Spring Life
Part 3- Be Amazed
Pastor Ryan Akers
Video- Are you amazed? (Sermon Spice)
Luke 24:1-12- How many of you have ever asked yourself, “Is this real?” The world really wants to believe it’s not. They really want to believe that this moment in time never happened. Because if this moment in time happened then life as we know it would have to change. We would have to admit there is a God. We’d have to admit that we are not our own. We belong to him. And nobody wants that. If this moment happened that means that I need to learn to give up everything for God. My life, my thoughts, my abilities are his.
I’ve questioned many times- is this real? I have to believe its real because this moment is the only event in all of the world of all time that gives us any shred or inkling that there is some hope in life, there is some purpose to life. That the world we live in right now isn’t just about working 9-5 and getting married and raising some kids saving for retirement and then we die. It gives me hope that there is something bigger than me out there. There is something bigger than the job market and the government and the president and the economy and the oil companies. This one moment tells me that I no longer have to worry about that other stuff because it doesn’t matter. Because of this moment I have hope that there is life beyond this earth. When you grasp onto that hope which many will not believe in you will be free. You will feel more free in life than you ever have felt freedom. The freedom given to us in America holds no candle to the grace and freedom given to us by Jesus Christ.
I have to believe this event happened by faith. I wasn’t there, I didn’t see it happen but I believe it did. I don’t know why I believe so strongly but I just have to believe it. There is no scientific proof for me to bring out or experts to interview. All I have is faith. I don’t think it would matter if I was there or not anyways. Many saw Jesus after he rose and they still didn’t believe. Many saw Jesus perform miracles and they still didn’t believe they just asked for more miracles. Humans are natural skeptics. We love to prove people wrong. We love to win, we love to be right. (Fox’s computer monitor) But you know what sometimes you just have to have faith. God isn’t going to force you to believe anything. He wants you to choose to love him. Its never love when your forced to love. And I can’t explain why, but I just have to believe in Him, because somehow, someway I just know deep in my soul that Jesus really is the answer to life’s greatest question, What is my purpose?
Hebrews 11:1- Faith is all about believing in something you can’t see but you have hope that it happened or will happen. (Evolution, Revolutionary War) We all have faith in something; every single person in this room is looking for answers right now to your problems. You don’t want to admit you need help, but you know you need help. Your marriage is falling apart. You are struggling with depression, you are physically or verbally or sexually abused. You are constantly arguing, you can’t quit drinking. You can’t quit looking at pornography; you are trying to find satisfaction and fulfillment in life by sleeping around or partying. Every single person in here right now has a problem. We desperately want that problem fixed. And we make these attempts on our strength to fix that problem. We turn to junk that we think will fix it but it never does. It always just hurts us more and then we are in denial that we even have a problem. We don’t just want to admit that I can’t do it. I can’t do it anymore, I can’t live like this anymore, what I think is going to fix my problems is only making it worse. I need something more. You’re not alone in feeling like this. It has been this way since the creation of the world. What you are looking for in life is exactly what I was looking for in, its exactly what Pastor Eric was looking for in life its exactly what Billy Graham was looking for in life and (church names) without even knowing it right now today you are looking for Jesus. If you let him enter your heart you, like the people of his day, will be amazed.
2000 years ago, the world was a much different place. Before the age of computers, television, radio, magazines, newspapers and the internet; before fast food, Wal-Mart, gas stations and bass pro; before the time of potlucks and fundraisers, mission trips, small groups, children’s ministry, youth ministry, young adult ministry, senior adult ministry, praise team and choir’s, nursery and angel food, committees and board meetings; before the time of welfare and necac, before health care and oil companies, before democrats and republicans there was just Jesus. And the people were amazed.
Jesus came in a time (in history) where his people (Israelites) were hurting. They were oppressed. They weren’t whining about milk prices they were fighting for scraps to eat. They weren’t complaining of their colds and flu shots not working they were suffering from lepersy and exile. They weren’t making jokes about political campaigns they were being punished through persecution of death and torture, high taxes and real oppression from the Roman government. Where you and your kids could be murdered just for saying the wrong thing and there was no justice for it.
They weren’t complaining about the church, they were hoping to just not step on the toes of the religious “elite” who had the power to imprison and the power to kill all who opposed them and their “legalistic” rules and rituals.
Yet through their pain, and through their suffering and through their agony they had hope. They had hope and faith that one day a savior would come to free the oppressed. That hope came in the form of a man, Jesus Christ. And the people were amazed.
They were amazed because the savior of all mankind did not come in the way they expected. He didn’t come riding in on a white horse ready to amass an army of God’s oppressed people to overthrow the roman’s and the religious elite and establish a new kingdom. He didn’t come with economic stimulus plans and military exit strategies in hand. No, instead the savior of the world came in the most humblest of ways. Born into a family with no power, no money, and no elite status. And this child would grow up and teach in the temple. And the people were amazed. He would spend 3 years of his life speaking on things of the Kingdom of God that no one had heard before and the people were amazed. He would heal the sick, raise the dead, forgive the prostitute, stand up to the elites, oppose the powerful, exorcise the possessed, and go head to head with the devil himself. And the people were amazed!
“Scholars” and “experts” and over paid “academics” want to tell you that Jesus was just a good man. Some of you this morning do not believe a word I am saying. Instead you believe Jesus was just a prophet, a brilliant teacher, and a wonderful rabbi. A man who, whether you believe in him or not, could learn from his teachings in order to become a good person and learn to live in harmony with your fellow man. And you, you are not amazed.
