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| Rev. Brent Russett |
Pastor of
Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa:
http://www.sunnysidechurchottawa.com/ _______________________________________________________
PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast - Sunday, April 20th, 2014:
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‘Easter Sunday’
Good morning. And welcome to good
news in the morning. Happy Easter – He has risen – He has risen indeed. My name is Brent Russett. I am the Senior
Pastor at Sunnyside Wesleyan Church. It is my pleasure to look at some of
life’s challenges, and then bring you some good news in the morning.
And it is a special morning. It is
the morning of the greatest celebration on the Christian Calendar. It is the
morning where we celebrate life. Resurrected life. The life of Jesus.
This program is sponsored by Good
News Christian Ministries, You can find us on the web @ Goodnewsinthemorning.ca
I would encourage you to check out our website. You will find a number of
things there to build into your spiritual life.
Just a couple of days ago we walked
through good Friday. It was the day that Jesus died. Today we come to Easter
Sunday and we celebrate Christ’s rising from the dead. This morning I want to
take some time with you and ponder what this weekend means.
When I was growing up what was emphasized at
Easter was the cross. The power of the cross. It was at the cross that our sin
was paid for. It was at the cross that Satan was defeated. It was at the cross
that that great exchange took place, Jesus life for my life. It was the cross
that paved the way for a relationship with God. It was at the cross where I
found forgiveness. And all these things
are right, and important and true.
The resurrection that we celebrate
today, well the resurrection was all about apologetics. The resurrection proved
that Jesus is who he said he was. It proves that the work on the cross is
valid. The resurrection was seen as validating the work on the cross. And it
does that. As the apostle Paul said, 1Co 15:14
And if Christ has not been raised,
our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
But this morning I want to take you
to deeper into the resurrection than. The resurrection is about far more than
just validating the cross. The resurrection is not only something Jesus did, it
is what he is all about, it is who he is, and it is who he wants to be for you.
I want to spend the rest of this morning unpacking that for you.
MUSIC
– EASTER SONG 2ND CHAPTER OF ACTS 2:26
I want to tell you the story from
John 11. Jesus had three friends in
village of Bethany. Verse 5 puts it this
way, John 11:5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister(Mary)
and Lazarus. In
some ways this is a different relationship than we see with any of the other
characters of the New Testament. They weren’t really disciples. There weren’t
family. They weren’t people he had brief encounters with and then walked away.
These were friends.
Jesus was up in Northern Israel, in
Galilee when he got word that Lazarus was sick. Jesus hung around Galilee for
two more day and then said, lets head to Bethany. Lazarus had died. By the time
they got to Bethany, Lazarus had been buried in a tomb for 4 days.
The family was mourning. The people
of the village were mourning. This is where we pick up the story.
20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she
went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21
"Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my
brother would not have died.
22 But
I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
23
Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
24
Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at
the last day."
25
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who
believes in me will live, even though he dies;
26 and
whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
Martha is grieving. She is hurting.
Out of her pain she speaks. Jesus, you could have healed Lazarus if you were
here – but you weren’t. Jesus said, listen,
you brother will rise again.
Martha says, I know about the
resurrection. It will happen at the end of time.--- What is left unsaid, is
that this isn’t much comfort right at this moment. But Jesus turns to Martha
and says to her "I am the
resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he
dies; 26
and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.
If you know the story, you know that
Jesus spoke into the grave of Lazarus and Lazarus was raised from the dead. But
the verse I want to focus on this Easter Sunday morning is vs 25 and 26
Jesus said "I am the resurrection and the
life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and
whoever lives and believes in me will never die.
Jesus
didn’t say I can cause a resurrection to happen here. Jesus didn’t say I myself
am going to be resurrected in a very short time from now. Jesus didn’t talk
about what he could do,---- he talked about who he was.
Jesus says “I
am the resurrection”. It is not just that I do resurrection. I
am the resurrection. That is an
important distinction. He goes on to say, “I am the
life”. Those of you who
know the bible know this isn’t the only time Jesus said that. Jesus said, John
14:6 , "I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father
except through me.
When Jesus says something once, it
is worth taking note of. When Jesus says something more than once it is worth
taking it really seriously. When Jesus says I am the life twice, you need to
know that this is important.
