Easter Sunday, Resurrection Moments

I want you to know from up here, as you lift your voice, I believe God is pleased this morning with your worship. I believe he today is fulfilling his promise and inhabiting the praises and the worship of his people. Be expectant for God to even touch your life today. I believe he's here in great power. Let's be seated, shall we? I want to say to the folks way in the back in the overflow, Lord willing and with all of your help, next Easter we could be in our new building. You'll have a seat where you can see and a place where you can hear. That's our goal. We need you all to participate to be able to make that goal, but it's not too late to get involved. In fact, if you'd like to, after the service there at that table, there's going to be some material about opening our doors, and I'm going to ask you to step up there if you'd like to know something about that effort. Let's turn in our Bibles now, please, to Matthew, I'm sorry, to John. I've been doing this too many times. I mean, yeah, John's Gospel, chapter 20. If you don't have a Bible, we did make an overhead, and I'll need that folder, please. You know, saying that reminds me of a Russian custom at a wedding. I don't know if you've ever heard this, but at Christian weddings in the Soviet Union, it's customary to give the bride and groom scriptures, and a person came up and gave the bride a scripture, and she turned to it and read it, and she started weeping. The intended scripture was 1 John 4 and 18, which says, there's no fear in love, perfect love drives out fear. And that's an appropriate scripture for a wedding, perfect love drives out fear. But unfortunately, she had turned to John 4, 18, which says, you were right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you've had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. So, you know, it's John 20, okay? That's all. Make sure we're at the right place. Beginning in verse 24, if we could put it up, please. Now, Thomas Caldidimus, one of the twelve, was not with them, with the disciples when Jesus came. 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 hands into his side, I will not believe it. A week later, his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them. And don't gloss over that. Do you see what happened there? Someone said, oh, he came through a window. No. How did Jesus get there? Somehow, yeah, I don't know what the word is, but he materialized. I don't know what this resurrection body of ours is going to be like, but I'm psyched, aren't you? Just to be able to appear somewhere, and there we are. That's what Jesus did, and his words, peace be with you, and then he said to Thomas, put your finger here, see my hands, reach out your hand and put it into my side, stop doubting and believe. And Thomas said to him, read these words, my Lord and my God, and then Jesus told him, because you've seen me, you've believed, blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. On Thanksgiving of 1991, Father Jim Bruce of Lake Ridge, Virginia, which is a suburb of Washington, D.C., was a lonely and discouraged Catholic priest. Reading his story last week in U.S. News and World Report, spoke to me about a defining moment that Father Bruce had in his life. Here's what it says, Father Jim, one night, dispirited and alone in his room at the rectory, began to question whether he should be a priest at all. What was the point? And if Christ was real, why couldn't he feel his presence? Have you ever asked that question? Confused and distraught, he prayed to God, I don't know where to turn. And please help me. A few days later at Thanksgiving, the priest went home to visit his parents. Jimmy, come in here. And Bruce, a kindly woman with a tight brown perm, stood in the center of her tidy living room on Thanksgiving Day. She was staring at a statue of Our Lady of Grace, which her son had brought her as an early Christmas present. This statue had a drop of water on its cheek. And as Mrs. Bruce, her husband and son, watched, more drops appeared. It's crying, said Mrs. Bruce. Her husband stared in befuddlement. There must be some explanation, he said. Jim Bruce was a born Presbyterian, and though he converted to Catholicism, he'd never shared his wife's unswerving faith, privately believing her a bit brainwashed. Some of you think the same thing today. He picked the statue up, scrutinized it, turned it upside down, shook it. Later he removed a tiny jeweled halo from its head, then took a flashlight and magnifying glass, peering into its holes. But the tears just kept coming. So began the saga of a defining moment for Father Jim Bruce. Following that incident later on, Jim experienced what's called stigmata, where his hands began to bleed and his feet a little spontaneously, no explanation. He found that when he walked into hospital rooms and prayed for people, they were instantly healed. He found that God was more real to him than he'd ever known. Of course, skeptics and pessimists and doubters flocked to the church, along with seekers by the thousands. But Father Jim experienced a defining moment. Here's what he said in the end. He said, Christ is using these events to show that he is real. Now these special intersections of our otherwise routine lives, when we're just kind of going along and suddenly, out of nowhere, something comes through our life that changes