040410 Easter 2010.

You are good
Let Your Praises Ring
Christ the lord is risen today.

4 Announcements Trey and Chad (Building)

7 Min Message #1:

This morning we are exploring the final hours of the life of Jesus Christ here on earth. We will be exploring the meaning of Easter. The Bible encourages us to explore who Jesus is, his message, and his life. In fact, the Bible dares us to "Taste and See That the Lord is Good..." And Easter is a chance for us to see God's goodness, by seeing three different ways Jesus tasted for you and I. 1) He tasted the cup 2) He tasted the wrath 3) He tasted a Fish... Let's begin with the cup.

SAND ART RUN Video (Acoustic Guitar Unforgiven)

I. JESUS TASTED THE CUP

SCENE 1:

Scripture Reading : Matthew 26:36,39 ³⁶ Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.”³⁹ He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”

Jesus found himself in his favorite place, The Garden of Gethsemane. A place he went often to pray. Pray for his disciples. Pray for his enemies. And talk with his father. But as we look into this scene. We can almost hear his prayer. His prayer is not like most of my prayers, asking God for some additional comfort or convenience in His life... No... Jesus is crying... Jesus is under so much stress He is actually sweating blood. Jesus is laid out on the ground crying out to his dad... Jesus is talking about.... well; Let's try to listen in... (Pause) Jesus is talking about... you and me. He is asking his father if you and I have a chance of being forgiven. In his most difficult hour, and most painful moment... He is thinking about you and me. He sees the cup that you and I will need to drink. The cup of consequences. Consequences of trying to run our own lives. Consequences of ignoring God. Marginalizing God… The cup of our own selfishness, complaints, and critical spirit… And Jesus is saying, "I don’t want to drink the cup, but I will. If there is No other way to offer forgiveness to you and me - I will drink the cup" Jesus asks the Question... If it's possible?.... But His answer is... It will be impossible for you and me to know our heavenly father, to have an eternal relationship with Him, unless Jesus drinks this cup... So Jesus drinks it, for You and me Jesus drinking the cup for you and me. And Angels appear to strengthen him to taste this poisonous cup, to drink the cup that you are I were to drink… TRANS: Jesus gets up from praying, wakes up his friends... and says, "Wake up... my betrayer is at hand..."

SCENE 2: Video: 2:43-7:21, the Coins through the snake through the stomp. Instrumental Continues…

Message : (as the snake is crushed and the scene is scattered) This cup was foretold centuries earlier, and this cup was not easy to taste. Jesus was betrayed by 30 pieces of silver. And this too was laid out and predicted over 500 years earlier by the prophet Zechariah in Chapter 11: verse 12. He would be crushed by the powers of evil and hatred... And yet.... through His betrayal, and through his agony... He could crush the head of the snake. In other words, he could be wounded, hurt, and pained to drink this cup for us... But as he drank it, partook of it, the result was and is... Jesus would crush the power of evil, sin, and death once and for all. He could defeat and crush evil and death's hold on mankind through grace and forgiveness. This moment was predicted by Moses over 1500 years earlier. But now into the garden comes one of his disciples... A kiss is exchanged... Jesus friend Judas... now his betrayer kissed him, turned him over to the soldiers, and this is where Jesus not only tasted the cup, but now He is tasting the wrath of God. You see God loves us, but God is also a righteous judge, with the perfect balance of mercy and justice. As a result he must punish selfishness, hatred, complaining, ungratefulness.... And God will pour out His judgment against these things... But many of those things are in you and I, so Jesus was making a way to separate me from my imperfections in God’s sight.

Why? Why did Jesus taste the cup? The cup of betrayal. The cup of of rejection? Because in that cup was the judgment of God. God’s judgment against greed, selfishness, ungratitude, power, was coming upon you and me… SO by tasting the cup, Jesus was tasting the wrath of God, that was coming for you and me… Just as there was a Passover lamb that had to be perfect, and had to be slaughtered to provide deliverance in the time of Exodus… Jesus was perfect, and allowed himself to be slaughtered to take the wrath of God for you....

