APRIL 4, 2021 SUNDAY MESSAGE
JOIN US LIVE AT 9 AM + 1045 AM TODAY!
Transcription of the message:
Mighty Ducks are back in the limelight! Comeback story of a comeback. If you’re not familiar with it—Gordon Bombay, a reckless young lawyer (Emilio Estevez) gets arrested for drunk driving. He has to coach a kids hockey team for his community service. He is reluctant but Gordon eventually grows to appreciate his team, which includes promising young Charlie Conway and leads them to take on Reilly's toughest.
You can go: Karate Kid, RUDY, Rocky, Chris Gardner (pursuit of happyness)
HOLLYWOOD makes billions!!
What about real life? Plenty to choose from!
Walt Disney Co. had almost gone under when they used their last bit of money to create Snow White and the 7 Dwarves which sprung them out of debt and eventually the building blocks of monster success they are today.
JK Rowling was living on welfare and struggling to get by while she was rejected 12 times over 5 years before publishing one of the most influential books of the 21st century.
Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Spielberg
Sports: The best moments in sports history are comeback stories: Michael Jordan famously: “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
We ALL LOVE A GOOD COMEBACK STORY!!
The plot is ALWAYS the same!
It can be the cheesiest story EVER and we will still get choked up rooting for the underdog to win!!!
Everyone’s got a favorite! Why? Because we ALL LOVE A GOOD COMEBACK STORY and moments where people are able to overcome a...
A losing situation or
A losing battle against all the odds!!
NOW, what I want you to see and what I NEED YOU TO KNOW...is the story of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ is NOT a comeback story!!
Jesus didn’t go a few rounds with Satan, take one on the chin, land on the mat, to wobble to his feet & get one last shot in to win the match.
Jesus DIDN’T rise, against all odds, to overcome the evil one.
I say this because I think:
We lose some of magnitude of Jesus’ authority and power and
We lose the depth of Jesus’ love for us when we think of the death and resurrection like this!
Jesus was never caught off guard or surprised by the horrific events on the cross!
In fact, Jesus TELLS His disciples this was the plan all along. Listen to John 10 starting in verse 11...
John 10:11-18
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
Jumping down in Verse 17...
17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
We see here that there are TWO different kinds of PEOPLE who CARE for the sheep!
The hired hands who run away when danger comes and
The SHEPHERDS who, driven out of love, runs towards the danger.
They LOVE the sheep so much they are willing to give up their very lives for them
Jesus was no HIRED HAND!
His love for humanity was so strong and so deep He met the danger head on and WILLINGLY GAVE UP HIS LIFE for the sheep…
...and Jesus is making sure we understand THIS was the plan the WHOLE TIME.
We can track through & see the plan:
The OT prophets spoke of it over and over and
Jesus told His disciples on numerous occasions
BUT there was still a vision of grandeur and political overthrow in the hearts and minds of even his closest followers.
They STILL had a picture in their minds of what Jesus Kingship would and SHOULD look like!
Their disillusion strikes so deep that they ARE STILL SCATTERED.
It’s the disciples - not Jesus - who show evidence of great defeat & loss which turns to devastating & discouragement:
Judas, resorts to securing a few coins in his pocket before the arrest.
At the arrest, they run away into the woods at the base of Mt. Olivet.
Later, ALL of them are found hiding behind locked doors “for fear of the Jews’” attack, when Jesus finds them again.
I don’t blame them. It’s one thing to see the man raise another from the dead and ANOTHER to see the one who raised them...put to death himself.
Boat analogy. If you’re drowning, it’s reasonable to think that the person standing on a boat is secure, and stable enough, to throw you a rope and pull you to safety
but now the one who saves has drown in the water too!
They WATCHED Him lose the battle inch by inch, moment by moment, as he was beaten, whipped, and nailed to a cross...PUT TO DEATH BY HIS ENEMIES… and they are surely thinking “DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!” “We’ve seen your power before, we seen you perform miracles, we SEEN you calm the storm and command the sea...show them how Kings deal with their enemies!!”
It’s even possible Satan Himself thought he had the upper hand in this moment
...and so it’s safe to say that things didn’t go according to their plan.
Look at PETER specifically.
Peter was one of Jesus’ closest friends and even told Jesus he would never turn his back on Him:
Matt. 26:31 Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written:
“‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ 32 But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”
33 Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.”
34 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”
35 But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same.
BUT, when Peter witnesses Jesus’ arrest, he crumbles...
The man with the nickname of ROCKY - is found weeping bitterly after he gave up on His friend and publicly denied Him three times as the rooster crowed in the background
Peter was crushed…his PLAN failed and HE failed!
What about your plans? You have plans for how things will go in your life? What about your failures? You see, our situations are different than Peters but we can relate to this disappointment and failure, right?
Maybe you planned for a long happy marriage but it fell apart or you were betrayed.
