Sermon Tone Analysis

Good Morning.... Happy Resurrection morning!

If you are visiting with us today we are so glad that your are with us … We have been in a sermon series entitled, “Breakthrough” and we have been considering the nature of Miracles.. and the relevance of miracles in Scripture and Do miracles still happen today?

There is this story of a woman who looked out of her window and saw her German shepherd shaking the life out of a neighbor's rabbit.

Her family did not get along well with these neighbors, so this was going to be like a disaster.

She grabbed a broom, pummeled the dog until it dropped the now extremely dead rabbit out of its mouth.

She panicked.

She did not know what else to do.

She grabbed the rabbit, took it inside, gave it a bath, blow dried it to its original fluffiness, combed it until that rabbit was looking good, snuck into the neighbor's yard, and propped the rabbit back up in its cage.

An hour later she heard screams coming from next door.

She asked her neighbor, "What's going on?"

"Our rabbit!

Our rabbit!" her neighbor cried.

"He died two weeks ago.

We buried him, and now he's back!"

Easter is about Come Backs — it’s about the Resurrection miracle

The Bible is full of miracles… John tells us that Jesus did many miracles in the presence of his disciples and many of them are not recorded in the Scriptures…(John 20:30)

A miracle is an event that supersedes natural laws… something that defy’s the possible…

The miracles that Jesus did in his ministry have been divided into three Categories..

Miracles of Compassion —

Miracles of Necessity

3. Miracles that Created faith

The religious leaders of the day were demanding that Jesus give them “proof” that he was the Son of God by doing some sort of miracles..

Jesus responded by saying that Evil Generation seeks after signs.”

In other words… Even though Miracles are “proofs” they were never simply to be “Proofs.”

The purpose of miracles were to build faith faith and belief ---

Whenever someone demonstrated Faith in --- Jesus always commended their Faith… Whether it was the faith of the Centurion…the woman who reached out and touched his garment… or as we heard last week the friends of the paralytic who tore open the roof of the house to get their friend to Jesus....

Jesus was concerned about Faith...

Miracles were one of the ways of creating Faith…and belief… but MIRACLES were also called Signs… Just like road signs have a purpose to get us to a certain destination… So miracles are always pointing to something greater that is ahead..

… for example in the OT when Israel being delivered from Egyptian bondage .. the miracle of deliverance was accompanied by these preliminary and accompanying miracles…

“the dividing of the Red Sea,

the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day, the water from the rock, and the manna.”

These preceded miracle of Israel the Jordan into the promised land.

In the Gospels we have these preliminary miracles of Jesus where he turns water into wine, heals the sick, raises the dead and delivers people from evil spirits —

These miracles point to the miracle of Resurection…

Do miracles happen today?

that is good question… some people are skeptical.. maybe things happen that coinsidences.. here is the thing if you experienced a miracle you know that GOD intervened .. Two weeks ago..

I got text from Andy that Myrna was going to be airlifted to Mercy San Jaun because of some blockage on her brain.. prayers offered..she arrived their the surgeon could find anything.,they

took mri nothing?

Myrna will tell you it’s a miracle… I believe it...

Miracles today are signs pointing toward to a day when everything will be in subjection to Christ - things will that are wrong will be turned upside down.,

I know there are those here this morning that have suffered difficulty, paina e loss..but this morning we reminded of the Power of resurrection.,

The Miracle of Easter is really about God’s Offer to us…It s an offer for us to believe in the miracle of His resurrection and to partake in His Divine Nature..

T/s JOHN TELLS US

… God sent his Son on a mission into the world and that was to Save the world from the consequence of sin.....

The word GAVE means to sacrifice or relinquish something of value…

God Gave his beloved Son… that through his one time sacrifice… He would repair the damage done by sin and restore the relationship between himself and his creation… this is the free gift of grace that is being offered...

No one in heaven will ever be able to say, “Look at me!

I made it!

With a little help from God, I made it!”

Salvation is all by God.

Not even the smallest part of it is the result of what we do or do not do.

The offer has everything to do with Faith and Belief…

T/S What DOES THE Resurrection offer?

1.

