It’s good to see all the folks who have joined us on this special dedication Sunday. Who are have come to support the parents as they presented their little ones unto the Lord….Some grandparents are glowing here!
It reminds me of the lady who was trying to get her dad to attend Easter service with her, but she knew he always fell asleep whenever she was able to get him in church. She could not sit with him because she sang in the church choir. So, she asked her son to sit with his grandfather and she would give him a dollar to keep Grandpa awake.
Half way through the preliminaries the she looked down from the choir loft and heard her father snoring above the music. When she was able to get to her seat, she asked her son why he didn’t keep his grandfather awake, since she gave him a dollar for that very purpose. He said, “well mom, you told me to save my money, and Grandpa gave me five dollars to leave him alone and let him sleep”.
Good to see all of you today, I’ll do my best to keep you awake!!!
So today I want to talk about “The Easter Way of Walking”
We all must walk through some valleys and some shadowy places to learn the lessons they bring us so that we can keep growing, developing and maturing… (airplane voice) (Ladies and Gentlemen, The lessons will continue until we learn them, and then we can move on… to the next lesson)….
We are Easter people, and that means we are not who we used to be, but we live our lives with the benefits, the advantages and the reality of the resurrection side of the empty tomb.
A man was walking down a street when he noticed in a store window a beautiful painting of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. He stood there gazing at the picture for the longest time, then herealized that a little boy was standing beside him. He patted the little boy on the head and said, ''Son, what does that mean?'' The little boy said, ''Doncha know Mister? That there man is Jesus, an' the woman that's crying is His mother, an' there’s some men called Roman soldiers, and they killed Him.'' The man smiled and then started walking away. But then he heard someone running, and when he turned he saw that it was the little boy. The boy came running up to the man, out of breath, and said, ''Hey Mister, I forgot to tell you that with all they did to Him, he just wouldn’t stay dead.''
We who receive Christ are children of the Resurrection!
Jesus died to make all things new…. And He rose to make all things possible…..He told us “Because I live, you shall live also”.
This tells us that no matter how it seems, there is a new thing, in a new way, with a new outcome waiting for us, because of the Easter Story.
When I was a teen, I worked at the local grocery store in my home town of Blackstone Virginia, after school and on Saturdays. I was a stock boy and also did a lot of bagging of groceries. I remember one day, a lady remembered that she had forgotten an item, and I was asked to get it for her. Her little boy wanted to go with me, so I said, OK, walk this way…..(then I proceeded to do a crazy walk, and when I looked back, he was trying to do the same thing)
Because of Easter, Jesus tells us “Walk this way” and those who have had an encounter with Him, commit themselves to trying to walk in His footsteps. And there are blood stains on that pathway. Sometimes it gets pretty crazy, and you don’t really understand, and you end up in places you never planned to go and you end up with folks you never planned to be with…. But MAN, WHAT AN ADVENTURE… WHAT A LIFE….. He who the son sets free is free indeed!
Free to walk the resurrected life! Free of all the baggage, and free of hurts and offences. Free of the stuff that should have been discarded and buried long ago! (Speaking of doing away with stuff)
My wife is a fanatic when it comes to shredding. The person you see is her sweet wife, mother and grandmother disguise, but she is actually….
“THE SHREDDER”!!! Our shredding bag usually fills up pretty quick every week…Anything with our name or anything with any personal information is going into the shredder. All the junk mail goes into the shredder (Man I wish I had all the money they spend to send me all that junk mail, I’d be rich!) So I brought a shredder today…. I’m going to call it the empty tomb shredder…. Because when we come to Christ, receive Him as our savior, we get the gift of our own personal empty tomb shredder. We can put all our junk mail in the shredder and all the personal stuff the devil uses to condemn us goes into the shredder…
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”
I want the shredder to join me up here if she would please….
