READ THE TEXT…. Mark 16
This message was preached on Resurrection Sunday, April 16, 2006. The first in a series of message entitled “Navigating Life By GPS”!
Global positioning System…. in the world of navigation…it has been said of GPS…that this changes everything….there are truly amazing things that are now possible because of this technology we call GPS!!
In the next 4 weeks we want to give this all a spiritual twist and talk about…God’s positioning system… what does God’s word have to say about who we are, where we are, and where we are going!!
There are significant discoveries, inventions, and events down through recorded history of which it can be said….THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING….
1. FIRE: We can easily picture man shivering and cold, huddled in a cave eating raw plants and meat….and then perhaps because of a lightning strike discovering the power of FIRE….THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING!!
2. ROUND & NOT FLAT: The discovery that the world was indeed round, not flat, and if you sailed far enough you would NOT fall off the edge of the earth. THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
3. EARTH REVOLVES AROUND THE SUN. The discovery that the earth revolved around the sun and that our earth is just a part of a bigger solar system….THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
4. THE PRINTING PRESS: Gutenburg’s invention of the printing press in 1440 finally made it possible to print the written word and mass distribute it….THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
5. ELECTRICITY & THE LIGHT BULB: The discovery of electricity, harnessing its power, and the invention by Thomas Edison of the incandescent light bulb….THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING!
6. THE AUTOMOBILE: In the early 1900’s…Henry Ford boldly proclaimed, “I will build a car for the multitudes!” And he did in 1908…eventually producing 15.5 million Model T’s over a 19 year period the price tag dipping to under $300. the assembly production allowed Ford to manufacture a car every 24 minutes…a task that had originally taken well over 12 hours! For a relatively young American nation….THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
7. THE AIRPLANE: During that same time….on the sandy beaches of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina December 17th, 1903 at 10:35AM two Brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright made their historic 12 second, 120 foot flight in a powered flying machine….this accomplishment ushered in modern air and space travel…THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING!!
8. WORLD WARS/ATOMIC BOMB: Two massive world wars brought death and suffering to the 20th century and the massive destruction of the Atomic Bomb that our country dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ….resulting in the deaths of over 200,000 people….the coming of the nuclear age…..well….THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING!
9. COMPUTERS & THE INTERNET: In the 1950’s work began on the computer and during the 80’s and 90’s the personal computer became common place in many American homes and usher in the internet the World Wide Web…and now the way in which we communicate and share information….well…this new technology …THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING!!
10: 9/11 TERRORIST ATTACK: Closer to home….none of us alive when this event happened… will forget September 11th, 2001. When Isalamic terrorists flew airliners into the Twin Towers in Lower Manhattan result in the deaths of 2,986 persons! From this time on our nation realized how vulnerable we were ….and things have changed dramatically….THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING!
11. CHURCH FIRE: February 18, 2005 is the date that our church family will always remember it is the day our church building was destroyed by fire. As we stood and watched the fire race through the facility that was home to many significant events and memories…we all quickly realized…..THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING!!
12. PERSONAL: In your lifetime…many of you have experienced this type of events….marriages, births, deaths….the joys and the sorrows of life…. Those things that have happened of which you and I have said…..THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING!!
AND THEN WE COME TO THE REASON FOR THIS DAY…..
THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST….THERE IS NO EVENT IN ALL OF HISTORY FOR WHICH THESE WORDS WOULD APPLY…..
As we consider the record…
As we hear from the eyewitnesses
As we see the results….
Of the resurrection of Jesus Christ we can only say….THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING!!!
It certainly can and must be said that “this changes everything”:
1. For the disciples
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. -John 20:19-20
2. For the Emmaus Road travelers
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?" They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together… -Luke 24:30-33
3. For the Apostle Paul
As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
-Acts 9:3-6
4. For you and I
"Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
-I Corinthians 15:55-58
“THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING….”
Jesus is not only our everything….
but Jesus is the “very thing” that we need in time and eternity!
If we truly believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and have accepted that reality by an act of faith…we must then go out and let the world know by our deeds and by our words…. “this changes everything”!!!
