Easter Brings Hope
April 12, 2020

Good morning and Happy Easter, or Resurrection Sunday everyone!
On behalf of Cross Creek Community Church and it’s people, it’s leaders, and elders,
I warmly welcome you to this special time together online.
Would you join me, now, for a moment of prayer.
[Pray - HS Presence, health and peace and protection over everyone listening,
and a special word from God for them today…]
I want to start by personally thanking all grocery store workers, and everyone else who
is still working during this time of mandated social isolation. Gas station attendants. Car
maintenance technicians. Etc. You are brave. We are grateful.
Thank you, also, teachers, for learning new online teaching techniques.
And parents for home-schooling.
I also thank all the truck drivers, and their families who are making do without them.
Also all health care/hospital workers, especially those dealing with the covid-19 patients.
Special prayers for you! You are brave. We are grateful.
Also law enforcement; first responders; military; garbage removal workers;
leaders making tough decisions; Everyone abiding by the sheltering in place rules too;
and all the people of faith who are offering peace, prayers and hope to their family,
friends and neighbors. Thank you.
Just before this video, you watched and listened to that precious, priceless song entitled
“I See the Light” which we shared just before going live. Thank you to all of who worked
so hard to put it together. It was beautiful. We are grateful.
Some of you may recognize the song from the movie “Tangled,” which came out several
years ago. It was a modern, animated film version of the classic tale of Rapunzel.
Perhaps the lyrics to the song express how we’ve been.
Perhaps some of us have been feeling like “an outsider looking in.”
Blind. Not seeing.
Living life in a blur.
In fact, once this virus passes and things return to “normal,” I’m wondering if, like a
Facebook post I shared yesterday says, “which parts of normal are worth rushing back
to?” Do we really want to live life in a blur, anymore?
In other words, what have you realized about your life, over this last month since the
pandemic was declared March 11, that wasn’t necessary? Or taken for granted?

What have you learned, after we were told to “shelter in place” a week later, since then?
What is really important? What really matters? {Pause}
I suspect we may not want to return completely to “normal.” We may not want to be so
busy and in such a rush all the time. {“Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.”}
We may need to carve out more time for more rest more often. We may need to
schedule regular “porch talk” with family and friends and neighbors. And take long walks
in the neighborhood.
And definitely continue washing our hands frequently!
We may want to continue to spend less money, shop less, eat out less, and cook more
at home.
We will definitely want to keep our now cleaner and neater and more organized homes
that way.
What are you doing differently right now, than you were before, that you find you’re
enjoying? Go ahead and post it right now if you like.
It’s good food for thought for all of us to meditate on what we want to leave behind when
we “return to normal,” and what we want to take with us, moving forward.
In the song “I See the Light,” Rapunzel sings about how, before she met Flynn, she felt
like an outsider looking in. She was blind. Not seeing. Living life in a blur. Then she met
him, he set her free, and helped her discover the real world and who she really is.
If that doesn’t ring a bell about how Jesus has affected our lives, I don’t know what
does! Before we begin that relationship with Christ, we are locked up in our own little
world. We live for ourselves. We do not see spiritually. We are not centered. In fact,
we’re self-centered.
Then we find Christ, and we find true freedom. We discover the real world of spirituality.
We discover we’re spiritual beings having a human experience, not the other way
around. We discover who we really are. We discover whose we really are.
We are reconciled to God. We see the light.
In John 1 we’re told that Christ is the Light, (He called Himself the Light of the world
later on in this same book). “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not
overcome it.”
This current pandemic is a definition of darkness. And yet, Jesus’ light shines.
It shines all the brighter because it is dark. The darker it is, the brighter it shines!
People of Christ are the ones shining bright during this time. They are Easter people.
This is Easter Sunday.
Most of us are familiar with the story of what happened that first Easter morning.
The women went to the tomb. Their hearts were heavy. They had just seen their hope in
Jesus of Nazareth crushed. They witnessed Him dying a cruel death by crucifixion.

It had been their hope that He would redeem them, and their people, and deliver all of
them from their Roman oppressors; but now their dreams and hopes lay in the
darkened tomb.
In their hands they carried spices. The same spices brought to Jesus as special gifts
upon the unique and miraculous occasion of His birth: frankincense, myrrh.
His death had been forecast at His birth.
His life had been foretold through the Jewish Scriptures for hundreds of year.
He was the long-awaited Messiah. The Savior. The One from God. The anointed One.
So how could it have ended like this, they must have wondered?
When they got to the tomb, they were astounded! The big, huge, beyond-heavy stone
which had been rolled in front to seal it, was rolled away! And the Roman guards who
had been stationed there to guard it, lay there as if dead! (Slain in the Spirit.)
You can read this in Matthew 28:2-7.
The angel of the Lord, “whose appearance was like lightning and clothes as white as
snow,” told the women not to be afraid. He told them He knew they were looking for
Jesus, who had been crucified. Then he said, “He is not here, He has risen…”
This is why, throughout church history, someone would call out “He is Risen,”
on Easter morning, and everyone else would respond, “He has risen indeed!”
{Do this, if led…}
We know the story. But do we know what it means?
Do we know WHY the empty tomb… Easter… brings hope?!
Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:16-21. Let’s go there now. [Read] [Pray]
When we are “in Christ,” when we’ve chosen to believe in Him and want Him to be in
charge of our lives, when we’ve begun a relationship with Him, or perhaps returned to
one… then we are “a new creation.”
We are no longer on the outside looking in… we are in!
We’re no longer blind or unseeing, we see!
“Amazing Grace, how can it be?! I once was blind, but now I see!!!”
What was I blind to before, that now I see?
The importance of and power of forgiveness?
The beauty and renewal of God’s creation?
The importance and dignity of every human being no matter who they are?
People matter to God. (Troy Ray)
When we begin to live for, and with, Christ, we become new people on the inside.
The Holy Spirit gives us new life.

