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Palm Sunday

3/27/2015

As we celebrate Palm Sunday this week and begin Holy Week, we hear the crowds turn from Cheering to jeering. Why did the cheering stop? Because on Palm Sunday, Jesus opened the doors of the church to everyone. It angered some people then, and believe it or not, it still angers some people today.

I believe that the cheering stopped because Jesus began to talk more and more about a cross. In the early part of his ministry Jesus talked about the Kingdom of God. This they wanted to hear about, especially since they misunderstood this kingdom to be a restoration of Israel to the days of King David's glory. But increasingly Jesus began to talk about sacrifice-even giving up your life.

I coached pee-wee baseball for years and when I came across this story, it made me think about us as Christians. The story goes, “When the young boy got up to the plate he looked over to the coach, and he saw him give the signal to sacrifice bunt. He then promptly proceeded to take three big swings and strike out. The coach ran up to him and said: Didn't you see me give you the signal to sacrifice? Yes, the boy replied. But I didn't really think that you meant it.”

Isn't that what we so often say to God? Yes, lord, I heard that talk about sacrifice but I didn't really think that you meant it. The cross says emphatically that he did mean it.

Why did the cheering stop? It stopped because Jesus more and more began to talk about commitment; it stopped because Jesus opened up the doors of the church and invited people to come in. But most importantly of all, it stopped because Jesus began to talk about a cross.

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
Matt 16:24-25

I am looking forward to being together on Sunday as we celebrate Palm Sunday.

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The Valley of Dry Bones

3/6/2015

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Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones. Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.
Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones. Now hear the word of the Lord.
Toe bone connected to the foot bone. Foot bone connected to the leg bone.
Leg bone connected to the knee bone. Knee bone connected to the thigh bone
Thigh bone connected to the back bone. The back bone connected to the neck bone
The neck bone connected to the head bone. Oh, hear the word of the Lord!

Do you remember singing this song as a kid? It reminds me of one of my favorite passages of scripture from Ezekiel 37 that deals with the Valley of the Bones. I encourage you to read through it when you get a chance.

As we continue journeying through this Lent season, and are approaching Good Friday and Easter Sunday, I wonder how many of us need a resurrection in our lives, like we talked about this past Sunday. Some of the situations that we are facing in life don’t just need a healing, but need that resurrection. I think that for some of us that is true for our lives. Let me explain.

It would be a shock to most of us if one day our bank declared that we were dead and refused to honor our checks. I heard of this happening to someone recently, and the bank would not believe that they had made a “clerical” mistake, and it took a long time for this person to convince the bank otherwise. But there are many individuals who are dead - not physically dead, but spiritually dead, emotionally dead and relationally dead. Is there any hope for them?

Oh, hear the word of the Lord!

God is the God of new life. That’s the good news for the day. God is the God of new life. There are many examples of new beginnings and fresh starts all throughout the Bible. God promised him that he would be the father of a great nation. Yet he got to 90, and he and his wife Sarah were still without children. They laughed at the idea that God would still fulfill His promise. But they were wrong.

Then there was Joseph. He was despised by his brothers, put in a pit and sold into slavery in Egypt. But God intervened in his life and he became the number two man in all of Egypt.

Then came Moses. He was raised in Pharaoh’s court, but he has to flee after taking a man’s life. Banished to the wilderness where he watches his father-in-law’s sheep. God comes to him and he becomes the leader of God’s people to help them escape slavery, and he’s also the one that God used to share His laws with humanity. Never say that any person or any situation is hopeless.

Then there was David, and after all that he did, we now read his psalms and we know he discovered God’s grace in his life, and from his lineage came the Messiah.

In the New Testament we encounter Zacchaeus, a tax collector, and a guy named Peter who even as a disciple still denied his Master, and yet he became the leader of the early church.

The Apostle Paul who persecuted the early Christians, had a vision of the risen Jesus and was transformed to become the greatest missionary who ever lived.

You think your life is hopeless, that your marriage is hopeless, that your future is hopeless? Look at the bones of your life. Hear the word of the Lord. Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones, dem bones gonna rise again.

Our God is a God of new life. God is still doing miracles in people’s lives today. There would be reason for us to live in a doom-and-gloom kind of way if we were simply discussing ancient history. But Christ is still touching people’s lives today. So live like it!

Pastor Dave

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Palm Sunday

The Valley of Dry Bones

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