the course of our destiny forever. These things happen in every arena of life, not just spiritually. How many sports fans happen to watch the Monday night Final Four game? Let me see your hand. Please encourage me. Chris Webber had a defining moment on Monday night, didn't he? Those of you who know the game know what he did, calling a timeout with 11 seconds left. Michigan had the ball and two points down. They'd won a lot of games this year that way. He turned to the official, and this picture's on every newspaper in America the next day, holding the ball like this, calling a timeout, a timeout they didn't have. A timeout that cost them a technical foul. North Carolina made two free throws. They won the game. And Chris Webber, the star of the tournament, no doubt about it, had, in effect, lost the last opportunity. He'll never forget it. In fact, sports columnist in USA Today, Brian Burwell, says this. Do such moments define the man, or does the man ultimately define the moments? Chris Webber will recover. He happens to know Jesus Christ. He was quoted as saying, when such things happen, it's not God judging you. He's just stretching you a bit, yeah, quite a bit. I could tell you about men in our congregation who've had defining moments. Last night here in this service, there was a man seated right over in that section, who for 13 years after he was married, drove a truck, rode Harley Davidson motorcycles everywhere, hung out in biker bars, by his own admission, done everything imaginable and then some. He said, there wasn't a thing you could tell me that I hadn't tried. He said, my life was crazy. He said, then one day in Iowa, I'd been gone from home, my wife didn't know where I was. I was sitting at a bar and he said, something came over me and I realized I was throwing away my one and only life. I got in, I walked out of the bar, got in my 18-wheeler, drove all the way back to Pittsburgh, walked up to my boss's desk, plopped the keys down and said, I quit. I can't do this anymore. He walked into this church on a Saturday night, three years ago and gave his life to Jesus Christ and had a defining moment. He's still growing along, he's still trying to understand it all, but he's on a whole different course in his life. I could tell you about a successful marketer and a sales rep, a person who had a great future and wonderful opportunities, a wonderful family and then one day woke up, instead of looking into early retirement and successful accumulation of things, he woke up with chest pains and ended up in the hospital. I remember him telling me after he came out of the hospital, he said, God got my attention. I need to do something different with my life. You see, all of us go through these things, we don't know when they're going to happen, we don't know when those moments are going to take place, but we know that they can define our destiny. Thomas, in these scriptures, had just such a moment as he faced the resurrected Jesus. Now, I want you to see something. Thomas didn't just arrive here, this wasn't the first time. In fact, time doesn't allow us, but let me just mention a couple of scriptures where we see something of Thomas' curiosity. John 11 and 16, when Jesus said, we're going to go to Lazarus and raise him from the dead, Thomas said to the rest of the disciples, listen to this, listen to his tone here. Well, let us also go that we may die with him. A bit pessimistic, wouldn't you say? Later on in John 14, Jesus said, you know the place where I'm going, here's Thomas again. Thomas said to him, we don't know where you're going, so how can we know the way? Always asking questions. And then here, we read that Thomas wasn't there when Jesus first appeared, and he said, unless I can touch, unless I can put my hand up, I will not believe. And for that defining moment, he was called Doubting Thomas. And yet in the end, you see, Doubting Thomas became Believing Thomas. I've put this in sort of an easy to remember format. There's four phases of a spiritual journey, at least, that all of us go on. I'd like you just to kind of think where you might be in this particular journey right now in your walk. The first phase is what we call the spectator phase, all right? Some of you are here today. This is where you just don't get it when it comes to church. I mean, what is the big deal? You may be like the man I invited to worship with us this past Sunday. He's one of the professionals that's working on our new building project. I said, how'd you like to come worship with us on Easter Sunday? He said, he responded, well, thanks. And I think he meant, well, sort of thanks. And here's what he said. He said, my wife is dragging me to her church. Now, what's the operative word there? See, God and Bible and church, those things don't mean much to you in this particular phase. It's not part of your regular thought process. You know, you drive by a church on a Sunday morning on your way to your golf game, you say, what? You know, why are those wasting their time? You see a TV evangelist, you know, you're clicking through this, you get him off as soon as you can. What's the use? Things like David Koresh and the cult in Waco, Texas, that's, you know, that confirms what you think about all these people. They're weird, wackos. You ask, what's the point of all this? What's the relevance of it all? You're just a spectator. Some