Some people say, “If it’s God’s will, it will happen.” It sounds good but it’s not true. God’s will is seldom followed by most people. Even Christians have trouble with this. You may have trouble always doing “God’s will”. I do too. I have found even this week that following God’s will is so much easier than going my own way. My way is difficult, tiring, even exhausting. The easier way is to follow Christ. Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you… My yoke is easy and my burden is light”. I could use a lighter burden. How about you?

The reason God’s way is easier is because He is ready to help you just as soon as you are ready. That’s the complicated part. We have to change our minds. Trusting God and not ourselves is counter to the way we think naturally. We think we know best. We get ahead of God. We make hasty decisions, or we fail to make decisions at all. Is any of this familiar to you? It certainly is to me.

But, if you are ready, God is too. He is ready to lead you in the paths of righteousness. He is ready to help you through whatever problems you are having. He is ready to forgive and forget all the things you’ve done wrong and repair your wounded heart. It’s up to you. Aim to do the will of God and everything will get sweeter. As C.S. Lewis said, “’Aim at Heaven and you will get Earth ‘thrown in’: aim at Earth and you will get neither.’ Decide to enjoy the life God gave you the way He intended, and you will find that He is ready to help you and bless you with each step you take in His direction.

It’s a bit cliche’ to say that you can make a difference in someone’s life even though nothing could be more true. But what if you could do something monumental? What if you could be part of a miracle that would never be forgotten and would become part of human history? There is a story of a great miracle, of huge proportion, that happened when thousands of people came together and worked extremely hard to rebuild Jerusalem after the walls had been torn down and the gates burned. When you begin to read in the book of Nehemiah how each person took a portion of what had been torn down and rebuilt it, you realize that the real miracle was in the commitment of so many, to work so hard, to accomplish so much! The city walls were completely restored in fifty-two days. 

What has God dreamed for us? Do you think His mind is blank? Is He possibly out of ideas? Is there no great thing that God can think of that He still wants to accomplish? Or is He overflowing with excitement about His next project that He’s planned near you? Could God be in search of someone at this moment who would dare to say yes to Him? I believe He is not only ready but also willing and able to do more than we can imagine if we will just say yes! What obstacle could possibly stand in the way of God’s will if we decide to work together and give our all to make it happen? None. With God’s wind at our back to make His dreams come true, nothing is impossible! Absolutely nothing!

What do you think would happen if we just spent a little less time asking God for what we want and a little more time asking what He wants. This one tweak in your prayer time would change everything. What do say? Are you ready to become part of a huge miracle? 

This week, we will finish “The Crown Series” but this message will lead us into our next series called “Spirit-Led and Body Driven.” I believe this new series is going to ignite a fire in many of us to do what may seem impossible. I’m already pumped about it and I shared some of this vision with our staff this Tuesday and they are excited! God is in the business of doing great things and He is looking for people who will say yes to His call, yes to His challenges, and yes to His will. If you are one of those “Yes” people. Your life is about to get very exciting.  

What you think about God makes all the difference! As I said in last week’s message, you can’t truly know yourself and who you are until you know God and who He is. You don’t know what to think about yourself until you know what God thinks about you. Our royal character last week was Mephibosheth. He was known as the man who was lame in both feet. His name means “The Mouth of Shame”. He was in hiding because he didn’t know his king, David. He assumed David would want to kill him, but David was actually the man who would honor, respect, and love him more than any other. David didn’t call him the man with two lame feet, he called him by his name, Mephibosheth.

Do you know how much God loves, honors and respects you at this moment? Or do you assume that He is holding everything bad thing you’ve ever done against you? Do you think He has labeled you by some physical defect or defect of character? If you think God is holding a grudge (even a small one) against you, then you could be blind to the many kindnesses God is already showing you. I don’t want you to miss out on what God is doing and wants to do in your heart, in your relationships, and in your connection with Him.

He is standing at your door and knocking. Jesus said it in the book of Revelation. What a great image. He completes the word picture by saying that if you listen to His voice and open the door, He will come in and have supper with you. This is what God wants you to know about Him. He wants to spend time with you in your house, where you live. You don’t have to change anything in order to listen to His voice and open your heart to Him. If you have ever thought that God doesn’t like you, want you, or care about you, you’re dead wrong. Stop thinking that way and open up yourself to Him. Answer Him like you are answering the door. “Hello Lord, please come in! Then see what wonderful things He has planned for you.

