The Easter Experience

The Easter Experience

John 10:10

INTRODUCTION

Top Ten Reasons to Celebrate Easter

10. You absolutely love the movie, "The Ten Commandments".

9. Jelly Beans! (except for the icky white ones)

8. You look really, really good in pastel colors.

7. How can any holiday that starts with a "Good Friday" be all bad?

6. Did we mention Jelly Beans yet?

5. You're into "passion" and "play" so how can it be bad?

4. You have this bunny suit you love to wear, but are too insecure to wear it without a reason.

3. Dying eggs is a good way to lower cholesterol. (till you make egg salad)

2. Jelly Belly Jelly Beans!!!

1. You figured since Jesus went to all THAT trouble to make it to the first Easter, you'd give it a shot.

What is the Easter Experience?

Easter is the celebration that three great needs in our lives can be met in Jesus.

Jesus summed up what he would do in one sentence in John 10:10

John 10:10 NIV

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

I. The Easter Experience meets the need that screams Notice Me

John 10:10 NIV

. . . I have come . . . .

We all have a need to be noticed. That need begins in cradle and continues throughout our life. We are wired for a relationship that affirms who we are.

A baby cries, (what a polite way of saying he screams Hey I cold here, Hey I'm Hunger here, hey I poopy here, Hey notice me).

A toddler throws a tantrum

A child acts up, lies, bullies, whines,

Teens intentionally over achieve, under achieve, dress to noticed, dress to shock, dress for style, dress for allure.

Teens and adults will adopt addictive behaviors, Look at me I can smoke I can drink ,I can cuss, I can . . .

or self destructive behaviors, anorexia, bulimia, cutting hair pulling, self mutilation.

All of the bragging, all the comparing with others the judging of others, the over time, the defiance, the compulsive talking, the perfectionism it's all tied to this need we have for someone, to notice that we are and that we have worth.

Easter, is the reminder the declaration that GOD notices us.

John 3:16-17

16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. NIV

The Easter Experience meets the need that screams Notice Me

And

II. The Easter Experience meets the need that screams Accept Me

John 10:10 NIV

. . . I have come that they may have life, . . ..

Coupled with the need that says notice me is a need that screams, once you notice me, accept me. But that runs directly into a problem we have.

Deep down each of us has a terrible secret. Deep down each of us knows, we're not always very nice, we're not always very good, we're not always as together as we may seem on the outside. Deep down each of knows that beneath the surface is lays an inner broken person, a version of ourselves that is less that flattering.

Bill Giovannetti calls that person your inner brat, your inner jerk, your inner thug, your inner dummy.

Most of us seek to live very controlled lives, because we don't want our inner jerk our inner, dummy our inner thug to come out and people to see inner us that is so less than flattering because we live in fear that if people really knew what we were like they'd reject us in an instant.

So we go to great lengths to become accepted.

* We'll don masks to please others.

* We'll try too hard to fit it

* We become phony, or eager to please.

* We'll judge others for being phony,

* We'll judge people for pushing us away, we'll fix them, and we plot there revenge their downfall.

* We'll manipulate other,

* we'll present ourselves as pathetic, overly needy

* We'll hide behind labels like bi-polar, depressed, ADHD

* Since any intolerance against a label or a handicap is wrong we demand accept me anyway.

John 6:35-37

35 Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. NIV