Maybe some of you thought you would have a girlfriend or boyfriend by now - maybe even married by now - but it hasn’t quite worked out the way you thought and you’re still searching, waiting, hurting…
Maybe you planned to retire well and visit new places but, instead, you have doctor visits each week because a diagnosis changed everything in your life
Maybe some of you sought after your dream job but never got it…
Maybe you’d be happy with ANY job at all during this pandemic
Maybe you dreamed of being a parent and after trying over and over, you felt the crushing sting of realizing you wouldn’t be able to get pregnant like you thought you would
Maybe you planned out exactly what you’d wear to your child’s wedding but instead you had to pick out what you’d wear to their funeral.
Maybe you planned to grow old together but cancer won...
Maybe you thought you would go to a new town, or a new school, with a fresh start but your past keeps coming back to haunt you
Maybe you planned to see your children follow Jesus but they aren’t interested at all...even resentful of it
Certainly every one of us had plans for what we thought 2020 was going to look like and one year ago and it changed!!
We plan and we plan and we plan but you didn’t follow through with the plan and you’re living in regret.
Maybe you got everything you planned to get but anxiety keeps you from enjoying it or it’s not as fulfilling as you thought it would be
What if it wasn’t disappoint but your OWN ACTIONS sabotaged your life -your own failures caused the problem:
you said you would never go there but you did,
you said you would never do that thing again but you did,
You said “I’ll never spend this and you spent it,
Or “I’ll never be with that person again” OR “I’ll never fall into that sin again” but it keeps happening…
Listen I know these are pretty intense scenarios (it doesn’t match the pastel infused holiday that you’ve come to expect) and maybe you came to this Easter service because someone told you, “c’mon, it will be lots of fun!” <haha> STILL WAITING FOR THAT!
Let’s be REAL TODAY...let’s be honest, what earthly good is Christianity if it can’t enter into OUR stories and speak into OUR lives today?
I heard one pastor say, “if christianity can handle that level of disappointment, what’s it’s value...what’s its place?!”
So let’s go there - let’s BE SERIOUS for a moment...because, for those of us who, just like the disciples, just like PETER, have had our share of
plans that didn’t pan out like we thought they would and
failed in ways we wish we hadn’t!
...For those of us in the real world, WE NEED GOD TO SPEAK INTO OUR LIVES!!
BUT, as we keep reading, the crushing disappointment wasn’t the end for the disciples or Peters’ story.
In fact, in about 40 days from this moment of defeat, Peter is BOLDLY proclaiming, to THOUSANDS of people at the temple gates of Jerusalem, that their ONLY HOPE in this world is JESUS CHRIST!! Wait….what?!
What happened?
Was it just time? “Time heals all wounds” listen, time is important but it can’t heal all wounds.
What changed in Peter's life to MOVE HIM from such overwhelming despair that - he isn’t just back on his feet - he is:
CONFIDENTLY speaking in power &
DRIVEN by a renewed faith
SHARING JESUS to a CROWD!
What happened in between these two moments??
His friend JESUS CHRIST came
back to life FROM THE DEAD!!
Peter WITNESSED Jesus being beaten, crucified, buried and, after all of that, he STILL wasn’t defeated. The resurrection of Jesus changes EVERYTHING because it means death isn’t the end, death doesn’t have the final word!!
Let’s see what happens when word travels back to the disciples..
John 20:1-8
20 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
Geez...I really thought Peter was gonna win that footrace but John pulled it out! Apparently, he failed at that too...
5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.
SO, “what happened to change Peter’s life so dramatically?”
1. FIRST, Jesus ROSE from the DEAD.
Right up until the very end, Jesus was unmoved like a Good shepherd determined to protect His sheep but they didn’t realize that Jesus also had to become the perfect sacrificial lamb.
Jesus was not the victim of the “plot.” Jesus was the fulfiller of God’s plan:
to humble himself by taking human form and
He took on the devastation of the crucifixion and VOLUNTARILY yielded up his life once his suffering was complete…
dying for the sins of humanity...
and, just as he said He would, he was able to “take up” his life again.
He rose in victory over the power of death and proclaiming that death is dead!!
Some say: “Peter didn’t stay sad because Jesus didn’t stay dead.” Beyond sadness, what happens when you know the one who has power over death?
YOU BECOME FEARLESS!!
2. SECOND, Jesus RESTORES Peter.
Restoration is more personal. Remember that Peter failed and He publically denied Jesus three times!
After Jesus rises, Peter is fishing:
when Jesus calls out to them. When he realizes “it’s Jesus,” Peter JUMPS out the boat and RUNS to Jesus.
...who is casually sitting on the beach with a fire and breakfast!
...When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Peter, “do you love me?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
Jesus asks again, “do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
And a THIRD time he says, “Peter, do you love me?”
After the conversation is over, Jesus says “come and follow me!”
Jesus takes a man weeply bitterly in defeat and RESTORES Him in kindness, love, and mercy to become a bold proclaimer of the Gospel!!
What does all of this mean for us today? 2 things:
It changes our relationship with death &
It changes our relationship with our past, your failures!
