4/9/23 Easter Acts 10:34-43 “Christ Is Risen! Praise the Lord!”

07 Apr 4/9/23 Easter Acts 10:34-43 “Christ Is Risen! Praise the Lord!”

4/9/23     Easter    Acts 10:34-43        “Christ Is Risen!  Praise the Lord!”

Russian Orthodox Churches around the world will celebrate Easter each year by having their clergy say three times, “Christ is risen!”  Each time the priest says this, the congregation responds by shouting out, “Christ is risen indeed!”  Let’s try this.  This might not be a bad tradition to start in your own church.  Another tradition that I have used is to sing ‘Up From the Grave.’  Everyone sits and sings the first part which is real slow.  Then we sing the chorus which begins with the phrase ‘Up from the grave.’  At the first word of the chorus, everyone stands up and sings.  I think that this is a good way to get the blood flowing and make us feel good.  Now I know that we all have problems.  We all have troubles.  I would like us to leave these behind for a little while today and tomorrow if that is possible.  Let’s see if we can concentrate of the Good News of Easter.  Most of the time we have lots of music on Easter and that is part of this special Sunday.  There are many Scriptures that tell us the Easter story.  I chose the lesson from Acts because we have the Apostle Peter talking to the Gentile Cornelius.  If you think about this in a little deeper manner, you see that I’m talking to the Catholics because I’m talking of what Pope Peter said.  I’m talking to us Protestants because we are the Gentiles.  I use Russian Orthodox to get our attention.  I can do this because Peter tells us right in the first line that God is for everyone.  God doesn’t play favorites.  So, no matter who you are today, this message is for you.

I don’t know if any of you know this or not but I am an avid basketball fan this time of year.  I don’t get to see nearly enough of the local games, but I think that high school and college games are the best.  I really love to watch the NCAA tournaments.  They were exciting to watch and you will find me in front of the TV during this time of year if I have time.  I get excited about good games.  And there are also many other things in this world that get me all fired up, like services like this, visiting with friends and new people, and being able to see my family.

And as exciting as this can be, this pales in comparison to what happens on Easter.  One year for Lent services, we watched a brilliant series about Holy Week that I mentioned last week.  I know that it caused many who watched it to stop and think a little about what might have happened.  There were some people who even shed a tear.  Now we are finally to the end of Lent.  We are at Easter Sunday.  After being reminded of all that Jesus went through for me, I get excited.  Jesus did all these things for me.  I am that important to Him.  But it wasn’t just for me, He did this for you also.  He did this so you can have eternal life.  Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, wants to be with you forever in eternity so that He can visit and talk with you all the time.  You are that important to Him and so is everything you say and do.  Praise the Lord!

And Peter is also excited as he talks about Jesus in our passage.  If we had read what led up to this point, we would find that God had been prodding both Peter and Cornelius.  Remember that Peter has been with Jesus for 3 years.  He has witnessed the resurrected Jesus.  He has been empowered by the Holy Spirit to preach and he has done many wondrous things because of the Holy Spirit in him.  I would think, and this is only me thinking here as it isn’t in the reading, I would think that Peter would be excited because the Holy Spirit is leading him to do things and he isn’t sure just what it is yet.  It’s a mystery.  So he follows the Lord faithfully to see Cornelius.  Now he is talking and preaching to Cornelius.  He is telling the story of Jesus.  I don’t think he could help but be excited as he is telling this glorious story because I get excited every time I tell the story!

The first thing he tells us is that God is for everyone.  There are no exceptions.  You cannot sit back and say that God is not for you.  There is also a crowd of people listening with Cornelius.  This would be comforting news to these people because in the past, God has been for the Jews and not for everyone.  We can see that the Gospel is about to spread in the area through this gathering.

I think that we do pretty good spreading this news and inviting people to join services some place.  I don’t live in an area in North Dakota where there is a lot of diversity.  But if we did, I think that we would be welcoming to all.  But as good as we are in this area, we have to be ready for the unexpected.  We don’t know who is going to move in next to us.  We don’t know who is going to grace us with their presence on this broadcast.  The only thing we should know for sure is that whoever joins us, needs Jesus as much as anyone else, as much as you.  Our business is helping people to get to know Jesus better.

Another thing we need to know about this ancient group is that they knew what had been happening.  Peter tells us that they knew the message that God had sent through Jesus.  They had heard of all the healings and miracles.  They knew that God was with Jesus when He did all these things.  Peter reminds them of all the demons from the devil that Jesus had exorcised because God was with Him.  Peter is gently reminding these people of all that God has done for them.

