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Location:
6425 Jefferson Rd. For
directions, click here.
Jerry
Varnado,
pastor Easter
Sunday Then
they remembered his
words.
(Luke
24:1-8) When
Adam and Eve decided to go their
own way and disobey God and thus
exclude themselves from God's
protective presence, death became
the common link between all
humans. For
thousands of years humanity
struggled against encroaching
death, trying to hold it at bay,
find a way around it, an escape
from it; all to no avail.
Humanity continued to live in
bondage to death; a power that
could not be overcome, the fear
of which could not be erased. Romans
5:14 says death had reigned since
the time of Adam, but on that
first Easter God made it clear
that death does not have the last
word, Jesus does! For
those who love this Jesus and put
their trust in Him, the stone
found rolled away on that Easter
morning means that death isn't
"our final resting place."
Rather, it is merely a dressing
room where we take off mortality
and put on immortality! It means
that death has lost its sting;
the grave has lost its victory.
It means that we can be set free
from our bondage to the fear of
death. The stone's been rolled
away! Now
we can die laughing! We can walk
straightway into the terrible
jaws of death and know we'll walk
out the other side the
victor! Incredible
as that is, there is still more
good news. Death
is our archenemy, the one in
which all the other enemies of
true life are rooted. If the
power of the resurrection is
sufficient to defeat death -- the
archenemy, it is sufficient to
defeat all the others as
well. The
power of the resurrection not
only rolled away the stone at
Jesus' tomb, the power of the
resurrection has rolled away
every other stone that has held
people in bondage. There is no
enemy to abundant life that can
withstand the power of the
resurrection. Somebody say
"hallelujah"! Let
me give you an example. Guilt and
shame, rooted sin and failure,
rob the joy of countless millions
of people. Think
of the guilt feelings that
tormented the Apostles between
the time of Jesus' arrest and His
resurrection. Peter had boasted
that he would follow Jesus even
to death -- and all the others
agreed. Yet on the night Jesus
was arrested they all deserted
Him. Three times Peter publicly
denied that even knew
Jesus. The
New Testament makes it clear that
these men were human in every
sense of the word. Once they
realized that Jesus was alive
again, surely they must have
dreaded seeing Him. How could
they look into His eyes when they
had failed Him so
miserably. But
then, when he suddenly appeared
to them, when they saw Him in
resurrected glory, their guilt
and shame "disappeared in sweet
release," as the songwriter
wrote, and all their fears
"melted into peace." Joy
unspeakable and full of glory
flooded their souls! But
you need to understand something.
None of that was automatic --
they disciples had exercise some
level of trust or faith. They had
to look up to see that the stone
that kept them locked in a tomb
of guilt and shame had been
rolled away. I
say that because of Judas
Iscariot. He had betrayed Jesus
just as the others but he never
looked up. Pressed upon by guilt
and shame, he listened to devil's
lie, "There's no hope for you!"
-- and he went out and killed
himself. Yes,
Judas had betrayed Jesus for
money. But the other eleven
disciples had betrayed Him in
their own way. They ran when the
authorities came. In His time of
need, they deserted their Lord
and their friend. I
think the real difference between
Judas and the others is that he
took matters into his own hands
-- and thereby cut himself off
from the grace of God. A
few years ago while I was
ministering in Brazil with Rick
Bonfim and several other pastors,
I encountered a young woman who
was locked in a tomb of guilt and
shame. We were praying for people
using the method of a "prayer
tent" or "prayer tunnel" -- we've
done that here before -- where
people pass through a line of
intercessors standing opposite
each other. As they pass, the
intercessors pray for them.
As
this young woman passed me, I
could tell that her head was
bowed in shame. I reached to lift
her chin to get her to look up.
She wouldn't. The Spirit of God
suddenly rose up in me and I
rebuked a spirit of shame -- and
even though I was speaking in
English and she probably had no
idea what I was saying, tears
began to roll down her cheeks. I
lifted her chin. By the time she
got to the end of the tunnel, her
head was held high and she had
joy! If
you're locked in a tomb of guilt
and shame this morning, look up!
The stone's been rolled away!
