“How to Share the Joy of Easter”
“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.’" John 12:13.
Intro: Today is Happy Palm Sunday.
We remember, this day because it is the first day of the week
The last week when Jesus came to Jerusalem before his crucifixion.
Everybody celebrated him.
but by the end of the week,
He is going to be giving his life on the cross and being resurrected.
Palm Sunday really helps to deal with the question of, "Who am I going to follow in life?
Who's going to tell me what's the best direction to take in life?
Am I going to follow the crowd,
am I going to follow my conscience,
am I going to follow Christ?"
Am I going to follow the crowd?
The crowd actually got it right on that Palm Sunday.
SLIDE
“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.’" John 12:13.
So they were doing great that day,
but less than a week later they're saying, "Crucify him! Crucify him! Crucify him!"
So that's what you get when you follow the crowd.
There's lots of ups and downs.
You're never going to know what direction the crowd is going
so you are going here and there
Wherever the crowds leads you.
You never know where you're going to go.
You can try to follow your conscience.
The problem with that is a lot of times your conscience you know the right thing to do,
but you can't quite seem to do it.
Anybody here struggle with that one?
Even more scary, you come to these moments where you realize,
"My conscience is telling me the wrong thing,"
because maybe you were not brought up in home with clear values.
Maybe you stopped going to Sunday School and bible study and have forgotten some of lessons and morals
So who do you follow?
You follow Christ because he's the way.
He's the truth.
He's the life.
That's really in a lot of ways what Palm Sunday is all about,
Today I want us to think about how do you really feel the joy of Easter this week.
In order to feel the joy of Easter, you have to share the joy of Easter.
You have to let other people know about it.
This is the best time of the year for sharing this greatest joy that we have.
So we're going to focus in together on what does it take
to really have a conversation about faith
and to share the joy of Easter.
If you have been a Christian for many years
Or maybe you don’t think yourself of as strong Christian
I think it is pretty safe to say that most people here still feel awkward
and have a difficult time sharing your faith.
Those of you who aren't yet followers of Christ,
you should appreciate that we're talking about this because you know we need to get better at this.
Sometimes we tend to not share very well.
We stumble over words to say.
We don't say what we want to say.
So as a result so many times we don’t say anything at all.
To the point that we just stop looking for the opportunities to share our faith.
So how do we get better at this?
Well, the way is to look at how Jesus Christ shared his faith.
Jesus is our model.
Jesus had a lot of conversations with people about faith.
So we're going to look at one of those conversations that he had.
We're going to learn from him how can you and I do a better job of sharing the joy of Easter
so that we can feel,
so that we can experience the joy of Easter in our own everyday lives.
The conversation we're going to look at is one that he had with a woman in John 4.
Here are some things you can do to have a conversation about faith
that creates a new kind of joy,
creates a new kind of understanding of what Easter is really all about.
1. Start
This is a tough one.
In fact this might be the most difficult one for many of you.
Start a conversation about your faith.
Why don't we have conversations about our faith?
Because we don’t start conversations about our faith.
You have got to want to share your faith.
Don’t tell me you are too shy, or too timid.
There is no one in this church that I haven’t heard talk about ball games, recipes,
You not too shy to let your complaints be known.
In reality if you can complain about something
If you can let your complaints be know
You have no excuse for not letting your joy be known!!!
One of the reasons we don’t have conversations about our faith is we don’t start conversations about faith.
There's things that are in the way of having this kind of conversation.
It doesn't happen automatically.
It has to be a choice.
You've got to break through whatever barriers there are in your life
That are stopping you from sharing the joy of your faith.
For some people those barriers are hurts, and pains, and fears, and brokenness
that you simply need to lay on the altar and let Jesus release you from.
Let’s look at what happened in John 4:6-9, "Jacob's well was there;
and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well around noontime.
Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water
and Jesus said to her, 'Please, give me a drink.'
He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.
The woman was surprised, for Jews refused to have anything to do with Samaritans."
The Bible is pointing several types of barriers here.
Jews do not talk to Samaritans.
These were two cultures that lived alongside of each other, they had a long history, but they hated each other.
They didn't even talk to each other.
Jesus breaks through that barrier.
I don't know if you noticed the Bible says Jesus was tired from a long walk.
I don't know about you, but when I'm tired, I don't want to talk to anybody.
I just want to sit back.
Jesus starts a conversation when he's worn out.
When he is tired.
When he is weak physically from a long day he still starts a conversation about faith.
He pushes through his physical exhaustion to share his faith.
You and I, if we're going to have a conversation about faith,
even when we are tired, weary, feeling exhausted ourselves,
A lot of times physical exhaustion is accompanied by spiritual exhaustion.
