The opportunity to be with Jesus remains alive
Notes
Transcript
6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
Because He lives, the opportunity to be with Jesus remains alive.
Because He lives, the opportunity to be with Jesus remains alive.
(Pray)
Family, we are, today, three weeks after Easter Resurrection Sunday --a day/time commemorating the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus the Christ.
I recognize that Sunday may seem like ages ago. So much has happened since the beginning of April. There has been relief, there has been sorrow, there has been anticipation.
This country, these United States of America, have experienced a verdict. Even still I remind us, the ultimate verdict belongs to God.
2 Timothy 4:1 (NKJV)
I charge [you] therefore before **God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom**:
Philippians 2:9-11 (NKJV) 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and [that] every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The first Sunday in our series we spoke about :
"Because Jesus lives, I can face tomorrow. Get up."
Last Sunday we spoke about :
"Because Jesus lives, the (Christ's) mission still lives. (So) Get on with it."
Today, in our third and final installment, I want to speak with you about :
"Because Jesus lives, the opportunity to be Jesus (where He is) remains alive."
My assignment is to usher you forward and ahead, in the presence of God.
I am to help you out of, and over, and through, and around the trappings of this world.
With any (worldly) success, there is a tendency and temptation to celebrate it too long.
With any (worldly) sorrow there is a temptation and tendency to wallow too long.
Not that there isn’t a time to celebrate and a time to sulk.
There is a time and season for...
Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NKJV)
To everything [there is] a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:
God has big vision.
God has big vision.
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Jesus came to further God’s vision.
Jesus came to further God’s vision.
10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
Jesus sends us to further the vision even further.
Scripture says, after Jesus arose:
16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
But what does it take to help others to come to know Jesus?
But what does it take to help others to come to know Jesus?
Get over yourself.
And Get over to other people.
Get over yourself.
Yes, in Christ you are blessed and highly favored.
Yes, in Christ you are the head and not the tail.
Yes, in Christ you are above and not beneath, ahead/before and not behind.
(STORY: walking up to heaven...)
But let's remember the heart of Jesus, who when He encountered people who had yet entered rift relationship with Him, Jesus had compassion "...
Mark 6:34 (NKJV) And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion **for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd.** So He began to teach them many things.
Jesus calls us to help others to come to know Him.
This requires not only that we get over ourselves.
This requires that we get over to people.
When Jesus commissions His disciples:
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
When Jesus said, "Go", Jesus was saying for His disciples to MOVE.
(CHAT to your virtual neighbor, "MOVE!")
In the beginning, Jesus warned/clarified for those who would follow Him:
57 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.”
58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
STORY: I have a bird right now, building a nest, and won't leave "the place".
DON'T GET CAUGHT UP IN WHERE YOU ARE....DON'T FALL IN LOVE WITH POSITIONS.
Jesus told Peter (we read last week)
18 Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.”
And Jesus told Ananias regarding the Apostle Paul—before Paul was an Apostle, while Paul was still perseciting followers of Christ:
15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.
We have a "sending faith."
In training the disciples, Scripture says Jesus "sent" them.
1 After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. 2 Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.
**Inward devotion and outward practice.**
"Well, Pastor, What do we do?"
I'm glad asked!
8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Start with where you are.
Move to engage your larger communities.
Don't neglect your enemies—they need Jesus, too. (And remember, not everyone you have as your enemy is an enemy to God. Everyone is a candidate for salvation).
Move to the ends of the earth—wherever God will bring/send you.