MUSIC:
Was
it a morning like this? - by Sandy
Patty 3:23
I have reminded you of the story of
Mary, Martha, Lazarus and Jesus. Although this story is about Lazarus, and
although Jesus is talking to Martha,
I want you to know that when Jesus
said I am the resurrection and the life,
he who believes in me will live even though he dies and whoever lives and
believes in me will never die – I want you to know that he is
say that to you as well..
The fact that Jesus is the
resurrection and the life matters to you, it applies to you, it can make a
profound difference to you. For those of you who are not followers of Jesus, it
is an invitation to you. Jesus is saying if you will believe in me, trust in
me, but your faith in me you will have this kind of life. For those of you who
are followers of Jesus it is a statement of reality about who Jesus is and who
he is for you..
He is talking about you when he
says, “He who believes in me will live,
even though he dies” The fact that Jesus is the resurrection and
the life, only matters if you believe in him. But if you do, it says, you will
live even when you die. In fact in a sense you will never die. 26 and
whoever lives and believes in me will never die. That is
important for you to note because of what he is saying about when this life
starts. It doesn’t start after you die. It starts before you die, and death
doesn’t affect it.
In other words Jesus is say I am the
resurrection and the life, for those of you who will let me – I will be that
for you,---- for those of you who will believe in me. And I want you to know
that this life starts now and it extends into eternity. Jesus says to you, I am
all about life. I am the resurrection. I am the life.
My guess is that even if you have an
elementary grasp of Christian faith, you will know some things. One of the
things that you will know is that sin is bad. You may not be able to tell
always what is sin, and what is not, but you will know that it is bad.
The reality of it is, that God hates
sin. The reason why God hates sin, is that sin brings death. The reason why
there is death in the world, is because of sin. The bible says that the wages
of sin is death. Death happens not only
on a physical level. Sin brings death on a spiritual level. Sin separates us
from God. Sin disconnects us from the spiritual realities around us. We neither
can see the angels of heaven or demons of hell. There is so much that goes on
at that level that affects our world, and yet we walk through this world
totally oblivious to that reality.
But not only that, death affects our
soul. Our mind, our will, our emotions. Our understanding is often darkened
because we can’t handle the truth. Our emotions often become distorted. And the
reality is that we live in a world full of sin and other people sins affects us
too. .
This death affects us socially as
well. We build self-protective walls around ourselves. We cannot truly open
ourselves up to other people because we are afraid. We are afraid that they
might see us for who we are and reject us. We are afraid that they make take
advantage of us. We are afraid of being hurt, or being imposed on, and the list
could go on. All this is a result of the death that sin brings.
This is our Easter weekend One of
the ways to look at this weekend is that what Jesus did on Good Friday deals with sin and what he did on Easter Sunday deals with death. Jesus dealt with our sin on the
cross. Jesus brought an antidote to our death in his resurrection.
Jesus died for our sins according to
the scriptures. Jesus was raised to life and conquered death. And both sides of
those equations matter.
Of ten Christianity has thought of
as a moral code that we live by. Or it has been thought of as a list of rules
that we keep or break. I kind of grew of with a kind of Christianity that said,
Jesus died for our sins, sin is bad, and so what matter is that we live a holy
life. The holy life was defined as a life without sin, or at least with sin
minimized.
I believe passionately in living a
holy life. But not with that definition. It is good as far as it goes, but you
see that kind of Christian life, only deals with half of Easter. It only deals
with Good Friday, with Christ crucified. I want you to know that there is a
deeper reality. Jesus wants to deal with the death that is in us. Every fiber
of his being is wired for resurrection. He is wired for life. And when you
bring Jesus into your heart, he wants to bring resurrection into your life, he
wants to bring the life that is really life into your life.
Jesus said, I have come that you might have life and have it to the full.
Now this is different than some self-help
book, that will tell you that if you really want experience life, you need to
take up running so you can release endorphins, or you need to take up adventure
so you can release adrenaline into you system. Some will tell you that if you
are going to experience life, then you need to surround yourself with beauty,
or learn mediation for peace or do something meaningful for fulfillment, or experience
all you can. These things can be good, but the life of Christ goes deeper yet.
There is often the implication in
our society that you need more money than you have to really live. If you had
money then you could live large. Then
you could really live. You may be able to buy a host of experiences with a pile
of stuff with money – But the life of Christ goes deeper yet.