You are tired physically, you are tired spiritually
Your body aches and your soul feels empty and weak.
And there are spiritual barriers.
If discouragement is a tool of the devil.
Then encouragement is a tool of the Holy Spirit.
I might feel attacked on every side but I am not crushed
I might feel weak, but I am not defeated.
2 Corinthians 4:8 Darby bible translation “every way afflicted…, but…, not entirely shut up”
I’ve got to tell you.
I’ve got to talk to you.
I’ve got to share my faith and my joy!!!
God wants to use you to help other people understand faith.
Sometimes we worry about what if someone I try to talk to about faith saw me do, what I did…
Heard me say, what I said…
I will let you feel in the blank.
Stop trying to be perfect. There is not a perfect person in this room.
The bible teaches us that it is the ones who think they are so good that are ones who are being deceived.
There's this freedom in recognizing, "This is who I am. Jesus takes me for who I am.
Then it is Jesus Christ who works on me and changes my life and I want people to know about it me.
Jesus already knew all about this woman at the well.
He knew what she had for breakfast that morning.
He knew where she had slept at that night.
Jesus didn’t just ask her for a drink. "Hey, I'm thirsty. Would you give me a drink?"
The truth is this was Jacobs well…, the great, great, great, great, great, ancestor in Jesus’s family
So this well actually was dug by Jesus’ ancestors and belonged to Jesus.
But there's a lot more to this story.
He opens up the door to a conversation.
He wasn't even supposed to be talking to her,
but he asks her for a drink.
When she begins to speak he could have demanded water and never said another word to her.
But He opens the door and she goes through it.
He starts a conversation.
He could have just received the cup of water she handed him and never said another word.
But he starts to talk with her.
He wants to have a conversation.
I would guess that there's a lot of people that Jesus talked to who didn't really want to talk to him.
Hello????
You have met some of them.
People who really didn’t want to hear you talk faith,
People who really didn’t want to hear you talk about Jesus.
Don’t let that stop you!
When you share the joy of Easter, God does something.
When you open the door to a conversation, God walks in many times.
James started attending a church because his persistent wife didn't give up,
She kept praying,
She kept pleading,
She the harder he resisted the harder she prayed.
She said, he was coming to church with her and she said, they came to a point where she thought was about to give his life to Christ and then he just quit.
Does anyone know what happened? Why he quit?
He was under conviction.
What does under conviction means?
Under Conviction is you know exactly what you need to do.
It feels like an arrow in your heart or inside your stomach.
You know what you need to do.
But the devil is a master at keeping us from doing what we know we should do.
One week James had promised his wife that he would go to church that Sunday with her
On Friday a co-worker got sick and gave James U.K. ball tickets for Saturday night.
The devil will do whatever it takes to keep someone you love from knowing Jesus.
The question is will you do whatever it takes to share with someone you love the joy of knowing Jesus?
2. Love
You want to have a conversation about faith. You've got to love.
People will listen to you when they know you love them.
All through this conversation with the woman at the well, Jesus is loving on her.
In John Chapter 4:9, "She said to Jesus, ‘You're a Jew, and I'm a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?’” Why are you even talking to me?
He hears this.
He sees her need.
There are lots of opportunities in this story to be condescending, to be rude, to be judgmental, to be condemning.
But instead Jesus just loved on her.
In fact he offers her a gift.
“If thou knewest the gift of God…”
This skill of sharing faith is a lot about loving.
It's the skill we need in every area of life.
Look at this next verse. 1 Peter 3:5-16, "If someone asks you about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way."
Always gentle. Always respectful. Always in a loving way.
That's the attitude to have.
3. Talk about real life.
There has to be healthy balance between curriculum and practice.
Knowledge and application.
Have you ever met someone and think…,
you know they are really smart but they don’t have a lick of common sense.
There are some Christians that way.
They have a lot of bible knowledge.
But when it comes to sharing that in a way that makes a difference in real life they don’t know where to start.
Talk about real life.
God wants to make a difference in our real lives,
so you've got to talk about real life.
Now let's be honest.
Sometimes when we're talking about faith, something happens to us
and it seems like we start to talk about religious things instead of talking about real life.
You at the store when a friend walks up beside you and picks up a box of cereal.
They say, hello, how are you?
You say, I am justified, sanctified, and glorified by the precious blood of the Lamb."
They put their box of fruit loops in the cart and move on down the aisle.
You are at a soccer game, you talking to another parent about and goals, and goalies.
You are just having a good conversation.
Then you look over at your friend and say, "Hey, why don’t your kids come to church with my kids?”
You don't have go sanctimonious on them.