Paul Miller writes that the cross did TWO THINGS. He writes: “At the cross, Jesus broke the power of SIN. At the resurrection, Jesus broke the power of death. Both need to be broken. If you solve only the problem of sin, then we’d all love one another, but death would haunt every relationship. If you solve only the problem of death, then we’d live forever in hatred.”
1. It changes our relationship with death:
I mentioned earlier that I wanted you to know this wasn’t a comeback story because I need you to know that the God I speak of sits outside the power of death and stable upon a sovereign throne and he has the power to make all things new his resurrection means death doesn’t have to be the final word in your story either!!
Jesus’ risent body was a glimpse of our future selves
Before Jesus’ resurrection, death was final! Before this, your death meant the end as far as you knew! But now it’s NOT!!
Now you have access to the one who has the power of resurrection and you, too, can be FEARLESS!!
This doesn’t mean everything is perfect but there is hope…
I don’t know how Jesus will deliver you or your situation and maybe it doesn’t happen this side of Kingdom
His display of power gives us confidence that one day all things will be made new
(Rev. 21:4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”),
but the fact that Jesus ROSE FROM THE GRAVE means your relationship with death has changed: it’s power is suffocated and even our toleration of it makes no sense.
Buddy Hoffman’s story about death.
(Two glasses of wine in) and Buddy tells me..
“I get that all things work together for the good of those who love Him...I get that He is sovereign.
but sometimes we use that as an excuse to GIVE IN TO DEATH TOO EASILY
YOUNG MAN, YOU LISTEN TO ME...GOD HATES DEATH!
He hates it so much that He sent His only son to the cross so He could KILL it forever.”
Jesus was crucified, buried and ROSE to proclaim that DEATH IS DEAD! AND...
What kind of person are you when you realize death has not hold on you - Fearless
2. The resurrection changes our relationship with our failures.
If you’re a part of our community, you know this but, we have been walking through the Gospel Story seeing Jesus’ life
restore the failures of Israel,
HERE, we also see Him restore the lives of those in his time and
He STILL isn’t done!!
Jesus offers restoration to you now!
Jesus RESTORATION of Peter tells us what kind of God He is which means YOUR failures and YOUR losses don’t have to be the final word in your story.
Jesus’ STORY…..empowers you and YOUR STORY.
The reason we love a good COME BACK STORY is that we are longing to see our stories with it’s failures, longings, and losses...restored!
Jesus gives us the invitation to step into mercy and leave all of it behind!
There is no such thing on this earth as "a young man without pride and an old man without regret" The good news is the Gospel HEALS both!
No matter what failure you have walked in have the opportunity to accept his forgiveness and walk in newness of life. His arms are open.
What kind of person are you when you realize failure cannot be held over you? You are free!!
Furthermore, His resurrection replaces your failures with purpose!! He invites you to become a restorer too!! Listen to this - Ephesians 2:8 says:-10
8 For it is by grace you have been saved,through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork,created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
This invitation isn’t just “Where does your story find life, restoration in the risen Christ?”
It also asks “where do you find your purpose and restorative work to become like PETER - and boldly step into the purpose Ephesians says He has prepared for you…
have you found them?!
BUT, you can’t have the victory without acknowledging the victor from which it comes!!
We don’t have to stay under the power of death - we too can be fearless - and we don’t have to remain seated in despair - we too can be free - because Jesus didn’t stay dead and he is seated on the His throne forevermore.
COMMUNION:
(1 COR. 11:23B-26)
“The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
SAVE THE DATE: The 2020 Marriage Retreat is scheduled to be Saturday and Sunday, November 7 and November 8!
PRAYER REQUESTS:
We are hosting prayer team meetings for both the congregation at large and individuals to sign up for individual prayer.
SUGGESTIONS FOR WORSHIP:
Coty Miller’s own “Praise & Worship” Spotify playlist and “Praise & Worship” YouTube playlist (slightly different from each other), both of diverse music that are being constantly updated!
Bethel Music :
Bethel Music’s hours of live music YouTube Playlist, also being constantly updated
Bethel provides chords to most (if not all) of their songs here (just have to register email, but free!)
Live worship moments from the Upper Room YouTube Playlist
Journal writing! (I’m a writer too, so sometimes creative writing and writing my thoughts to God is my form of worship.)
Declare and worship with truth by singing and praying scriptures.
WORSHIP NIGHT! Dedicate a night to worship with friends and family, your house church or neighbors, those who need prayer, love worship, or just enjoy music through a video chat platform like Zoom. You can have one person leading at a time (switching off to whoever else wants to lead) while others sing along, pray, or prophesy, etc.
Serving your community, both online, in person, or both, is a great way to worship God, from spreading encouragement and God’s Word online to physically serving food to others. If you are able to go out and serve, click here for opportunities.
COMMISSIONING:
As Jesus said in John 20:21,
"Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."
Go, be the Church!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.