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Easter 2006 "Jesus Keeps His Promises" Mark 16:1-8; 1 Cor.15

by The Rev. Clancy Nixon

April 16, 2006

Church of the Holy Spirit

Ashburn, Virginia

www.holyspiritanglican.org

Alleluia! Christ is risen! [hand to ear] The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Happy Easter! This is the morning that we tell the world the greatest news of all: He's

alive! Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. In our reading from the gospel of Mark, the

angelic figure, who looked like a young man in white, shocked the two Marys and

Salome and told them that Jesus had risen from the dead, that he had left the tomb. The

angel said that Jesus was going ahead of them to Galilee, where "you will see him, just as

he told you." (Mark 16:7) Number 1 in your outline: The angel was reminding them

that Jesus keeps his promises. By Jewish reckoning, just four days before at the Last

Supper, Jesus had promised them that he would rise again and go ahead of them to

Galilee. Mark records that promise at chapter 14, verse 28. What a mighty God we

serve! Because Jesus kept his astonishing promise to rise from the dead, we know that

Jesus has power over death. We can believe and know that that Jesus has both the desire

and the power to keep all his other promises. Jesus keeps his promises. Say it with me:

Jesus keeps his promises. That is great news. Alleluia! Christ is risen! [hand to ear] The

Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

You might say, Clancy, how do you know that Jesus is alive, and keeps his

promises? Well, I know that he is alive because I talked to him just this morning, like I do

every day. I also know that Jesus is alive because He talks to me every day, too. At John

8:31-32, Jesus promises that "if you hold to [his] teaching, then you will know the truth,

and the truth will set you free." Say it with me: Jesus keeps his promises.

Promise Number 2 in your outline: Jesus is the truth; He sets you free.

Our friend Nita Edwards with Asia Alive ministries is originally from India. Now

she lives in Countryside, and she spoke at one of our Healing Services last year. Nita

was an avid tennis player. Nita had an awful accident and fell down a set of stairs which

resulted in complete paralysis. Nita is from a well-to-do family of medical doctors, and

she studied medicine herself. Her family arranged for the best medical care possible but

nothing seemed to help her. Her condition deteriorated to the point that she could barely

speak and was going blind. During her illness, she focused on praying for healing,

begging with God to heal her. She bargained with God, saying that she would dedicate

her life to whatever he wanted if only he would heal her. How many of you have been in

that place? Thanks God, Nita is a woman of prayer, and she prayed so faithfully that she

heard God promise to heal her. Nita believed him so she said, "God if you are going to

heal me I want to know the day and the hour so I can have witnesses including my Doctor

present." Amazingly, on the appointed date and time God miraculously touched her. She

says that it was like having ten thousand volts of electric shock waves go through her

when God touched her. When it happened she was thrown out of bed, clear across the

room on the floor. When it hurt to land, she knew she had feeling back. God healed her,

and Nita did give her life to work for god full time. This miracle is fully documented.

Jesus set Nita free from her sickness. When the Son sets you free, you shall be free

indeed! God sets us free not only from physical illness, but from psychological and

spiritual illnesses as well.

Ginger recently heard a man speak at a conference. This man, call him Jim, grew

up struggling with sexual identity problems. He always thought that he should have been

a woman. Jim grew up in church and he struggled with same sex attractions. He shared

all of this with his mother, who encouraged him to marry a woman and that everything

would all work out. Jim did marry, and had children, but was miserable because he

thought he was a woman trapped in a man's body. He felt he could no longer live what

he thought was a lie. He left his family and decided to move across the country and live

life as a woman. Jim took a woman's name and dressed like a woman. Some time later,

he sought Theophostic prayer ministry. In this ministry, you invite Jesus to speak to truth

to lies that are uncovered from past memories. Every sin we commit, every bondage we

are in, is the result of some lie we believe. The Lord uncovered a painful memory from

his childhood when he was only 3 years old. He had been abused by a group of teenaged

boys. As he went back to that painful time, God revealed to him that he had made a

vow. He had vowed that he would never be like they are - he would never be a man.