So let me see…. Before I met Christ, I lied (let’s run that through the shredder).. I was filled with anger and unforgiveness (let’s run that through the shredder)… I cheated and I stole (run that through the shredder) I was a very fearful person (so, we’ll run that through the shredder) Hey…. I was a sinner (Let’s run that through the shredder) All the personal information that condemned me, and was against me, intimidating me, and putting me in a place that was something less than the best that God had planned for my life ( Let’s run it through the empty tomb shredder)!! Come on, give it up for the Shredder!!!!
Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be white as wool.
As a result of the resurrection of our Lord, we are able to experience a love which surpasses any love of this world. That love is the process which God uses to bring us from Point “A” in our walk, to point “B”… (We will accomplish a lot more with love and genuine concern than we ever will with rules and regulations and demands). It’s the difference In religion and relationship! A married couple was celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. At the party everybody wanted to know how they managed to stay married so long in this day and age.
The husband responded, "When we were first married, we came to an agreement. I would make all the major decisions, and my wife would make all the minor decisions."
At which point they asked the wife who said, "And what’s amazing is that in 60 years of marriage we have never had to make any major decisions."
The major decision we must all make is “what will we do with Jesus, what place will He have in our lives?”
I can vividly remember the birth of each of our children, and it'sremarkable how God has taught us about His love for us through the love we have for our children. We saw their potential, we could see what they were capable of.. (On the screen you can seea picture for you to enjoy. They used to be so cute. I don't know what happened to them.)
But you know what? From the moment they arrived in that hospital room until right now; I would give my life for them no questions asked. I'm sure you're the same way. Because something happens to you when that baby is born.
The moment you lay eyes on them there is this utterly unashamed, fierce loyal, and powerfully protective love that sweeps over you for them. There's nothing you wouldn't do that was in your power, on their behalf, am I right?
And even though that newborn screams bloody murder and keeps us awake at night, and there is always plenty of changing diapers and getting thrown up on. OH, yes, they demand so much sacrifice of time, energy, effort, and resources, and we fiercelylove them through it all.
It’s hard to understand how a parent can love a child who wants nothing to do with them, and curses at them and puts them down constantly, but they love them deeply and strongly ! A mother will love that daughter who is determined to destroy her life with alcohol and drugs… She will even love that son who goes to prison for crimes of violence, even though the whole world is against them…..
If we are that way, how much more would the one who paid such a great price, so that we could not only live life well here in this world, but for all eternity, and never stop loving us with his great love.
The Easter kind of walk is also seen, in a marriage, when you've got a husband and a wife trying to out-give each other all day long, every day. And both of them can't believe how good it is to be in that marriage. Wow! It's the stuff your favorite stories are made of ... A young wife named Jennifer prayed like this: Lord, I pray for wisdom to understand my man. Lord, I pray for Love, to forgive him. O Lord, I pray for patience, to deal with his moods. But O Lord, I do not pray for strength, because if you give me too much strength, I will beat him to death, (OOPS).
The Easter way of walking is when a big brother stands up for his little brother, when a big sister brags on her little sister to her friends ... when siblings can't think of anything better to do than spend time with one another, and there's genuine admiration for the good grades, or the sports talent, or the musical skills, or the winning way they have with people ... or whatever it is.
And when a church walks out the Easter way of walking, and the church is filled with those with a desire to serve one another, miracles begin to happen in everything they do!
One preacher in his sermon, said, "There's no such thing as a perfect person other than Jesus. If anybody present is perfect, would you please stand up." Well, of course, nobody stood up.Then the preacher said "Those who have ever known a perfectman other than Jesus, would you please stand up." At that, one little old man, stood up… "You’re telling us that you knew an absolutely perfect man?" The pastor asked, somewhat amazed.
" Well sir” He said, “I didn't know him personally, but I have heard a great deal about him. He was my wife's first husband."
Jesus rose, and walked out of the tomb so that imperfect people, struggling with real life problems, wouldn’t’ get caught in the grip of hopelessness, or trapped in revolving doors, dumped at a dead end, chained to a bad outcome, and have to live filled with regret.
Easter is love, overwhelming our rebellion…No matter who we are, we have all done a little rebelling of our own. Some have been more so than others….but it’s there… (I’ve drawn many devil horns and mustaches on my mom’s pictures, when she was trying to help me reach manhood without killing myself!
