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Location:
6425 Jefferson Rd. For
directions, click here.
Jerry
Varnado,
pastor Easter
Sunday Then
they remembered his
words.
(Luke
24:1-8) When
Adam and Eve decided to go their
own way and disobey God and thus
exclude themselves from God's
protective presence, death became
the common link between all
humans. For
thousands of years humanity
struggled against encroaching
death, trying to hold it at bay,
find a way around it, an escape
from it; all to no avail.
Humanity continued to live in
bondage to death; a power that
could not be overcome, the fear
of which could not be erased. Romans
5:14 says death had reigned since
the time of Adam, but on that
first Easter God made it clear
that death does not have the last
word, Jesus does! For
those who love this Jesus and put
their trust in Him, the stone
found rolled away on that Easter
morning means that death isn't
"our final resting place."
Rather, it is merely a dressing
room where we take off mortality
and put on immortality! It means
that death has lost its sting;
the grave has lost its victory.
It means that we can be set free
from our bondage to the fear of
death. The stone's been rolled
away! Now
we can die laughing! We can walk
straightway into the terrible
jaws of death and know we'll walk
out the other side the
victor! Incredible
as that is, there is still more
good news. Death
is our archenemy, the one in
which all the other enemies of
true life are rooted. If the
power of the resurrection is
sufficient to defeat death -- the
archenemy, it is sufficient to
defeat all the others as
well. The
power of the resurrection not
only rolled away the stone at
Jesus' tomb, the power of the
resurrection has rolled away
every other stone that has held
people in bondage. There is no
enemy to abundant life that can
withstand the power of the
resurrection. Somebody say
"hallelujah"! Let
me give you an example. Guilt and
shame, rooted sin and failure,
rob the joy of countless millions
of people. Think
of the guilt feelings that
tormented the Apostles between
the time of Jesus' arrest and His
resurrection. Peter had boasted
that he would follow Jesus even
to death -- and all the others
agreed. Yet on the night Jesus
was arrested they all deserted
Him. Three times Peter publicly
denied that even knew
Jesus. The
New Testament makes it clear that
these men were human in every
sense of the word. Once they
realized that Jesus was alive
again, surely they must have
dreaded seeing Him. How could
they look into His eyes when they
had failed Him so
miserably. But
then, when he suddenly appeared
to them, when they saw Him in
resurrected glory, their guilt
and shame "disappeared in sweet
release," as the songwriter
wrote, and all their fears
"melted into peace." Joy
unspeakable and full of glory
flooded their souls! But
you need to understand something.
None of that was automatic --
they disciples had exercise some
level of trust or faith. They had
to look up to see that the stone
that kept them locked in a tomb
of guilt and shame had been
rolled away. I
say that because of Judas
Iscariot. He had betrayed Jesus
just as the others but he never
looked up. Pressed upon by guilt
and shame, he listened to devil's
lie, "There's no hope for you!"
-- and he went out and killed
himself. Yes,
Judas had betrayed Jesus for
money. But the other eleven
disciples had betrayed Him in
their own way. They ran when the
authorities came. In His time of
need, they deserted their Lord
and their friend. I
think the real difference between
Judas and the others is that he
took matters into his own hands
-- and thereby cut himself off
from the grace of God. A
couple of weeks ago while I was
ministering in Brazil with Rick
Bonfim and several other pastors,
I encountered a young woman who
was locked in a tomb of guilt and
shame. We were praying for people
using the method of a "prayer
tent" or "prayer tunnel" -- we've
done that here before -- where
people pass through a line of
intercessors standing opposite
each other. As they pass, the
intercessors pray for them.
As
this young woman passed me, I
could tell that her head was
bowed in shame. I reached to lift
her chin to get her to look up.
She wouldn't. The Spirit of God
suddenly rose up in me and I
rebuked a spirit of shame -- and
even though I was speaking in
English and she probably had no
idea what I was saying, tears
began to roll down her cheeks. I
lifted her chin. By the time she
got to the end of the tunnel, her
head was held high and she had
joy! If
you're locked in a tomb of guilt
and shame this morning, look up!
The stone's been rolled away!
You're free from your
bondage. Anger,
bitterness and rage have locked
many away in tombs of regret,
loneliness and
isolation. From
the cross Jesus looked down
through the blood and pain upon
those who had beat him, spat upon
and crucified and said Father,
forgive them they don't know what
they are doing. Unbelief
keeps many from a vital
relationship with Jesus. Thomas
had this problem. We call him
"Doubting Thomas," but his
problem wasn't really doubt; it
was unbelief. Listen to Thomas's
own words John 20:25. Thomas
closed his mind off from the
truth. But then he saw Jesus in
resurrected glory! He fell on his
knees and said, "My Lord and my
God!" (John 20:28). Just one look
was all it took. The stone of
unbelief had been rolled
away. To
those trapped in the tomb of
alcoholism and addiction, I say
to you, "The stone's been rolled
away! You're free to leave, if
you will." To
the man addicted to pornography
or other types of sexual
perversion, I say to you, "The
stone's been rolled away! You're
free to leave, if you
will. Listen
to what Paul wrote in Ephesians
1:18-21. "That
power is like the working of
his mighty strength, which he
exerted in Christ when he
raised him from the dead and
seated him at his right hand
in the heavenly realms, far
above all rule and authority,
power and dominion, and every
title that can be given, not
only in the present age but
also in the one to
come." I'm
not sure we've really gotten this
yet. The same power that raised
Jesus from the dead lives in
those who believe! What
that means is that no matter what
tomb is locking you up and
keeping you from the fullness of
life Jesus promised us, you can
walk out a free man or woman.
