Meroney United Methodist Church > Sermons > 2010 Sermons

Investing in the Kingdom of God

Matthew 6:19-21

November 14, 2010 – Stewardship Sunday

Jim Whittaker

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “

Do we trust God? Luke 6:38 says, “Give and it will be given to you. A good measure pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”

We have had 3 difficult times financially in the Whittaker household: once when I got laid off from Exxon Coal and went back to school at Marshall. Call us crazy but we gave 33% tithe of our income to the work of the church. We actually paid a tithe on the money I used to make before I got laid off. Another time was when our kids were in school. Regrettably, I had done a tax return for a preacher and he gave 5% of his income as a tithe. I immediately accepted 5% as the new tithe instead of 10%. The third time was when I was going to school at Duke. The year before we came here, we about starved and were going broke. We tithed 10% during that time.

Now if God’s word is true, I would have to say that the best years in the difficult economic times would be when I attended Marshall and gave 33%. For what you give is what you receive. They are true. Those were some of the better years of our life. It would also mean that the time I struggled the most was when I changed my tithe to 5% instead of 10% based on a preacher’s tax return. By far, the most difficult years were when our children were in college.

Our passage today is asking where is our heart or where is your treasure. Is it with God’s work, or God’s church? Randy Alcorn says follow the money – that is where our heart will be.

If we were to apply this analogy to the church, we might ask where is the money leading? Your money basically pays your pastor, keeps up a church, and gives toward mission. That is all in our budget. All of our other giving is a love offering or money above the 10% tithe. Sometimes we ask questions, like why pay a pastor? A pastor that is paid takes their job seriously and wants to lead the church to be all they can be in living into God’s created purpose for them.  We have grown 48% in worship attendance in the 8 years I have been here. The growth we have encountered at the church is God’s blessings, the faithfulness of the congregation, and the faithfulness of your pastor.   It is not an accident.

How about the church? It takes a lot of money to keep a church building going. Last Sunday night after the church had people cleaning cookers, the Kids for the Kingdom Program, the children’s choir, and the youth, you might think we came to a time when the church quieted down. Except, there was a confirmation class, the praise band was practicing, a small group was meeting, the venture crew was meeting, and the Ruritan executive board was meeting. There was literally no room in the church.

That’s the way a church should be. It should be used. It should be doing Kingdom work. It should be reaching out to the community.

So I ask what is your vision for the church? Do you see new souls coming unto God? Do you see disciples being made?  Another question I ask is this: What is your vision for this church?

Is your vision a God centered, God empowered vision, it is a big vision. If you have a small vision, I would say that could be your vision instead of God’s. When Jesus said bold statements like if you had the faith of a mustard seed you could move a mountain, I truly believe God has a God sized vision for who we can be.

So are we invested in the work and life of the church? Have we bought into and are making sacrifices for the work of God? Is our heart invested into God’s kingdom work? We are going to look at 5 ways we can invest ourselves into God’s work.

1.         Investing in obedience unto God.

Proverbs 3:9, “honor the Lord with your first fruits of the harvest.”

At no time during those tough times of going to Duke Divinity school did we ever quit paying our tithes. I was challenged one time by a pastor who asked me if I was tithing on the parsonage. I told him I hadn’t thought about it, but we switched and also paid a tithe on the value of the parsonage to us. Actually this is nothing to brag about. We expect Christians to go to church, to pray, and to read their Bible. Should we not expect tithes to be paid? A businessman would tell us you couldn’t afford the tithes, we said we could not afford not too. I am not trying to trump up what we have done. I am really saying I want you to join me where I believe God wants us.

I have a question. When you figure your tithe, when do you pay it? This really is important. Many times it is the last thing we pay, and wouldn’t you know it – I have already spent the money. Proverbs states for us to be in full obedience unto God, we pay first. That may mean you have to change your budget and get rid of some of your expenses or cut down on what you do spend. We pay our tithes when we get paid meaning tithes are the first payment we make when we get paid. The verse in Proverbs says when the harvest comes in pay the tithe. That means when you get paid, pay the tithe first not last. It is first fruits for a reason. When we moved here and got a student pastor’s salary, we tithed our salaries and the value of the parsonage even though we were at best a break even situation with our bills. Tithes were and still are a first priority. God has blessed us in what we have made and make, yet God also has seen fit to force us to be poor many times. We have learned several valuable things through these many trials and tribulations to trust God. So the first way we invest in God is in obedience of making the tithe a priority.

2.         Investing over our lifetime.

“God not only looks at what we give, but what we keep.”

