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HOW TO CELEBRATE EASTER (4.11.04)

WHEN YOU'RE LIVING GOOD FRIDAY
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

As we all have, I've heard dozens of Easter Sermons over the course of my life, and I've delivered many myself.

That the Easter story is so simple and so clear is both the joy of preaching on Easter and the difficulty of preaching on Easter.

Like any other story we've heard before, it is possible to slip from a listening mode to one in which the words float right by.
We say to ourselves, in a sub-conscious way, "I'VE HEARD THIS STORY BEFORE; I KNOW WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT." Our minds drift, and before we know it, the sermon is over and we're headed for dinner.

Because of that preachers tend to struggle with what to preach during the Christmas season, other religious and non-religious holidays, and on the preeminent day for Christians; Easter.

One of the best things I've come across in preaching is to preach out of the overflow: on the things God has been dealing with me about, on the struggles and triumphs of where I am on life's journey with the Lord.

I had to ask Becky yesterday if I'd preached last Easter Sunday because I couldn't remember (“CHEMO BRAIN”). She reminded me I had; that at that time I was between chemo and my second surgery. It was after my second surgery that I didn't know, and others didn't know, if I was going to make it to Sarah's graduation in June, to another Christmas, not to mention another Easter.

So, what I want to talk about on this Easter Sunday is from where I've been this past year physically, as well as where each of us has often been during the details of our particular journeys through life. It's a message about how to hold on when it's difficult to hold on. It's a message on what to think on and how to think during those difficult times when you are waiting on the promises and power of God to come through.

Every Christian goes through days and experiences when its hard to wait on what God's redeeming purpose is going to be; those times when you're doing what you're supposed to be doing, but you're worn out from the unknown and from the wait.
~~~~~~~
“HOW TO CELEBRATE EASTER WHEN YOU'RE LIVING GOOD FRIDAY: WHAT TO DO BEFORE THE CAVALRY SHOWS UP.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1,4 says:
FOR EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON, AND A TIME FOR EVERY MATTER UNDER HEAVEN… A TIME TO WEEP, AND A TIME TO LAUGH; A TIME TO MOURN, AND A TIME TO DANCE….

Whether you're godly or ungodly, you will go through times of weeping and times of laughing. You will have days you want to mourn and days you want to dance.

The same Bible that says, …IN ALL THESE THINGS (referring to trials persecutions, etc.) WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS THROUGH HIM WHO LOVED US, also says, …MAN IS BORN TO TROUBLE [AS PREDICTABLY] AS THE SPARKS FLY UPWARD.

It's just a simple fact of life that God's children can have incredible victory in spite of miserable failures. Our Christian experience, no matter how powerful, is full of good and bad days; Days when the power of God is obvious and days when the power of God is not obvious.

That's the difference between Good Friday and Easter.

But, you know what?

The power of God is just as real on both days!

Good Friday is a day of
betrayal, false accusations, standing alone when you should have been surrounded by friends; beatings, torture, pain, anguish, having to keep your mouth shout when you're more than able to defend yourself; and over all, death.

Resurrection Sunday is a day of
new beginnings, great hope, joy, unexpected surprises, your enemies have fallen away, you get a clear word from the Lord, doors you thought would never be opened again are blown off of their hinges. When the power of God shows up death gets a brutal slap in the face.

But, on your Good Fridays you have to hang on until Sunday. How do you live like Jesus is risen when you feel dead yourself? How do you dance for joy when you've been knocked to the floor? How do you celebrate Easter when you're living Good Friday?

Resurrection power means life in spite of death's power, and it's been said there is no such thing as: a testimony without a test, a resurrection without a death, an Easter without a Good Friday.

Don't ever let anybody tell you that as a Christian you're not supposed to have bad days. What we can expect as God's children is victory in spite of our bad days. Look at the person next you and say, “ITS OK TO HAVE BAD DAYS!”

There's a song with the phrase “WE ARE BLESSED BEYOND THE CURSE.” The curse is real but the blessing is greater than the curse. Good Friday is real but Easter outweighs Good Friday. Your problems are real, my problems are real, but the reality that God keeps His promises will outshine any problems that rear their ugly heads at us.

Once we check our lives to make sure we're being obedient to the Lord and walking with God in whatever's plaguing us; once we do that, the number one thing we've have to do is REALIZE THAT IF WE'RE WALKING WITH GOD THEN HE IS LEADING US TO BETTER PLACES. When God is our Shepherd, we can have the very real hope that if we remain walking with Him [then] He will lead us to a place better than the one we're in.

So, we need to review our walk with God historically and ask ourselves, “HAS THERE EVER BEEN A TIME WHEN I WALKED WITH GOD AND HE TOOK ME TO A WORSE PLACE?” Has there ever been a time that I trusted Him and He tricked me?

We serve a compassionate, merciful God. We have to believe:
He wants better things for us, He is planning on better things for us, when He as our Shepherd is leading us He is taking us to green pastures.

We need to look at God's track record and ask, “HAS THERE EVER BEEN A TIME WHEN GOD DIDN'T HAVE MERCY, DIDN'T HAVE COMPASSION, DIDN'T WANT TO HELP US EVEN WHEN NO ONE ELSE WANTED TO HELP US?”

Once we understand the fact that something better is coming and all
we've got to do is hold on until then, then there are FOUR THINGS we can do to keep our heads up even on our Good Fridays.

Understand that just because you feel like a failure doesn't make you one. You are not what you feel. You are who God says you are.

…BELOVED CHILDREN….
(Ephesians 5:1)

SEE WHAT KIND OF LOVE THE FATHER HAS GIVEN TO US, THAT WE SHOULD BE CALLED CHILDREN OF GOD; AND SO WE ARE. (1 John 3:1)

Learn what God says. Learn those specific scriptures concerning your specific area of attack and fight back with the Word of God.

FOREVER, O LORD, YOUR WORD IS FIRMLY FIXED IN THE HEAVENS. YOUR FAITHFULNESS ENDURES TO ALL GENERATIONS; YOU HAVE ESTABLISHED THE EARTH, AND IT STANDS FAST. BY YOUR APPOINTMENT THEY STAND THIS DAY, FOR ALL THINGS ARE YOUR SERVANTS. IF YOUR LAW HAD NOT BEEN MY DELIGHT, I WOULD HAVE PERISHED IN MY AFFLICTION.
(Psalm 119:89-92)

Share your hurt and your conflict with godly friends.

…CONFESS YOUR SINS TO ONE ANOTHER AND PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER, THAT YOU MAY BE HEALED. THE PRATER OF A RIGHTEOUS PERSON HAS GREAT POWER AS IT IS WORKING.
(James 5:16)

Make a list (mental or physical) of the areas you are walking in victory; in the things you have to be thankful for. One aspect of spiritual maturity is realizing how it's easy to fixate our hearts and minds on a negative 1% of life when the other 99% is completely blessed. Our devotion to a particular subject needs to be in proportion to the importance of that thing in our life. If it's not, it will skew other parts of our lives.

Scripture speaks of...
…THE LITTLE FOXES THAT SPOIL THE VINEYARDS….
(Song of Solomon 2:15)
So, if with God's help we do those four things during our Good Fridays, we will make it to our Easter celebrations!

(Thoughts borrowed from Troy Brewer - SC)
~~~~~~~
Henry Garrity in his book, Portraits of Perseverance, tells of Carl; a very rich man who owned a great estate. One of his favorite pastimes was riding horseback through his valley, looking at everything he owned and congratulating himself on his great wealth.

