17th April 2022 Easter Celebration - Dave Food - Sunday people not Friday people

Get a theme of resurrection, hope. And my title is a bit of

a long title. Today, Why mate do with Friday when you can live

in Sunday? Friday was a bank holiday. I don't know what you did,

whether you had a lie in, or whether you actually went out and

thought about what good Friday was all about. Let's you remind ourselves what good

Friday was all about when we read from Matthew chapter twenty seven, verses forty

eight to fifty two. Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge filled

with sour wine and put it on a read and offered it to him to

drink. The rest said, let him alone, let us see if Elijah

will come and save him. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice,

and yielded up his spirits. Then behold, the veil of the temple

was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earthquaked, and the

rocks were split, raised were opened, and many bodies of the saints who

had fallen asleep were raised. The thief do's not sorry, sub jumped on

too quickly. That's my next scripture that Friday, that Friday. If you've

been there, I don't know how you'd have felt. Your spirit was probably

in your boots. There was your teacher Rabona eye Jesus. We were following

him. He'd come into the city and people had laid palms, and he'd

come on a donkey, and there'd been a great celebration, and then a

few days later he was accused, and now he's on the cross and been

crucified, and now he's died. I don't know what you think, but

my faith, my heart would have been in my boots, thinking, what's

this Friday all about? What's happened with the promise? What's happened with the

opportunity? Do you know? One of the things that I can say is

that I think that Friday contains a number of things. It contained a Deathesus

died. It also was a time when hope was lost. The disciples who

were following Jesus were excited about what he started to talking about, saying his

kingdom was coming, his kingdom was at hand. And so in those moments,

not only did Jesus die, but hope was lost. People looked at

it and said, all this hope we had and it's gone. Some people

have said that's the end what's the point, let's give up. There would

have been a real sense of loss. Some might have said this is the

end. As the curtain was torn into, as the graves were opened,

people said, this is the end. You know. The one thing that

I can say is that God's purpose was fulfilled. If we focus on Friday,

we missed the whole point. God sent his one and only son,

that whosoever believes in him should not perish through sin and the effective dead,

but have everlasting life. That's the promise God sent his one day son.

And so even in the midst of that, we're hoping, Yes, Jesus,

God's son is here. And he was put on the cross. It

was my sin that held him there until it was accomplished, until he declared

that it is finished. In those moments, as Jesus was nailed to the

cross, he could have still got down. He could have still stepped down,

just ripped his hands off the nails and stepped down off the cross into

your hands. I commit my spirit, he said to his father, and

let go and let God have his way. He died, and if that's

where it ended, then our hope he's lost too. But on this day,

thousands of years ago, women ran to the tomb to dress the tomb,

to prepare the to prepare the body, to dress the body. And

a woman came and she said this. In Matthew twenty eight, verses five

to seven. The Angel said to the woman, do not be afraid,

for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He's

not here. He has risen, just as it was said. Come and

see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell the disciples.

He has risen from the dead, and he's going ahead of you into Galilee.