Randy Alcorn in his book ttitled, “Money, Possessions, and Eternity says we will all face God to account for what we did with all of his blessings (9). He gives the example of a person who makes $25,000 a year for 45 years. They made a million in their lifetime. What is startling about that statistic is Dianna and I may have already passed our 2^nd million. What am I going to tell God? I ate it all.

The truth is, we are more blessed that we like to admit. Perhaps that isn’t really all that much money until I get brave enough to look at how the rest of the world lives. The international poverty line according to World Bank is $1.25 per day. That can still add up in a lifetime. A person earning at this level would earn $20,000 in 45 years. That’s the same place that 1 billion children are and they live in poverty.   80% of the world (about 5 billion people) live on $10 per day or less which is about $4,000 per year. Randy Alcorn says we as Americans are hooked on materialism.

That’s why Jesus said the woman with the two mites gave more than anyone. Everyone else had given from the money that was extra, she had given all she had. When we invest in our lifetime, we also can give from our estate. Dianna and I, God willing when we die that there is some money left, will almost certainly give a good portion to the Lord’s work. We often forget that some of the greatest gifts can be given when we die.

In 1744, Wesley had written, “[When I die] if I leave behind me ten pounds ... you and all mankind [may] bear witness against me, that I have lived and died a thief and a robber.” When he died in 1791, the only money mentioned in his will was the miscellaneous coins to be found in his pockets and dresser drawers.

3.       Investing in Others - God calls us to voluntary live on less than what we can afford.

Luke 18:22bff – “Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”

Luke 18:8 – “Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.”

The rich young ruler had a heart problem. He was willing to do things that made him look religious on the outside such as praying, studying the Bible, and coming to worship, but there was no evidence that any of God’s word had penetrated his heart. His money was his God. In contrast, Zacchaeus exclaimed he was going to give ½ of his income away (not 100% like the rich young ruler), but Jesus appeared to be happy with that. Why? Zacchaeus was no longer controlled by money. Zacchaeus experienced salvation.

Does the New Testament really teach tithing or is that an Old Testament thing?

Matthew 23:23 –Woe to you scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites, you tithe to the most excruciating detail, yet you have neglected justice, mercy and faith. You should have practiced these without neglecting the tithe.

Dianna and I practice 10 – 10 – 10

That’s 10% in Savings. 10% Tithe. 10% Debt Reduction. That leaves us 70% from which we pay taxes, live on, and also give our love offerings. Our love gifts do not come from our tithes. They come from above our tithes.  I share with you how John Wesley grew in his giving over his life.

John Wesley received 30 pounds to live on as a stipend while attending Oxford. That was plenty of money for a young single man to live on. While at Oxford, an incident changed his perspective on money. He had just finished paying for some pictures for his room when one of the chambermaids came to his door. It was a cold winter day, and he noticed that she had nothing to protect her except a thin linen gown. He reached into his pocket to give her some money to buy a coat but found he had too little left. Immediately, the thought struck him that the Lord was not pleased with the way he had spent his money. He asked himself, Will thy Master say, “Well done, good and faithful steward?” Thou hast adorned thy walls with the money which might have screened this poor creature from the cold! O justice! O mercy! Are not these pictures the blood of this poor maid?  What Wesley Did

Perhaps as a result of this incident, in 1731, Wesley began to limit his expenses so that he would have more money to give to the poor. He records that one year his income was 30 pounds and his living expenses 28 pounds, so he had 2 pounds to give away. The next year his income doubled, but he still managed to live on 28 pounds, so he had 32 pounds to give to the poor. In the third year, his income jumped to 90 pounds. Instead of letting his expenses rise with his income, he kept them to 28 pounds and gave away 62 pounds. In the fourth year, he received 120 pounds. As before, his expenses were 28 pounds, so his giving rose to 92 pounds.

Wesley felt that the Christian should not merely tithe but give away all extra income once the family and creditors were taken care of. He believed that with increasing income,

what should rise is not the Christian’s standard of living but the standard of giving.

http://saintluther.blogspot.com/2007/05/about-money-john-wesley.html

It is up and beyond the minimum requirement set by God. Wesley did also said “earn all you can, save all you can, and give all you can.”

Investing in God’s work is a spiritual issue so to not invest in God’s work of the church is a spiritual problem.

Which statement is more true?

All of what I have is mine and I give God some for his work. Or,

All I have is God’s, and God allows me to have some to live on.