of you, listen, you may be in that particular phase today. That's, we acknowledge that's fine. I mean, that's where you are. We accept you there. Most of us start there. Some of you, however, are in what's called the seeker phase. That's when you get a bit curious about God and you start asking questions. Maybe you achieve, like Ron was describing, a lot of success in life, and it's not satisfying your soul. So you say, well, what else is there? So you secretly go out and buy a Bible. You know, you put it in a brown paper bag and take it to work. You kind of read it when no one's looking. Then when you see the evangelist on TV, instead of clicking right over, yeah, well, I'll listen a little to this guy and that guy, and you find out who you like. You find a Christian or two that have an authentic walk that you identify with, and you ask them some honest questions. You're really looking, trying to understand. I want to encourage you today. Jesus said, those who seek me shall surely find me. But then something happens, and some of you enter into what's called the believer phase. In fact, many of you here today are in the believer phase. You've come to the conviction that Jesus is alive, as we've sung today, that He is real, that He is the Son of God, that He did die for the sins of the world, yours and mine. You've personally received Him. You've accepted Him as your guide and friend and comforter and strength and your hope and security for eternal life. And you come to church on a regular basis, kind of growing and benefiting from all that's offered to you. You're a believer. But there's a fourth phase that a number of you are in, but many of you are not in quite yet. And it's what I'm going to call today the builder phase. Spectator, seeker, believer, builder. This is when you discover that there's something more to life, something more to the Christian life than you've experienced. You've discovered the Holy Spirit as the baptizer in love and power for servants. You've kind of had it with the values of life. You know, if you get one more Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes finalist letter, you know, it's going to drive you nuts. You know, the values of our culture have kind of turned you a little sour. You're tired of seeing people pay $20 million to chase little balls around the field, you know. It doesn't matter anymore. You're tired of the cutthroat business deals that you have to do to survive. The egotistical entertainers in the world whose only words are that which exalt themselves. In this phase, you start to realize that what really matters in life is just two things. It's knowing God and it's loving people. That's the only two things that really matter. And so you determine from that point that you're going to begin to invest your best energies, your resources, your time, your creativity. You're going to invest who you are in the advancement of the kingdom of God. You come to realize that everything else that you really want to keep, you can't, including your teeth, smooth skin, svelte bodies, or your hair. You've heard the politically correct term for baldness, haven't you? It's follically deprived. I relate. But when you're in this phase, you just keep your focus on what is going to last eternally. And you're unashamed about it. You're intentional and strategic. Now listen, you're not weird or like, you know, you're not a unidimensional one, no. But you are absolutely focused on the cause. And you take a proactive responsibility to build a strong relationship with God and His church and His people and His purposes. All right, let me summarize this. And Lee, could we put up the, yeah, that little chart? Here's what it looks like in sort of a chart form. Let's put the whole thing and slide up just a little bit. There we go. You start as a spectator. You move to be a seeker, then a believer, and then a builder. And dear ones, notice it keeps climbing. Some of you have been a builder for a few years. Notice it doesn't tail off. You keep climbing in maturity, growing in grace and in strength. You see this? Is it pretty clear? Do you know kind of where you are on that particular chart? You might be 13 years old today. You're somewhere on that chart. Now you say, what does this have to do with defining moments in our lives? I mean, what does this have to do with those stories you told us in the beginning? Simply this. After 20 years in full-time ministry, it's my studied observation that once you're in a phase of your spiritual journey, very rarely does a person move from one phase to the next without having a defining moment with God, without having some intersection of God in his life. Folks, listen. People do not just kind of meander up the chart of spirituality. You don't sort of drift from one level of commitment to the next. In fact, can I tell you it's just the opposite? My observation is that people are kind of like the second law of thermodynamics. How many... Yeah, some of you scientists know that. There's a second law of spiritual dynamics. Any person left to themself will increase in confusion and meaninglessness. No doubt about it. You need a jolt. I mean, you need some kind of intervention. Something that'll stop you short of your tracks and help you to see that there is a living Christ. Something that Thomas experienced right there when Jesus opened up his hands and said, Touch