From Doubt to Devotion: Encountering the Risen Lord

[00:06:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:06:59] Guys, this is going to be a great weekend, and you all are officially invited to participate.

[00:07:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:07:31] There's a table in the foyer for you to sign up and talk to people who are coordinating this event for Spirit and Truth. So please stop by and get the information you need and sign up. It's going to be great. I wanted to also let you know that our Wednesday night
[00:07:44] activities are going to be back in full swing this Wednesday, so plan to participate. And if you are not connected in a Bible study on Wednesday night, there is a place for you.
[00:07:53] So go ahead and come.
[00:07:54] And if you're wanting to join in Snack Supper, don't forget to sign up so that we can plan accordingly.
[00:08:00] I wanted to let you know that we also have a mission team that's going to be going to Kerrville in the next couple of weeks.
[00:08:05] And you are invited to participate in that by sending notes of encouragement to the team.
[00:08:09] There are packets of letters at the Connection Center.
[00:08:12] You can pick up a packet.
[00:08:13] It's got everybody's names listed.
[00:08:15] You can write a note card to each one and bring it back.
[00:08:17] It is a great blessing to the team to have notes from home to know that we are sharing this mission, not just with our teammates or the people that we are serving, but with our congregation at home.
[00:08:28] So please join in that effort.
[00:08:31] And then lastly, I wanted to say that we are planning to have a membership class coming up here sometime this spring.
[00:08:39] If you are interested in knowing more about becoming a member of Northwest Hills or what that even means, we will be planning a class.
[00:08:46] but we would like you to go ahead and sign up and let us know that you're interested and then Pastor Bob can contact you and find out the best time to coordinate that so please stop by the Connection Center
[00:08:55] and see what we have and on just a separate note altogether Easter is a fun time we have a lot of family together and if you're wanting to take a picture with your family we would love that
[00:09:04] after the worship service this altar is open you're welcome to use this as your backdrop and I'm sure there'll be people that would love to snap a picture for you so anyway that's a little side note
[00:09:14] with that let's call this service to worship let's go let's stand christ is risen christ is risen indeed sin entered the world through one man and death through sin and in this way death came to all
[00:09:34] people because all sinned but how much more will those who received god's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through one man, Jesus Christ.
[00:09:51] For as in Adam all died, even so in Christ will all be made alive. Where, O death, is your victory?
[00:10:02] Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
[00:10:10] but thanks be to god he is gives us the victory through our lord jesus christ christ is risen amen and we're going to continue to focus our hearts in on the lord so go ahead and have a

[00:10:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:10:26] seat and the choir is going to bring in something for us and making your way back to your pew it's

[00:16:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:16:56] so good to see everybody today we're going to say a word of prayer together and then do our worship

[00:17:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:17:04] in song as a congregation. Please join me in prayer. Lord God, we thank you for today. We thank you that the cross was not the end of the story, that we have hope because we serve a
[00:17:23] resurrected Lord, that Christ rose in victory on the third day. Lord God, today is a celebration of that. Lord God, we pray that every act of worship today glorifies you on your throne, that we may join in the never-ending worship that is going on every moment, this moment.
[00:17:48] Lord God, we love you. Thank you for loving us first and so much to send your son for us.
[00:17:55] In Jesus' name, amen.

[00:18:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:18:33] Call you Jesus, call you, I call you He Risen in rain, something come every time I

[00:24:24] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:24:24] You cheat, I stray

[00:25:24] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:25:24] I stand amazed in the presence Of Jesus the Nazarene Wonder how He could love me A sinner condemned unclean Oh, marvelous, how wonderful And my song shall ever be Marvelous, wonderful is my Savior's love
[00:30:59] For my song is there My song, chants of the Lord Let us go to the Lord in prayer.

