ENCOUNTER THE CROSS

JULY 15^TH 2005-RUTH/I  HOSPITAL WT NJ

SHE WAS IN LABOR- SHED BEEN ON BED REST FOR 2 MONTHS- THIS WAS EARLIER THAN EXPECTED-

ANXIOUS- WORSHIP MUSIC PLAYING

RUTHS DR CAME LOOKS GOOD-I HAVE A FAVOR- YOU MIND IF TEAM OF DRS COME (10-12) WHITE COATS

LABOR UNDERWAY-JASMINE ELIZABETH GRIFFIN BORN

LIFE FROM LIFE AND DR’S WEPT

THIS WEEK END OUR SERIES WITH DEATH TO LIFE

WEEK 1: THE SHADOW THE CROSS CASTS

WEEK 2: THE FORGIVENESS THE CROSS OFFERS

A REBEL

WEEK 3: THE ROAD TO THE CROSS

TODAY: THE POWER OF THE CROSS

IMAGES/LOGOS THAT HAVE STOOD OVER TIME

 STARBUCKS

• Designer Terry Heckler, who created the original logo, was drawn to the siren’s association with the sea and the captivating nature of coffee.

FEDEX LOGO

• COMPANY STARTED IN 1971 (WILD HOW/WHY)
• 1973 FIRST LOGO
• Fred Smith picked the word “Federal” in the name is to bag the Federal Reserve Bank as a customer.
• 1994 GOT A REFRESH BY LINDON LEADER
• WANTED TO REMOVE THE DEAD SPACE- POINT PEOPLE TO THEIR PURPOSEFUL MEANING

  AMAZON 

• THE NEW MOST FAMOUS
• DESIGNED MULTIPLE TIMES SINCE 1995
• MAJOR DESIGN SEEN HERE 2000
• JUST UPDATED IN 2024 COLOR CHANGE
• DELIVERS A SMILE- WHEN THEY ARRIVE
• AND THE ARCH IS FROM A TO Z- EVERYTHING

CHRIST THE REDEEMER– LATE 1800’S

• WHAT ABOUT THIS SYMBOL
• WHERE HAVE YOU SEEN IT?
• IS THERE SOMETHING SUBLIMINAL IN IT?
• DOES CARRY A POTENT MESSAGE? 2300 FEET

TODAY- THE POWER OF THE CROSS

• What did Easter mean to you growing up? What are your memories of it?

EASTER BASKETS- HUNTS- DRESSING UP

SUNRISE SERVICE- COLD- FOOD WAS GREAT

   FIRST TIME IT HIT ME-

CALVARY COVERS IT ALL

MY PAST WITH ITS SIN AND STAIN

MY GUILT AND DESPAIR

JESUS TOOK ON HIM THERE

AND CALVARY COVERS IT ALL

HOW BLESSED THE THOUGHT

THAT MY SOUL BY HIM BOUGHT

SHALL BE HIS IN THE GLORY ON HIGH

WHERE WITH GLADNESS AND SONG

ILL BE ONE OF THE THRONG

AND CALVARY COVERS IT ALL

   THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST 2004-QUIET

LUKE 23

   ⁴⁴ It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, ⁴⁵ for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.   

OUTSIDE HOLY OF HOLIES

• 60 FEET TALL
• 30 FEET WIDE
• 4 INCHES THICK

 SCRIPTURE LUKE 23:46

  ⁴⁶ Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.  ⁴⁷ The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.”

LUKE 23:48

   ⁴⁸ When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away.

• WHEN THE ARMY OFFICER SAW WHAT HAPPENED, HE PRAISED GOD AND SAID- CERTAINLY THIS MAN WAS INNOCENT. GW
•  ⁵⁴ When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Sonof God!” ESV
• ROMAN CENTURION- 1 OF HIGHEST RANKING
• HE’S BEEN TRAINED TO DO THIS JOB
• LED NOT JUST SEEN MANY CRUCIFIXIONS
• COMPLETELY UNAFFECTED BY THIS
• STANDS IN FACT IN OPPOSITION OF JESUS

This Roman centurion has the distinction of having the first words recorded in Scripture following Christ’s death. Immediately after Christ breathed His last, “he said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’”

ROMES MOST IMPRESSIVE OFFICER- THE CENTURION

•  THE POWER OF THE CROSS IS THIS:
• A CENTURION CONFESSES JESUS AND BELIEVES

1. A REBEL
2. ROMAN CENTURION

__________________________________________________________

DO YOU BELIEVE? WHY OR WHY NOT?

WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE?

VERY FEW BELIEVED INITIALLY- AND MANY RAN

SIGHTINGS OF JESUS AFTER THIS-POST RESURRECTION

1. MARY MAGDALENE (JOHN 20)

2. WOMEN COMING FROM TOMB (MATTEW 28)

3. PETER (LUKE 24)

4. ROAD TO EMMAUS- 2 PEOPLE (JOHN 20)

5. DISCIPLES MINUS THOMAS (JOHN 20)

6. DISCIPLES WEEK LATER W/THOMAS (JOHN 20)

7. SEA OF TIBERIAS SEVEN DISCIPLES (JOHN 21)

8. ELEVEN ON A MOUNTAIN GALILEE (MATT 28)

9. GALILEE MORE THAN 500 (I CORINTHIANS 5)

RINALDO

• CHRISTIANO RINALDO- ARGUABLY MOST FAMOUS
• SOCCER PLAYER- KNOWN WORLD WIDE
• I SAW HIM AT JMU GAME
• I SAW HIM ATLANTIC UNION BANK ARENA
• YEAH WELL I SAW HIM- HAD ON DUKES HATE

 SANDRA BULLOCK

• MOST FAMOUS PERSON FROM VIRGINIA SANDRA B
• SAW HER AT COSTCO- AISLE 4- FREE SAMPLE
• IF MULTIPLE PEOPLE STARTED TELLING ME-
• YEAH KEVIN WE SAW HER- YOU HEARD RIGHT?

• WHAT IF I HAD PUT UP PICTURES OF SUPERMAN

AVENGERS? WEREWOLF? LOCHNESS MONSTER

HERCULES?  MANY BELIEVE IN THOSE

BELIEVE

• DO YOU BELIEVE? WHY?
• HOW MANY OTHERS BELIEVE?

 JOHN 20:3-5

   3. “SO PETER AND THE OTHER DISCIPLE STARTED FOR THE TOMB. BOTH WERE RUNNING, BUT THE OTHER DISCIPLE OUTRAN PETER AND REACHED THE TOMB FIRST. HE BENT OVER AND LOOKED IN AT THE STRIPS OF LINEN LYING THERE BUT DID NOT GO IN.

JOHN 20: 6-7

   6. THEN SIMON PETER CAME ALONG BEHIND HIM AND WENT STRAIGHT INTO THE TOMB. HE SAW THE STRIPS OF LINEN LYING THERE, AS WELL AS THE CLOTH THAT HAD BEEN WRAPPED AROUND JESUS’ HEAD. THE CLOTH WAS STILL LYING IN ITS PLACE, SEPARATE FROM THE LINEN.

 JOHN 20:8

   8. FINALLY THE OTHER DISCIPLE, WHO HAD REACHED THE TOMB FIRST, ALSO WENT INSIDE.

                      HE SAW AND BELIEVED

• HOW ABOUT US? DO YOU BELIEVE?
• DEATH TO LIFE- JOHN SAW NOTHING
• JOHN BELIEVED

 JOHN 20:25

  25. “SO THE OTHER DISCIPLES TOLD HIM, “WE HAVE SEEN THE LORD!” BUT HE SAID TO THEM, “UNLESS I SEE THE NAIL MARKS IN HIS HANDS AND PUT MY FINGER WHERE THE NAILS WERE, AND PUT MY HAND INTO HIS SIDE, I WILL NOT BELIEVE.

JOHN 20:26

  26. A WEEK LATER HIS DISCIPLES WERE IN THE HOUSE AGAIN, AND THOMAS WAS WITH THEM. THOUGH THE DOORS WERE LOCKED, JESUS CAME AND STOOD AMONG THEM AND SAID, “PEACE BE WITH YOU!”

SLIDE 21: SCRIPTURE JOHN 20:27-28

  27. THEN HE SAID TO THOMAS, “PUT YOUR FINGER HERE; SEE MY HANDS. REACH OUT YOUR HAND AND PUT IT IN MY SIDE. STOP DOUBTING AND BELIEVE.” THOMAS SAID TO HIM, “MY LORD AND MY GOD”

JOHN 20:29

  29. THEN JESUS TOLD HIM, “BECAUSE YOU HAVE SEEN ME, YOU HAVE BELIEVED; BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HAVE NOT SEEN AND YET HAVE BELIEVED.”

