| A Submarine in the Sahara |
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Sahara is the
title of a movie starring Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz.
At the end of the Civil War, the Confederate cause is desperate.
They load all the gold they have left and sail out of harbor in a
submarine (very crude and just invented) and attempt to cross the
Atlantic. The ship ends up in Africa, finally sailing up the
Niger river. Supposedly at that time the river flowed in the
desert regions—only to be eventually buried underground in future
years.
McConaughey searches for the ship like Ponce de Leon searched for the fountain of youth. He was relentless. He finds a gold coin from the ship. This leads him to a major global polluter poisoning the river. If not prevented “an aquatic Chernobyl” would occur. He is chased by this despotic leader. In an effort to get away from the general/polluter our hero throws dynamite to block his helicopter view. The explosions also unearth the sub. They take refuge in it, get its cannon to fire, and eliminate the despot. Just a tad unbelievable—but a very entertaining movie (I have a copy if you’d like to borrow it). Don’t many people feel the same to be true of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead? There’s just enough story to make it interesting, but it certainly couldn’t be real! A body rising out of its grave? Come on! We know that the Easter story certainly is true! Unlike Sahara, the Easter story is well-documented and made possible by God’s incredible love and power, not Hollywood’s special effects. Jesus rescued us from the pollution of sin. Sin is worse than any disaster ever could be. We all went down with Adam & Eve’s ship. We would be lost forever without him. It would be like being trapped in a crippled sub on the ocean floor. If you’ve ever toured a submarine, you know how compact they are and how claustrophobic they can make you feel. In fact, Pastor Jeff Smith from Petaluma, once served in the Coast Guard. As part |
of his training, he had to take
a cruise in a sub. He told me that he never felt as uneasy as a
lamb surrounded by wolves. He had to force himself to control his
breathing. Every part of him wanted to escape as soon as he
could. (He served the rest of his career as a lieutenant on a
cutter.) Many a sailor lies on the bottom of the deep in a watery coffin as a result of war, accident or stupidity. Because accidents happen, navies have developed escape hatches from the sub for those who might be trapped. If a sub sinks, another sub comes down, attaches to the area about the hatch, equalizes the pressure and loads the trapped ones to safety. On Calvary, Jesus was our escape hatch. We were trapped by death, and by something worse than death—hell. We got ourselves into the mess by our own foolishness. We would have been lost forever, had not Jesus been our escape hatch. He came down from heaven to rescue us giving up His own life. We could never save ourselves. No effort would be enough. No amount of goodness could balance the scales of justice. No sacrifice of our own should satisfy the debt we owed. Jesus died so that we could live. That life starts the day we come to faith by the Holy Spirit’s work . It never stops for those who live by faith. It continues forever the day we are welcomed into eternal glory. Sahara is a good movie. But I’ve got a copy of the Easter movie too. It’s called “The Road to Emmaus.” If you’d like a copy, let me know. I’d be even happier to share that one. I think it should earn the Celestial Academy award! |
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Something to Think About…
When Death Becomes Birth You, as all God's children, live one final breath from your own funeral. Which, from God's perspective, is nothing to grieve. He responds to these grave facts with this great news: "The day you die is better than the day you are born" (Eccles. 7:1). Now there’s a twist Heaven enjoys a maternity-ward reaction to funerals. Angels watch body burials the same way grandparents monitor delivery-room doors. "He'll be coming through any minute!" They can't wait to see the new arrival. While we're driving hearses and wearing black, they're hanging pink and blue streamers and passing out cigars. We don't grieve when babies enter the world. The hosts of heaven don't weep when we leave it. Oh, but many of us weep at the thought of death. Do you? Do you dread your death? Is your fear of dying robbing your joy of living? Jesus came to "deliver those who have lived all their lives as slaves to the fear of dying" (Heb. 2:15). If Scripture boasted a list of the famous dead, Lazarus would be near the top. Jesus spent a lot of time with Lazarus and his sisters. Maybe he liked the kitchen of Martha or the devotion of Mary. One thing is for sure: he considered Lazarus a friend. News of Lazarus's death prompts Jesus to say, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up" (John 11:11). And now, four days after the funeral, Jesus has come. He simply says, "Lazarus, come out!" Can we try to picture Lazarus as he hears those words? Heaven-sent Lazarus. Heaven-happy Lazarus. Four days into his measureless days. By now he's forming fast friendships with other saints. King David shows him the harps. Moses invites him over for tea and manna. Elijah and Elisha take him for a spin in the fiery chariot. But a voice booms through the celestial city, "Lazarus, come out!" Everybody knows that voice. No one wonders, Who was that? Angels stop. Hosts of holy-city dwellers turn toward the boy from Bethany, and someone says, "Looks like you're going back for another tour of duty." |
Lazarus doesn't question the call. Perfect understanding comes with a
heavenly passport. He doesn't object. But had he done so, who could
have faulted him? His heavenly body knows no fever. His future no fear.
