Sketches III

Let's go ahead and just thank the Lord for our great choir and orchestra and North Way worship team. Thank you guys. Thank you very much. Awesome. Well, the Lord has risen. Oh, I almost believe the Lord has risen. What a day. And I know that this being the Saturday before Easter, for some folks doesn't feel exactly right, but we'll get there. I know as I've listened to these songs and thought through the stories that were told, it's no matter how many times I hear it, it's the most unimaginable power, the greatest hope that man has ever been extended. So let's pray, and we're going to share the message for today, and something will connect with your heart as we listen to the Word of the Lord. Father, we thank You for this time, and we pray that You would cause us to tune in to what You would say to us today, the day that You rose from the dead and gave hope to us all, in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Well, it's Easter, and perhaps the message of Easter is the most important message anyone could share. I read and reread the Gospels many times this week, and they read almost like a Vince Flynn novel, full of detail and drama, but it's not a novel. This is real. This is authentic. This happened, according to the evidence now that has been accumulating over the last 2,000 years. The Lord is risen. I'd be less than honest if I told you I wasn't a little bit anxious about sharing the message today, and the reason is I don't know that I feel adequate to really properly do justice to the truth that you're going to hear. At the same time, I feel a little bit concerned that some of you have heard this enough that it's just going to be for you perhaps another repetition of the Easter sermon and could just kind of go one year and out the other and not really make any difference. Friends, you've got to hear. You've got to hear what's being said in these verses we're about to read and in the message for today. You know, Jesus frequently said in His messages, He who has ears to hear, let him hear, and scholars are a little bit divided about what that means, but fundamentally it means listen well to what I'm about to say, for it could change your life. And that's my appeal to you, not because of me, but because it comes from the Word of God. And I never understood how important hearing was until this last quarter or so of the year. I took a long plane ride with Carol in January, and on the way out, I picked up a viral infection in the airplane. And even though I checked with a doctor who said it'd be fine to fly back, when I flew back, I punctured an eardrum and found that music was distorted. And people, I found it was like talking to them through a piece of glass or cotton. And this lasted two, six, twelve weeks into my life, and I was really concerned about it. And the doctor said, well, you know, we hope the drum will heal up, and if not, we have things that we can try to do. Well, thankfully, my last visit, which was just about ten days ago, the physician said that the puncture had healed. But the audiologist took a test and said, well, most of your hearing's returned, except for some, and she showed me the places on the range, and I said to her, I said, well, what does that mean? I'm going to have difficulty hearing, because it's still, she said, well, I said, is it like high-pitched? Because it was on the upper end, and I thought it was instruments, and she said, no, it's children and women's voices. You know, I walked out, and I said, you know, Lord, you've been so good to me, I think that, no, I'm praying for total healing. Let's read this text. Let's have ears to hear. 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. 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've put Him. So Peter and the other disciples started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there, but did not go in. And then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb, just like Peter, right? I mean, he didn't hold back, and he saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus' head. The cloth was still lying in its place. Many translations say the cloth was folded in its place, separate from the linen. Finally, the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in. He saw and believed. They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead. Now, this moving, almost mysterious message, a message filled with personal drama about an innocent man who lived a perfect life without sin and then was mercilessly crucified, and that's why we sang about the cross, because Easter doesn't mean anything without the cross. He died for a reason. And then, mysteriously and inexplicably, the tomb, this huge stone, which probably weighed three or four thousand pounds, was rolled out of its indentation. It would take several men, strong men, to do so, and Jesus is not in the tomb. And I want you to understand something about this, because for many people, the story seems to be, okay, this is about rising from the dead and eternal life and all, but here on your outline, I want you to grab something right out of the gate. This is important. There is hope in this story for every day, as well as hope for eternity. Whether you've wrestled with this issue