You just talk to them about how faith in God makes a difference.
That you are more hopeful, more patient, more joyful, more encouraged,
and make better choices because you believe Jesus Christ.
Talk about real life.
Families that pray together stay together.
There is a study done by Iowa State University
that revealed that if you want to boost your child’s grade point average, take them to church.
Researchers found that church attendance has a huge effect on a GPA.
Students who went to church weekly also had lower dropout rates and were more likely to complete college.
They develop better social skills and are more likely to make better social choices.
Surprise, Surprise???
Here is the last one for today, that you can do to have a conversation about faith
4. Give an invitation. (close the deal)
At some point in the conversation, you ask the person if they would like to receive Christ as their savior.
Jesus, is talking with this woman.
They were talking about water.
Jesus invites her to experience something different
He invites here to experience the joy of faith.
In John 4:10-14, "Jesus replied, ‘If you only knew the gift that God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.’ ‘But, sir, you don't have a rope or a bucket,’ she said, ‘and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water?’"
You know the biggest reason people don’t pray to receive salvation?
It is because they are not asked to pray to receive salvation.
We don’t offer to close the deal.
When we do work up the courage to talk to someone about faith.
Sometimes we get caught up on conversation and just keep talking without explaining what the next step is.
So Jesus sees she's listen here.
She's got questions about this.
So Jesus explains it. “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. [pointing to the well.]
But those who drink the water that I give will never be thirsty again.
It becomes a fresh bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.’"
This might seem confusing for you and I today.
But for someone who had to walk to the well every day just to have water enough to live.
This made perfect sense.
Jesus takes the physical need and the spiritual needs says, God will meet both.
Whatever needs you have in life God will meet.
Whatever question you have God is the answer.
He's talking to her about the eternal life that God is willing to give to her.
He uses this picture of living water.
And he closes the deal and says, “Take a drink.”
Begin this relationship right now, right here today."
If you're thirsty, you don't study the chemical properties of H2O. You take a drink of water.
Would you like to start a relationship with Jesus Christ today?
That's what he invites her into.
He invites her into this relationship.
And he has given us the privilege of passing out invitations to that same kind of relationship
to everyone else she knows and meets.
Giving and invitation to a relationship with Jesus Christ is really simple.
It is just sharing what faith is all about.
It is just sharing what Jesus had already done for you.
It's not about convincing people.
It's just about inviting people.
God does the convincing.
You and I? We get to do the inviting.
I grew up in church when at the end of the service they would have this thing called the invitation.
The invitation is when at the end of the sermon you sing songs or play music,
people come down to the front,
And the reason coming down to the front is so important is because that is part of making the commitment.
That’s your part in what God is doing.
That’s your thing to do, in response to what God is giving you.
We pass out invitations to a birthday party.
We receive an invitation to a wedding.
We get to invite people to Jesus's party.
Jesus Christ is throwing this party.
The greatest party for all of eternity.
He's going to be throwing it and he says, "Hey, would you pass out invitations to everybody you know?
You say, I want you to be there too.
The invitation this morning is two things.
One if you are here and have not yet started your relationship with Jesus would you come and begin that relationship with Jesus today?
Second, if you are already a Christian will you come and renew your commitment to pass out invitations to others?
We get to do that.
Now there's nothing better than passing out an invitation to a Jesus party.
If you pass out an invitation to your party, you've got to do all the work.
You've got to cook all the food
You've got to do all decorations
You’ve got to do all the clean up.
When we pass out an invitation to Jesus's party. He already did all the work.
He died on the cross so that we can be forgiven.
He was resurrected from the dead so we could have new life.
He says, "Will you let everybody know."
He says will you pass out invitations?
This invitation we get to pass out.
He talks about letting everybody know.
Matthew 22:9, "So go to the street corners and invite everyone you find to come to my feast."
Everybody.
There is no one that you're ever going to meet that Jesus does not invite to come to this feast.
Jesus invites everyone.
Look at the verse on the screen go to the street corner and invite everyone.
What are you going to do with that verse????
A simple invitation that can change everything.
Easter is one of the best times of the year to invite people.
Let’s invite people with love, and joy, and expect God to work.
When we expect that God will work, God does great things.
Expect that God will work through you.
Like he worked through the woman at the well.
Look at John 4:39, "Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because this woman had said, "He told me everything I ever did!"
This stack of cards has an invitation to Join Us for Worship Easter Sunday Morning.
Come and take as many as you want and give them to people you love
and invite them to share the Joy of Easter.
If you have never received Jesus Christ into your life allow me to pray with you today.
You can begin your relationship with Christ right now.
Don’t put it off any longer.