[00:34:17] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:34:17] O Christ, we celebrate you, for you are risen.
[00:34:24] We do not tire of saying those words for the reality and the truth of that statement remains as true today as it was 2,000 years ago.
[00:34:35] You are alive forevermore.
[00:34:40] But, O Christ, we know that for you to rise means that you did die and you went down to the depths, down to the grave, and you descended to the dead, to the place where they say no man returns.
[00:34:56] And yet you are no mere man.
[00:34:59] You are God and man who refused to succumb to death's claim upon you.
[00:35:09] Death who has swallowed up every man from the beginning of time is now swallowed up in your victory.
[00:35:17] Oh, where is thy sting of death?
[00:35:20] Our Lord Almighty, you laugh in the face of death, for there is no chain that could fetter you, no rope that could bind you.
[00:35:31] There is no dungeon that could lock away the one who holds the very keys of life and death in his hand.
[00:35:40] Oh, Lord, we praise you, conqueror of death.
[00:35:44] you have not just freed yourself but all of us from death sentence and after three days you son of heaven shined again in brightness of dawn you came forth and you cast light and life
[00:36:03] unto all those who saw you and so we pray lord that you would cast your light upon us to dispel all the darkness of our own souls and drive away all of our own fears and griefs
[00:36:22] and insecurities and doubts.
[00:36:26] Remove from us of all selfishness and self-righteousness, of all pride that we carry.
[00:36:32] And we pray, Lord, that you would breathe into us your very life.
[00:36:35] Grant us your own spirit, that we might be assured that we belong to you.
[00:36:45] We pray that we would be assured that you have claimed us for your own, so that when the day comes when we too walk in the valley of the shadow of death, that we will fear no evil, for we know without a doubt that you will be there to guide us to everlasting life.
[00:37:05] Lord, we pray even now, meet with us.
[00:37:11] In the celebration of your resurrection, meet with us.
[00:37:16] and let the fullness of that reality descend upon us and teach us that we are resurrection people, that we live in the light of that truth every day of our lives.
[00:37:31] And Lord, because you live, because you have risen from the dead, we know that you hear us.
[00:37:37] And so we pray the prayers of the people, the needs that have been raised this morning.
[00:37:47] Lord we pray for Helen McAndrews who had a watchman put in her heart and we pray that it works as it should we pray that she would be made strong and well and be relieved of all her
[00:38:09] symptoms we pray continually for Aaron Bunch who will be having cancer surgery this Friday we continue to lift her up to you and pray that you would relieve any anxiety or fear that she has
[00:38:28] and prepare her for what lies ahead prepare not only her but all those who would be involved and let your presence fall upon them all and grant them your skill and grant Aaron your healing
[00:38:44] Lord we give you thanks and praise that Beth Lovell is returned to us and that she seems to be healing well.
[00:38:57] We pray that you would continue to mend her spirit while she is here in your presence and in the presence of many who love her.
[00:39:07] And Lord, we give you thanks and praise for the pilot in Iran who was found.
[00:39:12] We praise you for those who do not rest until they find their own, as such as you also do.
[00:39:25] You do not rest until you call to yourself your own. Lord, we could give you so many more prayers and praises, but this morning, Lord, we exalt you. We enthrone you on our very praises, for you are merciful and holy, and you live forever.
[00:39:47] We worship you, and we pray in the blessed name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, who taught us how to pray, saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done
[00:40:05] on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
[00:40:23] evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. At this time, our many kiddos out there can leave for Children's Church with Miss Faith and Mr. Malik and Miss Cindy.

