April 20, 2014 | Mark 15:16-39 - O Holy Smiter: How a God Who Abandons the Righteous Saves the Wicked - Easter 2014

Sunday we celebrated our risen Savior. We were blessed with a great day, great weather, great food, and great worship. Below you'll find the sermon and the sermon text.

¹⁶ The soldiers took Him away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium), and they *called together the whole Roman cohort. ¹⁷ They *dressed Him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him; ¹⁸ and they began to acclaim Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” ¹⁹ They kept beating His head with a reed, and spitting on Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him. ²⁰ After they had mocked Him, they took the purple robe off Him and put His own garments on Him. And they *led Him out to crucify Him.

²¹ They *pressed into service a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and Rufus), to bear His cross.

²² Then they *brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. ²³ They tried to give Him wine mixed with myrrh; but He did not take it. ²⁴ And they *crucified Him, and *divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each man should take. ²⁵ It was the third hour when they crucified Him. ²⁶ The inscription of the charge against Him read, “THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

²⁷ They *crucified two robbers with Him, one on His right and one on His left. ²⁸ [And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And He was numbered with transgressors.”] ²⁹ Those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads, and saying, “Ha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, ³⁰ save Yourself, and come down from the cross!” ³¹ In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were mocking Him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. ³² Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe!” Those who were crucified with Him were also insulting Him.

³³ When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. ³⁴ At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” ³⁵ When some of the bystanders heard it, they began saying, “Behold, He is calling for Elijah.” ³⁶ Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink, saying, “Let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down.” ³⁷ And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last. ³⁸ And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. ³⁹ When the centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

Audio


Previous Easter Sermons:
March 31, 2013 | Zechariah 3:1-10 - Say Yes to the Dress: The Gospel, the Empty Tomb, And What Not to Wear | Easter 2013
April 24, 2011 | Romasn 6:1-14 - Three Wooden Powerlines: Why the Cross & Resurrection Transacts and Transforms (Easter 2011)
April 4, 2010 - Mark 15:1-15: I Am Barabbas and So Are You (Easter 2010) 
Easter 2009 Message - John 20:19-31 - From Doubting Thomas to Eternal Life - audio
Easter 2009 Message - John 20:19-31 - From Doubting Thomas to Eternal Life - notes


For more:
Its Friday, But Sunday's Coming
God's Wonderful Surprise: The Glorious Resurrection
 "In Christ Alone" by Keith & Kristyn Getty
The Miracle of the New Creation: CS Lewis on the Resurrection

March 31, 2013 | Zechariah 3:1-10 - Say Yes to the Dress: The Gospel, the Empty Tomb, And What Not to Wear | Easter 2013

For Resurrection Sunday this year we turned to a unique passage in an often ignored book of the Bible Zechariah. I believe this is a wonderful picture of the gospel that we ought to turn to often.

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. ² The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” ³ Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel. ⁴ He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him, “See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes.” ⁵ Then I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the Lord was standing by.
 
⁶ And the angel of the Lord admonished Joshua, saying, ⁷ “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘If you will walk in My ways and if you will perform My service, then you will also govern My house and also have charge of My courts, and I will grant you free access among these who are standing here.

⁸ Now listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you—indeed they are men who are a symbol, for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the Branch. ⁹ For behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave an inscription on it,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. ¹⁰ ‘In that day,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘every one of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and under his fig tree.’”




Audio
Notes


Previous Easter Sermons:
April 24, 2011 | Romasn 6:1-14 - Three Wooden Powerlines: Why the Cross & Resurrection Transacts and Transforms (Easter 2011)
April 4, 2010 - Mark 15:1-15: I Am Barabbas and So Are You (Easter 2010) 
Easter 2009 Message - John 20:19-31 - From Doubting Thomas to Eternal Life - audio
Easter 2009 Message - John 20:19-31 - From Doubting Thomas to Eternal Life - notes


For more:
Its Friday, But Sunday's Coming
God's Wonderful Surprise: The Glorious Resurrection
 "In Christ Alone" by Keith & Kristyn Getty
The Miracle of the New Creation: CS Lewis on the Resurrection

Its Friday, But Sunday's Coming

HT: Thom Rainer

April 24, 2011 | Romasn 6:1-14 - Three Wooden Powerlines: Why the Cross & Resurrection Transacts and Transforms (Easter 2011)

I really enjoyed our time together this past Resurrection Sunday.  The breakfast was great (thanks men!), the sunrise service went well in spite the raining/stormy weather, and the rising creek didn't keep us from gather together for Sunday School and morning worship.  I pray that God was glorified and we were reminded of why we worship on the day of the week in which Jesus was raised.  Let us live the cross and resurrection, not just believe in it.  Let the cross and the resurrection transform us.  If we let the cross and the resurrection truly transform us, God will do great things through us.





