The Big Idea Of Easter

THE BIG IDEA OF EASTER

APRIL 17, 2022, 11:15AM

ED YOUNG

Thank you for having the idea to attend one of our many Easter Services at Fellowship Church. How are you guys doing? We all have ideas. You had an idea about the outfit that you have on. I had an idea about the safari jacket. We have ideas about all sorts of things. You have an idea about where you're going to eat afterwards. Maybe you're a single guy and you saw some attractive girl and you're thinking to yourself, “man, I have an idea about how to meet her after the service.” Maybe you're a single girl, and you saw this guy without a wedding ring on, he has a full head of hair and a Rolex watch. You have an idea about meeting him. We have ideas, don't we? We have ideas about our kids, ideas about our future. Ideas, ideas.

I was Googling some ideas recently and I came across The Top 10 Ideas That Changed The World. I thought it was pretty interesting. Number 10, the internet. I'm so glad that Al Gore had that idea. What a brilliant man. Number nine, contraceptives. Got very quiet. Number eight, Penicillin. How many people are allergic to penicillin here? I am. Thank you. God bless you. Hands are going up everywhere. It's weird, isn't it, penicillin? Number seven, the light bulb. Number six, the telephone. Number five, the combustion engine. Number four, the printing press. Number three, the compass. Number two, the nail. And number one, the wheel.

I would have to argue though. I think the number one idea that changed the world is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. I don't think there's any scholar, historian, anthropologist, or scientist who could debate me on that. Whether they believe it or not. The number one idea that's changed the world is this divine idea, this Easter idea.

I'll like to use phrases with ideas in them. “That's a bright idea. Let's just bounce some ideas off of each other.” If I want to sound smart, I'll say, “I'm ideating.” My favorite though is “what's the big idea? What's the bottom line?”

Today I want to talk to you about the big idea. God's big idea of Easter. That's what I'm talking about. God's big idea of Easter. God is the God of the idea. He had an idea to create the earth. He had an idea to make you and me, so an idea created the world. A bad idea condemned the world, and even a greater idea has redeemed the world.

I don't know about you, but I have ideas all the time. Ideas are collections of thoughts that segue into activity. They solve problems, ideas. Most of us have about a hundred thousand thoughts a day and you group those up and you've got some ideas.

The ability to ideate comes from God, whether we give him credit or not. God has a big idea for your life. When God thinks about you, he only has good vibes, good ideas. He doesn't have any negative ideas about you. You've never looked at someone that God is not thinking about. Think about that for a second. You've never locked eyes with someone that God is not thinking about. God is inspired to ideate about you and me. This inspiration comes from his love. God is love. Love isn't God, no, no, no. God is love. God is justice. God is mercy. God is grace. God is good. God is. it's called the is-ness of God, so ideas are intrinsic to who God is.

They are INSPIRATIONAL. I have to have an outside source to be inspired to have an idea. Let me tell you a terrible idea I had when I was a teenager, I'll just confess this. My father is a pastor, he still is, 86 years old and throttle to the firewall. Right now, dad is preaching who knows how many services. In my early teenage years, he pastored a church in a small Southern town. This downtown church had a five-story building, at the top of the building was a basketball court, like a basketball gym. On the fourth and third floors, you had classrooms and things. I'm the pastor's kid. I got there early. We had Sunday night church. Ooh, how bad was that? Anyway, I got there early. I'm hanging out, messing around with some of my friends. Again, I’m 13 - 14 years old.

We found ourselves on the fourth story right before church. And I'm looking outside the fourth story window at people going to church. I thought to myself, what if I spit on them? Could I spit? I mean, am I that coordinated? Could I spit on someone's head? I saw my first target, a lady with the beehive hairdo, she's walking to church. I figured out if I spit three cracks in front of the sidewalk in front of my victim, it would hit the target, pretty much every time. Sure enough, this woman three cracks away, and it was beautiful. She had no idea, I spit, and it was right on the top of her beehive. She went into church. I thought “ha, ha, ha, she had no idea!” My friends said, "You're hilarious, man. I can't believe you did that." I said, "Well, I've got a better idea." I saw a trash can in one of the classrooms. And I went to the nearest water fountain. I'm talking about those old school water fountains where the water was like ice cold, you know what I'm talking about? I filled the thing full of ice-cold water.