The Miracle of Resurrection Offers REAL JOY

When Jesus died that on that Good Friday 2000 years ago it seemed that like all systems had failed — it seemed like death had won the day…

Luke tells us that those who had witnessed Jesus final words and seen Jesus breathe his last breath…were visibly impacted..…The Message Bible tells us that the crowd was overcome with grief…

..Jesus was viewed by many as the Messiah --- The one who would deliver them from Roman occupation…Seeing Jesus lifeless body on the cross must have been a stark and unbelievable sight… The hope of Israel… The promised Redeemer… nailed to the cross like a broken reed.. What intense sense of loss… and hopelessness…

You look at the Cross and maybe wonder Why would you call this scene Good Friday… should been Bad Friday....

The reason why it’s Good Friday… is not because of the torture that Jesus endured… The Roman crucifixion was usually reserved for slaves, foreigners, insurrectionists, and those guilty of the vilest crimes.

The reason because was an excruciating death… it was so bad that Romans.. were exempt from this kind of punishment..

There is nothing really attractive about the cross… just like any instrument of excution...

Crucifixion was designed to do more than merely kill a man.

The cross was intended not only to break a man's body, but also to crush and defame his spirit… Jesus was on the cross from 9 in the morning until 3pm…it was long ordeal..

There is no joy in an execution…

What brings Joy is not the suffering but what Jesus achieved on the Cross

The writer of Hebrews tells that when we go through struggles we are to look to Jesus the perfecter of our Faith… WHO FOR THE JOY THAT WAS SET BEFORE HIM ENDURED THE CROSS… Jesus consider the endurance of the cross…why did Jesus consider the cross JOY.,

Joy because He knew what lay on the other- side of the cross lay Resurrection - —

One of the Great chapters in the Bible is the 1 Cor 15 --- it has been called the resurrection chapter… In these Verses Paul unpacks for us Why it is importance for us to Holding onto this message of Resurrection…

The church at this point was begining to drift from some of the core teachings of the gospel…the resurection of Jesus in particular was under attack...So Paul wants to remind them about the foundations of faith.. rewind..go back and consider.. some key facts.

Paul begins with some key facts…

Paul assures the church in Corinth that he had received the Gospel from the apostles themselves..

He had spent time with Peter and with James the brother of Jesus… He is passing on first hand knowledge… what’s he was proclaiming came from primary sources… something that could be depend upon and trust in this Gospel.

Paul is man who seeks truth.. Paul doesn’t believe in unreasonable Faith..

He wants them to know truth for themselves… He doesn’t believe in empty faith..

He ends his thoughts here by saying lest They believed in vain….

this word means with out cause or purpose..it is believing in something contrary to reason—‘unreasonable, without basis..

The second thing he reminds them is the power of the Gospel itself.

What Paul received was - The Gospel - Good News..the word

Euangelion (gospel) - Gospel is Good News that brings great joy - or the message that makes the heart to be sweet..

The Gospel is Joy News.

The great story teller J.R.R. Tolkien, says there’s a kind of story … that brings us unbelievable joy … He says these stories always have a certain kernel to them.

There’s always some incredibly hopeless situation, and victory is snatched out of the jaws of defeat.

But how?

Always through someone who comes in, and whose weakness turns out to be strength, someone whose defeat turns out to be a victory.

He says it’s those kinds of stories that just seem to bring us joy.

He called them eu-catastrophes.

Do you know what the word eu-catastrophe means?

The joyful catastrophe.

The tragedy that turns out to be a triumph.

The sacrifice that turns out to bring joy.

He said, however, there’s a Eu -catastrophe of the eu-catastrophes.

There is a Story in all of the stories.

There is Story of all Stories of the Resurrection —

The cross looked like utter defeat…but out of the cross comes the victory of Victories.. if you read a little further in 1 Cor 15:25 Paul tell us that all things are leading to a joyful end…that this last enemy death itself will be destroyed… Everything that is wrong align in the world will once again be aligned with God… God will once again

The fact is that Gospel transforms it takes pain, disappointment, discouragement..,All the bitter things that happens in life… the gospel changes the narative,,

Just like Israel when Israel we’re in the wilderness.., God was in the process of saving them when they reached the bitter waters of Mara and Moses through the branch… Christ the righteous branch makes bitter waters sweet..

The resurrection reminds us that us that the Gospel offers us (Joy) … But this joy has to be possed..

This the clearest Gospel presentation in the Bible..

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

1 THE GOOD NEWS HAS BE PROCLAIMED… faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.,,