or not, whether you're convinced or not, whether you know your eternity is secure or not, there's something here for you if you have ears to hear. Let's talk for just a few minutes about hope for eternal life. Without a doubt, when most of us think about the resurrection, we think about eternal life in terms of what happens when we die, and without a doubt, that's the most important thing that we need to have really nailed down. And you know, friends, I did some research on this, and about 75 or so percent of Americans think they're going to heaven, but interestingly, about a third of them are confident. That means a lot of them don't think they're going, or they're not sure that they're going. You need to know that. That needs to be something that you're settled with. It is secure. But before we get to that point, let's talk about the other part of the power of the resurrection, because a lot of you in your teens and 20s and 30s, you're not thinking about dying and going to heaven right now. You're thinking about life. You're thinking about all that's in front of you. Some of you know I'm on a country music kick right now. Kenny Chesney did a song like two years ago, everyone want to go to heaven, but no one want to go now. What a song. Why? Because life can be a wonderful, beautiful thing. Life can be full of relationships and friendships and intimacy and joy. Life can have purpose and meaning and can be fulfilling. Life can have gifts and moments of celebration and profound insight. Life can just be so rewarding. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the Founding Fathers called it. But something seems to have complicated this design for life, hasn't it? And our Good Friday service, Pastor Kent Chevoliere did a marvelous job describing that something. That something's called sin. It fractured our relationship with a God who wanted to be in relationship and give us the dreams of our lives. And that's something that sin causes us to miss the mark that God had for us. And friends, if you're honest with yourself today, you'll honestly recognize that you fall short in some areas of your life. And perhaps the worst part is, as hard as we might, as hard as we might desire it, we seem unable to change. We know our weaknesses and our flaws and our failures and our faults. We hear about them from people around us, but we don't even need to hear that. We know inside. That we're flawed and we can't change. A few weeks ago, with this hearing problem, sometimes I was getting up at night. I wasn't sleeping all that well. I went down and turned on the TV and closed the door and put it up loud enough that I could. And you know, at 3 a.m., there's not a lot of good TV watching. So I just started kind of cycling through the paid programs. Do you know how many things are out there to help people change? How many diet programs there are? How many ways you can lose weight? How many exercise and fitness programs? How many motivational lessons you can buy? How much great opportunity there is in real estate? That guy needs a new job. How about, you know, there's all kinds of things to stop addiction, maybe just smoking or some other kinds of things in your life. There's ways to make money by investing in this and that. And all these ways of changing, you know, being a better parent, how to control, you know, whatever it is in your life. Have better skin, more hair, brighter teeth. Other internal organs can change. I won't get into that. And yet, somehow, none of us seem to be able to find the power to change. Some of us know that this absence of change has literally caused ruin in our lives. For others of us, it's just held us back from being what we want to be. And for others, it's just sort of a reminder now and then that God is still at work in our lives and that we're still flawed. Not long ago, I was on my way over to a Saturday prayer meeting. We have prayer here regularly on Saturday mornings, 8 a.m. at the Wexford campus. And, you know, Saturday morning at 8 a.m., it's pretty light. There's hardly any cars. And I know the back ways pretty well. And I have a lot of fun getting over here. And I saw some headlights way behind me. I said, well, that's not going to be a problem. Some twisted roads coming up. And I enjoyed my little ride in the back roads. And I get up to Route 19. And the light just changed as I was pulling up or getting ready to. And I know it's a long light. And so, I cut through one of the establishments through the parking lot to get back on Route 19 to get over the church. Well, those mysterious headlights behind me were an unmarked police car who quickly turned on a bunch of other lights and pulled me over. And the officer said, now, why did I ask you this question? He said, do you know why I pulled you over? I said, was it my taillight, maybe? He said, no, you were going pretty fast. And then you cut through that corner. He said, you know, you're not supposed to do that in license registration. And he said, no. And I asked him, where were you going in such a hurry on Saturday morning? And I said, well, I was, you know, I don't do lie now. I'm going to a prayer meeting. And he said, really? He said, where's that? He said, some orchard place. I couldn't remember the name of it. No, I told him the truth. I told him the truth. Not Orchard Hill. That's another church. And he was very polite and uncharacteristically merciful. And he gave me a warning. And he just said, you know, he handed me a little stub. He said, just a question. Do you think God would have you break the law to go to prayer? Well, that's not a theological mystery if some of you are struggling. The answer is no. I put my head down on this. After he left in this doing well, I said, you know, Lord, I'm going to get my life in order. I'm flawed. I struggle with change. And I know you do too. Look at the verses that are on your outline. There's hope for everyday life. Look at this. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of the Spirit who lives in you. You see, there's some power accessible to you that you didn't have if you before Christ. If you have Christ, that powers are working, you know, and we have to learn just how to access it. My problem isn't that I don't have the power. My problem is I don't access it the way I should. And here's another reinforcing shot from Ephesians. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead. You see, it's the same power that's working in us that can bring about change. The promises that you heard quoted in the stories, I should say, in the video just prior to the message, were from people in our own congregations. It was their stories, people who had discovered the power of the resurrection to change their lives. This isn't just some game. It's not trying harder. It's not self-help. It's what Christ can do for us. And friends, this is important. These verses, letter A, among others, promise us that we can change even when we fail on our own. Resurrection power has another name, and this is it on your outline, the last blank on the front page. It's grace. It's God's ability to fulfill His will. That's what grace means. God's riches at Christ's expense is the acronym, but I like it. God's ability to fulfill His will in your life. Resurrection power is grace at work in you. But He said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. And I want to point out something that's lost on a lot of people. If you do a study from the front to the back of Scripture, you go back all the way in the beginning, Joseph in a prison, Moses in the desert, David in the caves at Abdullam, Paul in the prison in Philippi, and Jesus in the tomb in Jerusalem. God does His greatest work when we find ourselves in the darkest places. I want you to hear that. God does His greatest work when we give up and we say we can't do it. And friend, if you're here and you've tried everything, you've tried to break free of addiction, you've tried to get your relationships back in order, you've tried and tried and failed and failed, let me tell you, if you're in a dark place, God's there with you and He does His greatest work. Now I'm not saying that it always turns out the way you hoped it would, but I will promise you this, if you'll lay hold of the promise of resurrection power for now, for today, God will not fail you. He will be with you in that dark place and you'll know His peace and you'll know His presence. And that is the most important key for any of us to see change in our life. All you need to do is to believe what's been said. If you just hear it and let it go, it won't change you, it won't affect you. In fact, Jesus many times in these stories rebuked the disciples for not believing. If we read on into John 21, He rebuked Tom. He said, why didn't you believe? I told you this was going to happen. And I want to say in love, why don't you believe, friend? This power is for today. It can change you. And finally, let's look at hope for eternal life. You know, it's called the one inevitable fact that we are most afraid to discuss, and that is death. The death rate last time I checked is still 100%. None of us have yet figured out a way to avoid its inevitability. Yet the only time we really seem to talk about it much is at funerals or with some skilled life insurance salesman or financial planner. Otherwise, it's sort of a taboo topic that messes up our days. It's as if somebody's thinking, you know, they're going to find an app for that. The I'll postpone death for a while app. How many of those do you think they'd sell? The loved one, let me share with you, you know, death came close to me three times in this last year. My 29-year-old nephew passed away unexpectedly. My wife's mom died peacefully, quietly at the age of 99 and a half last fall. And a neighbor, a friend, a member of our church died at age 45 from cancer, leaving a wife and two young boys just a few months ago. The final question that you've got to be able to answer is, are you ready to leave this earth today and meet whoever you think the Creator is? See, it's not good enough to say, well, I don't know if I believe all the God stuff. Well, yeah, you know, then you better believe something. And you better believe it's good enough that when you do finally fall into that grave, whether it's tomorrow or a hundred years from now, you're ready. You better know it. That's why Jesus said this. He said, I am the resurrection and the life. Just read along with me. The one who believes