Easter Sunday 4/20/14 Pastor Michael sermon The Divine Re-Boot, the Power of True Forgiveness Luke 23:32-34
Re-booting is for computers that freeze or give an error message. There are many reasons for screen freeze but sometimes it’s a computer virus. Viruses can contaminate and corrupt computers thru email attachments or infected websites that we visit. We can also get infected by free infected software we download. Hackers break into our computers to steal our personal information. Computer viruses take away computer control from us. We can get anti-virus software that will attack the virus. It will tell us to re-boot our computer. Re-booting takes away the stuff that happened a few minutes ago. Re-boot lets us start over.
Jesus gave us the Eternal Re-Boot button to wash away our sins and let us start over again. Jesus was sinless and He came to give us eternal life. As Jesus preached, He ran into a virus. The virus was the religious leaders of Jerusalem. These religious leaders had a problem with Jesus helping the poor, giving sight to the blind and healing the sick. These church-folk had a problem with Jesus because they could not control Him. We have all been Re-Booted by Jesus. He gave us another chance, turned us around, go a hold of us, re-booted us and gave us joy, peace and victory! God turned our life around! He Re-booted us! Look back over our life and look at our mess. Thank God He gave us another chance and re-booted us! If it wasn’t for God getting a hold of our lives, we wouldn’t be here today! We don’t look like all the hell we been through. We don’t look like all the sin we have been thru because we have been through a Re-Boot!
Jesus said in verse 34, “Father forgive them”. Now you know if it was us up on the cross, we would have said ‘Father kill them!” Instead, Jesus, as He is dying on the cross, prayed for the people who were crucifying him unjustly. Jesus said forgive them and there is power in forgiveness. Jesus could forgive them because He knew three things: Substitution, Sacrifice and Salvation.
Substitution:
Jesus knew He was a substitute for the sacrifice for man’s sin. He was taking our place on the cross even though He was innocent and we are guilty. Think about the worse sin we ever did. Jesus took our place on the cross for this and all sins. He was a perfect sacrifice because He never sinned! Jesus was God in the flesh. Be glad that He took our place. We are not going to Hell because we have been Re-booted! Jesus knew that His mission was to die for us.
Sacrifice:
Jesus became our sins and He put them on himself. He didn’t just take our sins, but became our sins. This is when He cried to God for forsaking Him. Jesus was separated from God because He became the sins of the world. God couldn’t be in touch with him because He was sin. This was the first time Jesus was ever separated from God the Father. Now when God sees us, He sees us through the blood of Jesus. The blood cleans us up. It washed us and we walk in liberation!
Salvation:
Jesus did this so we can have Eternal life. We must be born again by trusting in God and Jesus to save us from our sins. Then we will have eternal life in Heaven! Jesus died so we would not die. “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord”. Jesus is with us and for us and gives us Eternal life! Jesus hit the Divine Re-Boot button for us! Hallelujah! Thank You Jesus!
AMEN
Re-booting is for computers that freeze or give an error message. There are many reasons for screen freeze but sometimes it’s a computer virus. Viruses can contaminate and corrupt computers thru email attachments or infected websites that we visit. We can also get infected by free infected software we download. Hackers break into our computers to steal our personal information. Computer viruses take away computer control from us. We can get anti-virus software that will attack the virus. It will tell us to re-boot our computer. Re-booting takes away the stuff that happened a few minutes ago. Re-boot lets us start over.
Jesus gave us the Eternal Re-Boot button to wash away our sins and let us start over again. Jesus was sinless and He came to give us eternal life. As Jesus preached, He ran into a virus. The virus was the religious leaders of Jerusalem. These religious leaders had a problem with Jesus helping the poor, giving sight to the blind and healing the sick. These church-folk had a problem with Jesus because they could not control Him. We have all been Re-Booted by Jesus. He gave us another chance, turned us around, go a hold of us, re-booted us and gave us joy, peace and victory! God turned our life around! He Re-booted us! Look back over our life and look at our mess. Thank God He gave us another chance and re-booted us! If it wasn’t for God getting a hold of our lives, we wouldn’t be here today! We don’t look like all the hell we been through. We don’t look like all the sin we have been thru because we have been through a Re-Boot!
Jesus said in verse 34, “Father forgive them”. Now you know if it was us up on the cross, we would have said ‘Father kill them!” Instead, Jesus, as He is dying on the cross, prayed for the people who were crucifying him unjustly. Jesus said forgive them and there is power in forgiveness. Jesus could forgive them because He knew three things: Substitution, Sacrifice and Salvation.
Substitution:
Jesus knew He was a substitute for the sacrifice for man’s sin. He was taking our place on the cross even though He was innocent and we are guilty. Think about the worse sin we ever did. Jesus took our place on the cross for this and all sins. He was a perfect sacrifice because He never sinned! Jesus was God in the flesh. Be glad that He took our place. We are not going to Hell because we have been Re-booted! Jesus knew that His mission was to die for us.
Sacrifice:
Jesus became our sins and He put them on himself. He didn’t just take our sins, but became our sins. This is when He cried to God for forsaking Him. Jesus was separated from God because He became the sins of the world. God couldn’t be in touch with him because He was sin. This was the first time Jesus was ever separated from God the Father. Now when God sees us, He sees us through the blood of Jesus. The blood cleans us up. It washed us and we walk in liberation!
Salvation:
Jesus did this so we can have Eternal life. We must be born again by trusting in God and Jesus to save us from our sins. Then we will have eternal life in Heaven! Jesus died so we would not die. “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord”. Jesus is with us and for us and gives us Eternal life! Jesus hit the Divine Re-Boot button for us! Hallelujah! Thank You Jesus!
AMEN