The Rest of the Story
By
Bishop M.L. Maughmer, Jr.
OPENING: - Today I want to start off this message by going back a little to a man by the name of Paul Harvey. Paul Harvey was a Broadcast Announcer that had a show called and made famous the line “And that’s the rest of the story”.
If I may I would like to use that phrase for this sermon and title it “That’s the rest of the story”.
Prayer: - Spirit of the living God I come this Resurrection Sunday thanking you for this day. Thank you for raising from the grave and saving my sin sick soul. I come today asking that you open the windows of heaven and anoint the words I speak today. Let your Word go forth and accomplish that which pleases you and I will be careful to give you all the glory and all the honor in Jesus name Amen.
Today is Easter Sunday or for those of us we call it Resurrection Sunday. It is a very special and very powerful day that we commemorate, for this is the day that Jesus raised from the dead with all power in Heaven and Earth in His hand.
Scripture: The history of the Triumphal Entry, The arrest of Jesus, The Crucifixion (Death), Burial, and Resurrection is in all 4 of the gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but for today’s message I will be coming from Matthew 21 focusing on verses 12 – 17 and Matthew 28 verse 1 – 10 Matthew 21:12-17 says “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them. And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? And he left them and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there”. Matthew 28:10 says, “Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid; go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me”.
There’s a quote that goes “There’s always two sides of every story” and that is a true statement, there two sides to everything. The number 2 represents WATCH THIS: - division and unity, division 2 people and unity become 1 as in husband and wife, there is 2 divisions Old Testament and New Testament yet together they make up 1 Bible. There’s 2 side of a coin heads and tails yet it’s still a quarter, dime, nickel, etc. We have 2 sides a natural side and a spiritual side, the spirit and the flesh that’s what is called a Dichotomy. Dichotomy is a division or contrast between 2 things that are or are represented as being entirely different. There is a difference between the world and the church or at least there’s supposed to be a difference natural and spiritual.
When God speaks or moves He does so often times to the Church and the World at the same time the difference is to the church it’s spiritual and to the world it’s natural; however, in order to understand the spiritual you must have spiritual discernment which is provided by the Holy Ghost. The Bible says He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
During this current time God is speaking both to the World and to the Church the question is are you listening to what He is saying.
TEXT: - In our text we are dealing with the Triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Jesus enters into Jerusalem on a donkey, which represents a king entering into the city, and the people are praising Him, throwing palm branches down in front of Him and saying “Hosanna Hosanna blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord”. UNDERSTAND: - they are offering praise with their lips, but their hearts weren’t right. I know the scripture says in Hebrew 13:15 “By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name”. But God wants pure worship and not superfluous lips service. How do you know Bishop their heart wasn’t right – because these same people that are saying Hosanna Hosanna within a week will be saying crucify him.
So, He enters into Jerusalem and goes directly to the Temple, this is significant because first he had to get the church right. He goes to the Temple and he sees the money changers deceiving the people. The money changers exchanged foreign currency for Jewish currency so they could buy the animals needed for sacrifice. Jesus sees what is going on and says, “My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves”. And he destroys the economical system by turning over the money changers tables.
WATCH THIS: - The money changers were deceiving the people and the dishonest sellers of the animals for sacrifice caused the people to offer inadequate worship. So, He destroyed the economic system. Today the churches economic system has been overturned during this pandemic. I have seen more people on FB talking about go to Cash App, go online, go to the church website and pay your tithes, send donations, support the church because the church must remain than I have heard people saying stay home, stay safe, wash your hand, wear a mask, practice social distancing, protect yourself and your family, pray more, read your Bible more, hold on to God’s unchanging hand and when this is all over we’re going to come together and magnify the name of the Lord.
So, He had to overturn the economic structure and re-affirm the purpose of the Temple re-affirm the purpose of His House, which was to be a place of prayer and healing. Prayer = conversation with God Healing = to be made whole, sound, healthy by God.
