God, when the physical body began to form in the womb of mary, from a single cell...we also know that He was God the Word, The Second person of the Trinity, before He was the Son of Man.... and the Son of God....
Knowing that there was no time when He did not exist, means that there is no time when He is not close to any one of us....
Jesus was born in a stable in a remote part of the world that was undeveloped, remote and insignificant....He lived a humble life as a carpenter's son in a small village, yet He rose to become one of the most important men in all of history. He got up, from an obscure *.....beginning, and a place which the bible actually says John 1:46 "Can there be anything good that comes out of Nazareth? ....
When you feel that you just can't get there from where you are.... remember, He got up so you could get up also!!! If you've fallen, you can get up! Failure and falling short, doesn’t have to be a hitching post that you're tied to, it's only a guide post that you can learn from, and get up from...
Jacob's wife Rachael died in childbirth, and Jacob was traumatized by the death of the woman he loved so dearly....but instead of naming the child..."son of my sorrow"....He named him "Benjamin"...The strength of my right arm....
Jacob's name meant deceiver and usurper (can you picture his teacher giving the roll call at school and asking if the deceiver and usurper was present?).... But God changed his name to Israel, which means "Prince who prevailed with God"....
Abraham's given name was Abram...which meant "Father" but God had something bigger planned so He changed it to Abraham, meaning "Father of nations".....God knows how to bring you up.....
Jesus Got up from obscurity, and what seemed to be a dead end life, in a small village of Gallilee.... so that every one of those who believe in Him, no longer have to accept anything less than all He has planned and all He knew that He had for us from the day we were born!
Your God given strength is the marker of your destiny.... Peter's strength was his great courage and Jesus named him the Rock.... Moses strength was his meekness (meekness is strength under control).... Abraham's strength was his faith, and he is called the father of the faith....David's strength was His heart after God, and he was called the friend of God.....All of these men failed and fell...but their God given area of strength got them up and kept them going....
Unguarded, undisciplined and divided strength can be our greatest source of weakness!
A children's church teacher was teaching the children about the benifit of having a family. She happened to ask the group if they could remember a scripture which had to do with marriage... One child raised his hand and said "Father forgive them for they know not what they do".
(Ignorance is not bliss)
There’s a huge difference between saying "I can do it", or saying "I can do all things thru Christ"!
Jesus said in John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
Larry and Lorie were getting up in years, and Lorie got Alzheimer’s. It began gradually, but eventually she was lost in it's grip…nothing she said made sense. More and more, Larry had to do everything for her. Then one day, sitting in their living room, she miraculously stepped out of her illness for a moment and looked at him and said, “do you still want me?” He said “it broke his heart! And he ran to her and said, O, cup cake, of course I want you…the greatest privilege of my life is caring for you!” Then she smiled…and just as quickly as she stepped out of her illness, she slipped back in again…
Let me read you a poem written by a person with Alzheimers..... "Do not ask me to remember, don't try to make me understand. Just let me rest and know you're with me. Kiss my cheek and hold my hand. I'm confused beyond understanding, I am sick and sad and lost. All I know is that I need you to be there with me, at all cost. Do not lose your patience with me, do not scold or curse or cry. I can't help the way I'm behaving, I can't be different if I tried. Just remember that I need you, even though the best of me is gone, please be always there beside me, love me till this thing is gone".....
You may feel like you’ve out lived your usefulness!…and maybe you've even asked God, "Do you still want me, can you still use me"...but no matter what you’ve done or what your condition…God still has a wonderful plan for your life! How do I know that? You’re still breathing, so there's still hope, let your strength arise! God loves us just like we are, but He loves us enough to not leave us that way.....He still wants us to be all we can be, to be blessed, to be an instrument of His love and care, and bring second chances to as many as possible!
When I was a teen, I decided that I would be a good roller skater.... I wanted to jump up in the air and do a 360 spin, I wanted to skate backward and do some of the moves a figure skater made.
I jumped and fell, I would spin and fall, I went backwards and fell, I tried other things and I fell, but I kept getting up and falling, until I figured out why I was falling and I began to fall less and less.....I was well aquainted with the floor before I was able to stay up on my skates....But I kept getting up!
Proverbs 24:16, “Though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again”. (I think that was my theme song)!
Satan’s goal is not only for you to fall, but for you to stay down…Jesus got up so we could get up!!!
On one occasion the sceptics and the doubters confronted Jesus about the issue of where He got His authority..... Jesus answered in ...