All these things are secondary. You
could live a life where you never travelled more than 100 km from home; a life
where you didn’t have much money, and a life where you were neither an
adrenaline addict or always looking for an endorphin rush. And yet you could really live.
I know some of you have a hard time
with that, but to say that this is impossible, is to say that most people
before the 20th century never really lived. The world of technology
that we live in causes us to believe that to live is to go fast, to travel far,
to learn lots, to experience much. But those are all illusions if we can’t get
the core things right.
Your life is not to be found in
things, or experiences, but in the person of Jesus Christ. How do you find life
in a person? Or how do you have the work of the resurrection applied to your
life.
The
first thing you need to know is that you can’t get to Easter Sunday without
passing through Good Friday. You can’t go after the life that Jesus offers
until you take his remedy for sin. You must be forgiven. You must be released
from sin. You must put your faith in Christ and his work on the cross. You can’t
by pass this.
Part of believing in Christ is
agreeing with him. A prayer like, Jesus I have done what is wrong in your
sight. I have sinned. I acknowledge my need to be forgiven. Please come into my
life. I choose to give you my life and I am going to follow you.
Believing in Jesus – means to trust
in the power of his forgiveness, not in your good works. If you want the life
of Christ you must first pass through good Friday.
But this is Easter Sunday. What does
it mean to do have the work of the resurrection applied to your life?
I would suggest to you that it is an
ongoing process. When you get to heaven you will be fully alive. But I have
become convinced that Jesus wants more for us than just to hang on and survive
until heaven. He is about life, and this life starts now.
Christ is the resurrection and the
life. This about more than following a self-help book or an owner’s manual.
This is about allowing Christ to become the filter through which we experience
life.
Remember resurrection is a
supernatural thing. It is not something that you do, but it something the
Christ does in you. Your job is to let Jesus fully into the areas of death in
your life.
·
Relationships
·
Fears
·
Disappointments
·
Self perception
·
Walls you have put up
·
Defenses
Here
is what will happen. As you commit the different areas of your life to Jesus,
he is going to come along and show you the poisons and toxins in your soul. He
might even call you towards changes.
There
may be things in your life that you wouldn’t label sin but he might show you
how they are killing you. He will come along and say I want to bring life to
that part of your soul – will you let me.
Today
we are remind that Jesus not only conquered death, he is in the business of
giving life. He is the resurrection and the life. He want you to have real life,
true life, abundant life.
His
question to you is will you let him?
Let’s pray:
Lord Jesus, thank you
for who you are. You rose from the dead. You showed us that you have the power
of life. You said, “I am resurrection”, “I am the life”, Lord, my prayer is for
our listeners, that they would experience your life truly and abundantly, fully.
And in the areas of death in their soul, right now, that you would gently nudge
them and say, “Yes, I want to bring back your soul to me; I don’t want it
withered; I don’t want it dying; I want you to flourish; I want life in
you!”
Lord, I pray that you
would just give them a sense of your conviction and that you would lead them
into the things that you want them to do.
I pray this in Jesus’
name, Amen.
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Listeners I want to tell you about a special event that
is happening Friday May 9th at 7 p.m. Good news in the morning is
putting on. We have invited Dr. Rick Reed President of Heritage College and
Seminary and former pastor at the Met to come and speak about the Good News
about getting out the good News. Redemer Alliance’s worship team will be there
– as will the speakers that you normally hear on this program. It is going to be
an evening worth going to. So mark it on your calendars Friday May 9th
at Parkdale United Church. At 7 p.m.
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thank
you, Listeners for your words of encouragement, and for keeping us in your prayers.,
Keeping this program on the air continues to be a work of faith. If you
can help with that, please make out a cheque payable to Good News Christian
Ministries, Box 184 , Rideau Ferry , On. K0G
1W0. Or you can give online by going to goodnewsinthemorning.ca
May
you know Jesus Christ personally and
profoundly. May the Holy Spirit reside
deep within your heart . And may the
heavenly Father surround you with His constant and abiding and accompanying
love
MUSIC
Christ the Lord is Risen
today Hymns Triumphant Performers 3:08
- Rev. Brent Russett
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To listen to the above broadcast,
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