Point of Grace Online Worship - March 31, 2024 (Easter)

Point of Grace - 3.31.24 Sermon Notes – Easter

Re-thinking Easter!

Matthew 28:1-10 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. 2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. 5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” 8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

Easter challenges my thinking not just about “resurrection” but about all of life.

Easter invites me into a whole new way of thinking.

But changing my thinking is hard …… we have some well-worn paths through which we process life’s realities and most of the time we are more “stuck” than we think.

These women were called to a whole new way of thinking … 3rd Day Thinking

They started the day in 1st and 2nd Day thinking but ended it in … 3rd Day Thinking

Is my focus today about:

The “Resurrection of Jesus”

or

The “Jesus Who is Risen”?

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. 2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. 5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.

1st and 2nd day thinking defaults to fear, because what we face is bigger than who we are and what we have?

How does this show up in your life?

5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” 8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

3rd Day thinking constantly has the Risen Jesus in the picture… His presence affects everything.

With 3rd Day thinking the Risen Jesus is our “frame of mind”! He graciously gives us new thinking as we yield to His presence every day. He graciously helps us let go of 1st and 2nd day thinking. “Do not be afraid!”

3rd Day thinking changes everything towards fullness of life!

A Prayer for 3rd Day Thinking and Living

Jesus, I receive you as my Life,

and I receive all the work and triumph in your Resurrection,

through which you have conquered sin, death, judgment, and the evil one.

Death has no power over you, nor does any foul thing.

And I have been raised with you to a new life,

to live your life—

dead to sin and alive to God.

I take my place now in your resurrection and in your life,

and I give my life to you to live your life.

I am saved by your life.

I reign in life through your life.

I receive your hope, love, faith, joy,

your goodness, trueness, wisdom, power,

I receive Your, strength, humility, courage, vision

and I receive Your union with the Father.

Oh Jesus, apply to me today

all the work and triumph in your resurrection; I receive it with thanks,

and I give it total claim

to my spirit, soul, and body,

my heart, mind, and will. Amen

Point of Grace Online Worship - April 9, 2023 (Easter Sunday)

Point of Grace Worship        4.9.23     Sermon Notes – “Resurrection Rescue – Easter 2023”

There is a “Rescue” for us in the reality of the Resurrection of Jesus!

1 Peter 1 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Life is rescued from death…. Hope is rescued from despair … Joy is rescued from grief

Faith is rescued from doubt … Salvation is rescued from the sum of our circumstances!

John 11 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

The Resurrection Rescue of Jesus is not only from death but also for life!

John 20 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
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.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

We need rescue from our “self-reliant” defaults that ultimately lead to graveyards!

The Resurrected Rescuer calls us by name into LIFE with Him leading … He births new LIFE into every part of our life.

Point of Grace Online Worship - April 24, 2022

Road to Emmaus

Luke 24:13-35: 13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him.

17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” 19 “What things?” he asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. 28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 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?” 33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

1. Jesus’ care for his disciples 2. Our understanding of scripture 3. We need Jesus to get Jesus

Road to Emmaus

“What things?” he asked.

Empathy is getting in the pit

1 I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. 2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Psalm 40:1-3a

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Psalm 23:5-6

The Bible makes almost no sense without Jesus - “How could God be loving when X, Y, Z happens?”

Jesus at the center of all scripture, where every thread points ultimately to Him, reveals to us a God who is unfathomably loving.

Unfortunately it is very possible to know a lot of facts about Jesus, and never get Jesus himself.

The purpose of all of ‘this’ is that you might see and know your savior.

Talk to Jesus, He is even better in person.