"I can do all things thru Christ who gives me strength" Phil 4:13

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Eun Gwang Church

April 4, 2010

Easter Sunday

Introduction:

A.           It was a hectic week.  Passover was coming. Lots of things to prepare for after all this was one of the biggest festivals in Jerusalem There will be people from all over the Jewish world.

B.           Jesus was well aware of the significance of the day.   But, he also knew FRIDAY WAS COMING.   

C.           Jesus was giving his disciples some cryptic messages

a.    Chapter 12 vs: 1-7  Mary anoints Jesus with some very expensive oil… Good ole Judas complains…. Why wasn’t this oil sold and the money given to the poor..  Judas didn’t know  FRIDAY WAS COMING.

b.    It’s Thursday ch 12:12 Jesus is on the way…. Out come the palm branches….  The people gather at the gate to welcome Jesus…. I see HIM he almost here

c.    They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Blessed is the king of Israel!"   They don’t know FRIDAY IS COMING.

D.           Chapter 13.  The disciples are gathered in the upper room.. They were all enjoying the Passover meal…….  Satan had already prompted Judas to betray Jesus…. Jesus gets up… picks up a basin of water wraps a towel around himself and horror of horrors he begin to wash their feet.  

a.    He comes to Peter…. Are you going to wash my feet Peter asks……  YES Jesus answered ….

b.    NO Peter says.   You will NEVER wash my feet…..     PETER DID NOT KNOW FRIDAY WAS COMING   

E.                 Jesus give them more cryptic messages.    HE TELLS THEM ABOUT THE WORK OF THE Holy Spirit.

a.     Jesus prays for himself,   He prays for the disciples….. He prays for all believers…. That folks is you and I ..   Joh 17:20  "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, Joh 17:21  that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

F.                 IT IS FRIDAY   JESUS IS ARRESTED……CH 18:12 ff    Jesus is taken before ANNAS..   questioned  AND TURNED OVER TO THE HIGH PRIEST.

a.     The great one….. Peter who said he would NEVER deny Jesus vs 15….. READ

b.      He did it again in vs: 25ff.

c.      IT WAS FRIDAY AND PETERS LIFE HAD JUST CAVED IN 

d.     I SUSPECT LIFE HAD JUST CAVED IN FOR ALL THE DISCIPLES.   

e.     JESUS WAS SENTANCED TO BE CRUCIFIED….  A DEATH RESERVED FOR THE MOST VILE OF CRIMINALS.…  SO HERENDOUS A FORM OF EXECUTION A ROMAN CITIZEN BY LAw COULD NOT BE PUT TO DEATH IN THIS MANNER.

f.     YES It was Friday but Sunday is coming.

I.                 Permit me to ask you a question this morning…. How has life caved in on you?

1.   It may be the loss of a job……  Maybe your home is being foreclosed…. Car reposed by the bank….  Credit card debt…… Broken relationship with a longtime friend or child…. Or parent.

2.   Illustration    a secretary at a fire station… has not spoken to her father in several years…..

3.   Maybe you have been estranged from God for a long time…

4.   Maybe there is a lot of anger in your life…..

5.   Maybe it is an illness  and there is no cure.

6.   Maybe you are facing surgery and you are afraid.

7.   Listen….  Life has a way of caving in on us.

8.   It could be a FRIDAY in your life BUT… SUNDAY is coming.

II.            How do we make it to Sunday… That is the questioin…. Permit me to suggest a few ways

1.    Develop a faith that is steadfast… 

2.     Phil 4:12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.Php 4:13  I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

3.   Develop a faith that believes  God is a good God and all his purposes toward us are purposes of love.

Rom 8:32  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

Satan will win his victory over us when life caves in if he can cause us to believe that God is not a good God and really doesn’t care about us…

4.   We must have a faith that believes God will not permit impossible burdens to come upon us.

1 Cor 10:13   1Co 10:13  No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to us all. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

Yes it was FRIDAY….   They watched as Jesus was nailed to the cross.   And dropped into the hole with a thud… No gently lowering it into the hole so not to make the pain any less.   BUT a Thud.  

Can you imagine the excruciating pain of the nails in His hands an feet.  The pain as he struggled to lift himself up to relieve the pressure on his lungs as his weight stretched Him and compressed his chest.  

It was coming close to the Sabbath.   We has better hasten is death so as not to offend the Jews by letting a hang there as the Sabbath started….    I know it is time to thrust the spear into his side….

YES IT’S FRIDAY…..  BUT SUNDAY IS COMING….

Read Ch 19: 38-42

It’s Saturday the Sabbath… nothing to do today but wait and ponder what were are going to do..  All hope is gone the man we believed to be the Messiah is DEAD…….

  CH 20   YES It’s Sunday the start of another week.  I guess we will go to the tomb to finish preparing the body for burial…. 

BUT Wait.  How are we going to move the stone.   You can bet your life those Roman soldiers won’t help.

Come to think about it what was Mary doing..  The stone Was to big  for her  to roll it away from the tomb.  In addition it was sealed with a Roman seal.

Wait a second the stone has been rolled away…..  I had better find Peter and John…….  Jesus is gone…..  They run to the tomb…..But Jesus is not there…..

Yes  life had caved in on the disciples………BUT it is Sunday……   And the rest is History…   Praise God for Sunday’s

Permit me to ask you a question,   When life caves in around is there a Sunday in you life?   If there isn’t there can be.