We are one church. We love God, love people, love
His mission, and love His church.
Welcome to the One Church podcast.
This weekend Susan and I watch the live action Cinderella film.
I think it was because we've been thinking about Disney, but
it was where the Prince searches for the lady who left her glass
slipper at the ball and eventually he finds her.
The shoe fits, their love is shared, and they get married.
I have to tell you, I was weeping and I thought to myself,
David, get a grip man, get a grip.
And it reminded of us when our boys were young and we used to
watch Disney videos on our video cassette machine.
For those of you who are only used to streaming, we used to
play programmes on a big machine in which you would place large
cassettes and at times at critical moments I can remember
with Disney sing along videos with the songs playing and the
little note bouncing on the top of each word.
The tape would get stuck and clogged the machine and caused
great tension in the house. Far more successful was
Disneyland Paris with our family.
Here's our granddaughters five years ago about to go into the
Disney Princess party where they met the real Cinderella and
Ariel, Rapunzel and Snow White today.
The message in this room is so much more than a fairy tale, and
it's so much more important than a movie.
The resurrection of Jesus is truth and freedom, the empty
tomb, the reality that they never found the bones of Jesus.
The transformed disciples who moved from devastation to bold
witnesses and later died for their faith.
The 500 plus people who saw him alive.
The explosive growth of the church, the power of the message
that he now seeks. A relationship with us all.
And how we respond to this truth is the most important thing in
life. And today I'd like to introduce
you to three people who met Jesus after his resurrection
from the dead. And just look at what he said to
each one of them. The first person to meet Jesus
after his resurrection was Mary Magdalene.
And she was asked, who are you looking for?
Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary
Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been
rolled away from the entrance. Mary was in a desperate state
when she first met Jesus. She was oppressed, full of need.
And when she encountered him, she was changed beyond
recognition. And from that moment, she
followed him. And in our passage, Mary had
just watched Jesus be beaten and brutally treated and then nailed
to a cross. And she probably saw him taken
down from the cross, placed in a tomb.
She knew he was dead. And we read this.
Mary stood outside the tomb crying, and as she wept she
stooped and looked in, and she saw 2 white robed angels, one
sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place
where the body of Jesus had been lying.
Dear woman, why are you crying? The angels asked her.
Because they've taken my Lord away, she replied, And I don't
know where they've put him. And she turned to leave and saw
someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn't
recognise him. Dear woman, why are you crying?
Jesus asked her. Who are you looking for?
What a question. Who are you looking for?
Mary was looking for Jesus. Some years ago a group of us
were travelling at night to a hotel and we were driving behind
Pastor James who was our guide because he knew the way and we
followed him avidly as he drove in his car for many many miles
until eventually we realised that it wasn't his car at all.
We called him Fake James. We were looking for the wrong
thing. Who are you looking for?
Everybody's looking for something.
People are looking for academic achievement or financial
prosperity, physical health, mental well-being, social
prominence and if I can just get there, that'll be enough.
However, most of us in the room have already worked out that a
certificate of achievement, a rise in wages, new car, a
holiday, even a family addition. As wonderful as they all are,
it's not really what we're looking for.
The Bible says this, that the Father has set eternity in the
human heart and all of us, whether we realise it or not,
are searching for the One who made us.
Some of us take a very wide route to find Him, but our
hearts will be incomplete until we do, because we're all looking
for something. Who are you looking for?
I love Mary's response to Jesus words.
She thought he was the gardener, Sir.
She said if you've taken him away, tell me where you've put
him and I will go and get him. Mary.
Jesus said and Mary said I have seen the Lord.
Mary's response was I'm looking for Jesus and when she found him
she said I've seen the Lord. What's your response today?
Who are you looking for? Will you see the Lord?
Our second character is Thomas, the disciple of Jesus, and he
was told this. Don't be faithless any longer.
Believe the disciples were meeting behind locked doors.
This is the evening of the day Jesus rose from the dead because
they were afraid. And suddenly Jesus was standing
there among them, and he showed them the wounds in his hands and
his side, and they were filled with joy when they saw the Lord.
And one of the 12 disciples, Thomas, was not with the others
when Jesus came. And they told him, we've seen
the Lord. But he said, I won't believe it
unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into
them and place my hand into the wound in his side.
Now, Thomas was loyal. He was a man full of courage.
Earlier on, he had inspired the other disciples to follow Jesus,
whatever happened. But in this moment, he's slow to
believe. He questions, he doubts, He's
trying to work it all out. And then this happened.