4.       Investing in Self - God calls us to be cheerful and joyous in our giving

II Corinthians 9:7bff – “For God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.”

There is an old saying that money doesn’t buy happiness. I give you some quotes from some people who made plenty of money at the beginning of last century.

John D. Rockefeller – “I have made many millions, but they have brought me no happiness. “

W.H. Vanderbilt – “The care of 200 million is enough to kill anyone.”

John Jacob Astor – “I am the most miserable man on earth.”

Henry Ford – “I was happier when doing a mechanic’s job.”

Andrew Carnegie – “Millionaires seldom smile.”

                (All from Randy Alcorn’s book, “Money, Possessions, and Eternity,” 47).

It is easy for us to tell someone else to trust God or for the church as a whole to trust God in providing our needs. It becomes a little different when we realize that we are the church, and what we are really saying is do we trust God to provide our needs? That makes it personal.

The verse preceding this section says “do not give reluctantly” nor do we give “under compulsion.” That means we do not give because we feel we are forced too. We give because our gifts are a true offering unto God. Our compulsion must be because God has made a way of salvation for us and we should respond in love and give gifts unto him. God expects our gifts.

5.       Investing in God - God says put me to the test

Malachi 3:8 puts it in plain language – “will you rob God?” Instead, we are commanded to put the full tithe into God’s storehouse and test God. God invites us to test him and see if he will not provide.

Have you put God to this tithe test? God says give what is due and see if I don’t bless. The real question is will I trust God to provide? Or will I want to trust myself. We will never give God our tithe cheerfully unless we give out of love and because God commands us to give and we give in loving obedience.

We as a church are experiencing some growing pains as we grow during some difficult economic times. People have lost jobs and income has been lost. We will be tested ourselves can we arise to the occasion. If the church cannot reach out to people in tough times, can they when times are good? It is in the rough times, that the church needs to be there.

Concluding Challenge:

Here is my challenge: realize that everyone who attends needs to support the church about $1200 a piece next year. Some can and some can’t. I challenge you to take on even a greater challenge and that is to tithe 10% - God’s minimum amount. I challenge us to fully support the budget. We will not fully cover the 2010 budget unless things change in December. We have given tremendously this year. I am as proud of this church as I can be without sinning, but we cannot forget it is the budget that allows us to do all the good things we do with children, youth, men, women, and outreach.

We are trying to dream God’s dream. We realize that as we continue to grow our facilities will be tested. We need more room now. I am dreaming of an after school program for children. I am dreaming of having a Food Pantry more often. Could we even do a free meal once a week to the community? What is your dream?

I am dreaming of 8 young people confessing Jesus as their Savior and begin baptized demonstrating both the grace of God and their love of God. I am dreaming of a place where people of all races can come to worship together. I am dreaming of a place if you need help, you know this is the place to come too. I am dreaming of a place where in 2011 even greater things than has happened this year happens next year. While it might be easy for us to say as a church we can touch hundreds, I am dreaming of us saying we have touched thousands. I am dreaming of a place where every boy, girl, woman, and man leave this place of worship and say surely God was in this place.

Do you have a dream for God’s kingdom right here, right now?

This dream will take our time, our gifts, our money, our prayers, and our presence to be the witness we have been called to be.

Have you invested yourself into the dream?

(Pull out your Investment Card – look at it. How are you going to invest your time, your gifts, and your money. Note the beginning place is 10%. As Angela plays through the first verse, I ask you to complete the card)

Amen.

Sermon – There is Life after Death

Luke 20:27-38

November 7, 2010

Jim Whittaker

The elections are over. We all give a sigh of relief. The non-stopping mailings, phone calls, and commercials have now stopped. This election once again demonstrated a clear divide in our country between liberals and conservatives. The conservatives gained some of their momentum back. Perhaps now the real fighting and bickering has only begun as both conservatives and liberals position themselves for the next presidential election 2 years from now.