When Jim understood the lie he had believed as a three year old boy, that it was not his

fault, he renounced his vow. When he did that, he was set free and transformed; when he

heard the truth, he was set free! He was set free from sexual identity confusion. He

received the natural desires of a man. He tried to be reconciled with his wife, but that did

not work out. Eventually he married again, and is now in ministry to people who suffer

with identity confusion. When the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed!

This man now knows the truth, and the truth set him free. Just like Jesus said. Say it

again with me: Jesus keeps his promises. Alleluia!

Promise Number three: It`s reasonable to believe that Jesus is alive! The

experience of a relationship with the living Lord Jesus is not just my experience, but it's

the experience of hundreds of millions of people on every continent today. Christianity

is the most popular faith on the planet because multitudes experience that Jesus is alive,

and are so excited about that living relationship that they tell others, too. It's the same

conversation with the living Lord that the Church has had for 2,000 years. Jesus is alive!

In Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, he says that over 500 witnesses saw Christ after he

rose from the dead, and many of them were still alive at the time he wrote. If a lawyer

could get even two witnesses to testify at a trial that they saw the same thing, he'd be

ecstatic. A Professor of Evidence at Harvard Law School studied this question, and he

concluded that the evidence for Jesus' death and resurrection is as strong as the evidence

for any other historical event.

Jesus is alive! His new resurrected body was recognizably his: he could eat and

drink, talk and walk. But he did look different enough to be hard to recognize at first. He

could also walk through walls, move instantly from one place to another, and even ascend

to Heaven in that new body.

Promise Number 4: You'll get a new, resurrection body. Because Jesus is raised,

so shall we be. The Bible promises that we will have that same kind of resurrection body

at the end of time, so we can live forever with him in Heaven. You can read about it in

First Corinthians, chapter 15. It says, "It will take only a second--as quickly as an eye

blinks--when the last trumpet sounds. The trumpet will sound, and those who have died

will be raised to live forever." 1 Cor.15:52

I am looking forward to living forever in Heaven, aren't you? No more sorrows, no

more divorce or church splits, no more broken relationships, no more tears. It'll be an

everlasting banquet. It will be the best family reunion you have ever been to, because

you will actually like everyone there! Another one of the really cool parts will be the new

bodies that we will receive. I am looking forward to my new glorified, perfected

resurrection body! No more shattered toe bones. No more nearsightedness; no more need

to pay for glasses; no more black eyes from playing cul-de-sac basketball with my son

Will. I don't know if Joachim Noah or Lamar Butler will be there, but if they are, I'd like

to see them to play basketball with my boys! Why do I look forward to that? Because

Jesus keeps his promises.

Number 5: Jesus promises you a fresh start. (from Stephen Kellett) In Mark

16:7, the angel at the tomb tells the women, "He is risen... Go, tell his disciples and

Peter... There you will see Jesus, just as he told you." Notice the symbol of the setting.

This conversation took place at dawn, on the first day of a new week. It was a new

beginning, a fresh start. No one would have appreciated this more than Peter. Peter had

promised Jesus the night before Jesus died that he would always stick by him. Instead,

Peter denied knowing Jesus 3 times that same night. Most scholars think that Mark wrote

his gospel as he listened to Peter narrating and dictating his eyewitness accounts of the

events to him. While Mark 16:8 says that the women did not say anything to anyone out

of their fear, we know from the other gospel accounts that this fear did not last long, that

they did tell Peter of what they had witnessed later that same day. When Peter got to this

part in the story about Jesus rising from the dead and he began to say those words that

the women must have told him what the angel said - those words must have meant the

world to him. I imagine he got a lump in his throat just saying them... "go, tell his

disciples AND PETER" and Peter! As guilty as Peter must have felt at that time, God

signaled through this angel that he had not given up on Peter. God intended to give Peter

a fresh start, just like he had given Paul a fresh start. In First Corinthians, Paul says that

he does not even deserve to be called an apostle, since he had persecuted the church. God

gave Saul of Tarsus a fresh start, and a new name as Paul.

