I cannot let this very special day go by without reflecting and jotting a few notes about the service I attended. If for any reason at all, just to reflect later to see if I still feel the same way or view it differently.
I went to M&D's church North Campus of FCC. They are doing a series called Crosswords that Puzzle. The Pastor Ken Brown led the sermon. He began with Jesus' last words. "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit" Luke 23:46. I thought this was going to be a very interesting sermon. The Pastor asserted that Jesus resurrected himself. Basing this on John 10:18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father. I think these word may have been taken out of context. The Pastor goes on to give several examples of how God raised Jesus from the dead. I wrote down at least 7 such examples from the Bible and he went on to give what seemed like 28 more. (I think each power point slide had at least 7 examples) I personally think too much time was spent hammering the point to home, but that is me. The Pastor ended with an interesting thought. In the bulletin where you can make notes for the sermon the heading for the last thought was "What does it all mean?" Resurrection = God's signature : Satisfied. His last thought for the day was that God was satisfied that sin was paid in full so he resurrected Jesus. After mentally reviewing the sermon where Elton John was referenced along with Gomar Pile, spraying cookies with raid before throwing them away, Aaron Rodgers, Buddha, and Jimmy Hoffa, I thought that last statement lent a hand to a mob boss saying to someone with a surmountable debt, that he was off the hook. Which is the case, I just prefer not to think of it that way.
Lesson learned: We are forgiven.
The Pastor did not say that Jesus raised himself from the dead. He quoted that bit from the Bible saying that Jesus could have raised himself from the dead, but by quoting all the other scriptures, the Pastor was stating beyond a doubt that God raised him from the dead, not Jesus. Anyway, Jesus was dead, so he could not have raised himself from the dead. Maybe. The final thought was the key, God was pleased, debt paid in full.
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