[00:40:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:40:42] Y'all have a great time. So if you haven't noticed, today is Easter. And Easter is a day when we look back 2,000 years to an event which, granted, none of us saw, but which we Christians say
[00:41:14] we believe changed the world.
[00:41:18] And it is also a day when we are encouraged to look not only back, but inward, into our own souls, to ask ourselves how much we really do believe what we say we believe.
[00:41:34] And Easter is a day when perhaps if we are brave enough, we look forward a few years or a few decades to when our own mortal lives will end, and we ask ourselves, will that
[00:41:50] actually be the end, or is there something more?
[00:41:54] And if I believe there is something more, should I be living more for that something more here and now?
[00:42:04] So today on this Easter Sunday, to get answers to the big questions I just mentioned, I want to do three quick things.
[00:42:12] First, I want to offer you a little bit of trivia about what is to many churchgoers, not us, but at other churches, but what is to many churchgoers their favorite sport, by which I don't mean football, basketball, or golf,
[00:42:29] but criticizing the music that they sing at church.
[00:42:33] So I'm going to tell you about a song that people absolutely love, unless they hate it.
[00:42:41] And then second, I'm going to ask you to notice how what some people, what some Christians dislike about that song actually points to a very important, very obvious, but somehow often unnoticed truth about Easter.
[00:42:58] And then finally, I want to tell you what that truth means to our lives.
[00:43:04] So first, the song.
[00:43:06] This is a song that most American Christians of my generation grew up singing, though it occurs to me with the popularity of megachurches, contemporary Christian music, and the sheer passage of time, eventually this song will, or could, or already has become less familiar.
[00:43:27] And this song I speak of begins by describing a surprise meeting between two people in a garden.
[00:43:34] How many of you know the song I'm referring to?
[00:43:38] I'm going to ask you again in a moment.
[00:43:39] I think you will.
[00:43:41] To quote, I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses.
[00:43:47] Seriously, how many of you know that song?
[00:43:49] Can I see hands if you don't know that song?
[00:43:52] Oh, wow.
[00:43:53] Okay, yeah, it's happening.
[00:43:54] I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses, but there is someone else there.
[00:44:00] And the voice I hear falling on my ear, the person speaking to me, the Son of God discloses.
[00:44:09] And then the chorus famously goes, And he walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I am his own.
[00:44:18] And the joys we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.
[00:44:24] Now the song is called In the Garden.
[00:44:26] And if you love that hymn, you may look at people who dislike it and wonder, what's the matter with you?
[00:44:33] But there are several reasons why people don't like this song.
[00:44:37] And the first is the lyrics and the melody can sound like a young woman waxing poetic over her boyfriend or fiance.
[00:44:47] say. I mean, leaving aside the chorus, the next two verses say things like, he speaks and the sound of his voice is so sweet, the birds hush their singing. My wife never says that to me for some
[00:45:02] reason. I don't know why. Or I'd stay in the garden with him, though the night around me be falling.
[00:45:08] So between the words and the fact that the song is in 6-8 time, which can make it sound like a type of waltz, I can see how in the garden could sound like a love song, which means that the younger
[00:45:21] Christian men who've complained that contemporary Christian music can sound like people are singing Jesus is my boyfriend music, they haven't discovered anything terribly new. This song is a hundred years old. Of course, the mostly women who've complained about hymns that speak
[00:45:40] about Jesus leading us into battle, onward Christian soldiers, they have also noticed something that's been real for a long time. By the way, it is okay, it is even biblical, if our Christian songs don't all express our faith with the same emotions. Read the book of Psalms,
[00:46:02] you'll figure it out. Anyway, there are also people, especially preachers, who criticize in the garden for a related reason. They think it's just too emotional, too sentimental in the way it describes faith. I mean, the song isn't so much about what Jesus did or who Jesus is, but
[00:46:22] how Jesus makes us feel. And preachers don't like that sometimes because they want their church songs to preach, like a chapter of the Bible, to which I want to say, I want the songs we sing to
[00:46:35] preach too, but it's also not a bad thing if people like to sing them. And then thirdly, finally, others say they don't like in the garden because they're just confused by it.
[00:46:47] They don't know what it's about. What garden are you talking about? Is it the Garden of Eden?
[00:46:51] Is it my neighbor's rose garden? And that is a fair question, but it has an easy answer.
[00:46:57] So let me share with you now the particular biblical account that in the garden is inspired by and then point you to a general biblical pattern. The Gospel of John tells us that very early on the first Easter morning, a woman, a disciple of Jesus named Mary of Magdalene,
[00:47:16] had a surprise encounter with the risen Christ. As most of you have heard before, now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white,
[00:47:32] seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
[00:47:37] And the angels asked her, Woman, why are you crying?
[00:47:42] They have taken my Lord away, she said, and I don't know where they have put him.
[00:47:47] And at this she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
[00:47:56] Well, this time he, Jesus, asked her, Woman, why are you crying?
[00:48:02] Who is it you are looking for?
[00:48:04] And thinking he was the gardener, she said, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.
[00:48:12] And at this, Jesus said to her, Mary.
[00:48:15] And she turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic.
[00:48:18] She recognized him now, and she cried out, Rabboni, which means rabbi or teacher.
[00:48:24] Jesus said, Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.