JESUS TASTED THE WRATH

Now we see the scourging. The crucifixion. He began with the lashing. (background on the lashing)... Why do we talk about this in detail on Easter? What does this have to do with tasting God's graciousness... Until we realize that we belonged here. That we deserve this scourging... We won't see the graciousness and goodness of God, to take our place. Why was it so painful, so despicable? To show us how seriously we fall short with our selfishness, fear and pride... What is happening to Jesus on the outside, is what happens to us on the inside. Gossip will lash you and I up and down. Living in hypocrisy, and keeping track of two or three lives will eat us up... The layers of ugliness formed when you and I are unforgiving, bitter, or live for ourselves. This post is showing us the ugliness of our actions... And Jesus is taking our ugliness. Our selfishness upon himself... So his body was placed in the tomb. His face had been ripped, spit upon, punched, and carved up. He tasted death for you and me. He drank the cup of God’s wrath that you and I deserved

SONG: WHY? 6 minutes (Video Sand Art Scouraging-Jesus on Cross)

Bridging 2 Min: I was talking with a couple at Horizon about a month ago who were going through some very difficult times in their marriage. They were struggling with health issues, communication issues, and depression. The wife said, "I wish I knew God was here with me." "I wish I knew that was going through this with us... " She said sometimes, "I just wish I could get a sign... Some sign that God loves me. That God is with me. That God knows what I am going through." I said... "I have a sign for you... It is in bold lights in history. Upon the cross, upon the scourging post, God is communicating his graciousness to us through the Megaphone of history. Not religion. Not philosophy.. HISTORY.

But many of us have spiritualized the story of Easter. Not as a fact of history, but a nice moral story. We may think It's an inspiring story about New beginnings, fresh starts, or hope after darkness. Many people like Easter because they believe that after death, there is some kind of an afterlife. But, many of us today don’t take the Easter story literally. You may think it is a nice story, probably exaggerated over time… So, we spiritualize, or allegorize this story... BUT, IF YOU WANT TO KNOW HE IS HERE NOW, WE MUST ASK WHO WAS THERE THEN? So Matthew, a Roman Record Keeper, and Luke, a medical doctor and ancient historian, recorded actual testimony from actual witnesses saying, "This story is a news report, not a fable!" They gave continual details about who they talked to, where they were when the story happened, and what time it was when it occurred.. Why? The want you and me to know THEY WERE THERE! They saw this, They witnesses these events... This is History, Not Philosophy. History, not religiosity....

Vocal Accapella: Were You There?

7 min Conclusion:

Scripture Reading: 1 John 1:¹That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life…⁴ And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.

7 Separate historic accounts say. We were there and we saw the tomb empty. That tomb was the proof that Jesus conquered death. That Jesus is physically, historically, literally, and bodily raised from the dead. Once he was alive, he walked around for 40 days, appeared to 1000's of people. One time, let 500 people see him at once. Evidence for his living appearances have been substantiated by historians, archeologists, and eye witness accounts. But think of this...

Historians teach us that no one knows for sure where this tomb really is today. 150 years after the resurrection, Christ-followers lost the tomb. No one knows for sure where the tomb of Jesus is. Religions always take these important places and enshrine them, turn them into worship centers.. But early Christians basically ignored the tomb. Why?

ILL: Well, it’s Like with our kids. When our kids are with us, we don’t think about their room much. Except to tell them to clean it up.... When they are wit­h you, the room just isn’t that important. BUT… If your child is gone, the room becomes a lot more important. When a child goes to college or gets married, or leaves home, the room becomes very important. You walk into their room. You see his pillow, his shoes and you reflect on it. And even more so, if the child dies. You sometimes can’t bear to reorganize the room, -because you are trying to keep that “last memory” -you can’t even touch it, bear to throw it out… When you don’t have someone, You EnShrine Their Room… But, The Christ-followers didn't enshrine the Room. Why? Jesus was alive. He was With them. If you have a person alive, the room, and the tomb is unimportant. Jesus was alive. In fact

A historian and doctor named Luke, knew that you and I would might think this is just a fable or an exaggeration, so he investigated, checked with the witnesses, and wrote this amazing account of what happened After Christ death. Jesus, risen from the dead, turns to those who doubted this was history and said....