He indwells a city that is void of padlocks, prisons, and Prozac. With
sin and death nonexistent, preachers, doctors, and lawyers are free to
worship. Would anyone blame Lazarus for saying, "Do I have to go back?"
But he doesn't second-guess the command. Nor does anyone else. Return trips have been frequent of late. The daughter of the synagogue ruler. The boy from Nain. Now Lazarus from Bethany. Lazarus turns toward the rarely used exit door. The very one, I suppose, Jesus used some thirty earth years earlier. With a wave and within a wink, he's reunited with his body and waking up on a cold slab in a wall-hewn grave. The rock to the entrance has been moved, and Lazarus attempts to do the same. Mummy-wrapped, he stiffly sits up and walks out of the tomb with the grace of Frankenstein's monster. We read and may ask, "Why did Jesus let him die only to call him back?" To show who runs the show. To trump the cemetery card. To display the unsquashable strength of the One who danced the Watusi on the neck of the devil, who stood face to clammy face with death and declared, "You call that a dead end? I call it an escalator." "Lazarus, come out!" Those words, incidentally, were only a warm-up for the big day. He's preparing a world-wide grave evacuation. "Joe, come out!" "Maria, come out!" "Giuseppe, come out!" Grave after grave will empty. What happened to Lazarus will happen to us. Only our spirit-body reunion will occur in heaven, not Bethany Memorial Cemetery. When this happens—when our perishable earthly bodies have been transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die—then at last the Scriptures will come true: "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" (1 Cor. 15:54-55) With Christ as your friend and heaven as your home, the day of death becomes sweeter than the day of birth. Come Thirsty Copyright (Th. Nelson, 2004) Max Lucado. |
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HOLY WEEK
WORSHIP SCHEDULE (April 21, 22 and 24)
Maunday Thursday 7:00 p.m. Good Friday 7:00 p.m. Easter Early Service 8:00 a.m. Easter Breakfast 9:15 a.m. Easter Morning Service 10:30 a.m. Easter Egg Hunt 11:45 a.m. GARAGE SALE: We had many donations to the sale. Thanks everyone. It turned out very well. We raised $900. The money will be used to pay for a new vacuum at church, install new windows in the office and give some scholarship money to kids going to Bible Camp (July 17th – 23rd in the Sierra-Nevada foothills north of Auburn). BIBLE QUIZ… on the Great Resurrection Chapter 1 Cor. 15 1. Paul says in v. 14 that “if Christ has not been raised then a. our efforts at world peace have failed and global warming will continue b. our preaching is useless and so is our faith c our efforts at being good are a waste of time and we might as well sin d. the price of gas sure will 2. Paul says that he is the least of the apostles and that he doesn’t deserve to be called one. Why? a. Because he was not one of the original 12 b. Because he persecuted the church c. Because he had been a Pharisee d. Because he didn’t know how to spell Apostle and thought they were too rich and handsome for him |
Humor- A Minneapolis couple went to Florida in the winter. They planned to stay at the same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years earlier. Because of business, the husband had to fly to Florida on Thursday, with his wife flying down the following day. The husband checked into the hotel. There was a computer at his hotel, so he decided to send an e-mail to his wife. However, he accidentally left out one letter in her e-mail address, and without realizing his error, sent the e-mail to the wrong person. It accidentally went to a widow in Houston who had just buried her husband the night before. The widow decided to check her e-mail expecting messages from relatives and friends. After reading the first message, she screamed and fainted. The widow's son rushed into the room, found his mother on the floor, and saw the computer screen which read: To: My Loving Wife Subject: I've Arrived Date: Feb. 19, 2011 I know you're surprised to hear from me. They have computers here now and you’re allowed to send emails. I've just arrived and checked in. I've seen to it that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you then! Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was. P. S. It’s really hot down here! Quiz Answers: 1. b 2. |