It may surprise you that there was a clear divide in the religious leaders and followers in Jesus’ day between conservatives and liberals. Now let me say this – we are not talking Republicans and Democrats even though there might be some similarities. We are talking Pharisees and Sadducees. First, the liberals – the Pharisees were the liberals of Jesus’ day, and it may also surprise you that Jesus was in the Pharisee tradition. Why are Pharisees considered liberal? They believed not only were the first 5 books or the law God ordained, but other writings including Rabbinic teachings and the traditions of their ancestors. They were the party of more. There were more writings and traditions to guide you in living out a life for God. The Pharisees were a layperson movement of religious reform. They were the common people. They were the people concerned with the poor. By birth in a stable, Jesus was destined to become a Pharisee. Jesus wasn’t always with the liberals even though he came from the Pharisee more liberal tradition. I would even say that Jesus attempted to cause major reform in the Pharisee movement. Jesus believed the “more” could go too far. As an example of reform: The most liberal rabbinic teachings said a man could divorce a woman if she did anything that displeased him and the example was given of burning the breakfast toast. Jesus said, “get a life.” Well that is actually a loose interpretation. Jesus wanted the liberals to take marriage more seriously. Burning the bread, that is not just cause for divorce. Jesus criticized them in that they took their traditions more seriously than a real heart felt devotion to God.

Next, there were the Sadducees. They were the conservatives. They were the party of no. No to rabbinic teachings. No to additional writings being used to guide your life as God ordained. What the first 5 books say settles it. There were generally wealthy and in the priestly line that had gotten involved enough in the politics of their day that they were now part of the ruling Roman establishment. When Rome was destroyed in 70Ad, there was no longer a place for them so the disappeared. A major theological difference between the conservative Sadducees and the liberal Pharisees was the resurrection, angels and spirits, and human responsibility. The Sadducees representing a wealthier people believed there was no resurrection. What you get in this life is your reward. If you are faithful unto God, God will bless you. If you are not faithful, you won’t get blessed. It is just that simple. The Pharisees represented more of the common person. They believed that God did not always punish and reward all of those who deserved such in this life, but there would be a resurrection where the good would be rewarded and the bad would be punished. Jesus was considered a rabbi. He was a Pharisee. So we have an implausible scene where the conservative Sadducees who truly do not believe in the resurrection comes to Jesus, a Pharisee, to discredit his teachings on the resurrection and hopefully in the process promote their agenda. So let’s get to the heart of the matter – what is it that we believe?

A. Why I believe in All Saints Day.

1. Jesus said there is a resurrection

All Saints Day is a time when we recognize the deaths in the Christian faith and acknowledge that they are in God’s presence. All Saints Day is a time when we recognize that the communion of saints (saints mean those who have separated themselves to God) includes not only all believers alive in the world today but all of the believers who have died to be with the Lord. I believe in “All Saints Day” because Jesus said there was a resurrection. Later, Jesus rose from the dead, and almost 500 witnesses saw him. Jesus didn’t argue over whether there would be a resurrection. He states those who are worthy of the resurrection will rise from the dead. As a reminder, those are the ones who have confessed a faith in Jesus and have also lived like they believe Jesus saved them. The Sadducees were hoping Jesus would have a mental breakdown and give them something to argue with him about to prove there was no resurrection.

2. God is the God of the Living

Jesus used another reason as well as he went back and quoted scripture. Scripture is always a good place to go. How could God be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob if they were dead and decayed never to rise again? They couldn’t. God is the God of the living. God brings us life when we are assured death.

B. The Dangers of not believing

1. Wrong Belief leads to Wrong Living

Here is what Jesus said – you Sadducees have a major misconception of what it means to be resurrected from the dead. You think we are going to live just exactly as we are now so your case of the Levirate law where it is the duty of the nearest of kin to help the widow have children so she can have an inheritance of children is completely flawed for this reason. Paul says it this way, we are going to be changed in a moment in a twinkling of an eye. We are going to get a new body. We will be a new creation. There will be no need for anyone to have children in God’s kingdom because his kingdom is a kingdom without end. Jesus said we will be like angels.

Why didn’t the Sadducees or the conservatives believe in the resurrection? In our day and time it is the most liberal element that denies the bodily resurrection. I remember when a Bishop in the United Methodist Church said the resurrection is spiritual. I argued in a paper I wrote at Duke he was wrong using the same argument that the early church used. This argument was formulated by Athanasius. It basically was this – how a church acts is what they believe. Now consider this: when we bury a loved one their fee faces east. Why? So when they rise from the dead in their body, they are already facing Jerusalem – God’s city. We believe in a physical resurrection. Their wrong belief leads to wrong living.

2. Sold Out

Why didn’t they believe in the resurrection? I have an answer for you. They were sold out. They could not believe in anything that contradicted the affluent life style they had attained. They were the prosperity gospel of their day. They believed that the godly received their reward right now, which backed up the fact since they were rich, God must be blessing them. If we used that logic today, it would be obvious that God loves Americans and hates people from North Korea, India, and a large part of the continent of Africa. If this life is our reward, then certainly don’t try to help other people – God has put them in that place because they deserved it. This shows some major dangers of selling out to our culture of affluence.