[00:48:28] go instead to my brothers and tell them I am ascending to my father and your father to my God and your God and at that Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news I have seen the
[00:48:41] Lord and she told them that he had said these things to her now do you see how the the biblical record really fits with the song in the garden if you know it and the song is very emotional
[00:48:57] or feelings-based, but that only makes sense because Mary Magdalene had been having an emotional mourning. I mean, first she's going to the tomb to prepare the body of her beloved teacher. She's crying. Then she's confused. Then she's joyful, but she's still confused because,
[00:49:16] okay, he's alive, but how can that be and what does it mean? So if people complain that that song is emotional, they've missed the point and missed the Bible. Meeting the risen Christ was and is often emotional. I mean, have you noticed in reading the Bible that Mary Magdalene's
[00:49:39] experience was more like the rule than the exception when people encountered Jesus after he had risen from the dead? Think of the women walking to the tomb very early on the first Easter morning to do the sad, despairing, dirty work of preparing the body of their beloved teacher
[00:49:57] for its final burial. And when the tomb was found empty, they were afraid. They were afraid before they got there. They were afraid when they got there. They were confused. And then they were joyful. And then there was Peter, who out of fear on Thursday night had denied even knowing Jesus
[00:50:14] three times. And this was Peter who said, I'll be brave when no one else is. Well, he chickened out.
[00:50:21] Do you think he felt anything when the risen Christ met him and then brought up his threefold failure three times so that he could forgive and reinstate Peter?
[00:50:31] I bet you he did.
[00:50:33] And there was Thomas who wanted to believe but did not dare to hope unless, as he said, he saw with his own eyes.
[00:50:43] And he did.
[00:50:45] Or then that first Easter night, there was Cleopas and his friend, Luke chapter 24.
[00:50:51] They're walking on the road to Emmaus.
[00:50:54] Some women, probably including Cleopas' wife, had tried to say that we saw angels and we think Jesus is risen.
[00:51:00] But they chose to ignore the women and walk away anyway.
[00:51:04] I mean, who could believe the women?
[00:51:07] But then Jesus met them on the road.
[00:51:10] And even though they did not recognize him at first, as Jesus spoke about the Scriptures, their hearts burned within them.
[00:51:16] And when they finally did recognize him in the breaking of the bread, I bet you their hearts burned even more, and they turned around, and they walked back roughly seven miles to Jerusalem. By the way, if you're a married woman, let me just say you ought to circle this
[00:51:31] verse, this story, and this should become one of your favorites, because A, Jesus is risen, and B, in the story, husbands learn they should listen to their wives more, and I don't know which part
[00:51:42] you'll like better. And then there was Paul. Paul, who hated the followers of Jesus so much that he wanted to rid the world of them.
[00:51:52] But on the road to Damascus, he was blinded by light, and Christ spoke to him.
[00:51:57] Do you think he felt anything when that happened?
[00:52:00] All of which is to say, these people who met the risen Christ, they did not all have the same experience.
[00:52:07] The same is true with us, but what they did experience was quite vivid and quite real.
[00:52:14] So what does all that have to do with you and your life and your faith?
[00:52:19] Let me make an Easter observation for all year long.
[00:52:25] If you look at society in general, America seems to think Easter, whatever it is, is a pretty good deal.
[00:52:34] It's still a holiday.
[00:52:36] Schools have off on Monday.
[00:52:38] Can I get an amen?
[00:52:40] Yeah, I'm from teachers.
[00:52:41] Yes, amen.
[00:52:42] And sometimes Easter week coincides with spring break.
[00:52:46] I mean, the two are so similar, aren't they?
[00:52:49] and we can use Easter to sell things.
[00:52:53] Cadbury Easter eggs and marshmallow chicks and Facebook is good for something.
[00:52:59] I keep seeing this advertisement for glazed ham when they showed us how they took a cooked ham, doused it with brown sugar and spices and then caramelized the sugar and spices with a blowtorch.
[00:53:13] Cool.
[00:53:14] I want my wife to get me a blowtorch.
[00:53:17] And churches, hey, it's Easter.
[00:53:19] Biggest Sunday of the year.
[00:53:22] So almost everybody likes Easter for some reason, at least some.
[00:53:28] It can be like a celebration of spring with a sales campaign or the beginning of baseball season.
[00:53:34] And the only thing we're not really clear enough on is the part about Easter that makes Easter Easter.
[00:53:42] You know, the part, the Jesus rising from the dead part.
[00:53:48] So in church, we hear the words, Christ is risen.
[00:53:52] How many of you know the response?
[00:53:53] Christ is risen?
[00:53:56] Christ is risen indeed.
[00:53:58] But you must know, you probably do know, believing is more than just saying words.
[00:54:05] Faith is something more than that.
[00:54:07] And just as the people who first met the risen Christ were not all blinded by the light and knocked off their horse like Paul was, they all had to at least rub their eyes and blink a few times when it became real.
[00:54:20] The same is true for us.
[00:54:23] Really encountering Christ, really encountering God through the Holy Spirit does happen.
[00:54:31] But really believing is a big deal.
[00:54:34] I would submit to you that the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is an objective historical fact for you to believe or not believe, but it has eternal consequences.
[00:54:46] And God wants you to come to believe in the resurrection on a deeply personal level.
[00:54:53] and for that to happen you too must meet the risen Christ somehow in some garden, in some place at some time, in some way and such meetings are not all the same but whether our coming to faith
[00:55:07] is emotional or not eventually it leaves us saying my Lord and my God and it leaves many of us being surprised not by doubt but by faith and with that let me pass the baton to Pastor Stephanie
[00:55:23] now so she can finish