In less the a weeks’ time the religious people, the Herodians, the Sadducees, the Pharisees – you may know them today as the ones that destroy the church in 7 words “WE NEVER DONE IT LIKE THAT BEFORE”, they try to entangle (buk) Jesus and twist the church to fit them instead of worshipping Him.
Let me fast forward a little. They get to the point where they arrest Jesus unlawfully. They drag him from Gethsemane, to Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin where they accuse, question, and beat him and Peter denies him 3 times. From there to Pilate were he is question by Pilate, from there to Herod were he is mocked and beaten some more, and back to Pilate were he is flogged within an inch of his life, mocked, forced a crown of thorns upon his head, rejected for a murderer named Barabbas made to carry his cross up Golgotha’s hill. Thank God for Simeon of Cyrene that helped bare some of the burden. On Calvary he has nails driven into his hand and feet. His hands begin to curl up because it cut the nerves leading into his fingers, his feet began to curl because the nerves were cut leading to his toes. He suffered on that cross from 9am – 3pm being ridiculed, mocked, emasculated, suffering in agony and pain.
One song writer said it like this “HE WOULD NOT COME DOWN FROM THE CROSS TO SAVE HIMSELF BUT HE DECIDED TO DIE JUST TO SAVE YOU AND ME”.
At 3:00 pm He said it is finished and He gave up the ghost. WATCH THIS: - 3:00 was the time of the evening sacrifice. At this moment the veil off the Temple was rent (torn) from top to bottom forever changing the way worship is done.
I believe that through this pandemic that the old ways of worship have changed forever, church as usual will never be the same. I believe the mission of the church is being re-affirmed, shifted into a deployment mindset. Sure, we will have Sunday services again, but there is a shift in what we used to do.
Let me get to the rest of the story. 3 days later just before the dawn of the first day of the week, the Bible says Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to the sepulcher where they laid Jesus. They were expecting to find things as usual; they were expecting to find Jesus where they laid him. When this pandemic is over people are going to be expecting things to be as normal, but I believe what you may be expecting its not going to be that way when you get there.
The Bible says there was a great earthquake for the angel of the Lord descended and rolled away the stone. When the Mary’s got there, expecting to find everything the way they left it, the Angel of the Lord said to them Matthew 28:6 “He is not here for He is Risen come see the place where the Lord lay”. Verse 7 says “And go quickly and tell his disciples (ecclesia church) that he is risen behold he goeth before you into Galilee, there shall you see him; lo; I have told you”.
As they begin to go back to the disciples (the ecclesia the church) Jesus meets them and in verse 10 say “Be not afraid; go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me”.
WATCH THIS: - this is the other side of the coin – Galilee the name has 1 interpretation that really stood out to me and that is Galilee means “THE PLACE OF REVOLUTION”. Under Rome’s authority they tried to keep it peaceful and comfortable, but Jesus said go to Galilee, the place of Revolution.
I believe that on this Resurrection Sunday during this pandemic of coronavirus, which has shaken the world that God is calling for the church, the ecclesia, the disciples to get ready for a revolution and meet him in Galilee.
WATCH THIS: - Isaiah saw Galilee 700 years before Jesus was on the scene as the gateway of Salvation and peace for all nations through the preaching of Jesus Christ.
Our spiritual Galilee is prayer – communication with God. Are you ready for a Revolution?
IN CLOSING: - Sometimes God has to interrupt our lives, overturn some tables, cancel normalcy, shake ideologies, habit, and traditions to get the attention of the world and the church and cause the church to start a revolution.
The Bible and history show the progress of the revolution. The church went from 12 to 120 to over 3000 to over a Billion today. We have a commission to meet Him in Galilee and Revolutionize the church. Old church is passing away and He is looking for people that are willing to start a revolution and go from church mindedness to Kingdom mindedness.
AND THAT IS THE REST O FTHE STORY.
Bishop Melvin.L. Maughmer, Jr.
