Remembering the 4 Points (Easter Day)

We've been following a thing called the Four Point Gospel and it starts off with a heart

and an X. And we look at the heart which is God's love for us. And we've been looking

at this over Lent. God's love and his promises for his people. It's God's love that is shown

today as we celebrate in the risen Jesus. And why? Because we rebelled. We rebelled against

God. And many times it's a world we've only got to look around and we do that again and

again through history. And even don't feel bad about that because even the ones that were

closest to Jesus on this week leading up to this glorious day had let Jesus down. Judas

had betrayed him with a kiss. Maybe at the end of a card you put a little X there. A kiss.

Our sign for that on here is sin. So often we say, oh yes, you know, we love you Lord. But

suddenly sin gets in the way. And Jesus came to make sure that that would be paid for in

full. Because today changes. Today is a game changer. Because of God's love and promises

that sin will no longer, whatever we do, will be a separation between us and God. Because

Jesus paid the price. He paid the cost in full. His love never, ever ends. Even on the cross,

he said, Father forgive them. You can't change the value of God's love for us. Now, I have

here a new £20 note. Look at that. I can't change the value of it whatever I do. Why? Because

it's what a vicar gets paid every week. No, it's, oh. You know, this £20 note is precious. It's like

God's love. There is nothing that you can do to this to make any difference. If I try to rip it up,

I can't. It won't work. If I put it through the washing machine, it'll come out exactly the same.

Nothing changes. Nothing changes. Just like God's love. I thought this morning, if your dog eats it,

it will probably come out the same. Except the vet will pay a lot probably to get it out. And I was

thinking, whatever you do, you can stamp on it. You can jump up and down on it. But you can't crush

God's love. And people abuse Jesus as well. They did awful things.

The thing is, our sin is wiped clean because of the value of all that Jesus has done for us.

Jesus paid the price for our sin, for all of us. God's love never changes. It's new every morning,

just like this glorious morning. The debt for our sin has been paid in full. Alleluia.

As Philip Yancey said on for days such as this, there is nothing we can do to make God love us more

than there is nothing we can do to make God love us less. Russ.

So as Clive said, you know, during Lent, we've been thinking about the Christian message as a four-point

thing. And each week we've been thinking about one of those points. As Clive just said, you know,

the first point there is that God loves you. And the second point is, yes, we've done something wrong.

We've messed up. But God doesn't stop loving you. And it was those first two points that were really at

the heart of Jesus' message. And as Jesus went around proclaiming that message, sharing that message,

living out that message with among those that he met, well, people found that threatening.

Particularly the religious leaders of Jesus' day. Because that message that says that even though you

mess up, God still loves you, is a challenging one. It was so challenging that Jesus went to the cross.

Here's another illustration just to help us think about the cross.

Jesus went to the cross because people felt so threatened by that message. The religious leaders of

his day felt so undermined by the authority that Jesus was claiming and saying, you can be forgiven

because God loves you. And so when Jesus went to that cross, he didn't just die an ordinary death.

They drove the nails through his hands. They drove the nails through his feet.

And as Jesus hung there and died on the cross, they wanted to be really sure that he had died.

And so they took a sword and they plunged it into Jesus' side. And there he died.

And when Jesus died on that cross, all the stuff, all the mess that separates us from God

was taken on to Jesus. And so he died for us and broke the power of those things that can separate us from God.

And so they took his body and they buried it. Well, they placed it inside a cave.

It was an empty cave. Until, of course, they placed Jesus' body in there.

And when they placed Jesus' body in that cave, they wanted to guard it. So they put a stone in front of it.

And they placed a Roman guard with a sword to make sure that that body stayed in that place.

And so it was there. Jesus, to all intents and purposes, was dead and buried and was going to remain in that place.

That was the Friday. And then it was the Saturday.

And then the Sunday, when they came to that tomb and found that in fact, death cannot hold Jesus down.

And inside the grave, it was empty, except for the grave clothes in which Jesus had been buried.

Because he had the victory over death that could not hold him down.

So God loves us. We've done something wrong.

But God comes to save us through the cross.

Those are three points.

But the fourth one is, where do we go with that?

What do we do with it?

Either this story is true or it's not true.

But one thing is that each of us must make a response to it.

Either we choose to believe that it's true or we walk away from it.

But it's the most important decision that we can ever make.

And so as we come to pray now, we're going to pray over these four different points.

And the way that's going to happen is that we've got some balloons.

And here they are.

We're going to pass these balloons around.

Somebody come and help me. Children, come and help.

There we go.

Just throw them out.

You've noticed they've got the four-point gospel on them.

And that's going to make part of what we do this morning.

We're going to try and keep them all in the air.

Those four symbols that remind us, the heart that reminds us of the love of God.

The cross that reminds us that we've all done something wrong.

The cross that reminds us that Jesus died for us.

And the question mark that reminds us of, well, we need to make a decision.

So if you want to grab onto one or just point your hand to one that's nearby.

Dear God, thank you that you love me and have a good plan and purpose for my life.

Thank you that I can talk to you about everything and for the blessings you have given me.

Help me to bless others too.

And Lord, at this time we also lift up, especially the people in Ukraine

and anywhere else that's in conflict.

And we lift this up to you now.

Amen.

So dear Lord, I ask you now for your forgiveness for when I've ignored you and done my own thing.

I also ask for forgiveness for the people I've hurt along the way.

For broken relationships, harsh words and difficult situations I've made worse.

Sorry for not loving people as you love them.

I ask for your forgiveness now.

I ask you to help and strengthen me by the power of your Holy Spirit to make amends in whatever way I can.

And to see and love people as you do.

Amen.

And now we look into the fact that Jesus died for us.

So dear Lord,

Sorry for when I focus on the things I don't have instead of the blessings that you have given me.

Thank you for saving me.

Forgive me and providing for my needs.

Thank you for saving me.

Thank you for saving me.

Thank you for saving me.

Thank you for saving me.

Thank you for saving me.

Thank you for saving me.

Amen.

Dear Lord, I know that in my life I do not always live for you.

I mess up every day.

I know that you have plans for me and for my life.

But Lord, I ask you to help me to trust and to want to put my life and my future in your hands.

Please work in my life and guide my steps and help me to decide to live and share your hope and goodness.

For only you, with everyone we meet.

Amen.