Welcome to Golgotha
Jeff Strite
Matthew 27:32-56
OPEN: A little boy was not exactly happy about going to church on Easter Sunday morning. His new shoes were too tight, his tie pinched his neck, and the weather outside was just too good to be cooped up inside. As he sulked in the back seat of the family car, his parents heard him murmuring: "I don't see why we have to go to church on Easter anyway. They keep telling the same old story, and it always comes out the same in the end."
APPLY: Many wonder why there are so many Christmas and Easter Christians. People who only darken the doors on those specific holidays to hear the same old story again and again - but who never fully respond. I think it's because, though it is the same old story, but they don't understand it. They don't understand its implications and importance. They aren't the only ones.
ILLUS: I read of an informal survey a minister took of 100 Christians from several churches. He asked: "Would it have made any difference in your life as your are now living it, if Jesus had not died on the cross?"
45% said they did not think so
25% said they thought so, but not sure how
20% said it made all the difference in the world
10% said they had no idea.
What difference did it make that Jesus died on a cross? Many of these people didn't know. AND as I prepared this sermon, I asked myself that question again and again…
I. What difference did the cross make?
One answer I came up with was "It fulfilled prophecy. It told me God had a plan."
In Luke 24 we're told "He said to them, 'How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?' And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself."
In the Bible - all way from Genesis thru whole Old Testament prophets - there are over 300 prophecies. These prophecies declared ...
Jeff Strite
Matthew 27:32-56
OPEN: A little boy was not exactly happy about going to church on Easter Sunday morning. His new shoes were too tight, his tie pinched his neck, and the weather outside was just too good to be cooped up inside. As he sulked in the back seat of the family car, his parents heard him murmuring: "I don't see why we have to go to church on Easter anyway. They keep telling the same old story, and it always comes out the same in the end."
APPLY: Many wonder why there are so many Christmas and Easter Christians. People who only darken the doors on those specific holidays to hear the same old story again and again - but who never fully respond. I think it's because, though it is the same old story, but they don't understand it. They don't understand its implications and importance. They aren't the only ones.
ILLUS: I read of an informal survey a minister took of 100 Christians from several churches. He asked: "Would it have made any difference in your life as your are now living it, if Jesus had not died on the cross?"
45% said they did not think so
25% said they thought so, but not sure how
20% said it made all the difference in the world
10% said they had no idea.
What difference did it make that Jesus died on a cross? Many of these people didn't know. AND as I prepared this sermon, I asked myself that question again and again…
I. What difference did the cross make?
One answer I came up with was "It fulfilled prophecy. It told me God had a plan."
In Luke 24 we're told "He said to them, 'How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?' And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself."
In the Bible - all way from Genesis thru whole Old Testament prophets - there are over 300 prophecies. These prophecies declared ...
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