You're free from your
bondage. Anger,
bitterness and rage have locked
many away in tombs of regret,
loneliness and
isolation. From
the cross Jesus looked down
through the blood and pain upon
those who had beat him, spat upon
and crucified and said Father,
forgive them they don't know what
they are doing. Unbelief
keeps many from a vital
relationship with Jesus. Thomas
had this problem. We call him
"Doubting Thomas," but his
problem wasn't really doubt; it
was unbelief. Listen to Thomas's
own words John 20:25. Thomas
closed his mind off from the
truth. But then he saw Jesus in
resurrected glory! He fell on his
knees and said, "My Lord and my
God!" (John 20:28). Just one look
was all it took. The stone of
unbelief had been rolled
away. To
those trapped in the tomb of
alcoholism and addiction, I say
to you, "The stone's been rolled
away! You're free to leave, if
you will." To
the man addicted to pornography
or other types of sexual
perversion, I say to you, "The
stone's been rolled away! You're
free to leave, if you
will. Listen
to what Paul wrote in Ephesians
1:18-21. "That
power is like the working of
his mighty strength, which he
exerted in Christ when he
raised him from the dead and
seated him at his right hand
in the heavenly realms, far
above all rule and authority,
power and dominion, and every
title that can be given, not
only in the present age but
also in the one to
come." So
no matter what tomb is locking
you up and keeping you from the
fullness of life Jesus promised
us, you can walk out a free man
or woman. Just look up with faith
and believe! The stone is rolled
away! But
listen. Just because the stone is
removed doesn't mean you're out
of the tomb. By the grace of God,
you have to get up and walk out.
That means there may be some
practical things you need to do.
You might need to go to AA or
seek counseling or some other
means of healing and
help. But,
hear me now, the insurmountable
obstacle is gone. The stone is
rolled away! You can leave if you
will! The
same power that raised Jesus from
the dead is available to us to
enable us to overcome every
obstacle to abundant living and
to mold us into the image of
Jesus. Of
all the sounds that have broken
the silence on this earth there
is none that compares to the
sound of Easter. It's
the sound of the rolling stones.
Not a rock band, but the sound of
tombstones being rolled away so
that God's people might have life
to its fullest
measure. That's
the joy and the promise of
Easter! The stone is rolled
away!
Gateway
Church gathers
for worship
Sundays
at 10:30 a.m.
(Hwy. 129) in Athens,
Georgia.
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of the
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Today
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Pastor
Jerry's Weekly
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A
GATEWAY SERMON
The
sound of Easter
Gateway
Church,
Athens GA
April 8, 2007
On
the first day of the week,
very early in the morning, the
women took the spices they had
prepared and went to the tomb.
They
found the stone rolled away
from the
tomb,
but when they entered, they
did not find the body of the
Lord Jesus.
While
they were wondering about
this, suddenly two men in
clothes that gleamed like
lightning stood beside them.
In their fright the women
bowed down with their faces to
the ground, but the men said
to them, "Why do you look for
the living among the dead? He
is not here; he has risen!
Remember how he told you,
while he was still with you in
Galilee: 'The Son of Man must
be delivered into the hands of
sinful men, be crucified and
on the third day be raised
again.'"
The
significance of Easter is stated
clearly in Hebrews
2:14-15:"Since
the children have flesh and
blood," [-- talking about
us, we are "the children"
--] "he too" [-- this
is a reference to God who came
to earth as a human being in
the person of Jesus Christ
--] "he too shared in
their humanity so that by his
death he might destroy him who
holds the power of death --
that is, the devil -- and free
those who all their lives were
held in slavery by their fear
of death."
Then one morning several women
went to the tomb of their
deceased friend to properly
prepare his body for burial --
and suddenly everything
changed.
All
the tombs have flown
open
No
stone unturned
The
power of the Cross is the power
to forgive. If you are living in
the tomb of anger, bitterness and
rage, look up! The stone is
rolled away!
"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 hand
into his side,
I
will not believe
it.'
"I
pray also that the eyes of
your heart may be enlightened
in order that you may know the
hope to which he has called
you, the riches of his
glorious inheritance in the
saints, and his incomparably
great power for us who
believe.
What
a wondeful sound!
A
mp3 audio file of this sermon is
here
(26
min.).
(Download
to a PC by right clicking on the
link and choosing "Save Target
As." Mac users: click, hold, and
choose "Download Link to Disk."
Depending on your connection
speed, the file may take several
minutes to
download.)
An
audio CD of the sermon summarized
above is available
free of charge (U.S. requests
only).
Request a CD by calling
or writing the Gateway Church
office.
Please specify number 070408a:
The Sound of Easter.
©
2007 Gerald R.
Varnado