There you will see him. Now I have told you there's a few

things I want to draw out of this Easter Sunday story. Firstly, the

Angel says to do not be afraid. In my sense, God says that

to us even this Sunday, do not be afraid in your seeking, in

your searching, do not be afraid. Maureen and Lorraine had the boldness to

it share. Well, we were a little fearful, but we still stepped

out in faith. Those are the moments when we choose to step into God's

purpose, When we run out of ourselves and we run into God. We

step over that line of saying no more of me, Lord, it's over

to you now. Whether that's confidence, hope, sometimes resources we step into

the moment, we say God, it's up to you now. Used to

have a lovely couple in the church, Jim and new that used to live

in spring A out and around near the back gate to the college. And

I remember him telling you when he was a younger man in faith, sometimes

they would sit down to the table and they'd take hands together, it's ready

to eat for dinner, and there would be nothing, he said, They

take hands together, they pray, and sometimes there'd be a knock on the

door. As they were praying, somebody said, oh, I just brought

this round, just thought of you. And Jim said, this happened a

number of times. He said, In one particular time, they'd invited a

friend brown for dinner and they had nothing to serve. Now, I don't

know what you would have done. If I'm really honest with you, I

would have probably picked up the phone and said, do you know what,

I'm not feeling too good today? Do you mind if we cancel? But

they didn't. They pressed it in faith, and when this friend came around

who was searching for Christ, they sat down at their table, they said,

do you know what? We know we invited you for dinner, and

that's our heartfelt desire, but we don't have anything right now. Do you

know what? Even before they started praying, as they said those words,

there was a knock on the door and somebody turned up, not just with

one bag, but bags of stuff. Do you know what? That was

a witness to their friends. If they had said to their friend, do

you know what, I'm not feeling too good, please stay away, they

would never have seen the miracle. But they were really honest. They laid

their faith on the line. They'd laid their faith in God on the line,

and just said, you know, we don't have anything today. We

wanted to believe to have a meal with you. But and then God came

through. So first he do not be afraid. Let's step into faith,

Let's step into purpose. Let's step in to who we are. Because the

second thing I want you to notice in this story is he's not here.

Where is here in this story? Where is here? Right now? It's

in the grave. If we look for Christ in deathly things, we're looking

in the wrong place. Because he's alive, He's risen now that's exactly what

today's all about. Today is not just about Good Friday. Good Friday had

to happen so that Easter can happen. Friday has happened, but Sunday is

here. We can live in the things of Good Friday. We can live

in the death and loss of hope, or we can choose to live in

resurrection, life and resurrection hope. He's not here, he's not in the

grave anymore. The stone has been rolled away, he has risen. And

then she says, come and see. Why did the angel say come and

see? Because you know what, I honestly believe if you or I had

just heard a person say something, we would go, oh yeah, So

come and see where the body where you laid the body, Come and see.

There's nobody there. It's not just me telling you something. Come and

see. And I believe that one of the things we need to do is

not only share our testimony, but share moments of faith and say, come

and see, let's pray, let's step out of our comfort zone and step

into God's zone. And as we step into God's zone, we're going to

say things like do you know what this is? What all I have?

But God has more. When Peter and John came to the gate, called

beautiful, and they met that beggar at the gate, just the same as

I guess we see in our high street on a fairly regular basis these days.

And what what what did they say? He reached out for arms,

and they said, silver and gold we do not have, but such as

we have, we give to you in the name of Jesus. Rise up

and walk. They could have pulled out their pockets a bit like this and

just gone, you know, there's there's nothing. I know you can't see

that on camera, but I've just pulled my pockets out of my trousers.

Nothing in there. Silver and gold we do not have, but what we

do have we give to you. Right now. They stepped over the line

of what they had to hand it over to God in the name of Jesus.

Rise up and walk, and so we can focus He's on Friday,

or we can focus on Sunday. In John verse twenty fifteen to eighteen,

a different story of a different part of the same time, Jesus said to

her woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? She's supposing

him to be. The gardener said to him, Sir, if you've carried

him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take

him away, Jesus said to her. Mary. She turned and said to

him, rabonai, which means teacher. And Jesus said to her, do

not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my father.

But go to the brethren and say to them, I am sending to my

father and your father, and to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene

came and told the disciples what she had seen, that she had seen the

Lord, and that he has spoken these things to her. There's a couple

of questions in here that I want to ask us this morning. Why are

you weeping now? We weep because of loss, we weep because of sadness,

we weep because of the Friday things. But he goes on to say,

doesn't make an assumption here. He asked the question, whom are you

seeking? So in the midst of our desperation, in the midst of our

weeping, who are we seeking today this Easter Sunday twenty twenty two. Whom

is it you are seeking? There will be some people have joined online for

the first time. You've never met me before, and I want to ask

you the question whom are you seeking? Because you wouldn't be here if you

weren't looking for something. And then Jesus spoke and what he said was her

name, and that's I think all Jesus needs to say to you and me

today is our name and we will go that's you. Yes, what do

you want me to do? Do you know when we start to recognize his

voice, one of the first things we should do is say, what is

it you want to say to me? Lord? I'm ready, I'm available.