me. Touch me. And I want to submit to you on this Easter Sunday, there is nothing more real than that resurrection Savior who is here in our midst today and says to you, Touch me. Now, there are three agents. This is the second point on your outline. If you're taking notes, most of you are thinking about it. Three specific things. What are you going to talk about at dinner today? Three agents. Number one, extreme pain. Second, intense love. And third, undeniable truth. These are the only things that I've discovered that move us along in our soul-searching journey toward maturity. These things are what bring us to a defining moment and making a decision that we're going to go ahead. Interestingly now, leave them up for just a moment, Thomas experienced all three of these at the same time. I mean, he really needed a jolt, it seemed to me. He experienced the extreme pain of watching the one he thought was his Savior dying on the cross. Can I submit to you the reason that he wasn't with the apostles at the first appearance of Jesus was he was too discouraged to believe that something could happen. He was hiding. He was pained. But then the apostles reached out to him with love and we read that for a week they enfolded him so that a week later their love kept him secure. And when Jesus appeared the second time, Thomas was there to have his encounter. I just want to encourage some of you who have loved ones and friends who maybe aren't believers, keep reaching to them. You see, your love, your intense love can be a message to them. But clearly the most powerful thing in Thomas' life was that moment when Jesus... Can you picture it in your mind right now? Can you see Jesus opening his hands like this? Can you see him saying, Thomas, reach out and touch me right there, go ahead. Put your hand in my side. I don't believe that there's a doubter in this place today that could resist that jolt of undeniable truth. You say, yeah, if I could just see it, I'd believe it. Jesus said, blessed are those who don't see and yet believe. Now I could give you so many illustrations of people who experienced one of these motivators as a defining moment in their life. Ron told us of a couple of his. I could tell you about a 42-year-old account executive who came in a couple of months ago just to check North Way out. He said to me afterwards, he said, I've never been in such pain. I had an affair and it led to the breakup of my marriage and the loss of my family. And I never had any time for God. But now I feel so alone that I've got to find some answers and I'm checking out to see if God has them. And I assured him he was looking at the right place. He was about to move from spectator into seeker. And he's been seeking with us now for a couple of months. I could tell you about a young boy by the name of Jerry. It's not his real name, but his brother brought him to youth group. And as our youth pastors tell this story, when they spent a little time with him, they found out that the family had had a history of neglect and abuse. And little Jerry had never really known the love of a father. And when pastors Tim and Andrew shared with him about God, the father's perfect love, little Jerry was very quick to say, I want to know him. And he prayed to receive Christ about 10 days ago as his savior. The love of God reached out to him. So many stories I could tell you about. Scriptures packed full of these things. Defining moments, burning bushes, messages from God, lost fortunes, devastating illnesses, even loved ones who've gone astray. But each one of them were enough to jolt the person onto the next phase of their walk. Let me tell you about one who moved from being a believer to a builder. I see his parents here today. I know they're proud of him. This is our youth pastor, Tim Gartner's brother, Brennan. I knew Brennan before I knew Tim. He kind of wandered into North Way. He had a full scholarship to Penn State in football. He was a great guy. But he wasn't really sure what he wanted to do with his life. And he tried some things. And then he took a weekend to go up to New York City and walk the streets with the homeless people and sit around in a circle of men, all of whom had the AIDS virus and told of how they'd gone from hopelessness to faith. And in four days of a visit in New York, he had a defining moment with God. And now three and a half, almost four years later, he continues to serve up there on the streets of New York City where unimaginable things happen every day. But he's growing as a builder. When I read his letters, my heart just begins to pump because I see a man that's walking in the will of God for his life. I've seen this hundreds of times, folks. People don't just wonder, if you're here today thinking next Easter I'll be a little more committed. You won't. You need a defining moment. You need to confront where you are. This happened to me in my life many, many times. I thank God for those of you in this congregation who continue to bring me to those points. But I remember back, just about to graduate from college, the friend who I've told you about in previous messages who had jolted me from being sort of a secret of really being a believer took me to breakfast one day near the end of our college time. He said, Well, what are you going to do with your life, Jay, that's going to last? Now, I was majoring in chemistry. I'd been applying at business school for an MBA. And I told him, I said, I've got these great plans. I think I'm going to make quite a success of myself. And he said, I'm not impressed. He said, God has something better for you. You know what really bugged me about him? He was always right. I couldn't get those words out of my mind. God has something better for you. For days, I just couldn't shake it. God has something better for you. Well, we were driving then to a track meet near the end of the springtime. It was late in the college season. And all I could remember was, it was the day of the national draft lottery. Now, how many of you were conscious at that point? This is 1969. And what they did, for those of you who weren't conscious then, they put all of our birthdays and assigned a number to them. And then, over national radio and TV, they pulled out your number and your birthday. And that was your number. And that was your draft number. And all the numbers above 150 and so got a deferment. No problem. And all the ones below that got drafted almost immediately and went directly to Vietnam. Did not pass code. Did not collect anything that went to Vietnam. That was it. So we're driving in the car. And I'm thinking, man, I've got life. I'm just real excited. And I've got four guys with me in the team. And one guy's number comes up. 245. And he's rejoicing. You know, great. Going to go on, get rich and stuff. Next guy's number, 198. Man, I'm in like... And he's excited. I'm getting a little nervous. You know, my birthday's not up there yet. Next guy comes up, 101. There's this silence in the car. You know, poor guy. What are you going to do? I don't know. Keep waiting. Finally my birthday comes up. I'm figuring, you know, the odds got to be with me. Plus I prayed, you know. April 21st, 66. I wanted to pull the car over right then. Call my friend John. Now you said God had something better. This couldn't be it, could it? All I can tell you is God worked things out and I went in the military for a season and all that kind of stuff. But I want you to know something. God intersected my life. And all my plans at that moment went... I mean, I had a defining moment. I can remember it. I can remember that 66. I thought it was 666. That's what I thought. Those of you who understand that. Okay? But you know, at that moment I realized I had to surrender. I mean, it was out of my control. Either God was going to come through for me or not and I had to yield to Him. And that's a whole other story as He took me through the Marine Corps and all that kind of stuff and led me into ministry. But you see, at our defining moments we have a choice. We can either, this is the next thing on your outline, believe God or go our own way. We can resist Him and He'll flee. God will not pursue you. Or we can yield to Him. Look at Jesus' words in verse 27. Put your fingers in here. Reach out your hand. And make no mistake, what Thomas had watched and seen just a few days earlier of Jesus hanging on that cross had so affected him that he could not shake it. And he could have at that point said I don't believe this. It's a hoax. I don't believe it. I can't believe anymore. It's too risky. But instead, Thomas bowed before Him. Listen, dear ones. Some of you here today, you know people who are a dramatic demonstration of the reality of Christ. You know someone whose life is evidence that there is a God. You know someone who's living for God. Maybe it's the love of a changed spouse. Maybe it's the love of God shown to you in an answered prayer. I know lots of people who said, you know, I was in a real bind and I don't really know God that well but I prayed and He got me out. And yet they don't use that defining moment. They just kind of go on. They choose to ignore it. Maybe you've heard a powerful message recently that softened your heart. Can I say, don't ignore the messages from God because they don't keep coming. They do not happen again and again and again. You've got a choice to make. And I want to submit to you that there is finally only one God. And I want to appeal to you today to let your response be like Thomas'. My Lord and my God. There's no escaping the conclusion that Thomas' defining moment left him absolutely without defense. Do you notice that Thomas didn't say, he didn't say, you know, let's renegotiate our contract here, Jesus. You answer my prayers and I'll follow you. Or he didn't say, you make it easy on me God and I'll be one of you. No, he said what? You have to understand folks, when someone in that culture said my Lord, it meant that they bowed their knee. Thomas is making a statement of ultimate allegiance here. You know what? If there's one thing that's a cult in American religion today, listen to this please, because this is going to clarify an important issue. It's not the David Koreshes and the tiny band of deceived people there. You know what the cult of America is today? It's the great number of people in churches all across this country, millions of them today, who believe that God exists for them. That somehow their religion is strictly for their benefit. They've got it backwards. That's why Thomas said first my Lord and then my God. Many Americans are in the cult of me. The bless me clubs. And they haven't found the satisfaction that comes only by yielding to Jesus Christ completely and saying God take my life and do