Luke 24:37-43 “37 And why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.” 40 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.41But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” 42 So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. 43And He took it and ate in their presence.”

III. JESUS TASTED A FISH

Jesus says… I am not a spirit. I am not a ghost. Touch me. Look at my flesh. My bones… In fact, give me a fish and I’ll eat it. The whole point of this passage… Is, Jesus has His flesh and bones… So much so, that witnesses saw him eat. Luke even mentions that he ate a “grilled fish” Why does he say this? Why give that detail? If Luke was telling a fable, a story, he wouldn't include this kind of detail. The only reason he’d mention this "grilled" fish, and mention it was grilled… Is because this is a news report. Luke says, “We watched this guy, who had died, eat a grilled fish.” This is a claim. Luke says, “I know we live in a tolerant society that wants all religions to be basically the same... but we saw this. We touched this. We watched him Taste the fish. Therefore, knowing that this man had accomplished the impossible, being raised from the dead, He must be who He claimed to be. What should we do then?! Obviously the answer is, "Trust this man as He said, or die forever." We know this sounds outrageous. We know our claims sound narrow-minded… Yes, but we saw it…” Either call us liars… Or trust Him and get into a whole new world. Take it, or leave it, but don’t water it down. Don’t spiritualize it… JESUS TASTED A FISH!!!!

APPLICATION: NO REGRETS If you believe in the events of this first Easter… After death, you will have a body. You will continue to live in this world. A fixed world. A restored Heaven. And if you get this, believe this, understand this.. You can live this life without regrets . On the other hand, without this belief, we become frantic about missing out… Missing great family. Great travel. Warmth and Love. Physical Beauty. We must get to all the popular travel sites while we still have our health… We feel that we need a bucket list. We don’t want to miss out. So we live our lives with gusto… Like the old beer commercial which said: “You only go around once in life, grab for the gusto…” As a result, we end up living life stressed out, with the motto, get it all till you die, no margin, no pacing, no balance.

Easter says Don’t be ridiculous. If you unite with Jesus Christ. You will not miss out on anything. Relax. Sacrifice. Give your money away now, while you still can. Calm Down. Slow Down. There’s plenty of time. You can and will live forever. If people impose on you, hurt you a bit, relax… This season of life is but a sliver in time… Don’t work consistently 100 hour weeks… There is plenty of time… Don’t get too attached to the Appetizer Jesus says, Easter is a reminder that the Main Course is on the other side of death. What he is saying is… You may miss your parents or grandparents who passed away, but you can spend eternity with them. The best wine now… is nothing compared to the wine at His table: the wedding feast of the lamb. Don’t worry about fading beauty. “I wish I was young and beautiful again…” Your body at it’s prime is nothing compared to what it will be in the future… No regrets. No fear. You can dance, love, and embrace all those who’ve gone before us, and after…” I don’t need to cram it all in… I will have plenty of time later… On a real world. In my real body. With real people. In a real future.

Conclusion: Taste and See What Love is. Taste and See He is Good.

1 Peter 2:3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

If you taste of God’s graciousness. If if you see he drank your cup, you will be changed from the inside out. If you want to taste God’s goodness today. You can pray in your heart like this, “God I want the main course. Thank you for taking my cup… Thank you for taking my wrath… I want the promise of a new body. A new world. A new future in God’s glorioius gracious kingdom. God I want to taste what Real Love is All About.."

Anyone who prayed this prayer or wants to learn more about this, to tell the person who invited them, one of the staff or leaders in the church etc so that we can help them learn more about starting their faith journey.

SONG: THIS IS LOVE