Just look up with faith and
believe! The stone is rolled
away! But
listen. Just because the stone is
removed doesn't mean you're out
of the tomb. By the grace of God,
you have to get up and walk out.
That means there may be some
practical things you need to do.
You might need to go to AA or
seek counseling or some other
means of healing and help. But,
hear me now, the insurmountable
obstacle is gone. The stone is
rolled away! Now,
you may be saying, "That sounds
good preacher but how do I get it
to my address? I've got this
problem or that problem and I've
prayed about it; I've tried to
get beyond it but I just can't
seem to do it!" Well,
let me give you three simple
things that will enable you to
receive what God has provided for
you. If you do them, I believe
you'll be changed. And
let me give credit where credit
is due: Rick Warren, pastor of
Saddleback Church in Lake Forest,
California, urged people to make
these three responses in his
Easter sermon last
year. Understand
now that these are not
complicated things. They're
simple. God made them that way so
that anyone could do them. These
are the ways to appropriate God's
power and provision into you
life. First,
open
your life to God's
love. You
must believe that God loves you.
That may be difficult for you to
believe, but it is absolutely
true. Here's what Romans 5:8
says: The
fact that Jesus died for you is
the greatest demonstration of how
much God loves you. And
then look at Romans
8:32: God
has given His Son for you. And
he's also given you, as 2 Peter
says, everything else you need
"for life and for godliness."
Open your life to God's
love. Next,
open
your heart to God's
grace. Here's
what Ephesians 2:8 says about the
grace of God, as rendered in a
Bible paraphrase called The
Message: Did
you get that? It is God's gift --
from start to finish! He is
giving you His grace everyday,
every hour, every moment. Open
your heart to receive
it. The
third thing you need to do to
walk out of the tomb you're in is
to open
your mind to God's
power.
Here's
what Romans 12:2 says in the New
Living Translation: God's
power can change even the way you
think. Open your mind to
it! God's
love, His grace, His power are
available to us. Indeed, the same
power that raised Jesus from the
dead is available to us, even
in us, to enable us to
overcome every obstacle to
abundant living; to mold us into
the image of Jesus. Of
all the sounds that have broken
the silence on this earth there
is none that compares to the
sound of Easter. It's the sound
of the rolling stones. Not a rock
band, but the sound of tombstones
being rolled away so that God's
people might have life to its
fullest measure. That's
the joy and the promise of
Easter! The stone is rolled
away!
Gateway
Church gathers
for worship
Sundays
at 10:30 a.m.
(Hwy. 129) in Athens,
Georgia.
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of the
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A
GATEWAY SERMON
The
rolling stones
Gateway
Church,
Athens GA
March 31, 2002
On
the first day of the week,
very early in the morning, the
women took the spices they had
prepared and went to the tomb.
They
found the stone rolled away
from the
tomb,
but when they entered, they
did not find the body of the
Lord Jesus.
While
they were wondering about
this, suddenly two men in
clothes that gleamed like
lightning stood beside them.
In their fright the women
bowed down with their faces to
the ground, but the men said
to them, "Why do you look for
the living among the dead? He
is not here; he has risen!
Remember how he told you,
while he was still with you in
Galilee: 'The Son of Man must
be delivered into the hands of
sinful men, be crucified and
on the third day be raised
again.'"
The
significance of Easter is stated
clearly in Hebrews
2:14-15:"Since
the children have flesh and
blood," [-- talking about
us, we are "the children"
--] "he too" [-- this
is a reference to God who came
to earth as a human being in
the person of Jesus Christ
--] "he too shared in
their humanity so that by his
death he might destroy him who
holds the power of death --
that is, the devil -- and free
those who all their lives were
held in slavery by their fear
of death."
Then one morning several women
went to the tomb of their
deceased friend to properly
prepare his body for burial --
and suddenly everything
changed.
All
the tombs have flown
open
No
stone unturned
The
power of the Cross is the power
to forgive. If you are living in
the tomb of anger, bitterness and
rage, look up! The stone is
rolled away!
"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
it.'
"I
pray also that the eyes of
your heart may be enlightened
in order that you may know the
hope to which he has called
you, the riches of his
glorious inheritance in the
saints, and his incomparably
great power for us who
believe.
Bringing
it home"But
God demonstrates his own love
for us in this: While we were
still sinners, Christ died for
us."
"He
who did not spare his own Son,
but gave him up for us all --
how will he not also, along
with him, graciously give us
all things?"
"Saving
is all his idea, and all his
work. All we do is trust him
enough to let him do it. It's
God's gift from start to
finish!"
"Don't
copy the behavior and customs
of this world, but let God
transform you into a new
person by changing the way you
think. Then you will know what
God wants you to do, and you
will know how good and
pleasing and perfect his will
really is."
The
way is cleared
An
audio tape of this sermon is
available
free of charge (U.S. requests
only).
Request
a tape by calling
or writing the Gateway Church
office.
Please specify tape number
020331a: The Rolling
Stones.
©
2002 Gerald R.
Varnado