Use me. So as I kind of draw my thoughts to a conclusion,

I want to go back to the Friday message in John ten ten.

It says this, the thief does not come except to steal and to kill

and destroy. Jesus said, I have come that they may have life,

and they may have it more abundantly. It's not just abundant life. It's

more abundant life. The enemy comes to steal, to kill, and destroy.

Do you know what, It's a very interesting thing when I hear people

talking about things they're wrestling with, things they're struggling with, and there's often

a pattern of these three words. They'll talk about their love being stolen,

their credit card being stolen, a number of things, their peace being stolen.

You just said the word stolen in the last five minutes three times.

The enemy comes only to steal, to kill, and destroy. Those are

his strategies. And when we see them happening in our lives, let's take

our stand as it talks in Ephesians. Put on the full armor of God,

take up the shield of faith and the sword of the spirit, and

see what happens. Because I don't want to linger on these things. I

don't want to linger on what Friday talked about, about death, about lost

hope, about the end of purpose. I want to linger on these things.

Friday has happened, but Sunday is here because Sunday remains. Sunday is

eternal. Easter speaks into eternity, and today this Easter Sunday, we speak

of hope and a fulfilled promise. What happened on Easter Sunday was not something

that just happened. It was proclaimed, it was prophesied. You can read

about it in the Old Testament, part of God's plan, and it speaks

about new life, and it speaks about new relationship, firstly with God,

then through Christ, then with the Holy Spirit, and then with one another

new relationship. And if any area of our lives needs refreshing, it's probably

our relationships. I look at this wonderful technical world that we live in,

and I look at fractured relationships. People haven't met one another for months,

haven't said things they should have said a long time ago. And so I

believe this Easter Sunday twenty twenty two is a Sunday full of new possibilities.

And I'm declaring that to each one of you, new possibilities for you and

for me, new possibilities for those listening online, live and later. God

is not limited by time. I honestly believe there will be people who will

watch this particular sermon, maybe months later, and still receive something of the

goodness of God in it. Because we're talking about resurrection, and what resurrection

talks about is that which was dead is now living again. That hope that

was lost is living again. That circulation that's disappeared out of your fingers,

it's kind of come back again. That heart that is constrained and limited will

come with new power and new life. I believe in a day new possibilities,

and so i want to ask you the question, do you want to

live in Friday or do you want to remain in Sunday? Do you want

to live in Friday or remain in Sunday. And so I'm going to pray.

I'm going to pray for those who need pray. I'm going to be

pray because we're resurrection people. I'm going to pray because it's a new day.

I'm going to pray because God wants us to take steps of faith.

And so I'm going to ask you, wherever you are in the room at

home listening later, in this moment, I'm going to ask you if you

want to choose again to leave Friday behind and step into the fullness of all

that Easter Sunday means Resurrection Day. I'm not going to ask you to stand.

I'm going to ask you to stand where you are. I'm going to

ask you to take that step of faith. And i want you to be

very pragmatic. Now, very pragmatic. I want you to look at the

things now standing here on Easter Sunday. I want to look back and look

back at the things that are left on Good Friday, look at the things

that have died, look at the purpose that has been stolen from you.

Look at the hope that has been crushed. Look at the relationship that you'd

hoped for, which hasn't come to anything, but now will come to something.

Look at the paperwork that you've lost. Juliet talked about, you know,

a prophetic word that came in thirty minutes, a phone call will come

and they will apologize. God does it exceedingly abundantly more than we ask or

imagine. That's me just quoting scripture. And so as we stand God,

we stand before you now and we say, help us to embrace the fullness

of this Easter Sunday. We choose hope, not loss. We choose life

not death. We choose tomorrow and not today. We look forward with you

to all we are in you in Jesus' name. Amen, And I want

to set a seal upon that which hopefully I've just shared with you by just

playing this short video. I hope it will play. They caught him.

Cheese said he paid to love, he lands, Orgain, he lives,

don dies to Bye Bye Palm and Anti Gray. Is that I say locause

I can face too, because he old f is God. Because I go

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