God's Amazing Grace (sermon notes)

Always have to start my sermons with something funny:
A friend was in front of me coming out of church one day, and the preacher was standing at the door as he always is to shake hands. He grabbed my friend by the hand and pulled him aside. The Pastor said to him, "You need to join the Army of the Lord!" My friend replied, "I'm already in the Army of the Lord, Pastor." Pastor questioned, "How come I don't see you except at Christmas and Easter?" He whispered back, "I'm in the secret service."

I’m so excited about Easter Sunday!
We have a wonderful program scheduled: special music, drama, children’s story and more…
use those flyers, invite someone
sunrise service, sunrise breakfast…

Can you believe today is palm Sunday?
maybe it’s the odd spring weather that made it sneek up
cause easter was earlier last year

did anybody bring palm branches?
well, how about shouting HOSANNA
maybe if we shout it loud enough Jesus will come back today
If you’re not familiar with what palm Sunday is all about
Go to Mark 11 and read about Christ’s Triumphal Entry

Can you imagine the disappointment Jesus felt as he looked into the faces of people around him that first holy week? Can you imagine his disappointment with the crowds who would shout hosanna one moment and crucify him the next? Disappointment with his disciples--one of whom would betray him, his most trusted who would deny him, and the three closest to him who could not even stay awake on the job while he agonized over the cup the Father had set before him. Can you imagine the hurt he felt within?Sir Alexander Mackenzie is a Canadian hero. An early fur trader and explorer, he accomplished a magnificent feat when he led an expedition across Canada from Fort Chipewyan on Lake Athabasca to the Pacific Ocean . His incredible journey was completed in 1793, 11 years before Lewis and Clark began their famous expedition to the west. Mackenzie's earlier attempt in 1789, however, had been a major disappointment. His explorers had set out in an effort to find a water route to the Pacific. The valiant group followed a mighty river (now named the Mackenzie) with high hopes, paddling furiously amid great danger. Unfortunately, it didn't empty into the Pacific, but into the Arctic Ocean . In his diary, Mackenzie called it the "River of Disappointment ." Jesus was now face-to-face with his River of Disappointment. He knew it would end like this, but still it is hard to stifle the will to believe, the hope that things will turn out better than expected.

Today is the final chapter for my sermon series on Amazing Grace…
I can think of no better place to close this series than John 3
(find stand read pray)

I bring a simple msg. today…
Some motivation for living a grace filled life!
3 thoughts from John chapter 3 on God’s Grace!

This week in my study…I was struck by Nicodemus’ boldness yet cowardice…
Obviously the Pharisees were ultimately the most responsible party for putting Christ on the cross…
It took a tremendous amount of boldness for Nicodemus to simply approach Jesus…
Yet, he is sneaking to do it in the dark…
I asked the Holy Spirit to meet me in the pages of my Bible…
And I believe this is the first whisper…
1. God’s Grace is Compelling!

Not even a Pharisee can resist the compelling power of Christ!
If we truly let Christ live thru us, we wouldn’t be able to keep them away with a stick!
When you’ve been truly touched by God’s Grace or had just a glimpse of Heaven’s grace, it never stops compelling you to His Throne!
Taste and See that the Lord He is GOOD
You don’t have to dress it up or try to sell it with the latest advertising schemes…the Gospel is still very good news!
Hear at again family of God, with new ears…John 12:32 – Jesus said, And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself…

God is saving, delivering, healing everyday!
Find out what He’s doing and jump on board!
Don’t try to do something and ask Him to bless it!
He never sleeps…He’s always drawing people to Himself
Always COMPELLING

2 Corinthians 12:9…And He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me…
YES LORD

And we have to go to Psalm 121
Is there anything on this earth more compelling than the Grace of God we just read in that psalm???
somebody shout