Audio 
Notes


For more:
April 4, 2010 - Mark 15:1-15: I Am Barabbas and So Are You (Easter 2010) 
Easter 2009 Message - John 20:19-31 - From Doubting Thomas to Eternal Life - audio
Easter 2009 Message - John 20:19-31 - From Doubting Thomas to Eternal Life - notes
April 5, 2009 | Mark 15:21 - Simon of Cyrene & the Meaning of Christianity
God's Wonderful Surprise: The Glorious Resurrection
 "In Christ Alone" by Keith & Kristyn Getty
The Miracle of the New Creation: CS Lewis on the Resurrection 
Blogizomai - Theology, Atonement, & Technology:  Some Easter Videos 

 Reviews - "Raised With Christ" by Adrian Warnock   
Theology - Did the Resurrection Happen?: A Debate Between Craig and Erhman 
Theology - Rob Bell and the Resurrection 
Theology - Calvin and the Redemptive Necessity of the Resurrection 
Theology - Where Theology and Life Intersect: A Theological Case for Christus Exemplar and Why It is Necessary - Part 4
Theology - The End:  John 20:31 or John 21:25  
Theology - A Consensus That We Can Believe: The Lost Tomb of Jesus Is A Hoax, Scholars Say 
Blogizomai - Even Environmentalists Need an Easter:  What Christians Can Learn on Earth Day 
Blogizomai - What Did the Cross Accomplish?:  Eternal Hope or Internal Reformation 
Blogizomai - D'Souza:  Did the Resurrection Happen? 
Blogizomai - The Illegitimate Birth of Christ:  Another Wild Claim Falling on Deaf Ears 
Reviews - "The Jesus Inquest" by Charles Foster   
Reviews - "The Case for Easter"

April 4, 2010 - Mark 15:1-15: I Am Barabbas and So Are You (Easter 2010)

Here is the audio and sermon notes from the Easter message.  I hope everyone had a excellent Resurrection Sunday.  Amanda and I are exhausted but we enjoyed the day nonetheless.  Here is the description:

Was the cross necessary?  Perhaps no other question is more important than that one.  Why did Jesus have to bear the cross?  Couldn't have God redeemed man, showed His love, and forgiven our sins another way?  When we understand the exchange of Barabbas for Jesus, we then understand the necessity of the cross and penal substitution.

Audio
Notes




For more:
Easter 2009 Message - John 20:19-31 - From Doubting Thomas to Eternal Life - audio
Easter 2009 Message - John 20:19-31 - From Doubting Thomas to Eternal Life - notes  

"In Christ Alone" by Keith and Kristin Getty

I was excited to hear my favorite song on Resurrection Sunday performed, "In Christ Alone" originally composed and written by Keith and Kristin Getty.  In honor of that I thought I would post their original version of it.  I really enjoyed how our church mixed the piano and the saxophone with the incredible lyrics to this incredible song.



HT: Deyoung, Restless, and Reformed

God's Wonderful Surprise: The Glorious Resurrection

As everyone knows, this Sunday we will celerbate the resurrection of our Lord.  In the spirit of that wonderful event, I encourage everyone to watch the following video.  The video comes from a book that Amanda and I read to Elijah called the Jesus Bible Storybook.  We highly recommend it.




HT: Justin Taylor

April 12, 2009 - John 20:19-20: From Doubting Thomas to Eternal Life

To download the notes, click here.

Weekly Recommendation - "The Case For Easter"

This week we are celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus. Therefore, Lee Strobel's book, "The Case for Easter," is an important book to read as we think about the issues surrounding Jesus' death and resurrection. Strobel's book is nothing more than the last three chapters of "The Case For Christ," that deal with the resurrection. Rather than buy the entire book, Strobel offers just those three chapters.