We are re-created.
Part of what we’re discovering through all of this covid-19 sheltering in place learning is
that God is doing a divine “reset.” (Heard on the worldwide communion this week.) What
in your life needs to go? What needs to come in? How do we need to do “church”
differently? How do we need to celebrate Easter differently?
For many of us in ministry, this will be the most restful Easter we’ve had in decades!
Some of us will even get to cook today. Others may even still be in pajamas right now!
And those Easter lillies?
Yesterday I had the privilege of delivering a few lillies (most were left at the door… any
interactions were brief and six feet apart…). I have to admit there was more ministry
going on, and love shown, through that simple act and gift, than any Good Friday
sermon I’ve preached, or service I’ve attended, no matter how meaningful they were.
God is doing a “divine reset,” and Easter brings hope that we will pay attention, and take
notes, and come out of this looking more like the church is supposed to, than before!
So in 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul is saying we aren’t just “turning over a new leaf,” when we
choose Christ, we’re beginning a new life under a new master!
Easter brings hope! Are you tired of just always trying to do it your way and not getting
anywhere? Try Christ!
When we belong to Christ, like Rapunzel, we truly discover our “true you.”
We discover who we really are. We enter into a new covenant. A new perspective.
We begin to look at people differently. God’s way. The longer we belong to Christ, the
more this happens. We learn to love God, and love people, (1st and 2nd greatest
commandments) more, and better. We slowly become more like Christ.
Paul says all this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself, through Christ, and gave
us “the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ,
not counting people’s sins against them.” (:18,19)
That’s what happened on the cross! That’s why Jesus came! He defeated the devil’s
work and lies, and crushed sin underfoot when He went to the cross.
He defeated death when He rose from the dead! And yes. His tomb was found empty.
Which meant He had become alive again! He’s the only God who ever has! He was
seen by up to 500 people after His resurrection and before He ascended up to Heaven.
And now, because of Christ, when we face death, we do not have to fear. When we
believe in Him, we know that even though our human bodies die, and they all eventually
do, our souls will live forever.
Many are familiar with John 3:16 - “For God so loved the world He gave His only Son,
that whoever believes in Him will not die, but will live forever!” That gives us hope!

But 3:17 is also important. God didn’t send His son to condemn the world, but to save it.
That’s why we call Him Messiah. Savior. Knowing we belong to Him gives us hope.
Hope is essential for all human beings. We must have hope for peace and joy in our
lives. A life filled with hope is an empowered life! Knowing we belong to Him, whose
tomb was found empty on Easter morning, empowers our lives!
Solomon was the wisest man on the face of the earth when he wrote, in Proverbs 13:12,
that “hope deferred makes the heart sick.”
In other words, when we don’t have hope we are depressed. Discouraged. Hopeless.
I pray that everyone who is listening today will shake off any of that if they’re struggling
with it! [Pray!]
And, instead, leave this time together today deciding to choose to have hope.
What is it you’re hoping for right now?
{Jon’s response and my personal testimony of battling with ill health off and on last 3
years…}
One chapter earlier, in this letter to the believers in Corinth, 2 Corinthians 4:1, Paul
wrote these words, “Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do
not lose heart.”
In verse 16, he says it again! Let’s look, together, at 2 Corinthians 4:16-18:
“Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly
we are being renewed day by day… [Read the rest…]
It is fascinating that this coronavirus is forcing people to talk about death. We are not a
society that talks about death. In America our favorite coping device is denial.
(Yes… kid’s joke… what was Cleopatra the queen of? That’s right. De Nile.)
Death is inevitable. It’s good we’re finally talking about it. And so what better time than
now to make sure we know where we’re going after we die! And what better time than
now to truly begin to live our lives. To understand what matters most.
Personally, I’m not thinking most of us will die just yet. We’re reminded in Psalm 139
God knows when we’re born and when we’ll die. We don’t have to worry about it.
When Paul wrote the words we just read in 2 Corinthians, he had faced a lot of
suffering, trials, and distress as he preached the good news. But he knew it would all be
more than worth it. One day he would obtain God’s rest and rewards.
We will too! That gives us hope!
As we face great troubles, it’s easy to focus on the pain rather than the ultimate goal.
But just as athletes concentrate on the finish line and ignore their discomfort, we too
can choose what to focus on during this trying time. We can dwell on the negative, or
find the beauty in the unexpected.

Paul went through a lot. More than most of us ever will. You can read the list, also in this
book, in chapter 11:16-33. Paul experienced excruciating life circumstances! Yet he
proclaimed, unequvicably, that No matter what happens in this life, as believers, we
have the assurance of eternal life - or life foreverafter. Blessed assurance.
This brings hope.
On this most unusual of Easter Sundays, smack dab in the middle of a worldwide
pandemic, at home instead of out somewhere…
In a world filled with trouble, Easter brings hope!
As you move forward into possibly the most restful and relaxed Easter Sunday you’ve
ever enjoyed, let’s remember our Savior, and celebrate His great love. And love on
each other!
…His great love which unleashes great hope all over us! He has set us free.
And now, please just open up your hands to receive this blessing from Romans 15:13
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you
may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Amen. Happy Easter!