The central question of Christianity is why does someone dying 2,000 years ago and rising from the dead matter to you? If the answer to that question is “it doesn’t” then it’s all meaningless, but what if it’s real?  What if God came to do something bigger than you can imagine?. Join us Sunday to dive in! EASY TO GIVE at Harmony, text any amount to (859) 459-0316 to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give ). Get the fill-in-the-blank bulletins my.harmonychurch.cc/bulletins.

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OPENING ILLUSTRATION:

Did you guys know there is a proper way to fold a towel?  

Look all the women are like, “Of course there is” All the men are like, “You fold towels?”

It’s really true.  The other day I was folding towels when I was done I came back in and my beautiful wife was refolding the towels, I was like, “What are you doing?”  She, with a kind look on her face said, “I appreciate you trying…”  

Lol…

I wasn’t mad though – it just means I don’t have to fold towels anymore… 🙂

Some of you are like, “No, it means you need to learn to fold towels correctly…”

One of the worst feelings in the world is to put your energy into something that ends up being worthless…

The other day I was having a conversation with someone who said he didn’t believe Jesus died and rose from the dead.  What he said was he couldn’t understand how someone dying 2,000 years ago and rising from the dead would do anything for anyone.

It’s a good question, right?  How does someone dying 2,000 years ago and then raising from the dead do anything for you?

b

What if you put all this energy into Christianity and it all ended up being worthless?

b

The even better question is, what if it’s real?

I wanted to share with you a historical account from the Story of God – if you don’t know we’ve been in a series on this looking at how God’s interaction in the world has worked.  I want to show you a story today that I think will help make sense of why Jesus’ death on the cross makes a difference for us… and then hopefully help you see that it’s worth investigating…

DAVID:

Probably one of the most famous people from the bible is King David.  David did not start off as King.  He was a shepherd boy, he’d spend his days in a field, all by himself watching over flocks and caring for these animals.  He would lay on rocks some days and other days watch as a wolf or bear prowled on his sheep and would have to fight them off.  He was a musician and a warrior – actually, he was one of the fiercest men in the scripture.  He did a lot of good things and did some hideously bad things…

One time when he was older, while all the kings normally went off to war – meaning he was home in his Kingdom with most of the women – He took for himself one of his key men’s wives and hatched a murderous plot to kill her husband – one of his friends…

David did plenty wrong – but what he got right was he had a heart for what God’s heart beat for.  

b

Even when he messed up, David would turn back to God…

one of the most famous stories of David was from when he was a young man before he had blood on his hands and before he’d seen enough life to know better…

You have probably heard this story before.  

David was delivering food to his brothers who were fighting in the then King’s army, Saul…

Israel had drawn up battle lines with their foes, the Philistines.

You HAVE to get your mind out of the little kid books you’ve seen about these stories.  These fierce battles warn men.  There is dust in the air, the stench of sweat and campfires.  

One minute these guys are prodding one another on, the next they are talking about back home.  Picture any movie you’ve seen with military men waiting…  They are waiting because neither army wants to go out and attack.  The Philistines keep sending out their champion, a giant of a man – Goliath – 9 ft tall… (the bible was not meant to be a science book – the point of the biblical author is not to give you an exact height, their point is to tell you this guy was massive.)

He would come out and offer to the armies of Israel – Let the battle of one take the place for the two

1 Samuel 17:8b-9

Choose a man and have him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” 

You know the story, don’t you?

David, delivering some bologna sandwiches (that’s not really what it was, but it’s how I like to picture it) hears these taunts and he says, “Why is no one going out to fight this man?  God is with us!

David will do what seems ridiculous…

b

One man will go out to battle this giant – he will put his life on the line for all people of Israel.

David will gather 5 smooth stones, he has a little sling – it’s a shepherd’s weapon.  Goliath sees him and can’t understand why they would send a boy out to be killed by him.  David will swing the sling and with deft accuracy his first stone will leave the sling – you can almost picture it in slow motion

ILLUSTRATION:

Did y’all see Vince Dawson from Great Crossing sink that show over Lexington Catholic for the buzzer beater?  That kid has ice in his veins!  

David’s moment was like that.  Everything had to be just right.  Slow motion, that stone left the sling and it could go nowhere else but into Goliath’s head.  The stone turned into a bullet at that moment…

Goliath fell and the part we never tell kids is that David ran over, grabbed Goliath’s sword, and hacked his head off, the crowds are all watching in disbelief as David holds up Goliath’s head.

He had won the battle for the people that day!

What a beast!  

Look, I get it, you may have not been here for all the sermons on the story of God… 

But it’s a story you’ve been living…

Humans, throughout all our history, have looked at God and said, “We can do this on our own…”

b

The problem is, when we rejected God, we had to pay the price for it…

Scripture says the price is death, an eternal death

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death”

I was just telling a friend, 

Hell is just God giving us what we wanted – an existence that is completely devoid of the good that God puts in the world…

b

Death is the giant in our world – it’s what brings the deepest fear in the human heart.

It’s the giant standing out there defying us…

Remember at the beginning I said my friend’s question was how someone dying and rising from the dead would do anything for me today?

b

David’s story isn’t just David’s story. God was showing us all those years ago what our story would look like.

b

In order for Jesus to defeat death, He had to go through death.  

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How would you know someone conquered death itself unless that person came back from the dead?

that is really as weird as it sounds…

It is why early Christians gave their life for this message.  Actually, that’s why I personally believe it.  The early Christians were the ones who would actually claim to see Jesus alive after seeing Him dead.  Those Christians, when asked to renounce their claim. They chose to die rather than renounce it.  They believed so firmly Jesus had risen from the dead and that His promise was to do the same for those who placed their trust in His leadership that they allowed their own lives to be taken from them.

THAT is significant!

Again, I ask you the question.  What if it’s real?  What if those people died because they had really seen Jesus alive after seeing Him dead?

What would change about your life if you knew every sin you’d committed could be forgiven and you could find eternal life in Jesus?  Because he defeated the giant of death with a stone too – it was a stone that sealed his grave and he rolled it away and came out alive and changed the world!

CLOSING ILLUSTRATION:

I remember when I first met my now wife.  I thought, who is this beautiful woman and how do I get to know her more?  I started trying to get around her, I’d invite her over to a party I was having.  I’d try and be around when she was around.  I did everything I could to be near her.  Look, I get you might not be convinced.  But What if it’s real?  Wouldn’t you want to be around Jesus and get to know Him?  Could I ask you a question today?  What if you took the next 5 weeks and you just decided you were going to give God a try?  You were going to see if you seek Him if He doesn’t show up…  What if it’s real?  It changes everything!  Get around Him and I believe 100% you’ll fall in love!

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