Pastor Wade preaches the 2017 Easter Sermon entitled
"Some Things to Remember about that First Easter"
Matthew 28:1-10
WBC Youth Ministry
"Were you there"
WBC Adult Choir
"Love Grew Where the Blood Fell"
Sermon Notes:
Title: Some Things to Remember About That First Easter
Text: Matthew 28:1-10
Intro: What a morning that first Easter must have
been; the Agony of the last couple days. Never mind that Jesus told them
exactly what was going to happen, His followers were disheartened. They were
downcast and discouraged. As Scripture declares, pain comes in the night, but JOY
comes in the morning. Well, it’s morning and it’s time to Remember. Let’s Read
our Scripture and Remember some things about that First Easter.
1. Remember The Heart Of Mary (v. 1)
2. Remember That God Is All Powerful (v.2a)
·
3. Remember Death With Christ Is Not Final (v.2b)
4. Remember Rebellion Will Turn To Reverence (v.4)
5. Remember Jesus Turns Fear Into Faith (v.5)
Isaiah 41:10, 11
NKJV “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will
strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right
hand.’ “Behold, all those who were incensed against you Shall be ashamed and
disgraced; They shall be as nothing, And those who strive with you shall
perish.
6. Remember The Word’s Of Christ - He Speaks Only The Truth
(v.6)
ILL - A story in a magazine tells of a little girl who
went to the doctor. The doctor was trying to set the little girl at ease. As he
looked into her ears, he said, "who’s in there, Mickey Mouse?" The
little girl shyfully said, "no." The doctor looked into her throat
and said, "who’s in there, Donald Duck?" She said, "no." He
began to listen to her heart and asked, "who’s in there Barney?" She
said "no, Jesus is in there, Barney’s on my underwear!" ILL - CHILDREN’S
LETTERS TO GOD
b) Hunger for God’s Word. It is the only truth we have.
c) Cling to His promises.
7. Remember That Jesus Turns
Anguish Into Joy (v.8)
JOY- Jesus-Others-You
8. Remember That Jesus Comes Looking (v.9)
a) He was looking for his disciples and met them to show
them he was alive.
b) HE’S LOOKING FOR THE PRODICAL SON
c) HE’S LOOKING FOR THE WANDERERS
d) HE’S LOOKING FOR THE LOST
Conclusion:
vLet’s
Remember the joy of that First Easter
vPerhaps
you are here and you are far from God…Come Home!
vPerhaps,
you have never made a public declaration of your Relationship with Christ.
vMaybe,
you need to take another step in the family of God through Church membership
Pastor Wade preaches a sermon entitled, Naomi, A Woman on A Mission. Our passage is taken from Ruth 1:1-5 ***Note, Sermon notes are located at the bottom of this page...
WBC Choir "Just a little talk with Jesus"
Ruth 1:1-5 WBC 3/12/17
Intro:
Today, our attention is focused on women who are “On Mission for God”. Our
Scripture lesson is from the book of Ruth and our focus is on the life of
Naomi. Much is learned from the book of Ruth. As we study into the book of Ruth
we find many great stories that give much inspiration… Stories like:
vThe
Story of Ruth herself who would become the grandmother to David, and in the
lineage of Christ on earth.
vYou
have Boaz, who is a picture of Christ. He shows us the picture of redemption.
vYou
have a beautiful love story that begins with a mother and her daughter in law
and turns into a story of a man and woman.
vYou
have a once child-less family, then see other women telling Naomi that Ruth is
better than 7 sons.
vYou
certainly have the story of Naomi and Ruth stepping out of their comfort zone.
But this message, we will examine the actions of
Naomi and also compare them to the charge given to us in II Timothy 4, “Preach
the Word, Be ready in season and out of season”.
The story of Naomi is the epitome of this charge.
Naomi certainly was willing to follow the God of Israel, regardless of the
cost. So, having the benefit of looking back to see the charge of Paul and to
the example of Naomi, we shall examine our own lives and allow the Holy Spirit
to direct our path.
God has certainly used women over the years is so
many ways. Consider for a moment; Eve, Esther, Sarah, Lydia, Mary the mother of
Jesus, and of Mary Magdalene and Martha.
There are at least 3 lessons we need to learn from
Naomi’s life when comparing them to the charge of Paul.
I. Circumstances
Discourage us.
JLet
me first define what I mean by preach: It means to proclaim or to deliver a message/sermon.
We first must realize that much more preaching goes on outside the four walls
of the church than inside. (This should not be because of the lack of the
preaching of the pastor, but by the quantity of preaching done by the members.)
