Easter 2010

A friend of mine who’s been meeting with us on Thursdays to study a book was telling me about a conversation he had with someone who had just become a Christian. This brand new Christ follower told this pastor that for so many of the people that are hanging around the bars, that are partying, that are living admittedly sinful lives… Even though they are young they believe it’s “TOO LATE.” They believe that it’s too late to turn to God, too late to be forgiven, too late to make a change, too late to start again, too late to make up for lost time. There is a sense in which they are already doomed, their fate is written.

It seems to me that we live in the world of “TOO LATE.”

The world of too late is a world of disappointment.

- Too late is about hopelessness.

- Too late is about opportunities that can never be recovered.

- Too late is about decisions that can never be changed.

- Too late is about failures that dog us the rest of our lives.

- Too late are regrets about things we should’ve known better.

- Too late means relationships that we took for granted. Too late is about time that has passed.

People who live in the world of “too late” just sort of muddle through. They have given up on brighter days and better days. They may feel trapped with what they have and where they are.

In the world of “too late” we feel that there are things, people, powers that are dictating our life. The mistake that it’s “too late” to do something about now runs my life. In the world of too late we feel that there’s no way we can change things now. Maybe even prayer won’t help. Its so late that maybe God himself has abandoned me to my fate.

Once there was a man who asked Jesus to heal his daughter. On the way to the house the man’s friends informed him that his daughter had already died and they said, “why bother the teacher anymore?” What they were saying was it’s too late even for Jesus.

But if this day means anything it proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is never such a thing as “to late.” Easter Sunday, resurrection Sunday, tells us that we worship the God of surprises, of the impossible, of the unexpected, of the not feasible. When they put Jesus in the grave they thought that they had finished him off because death always wins. Death always silence is its victims. Death is the ultimate “too late.”

- Death stilled the hands of the one that cleansed lepers.

- Death is stilled the tongue of the one that when it spoke hearts started beating again, lungs started breathing again, muscles started walking again.

- Death stilled the legs that walked on water.

- Death stilled the eyes of the one who could see your future.

- Death stilled the brain of the one whose intelligence knew the secrets of the universe.

- Death stilled the heart of the one who’s love and compassion and grace caused him to serve us in our need.

- Death stilled the commands of the one that made demons flee.

- Death stilled the one who brought hope, who made things new, who gave second chances, who promised heaven.

Death was crying out, “it’s too late, it’s over, there will be no more miracles because there is no more Jesus.”

And we live in a culture of little hope, little Jesus, it’s never going to get any better.

That may be where most of the world lives but here is where we live…

Acts 2:22-24 (MSG)

22 "Fellow Israelites, listen carefully to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man thoroughly accredited by God to you—the miracles and wonders and signs that God did through him are common knowledge— 23 this Jesus, following the deliberate and well-thought-out plan of God, was betrayed by men who took the law into their own hands, and was handed over to you. And you pinned him to a cross and killed him. But God untied the death ropes and raised him up. Death was no match for him.

Pardon me, but we Christ followers live in the world of RESURECTION. We live in the world of never too late. We live in the world of a living Christ. We live in a world where that tongue still speaks, where that hand still touches, where his eyes still see, where his love still forgives, where his grace still invites, where miracle still happen, where he still teaches, and where he reigns. We live in the world where resurrection still happens.

Don’t you love how that passage ends? “Death was no match for him.” A world where the end is not the end! That even death had no power, no strength no ability to stop him from doing what he was doing.

I love how this passage tells us that the betrayal of man – and who here hasn’t been betrayed by men? – and the execution of an evil plan is not the end of anything. This passage tells us that our father over rules, undercuts every situation because he is a God who is bigger and a God of miracles.

The RESURECTION tells us it’s never too late. The RESURECTION teaches us that it has never gone too far. The resurrection teaches us that what we considered dead can be brought back to life.

If there’s something that I wish you could get today it would be the hope of the resurrection. That Jesus Christ is not dead. That he still does the undoable and fixes the unfixable and saves the unsavable and forgives the unforgivable and changes the unchangeable and beats the unbeatable. This is the message of God’s people, this is the gospel.

Peter states it again… In another setting… To people who refused to believe…

Acts 4:8-12 (NLT)

8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of our people, are we being questioned today because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to know how he was healed? Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead. For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says,
‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’
12 There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”

He states it again, “you killed Him BUT God had other plans. And now the one that you killed and tried to mute is bigger than ever and unstoppable!”

Somehow there’s an application for this scripture in America. You can’t ignore this. To go against Jesus is futile and in the end you will pay.

There is no other name. There is no other place to turn. He is the cornerstone holding everything together.

Everyday there are resurrections happening on this planet. Everyday there are people coming to Christ. Everyday there are people forgiven and made new. Everyday this miracle is happening. Why not you?

How about one more scripture?

Eph 1:19-23 (NLT)

19 I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.21 Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come.22 God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church.23 And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.

Resurrection power. Incredibly great. The same great power that defied death, the same power that raised Jesus from a grave, the same great power that gave life to a dead body, that same resurrection power that rolled the stone from the grave, the same resurrection power that makes all creation answer to Jesus Christ – he says is for us.

I believe in resurrection power. The believe that the impossible ISN”T! I believe in the improbable. I believe in a God power that brings life out of death.

Recapture the miracle mentality. It’s not too late. It’s not too bleak. It’s not too far gone. It’s not too bad. It’s not too discouraging. It’s not out of hand. It’s not out of control. It hasn’t gone too far. It can be turned around.

The same resurrection power that breathed life and vitality into the dead body of Jesus Christ is the same resurrection power that breeds vitality in life into us. IT’S NOT TOO LATE. THE ONLY TIME IT IS TOO LATE IS WHEN YOU STOP EVEN BEING CONCERNED ABOUT IT BEING TOO LATE. IF YOU HAVE ONE INKLING IN YOUR BEING THAT YOU WANT IT TO BE DIFFERENT…IT’S NOT TOO LATE. TURN TO JESUS RIGHT NOW!

Remember Jairus, “why bother the teacher?” We bother him because we believe in miracles, because we believe in resurrection power, because we believe that he will make something out of nothing, because we believe he is still in control over all things, because we believe it’s not too late, because we believe that he makes bad things good and the old things new and dead things alive.

That is what today is all about: Jesus is above all! You can trust a man who will die for you.

I serve a living savior was in the world today and I know that he is living no matter what men may say I see his hand of her mercy I hear his voice and cheer and just that I might need am he’s always near… He lives!

This isn’t in the bulletin…but does anybody need some resurrection power today???