I already shared this the first week of this Amazing Grace series but I gotta do it again…
Nothing can be added, nothing to subtract,Grace has nothing to do with usAnd this is just a fact.It's nothing that you bought,And nothing that is taught.It's nothing that you can lend,And nothing that you can spend.It's nothing that grows old,It is nothing that you hold.It is there when you feel it,It is there when you don't,It is there when you accept itAnd there when you won't.It is nothing that you can earn,And nothing that you learn.It is nothing that you choose,And nothing that you can loose.It is there in the morning,It is there late at night,It is there when you are on top of the worldOr in your greatest fight.It's nothing about the clothes we wearOr the things that we do without,It has nothing to do with our appearance,That's not what grace is all about.Grace can be summed up as great richesAt Christ's expense,And to the human part of his people,It just doesn't seem to make sense.Unmerited favor full of riches and beauty untold,And we may never understand it untilWe get to heaven and walk on streets of gold.It is nothing that you bring with you,When you kneel at the cross and pray,But once you accept the Lord Jesus Christ,Grace will never go away.By Cheryl P. Ellicott

2. God’s Grace is Confusing

Nicodemus said HUH?
How can I be born again?
Of course Christ was speaking spiritually not physically…
Duh Nic, why don’t you get it?
And maybe you’re feeling that way about your spouse or friend or neighbor, why don’t you get it?
How in the world does anybody resist the compelling of Christ?
It all comes down to the anchor of God’s word…
1 Corinthians 1:18…for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God…

In a Peanuts cartoon, Charlie Brown and Linus are standing next to each other, staring at a star-filled sky. "Would you like to see a falling star?" Charlie Brown asks Linus. "Sure..." Linus responds. "Then again, I don't know," he adds, after some thought. "I'd hate to have it fall just on my account." In the book Parables of Peanuts, Robert Short uses this cartoon to make the point that a star did fall on our account. God came down to us as Jesus: like a lamb led to slaughter, He died on our account. What humility. What love and, oh, what he accomplished there.

3. God’s Grace is never Condemning

Isn’t that cute?
the three c’s
compelling, confusing, condemning
I’m a real preacher this week

Everybody loves to quote John 3:16, but I think it’s a crime to quote it without 17
For God sent not His son into the world to condemn the world but that the world thru Him might be saved…

The Holy Spirit put it on my heart to STAND IN THE GAP the church has created between John 3:16 and John 3:17!
Especially at funerals (because for many people that’s the only time they step foot in a church) I apologize to whomever will listen for the church’s failure in this area!
Many souls will have nothing to do with church because we have condemned when we should have been loving…
Yes, this is sometimes someone’s poor excuse, pointing the finger, hanging onto a hurt or failure…but that’s not for you and me to judge…Grace Triumphs over evil!

I read something this week that also challenges the way the church behaves…
Presbyterian John Buchanan writes…William Stringfellow, a distinguished lawyer who became a very distinguished theologian and who died much too soon, was a strong critic of the church. He was particularly feisty about Palm Sunday. He used to say that Christians go to church on Palm Sunday because they love a parade. I used to resent Stringfellow’s saying that. But I now conclude that he was partially right. I love Palm Sunday.
There is no day quite like this one, is there? If there is a better moment in the life of a church than the children’s processional on Palm Sunday, I can’t think what it might be. They come down the aisle in numbers that astonish us. They fill the sanctuary. They disturb the normal sedate dignity of worship. Presbyterians like their religion “decently and in order.” And there is nothing very orderly about several hundred children waving palm branches. (Although, truth be told, it is no small accomplishment of logistics to get them all here and lined up and in and out in a manner that lets us get on with the business of the day.) I confess, however, particularly when I have the unique blessing of meeting my own grandchildren in the parade that I sometimes feel that maybe they are the business of the day, they and the spontaneous joy of him coming into the city. In any event, there is no day quite like it in the life of a congregation. And there is no day quite like it in the church year. Someone noted recently that Palm Sunday has all the elements of a classic drama: great characters—frightened disciples stumbling along behind him, cheering crowds, conspiring politicians—and behind it all the clash of huge civilizations and religions and worldviews. And in the center—in fact towering over it all—the figure of one man, a young man, riding on a donkey, on his way to his own death.
amen
That children’s processional that the Presbyterians celebrate on Palm Sunday sounds like a fun tradition…maybe we should implement it?

the greatest purpose of this amazing grace series is my desire to see RRAG
Stop and think
When you have experienced the blessings of His amazing grace how can you not share the wealth?

I pray this is the message you needed to hear today…
Mabye you feel Christ compelling you
Mabye you are confused by the gospel
Mabye you need to stop condemning
come to Jesus…no better time than Palm Sunday