in me will live even though they die. And whoever lives by believing in me will never die. And what he meant there is he will never spiritually experience separation from me. Friend, this is a question you have to wrestle. There's no better time than Easter to know that you know where you're going when your time comes. Over in our Sewickley campus, there's a young man who had an experience in life that when we heard this story and first talked to him, we knew it was powerful, but we had no idea just how powerful. And we're going to share that story with you on a video now. This is some 11 years after the incident took place. Now this young man and his wife volunteer in the student ministry down in the Sewickley Valley campus. When you hear Cole's story, you're going to think, you know, he was like many of us, independent. He loved life. He wanted to keep doing the great things that life was offering him to do. He wanted to be free to try stuff and be part of things and just enjoy all the fun that there is. And let me just say, if it's in your mind that following Christ means you no longer do those things, friends, you don't know the Christ that I know. The best part of my life is the things that Christ has brought in, not the things he's taken out. But Cole Bailiff thought, well, you know, I'll get serious about God sometime. And my message as I close is this. It's never too soon to get serious about God. Why? Because you never know how long you will have to get serious. And so what's going to happen is this. I'm going to ask you to have ears to hear as you watch the video and listen to Cole's story. And then a song's going to come that Kerry Berkey's going to share. And I want you to listen to the words of that song. And then your campus pastor is going to come and lead you to the close of the service. Friend, I want to remind you that our God has given us a hope, an unstoppable hope that not even death can hold back. Happy Easter. Hold firm to that hope. I'm Cole Bailiff, and this is my wife, Rachel Bailiff. We've been married for five and a half years. We're from Texas, born and raised Fort Worth, Dallas area. Have always been a Pirates fan, not just because I moved up here. Right. I didn't, when we started dating, he was actually wearing a Pirates hat, which has now been relegated to the closet because it's a little funky. But we got a new one. So the Pirates love is still flowing and stronger than ever. Now we're actually in the city. We started coming to North Way in 2009. And so we walked in, heard the worship and Cole and I were hooked. We were like, this is our church. This is it. We knew that was important because of where we had come from and what church we were involved with there in Texas. Well, when I was 16, I mentioned we went to, I went to Wedger Bethes church in Fort Worth when I was 16 years old. I'm sure everybody would be familiar with the sea at the pole or students gather and pray at the flagpole before school starts. That Wednesday night we had a sea at the pole rally at our church. I think between five to 700 kids in the room. I had spent some time driving around looking for anything else to do. I was not, I did not want to be there. I was too cool for it. You know what I mean? I went to church. I was involved in the youth group, went on choir tours, but never really had made that commitment and just wasn't ready to give up what I thought was fun, you know, was hanging out and partying. But I just, I couldn't find anything else to do. I was like, all right, I'll go to church and hang out. It'll be fun. I had some friends there. So I went front row, man. I'm sitting in the front row surrounded by some of my buddies. And the guy came in about 15, 20 minutes into the concert and he walked in the front door and I started shooting September 15th, 1999 and came into the sanctuary and opened fire in the sanctuary of our church where you're supposed to feel safe. He expected to find a, you know, a prayer service for adults. Ended up locking in on 600 kids, you know, teenagers. 9-1-1 call started pouring into police from victims with cell phones. All right, how many shots were fired? About six or eight. The guy pointed a gun at me and shot at me. At the time the gunman attacked, the church was holding a service for teenagers. I don't know, like four or five people got shot and like one of my friends got shot. She's dead. He ended up shooting the girl that was sitting right behind me who now was right in front of me who I knew killed one of the guys that I grew up in elementary school with. We all thought it was a skit. We all thought it was like, oh, it's calling by and it could happen to you so you better turn or give your life to Christ. You never know what could end. It just turned out it was real. It wasn't a skit. It was reality of it can happen. It is happening. It's felt like forever. I don't think it'll last more than 10 or 15 minutes, but it won't. You know, killing seven people and wounding seven others and then he took his own life and at 16, you know, witnessed mass murder. It all messed you up. And after that, it went, you know, way downhill. I started self-medicating, trying to do anything I could to keep my mind off of what had happened, but