Mark 2:9-12 "Is it easier to say to this lame man, 'Your sins are forgiven'? Or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. Then Jesus spoke to the man who could not walk. "I tell you," he said, "get up. Take your mat and go home."The man got up and took his mat. Then he walked away while everyone watched. All the people were amazed. They praised God and said, "We have never seen anything like this!"
People were watching to see what would happen....they are watching to see if we are going to get up, or allow the wall we have run into, or the pit we've fallen into, to keep us down.
I have quoted the words of Jeremiah 29:11 so many times to encourage myself in the Lord.... "For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'”
Satan wanted to sift Peter to condemn him and he thought he had him, as he warmed himself by the devil's fire, denied Jesus, cursed the memory of Him, and later went back to fishing....Jesus knew Peter's Failure, but He knew his faith and inner conviction, and He knew his future....Jesus got up so Peter could get up and preach a message that would bring 3000 to Christ, his shadow would heal sick folks, he would write part of the bible, and he would be part of spreading the gospel around the world!
Peter's message to all of us today, is You’ve Fallen…But You CAN Get Up!
This is illustrated in the story of Mark 5:38 And Jesus came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw the tumult, and all those that wept and wailed greatly. v39 And when He had come in, He said unto them, Why do you make all this fuss, and all this weeping? The young girl is not dead, but only sleeps. v40 And they laughed Him to scorn. But when He had put them all out, He took the father and the mother of the girl, and those that were with him, and entered in where the girl was lying. v41 And He took her by the hand, and said unto her, "Talitha cumi"... which being interpreted is, "Daughter, I say unto you, get up".
Sometimes Satan will come against us with the hardest blow of all, and something we treasure, something we hold dear dies..... it might be a dream, it might be an expectation, a relationship or something that is a part of us.... For Jairus, when that something died, he did what we all should do....He looked to see where Jesus was in all of this....Friend, you can't do any better than getting Jesus into the situation!
A teacher asked the kids to pray as they sat in a circle. Each one took a turn and when they got to one little boy he said, "Dear God, we had a good time at church today. Wish you could have been here."
Where Jesus is, LIFE IS, HOPE IS, A NEW BEGINNING IS!!!
He is speaking to us today, the same words this father and the daughter heard, when hope was gone.....GET UP!!!
1 Corinthians 15:55 "O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory? 56) The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57) But thanks be to God, who always gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
When our "get up and go has got up and went", we need to hear those words, we need to experience the power of them.....
Jesus didn't open the tomb so He could get out, He opened it so we could get up!!!
Satan uses guilt, shame and our own pride to keep us down much longer than we should and could be. And he has been especially effective with a certain group of folks in the church. Bin Gossiping, Bin Critical, Bin Absent, Bin Compromising and Bin Sour. Bin Sleepin, Bin Loafin, and Bin Drinkin have repented and made a turn around, thanks to the dedicated efforts of Bin Praying, Bin Witnessing, Bin Teaching and Bin living it!!!
In the midst of Paul's battle with his flesh, Jesus appeared to him and said in 2 Corinthians 12:9 "My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in your weakness".
It makes it easier to get up when you remember what the Lord did the last time you were down and out. It's easier to get up when you start remembering how God brought you out and brought you through that last mess you found yourself in. It is easier to get up when you start remembering that you didn’t have enough money to pay your mortgage, but somehow God found a way; when the cupboard bare and the refrigerator was empty and God put food on your table.
It’s easier to get up when you start to remember his promises to you: I will be with you…I will not leave you, nor forsake you…I am the bread of life…I am living water…I am your rock in a weary land…I am Jehovah Jirah, your provider.....
Romans 8:11 "But if the same Spirit that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you".
When Jesus got up on Easter morning, He didn't go to heaven, He went to Hell and took the keys of death, hell and the grave... Then He announced His victory to all those who were held in the place of the righteous dead, and said "Get Up".... Oh...they had waited mellenia for those words, and having given the announcement, then Jesus led a processional to heaven with the old testament faithful in the parade.
He went to hell because He wasn't willing to go to heaven without us!
Ephesians puts it this way! Ephesians 4:8 "Wherefore He said, when He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. V9 (Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? v10 For He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things".
Then we see Colossians 2:15 "And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it".
Without the open tomb, the empty cross would lose it's power, and be nothing more than a talisman worn on a gold chain around someone's neck. But we not only look to the cross, we look through the cross at what validates it, and brings it's redemptive power down through the ages to each of us. The power of the cross is the living Lord who ever lives to present it's claims to every demon of hell, every bondage and addiction, every sickness and every sin. He places it's finished work in the very face of Satan and He must tremble and flee before it!