Our Christian belief supersedes our classifications of conservative and liberal. We are a people who believe in miracles like the resurrection yet also see the danger of selling ourselves out to an affluent world. We are also people who believe by default then in an eternal Kingdom of God. We are a people who believe that our loved ones have already gone on before us. We are also a people who believe that live in God even now. Our hope is that one day as our own bodies age and decay, that we too will go to be with our God.

Are you ready for the resurrection? Have you given your life to God? Are you living like you have?

We have a hope that cannot die because we believe in the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of believer’s bodies.

Amen.

Sermon: Too Much!

John 20:1-10

Easter Sunrise, 7am

April 4, 2010

Jim Whittaker

Introduction:

As I think back on the past year, there are things that were just too much.

Our government said GM and Chrysler were too big to fail. Possibly so. Madoff cheated people out of too much money. There has been too many sex scandals. We need to learn more about being faithful. We may have just come upon a new one for the first time: too much health care or maybe too much government. How about this one: too much politics.

I found out that in 2009 I ate too much. I gained about 10 pounds. I paid too much taxes. If I am going to give money away, I would like to choose where it goes. When it comes to God, I have a tendency to talk too much. God would like me to listen a little more.

Well, I would like to proclaim to you, that Easter is too much. You might think I am talking about all of the church services in the past week. No that is not it. Easter is too much. Let me explain. Let’s go to our Easter story.

Facts:

Mary couldn’t sleep that Sabbath night. As soon as sun comes up, it turns into the first day of the week – Sunday. Mary can only walk ½ mile on a Sabbath. She is cutting it close if she was walking further than ½ mile, which she would have been if she is walking from Bethany. It is almost day break. She is in a hurry and wants to be to her destination by the early morning. The darkness of the night also tells us something more. It tells us that Mary cannot see everything. Her vision is not quite clear. She doesn’t see the full story or picture. We know that is true. She gets to the grave site, which was the grave of a local wealthy person, Joseph of Arimethea. But when she gets there, she is startled – the round stone shaped like a huge truck tire and anywhere from about 3 to 6 feet would have been the door – it was rolled back. Someone has already gotten into the grave. She feared the worst. Someone has tampered with the grave. John didn’t give us much detail. Did she look in at the grave? We don’t know. It appears that she may have decided to get the men folk because there might be trouble so she ran to get John and Peter who probably were still staying at the cave at the Garden of Gethsemane. I don’t know whether no one else was interested or because it was a foot race between John and Peter, but they are the only two mentioned. They wanted to know what had happened to the grave. Peter ran to the tomb first and looked in. No Jesus. The tomb is empty. He saw two piles of linen clothes. John catches up and goes inside. John didn’t know what exactly had happened, but the scriptures record “he believed.” He didn’t understand it, but he knew somehow, Jesus had done a wonderful work. He had seen too many miracles to not think that somehow a miracle had happened here. But, that being said. Peter and John didn’t hang around long. They decided to go back to the place they were staying for this Passover week – probably the cave at the Garden of Gethsemane unless Mary and Martha had invited them to stay with them at Bethany. Now we have to suppose Mary had walked back. She might have met John and Peter along the way as they were going back. They might have asked here where was she going? She remarked, I have just got to see one more time. Who had taken Jesus? What has happened? I would like to have some answers she must have thought. She made it back to the gravesite, and burst into tears. It was bad enough for Jesus to have faced the cruel death that he did, but to steal the body. You have to remember, that at this point even the disciples are not believers. They don’t remember what Jesus saying about the 3 days he would rebuild the temple or if they did – they didn’t realize he was talking about his body. Mary in her tears finally gets some answers. There are two angels and they ask her, “why are you weeping?” She begins to explain to them how it appears that someone has stolen Jesus’ body. Did they know where his body was? Then there is another question but not from the angels. It was behind her. The angels were in the tomb. This voice came from outside the tomb. This voice also asked her the same question, “why are you weeping?” She just assumed it was the care take of the garden. This was probably an olive tree orchard. The word garden means “cultivated area.” It really doesn’t mean our English garden concept like you mind find when you go the Elizabethan gardens at Manteo. It was the first day of the week. Passover is over. The Sabbath is over. People are now going back to work. It was a natural assumption, but that voice sounded so familiar. So Jesus just shouted out her name – Mary! Then she could see clearly. She could see through her tears. The darkness of night had gone away. It was Jesus. She hugged him tight, and he told her don’t hug so tight for I am not staying. I haven’t even gone back home to see my daddy – God the Father. So Mary left to go tell the disciples, “I have seen Jesus my Lord. He is in plain view.”