The chapters are:

1. The Medical Evidence: Was Jesus' Death a Sham and His Resurrection a Hoax?
2. The Evidence of the Missing Body: Was Jesus' Body Really Absent from His Tomb?
3. The Evidence of Appearances: Was Jesus Seen Alive After His Death on the Cross?

Each chapter reads like an investigation where the author interviews an expert on the issue. In all of Strobel's "Case" books, he interviews the best of the best and it shows. Chapter 1 is an interview with Alexander Metherell M.D., PH. D. who looks at the medical evidence proving that Jesus really died and no other theory can contradict that truth. Chapter 2 is an interview with William Lane Craig PH. D., D. TH. who is an expert and writer on the resurrection. I encourage everyone to read Craig's books. Chapter 3 is an interview with Gary Habermas, PH. D., D.D who successfully closes the case on the resurrection.

Strobel seeks to provide his Christian readers comfort in knowing that our faith is not in vain. For nonChristian readers, Strobels books are evangelistic hoping that they would acknowledge the truth and come to Christ. The simple truth is, that if Jesus really died and was raised from the dead, then He is both Lord and God (John 20:28). And if He is Lord and God, there is no other choice than to repent and believe in His name. Not to amounts to spitting God in the face.

For anyone interested in exploring these issues, I strongly recommend Strobel's book. And while your at it, read his other Case books. Though they deal with difficult issues, you will come away confident that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6).

The Miracle of the New Creation: CS Lewis on the Resurrction

I have been reading a number of books in preparation for Resurrection Sunday's message and I came across of number of good quotes from Clive Stables Lewis. Cs Lewis is one of my favorite authors and I have read all of his signature classics. Although I disagree with some of his theological views, Lewis' influence on me is profound. I have enjoyed reading his Narnia series as well as many of his letters, essays, biography, and nonfiction writings. I highly recommend him.

But in his book, Miracles, Lewis sees the two greatest miracles in Scripture to be the Incarnation and the Resurrection. Regarding the resurrection, Lewis had this to say:

. . . to preach Christianity meant primarily to preach the Resurrection. Thus people who had heard only fragments of St. Paul’s teaching at Athens got the impression that he was talking about two new gods, Jesus and Anastasis (i.e., Resurrection) (Acts 17:18). The Resurrection is the central theme in every Christian sermon reported in Acts. The Resurrection, and its consequences, were the ‘gospel’ or good news which the Christians brought: what we call the ‘gospels’, the narratives of Our Lord’s life and death, were composed later for the benefit of those who had already accepted the gospel. They were in no sense the basis of Christianity: they were written for those already converted. The miracle of the Resurrection, and the theology of that miracle, comes first: the biography comes alter as a comment on it. Nothing could be more unhistorical than to pick out selected sayings of Christ from the gospels and to regard those as the datum and the rest of the NT as a construction upon it. The first fact in the history of Christendom is a number of people who say that they have seen the Resurrection. If they had died without making anyone else believe this ‘gospel’ no gospels would ever have been written. (234-235)

What I like about what Lewis says here is that he equates the gospel with the Resurrection. It is all too common today to buy books on the gospel that speak only of the atonement, i.e., the cross. The cross is foundational to the gospel, however too many overlook the resurrection of Christ. If Jesus had died, we would still be in our sins. But because Jesus died as our substitute and then was raised from the dead, we can be saved. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, if Christ has not risen, we remain in our sins and to be most pitied.

Note another quote from Lewis:

The NT writers speak as if Christ’s achievement in rising from the dead was the first event of its kind in the whole history of the universe. He is the ‘first fruits’, the ‘pioneer of life’. He has forced open a door that has been locked since the death of the first man. He has met, fought, and beaten the King of Death. Everything is different because He has done so. This is the beginning of the New Creation: a new chapter in cosmic history has opened (237).

I love this quote: He has met, fought, and beaten the King of Death." As Paul wrote, "O Death, where is your sting!"

April 5, 2009 - Mark 15:21: Simon of Cyrene and the Meaning of Christianity

Click on the title to listen/download audio. You can download the notes by clicking here.