WHAT GOD WANTS ME TO KNOW AT EASTER
Easter Sunday
Pastor Dennis Clanton
Woodland Church
Sunday, April 17, 2022
(1 Peter 2:21, Message) “This is the kind of life you’ve been invited into, the kind of life Christ lived. He suffered everything that came his way so you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it, step-by-step.”
(John 20:19–21, NLT) “That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”
1. GOD WANTS TO BE FRIENDS WITH ME.
(Mark 2:15–16, NLT) “Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.) But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?”
2. GOD WANTS ME TO UNDERSTAND MY NEED FOR HIM.
(Mark 2:17, NLT) “When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”
(Mark 1:35, NLT) (see also Luke 6:12, 9:28, 11:1) “Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.”
a. When I pray I confess God’s power to do anything.
b. When I pray I express my joy and pain.
c. When I pray I stress my trust in God’s will.
d. When I pray I bless others.
3. GOD WANTS ME TO TRUST HIS PROMISES.
(2 Corinthians 1:20, NLT) “All of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!”
God never made a promise that was too good to be true. – D. L. Moody
(Zechariah 9:12, NLT) “I promise this very day that I will repay two blessings for each of your troubles.”
4. GOD WANTS ME TO KNOW THAT I AM LOVED AND HAVE A HOME WITH HIM.
(John 15:9, NASB) “As the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.”
(Ephesians 1:19–20, NLT) “I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.”
(Romans 10:9, CEV) “So you will be saved, if you honestly say, “Jesus is Lord,” and if you believe with all your heart that God raised him from death.”