One day as Carl was riding along, he came up over a hill and saw in the distance one of his tenant farmers, an old man named Hans.

It was lunch time, and Hans had set a little table under a shade tree and was getting ready to eat. But before he ate, he bowed his head and folded his hands in prayer to thank God for his food.

Carl watched the old man as he prayed. Then he looked at his meal. It was only a slice of coarse bread and a piece of cheese. With a sneer Carl said, "IF THAT'S ALL I HAD TO EAT, I WOULDN'T EVEN BOTHER TO PRAY."

Hans replied humbly, "IT'S ENOUGH, AND I'M THANKFUL THAT GOD HAS PROVIDED IT."

Taken aback by the old man's answer, Carl turned his horse to ride away. But before he could leave, old Hans said, "WAIT A MINUTE. I NEED TO TELL YOU SOMETHING. I HAD A DREAM LAST NIGHT. IN MY DREAM I SAW A BEAUTIFUL SCENE, AND THEN I HEARD A VOICE SAYING, ‘Tonight the richest man in the valley will die. Tonight the richest man in the valley will die.'”

"POPPYCOCK!" said Carl as he rode off toward home. But as he was riding, the words of old Hans haunted him, "TONIGHT THE RICHEST MAN IN THE VALLEY WILL DIE." Up to then he had felt quite well, but now he was beginning to experience pains in his chest. He wondered, "COULD IT POSSIBLY BE TRUE? AM I GOING TO DIE TONIGHT?"

When he reached home he called his doctor and told him of old Han's dream and of the pains that he had been feeling. The doctor said, "WELL, IT DOESN'T SOUND LIKE ANYTHING YOU OUGHT TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT, BUT JUST TO PUT YOUR MIND AT EASE, I'LL COME OVER AND EXAMINE YOU."

After the examination was over he said, "CARL, YOU'RE AS STRONG AS A HORSE. THERE'S NO WAY YOU'RE GOING TO DIE TONIGHT." Carl said, "WELL, I FEEL MIGHTY FOOLISH THAT I PAID ANY ATTENTION TO THE OLD MAN'S DREAM ABOUT THE RICHEST MAN IN THE VALLEY DYING TONIGHT. BUT I JUST WANTED TO BE CERTAIN."

Reassured, Carl went to bed. The next morning there was a knock on his door, and the messenger said, "CARL, OLD HANS DIED LAST NIGHT." Truly, the richest man in the valley died last night.

The Resurrection makes all the difference.

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55)