[00:55:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:55:25] today's message. Now, I would submit to you that Christ will meet with you personally pretty much at any time in any place should you call out to him because his desire is for you to know him
[00:55:46] as your Lord, as the love of your life, even if you don't sing Jesus as my boyfriend's songs.
[00:55:54] He wants you to know him as God. But I would also submit to you that Christ has designed other ways to encounter him, ways that sometimes we don't think about too often, though maybe we should.
[00:56:10] And my aim this morning is to show you some of those ways as we move through a very familiar Easter morning scripture. And of course, we start with the fact that Jesus is risen.
[00:56:22] And as Pastor Barnes has told us, Jesus meets first with Mary in the garden at the tomb, revealing himself to her that morning but then that evening he appears before the disciples themselves ignoring the locked doors he shows up anyway because who can lock out the lord of life
[00:56:44] hope is no longer held out it is real because he is real and he's right before their very eyes but someone isn't there to see him. Thomas. Thomas. And we don't know why Thomas is missing
[00:57:04] because scripture doesn't tell us and we conjecture a little bit. Maybe the events of the week had overcome him and he wanted to be alone or maybe he was sick or maybe he was out helping somebody
[00:57:16] or maybe he was just starting to give up. We don't know. But whatever the reason, Thomas missed out on seeing the risen Christ that day.
[00:57:27] And I've got to wonder if his heart dropped into his stomach when he hears the disciples telling him, we saw Jesus.
[00:57:36] And so Thomas has a very strong, very understandable reaction to that news.
[00:57:43] Because Thomas, Thomas doesn't want to hear stories.
[00:57:46] He wants to see scars.
[00:57:50] Thomas doesn't want to hear proclamations.
[00:57:52] He wants to see proof.
[00:57:56] He says, unless I see him, unless I touch him, I will not believe.
[00:58:04] But seven days later, Jesus appears to the disciples again, and Thomas is there.
[00:58:11] And without missing a beat, Jesus turns to Thomas, and he says, put your finger here.
[00:58:16] See my hands.
[00:58:19] Reach out your hand and put it in my side.
[00:58:23] Stop doubting and believe.
[00:58:27] And the sweet thing about this is there's no real rebuke of Thomas here.
[00:58:33] A compassionate invitation is given instead.
[00:58:36] See, touch, believe.
[00:58:40] Jesus knows how very human the desire is for those tangible things, how we like to use our senses to make sense of our world.
[00:58:50] But the truth is Jesus is no less real whether he is seen or not.
[00:58:57] And so we have no idea if Thomas took Jesus up on his offer to touch him.
[00:59:03] Scripture's silent on that too.
[00:59:06] All we know is that as Thomas recognizes Jesus, worship wells up within him, and he confesses, my Lord and my God.
[00:59:16] And to that Jesus says, because you have seen me, you have believed.
[00:59:24] and the you here in this verse is plural now he's in this conversation with Thomas but he's really addressing everybody in that room it's not just you Thomas it's like Jesus is saying all y'all because you know he speaks fluent Texan all y'all believe because you have
[00:59:52] seen me. But then Jesus says something that I think is for us. For he undoubtedly knows that generations upon generations of people will rely on the testimony written down in the scriptures for that's what we have in order to believe. Blessed are those, he says, who have not seen
[01:00:17] and yet have believed. So even though we do not have the same experience of Christ that the disciples, including Thomas, did that day. We are promised that we are blessed, that even if we cannot peer into his eyes or into the wounds at his hands inside, that we can believe, and we can
[01:00:37] still come to the same conclusion that Thomas did, my Lord and my God. But John draws us to something written in his gospel, for we are given a detail in this account of Thomas that's given nowhere else
[01:00:53] in the Bible. And that detail is that the risen Christ still bears the wounds of the crucifixion.
[01:01:03] And if John takes the time to tell us that, it means that those wounds matter. Why? Well, most obviously, they show us that this is really Jesus. This is really him in his body raised from
[01:01:19] the dead, but it also makes us wonder, did Jesus keep those scars just for Thomas, just to prove himself to the disciples, or might he keep them for another reason? Well, we know where the wounds
[01:01:39] in his hands that he shows to Thomas, we know where they come from, where he was nailed to the cross, but what about that wound in his side? That wound was different. That wound came after Jesus
[01:01:52] was already dead. John tells us when they, that is the soldiers, came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus's side
[01:02:07] with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. They pierced his side to make sure he's dead.
[01:02:17] And from that wound, John tells us, blood and water flow out.
[01:02:23] And on the surface, that seems like a merely physiological detail.
[01:02:28] Of course, you pierce the side of a dead man and blood will come out.
[01:02:32] But water?
[01:02:35] Most crucified men died from suffocation, not their wounds.
[01:02:42] They were unable to properly breathe.
[01:02:44] their lungs were unable to expand and fluid would collect around the heart and lungs and so you pierce a man's side like that around his heart and blood and water will surely flow but John isn't