Ever wished you could start over? With your marriage, your parenting, your

career, your life? I've heard people say, "I wish I could just start over. I've made so

many mistakes." We don't measure up to our own standards, much less God's. Jesus

didn't come to rub it in. He came to rub it out! Jesus said, at John 3:17: "I didn't come to

condemn the world. . . I came to save it." On the cross, he canceled our past mistakes.

The cross is like the Undo button on your computer. You make a mess, you click on

undo, and poof!- the mistake is gone! I've become very good friends with that undo

button. On the computer, the undo button only goes so far back, and then you are stuck

with it. But the cross covers all those past mistakes. Jesus promises you a fresh start.

On Maundy Thursday, 9 year old Alex Tobias was baptized over at Calvary Baptist

Church. Alex got a fresh start, as he was symbolically buried under the water with Christ,

and raised with him as he came up out of the water, as a symbol of the new life he now

enjoys. It was a glorious event, and the Lord had some prophetic words for Alex,

including a prophetic song for him, that he would be a runner, a herald of the good news

of Jesus. How about you? Do you remember the words that God has spoken over you?

Have you received those promises? Never forget, let's say it together, Jesus keeps his

promises! He even promises to keep his promises. Second Corinthians 1:20 says, ""For

no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ." God promises

you a fresh start.

This morning, we have heard about three promises that God has made to us: the

promise that you will know the Truth and the truth will set you free; the promise of

eternal life with a new resurrection body; and the promise of a fresh start through the

forgiveness of your sins. My question to you this morning is this - will you take him at

his word? If so, listen to this final promise from Romans 10:13 "for everyone who calls

on the name of the Lord will be saved." The promise is for everyone, no matter what you

have done, no matter how far away from God you think you have strayed.

Now we'd like to give you an opportunity to pray to receive God's promises. If you're

ready to do that, you can pray this prayer on the screen. Take a moment to listen and

reflect on this the prayer as I read it aloud. Here it is on the screen. If you're not ready to

pray this, no sweat, just hang in there while others pray it. If you have already prayed a

prayer like this before, please be praying for those who have not yet done so. God knows

your heart. Please pray without bowing your head, with your eyes open.

Just pray this: "God, I want to receive all your promises for my life. Set me free

with your truth. I want to receive your promise for a fresh start. Lord, please forgive my

sins. You raised your Son Jesus to eternal life; I want to live forever, too. I believe your

promises, Lord Jesus. I want to experience the power of your resurrection to live into the

promises you have made over me. I want to fulfill my destiny in you. Fill me with your

Holy Spirit and with power for living. I invite you to be the Lord of all my life my

desires, my worldview, my behavior. Thank You, Lord. Amen."

If you just prayed that prayer for the first time, today is the first day of eternal life

for you. Welcome to the family! Tell somebody about your decision today.

If you would like someone to pray personally for your needs, there are prayer

ministers standing at the back of the auditorium who would be glad to pray with you

now, or during the communion time, whether to commit your life to Christ, for healing,

to receive a promise or prophetic word over your life, or for any other need.

[outline follows on next page]

"Jesus Keeps His Promises"

Sermon Outline by Clancy Nixon April 16, 2006

1. Jesus keeps ________________________________.

" The angel said that Jesus was going ahead of them to Galilee, where "you will see him, just as he told you."

(Mark 16:7)

2. Jesus is the ____________________; He sets you ________________.

Jesus promises that "if you hold to [his] teaching, then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

(John 8:31-32)

3. It's reasonable to believe that Jesus ____________________________!

"....Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day

according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the twelve. After that, he appeared to

more than five hundred ...most of whom are still living..." (1Cor. 15:3-6)

4. You'll get a new, ________________________________________.

""It will take only a second--as quickly as an eye blinks--when the last trumpet sounds. The trumpet will

sound, and those who have died will be raised to live forever." (1 Cor.15:52)

5. Jesus promises you a ___________________________________________.

"He is risen... Go, tell his disciples and Peter... There you will