I was lost. I mean, completely lost. I was 16 when it happened. I mean, I was a junior in high school. Prime for that fork in the road of am I going to choose to go down this path for Christ or am I going to go down this path of sin? And it's just going to get easier and easier for me to get further away from Christ the older I get. I remember my parents made me go to church camp. We're sitting in a large group. It was nighttime and our pastor was there. We call him Brother Al, as Al Meredith. Basically, he sent an offer. If you need Jesus, you know, you can have him right now. My hand just flew up. I was like, dude, I need Jesus, man, please. In the South, we say I got saved. So I received the Lord and I received Christ and I ended up getting baptized shortly thereafter. I think that Christ was so important in that, in the fact that that's where I got hope. I may get over it, but if I don't have any hope, then I'm going to be miserable. I'll be functional, but I won't be happy. The amazing part about Wedgewood Baptist Church after the shooting was the fact that it grew. That would have been such an easy way, I think, for a church to collapse and people to fall away from it, run away from it, not want to show up there. But we had church that Sunday, and I think that that just speaks to the power of the Lord and the saving grace of Jesus. I mean, that's the only, how else would that be possible? I searched for love when the night came and you closed it. I was alone, but you found me where I was hiding. And now I'll never ever be the same, but call my name, say it. You're not alone, for I am here. And I'll never ever be the same, but call my name, say it. You're not alone, for I am here. The story that you saw was real. In fact, the clip, the news clip, that was Cole that we found on the internet. His hat turned on back. And now today, I'm happy to say he's a free and Christ-loving, Christ-following man. It's the power of God to redeem even the darkest thing. Would you stand with me, please? Just before we close the service, I'm certain that a lot of you are like I was when I thought about Easter, and then I watched that video, and I thought about my own life, and I said, Lord, I've got to get serious with you. I can't hold parts of my life back. I can't pretend to be a believer and still do my own thing. I can't just play games because you didn't play games on the cross. You gave your life, and I want to know that that power, that same power that raised you from the dead, is going to sustain me in this life and then lift me to be with you forever in heaven. Friend, that's what the Lord offers you as an invitation, but it's not a partway thing. And I want to be very clear about this on this Easter. It isn't a just, yes, I'm going to make a decision and pray a prayer, and suddenly everything's done. No, it's a decision. Who are you going to follow? Our little statement around here is we're freeing people to follow Jesus, not make decisions for Jesus. It starts there, but then that's the first step of many to follow. But may I say, every single one of those steps brings you closer to the will of God and the purpose of God and the plan of God for your life. It's the greatest thing, but it starts with the first step. And my only question is, have you taken that step? And I don't need to convince you. You know if you have or not. And if you haven't, it's my opportunity right now, my privilege, to lead you in a prayer. You know, the Lord said this in the Word. He said, if you believe in your heart that God raised Christ from the dead and you confess Him with your mouth, then you will be, as Cole said, saved, or you will be redeemed, or you will be born again. That's what it means. And if you need to make that decision today, would you allow me to lead you in a prayer? Let's bow our heads, please, and let's very quietly allow this room to become a place where people meet God. And if you're here, and this whole service, something's just been tugging at you saying, I need to do something with this. I've been playing around with this. I want to know that Christ is in my life. Let me lead you in a prayer. Pray this prayer. You can use your own words if you prefer, but this is a prayer that God will hear. Pray it after me. Heavenly Father, just say to Him, Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus to die on the cross for my sin. I receive your forgiveness, and I give my life to you to follow your Son. Thank you for your resurrection power. In Christ's name, I pray. Now heads are bowed, please. And just to give the privilege of a moment of intimacy for every person who prayed that prayer, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to ask you to just let me be a person that stands with you and says, this is the day that you prayed that prayer, and crossed over, and made that first step of following Him. I'm not going to embarrass you or ask you to come forward in front of everybody, but we found that when two or more of us agree on earth is touching anything, the Bible says, it will be done. I'll combine my faith with yours, and today will be a day of new beginnings for you. Heads are bowed. If you prayed, I'm going to ask you in a moment to lift your head and look up