100 TIMES JOHN USES THIS WORD IN HIS BOOK

• SYMBOL OR TORTURE AND DEATH
• CRUELTY AND PUNISHMENT- BRINGS LIFE
• BRINGS HEALING- BRINGS HOPE
• WAS ANOTHER MAN WHO ENOUNTERED THE CROSS
• HIS NAME WAS FRANK
• 911- HOPRRIFIC TRAGEDY- BRUTALITY-TERRORISM
• THE POWER OF THE CROSS

VIDEO 911

• OUR FAITH WAS CRUSHED
• FRANK FOUIND HOPE
• A REBEL
• ROMAN CENTURION
• REGULAR GUY

 2.5 BILLION

CHRIST SO MANY PEOPLE

BELIEVE

   THERE ARE MUTLIPLE PEOPLE SAVED AT THE CROSS

   1 CUSSED HIM OUT AND NEVER RELENTED/REPENTED

1 CUSSED HIM OUT- JESUS SPEAKS- AND HE SPEAKS TO JESUS INSTEAD OF YELLING INSULTS AT HIM

• MANY RUN AWAY. MANY MOCK AND YELL

MANY WATCH IN JUBILATION MANY WATCH IN HORROR

ONE MAN MAYBE THE MOST UNLIKELY OF ALL PEOPLE THERE- STANDS IN OPPOSITION TO JESUS

HAD NO DOUBT SEEN THIS AND LED THIS MANY MANY TIMES- ITS PART OF WHY HES HERE- LEAD THIS

It costs God nothing, so far as we know, to create nice things: but to convert rebellious wills-  IT cost Him crucifixion.”
C. S. Lewis

https://www.bible.com/events/49423210

Church of the Nazarene – East Rockingham Campus

Encounter The Cross Part 4

Easter Sunday

Over the last few weeks as a church we have been in a teaching series called “Encounter the Cross”

We have been looking to the bible and coming face to face with the story of the cross as well as some of the stories that surround it. We don’t just want to come face to face with the story- we want to encounter the power of Jesus Christ for our lives today and see how we might live differently in the light of His story.

Today we are going to look at 3 encounters of the cross. Stories of 3 different people and their face-to-face experience with the cross.

Matthew 27:33-38

They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews. Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.

Jesus and two criminals are led out of the city to a hilltop where they are crucified. When you pass a set of three crosses along the road- this is the story they are pointing too.

Crucifixion was a violent and horrible form of execution. Hands and feet nailed into the wood, victims left there for hours or even days before they died.

Matthew 27:45-53

From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.” Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.” And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

This is a crazy encounter, just imagine with me.

The noon day sun has been darkened- not like a thunderstorm, but like nightfall.

Jesus, out of breath, weak, he cries out from the cross, yielding up his own life and spirit to the Father in death.

Miles away in the temple, the place where the people of God had worshiped, a curtain that is 4” thick is torn from top to bottom.

For miles around the ground is shaking- the rocks are split and torn just like the curtain in the temple.

This event is so dramatic that it even wakes the dead, as the text records that bodies come out of the ground alive.

All of this at the death of Jesus.

Matthew 27:54

When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”

In one moment all the talk about Jesus being the son of God, the savior of the world, comes flooding back- and the Centurion realizes, they were right, this is the son of God.

As the Centurion stands there with Jesus’ blood on his hands, the earth trembling beneath his feet, he cant explain it all, he’s probably not entirely sure what it means, but he believes the God of the universe has stepped into our story in the person of Jesus- and now, he has died on a cross.

He had encounters with crosses practically his whole life- but this was different. This one changed his life, because of Jesus.

Our next cross encounter story is the story of Frank Silecchia.

Frank encounters the cross in the most unexpected of places and in the cross he sees a reminder of God’s love, even in the midst of tragedy.

Standing there in the midst of the rubble of the twin towers Frank was filled with questions and heartbroken. He was there searching for life. And he found it. Just not in the way he was expecting. Frank encountered the cross.

A reminder that God loves us, that he is with us.

Our last encounter story this morning is a bit different, it’s much closer to home.

Our last encounter story is your story. Yes, yours.

God in his great love for you has seen to it that you would come face to face with story of Jesus.

To hear the story of Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins, to hear that we can come into God’s presence and into relationship with him through Jesus Christ.

We have gotten to celebrate that Jesus is alive, he is a living hope today for every person because of the resurrection. This is the story of the Cross and the story of Resurrection Sunday.