[01:02:57] giving us the medical record of Jesus he's implying that there is a spiritual significance here in these words because in scripture no detail is wasted and indeed from its earliest days the church has seen great importance in what flows from the side of Christ. The church has always
[01:03:18] seen in that blood and water the life of Christ that flows to us in the sacraments of baptism and holy communion. Life in the waters of baptism, where we are baptized into Christ's death and
[01:03:37] raised to new life in him, where we are born again by his spirit and we receive his presence.
[01:03:43] Baptism is a way to encounter Jesus. And life is given in the blood of the covenant, in the cup given for holy communion, in which we receive his presence that sustains us throughout our lives. Holy communion is a way to encounter the risen Christ. But if that truth wasn't
[01:04:08] beautiful enough that it is grace itself that flows from his side. If that was not beautiful enough, the early church traced that wound of Christ much farther back, all the way back to the very beginning, back to Genesis, back to the first man, Adam. And so we recall the events that
[01:04:31] occurred when God formed Adam's wife, Eve. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep and while he was sleeping he took one of the man's ribs and then closed up the place with flesh
[01:04:48] then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man and he brought her to the man the man said this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh she shall be called woman
[01:05:03] for she was taken out of man now bear with me a moment this is really cool Adam the first Adam he falls into a deep sleep so that Eve may be given life and Christ the last Adam sleeps in
[01:05:26] the sleep of death so that the church may be given life Adam's side is opened Christ's side is opened. And the bride of Adam then comes from the side of Adam, just as the bride of Christ
[01:05:43] comes from the side of Christ. Eve was made for Adam. The church was made for Christ.
[01:05:52] And at the end, the Lord heals Adam, and he wakes up and he sees his bride there in the Garden of Eden. And after three days, Christ rises from the dead and immediately begins to seek his bride,
[01:06:04] his people right there in the garden of the tomb. And Adam's cry at the sight of Eve, his longing to be in union with her, that should tell us something of what Christ experiences at
[01:06:19] the sight of us. Adam says, at last, bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh. But Christ's longing is spiritual union, for us to be brought to him, to belong to him, to be one with him, to be like
[01:06:35] him, not just in flesh, but in spirit. In other words, because of Christ's resurrection, we too can be given new life. Because he rises from the dead, we can be recreated in the likeness of
[01:06:50] Christ. We can be reborn. We can be united with him. But how can others come into that kind of relationship with him? How can others encounter him when they cannot see Christ like Thomas did?
[01:07:07] They cannot see Jesus standing before them with visible wounds in his side. The church knows to go to Christ in prayer and in scripture and in the sacraments, but how does the wider world experience Christ? Well, we know that he's not limited in how he reveals himself,
[01:07:25] but one way that he has given a very big and undervalued and overlooked way that he has given the world to experience him is the church itself.
[01:07:38] The church which is called the body of Christ.
[01:07:42] The church which can be seen and touched and heard is continuing evidence of the risen Christ.
[01:07:50] The church carries with us in everywhere we go the very presence of him.
[01:07:57] The church which exists at all because he loved us enough to receive those wounds in the first place.
[01:08:03] And now perhaps he keeps evidence of those wounds, not because he couldn't remove them, not because they are signs of defeat, but that they are marks of love, that they are marks of victory. And though people cannot look as Thomas did upon those wounds, they can look at you and me
[01:08:26] who are born from those wounds. We are the tangible evidence of Christ in this world.
[01:08:38] when we bear testimony of him it is him speaking when we reach out to help our neighbor it is christ reaching out through us when he speaks forgiveness through you when he shows mercy through you when he loves through you the world starts to see what thomas saw the power of the
[01:09:00] risen savior who still gives life the church is part of this resurrection story the church proclaims the victory of Christ because he lives so does she and the hope of the prayer and the hope and the prayer of the church should be that others would see Christ in us and how his grace
[01:09:23] can transform our lives and that because of those things the spirit of Christ would use the testimony of our lips and the testimony of our very lives to create faith in other people so that they too
[01:09:35] can come to believe and make the same confession that we do, my Lord and my God. We were not there with Thomas, but Christ is still here with us. And that risen Christ still bears those wounds
[01:09:52] and the world still needs to see them. And they need to receive the grace that flows from them, from him. And I invite you now, as Christ's body, to receive that same grace and encounter the risen
[01:10:13] Christ as we together receive holy communion. Pastor Barnes will lead us. We have a fair number