I want to tell you the reason you are not amazed today. It’s because you know him, but you have never met my savior. If you had really met my savior, you…you would be amazed (you would feel what I feel every day). You cannot know Jesus and not be amazed. Over the years billions of people have been amazed at his power. They have been amazed by his sacrifice for them. It is so hard for us to just believe that someone died for us. It’s so hard for us to believe that we don’t have to live this life alone. We don’t have to do it alone. We don’t have to struggle alone. We don’t have to hurt alone. We don’t have to play tough and live a life pretending we have it all together. When you meet Jesus you come to a realization that you are no longer alone but all of you is loved. God loves you regardless of your faults and failures and sins and past. He loves you. He wants a relationship with you. But because we are so thick headed we continue to refuse to believe. (Pinecove- student- in shock that God would love him.)
God wants you to know that you don’t have to pretend to be tough. He understands everything you have ever gone through. He understands all your hurts and pains because he himself went through them by taking on the form of a human in Jesus Christ, walking this earth, lowering himself before his own creation, was crucified on the cross, died, was buried and he proved who was when on the 3rd day he rose again. And the people were amazed. 2000 years later the people are amazed.
Because of our amazement in our Savior we gather here each week to worship. We willingly make fools of ourselves by preaching in the streets, preaching in the church, helping people for no reason, because we have been amazed. We have met Jesus. We know what this feeling of freedom is like and when you know what it’s really like to know Him you have to shout it out. Have you met my Jesus today? Do you know my King? Do you believe in him? Do you trust him? Do you have faith that goes beyond the things that you can see?
There are days where I question, “Does God really exist?” Is there really a God? Look at our hunger, and our suffering. Look at the innocent around us who are dying. Look at the families barely making it while the wealthy could care less. Could there really be a God who loves us when all this is going on around us? Could there really be a God who cares about us when he could just snap his fingers and make all the pain go away?
But then that little voice, not in my head, but in my soul. That little voice within my soul speaks to me and whispers, “Without pain, how can you love?” That is so true. Even when you take God out of it we never realize how much we miss something until it is taken from us. When we go through pain we realize how much we love what we took for granted. There is pain because of our sin, but for God to just snap his fingers and solve all of our problems means we, one, won’t need faith and two, you won’t love God. Struggling in life is the best way to love God because it means that we are looking to him to get us through. God wouldn’t be God if we didn’t need him because life was perfect.
I sit back in amazement all the time thinking about how God has helped me overcome so many difficult times in my life. How I was lost and hurting looking for something and seeking that void in my life through empty entertainment and sexual fulfillment. I have sat and heard your stories about how God brought you out of the gutter of life and helped you over come alcohol and drug addiction, how god helped you over anger and depression. I sit back and hear these stories and think, “How can people not see there is a God who loves us and who wants to free us.” There are too many changed lives, there are too many people standing up saying there is a Jesus who frees to not wonder if all of this is real. To those of you who don’t know Jesus I want to tell you it is real, and it is amazing? Will you take a moment today and just listen to your own heart?
Deep down you know Jesus is real. Deep down you feel it right now, you know God is real, you know His love is real, you know that what I have spoken on today is real and you so desperately want it in your life, but you are so afraid of what will happen. What will your family say, what will your friends say, how will your life change? How will you tell people? There are so many scary scenarios playing in your head right now but that is exactly why we have faith. You feel those butterflies in your stomach right now, that is God speaking to you. You feel nervous right now that is God nudging you to take that step and believe in Him. Let God control your life. Don’t trust in yourself anymore trust in Him. Walking the path of a follower of Jesus is never easy but it is so amazing!
Matthew 5:11, Matthew 10:28
The followers of Jesus were afraid too just like you. They were really brave when they could physically stand behind Jesus. It didn’t take any faith for them to believe and have confidence when Jesus was standing right there and they could see the miracles and they could watch Jesus stand up for himself and the disciples had a pass and could remain quiet and let Jesus do all the talking. But once he was gone they didn’t know what to do. They hid in fear. - they didn’t even believe. Jesus said he would be raised from the dead. He told them what would happen but when he died they hid in fear. They were afraid like you are right now that if people found out they were followers of Jesus Christ they might be exiled, killed or tortured. They didn’t want that. But Jesus came back.
He conquerored their doubt and proved He is the Lamb of God, the son of man, the great I AM. The elites couldn’t hurt him, the Romans couldn’t convict him, and death couldn’t hold him. All of hell couldn’t handle him. Are you amazed! And it was this moment that brought faith to life for them, and from this point on they would reach out to all who would hear with incredible faith and boldness. They proudly became martyrs for what they believed. Jesus’ resurrection was proof that all of God’s promises had and will continue to be fulfilled.
When you give your heart to Jesus you can have the hope and assurance that this life is not it. There is so much more to live beyond our 70,80,90 years on this earth. When you believe in Jesus you can have that you no longer have to take on the troubled times of life by yourself, but the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit will help you conquer all problems. Faith will help you overcome all trouble.
When you give your heart to God you can hope that everyday you wake up you will be amazed. You will not be able to see God working in your life. You will feel freedom you never thought possible. You will have joy for the first time in your life. Big difference between being happy (temporary) and being joyful (eternity). God so desperately wants to enter your life today and show you just how amazing He is.
Altar Call… (Song, All of Me by Selah)
