2014-04-27 Cambrian Park Nazarene

by Tim IsbellThis webpage contains worship notes for Cambrian Park Nazarene (San Jose, California) for the Sunday of April 27, 2014.

The Easter season the most significant time in the entire Christian calendar. It begins on Palm Sunday and continues through Pentecost Sunday (6/8/2014). Today's scripture is from the Revised Common Lectionary, Year A, the second Sunday of Easter. For more about the lectionary, click on Lectionary Basics.

Here's a synopsis of today's sermon.

A 2Easter: Whatever It Takes (For the complete sermon notes, click on the title directly below.)

John 20.19-29 The newly resurrected Jesus meets with his disciples and shows his wounds to Thomas.

Thesis: God does whatever IT takes to offer of relationship through Jesus Christ; the IT he’s looking for is our joyful worship in all seasons of life.

This sermon uses contemporary anecdotes to help people grasp the concept of doing "whatever IT takes," and a lot of scripture to illustrate the many ways that Jesus demonstrated his willingness to do this for us. Throughout the sermon runs a thread of how we hope others will respond when we give them a sincere gift. This helps people understand Jesus' heart for relationship with us, and in the process encourages us towards a joyful and holy response to Jesus' gift.

Sidebars:

While not developed fully in this particular sermon, there are a couple of challenging items that pop up in it.

1. We recited together the Apostles’ Creed. It includes this interesting line: "I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord… who descended into hell…" To read a little more on this, check out Did Jesus Really Descend into Hell?

2. John 20.23: "If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." For tips on a practical application of this concept see Confession.

Thanks for letting me worship with you!

Tim