How Calvary Affected Me
Rom 6:5
5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will
certainly also be united with him in his resurrection NIV
We are
here tonight because we have experienced the power of the cross and want to recognize it.
To the
world out there who have never come into the reality of this experience the whole thing at best is a sentimental time and
at worst another holiday to party and drink and laugh about the Easter bunny.
Paul
wrote this
1 Cor 1:18-19
18 I know very well how foolish the message of the cross sounds to
those who are on the road to destruction. But we who are being saved recognize this message as the very power of God. 19 As
the Scriptures say, "I will destroy human wisdom and discard their most brilliant ideas."
NLT
The power
of the cross is experienced so simply in our lives that the pride of the average person keeps them from it. Most of us had
to be is a state where we had tried everything else and had come to the end of all our natural wisdom before we were even
willing to admit that there might be something in it.
1 Cor 1:20-22
21 Since God in his wisdom
saw to it that the world would never find him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save all who believe.
22 God's way seems foolish to the Jews because they want a sign from heaven to prove it is true. And it is foolish to the
Greeks because they believe only what agrees with their own wisdom NLT
John 3:3
3 Jesus replied, "I assure
you, unless you are born again, you can never see
the Kingdom of God
NLT
But when
you experience the power of the cross in your life you begin to learn how great its effect on you it really is.
The cross
of Calvary is the center of everything that we believe.
The moment
it happened it shook the whole world to its very core.
Matt 27:50-54
50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the
ghost.
51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the
top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which
slept arose,
53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into
the holy city, and appeared unto many.
54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus,
saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.
KJV
That
Roman Centurion was not an easy man to convince that there would be anything special about Jesus. And yet standing at the
foot of that cross that day in his fear of what was going on around him he admitted publicly that Jesus was the son of God.
The effect
of that day is still shaking the earth.
The bible
says that something happened in the world beyond us as well.
Amen, God
Bless You & Your Family,
Pastor
John Stewart
