They Rose
Good Morning
Please stand with me and lift up your bible and repeat after me.
This is my Bible.
I am what it says I am.
I can do what it says I can do.
I am going to learn more of how to be what it says I can be.
Today I will learn more of the word of God.
The indestructible, never ending, living word Of God.
I will never be the same.
I will never be the same.
In Jesus Name
Turn with me in your bibles to Matthew 27:51-53.
Say, “Amen” when you are there. Let’s read together.
51:Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split,
52: and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised;
53: and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
Today I am going to share about getting excited about life and rising up in a time of turmoil.
Here is a story for you from Godswork.org
A boy was sitting in a park bench with one hand resting on an open Bible. He was loudly exclaiming his praise to God.
"Hallelujah! Hallelujah! God is great!" he yelled without worrying whether anyone heard him or not.
Along came a man who had recently completed some studies at a local university. Feeling himself very enlightened in the ways of truth and very eager to show this enlightenment, he asked the boy about the source of his joy.
"Hey" asked the boy in return with a bright laugh, "Don't you have any idea what God is able to do? I just read that God opened up the waves of the Red Sea and led the whole nation of Israel right through the middle."
The enlightened man laughed lightly, sat down next to the boy and began to try to open the boy’s eyes to the "realities" of the miracles of the Bible. He said, "That can all be very easily explained. Modern studies
have shown that the Red Sea in that area was only 10 inches deep at that time. It was no problem for the Israelites to wade across."
The boy was stumped. His eyes wandered from the man back to the Bible lying open in his lap. The man, content that he had enlightened a poor naive young person to the finer points of scientific insight turned to go.
Scarcely had he taken two steps when the boy began to rejoice and praise louder than before. The man turned to ask the reason for this resumed jubilation.
"Wow! Exclaimed the boy happily, "God is greater than I thought! Not only did he lead the whole nation of Israel through the Red Sea, He topped it off by drowning the whole Egyptian army in 10 inches of water!"
Sometimes we don’t see all that there is in life. In the verse from James chapter 27, I learned that when Jesus died on the cross, a whole bunch of people rose from their graves and went out into the city and let people know about Him.
Have you let anyone know about God recently?
A lot of us will say that, “I cannot let people know about God because I am just not that kind of person.
I don’t go around letting people know about the relationship that someone like me can have with God because that is for evangelists, pastors, or missionaries.”
I will never forget when I had to share about my relationship with God with a man from China. It was the beginning of my entry into ministry in correctional facilities.
I was an assistant chaplain at a correctional facility in NE Pennsylvania. The population was comprised of local county inmates, Federal inmates, and INS inmates. The men and women that were INS inmates were people that were in the United States from other countries that were being deported because of immigration issues or crimes. I met a man from China who I will never forget.
He was in the United States as a student and had gotten involved in the drug trade in New York City. I will never forget what happened. He asked for council about religion and when we met, he asked me why I believed. I shared why and asked him why he wanted to know. He told me that he had been reading the bible and wanted be reborn.
He said he wanted to rise up from being a dead man and start a new life.
Does that sound like something that may be in our lives today?
Do we need to get back to some of the basics of life?
We are so wrapped in so many in things with our lives that we forget what a true relationship with God is all about.
Our lives may be so wrapped up in things of the earth that we forget why we are here.
Let’s look at these verses again starting with verse 52: and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53: and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
When I was battling with the idea that I was supposed to continue to live a life of ministering to others, I heard a some great Christian music songs on the radio that reminded me of what God wants us all to do.
But there was a one song that stood out and came out a long time ago in the 90’s that was shared by a group of men called 4Him. It was called, “The Basics of Life”
It went partly like this;
“We need to get back to the basics of life.
A heart that is pure and a love that is blind.
A faith that is fervently founded in Christ.
The hope that endures for all times.
These are the basics.
We need to get back to the basics of life. “
What are the basics of life?
The basics of life are to be continually developing our relationship with Christ. Not to be so wrapped up in everything but that. God allowed those that were dead to rise again to show the people at that time that His words were real.
Jesus had just died on the cross and people were coming back to life from the grave to show His word in detail.
They went into the city. They went in to tell what had happened in their lives. They went out to show that all that Jesus had been telling everyone was true.
This bible in not a fictional story book.
It is God showing us what happened and how it pertains to today.
Picture this. I am walking down the street minding my own business and people who had been dead walk up to me and say, “Hey David. What's going on? How are you today?” Imagine seeing people that you knew were dead walking around on the streets.
Wow. I would be shocked and I would think I was just seeing things. I had too much caffeine from my iced tea or I just did not get enough rest when in reality, you were there. You are really alive. I was not crazy.
Jesus is alive. He is really here.
You and I are not crazy.
This is not some popular TV show that is trying to pull something over on us.
It is reality.
God does have a purpose for all of this that we are going through.
“We need to get back to the basics of life.
A heart that is pure and a love that is blind.
The faith that is fervently founded in Christ.
The hope that endures for all times.
These are the basics.
We need to get back to basics of life.”
When I met my wife and best friend, I felt like I was a kid again. Life all of the sudden had more meaning than just serving Him as a missionary.
But you know what it reminded me of?
When I gave my heart to the Lord.
Life has never been the same since. There have been hard times, and sorrow, but there have never been any times when I was not without Christ in my heart and my life.
The man I met from China accepted Christ in his life and went on to serve Jesus when he returned to his country and became a missionary in mainland China. I have not heard from for many years but I will see him in heaven.
I will see you, and you, and you also, if you made a commitment to Him like I have.
But I also want to be risen from the dead every day in my life. I am not a kid anymore but I am continually trying to be new each day and use what God has given me through His son to get through each day with Jesus being first.
Do you want to join me?
Let us go to the Lord in prayer. Stand with me and bow your heads.