Some days later, the disciples were together again, and this
time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked, but
suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them.
Do you know that He's standing among us here, right now, here
in this room by the Holy Spirit? Peace be with you, he said.
And then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here and look at my
hands. Put your hand into the wound in
my side. Don't be faithless any longer.
Believe. Wow, don't be faceless any
longer. Believe these words to, Thomas
challenged his heart. Stop doubting, start believing.
Don't be faceless any longer. It's time to believe.
Where are you on your faith journey this morning?
Are you still trying to work it all out, still believing that
you don't need God, that everything will just be OK
without him? Are you still trying to make it
on your own? Are you still questioning
everything? Have you drifted away from a
childhood faith? Are you still faithless?
Listen, it's time to believe. The one who made you says this.
Don't be faceless any longer. Believe.
And Thomas's response to Jesus words was so powerful.
My Lord and my God, he said, My Lord, my God, what's your
response? Is it time to say my Lord and my
God? The third character is Peter the
disciple, and he was commanded. Follow me.
Peter is such an inspiring character in the Bible, always
saying the wrong things, putting his foot in it, making bold
declarations, exemplifying a life that had been changed by
Jesus and making mistakes. I love him.
He was called and transformed. But when Jesus was arrested and
Peter was tested, he denied that he knew Jesus three times.
And he's devastated and carrying such guilt.
And a few days after the resurrection, Jesus is cooking
breakfast for the disciples, and he asks Peter a question.
Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?
And then Jesus said to him, follow me.
Wow, what a do you love me? Then follow me.
And today it is an invitation for us all to do the same
because we all follow something. I urge you, let it be Jesus more
than anything. See Peter's response to Jesus.
Words reveal his heart. Yes Lord, Peter replied, You
know that I love you. And he went on to follow him,
eventually dying as a martyr for his faith.
My response 40 years ago, when I was 19, to this very invitation.
Will you follow me? I stopped in a moment like this,
and I came to the cross. And by grace, my life was
changed. I never deserved it.
It was always this kindness. And in the room today there are
hundreds of people who responded like me to the truth of the
resurrection. And what they did is they came
to the empty cross and they said, Jesus, I love you.
I want to follow you. I wonder what your response is
today. Three people.
Mary, Thomas, Peter, 3 moments. Mary, what are you looking for?
Thomas, stop doubting and believe.
Peter, follow me and three responses.
Mary, I've seen the Lord, Thomas, my Lord and my God.
Peter, you know that I love you and he followed him.
What's your response today? At the end of our production, we
saw a beautiful picture of the shepherd finding the sheep that
was lost. I love this picture.
This is my life because I was a sheep lost.
And the shepherd looks for, finds the sheep, brings them
home. If you speak to a shepherd today
and you ask them why they would do what this man is doing here,
they'd probably say this. I paid a good price for every
one of those sheep. So I go and get them.
And today the Good Shepherd didn't just pay a good price for
you, he prayed the whole price of your sin and your brokenness
and your lostness. Why did you deserve it?
No, it was grace. He loved you.
Why did he do it? To bring you home.
And that shepherd, the Good Shepherd says to you today, who
are you looking for? Stop doubting and believe.
Come follow me. God is perfect.
I know there are challenges sometimes with understanding the
perfection of God in an imperfect world.
God is perfect. Me, you, we're not.
We've all been selfish, we've all been greedy.
We've all carried pain. We've all grieved him.
And in the middle there's this gap that is we try and cross by
other ways. If I'm a good person, or I
perhaps read the Bible or I, I go to church or I help others, I
want to get across the the gap because I want to connect with
the God who is perfect, but I am imperfect.
And in the middle of this gap stands the greatest statement of
love you will ever encounter, the cross of Jesus.
The empty cross of Jesus. And the follower of Jesus is not
a religious person. It's not even someone baptises a
baby perhaps, who believes in God.
It's someone like a lost sheep who has come to an empty cross
where the Good Shepherd sent his Son to take all of our
brokenness and our mess. We come to the cross, we
acknowledge what he's done, we ask him to forgive us, and we
invite Jesus into our lives and we are reconciled with the holy
God. I love the gospel so much.
I love the gospel. All the films, all the messages,
they're very nice. But this, this message, it
tells, it changes. It changes you, it changes
everything. It's the hope for our world
today. And listen, it's the hope for
your life. The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
The Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace.