Come Back Home (April 7, 2024)

I just mentioned, and thank you Rep. Deb again for what you have shared this morning, and yes, we are one week away from having recognized that the Lord Jesus was resurrected from the burial tomb. But each and every day, each and every day, as believers, we recognize and celebrate and do declare that he is the resurrection. And although we would like to date it as being something that occurred 2,000 years ago as an event, we recognize that the resurrection is the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. And this morning we have a different report, because we have the good news that the Lord Jesus lives, and for those of us who have confessed him, him, we confess the Lord Jesus with our mouths, and we believe in our hearts that God, our Father, has raised him from the dead. Yes, yes, we have an infallible and unwavering testimony that we are saved. That's what salvation is, it's confession of the Lord Jesus with our mouths, it's the belief that God has raised him from the dead, that we obtain this wonderful salvation. We are brought into this ministry of reconciliation, we are brought into this household of faith. And because of that confession, we declare that the Lord Jesus, he lives within us through his life-changing Word, and the indwelling Holy Spirit abiding within. The Lord Jesus lives in us, and he lives in us in a way that we can do more than just understand the times. We can find the time. Once again, Rep. Deb, for sharing that powerful poem and reading, finding the time, and we find the time right now to just fellowship with them more. This morning we want to ask you to go again to the book of John, chapter 20, verses 19 through 22, and as you go there, let me read. Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst and said unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord, and said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you. As my Father has sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said unto them, Receive you the Holy Ghost. Thank God for his blessed word, and pray again with me. Unto you our God and our Father, we thank you for this moment to be in fellowship with you and with each other. Thank you God for allowing us to find the time, hallelujah, to find the time to honor you and to celebrate you and to recognize the resurrection who lives within us. Thank you for all that you are doing, Father, to perfect those things which concern us. Thank you for pouring into us your word and your Holy Spirit. We thank you God for having the mind to want to follow your word and to follow your wind. We know God that you are loving us, and we say thank you. You are healing us, and we say thank you. You are blessing us, and we say thank you. You are unifying us as the body of Christ, the Ecclesia, and we say thank you, thank you. We ask you this morning, God, to take the spoken word and to reveal it even more unto us that we may live a life more abundantly, both naturally and supernaturally in the days to come. We seek God just to do your perfect will, to be better and not better. In the authority and in the name of Christ Jesus, we pray and we pray, amen. Amen. As I have reflected on the text, I wondered, using my Christological mind, I wonder the state of the mindset of the disciples. I wondered whether, as the disciples found themselves locked up and locked in a room because of fear for the Jews, that perhaps they had no other place to run or to hide. And because of the fear of the Jews, perhaps they were experiencing paralysis by analysis, as they considered among themselves that the same fate that had been experienced by the Lord Jesus on Good Friday, that was certainly a reality that they as his disciples could face in the immediate days that lie ahead. And yes, we could pontificate on how the disciples could have walked with him and prayed with him and heard him teach and preach and saw his miracles, had seen Lazarus being raised from the dead. I think that all of us could maybe second guess how could these men who had been around Christ, who could find themselves locked in a room for fear of the Jews. But on the other side, I think that all of us can appreciate that what they were feeling and what they were experiencing was quite natural. I don't think there's anything unusual where you could find yourself retreating when your leader has been publicly executed, even under the guise of a so-called due process and a speedy trial. That's not what Dr. King got when he was assassinated. He didn't get a trial. He didn't get so-called due process. On April 4th, many years preceding this moment, the Word always reminds us that as Jesus was brought to Pontius Pilate, that Pilate clearly understood that he was a man without fault. And Pilate will wash his hands as a symbolic gesture that he found no fault in the Lord Jesus, and that Jesus was not guilty of anything except for just doing the perfect will of the Father. And in that perfect will, we should not cry at the crucifixion because the crucifixion reveals the perfect will of God. The Word being made flesh and dwelling among men, God's Word, God's will becoming a reality occurred on the cross. And in that perfect will, the Lord Jesus, as the blameless Lamb of God, he hung on the cross and he allowed his blood to be shed for every one of our sins, past, present, and future, that we, we, we, we, we could be forgiven, that we could be forever reconciled to the Father. And because of his atonement, we, we know and we declare that we are saved by grace. That means that there's nothing that we could do to earn our salvation. We are saved by grace and through faith. And it's not of anything that we do, it's not based on our righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ being imputed unto us. The cross represents for us a no greater love, a no greater love that would lay down his life for his friends, and he calls us friends today. The cross, the cross, it was a huge and a, but yet a necessary price to pay, and it was one that the Lord Jesus would endure. He would endure the public humiliation, the, the beat down, the physical affliction, the, the talking, you save others, now save yourself, humiliated publicly by his own people. He was bruised, battered, and nailed to the cross. It was a huge and necessary price to pay so that we might have a right to return back home to the Father. But in our text this morning, we, we see the resurrection standing, glory be to God. The resurrection coming in the midst, suddenly, not even invited, but he's there, standing in the midst of the room before his disciples. And I believe that as he is dead, as he's standing in their midst, that very act shows us that he declared then before his disciples, as he is declaring before us even now, that I'm not broken. There, you can look at my body, you can look at my hands and, and my side, you can look at my feet, you can see the scars that have been inflicted, but I'm not broken, I'm standing in the midst. And as believers, we ought to be reminded too, that because he lives, and because he lives in us, that we, yeah, we too have been battered, we have been beaten by the circumstances of life, but we are not broken, and we can find the time now to say that, we're not broken, we're not broken. Every born-again believer has within them the spirit of excellence, to move according to the faith of God, and not by the fear of men. What brought us here this morning, what brings us to fellowship, is not out of fear, but of faith, because perfect love casts away fear. We can no longer torment, hallelujah, because we have this spirit of excellence. Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth, he says, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels, and in this, this living clay, we have this treasure, that the excellence of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed. We are not broken this morning, hallelujah, because Christ is standing and residing and abiding in us, as these earthen vessels, and the excellence of God's power. We appreciate it, hallelujah, that the excellence of God's power is with us, and it's not of our own strength, it's not of our own might, it's not of our own education, and not of our own socioeconomic status, but the excellence of power is in us, by God, and not by ourselves. And this morning, family, let us be encouraged, hallelujah, let us be encouraged by the Word, and invigorated by the wind, to move forward in our faith, to move forward in our faith, and into the greater destiny and purpose that God has called us. Family, we are not broken, but we are blessed beyond measure to live a life unto excellence, hallelujah. Paul says, and yet I show you a more excellent way. There is excellence when we love, when we bless them that curse us, and pray for them that is spiteful to use us. When we love our enemies, there's a life unto excellence. And we know, family, at times, just like today, perhaps, that we need to remind ourselves, as we remind each other, that it's not that we don't encounter challenges and difficulties. We find ourselves, at times, experiencing, in various degrees, and in moments, hardships and difficulties. And if it ain't our own stuff that's coming because it's work-related, it's school-related, it's issues and things going on with our loved ones, and things are not always perfect in our lives. But thank God, hallelujah, thank God, thank God, thank God, we have this treasure, hallelujah, the resurrection himself. We have this treasure within these mortal bodies to remind us that the excellence that we seek and we desire is of God and not us. In my Christological mind, I can appreciate that the disciples on this particular Sunday evening was thinking to themselves, possibly, how did we get here? Perhaps they were still trying to figure things out and what were going to be their next steps. Maybe they were going through their own SWOT analysis, S-W-O-T, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Maybe they were going through their own debriefing session while they're in the room, locked in and locked up. And maybe they were still overwhelmed by the reality of what happened on Good Friday, and the fact that Sunday morning that there's an empty burial place for nobody accounted for. How did we get here? Maybe they were asking and experiencing what is often referred to as buyer's remorse, if you will. Maybe in their mind they were like, how did we get here, because we saw the Lord Jesus as our Messiah, but not as the suffering servant who Isaiah wrote about and who would come first. Isaiah wrote him first coming as the suffering servant, and now we're just waiting on this side of the resurrection and the ascension for him to return as the Messiah. And with all their questions, with all the questions that the disciples had, and perhaps their lack of understanding or their lack of faith, maybe they didn't connect the dots between the old scriptures and the real-time fulfillment that was among them before he stepped in the room on Sunday evening. Here they would find themselves, Rev. Depp, they were stuck in their most favorite comfortable feeling of fear, and it was hard to bring them out. But then Jesus, hallelujah, he steps in the room and he says, peace be unto you. And I'm not here to, once again, pontificate about how they found themselves where they were because that would be Monday morning quarterbacking, but I think that if we really were honest with ourselves, we probably would have done the same thing, and just like them, we would have rallied together and found ourselves locked up and locked in for fear of those who were in power. But on the flip side, I thank God, and this is where I find encouragement, I thank God that they had each other to connect with and connect to. The scripture changed my mind, and I'm rephrasing it here for obvious reasons, but how good it is for brothers and sisters to dwell together in unity. I know they're in a room, I'm so invigorated and inspired this morning that they came together, hallelujah, in the spirit of unity. I can see in the text that by being together, they are teaching us that they knew too, I've said it before, but they knew too by what they're doing that we all we got. We need to find the time to encourage one another with the spirit to know we all we got. And while we're finding the time to edify one another, we don't have the time, we don't have the resources, we