We live in a day where many rebel against the status Quo, and they hold demonstrations and protests, but then they grow up and look back and wonder what in the world they were thinking at the time… A little boy was placed in an experimental school program, where the students were permitted to have absolute free expression. They were encouraged to explore their inner feelings. They were told that they could do whatever they wanted to do in whatever way they wanted to. They could come to their own conclusions, and actually create their own curriculum. But with all this, believe it or not, after a couple of days of this, the boy went to the teacher and complained, by saying "Do I have to do whatever I want to do?"… What he was needing was boundaries and he felt vulnerable and frightened without them….The disciples of Jesus were constantly doing their own thing, coming to their own conclusions and needing another session with the master to renew their purpose.
In the early morning hours of that first Easter, we saw impetuous Peter running into the empty tomb and then we see skeptical, fearful John cautiously entering after him…. but regardless of how they both entered the tomb, they were both walking with new found faith and commitment when they came out of that empty Easter tomb …. Because they had encountered the reality of the resurrection and everything was about to change….
The Easter way of walking…. Is about teaching and learning…. About falling down, and getting up…. It’s about learning to win by handling defeat… It’s about building relationships and often we learn what we should do by what we shouldn’t do…..
Joshua the deliverer of Israel who prayed and the sun and the moon stood still until they won the battle, had gone through some major mistakes in his leadership career… if you make a mistake or if you fall down, get up! Don't quit! Learn the lesson of the mistake and move forward because God loves you, He still wants to fight for you, and He can still use you for His glory if you'll just stay humble before Him!
When Jesus showed up on the road and walked with them after He was risen, they didn’t recognize him….
Sometimes as we walk this Easter walk, we won’t recognize the risen one because He may show up as a lonely widow, or it may be an orphan child, He may show up as a soldier returning from the war front still dealing with the horror of it all, and what if He shows up as that person you can’t stand… will you recognize Him….
For He said in Matthew 25:40 “Verily I say unto you, as you have done it unto one of the least of these, you have done it unto Me”.
On Good Friday, Jesus declared that the work was finished and He died on the cross.
On Easter He presented His victory before the heavenly mercy seat, so that it would be forever secure, unchanging, and undiminished. Nothing could touch it to altar it or dilute it’spower. No thieves could break in and steal it from us, the corrosive elements of earth could not corrupt it, and Satan’s forces cannot violate it. It is available, the same now as it has always been, for every man and woman and child.
The Easter way of walking, brings strength to the weary, joy to the sorrowful, it brings faith to the doubting, hope to the hopeless, guidance to the lost, encouragement to the discouraged, comfort to the grieving, peace to the troubled, deliverance to the captive, healing to the sick, power to the weak, and eternal life to all who receive Him
We say “It’s impossible” but because of Easter, God says “All things are possible”…. We say “I can’t.” But the empty tomb declares that He already has….We say “I’m not able”….but the risen Christ says “I am”…. We say “I can’t forgive”…. He says, “You’re forgiven, just act like it”…. We say “I can’t make it”, but the one who defeated death says “I have overcome so that you can”… We say “Things just never get better”…. He who turned the grave into a celebration, says “The best is yet to come”!!!
Let us stand together to make our closing confession….
Father, thank you that your constant Presence in my life, is a faithful witness to me, giving insight, and inspiration, and gently guiding me in making wise and compassionate decisions. I know that nothing can touch my life without Your permission. I know that You only desire to provide what is best for me in everything, at all times, and it is planned by the Father, purchased by the Son, and sealed by the Holy Spirit.
In You Lord, we have a love that can never be fathomed, a life that can never die, a righteousness that only You can give, a peace that is beyond understanding, a rest that can never be disturbed, a joy that can never be diminished, a hope that shall endure, a glory that can never be clouded, a light that can never be darkened, a beauty that shines from within, a wisdom that can never be baffled, and resources that can never be exhausted. Thank You, In Jesus' name…. Amen