And I cant help but wonder today, what’s your story going to be after this encounter?

How will you respond? Will your story be different?

Maybe today- right now, you will choose to believe.

The rest of the story is really up to you.

Message: The Center of Your Circle

Luke 19:41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

• Introduction:  I want to begin today with a confession.  If it weren’t for the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, I would be one of the most selfish people on the planet.  There’s more.  I know Jesus as my Savior, and His Spirit dwells within me, yet I still sometimes find myself being selfish.  At times, I even find myself doing good things for selfish reasons.  I can testify that the Spirit is helping me, and for that I am grateful. 
  • The Lord has given all of us a survival instinct that, in proper alignment, is helpful.  This survival instinct keeps me from falling off of tall buildings, it helps me (mostly) drive the speed limit, and it reminds me that I should not spend all my savings on golf clubs so that I can eat tomorrow.  🙂
  • However, this survival instinct, if unchecked, can make us selfish and people who are always looking after themselves without considering others. 
• This reality could easily make me respond incorrectly to Jesus’s example in the Triumphal Entry. 
• Does any of this speak personally to you? 
• As we look at our text today, we see Jesus triumphantly entering the city, and at the same time, he is weeping.
• Jesus is weeping—some insight into his weeping. 
  •  Weeping could also be translated as wailing. 
    • Jesus is deeply moved amid the rejoicing.
    • It is the original, “It’s my party, and I will cry if I want to.” 
  • He weeps for the city and not for himself. 
  • Let’s look at the text again,
    • 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
  • He weeps for a city filled with spiritually blinded people.
    • I went to Israel with Steve Thigpen and my brother some years ago.   When we entered Jerusalem, the tour guide announced, “Welcome to the holy city filled with many unholy people.” 
    • Jerusalem means “city of peace,” but the city of peace would lose out on peace.  Why?  They preferred a military messiah to free them from Roman bondage instead of a spiritual Messiah who would bring freedom from sin. 
• How could people in such proximity to Jesus miss it? 
• Illustration:  This is the weekend of the Masters Golf Tournament.  Most of you couldn’t care less.  However, for golfers, it is the Super Bowl of sport.  Right now, the golfer who is on top of the golf world is a guy named Scotty Scheffler.  Scotty is a devout follower of Jesus, and years ago, he selected a caddy named Ted Scott.  The biggest reason.  He was also a very committed follower of Jesus.  In an interview leading up to this week’s tournament, this is what Ted Scott said,
• If you put yourself in the center of your circle, it always leads to misery. But if you put Christ at the center of your circle, you will be led to purpose and life.
• That day, as Jesus was ushered into the city, he knew that he was surrounded by a bunch of people whose propensity was to place themselves and their desires at the center of their circle.
• Their greatest desire was for a political messiah, and that desire would lead them to destruction in less than a generation. 
• Look with me.  Jesus proclaims,
• 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.
  • Do you see it?  A people who find themselves inside a circle that will be absent of Jesus is a circle that closes in on itself and brings destruction. 
• As the people waved palm branches representing military victory, they missed out on the donkey representing peace. 
• Again, how could people in such proximity to Jesus miss it? 
• Let’s zoom in on the crowd and look at some people closest to Jesus.  How about those who were in his inner circle?
• Let’s begin with
  • Simon Peter
  • Matthew 16: 21 NIV From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. 22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” 23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
    • What’s happening here?  Simon Peter may be in the inner circle of Jesus yet he is more worried about being the center of his own circle. 
• How about the Zebedee brothers?
• James and John (Sons of Zebedee)Mark 10: 35 NIV Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” 36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. 37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” Later in the text, the other disciples are “indignant”…. Upset.  Why?  There is likely a part of them that desires the same position. 
• The takeaway: The very men in Jesus’s inner circle battled the temptation to want to be the center of their own circle. 
• Illustration: The Mouse Trap Story.
  • We battle the same temptation. 
• Conclusion:  Our small stories connected to HIs bigger story. 
• What is the correct response to the Triumphal Entry? 
• Model the posture of Jesus.  What is the posture of Jesus?
• Zechariah prophesied that he would come “humble, riding on a donkey.”
• Zechariah got it right.  Jesus would, and He is calling us to do the same. 
• Conclusion:  Here’s the truth.  Jesus has drawn a circle, and he has placed your name at the center of it.  We truly understand life when we draw a circle and put him and his mission in the center of our circle. 
• Basin Theology.  It is a theology modeled in our posture to put others first.