The Angels said to the women coming to anoint Jesus’ body, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen.” The empty tomb means something very special for all of us. It means that our graves can be empty too. My best friend’s dad was very close to me and I valued him as a mentor in many ways. He taught me to be meticulous in my work and to be honest and upright in all that I do. I relied on him for advice in certain matters that he was best suited to give an answer on. When he passed away, it was a great loss to me, but I never went back to visit his grave. I asked his wife who is also a dear friend if she ever went back to visit his grave and she said, “no, because he’s not there”.

When Jesus went to raise Lazarus from the dead, he said two things that seem like the same thing, but they are not. He said that anyone who believes in Him, even though they are dead, they will live. I think He was talking about those who had believed in the Messiah but had died before He came. Then, he said, whoever is alive and believes in me will never die. He’s talking here about us. We who believe and are alive will never die. There is no death between here and Heaven. Our graves, like Jesus’ grave, will also be empty. The only thing remaining will be a vacant shell. The grave will be empty.

This Easter Sunday is going to be awesome! We had our rehearsal for the worship team last night and it was so great! We are so blessed to have great musicians and worship leaders. The theme is “Crosses and Crowns”, and I can’t wait to share this message with you. If you only attend one service this year, make it this one!

One of my spiritual mentors once told me that it’s not the good times that shape our character but the tough times. She said that as much as she hated to see her own children suffer, she knows that it’s really those situations that will cause the most growth in them. Lynnae and I listened to this truth from our Sunday School teacher and it made sense. But twenty-plus years later, we know from our own experiences that it’s when we are pressed, thrown off balance, or shaken up by life that we grow the most in our faith. And I’m not talking so much about the catastrophic events although they do happen. I’m talking about the things that cause pressure in your life every day.

Each day there are pressures that create decision points. It’s those decisions that determine the health of our souls. Paul said in Acts 14 that we must face many trials or pressures in order to enter the kingdom. With each difficulty that we endure with the help and direction of the Holy Spirit, we ignite the passion and presence of Christ in us. I believe that God gives us thousands of opportunities to take hold of eternal life. Each opportunity requires a type of death of ourselves. Jesus said it like this, “If you seek to save your life, you’ll lose it, but if you lose your life for my sake, you’ll find it”. I believe that the satisfaction of the soul lies just beyond the denying of self.

That’s what really makes us better. Someone once said that the difference between getting better or getting bitter is the “I”. With every opportunity, we have to make a choice to serve ourselves or God or someone else. Choose to serve yourself and the “I” will get the best of you. You’ll end up bitter. But choose to serve God and others and you’ll end up better! I promise.

Four days before Jesus was crucified, He saw a beautiful fig tree and cursed it to death. What’s the real story? The real story is that this was a serious moment and time was short. He needed to drive some points home with His disciples, and He wanted them to remember the fig tree vividly. He used this experience to teach the disciples about faith. They marveled at what was done but Jesus told them that if you have faith, not only can you put a fig tree to death, but you can move mountains.

Jesus was also focused on the evil of the Pharisees. You’ll see it if you read through the story particularly in Matthew 21. Jesus cast the money changers out of the temple and called them thieves. He gave two parables. One was the Parable of The Two Sons and the other The Parable of The Tenants. Jesus is driving home this message that God is not happy with empty religion (fig trees without figs) and religion without God is evil, especially in the case of the Pharisees.

But here’s the great news for you and me. We don’t have to settle for an empty religion! Jesus told the Pharisees that they were like whitewashed tombs, clean and white on the outside but full of death and corruption on the inside. We don’t have to be that way. You might not feel clean, but God’s grace can cleanse you and keep you clean. The important thing is that we give Him access to the innermost parts of our hearts and minds. You can’t expect Him to cleanse your heart from the outside. But what an amazing thing He can do when you allow Him to come into your heart and consider Him in all your thoughts.

Make some time to be intentional with God. Prompt yourself by setting an alert on your phone to pray. Set your alarm twenty minutes early and make a habit of having a good talk with God before you allow yourself to get out of bed in the morning. Use time spent waiting, for a table at a restaurant or in a doctor’s office to text someone a kind word or count your blessings and thank God for His goodness. Don’t let a day go by without showing gratitude to your Creator and Savior. Remember that you are God’s conduit of love to your family, your coworkers, and your friends. Make the most of a clean heart and don’t give it up for anyone or anything.