[01:10:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[01:10:28] of visitors today, and I know if you're visiting a church, you might wonder, what do I do if they serve Holy Communion. Let me just say if that's kind of beyond your thinking, no one will make
[01:10:40] you do it, but in the Methodist Church we practice more of what is called open communion, which means we don't require you to be a member of this church or even a Methodist at all. But if you believe in
[01:10:54] Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, we invite you to come. And if you are sincerely seeking the Lord, and you're not sure if you're there yet, but you want to be, we double invite you to come
[01:11:06] because Christ meets us at this table. I will also add we have, for those of you who have an allergy to gluten, we have gluten-free elements over there. It is the same Lord. So would you
[01:11:20] now join me in the great thanksgiving for Easter, which is a prolonged prayer which reminds us of what communion is and prepares us to receive it. The Lord be with you. Lift up your hearts. Let us give
[01:11:40] thanks to the Lord our God.
[01:11:42] It is right and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere, to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. You formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life.
[01:11:59] When we turned away and our love failed, your love remained steadfast.
[01:12:05] You delivered us from captivity, made covenant to be our sovereign God, brought us to a land flowing with milk and honey, and set before us the way of life.
[01:12:15] And so with your people on earth and all the company of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn.
[01:12:23] Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory.
[01:12:31] Hosanna in the highest.
[01:12:33] blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest holy are you and blessed is your son Jesus Christ by the baptism of his suffering death and resurrection you gave birth to your church
[01:12:48] delivered us from slavery to sin and death and made with us a new covenant by water and the spirit by your great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of your son from the dead
[01:13:02] and to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.
[01:13:09] Once we were no people, but now we are your people, declaring your wonderful deeds in Christ, who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.
[01:13:20] When the Lord Jesus ascended, he promised to be with us always in the power of your word and Holy Spirit.
[01:13:28] and so I call you to remember how on the night in which he gave himself up for us Jesus took bread, gave thanks to you broke the bread, gave it to his disciples and said
[01:13:40] take, eat, this is my body which is given for you, do this in remembrance of me and likewise when the supper was over he took the cup, gave thanks to you gave it to his disciples and said drink from this
[01:13:55] all of you. This is my blood of the new covenant poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. On the day you raised him