That is what I would like to remind us of also today.  We have so much to be thankful for in our lives.  We have just had or just finishing one of the harder winters in recent history.  This spring is still coming and we need to be prepared for some flooding.  And we will get through it with the help of our Lord, Jesus Christ!  We have got food for Easter dinner and many churches will have a Sunday brunch for Easter.  We will not be hungry.  Praise the Lord!  We have got clothes, cars and many other things.  Praise the Lord!

Everything we have and everything around us is from God.  There are no exceptions.  The best thing that we have or can have is this relationship with Jesus Christ.  He will come and live inside of you because He loves you.  He does this so He can help you, so that He can comfort you, so that He can guide you, so that He can talk to you, so that He can listen to you.  The list of things He wants to do with you is endless.  He wants to be in every part of your life.  He wants to live and breathe with you forever.  This is our little reminder of just how great Jesus really is and that He wants to share everything with you.  He knows you so well because He lives in your heart.  Praise the Lord!

Everything that Jesus has ever done is good and He wants you to be a part of it.  Unfortunately, we have not always been so nice to Him.  Peter goes on to remind them that they had Him put to death in the most excruciating way possible in those days.  It was terrible and we talked about this last week.  And as I told you then, we had to go through last week so we can arrive at today.

And today is the day of great news.  That little ol’ stone in front of the tomb couldn’t hold Jesus inside.  The tomb couldn’t contain Him.  Death had no hold on Him.  I’m here today to proclaim that Jesus Christ is alive and well.  Stand back, Satan.  Get out of our lives, evil Satan!  You don’t have a chance against our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Praise the Lord!

I want us to notice one more thing that we often read past.  Notice how Jesus was not seen by all people but only by those who believed in Him.  I think this is very important even today.  Don’t get me wrong on this.  Jesus is right there beside every person in the world.  We will get back to this in a minute.  This really means that Jesus really only answers prayers of the believers.  If it fits into His plan to answer a non-believer, then He will do it but generally speaking He only talks to His people.  This is something that the secular world doesn’t understand.

The reason that He talks to His believers is that we have a job to do.  We are to go out into the world and preach the word of Jesus.  Now I know that many of us are a little uncomfortable doing this so let me rephrase this.  We are to go out into the world and preach the gospel of Jesus and if we have to, we are to use words.  In other words, our actions have to be an invitation to anyone who sees us.  What you do is that important to Jesus.

Another thing that is very important here is where it talks of judgment.  Jesus is the one who God has appointed to judge the living and the dead.  This is not a world where anything goes.  Don’t listen to that type of garbage.  There is a long, long list of this type of garbage in our world today.  And no matter how bad things get, it is not up to you to judge others.  This is the job of Jesus and it tells us right here in our reading.  There will be many who will be surprised when they find themselves in the wrong place after a lifetime of thumbing their noses at Jesus.  It really doesn’t get much plainer than this.

Now I would like to get back to Jesus being beside every person in the world.  I would like to remind everyone of how you can have Him inside of you instead of outside.  Peter tells us that it is only Jesus who forgives sins.  If you take your sins to Jesus, they will be forgiven.  Then all you have to do is ask Him to live inside of you.  He will come if you have been cleansed of sin through confession.  When you do this you will be on the way to a better life.  I know that you may think that I am a little prejudiced but I think you will be on the way to the best life possible, the best life possible.  I praise the Lord every time I think of all that He did when He died on the cross, how death couldn’t contain Him and how He was bodily resurrected on Easter.  He did all of these things so that we will live on with Him, so you will live on with Him.  It is no wonder that this ends up being such a joyous time of year.

Over the years, I have mentioned to you all the great religious leaders.  Here are the facts.  Muhammad is dead.  Buddha is dead.  Confucius is dead.  John Smith is dead.  All the religious leaders of the world are dead or they will be dead, but not Jesus!  He is alive.  Martin Dale tells the story of a Muslim in Africa who became a Christian and some of his Muslim friends asked him why.  He said, “Well, it is like this:  suppose you were going down a road and suddenly the road forked in two directions and you didn’t know which way to go.  If you met two men at the fork, one dead and one alive, which one would you ask to show you the way?

Of course you would ask the one who is alive.  Jesus Christ is alive and well.  Ask Him to live inside of you.  Let’s repeat our opening as I say ‘Christ is risen’ and you shout ‘Christ is risen indeed!”  Lets’ pray.