JSo,
if we agree that using this definition of preaching, I believe that Naomi was a
very powerful preacher.
JWe
too must preach the word, but we must understand that there are circumstances
that will come our way that will discourage us from doing so…
JNotice
Naomi’s Discouragement
A.Discouragement
of Change
a.Change
of conditions. V. 1
i.There was a famine in the land, even
though the meaning of Bethlehem means, “House of Bread”.
ii.The Famine had spread into their
hometown.
iii.Her husband, whose name meant, “God is
King”, was a godly man, but the Israelites were being punished for their
disobedience to God.
iv.Naomi and her family were not
disobedient, but they had to pay the price.
b.Change
of Location. V. 1
i. Her
entire family had to be uprooted from what they had come to know as home.
ii.Her sons, Mahlon and Chilion, which
meant sickly & Failing, had to be moved.
iii.After the move, her husband Elimelech
passed away. What a shock! V. 3
iv.Then, in Verse 5, about 10 years later,
her sons died. Because they died at a young age, their names were certainly
telling.
v.Naomi had to deal with this, although
there is no mention of her complaining.
vi.It is only in Verse 13 that we see Naomi
say that the hand of the Lord had gone out against her.
B.Discouragement
of Confusion.
a.Confused
about her role. V. 3
i.As a single parent, she had some
troubles. Notice, that she had no grandchildren.
ii.In a time when women had very few
rights, God placed the job of raising two sons on her.## In a foreign land at
that.
iii.Can we even begin to imagine what she
was going through?
iv.God, she must have cried out, what do
you expect me to do here?
v.What
is your plan?
b.Confused
about her Responsibilities. V. 4
i.Now, her two sons were taking foreign
wives.
ii.Now, Israelites were not strictly
forbidden to marry Moabitess women, however they were descendants of Lot, and his very strange relationship with his oldest
daughter.
iii.We can certainly see where Naomi would
have been discouraged from following after God because of the circumstances she
found herself in.
c.Confused
about her Return. V. 5
i.Lost her husband.
ii.Lost her boys.
iii.Living in a foreign land.
iv.Consider verse 20 & 21 The Lord has
dealt bitterly with me. I left full and have come back empty.
Consider all Naomi went through in the last 10 years
and decide for yourself, did she not have a reason to be discouraged? Now, look
at our own circumstances. Do we have a reason to be discouraged?
See, we must be ready to preach the Gospel when
Circumstances Discourage us, but also;
II. Comfort is Denied us.
In Scripture we find that Naomi was;
A.Denied her Hometown.
a.Sometimes
God has His plan as to move us from our comfort zone.
b.Naomi
was to follow her husband, even though she was not sure about the future.
c.There
is no way she could see into the future to predict these circumstances.
d.Don’t
you think Naomi was like many other Jewish girls, Dreams of her future and
family.
e.Dreams
of setting up house.
f.There
are times when God allows us to have our way, but there are other times, when
we just have to trust Him.
B.Denied her Heritage.
a.Naomi’s
family continued only through a relative and a daughter in law.
b.However,
God blessed her beyond measure. Listen to Ruth 4:13-17
c.God
took circumstances that could have discouraged her and the comfort that was
denied her and blessed her beyond all other women.
d.God
Said to Naomi, Yes you are in a tough spot, but hang in there, your great
grandson will be the King of Israel.
Not only should we be
ready to preach the Gospel when Circumstances Discourage us, and when Comfort
is Denied us….BUT
III. The Challenge is
Declared
A.Declaration of Strength 4:11-12
a.People
at the gates said; Make this home like our ancestors Rachael & Leah, which
built Israel.
b.Continue
to make it strong.
c.Notice
how they bless this home with the Jewish tradition of the great leaders of the
past.
d.Now,
that’s a challenge!
e.There
is excitement when we try to make it like it yesterday… The Good ole days!!!!
f.But
God made it better-stronger.
g.We
should always be looking to the future!!!
B.Declaration of Sovereignty
a.God
took a man who was simply next of kin to Naomi’s husband and made him the
redemptive savior to Ruth, which in turn gave Naomi everything she had ever
hoped and dreamed for.
b.It
was God’s Timing- God’s Way- God’s Lessons.
c.God
is a Sovereign God and He does as He pleases!
d.Our
job is to do what Pleases Him too…
Conclusion:
Yes, circumstance are going to discourage us,
sometime comfort will be denied us, but we forever have until Jesus comes back
a Challenge declared to us… Preach the Gospel!!!