Application:

Define: The God of Too Much

What lesson do we learn from this Easter story? God is the God of too much. We often try to worship a god of our own making called the god of too little. I ask for you to recall the feeding of the 4,000 and the feeding of the 5,000. What was the disciple’s response when Jesus said we got to feed this people. It would take a ½ year’s wages to feed them. We have too little. What did Jesus say, God is the God of too much. Feeding 5,000 people that is too much right. Not to Jesus. What we find is often we are looking for the god of too little when the God we worship – he is too much.

Mary was looking for the god of too little. Who is this god? This is a god who gets crucified and dies. This is a religious movement that dies. This is a god that might pull off small miracles, but the big ones – no way. This is a god that fits into the human imagination. This is a god that I can control. Now when we apply that to us today, the god of too little cannot see God at work, cannot imagine a god of possibilities, and even when we feel god working and we start visioning what this god can do, we ourselves put human limits on this god and say that is too much. No the problem is we are thinking too little.

Did not Jesus say that we as disciples of Christ as God’s church would do greater things than what he did when he fed the 5,000? Jesus himself said think too much. Easier said than done, right. Well lets look at Mary.

1. Mary’s journey began in darkness.

Mary could not see or imagine the God of possibilities. Her head was stuck in the sand when it came to the tomb. She could see no other possibility than someone stealing Jesus’ body. She didn’t bother to look into the empty tomb at first or she did so hurriedly that she noted nothing unusual.

We need to see the God of possibilities. We should open our eyes and see that God is working. Now Mary when she came back, she obviously didn’t think it was that unusual to talk to angels. The gospels talk about these angels as in dazzling white. They were awe striking.

Can we see the God of possibilities in our own life. Let’s remember what we are celebrating today, we are celebrating Easter – the resurrection of Jesus who died on the cross yet in 3 days he was alive with a new body. Talk about imagining the possibilities. That which was dead can live. There is nothing that God’s grace cannot touch. He is the God of second chances. He is the God of possibilities. He is the God of abundant living. We are the ones who put limits on what God can do. Instead of visioning how God can use us – yes you and me in ministry together, we will complain of what we what we don’t have. Remember Moses, I don’t have a good voice. God said I am using you anyway.

How about as a church, can we see the God of possibilities? Can we see this place as the center of much mission work? Can we see this place as a key place of discipleship where people go out to live a life for God. Not just here in Bear Creek, but in Bennett, Silk Hope, Siler City, Pittsboro, Gulf, and Sanford. God is using this place. God is blessing this place. When we see the numbers going up in church, we ought to be saying glory hallelujauh, God has brought more workers to the working fields. God is giving us much so we can do much. Any God that can raise the dead back to life, can do much more than we can ever imagine.

What can block those possibilities:

Darkness – the failure to see what God is doing.

Tears – Tears made it hard to see.

Unbelief – Mary wasn’t expecting a resurrection and even though she was standing right in the midst of one, she didn’t recognize it.

What can help those possibilities to flow:

Perseverance – Mary gives us a picture of perseverance. She wouldn’t let go. She hung around. She went back. She looked again. She talked to strangers, and when she did see Jesus she gave him a big ol bear hug and Jesus had to tell her don’t hug so tight for I am not staying here. That is the job of the Holy Spirit.

Prayers – Mary poured her heart out to God. I believe that God led her to be able to see God working. God made it so she recognized Jesus’ voice. God answered her prayer and she got to see Jesus.

Letting Go – Mary had latched onto Jesus when she did finally see him, but she was thinking of the earthly Jesus. She wasn’t thinking of the Jesus who had victoriously conquered death. She was thinking of a Jesus who would sit at the right hand of the Father who would rule and judge the world. She was holding onto an earthly Jesus. Jesus had to tell her to let go. God had even greater things yet to do.

Easter is really a time when we are asked can we imagine the possibilities of a God who resurrects the dead?

This God can take a like that is in a wreck and made it wonderful and God inspiring life again.

This God can take a bunch of Christian misfits – kind of the like the disciples – and change the world. That’s the God of too much. That is why Easter is too much. It means God can do more than we ever imagined. God can transform lives, change lives, give second chances.

So what do you see this morning in the empty tomb? A bunch of wadded up clothes or a God who has arisen from the dead. I am telling you this morning – Jesus has risen from dead. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!. Amen.