Because He got up, you and I are much more than what you see on the outside....We're not who we used to be...we don't live where we used to live, and we don't do what we used to do.....
The angels on resurrection morning asked the disciples "Why do you seek the living among the dead"? If He had not gotten up, we would be lost, if He had not gotten up, we would be in our sin, if He had not gotten up we would have no forgiveness, only the condemning and accusing rigidity of the law.. If He had not gotten up we would be without hope and without purpose...
When you've gotten so low, that you feel that all you have is Jesus, You have enough!!!!
Bill and Gloria wrote those words....Because He lives I can face tomorrow, because He lives all fear is gone. Because I know He holds my future. My life is worth the living just because He lives!
When someone asks you how you can live a Christian life when so many turn against you… it's because He got up. When they ask you how you can smile in the midst of the pain tell them…because He got up. When they ask you how you are able to keep on going when so much goes wrong, tell them…because He got up! When it looks like all hope is gone you can tell them you’re going to be okay…...because He got up!
Paul says in 1Corinthians 15:14 "And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain". But thank God he doesn't stop there....1Corinthians 15:20 "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become our firstfruits....v25 For He must reign, till he has put all enemies under His feet.
The crowds around the cross mocked and said "If you really are the Christ, then come down from the cross and save yourself".... But Jesus knew that if He had come down, then He would never have been able to Get us Up!!!
The world calls out for us to come down from the walk of faith, come down from the Christ centered life, come down from the life of scriptural discipline and live for the flesh....
Listen friend, we've all gotten knocked down, but we get up again, because Jesus lives in us and you can't keep Him down, and if He is in us, you can’t keep us down either. -
You can choose to blow up, give up, get hung up, freeze up, break up, mess up, hold up, shoot up, rust up, or be washed up....but He got up so you could GET UP!!!
The chorus of a song by Lee Ann Womack says "Get up, get up in Jesus' name, The Lord is calling daily to those who would be saved. Don't go down defeated while victory's here to claim. Get up, get up, get up, in Jesus' name" Overcomers may fail…but they try again. Overcomers may get knocked down…but they get back up. Overcomers may lose the battle…but they win the war. Overcomers may suffer some set backs…but they rise up and recover everything they've lost. The Bible does not call us survivors, it calls us overcomers. The Bible does not call us just a conquer…but it calls us more than a conquer.
The old timers used to talk about what they called "The great gitt'n up morning" And I remember that Jesus said:… if I be lifted UP from the earth…I’ll draw all men unto me…They tried to ignore Him, they tried to silence Him, They beat Him and crucified Him, then they buried Him, but early, on that great getting UP Sunday morning…Jesus rose… he got UP from the grave and said ALL POWER is in my hand…and because he got up on that day…You and I can experience that great getting UP morning…
The bible says that one day soon, Jesus Christ will come back to this earth with a shout ….the voice of an archangel and the trump of God and the dead in Christ will rise UP…then we who are still alive will be changed in a moment the twinkling of an eye and will be caught UP in the clouds to meet Him in the air… Tell someone, "Keep getting up, and keep going up!!"
The world can't keep you down, The devil can't keep you down, and your situation and circumstances can't keep you down! (turn to someone and say "look out, I'm getting ready to get up"!!!)
I close with a poem which says....Let the heavens be joyful, Let earth her song begin. Let the round world be triumphant, And all that is therein. Let all things seen and unseen, with their notes of gladness blend. For Christ the Lord has risen, and our Joy now has no end. Hallelujah, He got up so we can get up!!!!
Prayer....."Lord Jesus, on Good Friday, things looked like it was all out of control, but You saw the end from the beginning, and what we could not see was safely hidden in You. The mystery that was veiled was torn open for all to see and enter into. In like manner, Lord of New Beginnings, may that which seems disquised in a shroud of chaos and confusion, be the new beginning our nation has hoped, believed and prayed for. Lord, you choose the messengers who bring forth Your new day.
Lord, may we not be so focused on the messengers, that we miss the message, and allow a time which will difine history and the future, to pass unnoticed and unappreciated. The fear mongers shall not hold back the light that pierces the darkness and the dawn of this new day shall break forth in power and splendor. Thank You Lord for a new day in our Country and in our World. "For the governments shall be upon Your shoulders, and of Your Kingdom there shall be no end"!!!! Hallelujah!