don't have the numbers, we're not standing in the majority, we don't have the time to act like we don't like one another. We need each other more so now than ever before. We need each other. And at times, we seem too often so many broken families, broken biologically and broken religiously. But the Ecclesia this morning should be reminded that we need each other. We need to find the time to say we all we got. And it seems like for the past several weeks, I have articles that pop up in my news feeds that relay and share the results of particular surveys that indicate that many have abandoned weekly fellowships in America. Regardless of their preferred faith, many are not attending local services or local worship even one time during the week. The love of many is waxing cold, even in their faith to God, whatever God that they want to choose, even in church. But this morning, we can't allow ourselves to be a part of that number. We can't be a part of the number who have found themselves at a distance from the Ecclesia such that we abandon each other and the body of Christ. We've got to find the time. Hallelujah. We've got to find the time as we are right now to come together, to edify one another and to comfort each other. And family, let me say this, it's okay to retreat. Even at times we may find ourselves retreating in response to fear. We may be just like the disciples, and Christ doesn't call them out for that. He just says, peace be unto you. Hallelujah. This morning, there needs to be a profound transformation of mind to understand that we should be in retreat with each other. Hallelujah. But not from one another. We can be in retreat with each other. We just don't need to be in retreat from one another because we need each other. We only got. In Hebrews chapter 10, verses 23 through 25, the writer says this, he says, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful, that promise. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more, as you see the day approaching. Family, as we are seeing the day approaching, as we are continuing to get ready for Christ to come back on the scene, not as the suffering servant, but as the reigning Messiah. Hallelujah. We should exhort one another. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We come together on Wednesdays and Sundays, but we do so not just for some religious observance, but we come together to renew our faith, to find the time to edify one another and consider one another to provoke each other. Hallelujah. Yeah, yeah. We want to provoke each other. We want to provoke each other to get into some good trouble. We want to provoke each other to get unto love. We want to provoke each other to do good works. Again, this morning, we proclaim that whatever is dividing the church is not love. The text for our consideration shows us that the disciples obviously, they loved each other because they were together, and we need to be together. Even when we don't agree with one another, we still need to be together as the Ecclesia, as the body of Christ. They have retreated. They retreated together with each other for fear of the Jews, but thank God that they were not afraid of each other. Hallelujah. They weren't scared of one another. Family, we know too many who have left ministries, and they have left religious organizations not because of the fear from the outside, but it was because of what was happening to them on the inside from those within the ministry and those within the religious organization. So it wasn't coming from without. It was coming from within that has drove them away from the body of Christ. And too often, the hearts and the spirits of those called by God have been broken. And that brokenness has shattered the relationship between sisters and brothers. That brokenness has disrupted the bond of fellowship between deacons and ushers, between choir members and ministers of music and pastors and church members. We can go on, and we can go on, and the pain, the church hurt, if you will, has been so overwhelming that we know of those who have retreated not only from that particular group, that particular ministry, that particular religious organization, they have retreated from God Himself altogether. But today, hallelujah, I believe that we ought to be reminded that our Father and our God, He is calling those who have been bruised and who have been battered by the circumstances of life, as well as the church, to come back home to the body of Christ. He is a repairer of the breach. He's come to mend us back together again and within. Family, I'm not saying that God is calling anyone to go back to the building or go back to a particular ministry where you have been abused. That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying that He is calling those who have distanced themselves from Him. He's calling them to come back to the ecclesia, come back to the body of Christ. That's the word and the wind that we should follow. As I close, I believe the Holy Spirit is calling us in this hour of God's great revival to tell those who we know who are hurting, and they have left the household of faith, to just come back home. Don't forsake the assembly of those who have a heart for Christ. Come back home. Find the time to come back home. Don't abandon the fellowship of true believers of Jesus Christ. Come back home. Let us remind those who have distanced themselves, not just from church services and not just from church buildings, but they have distanced themselves from the ecclesia, from the household of faith. Tell them, just come back home. Come back home because the Lord Jesus is standing in the midst and He's saying, Peace be unto you. You don't have to be broken. You can come back home. Verses 21 and 22. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you. As my Father has sent me, and He's sending us as well right now in this hour of His revival. As my Father has sent me, even so send I you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said unto them, Receive you the Holy Ghost. And this morning, Christ Jesus is sending us as well with the word and with the wind and the message to others that He came to the house so that we could come back home to be with the Father. Amen.