this way, and when you do, my eyes will meet yours, and we'll enter into an agreement that today you said, yes, I want Christ in my life. Heads are bowed. If you prayed, put your hand up right now, and just wave your hand at me, and I'll agree with you wherever you stand. Thank you. Over here, I see your hand. Thank you, sir. God bless you. Young and old, doesn't matter. Yes. Anyone else on this side? Wave at me. If I see your eyes, if I miss your eyes, just wave your hand. Okay, over here. Thank you. Yes, along the back. Thank you. Over here, anybody? Another one over here. Just lift your hand up. It helps me a lot to see your eyes if you lift your hand up. All right, I'm looking over here. Thank you. Okay, miss, along the arrow. All right, anyone else? This is your moment. Thank you. Yes. Oh, Father, pray with me, church. Father, I thank you. We agree together for those who today have said, I need Christ in my life. And how many of you would pray this, and you just admit this today, that you need to let that resurrection power bring about some change in your life? Let me see your hand go up. Let me just say this message is every bit as important to you and to me, because we're to be like Christ. And as you leave today, go out with a new hope and a new trust that he'll bring that change. Lord, we thank you, and we give you praise, and I'll seal these decisions in Jesus' name. And church, let's welcome those who've prayed, and let's acknowledge that God's faithfulness will never fail. You know, every time we do this, I tell people, maybe a couple months from now, a couple years from now, some of these stories will be up on that screen. People who said, that was me. You saw Pastor Scott baptizing somebody. That was one of those people not long ago. If you prayed, we have a little booklet for you. It's just a gift we want to give you. It's not about joining our church. Up here in front, there'll be some elders and their wives. They'll be happy just to take, if you have two minutes, that's all it takes. They just want to pray with you. It's important that you get some information, because this is a journey, and a journey needs a little bit of a map, and that's what this is. So come and get one of these, would you? And we celebrate with you, and as I heard Pastor Scott say, anytime. In fact, I would say next week, I'd be back. Learning more about what it means to follow Christ. You may be seated. Scott's got a couple quick things to share. If you are new to North Way, again, we have a Connect Center out to your right, on the way out. Some folks out there would love to get you connected, give you any information on the church. I'm going to pray for our offering in just a minute. Jay mentioned that next week, we finish up our Easter series, and then Mother's Day is the week after that. Easter being so late, Mother's Day falls. We've got a tremendous Mother's Day service planned. So moms, come along, bring your kids. Kids, bring your mothers out to church that week, and we are really going to celebrate our moms. And then, the week after that, we're going to head back into the Book of Acts. If you've been with North Way, we decided that all year long, we were going to finish and go through the entire Book of Acts. We've gone through the first eight and a half chapters. After Mother's Day, we pick up where we left off and continue through the Book of Acts. Let me pray for our offering. God, thank you for these decisions that were made. I just would ask that you would seal them. And just as sort of Cole said in that video, Lord, that we come to this fork sometimes in the road. God, I would just ask that you would help us all move towards you in this journey of faith. Lord, we love you. Now, we just give back to you a portion of what you've given to us in abundance, and just ask that you continue to do amazing things with it. In your Son's name, amen. Ushers, why don't you come forward and take that offering. I mentioned that we're a multi-site church, so please take note of that. If you're from the area down in the Sewickley Valley, we've got a spot over there. If you're more in the city, Oakland might be the place for you to worship. Why don't you stand up with me as the ushers wrap up the offering. And, you know, I asked Pastor Jay just to verify this, that every Easter, all 30 years of North Way, we have concluded our Easter services with a particular song. And the team's going to lead us out into that. So, Christ has risen. It's a pleasure celebrating the resurrection with you. Hallelujah. Raise your joys and triumphs high. Hallelujah. See the earth and the three-pronged. Hallelujah. Once again our glorious King. Hallelujah. We're all gathered now by sin. Hallelujah. Dying once again as lame. Hallelujah. With thy victory, O King. Hallelujah. Lord's redeeming work is done. Hallelujah. Fought the fight, the battle won. Hallelujah. Death in vain forbids Him rise. Hallelujah. Christ the throne in paradise. Hallelujah. Strolling now where Christ has led. Hallelujah. Following our exalted head. Hallelujah. May like Him, like Him we rise. Hallelujah. Hearts across the grave of skies. Hallelujah. God bless you all. Have a great Easter weekend. Traveling lightly, I lay all my worries to rest.