On The Bubble Series

Good morning to our church family who are joining us online. Allow me to welcome some friends and faces who are watching us our services online. We are glad to have you join us. Just a reminder that you can call and speak to a pastor this morning at the numbers listed on your screen.

The coronavirus is here and it’s changing our lives in dramatic ways. We feel remarkably fragile.

For the new few minutes, I want to call your attention the words of Jesus. Please find Matthew 21 with me.

We are just four Sundays away from Easter. Easter marks a time when are reminded of the remarkable hope that is in Jesus Christ. It’s a time when believers all over the globe celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Now, for centuries believers have prepared themselves spiritually for Easter the weeks before its arrival. To focus our minds on the importance of Jesus and the resurrection, I am launching a series today entitled “What Makes Jesus Say Amen.”

Almost all churches have an “amen’er” somewhere in the pews. For the novice church goer’s, you flip your head around to see where that amen is coming. Today, when you hear the word “amen,” it usually means, “I like that.” Let’s practice saying amen for a moment at your homes. Would you all give a hearty amen? Everybody has one good amen in them!

The Meaning of Amen

Now, amen is what we say when we end our prayers as the Bible teaches us to do (Ephesians 3:21). The word amen isn’t a “Christian” way of saying, “My prayers are over now. I’m signing off.” Instead, the word “amen” means “ truth,” “trustworthy” or “truly.” Here is something really good to hear on this day: God is the God of all truth. God is the God of complete, 100% truth.

Jesus and Amen

Jesus said the word amen 100 times throughout the gospels And He will preface an important truths with the words, “Amen.” Let me offer some examples… “Jesus said, ‘Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me’” (Mark 13:18b). “Jesus said to him, ‘Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times’” (Mark 14:30). “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live” (John 5:25).

But our focus right now are these words: “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you’” (Matthew 21:31).

When Jesus uses Amen, He’s calling on you to come to a full stop (pause for effect). The next words out of His mouth are crucial words for you to digest. Over the next five weeks, we will examine some of the most life-changing words Jesus uttered. Again, God is the God of all truth. Listen to Jesus’ word spoken 72 hours before His death on Good Friday and just 5 days before His resurrection.

Today’s Scripture

“What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30 And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first” Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you’ 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.”

33 “Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. 34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. 35 And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. 37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ 39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons” (Matthew 21:28-41).