Sermon Tone Analysis

04-01-2018

Easter Sunrise Service

Looking for Jesus in all the wrong places

This morning we are celebrating the empty tomb

This morning let me set the story for you

The setting for this morning is that Jesus has been arrested and tried

We understand that his arrest and his trials were all just for show

Then last year we discussed the beating of Jesus and after Jesus was beaten, He was then crucified, nailed to a cross

Jesus died and was buried and guards were put at the opening of his grave and Jesus was buried in the grave for 3 days

Like last week this maybe would be a great time for an invitation, Jesus was arrested, and beaten, and ultimately died as a perfect sacrifice for your sin and my sin, to pay our debt of sin to God the Father

Now we got the back story,

Can you imagine showing up to the grave where one of your best friends were buried and you come to find out that He is no longer there

Can you imagine the pit in your stomach, or your stomach falling dropping to the bottom

I mean the shock they must be feeling

When they hear

vs 6

apart from the shock the angel tells them something very interesting

The angels ask the women why they are seeking Jesus among the dead

See a few things,

Jesus told them he was not going to stay dead

The angels ever remind them that Jesus told them he would rise again

So again the question remains why were they looking for Jesus who is alive among the dead people

I believe that question is translated to us today

You see you and I know the Easter Truth!

The Easter Truth is that Jesus got out of the grave, the Easter Truth is that Jesus defeated death once and for all,

but, and this is not one of the good buts that we read in scripture, the but is that we most of us know all that and yet we are still looking for Jesus in all the wrong places

so the question I think is still a valid one, why do you and I spend so much time looking for Jesus who is alive among the dead things of this world

Much like the women at the grave, I believe that you and I are still looking for Jesus at the grave

Now you and I would agree that we are not at a physical grave, you might disagree with me and say but Jeremy, I am not looking at the grave and I am at church

I think the world as a whole has a God sized hole in their hearts and they try and try to fill it with stuff,

When they fill it with stuff the hole consumes whatever they try and put in there, and they continue to put stuff in the hole but are never satisfied

Its like putting the round peg in the square hole, it will fit but you know that it will never satisfy the square hole, the only thing that will satisfy the square hole is the square peg,

Then we have the believers that have filled the God sized hole with God himself, the problem is we wonder, we fade and we stop listening

we wonder, we stop being alert, and start chasing rabbits

Then we start trying to get out Jesus fix if you will, we start trying to find Jesus again and we start looking in all the wrong places

some of us will begin to take things of the world and start to look for Jesus, and we say things like well Jesus is love and he will always love me so I should be able to do what I want with who I want, when I want

We start to believe and attempt to find Jesus in the things of this world, and church let me tell you that Jesus is not of this world

Church maybe you don't try and find Jesus in the world, but maybe you try and find Him at lifeway

I am a lifeway nut just like the next one, our bookstore at seminary was lifeway, you can imagine my downtime between classes

But shocker, Jesus is not found at lifeway!

Jesus is not found in a book about Himself, but in church or maybe you have struggled with going to church and you thought I will just read the next big book by Francis Chan, or David Platt, or maybe you try and be super duper spiritual and you say I will read A. W. Tozer

Shocker Jesus is not found in any of the books

Jesus is not found in a program either, I know we joke but the truth is that Jesus is out at Super Summer

Church understand what I am saying is that Jesus can and does use books, and programs, and super summer,

but to believe that the only way to find Jesus is to start at one of those places is not true

Which is why I think the question is so true for us today, why do we seek Jesus among the dead

Why do we spend so much time looking for Jesus in all the wrong places, when He has told us where He is

We spend so much time and resources and engery looking for Jesus in the world, in a book, with different progams, with different church programs, that if we are honest are all human made

Jesus can be found at the empty cross, and the empty grave

Yes I know that sounds backwards but its the empty cross that points to heaven, it is the empty grave that points to heaven

Jesus is found in the Bible

Closing

Church We need to stop focusing so much of our time and energy looking for Jesus in all the wrong places, we need to stop running to the next big and exciting thing

I want to invite you to join us for breakfast and fellowship and then back here in about an hour as we finish this

and look at where Jesus is and what He is doing