what you will. And bring glory to your name. Because that is the source of true liberty. The resurrection stands to us today as God's authentication that when Jesus said unless you leave all things and follow me you can't be my disciples. He wasn't lying. How many of you know the resurrection is one of the most attested to facts of human history. There's more evidence, physical evidence to the resurrection than many other things that we routinely accept. And especially when it comes to antiquity. God has given us a message church. And the message is that Jesus is worthy of our allegiance. Let me conclude with this. Lots of you here today, can we put that diagram up one more time please Lee. You may think that you're just going to kind of float on up the ladder. I want to say to you today it won't happen. But I do want to leave you with a challenge. Today can be a defining moment for you. And you can go through 1993 and you can come back to this place week after week. And I hope you heard what Ron and Sandy said. You'll find intense love in this place. People will be here to care for you in home groups and other community groups. They'll be here to support you. You'll hear the truth from many of our staff and pastors. And you know what? Some of the greatest truth I hear is when someone just comes up to me as a friend and says I want to share this with you. And one more thing. You stay with this church in 1993 and you're going to experience some pain. And by the way, I don't ever pray that. You know, I don't say let's have pain circles. Okay? I don't ask God to increase my pain. But I want you to know something. Pain can be very redeeming. It can show us our dependence upon God. And I'm proud today of many of you who've looked at pain and experienced... I'm not just talking physical. I'm talking relational. I'm talking the pain of broken dreams. And you've stood in the face of it and you said my Lord and my God, I trust you. This morning we don't have a weeping Madonna to show you. But we have a weeping Savior who looks down and says as He did in Luke 19.41 don't miss this moment of your visitation. He could have said don't miss this defining moment. It's for you. Don't walk out of here today and be the same. That nudge that I know many of you are feeling right now is God. You need to respond to Him. You need to bow your knee and say my Lord and my God. Let's stand for prayer together. Lord we open to you just now. Give you our hearts this time. And we acknowledge in one spirit today that you are Lord. For you are Lord. Sing it softly. You are Lord. You are Lord. You are risen from the dead that you are Lord. Every knee shall bow every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Let's sing it again. Just see Him extending His hands of love to you. For you are Lord. You are Lord. You are risen from the dead that you are Lord. Every knee shall bow every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. I want to say to those of you today who are on the fence the spectators and seekers among us, the nominal ones who maybe have kind of been caught a bit off guard this morning by what you've heard, what you've seen. Right now God is nudging you. And I want to say to you today respond to Him. You don't have to understand it all, but you can make a step today. This can be a defining moment in your life. I want everyone to bow your head once again and if you desire today to acknowledge before God your need for His Son a relationship with Christ that will last far beyond the feeling of this service that will begin you on a journey that you've heard testified to many times today. The Bible says what you need to do is ask God to come into your life to acknowledge that you need Him. That you're a sinner like I am and God will hear your prayer and fill your life with His Spirit. Pray with me this simple prayer. Heavenly Father I need a change in my life. I want to meet Jesus today. Change me now God. Come in Lord and make a difference in me. I come to you on your terms and I ask you to bring me home to you. Now please every head bow. Let's not be looking around and I want to give a moment of quiet privacy. We've discovered at North Way that at this moment when we acknowledge that we've made a decision a very powerful contract is established with God. Here's what I'm going to do. Every head bow. I'm going to ask you in a moment to lift your head and to lift your hand too and when your eyes meet mine that will be your signal that today you have had a moment with God that you want to acknowledge. You want to be His. I won't embarrass you. I promise you that. I will just acknowledge you. Now please let's not confuse anyone. Bow your heads. Unless you just prayed that prayer or that's the desire of your heart, you lift your head right now and let our eyes meet all throughout the room and hold your hand up too and I'll agree with you without embarrassing you throughout the room. Sir, I agree with you. God bless you right here. Ma'am, I see you in the green dress. God bless you. I'm looking on my right. Wave your hand up in the back. Thank you ma'am. I see you with the gold on. God bless you. Golden sweater. Anyone else on this side? Anyone else? Ma'am, is that why your head's raised with the earrings and the green? Is that why your head's up? God bless you. Thank you. Just look at me. Wave your hand way in the back. I don'