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Hey everybody! We are coming to the climax of our Lenten Journey: Easter is on its way. This week, Holy Week, as you contemplate the joys and mysteries of our salvation in Christ, let your heart be filled with bright faith and overflowing joy.
Great is the Mystery We Confess:
Christ has Died
Christ is Risen
Christ will come again.
Lent is a season of joy! Because we are drawing near to God.
Lent is a season of joy! Because Christ is Risen!
When Hope Breaks Through
John 20:1-9
- Easter Sunday is the Promise of New Life
- Resurrection Power is available to all for personal transformation
Three Big Problems facing people today:
- Meaninglessness
“You Don’t Have to Be Neurotic to Feel Insecure: Finding the Courage to Deal With Guilt, Meaninglessness and Despair” by Reginald Stackhouse, Ph.D
- Empty
- Senseless
- Useless
- Worthless
- Pointless
- Inconsequential
- Purposeless
- Hollow
- Trivial
- Futile
- This was my condition before Christ.
- Guilt: This universal human condition. God has hardwired us to know right and wrong
- Shame
- Self-reproach
- Disgraced
- Alienation
- Anger (caused by disappointed expectations)
- Road Rage
- Domestic Violence
- Pew Rage
- Low grade disgusted with people and life in general because of your disappointed expectations.
I. The People:
A. Mary Magdalene – Meaninglessness
- Luke 8:2, doesn’t tell us much but that she was demon possessed
- Possession was looked upon as disease, this victim of an alien and evil power, not an accomplice of it. (ISBE)
- Whatever we may know of her can be summed up as:
- A great sufferer relieved
- A great sinner purified.
- She came into the circle of believers, marked out from the rest by an exceptional experience of the Lord’s healing power.
B. Peter – Guilt
- Jesus’ first words to Peter, “Follow me…”
- When Jesus entered Peter’s life, this plain fisherman became a new person with new goals and new priorities.
- He had found Christ to be the Messiah.
- He knew the Son of God.
- He boasted in his devotion.
- And when under pressure, denied even knowing Christ.
C. John – Anger
- Mark 3:17, “sons of thunder”
- Rebuking one who cast out devils in the Lord’s name because he was not one of their company (Luke 9:49);
- Wants to call down fire from heaven upon a village of the Samaritans (Luke 9:54);
- Joined with his mother and James in asking for the highest places in the kingdom of the Master (Matt 20:20-28; Mark 10:35-45);
- John was the only disciple present at the crucifixion and was appointed by Jesus to care for Mary (19:26-27).
II. The Problem
- Hope had died
- Mary’s Meaning in Life was dead
- Peter’s last words about His Master were words of denial.
- John, this son of thunder, who would lean on Jesus like a dear friend or even a little child, appears to have his expectations disappointed again.
III. When Hope Breaks Through
The Silence of Heaven
- There were no angels, no songs, no flashes of lightening.
- Only silence.
- It is so non-descript.
- There is no poetic beauty to it.
- There are no bold descriptions.
- No Angels singing in festive choir.
- Only Silence
- Hope had broken through.
- Death had lost its grip.
It is all so silent. So alone.
- How else could it be? When something this grand, this magnificent, this glorious took place only the deafening silence of heaven and earth could declare the grandeur of this moment.
- There was no chorus worthy.
- There were no words adequate.
- There was only silence.
- There were no choruses of angels.
- There were no shepherds in rapturous wonder.
- There were no wise men poised with gifts.
What else but silence would do for this event?
Then the silence was broken with a simple declaration: He is not here. He is risen!
Hope Breaks Through!
Hope Breaks Through the Tyranny of Death
Hope Breaks Through the Meaninglessness of Life with God
Hope Breaks Through the Torment of Guilt
Hope Breaks Through the Bondage of Anger
Empty promises, empty dreams, empty lives, empty days, empty pleasures; none of these satisfy.
- But the empty tomb, now that satisfies.
The Easter Sermon of John Chrysostom
Is there anyone who is a devout lover of God? Let them enjoy this beautiful bright festival! Is there anyone who is a grateful servant? Let them rejoice and enter into the joy of their Lord!
Let us all enter into the joy of the Lord! First and last alike receive your reward; rich and poor, rejoice together! Sober and slothful, celebrate the day!
You that have kept the fast, and you that have not, rejoice today for the Table is richly laden! Feast royally on it, the calf is a fatted one. Let no one go away hungry. Partake, all, of the cup of faith. Enjoy all the riches of His goodness!
Let no one grieve at his poverty, for the kingdom has been revealed. Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again; for forgiveness has risen from the grave.
- Let no one fear death, for the Death of our Savior has set us free.
- He has destroyed it by enduring it.
- He destroyed Hades when He descended into it.
- He put it into an uproar even as it tasted of His flesh.
- Hell was in an uproar because it was done away with.
- It was in an uproar because it is mocked.
- It was in an uproar, for it is destroyed.
- It is in an uproar, for it is annihilated.
- It is in an uproar, for it is now made captive.
- Hell took a body, and discovered God.
- It took earth, and encountered Heaven.
- It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see.
O death, where is thy sting?
O Hades, where is thy victory?
- Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!
- Christ is Risen, and the evil ones are cast down!
- Christ is Risen, and the angels rejoice!
- Christ is Risen, and life is liberated!
- Christ is Risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead; for Christ having risen from the dead, is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
To Him be Glory and Power forever and ever. Amen!
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As always, you can connect with me on Facebook or Twitter. It’s your life, now go live it!
I am among the more than two dozen missionaries supported by the Foursquare Missions International Global Missions Fund. To support our global missions efforts, visit The Global Missions Fund.
Debbie and I serve as the FMI Global Associate Director for MENACA and Europe. We focus on cultivating disciples, leaders, and church planting movements.