[01:14:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[01:14:10] from the dead, he was recognized by his disciples in the breaking of the bread. And in the power of your Holy Spirit, your church has continued in the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup.
[01:14:23] and so in remembrance of these your mighty acts in jesus christ we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice in union with christ's offering for us as we proclaim the mystery of faith christ has died christ is risen christ will come again pour out your holy
[01:14:47] Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine. Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood. By your
[01:15:02] Spirit, make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory, and we feast at his heavenly banquet. Through your Son, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy church, all honor and glory is yours, Almighty

[01:15:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[01:15:19] Father, now and forever. Amen. At this time, our communion stewards will come forward. We will serve you first, and then the ushers will direct each aisle when they may come forward.

[01:15:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[01:15:32] This is communion, your body broken, the cup we're drinking is big, the gift of friendship, true is salvation, of your son, the sacrifice of love, we remember the one put out for us,

[01:19:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[01:19:00] Remember the only Son of God upon the cross

[01:19:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[01:19:08] From stain to spot, wrath to head

[01:19:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[01:19:29] By your take of breath, the sacrifice of love We remember the only Son of Christ You had to pay How can if there is a table Who would come, who would come taste now and see there is a table for all who would come would come how can it be
[01:20:57] there is a table for all who would come Lord God, we thank you for today.

[01:23:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:23:18] We thank you for the word that was brought by Pastor Barnes and Pastor Cahill.
[01:23:24] We thank you for this time of communion and fellowship.
[01:23:27] and Lord we pray that we could take this spirit of communion with us into our week that our worship would continue into every action and reaction and interaction that we have or God we love you thank you for your great love for us

[01:23:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:23:46] in Jesus name Amen there's a moment when it's went out

[01:24:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[01:24:03] Death had claimed its victory, the king of love had given up his life, darkest day in history, there on a cross they made for sinners, every curse his blood atoned, one final breath and it was finished, but not the end we could have known.
[01:24:54] for the earth began to shake and the veil was torn what sacrifice was made as the heavens

[01:25:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[01:25:13] your voices closing thought what is easter if you read the papers there's a war going on

[01:29:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[01:29:11] and however this war goes there's always going to be another war while this world continues if you follow politics you know there are elections there's only always going to be another election as long as we're free and nothing gets settled if you
[01:29:32] can't stand wars and elections or sports and you can root for a team and you may win or you may lose but there's always another game as long as the world is not falling apart and there's wins and losses and all those things but we say
[01:29:49] at Easter God won in a way that affects us all, in a way that will affect us more, and that matters more than all of the other little things people worry about.
[01:30:02] Would you join me in the sending forth? Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.